Full text of "The Kansas historical quarterly"

From the collection of the

f
2

Preling

U v

San Francisco, California
2007

THE

Kansas Historical
Quarterly

NYLE H. MILLER, Managing Editor

KIRKE MECHEM, Editor
JAMES C. MALIN, Associate Editor

Volume XXIII
1957

(Kansas Historical Collections)

VOL. XL

Published by

The Kansas State Historical Society
Topeka, Kansas

331378

72288

Contents of Volume XXIII

Number 1 Spring, 1957

THE INVENTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIAL TELEPHONE: The Con-
tribution of Three Lindsborg Inventors Emory Lindquist, I

With portraits of John Erickson, Charles J. Erickson and Frank A. Lund-
quist, facing p. 8, and photographs of early dial telephones, between
pp. 8, 9.

MANHATTAN'S OLDEST HOUSE WAS BUILT BY DAVID A. BUTTERFIELD,

C. W. McCampbell, 9

With photographs of Poyntz avenue, Manhattan, in 1860, between pp.
8, 9, and the David A. Butterfield residence, Manhattan, facing p. 9.
THEATRE IN KANSAS, 1858-1868: Background for the Coming of the Lord
Dramatic Company to Kansas, 1869 (Part One, Leavenworth ) ,

James C. Malin, 10

THE ANNUAL MEETING: Containing Reports of the Secretary, Treasurer,
Executive and Nominating Committees; Address of the President, PECK'S
BAD BOYS, the Story of the 35th Infantry Division in World War I,
by Wilford Riegle; Election of Officers; List of Directors of the Society, 54
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY,

Compiled by Alberta Pantle, Librarian, 85

BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 104

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED EM THE PRESS 105

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES . 108

Number 2 Summer, 1957

A SURVEY OF HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES IN KANSAS 11&

With photographs of Allen county jail, lola; Gen. Frederick Funston home,
near lola; officers' quarters, old Fort Scott; "Fort Blair" blockhouse,
Fort Scott; birthplace of Amelia Earhart, Atchison; birthplace of Arthur
Capper, Garnett; Pawnee Rock, Barton county; boyhood home of Dwight
Eisenhower, Abilene; Irvin Hall, Highland Junior College, Highland;
Constitution Hall and Lane University, Lecompton; Iowa, Sac and Fox
Presbyterian Mission, near Highland; Old Castle Hall, Baldwin; "Cathe-
dral of the Plains," Victoria; Fort Harker guardhouse, Kanopolis; boy-
hood home of Walter Chrysler, Ellis; Fort Hays blockhouse, Hays;
Santa Fe trail ruts, near Dodge City; "Tauy" Jones house and Silkville
colony, Franklin county; Shawnee Methodist Mission, Fairway; covered
bridge, Leavenworth county; Mark W. Delahay and Fred Harvey homes,
Planters' House, Leavenworth; Point of Rocks, Morton county; "Last
Chance" Store and Kaw Methodist Mission, Council Grove; Potta-
watomie Baptist Mission building, near Topeka; Fort Larned, Pawnee
county; cabin of Dr. Brewster Higley, Smith county; El Quartelejo
monument, Scott county; Brookville Hotel, Saline county; "Cowtown
Wichita," Sedgwick county; birthplace of Damon Runyon, Manhattan;
Fort Wallace cemetery marker, Wallace county; First territorial capitol,
Fort Riley; Pond creek stage station, Wallace county; cave in Battle
canyon, Scott county; Hollenberg ranch Pony Express station, Washing-
ton county; Moses Grinter house, Wyandotte county, and Beecher Bible
and Rifle Church, Wabaunsee, between pp. 144, 145.

A FREE-STATER'S "LETTERS TO THE EDITOR": Samuel N. Wood's Letters

to Eastern Newspapers, 1854 Edited by Robert W. Richmond, 181

THEATRE IN KANSAS, 1858-1868: Background for the Coming of the Lord
Dramatic Company to Kansas, 1869 (Part Two, Atchison, Lawrence

and Topeka) Concluded James C. MaUn, 191

BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 204

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 211

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 221

(iii)

Number 3 Autumn, 1957

PAGE

THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION: An Analysis of Its Mem-
bership Robert W. Johannsen, 225

With picture of Gen. John Calhoun, facing p. 240, and photograph of
portion of first page of the Lecompton constitution, facing p. 241.

THE ORIGINAL LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION RETURNS TO KANSAS AFTER

100 YEARS 244

THOMAS BENTON MURDOCK AND WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE,

Rolla A. Clymer, 248

With portraits of Thomas Benton Murdock and William Allen White, facing
p. 256.

THE STORY OF FORT LARNED William E. Unrau, 257

With a sketch of Fort Lamed (1867) and a photograph (1886), facing
p. 272, and a facsimile of first page of The Plains, an 1865 Fort Lamed
newspaper, facing p. 273.

NOTES ON Two KANSAS IMPEACHMENTS: Josiah Hayes, 1874, and Theo-

dosius Botkin, 1891 Cortez A. M. Etoing, 281

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS: The James A. Lord Chicago Dramatic
Company, 1869-1871. (In two installments, Part One),

James C. Malin, 298

BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 324

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 326

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES . 333

Number 4 Winter, 1957

PAGE

AN ARMY HOSPITAL: From Dragoons to Rough Riders

Fort Riley, 1853-1903 George E. Omer, Jr., 337

With photographs of the hospitals of Fort Riley in 1854, 1865 and 1889;
main post dispensary, 1889; hospital ambulance, 1900; the medical
detachments of 1870 and 1900, and portraits of Medical Officers Joseph
K. Barnes, James Simons, William A. Hammond and Bernard J. D.
Irwin, between pp. 352, 353.

A KANSAS REVIVAL OF 1872 William E. Berger, 368

THE KIOWA AND COMANCHE CAMPAIGN OF 1860 AS RECORDED IN THE

PERSONAL DIARY OF LT. J. E. B. STUART,

Edited by W. Stitt Robinson, 382
TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS: The James A. Lord Chicago Dramatic

Company, 1869-1871 Concluded James C. Malin, 401

BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 439

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 441

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 445

ERRATA AND ADDENDA, VOLUME XXIII 448

INDEX TO VOLUME XXIII 449

(iv)

THE

KANSAS HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY

Spring 1957

Published by

Kansas State Historical Society

Topeka

NYLE H. MILLER KIRKE MECHEM JAMES C. MALIN

Managing Editor Editor Associate Editor

CONTENTS

THE INVENTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIAL TELEPHONE: The Con-
tribution of Three Lindsborg Inventors Emory Lindquist, 1

With portraits of John Erickson, Charles J. Erickson and Frank A. Lund-
quist, facing p. 8, and photographs of early dial telephones, between
pp. 8, 9.

MANHATTAN'S OLDEST HOUSE WAS BUILT BY DAVID A. BUTTERFIELD,

C. W. McCampbell, 9

With photographs of Poyntz avenue, Manhattan, in 1860, between pp.
8, 9, and the David A. Butterfield residence, Manhattan, facing p. 9.

THEATRE IN KANSAS, 1858-1868: Background for the Coming of the Lord
Dramatic Company to Kansas, 1869 (Part One, Leavenworth)

James C. Malin, 10

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY Compiled by Alberta Pantle,

Librarian, 85

BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 104

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 105

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES . . . 108

The Kansas Historical Quarterly is published four times a year by the Kansas
State Historical Society, 120 W. Tenth, Topeka, Kan., and is distributed free to
members. Correspondence concerning contributions may be sent to the manag-
ing editor at the Historical Society. The Society assumes no responsibility for
statements made by contributors.

Entered as second-class matter October 22, 1931, at the post office at To-
peka, Kan., under the act of August 24, 1912.

THE COVER

An Alexander Gardner photograph of 1867 which he titled:
"U. S. Express Overland Stage Starting for Denver From Hays
City, Kansas."

THE KANSAS
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Volume XXIII Spring, 1957 Number 1

The Invention and Development of the Dial

Telephone: The Contribution of

Three Lindsborg Inventors

EMORY LINDQUIST

THE Smoky valley in central Kansas, peopled by Swedish im-
migrants in the 1860's, has made a distinctive contribution
to the best tradition of fine music and art. The Lindsborg "Messiah"
chorus and the great artistry of the late Birger Sandzen have greatly
enriched the cultural life of the Plains area. This valley also fur-
nished the setting for the careers of three people of Swedish ances-
try, whose creative ability was turned into inventions. They were
two brothers, John and Charles J. Erickson, and Frank A. Lund-
quist. These men shared their talent primarily in making substan-
tial contributions to the invention and development of the dial tele-
phone. 1

The story had its beginning on the Erickson homestead, three
miles northeast of Lindsborg, where Anders Erickson and his wife,
Anna Maria, settled in 1869. They came in April of that year from
Varmland, Sweden, to share in founding the Lindsborg com-
munity. 2 Anders, the father, had unusual talent as a mechanic;
he was recognized in the entire area for his skill as a blacksmith, and
as a fine craftsman, working in metal and wood. The sons watched
their father perform difficult tasks with simple equipment. With the
passing of the years, a shop measuring 14 by 9 feet was provided for

DR. EMORY KEMPTON LINDQUIST, a former president of Bethany College, Lindsborg, is
dean of the faculties at the University of Wichita. He is author of Smoky Valley People
(1953).

1. John Erickson was born in Langbanshyttan, Sweden, January 25, 1866. He died
on October 18, 1943. Charles J. Erickson was born at Lindsborg on July 23, 1870. He
died on September 28, 1954. Frank A. Lundquist was born in Galva, 111., June 23, 1868.
He died on April 6, 1954. Biographical information on the Ericksons is found in
Svenska Nyheter, Chicago, July 19, 1904.

2. The Anders Ericksons came prior to the 250 Swedes, who immigrated from
Varmland in May, 1869, under the leadership of Rev. Olof Olsson. About one-half of the
group came to the future Lindsborg community. Emory Kempton Lindquist, Smoky
Valley People. A History of Lindsborg, Kansas (Lindsborg, 1953), pp. 5-16.

2 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the brothers, adjoining that of their father. Here they dreamed,
planned, and worked.

In an account written by Charles Erickson, the younger of the
two brothers, is found a description of their early activities and their
relationships with Frank A. Lundquist, a friend and associate. 3 The
brothers knew no limits to their plans for inventions. Charles
pointed out that their first project was to solve the perpetual motion
problem! They worked on it for three years, but were forced like
countless others to abandon it. They next turned toward the inven-
tion of a "horseless buggy" to be driven by gas explosion. The en-
gine functioned, but it did not generate adequate power. The crea-
tive spirit continued to challenge the youthful inventors as described
by Charles:

John and I stuck to the old game and were busier than ever. Our workshop
on the farm was a busy place day and night during the Winter months and
whenever opportunity presented itself in the Summer, and the dusky kerosene
lamp gleamed until midnight almost every night. At the time we were struck
by the automatic brain storm. We had many irons in the fire, a printing tele-
graph, a new principle for a phonograph to store the sound without mechanical
engraving and an automatic piano player. We had a connection in Denver that
financed the work as far as paying for the material and patents, if we should get
that far. The tools and machinery we made ourselves, such as lathes, gear
cutting machines, and drill presses. 4

The careers of the Ericksons and Lundquist were influenced
greatly by the residence which the latter established in Chicago,
where he worked for the Chicago Telephone Company for six
months. Lundquist was interested in an invention relative to the
telephone. The development of his ideas based upon a visit to a
hotel in Salina, where he observed the operation of the telephone
exchange, has been described by him as follows : "The idea occurred
to me then that some day those connections would be made auto-
matically. I loitered around the hotel lobby and made a regular pest
of myself examining that switchboard and revolving that thought in
my mind. Then I went back home and began to figure and tinker
away with the idea/' 5 Lundquist had a little shop in the loft of an
old red barn at his home in Lindsborg, where he tried to translate his

3. Letter, Charles J. Erickson to Carl L. Olson, April 2, 1932. Lundquist was the
son of Mr. and Mrs. N. F. Lundquist, who came to the Lindsborg community from Illinois
in 1870.

4. Ibid.

5. Lindsborg News-Record, July 6, 1923.

INVENTION AND DEVELOPMENT, DIAL TELEPHONE 3

ideas into reality. He subscribed to one scientific magazine, whose
contents he studied carefully. 6

Lundquist, according to Charles Erickson's account, continued
to emphasize his interest in an automatic telephone and told the
brothers that someone in Chicago was trying to develop this system.
The basic patent on the telephone was obtained by Alexander
Graham Bell in 1876. Three years later, in 1879, an automatic
switching system was devised by David Connolly, T. A. Connolly,
and J. T. McTighe, although it was not practical. The reference
by Lundquist was undoubtedly to the device created by Almon B.
Strowger in 1889, which developed into a successful automatic
switching system. On November 3, 1892, the first exchange, which
accommodated about 75 subscribers, was opened at La Porte, Ind. 7

The response of the Erickson brothers to the possibility of de-
veloping an automatic telephone is recorded by Charles as follows:

After John and I thought the problem over for a few minutes we saw that
it could be done on somewhat the same principle as the printing telegraph we
had underway. After we had explained to Frank how we saw it possible,
he was up in the air with enthusiasm and said that if we could produce such
a system it would be a gold mine and worth more than all the inventions we
were working on. He became very insistent that we tackle the problem and lay
all our work aside for the time being. . . . This happened about the 1st
of November, 1892, and by the New Year we had a model completed with
a capacity of one hundred contacts or lines. We also had a calling device
finished to operate the switch with. 8

Financial support for the new project was secured by Lundquist
from Gust and John Anderson, grain dealers in Lindsborg and
Salina. The kerosene lamp burned far into the night in the small
shop on the Erickson homestead near Lindsborg as the invention
was redesigned and perfected.

The time had come when the trio decided that their automatic
telephone should be presented to the world. The place chosen
was Chicago. On March 14, 1893, Carl O. Pearson, a friend and
neighbor, brought the Ericksons and their precious invention in a

6. Capper's Weekly, Topeka, July 28, 1923.

7. These early developments are discussed in R. B. Hill's "The Early Years of the
Strowger System," Bell Laboratories Record, New York, v. 31 (1953), pp. 95, 96; R. B.
Hill, "Early Work on the Dial Telephone Systems," Bell Laboratories Record, New York,
v. 31 (1953), pp. 22, 23. Strowger was a mortician in Kansas City, Mo., before entering
the field of telephonic inventions. He left the Strowger Company for reasons of health in
1896. He died in St. Petersburg, Fla., in May, 1902.

8. Charles J. Erickson to Carl L. Olson, April 2, 1932. When Mr. C. M. Candy, chief
patent attorney for Associated Electric Laboratories, Inc., presented the Talbot G. Martin
award to Charles J. Erickson at Chicago on December 15, 1938, he exhibited an auto-
matic switch made by the Erickson brothers before they came to Chicago in 1893. Tele-
phony Magazine, Chicago, February 4, 1939, p. 32.

4 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

spring wagon to the Lindsborg railroad station for the beginning
of the fateful journey to Chicago. Upon arrival in Chicago, an
old store front was rented as a workshop and equipped with neces-
sary tools and machinery, including a foot-power lathe. Money
was scarce and other employment could not be obtained. This
was a time of real hardship for the eager Lindsborg inventors. A
group of Chicago Swedes became interested in the proposed auto-
matic telephone, but this was a precarious venture, and adequate
financial support was not available.

The pattern changed, however, toward the end of 1893, when
two men, A. E. Keith and A. B. Strowger, contacted the Linds-
borg inventors and requested a conference with the objective of
discussing the automatic telephone. Charles Erickson has described
the situation as follows:

Previous to our time in this field, about a year earlier, a company was
organized in Chicago for the purpose of developing an automatic telephone
system, namely the Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange Company, and
as a last resort we invited this company to look into what we had developed.
As for having anything in the shape of an automatic telephone system they were
in much worse shape than we were. They realized their own weakness and
were as close to throwing up the sponge as we were, so they gladly and quickly
accepted our invitation, and the following morning two of the company's
engineers appeared on the scene and introduced themselves as Messrs. A. E.
Keith and A. B. Strowger. After a couple of hours's discussion and exhibiting
they were pretty well spirited up with enthusiasm and admitted that what we
had was quite a bit further advanced than their own. The result was that they
made us a proposition to join their company. . . . This took place at the
close of the year 1893, and so ended our first year of pioneering work in quest
for gold on the inventor's rocky road on unexplored ground. Up to this time
we had designed three types of switches, two in Chicago and one in Kansas." 9

When the Lindsborg inventors joined the Strowger Company, the
latter had a small exchange at La Porte, Ind., which required five
lines to every telephone. The automatic telephone was advertised
at that time as the "girl-less, cuss-less, and wait-less telephone."
The Erickson's invention required only two lines. Strenuous efforts
were made to improve the system. Charles has pointed out that the
first product was a system with one hundred line capacity, but
soon this proved inadequate. The capacity was increased substan-
tially from time to time. The inventors worked steadily and imagina-
tively. In 1895 application was made for a patent, which became
No. 638,249, issued to A. E. Keith and the Erickson brothers in

9. Charles J. Erickson to Carl L. Olson, April 2, 1932.

INVENTION AND DEVELOPMENT, DIAL TELEPHONE 5

1899. It recognized a type of switch quite similar to the modern
step-by-step switch. 10

The most important developments with which the Erickson
brothers were associated received the finishing touches in the sum-
mer of 1896. The future of the automatic telephone was limited
by the number of lines required. Keith and the Ericksons worked
steadily on a new system "employing the trunking or transfer prin-
ciple in order to remove the limitation on the size of an automatic
exchange imposed by the necessity of multiplying all of the sub-
scribers lines to each switch." n The patent for the 1,000-line trunk-
ing system by Keith and Ericksons was applied for on June 23, 1897,
and Patent No. 672,942 was granted on April 30, 1901. Charles has
described the background factors as follows :

John and I had long before this time decided on the one and only principle
to follow to success. We realized at the start how impractical and impossible
the principle was that we had started on and that all others had followed in their
attempt to develop an automatic system. The second principle entertained by
John and myself remained quite hazy for a long time. The problem of dis-
persing the mist was hard and seemed impossible at times, but the hobby for
unsolved problems still lived in us and the will that always finds a way drove us
on, and as the work went on a spark now and then dislodged some of the doubt
and between hope and dispair we paved the way to the crowning day of our
labor. Three years passed by before we saw the way clear to give the prin-
ciple a test and on June 6, 1896, we put the finishing touch on the most im-
portant model ever built in the field of automatic telephone engineering, and
after a few demonstrations, the work was pronounced a success. The doors
were now open to a field of great possibilities of which the boundaries have not
yet been explored. 12

Lundquist, who had left the Strowger company in 1896, received
Patent No. 776,524 in 1904 for the automatic selection of an idle
trunk. 13

The most dramatic contribution of the Ericksons in telephony is
associated with the invention and development of the dial telephone.
Application for the patent was made by Keith and the Ericksons on
August 20, 1896, and Patent No. 597,062 was granted on January 11,
1898. The dial method was based upon a finger wheel dial instead
of the push buttons, which were cumbersome and impractical. The
dial method, with the switching and trunk systems, provided full

10. Hill, "The Early Years of the Strowger System," loc. cit., p. 96; Hill, "Early
Work on Dial Telephone Systems," loc. cit., p. 28.

11. Hill, "The Early Years of the Strowger System," loc. cit., pp. 99, 100.

12. Charles J. Erickson to Carl L. Olson, April 2, 1932.

13. Hill, "The Early Years of the Strowger System," loc. cit., p. 100.

6 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

access to the vast resources of a telephone exchange. R. B. Hill,
an authority in telephony, has described this important development
as follows: "Dialing a number wound up a spring whose tension,
when the finger was withdrawn, caused the dial to return to its
normal position. The return rotation was limited to a moderate
speed by an escapement mechanism, and, during the return, the re-
quired number of circuit interruptions took place to control the
movement of the central office apparatus." 14 C. M. Candy, chief
patent attorney for Associated Electric Laboratories, Inc., at a tes-
timonial dinner for Charles in Chicago in December, 1939, described
the invention: "This dial was circular like the present dial but in-
stead of holes, it had lugs on a finger plate, which were finger ^holds'
rather than holes." 15 This invention was a distinctive and unique
development; the principle has not been superceded. The inventors
from the Smoky valley, who had always placed themselves on the
line of discovery, saw a further realization of their hopes and dreams.
The Erickson brothers continued their association with the Strow-
ger Automatic Telephone Exchange Company until 1901, when the
Automatic Electric Company was organized at Chicago. They be-
came development engineers and remained with that organization
until time of retirement. The handful of men, including A. B. Keith,
Almon B. Strowger, Charles J. and John Erickson, and Frank A.
Lundquist, the last three from Lindsborg, shared in the development
of a great industry. The Automatic Electric Company, Chicago,
now employs 6,000 men and women. 16 Strowger-type equipment
serves more telephones in the United States and throughout the
world than all other automatic systems. The system was introduced
abroad for the first time in 1898 by the use of a 200-line switchboard
in London. A 400-line system was established in Berlin in 1899.
The system was later installed in Canada, Cuba, Australia, Argen-
tina, Hawaii, New Zealand, India, and South Africa, and elsewhere
in the Far East and Europe. 17 Leslie H. Warner, a graduate of

14. Ibid., pp. 98, 99. It is important to identify this basic fact. While the principle
of the automatic telephone was known prior to this time, the important invention of the dial
telephone, with its unique features, resulted from the patent issued to Keith and the
Ericksons.

15. Telephony Magazine, February 4, 1939, pp. 32, 33. The first dial telephones
were installed at Albion, N. Y., in 1896. "The Story of the Automatic Electric Company"
(Chicago, N. D., mimeograph), p. 10.

16. John and Charles J. Erickson were the sixth and seventh employees of the original
company and its first two development engineers. Telephony Magazine, February 4,
1939, p. 32.

17. "The Story of the Automatic Electric Company," p. 7.

INVENTION AND DEVELOPMENT, DIAL TELEPHONE 7

Wichita High School East and the University of Wichita, is presi-
dent of the Automatic Electric Company.

The Erickson brothers and Lundquist established an enviable pat-
tern in the field of inventions. John was credited with 115 patents.
Charles had a total of 35 patents. The latter was characterized by
a philosophical type of mind, exploring theoretically the laws of
nature. He was often called upon by company associates to solve
complicated problems and met with great success. Both men re-
ceived the Talbot G. Martin award for distinguished service in tele-
phony. The award was made to John in 1936 and to Charles in
1938. The record of their achievement is impressive. Outstand-
ing contributions were made by them in the invention of the dial
telephone, the piano wire switch, the automatic selection of an idle
trunk, the pay stations for automatic subscriber lines, the preselec-
tion of trunk lines, etc. 18 Lundquist applied for more than 100
patents on the automatic telephone. 19

The pattern of development from the first experiments on the
homestead north of Lindsborg until the day of triumph has been
described by Charles Erickson as follows:

From that early frosty dawn of March 14, 1893, that brought the hours of
parting from the peaceful prairies of Kansas to the momentous day of June 6,
1896, when the finishing touches were put on the most important model ever
produced in the automatic telephone field, there were cloudy and stormy days
in which [we] pioneered in unexplored grounds of research. But now and again
there came a ray of sunlight to inspire new hopes, to encourage [us] to continue
to struggle. And the day that served to crown [our] achievement did arrive,
the queen of communication, "The Machine Girl," was completed; then to be
abused and ridiculed in infancy; now adopted and praised by all nations. 20

In May, 1951, dial telephone service was installed in Lindsborg
by the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. 21 The grandchil-
dren of the Swedish pioneers became once again the beneficiaries of
the vision and energy of an earlier generation. Millions of people
throughout the world share daily in the convenience of the dial
telephone, which owes so much to the dreams and hopes of these
young Kansans in the Smoky valley.

While the pattern of life brought fame to the Erickson brothers

18. Telephony Magazine, February 4, 1939, pp. 32, 33; Capper's Weekly, Topeka,
July 2o, 1923.

19. Capper's Weekly, July 28, 1923.

20. Lindsborg News-Record, February 2, 1939.

21. Ibid., May 10, 1951.

8 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

in distant places, there was for them across the decades a fond re-
membrance of the early days in Kansas. Charles described his feel-
ings on the occasion of a testimonial dinner in 1939:

A sheltered nook in the Smoky Valley of Central Kansas today preserves the
crumbling and forgotten monument to the model that substituted brains and
fingers of iron for the human the workshop that cradled the "Machine Girl."
Forgotten that monument may be, but there linger therein many and sweet
memories of happy days of long ago for two who began their work there. 22

22. Ibid., February 2, 1939. The small frame building in which the Ericksons
worked is located on the farm of Carl O. Pearson northeast of Lindsborg.

Q
CO
CO

Manhattan's Oldest House Was Built by
David A. Butterfield

C. W. McCAMPBELL

A SEARCH of several years has revealed the fact that the oldest
*-~JL residence in Manhattan is the stone house at 307 Osage St.,
shown in the accompanying photograph. It is still in good condition
and occupied. Two frame rooms have been added since the orig-
inal structure was built. It is now owned by A. W. Torluemke.

The exact age of the house is not certain. The original owner,
David A. Butterfield, bought the site from the Manhattan Town
Association on July 18, 1857, for $50. On July 8, 1858, he mortgaged
it to John Mails for $400, with interest at 20 percent. The mortgage
includes this statement: "Lot 150, Ward 2 ... meaning and
intending the lot on which David A. Butterfield now lives." The
house therefore was built between July 18, 1857, and July 8, 1858.

Several publications dealing with early Manhattan state that
William Goodnow built the first and David A. Butterfield the second
stone house in Manhattan. The Goodnow house was torn down
some years ago. Earlier frame houses have passed out of existence.

David A. Butterfield was born at Jay, Maine, 1834, and came to
Kansas in 1856. He was elected sheriff of Riley county in 1857. The
records of the New England Emigrant Aid Company contain
references to Butterfield's operation of its mill at Manhattan in
1857 and 1858. By the middle of 1858, however, he may have been
in the process of transferring his work and residence to Junction
City, for a letter from a correspondent of that city published in the
Herald of Freedom, Lawrence, on June 26, 1858, reported: "Mr.
D. A. Butterfield of Manhattan, has purchased a steam saw mill,
has it now in town, and is being put up as rapidly as possible. In
connection with the saw mill, he will have a grist, shingle and lath
mill."

Butterfield moved to Denver in 1862 and returned to Kansas,
at Atchison, in 1864. He organized that year Butterfield's Overland
Dispatch, a famous freighting concern which operated between
Atchison and Denver. It failed in 1866 and Butterfield moved to
Mississippi. Later he located in Hot Springs, Ark., where he
established a horse-drawn street car line. He was killed there on
March 28, 1875, in a quarrel with an employee.

DR. C. W. MCCAMPBELL is a professor of animal husbandry emeritus at Kansas State
College, Manhattan.

25869 (9)

Theatre in Kansas, 1858-1868: Background

For the Coming of the Lord Dramatic

Company to Kansas, 1869

JAMES C. MALIN
I. INTRODUCTION: LEAVENWORTH, THE METROPOLIS

history of theatre in Kansas begins, for all practical pur-
J- poses, with the decade 1858-1868. Attempts at dramatic en-
tertainment prior to 1858 were isolated, but that year brought some
semblance of orderly development and continuity. Furthermore,
that decade possessed an approximation of unity, characterized by
the tradition of the resident theatrical company and the "star" sys-
tem. The condition which marked the coming of the Lord Dramatic
Company to Kansas, in the season of 1869-1870, indicated a sharp
break away from the earlier general theatrical practices in the coun-
try as a whole one that crystallized in this particular area during
the late 1860's. A comparatively detailed historical treatment is re-
quired to differentiate the decade 1858-1868 from everything that
was to come after, and to explain how the change came about that
introduced James A. and Louie Lord, and road shows like them.
A number of factors were involved in so complex a transition, both
as related to the country as a whole and to the local area, but among
the Missouri river elbow cities and the interior towns of Kansas,
the advent of railroads was critical.

For practical purposes, also, the history of this decade of theatre
in Kansas is virtually the history of Leavenworth theatre, 1858-
1867. But it is related in a major fashion to St. Joseph, St. Louis,
Cincinnati, and New Orleans. Necessarily the population of Kan-
sas towns afforded something of an index of the ability of each to
support theatrical production of any kind, but the theatrical history
of each was different. Until the late 1880's Leavenworth was easily
the metropolis of Kansas. The only challenge to that generalization
would be to consider within the Kansas context the Greater Kansas
City metropolitan area, which was mostly on the Missouri side of the
line.

In the appended table the population figures are compiled for ten
Kansas towns. The first four are important only to the first period

DR. JAMES C. MALIN, associate editor of The Kansas Historical Quarterly, is professor
of history at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and is author of several books relating
to Kansas and the West.

(10)

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868

of theatre, but all are pertinent to the second. By 1880 Atchison, the
second city of 1860, appeared to be about to challenge Leavenworth,
but leveled off to a condition almost static. The changing relative
positions of Lawrence and Topeka between 1860 and 1880 are im-
portant to the story. As the state capital, Topeka emerged rapidly
from a village into a substantial city with a population structure
peculiar to its political character. Lawrence, which had occupied
a prominent role during territorial days, declined relatively in status
and became very nearly static. Theatrewise, it was rated a poor
show town. Fort Scott, the fifth city in 1870, had been too small in
1860 to be listed separately in the federal census. It was too small
to support a resident theatre, either with or without the star system,
in both periods, although the attempt was made in 1870, spring and
fall, immediately after the advent of the first railroad from Kansas
City. Even with the rail connections, it was relatively isolated from
other large towns in either Kansas or Missouri that could provide
receipts to meet high time and money costs incident to travel.

POPULATION OF TEN KANSAS TOWNS, 1860-1890

1860

1870

1875

1880

1885

1890

Leavenworth

7,429

17,873

15,136

16,546

29,268

19,768

Atchison

2,616

7,054

10,927

15,105

15,599

13,963

Lawrence

1,645

8,320

7,268

8,510

10,625

9,997

Topeka

759

5,790

7,272

15,452

23,499

31,007

Fort Scott

4,174

4,572

5,372

7,867

11,946

Emporia

2,168

2,194

4,631

7,759

7,551

Junction City

'217

2,778[?]

1,782

2,684

3,555

4,502

Salina

918

980

3,111

4,009

6,149

Wichita

2,580

4,911

16,023

23,853

Wyandotte (After

1886 Greater

K. C. Kansas)

2,940

4,093

3,200

12,086

38,316

The 10th Census of the United States, 1880, left Junction City, blank, indicating
that the figure given by the preceding census was not accepted as valid. Possibly the figure
should have been 1,778.

II. BUILDINGS USED FOR THEATRICAL PURPOSES

Prior to 1870 Leavenworth's theatrical history had been associated
primarily with four different buildings, essentially successive struc-
tures. Although not specifying in what building, on November 29,
1856, the Kansas Weekly Herald reported that Gabay's Theatricals
had been playing that week to crowded houses. The editor went on
to point out that Leavenworth needed "a TOWN HALL for Concerts,
Theatricals, Public Meetings, &c. Who will take the lead in this
matter . . . ?" Although not designated as a theatre, Melo-
deon Hall served in that capacity in April, 1858, and later. Not
until March, 1858, was the Varieties or Union Theatre provided.

12 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

BURT'S UNION (MARKET BUILDING) THEATRE

The announcement was made in March, 1858, that H. T. Clark
& Company, apparently the owners, "are fitting up the large hall on
the corner of Delaware and 3rd streets for a Theatre. It is being
fitted up in real city style. . . . The stage and scenery are in
perfect order. The floor is elevated, and good seats so arranged
that those in the rear can see as well as those in front. About 500
persons can be comfortably seated." On March 23 the theatre
opened and continued until April 16, when it was closed for repairs
and preparation of new scenery. The newspaper accounts were
not explicit about the situation, but some inferences appear to be
reasonable. Probably the first opening was a trial run and a
calculated risk in which no more money was invested than was
absolutely necessary to test out the possibilities.

The experiment had proved sufficiently successful, apparently,
to justify a heavier expenditure and some substantial changes in
management. George Burt, who had been identified with St.
Joseph theatre, had been engaged as stage manager as well as actor,
was a scene painter, and was credited with being the architect of
the Smith Theatre of St. Joseph. He was now made manager of
the operating company, which was a local group. The seats were
cushioned, and the aisles matted:

The scenery has been remodelled and renewed generally; but the best feature
of the late improvement is the "drop curtain," designed and executed by Mr.
Burt. It represents the "National Flag" falling in waving folds of "Red, white
and blue" upon a marble pavement. Upon the pavement is the word "Union,"
in large letters of gilt. The design is worthy of the author, the execution
artistic in the highest degree, and the effect is charming.

Thus the Varieties Theatre became the Union Theatre. In this
fashion, even the theatre in Leavenworth, a city Democratic in
politics and reputedly Proslavery in sentiment, reflected the critical
political issue of the day. Also, Burt announced explicitly that
there would be no barroom either in or about the theatre. This
was in deference to "the ladies [who] can in future feel no repug-
nance in visiting the Theatre. . . ."

For two and a half months the Union Theatre carried on with
apparent success, when fire burned it and both sides of Third street
eastward from Delaware street until it had destroyed 35 buildings.
The loss was estimated at $250,000. In describing the fire loss, the
best available account of the setting of the Union Theatre emerged.
The building was known as Market Hall. The basement was oc-
cupied by a billiard and bowling saloon; the first or ground floor by
the City Market; the second floor by the city recorder's and the

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 13

marshal's offices and the Union Theatre. In view of this descrip-
tion of the basement occupants of the building, one is left to wonder
how Hurt's assurance about the elimination of the barroom atmos-
phere was implemented. With the burning of their own building,
the Union company fell back, temporarily, upon Melodeon Hall
where a benefit performance was given for the relief of fire victims. 1

THE NATIONAL THEATRE

Within a week of the Union Theatre fire, a move was made to
build a new theatre to be ready for operation by September 15.
In fact, the opening of the National Theatre did not occur until
the second week in November. Burt and Hunter promoted the
enterprise and designed and painted their own scenery. Emphasis
was placed upon the point that this building was constructed for
a theatre, with stage, private boxes, dress circle, orchestra, par-
quette, gallery, and other arrangements. In fact, Leavenworth
insisted that it was the only "theatre" west of St. Louis; at the
entrance was the box office and on either side were two large
doors. The building was 40 by 100 feet, and the stage was 35 feet
deep and 28 feet wide. Although not explicit, the description im-
plied that this was a ground floor theatre, not a second or third floor
hall above business establishments. The location was Shawnee and
Fifth streets. 2

Theatrical operating companies kept the theatre in active use
with substantial continuity for about two years, or until mid-
September, 1860, after which it experienced a checkered career.
It became the American Concert Hall in July, 1861, and by early
1863, was operated as the Varieties Theatre. Attempts were made
on different occasions to burn it. In August, 1863, a grand jury had
returned an indictment against the "Moral Show" (its familiar ap-
pelation), as a public nuisance. After being unoccupied for some
time the first attempt to burn the building occurred in November,
1863. In August, 1869, the show was finally closed out "a relic of
infamy gone." Partly burned in June, 1870, the comment was sig-
nificant, that although the fire was extinguished nobody "cared in
particular whether the filthy old concern was reduced to ashes
or not." At one time, and possibly throughout its history, this
building was owned by a Philadelphian. 3

1. Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, March 13, 20, 27, April 17, 24, May 1,
July 17, 24, 1858.

2. Ibid., July 24, October 16, 23, 30, November 13, 1858.

3. Leavenworth (Daily) Conservative, July 7, 10, September 18, December 28, 1861;
March 23, June 14, November 19, December 9, 1862; July 25, August 9, 20, November
13, 1863; Daily Times, Leavenworth, July 26, August 9, 13, 1863; Times and Conserva-
tive, Leavenworth, August 3, 1869; June 15, 1870.

14 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

THE UNION (STOCKTON HALL) THEATRE

Stockton Hall at the southwest corner of Delaware and Fourth
streets was built late in 1858 and advertised as available after
November 22 "for Balls, Parties, Concerts, Lectures, &c., &c."; a

"NEW AND SPACIOUS HALL, THE LARGEST AND FINEST IN THE WESTERN

COUNTRY. . . ." In the winter of 1861-1862, when amusement
for the military personnel became important to Leavenworth, the-
atrical activity revived. The Melodeon Concert Hall was refitted
for operation, but more important was the conversion of Stockton's
Hall into a theatre. Under the circumstances, the Daily Times,
January 24, 1862, was convinced "a well managed theatre will pay."
On March 20 George Burt and his wife Agnes opened it as the
Union Theatre. Under changing management, operation was con-
tinuous under that name until the building burned January 25,
1864. The Union Theatre was a second floor affair, at the time
of the fire the ground floor was occupied by a drug store, a saloon,
and a wholesale liquor store, while the basement accommodated a
pork-packing establishment. At the time of the fire the property
was owned by a Cincinnati man. 4

THE NEW UNION THEATRE

Soon after the burning of the Union Theatre ( Old Stockton Hall )
a new building was undertaken, to be opened in September, 1864.
It was located upon the old site at Delaware and Fourth streets,
48 feet on Delaware and 90 feet on Fourth street, two stories, the
theatre occupying the second floor. The ground floor was occupied
by two of the same tenants, the drug store and the wholesale liquor
business, who had used the former building, and a new saloon. At
the time of the opening of the new theatre the description of this
saloon made it appear as attractive as possible: "A perfect little
bower of beauty mirrors and marble, crystal and coral, decanters
and demijohns, is the New Theatre Saloon on Fourth Street." The
main entrance to the theatre itself, on the second floor, was also
from Fourth street, while the gallery entrance was from Delaware
street. The stage of the theatre was 30 by 40 feet, with green
room and dressing rooms under the stage, and an entrance from
Fourth street. The theatre capacity was 700. When reporting
progress in April, the Daily Times, April 21, consoled itself that
when completed the metropolis of Kansas would again enjoy legiti-
mate drama. The opening occurred September 10, 1864, with

4. Daily Times, Leavenworth, November 22, 1858, February 5, April 23, 1859,
January 24, March 20, 1862, January 26, 1864.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 15

Sheridan Knowles' play "The Hunchback" presented by the resident
company.

Only five years later the Times and Conservative lamented that
the old building was misnamed an Opera House its acoustics were
bad, its condition filthy, and it was dangerous because the old exit
from the gallery had been removed. In November of the same
year, when the tenor Brignoli had offered an operatic concert, the
editorial comment was even more blunt: "We received many com-
plaints and would not speak of it but that there is always something
wrong with it [the Opera House]. If the proprietors cannot keep
it in good order they should not rent it. The community are getting
tired of going into a hog pen unless it is warmed." 5 The conclusion
to be drawn from these candid indictments was unmistakable a
new theatre was necessary. Not until 1880, however, was the new
Opera House a reality on Shawnee between Fifth and Sixth
streets, with a capacity of 900. Thus in December, 1869, when
James A. and Louie Lord first visited Leavenworth and revived
theatrical activity, in spite of the disparagement about its acoustics,
filth, and danger, they played in the old (five years old) Opera
House.

Leavenworth had other public halls which were used for enter-
tainment, special events, and meeting places for organizations. The
most pretentious of these was Laing's Hall, over business establish-
ments, located on the northwest corner of Delaware and Fourth
streets. It was described as being designed to accommodate 1,000
persons in comfortable arm chairs, and was dedicated April 12,
1864, by the Leavenworth Musical Association. Apparently it was
not equipped for theatrical performances until sometime during the
1870's. 6

III. THEATRE MANAGEMENT
RESIDENT COMPANIES

The term "theatre" was used, during the 1850's and 1860's, two
ways. It was applied interchangeably to either the building or to
the company of actors who performed there, often leaving to the
reader the task of discriminating from the context in each particular
case which was meant. The exact character of the chain of business
relations involved between the owner of the building and the actor
on the stage is seldom available to the historian, and cannot be

5. Times and Conservative, Leavenworth, August 1, November 11, 1869.

6. Daily Times, Leavenworth, December 10, 1863; May 7, June 22, 1864; Leavenworth
Daily Conservative, April 10, 23, June 23, 1864.

16 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

dealt with in the present essay except in the most general terms. The
preceding section has described something of the buildings used
for theatrical purposes in Leavenworth. The present section deals
in general terms with the management of theatrical production,
but even this simplified approach is sufficiently complicated to con-
fuse anyone.

When transportation was slow, unreliable, and expensive (Mis-
souri river navigation was closed by ice about three months of every
year) theatrical operations had to be geared to the realities of the
situation. Whether in the Missouri river cities, or further east, the
resident theatre (theatrical troupe or company) was one possible
answer. When Gabay's Dramatic Troupe visited Leavenworth
early in November, 1856, the Herald comment reflected this situa-
tion: "We learn Mr. Gabay proposes at some future time making
permanent arrangements for a theatre in this place. We need a
Town Hall for Concerts, Theatricals, Public Meetings, &c." Such
a "permanent . . . theatre" would require continuity of pro-
prietorship and management as well as a company of actors who
would prepare a long list of plays permitting a change of bill each
night without too frequent repetitions. To avoid monotony several
leading actors would be required and further diversification could
be achieved by bringing in stars from time to time on short engage-
ments who might feature plays not on the home list, the resident
company playing the other parts, providing support for such stars.
The resident theatre might make outside engagements, leaving the
home theatre building vacant from time to time or permitting its
use on such occasions by other forms of entertainment. The St.
Joseph Theatre, the Union Theatre at Leavenworth, and as late as
1870 the Olympic Theatre at Fort Scott undertook to function upon
such a basis.

The use of the term stock company as applied to the Kansas
theatre of this period has been purposely avoided. Although it was
the technical term used in the profession for certain types of theatre,
sometimes being substantially the equivalent of the Leavenworth
situation, yet both the meaning of the term and the status of the
Leavenworth Theatre were quite variable and the application to the
Kansas theatre might serve only to confuse further the history that
is being presented. The term resident theatre has among other
things the virtue of being descriptive of the nature and objective of
the institution as Leavenworth and Atchison saw it. Also, the term
resident theatre has the further merit of contrasting sharply with the
term traveling theatre, a difference which is the focus of this study.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 17

In other words, this is not a treatment of the changing internal struc-
ture of the acting profession in its own right, but a presentation of
the relations of theatre as an institution to the changes taking place
in the structure of society under the influences of technology, par-
ticularly the displacement of water communications by mechani-
cally-powered land communications, together with a recognition of
all that this meant to the individual and to the community in relation
to entertainment.

The success of the resident theatre system depended upon more
than a population large enough to meet theoretical support require-
ments. In some respects continuity in management and soundness
in long range planning were more important than the continuity of
acting personnel. Yet a measure of stability for the membership
was desirable to attract good actors who might also be good citizens.
Actors and the public might soon tire of each other. Mutual re-
spect between the actors and the public both on professional and
personal bases was peculiarly necessary in small cities. For those
actors who did have families, the resident theatre could be made at-
tractive. Not only did theatre face these problems, the schools and
churches had many of the same difficulties. To meet the problem
of the minister and his congregation tiring of each other, the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church made annual appointments, and usually
limited reappointments. Theatre had no overhead organization to
administer such an approach. In a sense, it was near the opposite
extreme in its lack of any organized institutions.

For the decade of Leavenworth theatrical history, 1858-1867,
under review, the principal proprietorships of the acting companies
centered successively around four men; a theatrical association for
which George Burt was manager, April, 1858, irregularly to 1860 ( ? ) ,
1862; A. S. Addis, a local photographer, March, 1862, to January,
1864; W. H. Coolidge, druggist, April, 1864, to May, 1866; and
George D. Chaplin, actor, August, 1866, to November, 1867.
Addis and Coolidge were local business men, not actors; Burt and
Chaplin were actors as well as operators and depended upon finan-
cial support from others not named. For two years, 1867 to 1869,
Leavenworth had no theatre. In the sense of permanent resident
theatre, a statement of conclusions would seem almost superfluous.
Yet a more intimate view of the workings of Leavenworth theatre
are revealing and rewarding.

The operating association for the Leavenworth Varieties Theatre
of 1858 secured the services of George Burt and his "talented and
charming wife" Agnes. His specialty was "low comedy," and in

18 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

addition he was a scene painter. Mrs. Burt played the leading
feminine roles of lighter nature usually, and she sang and danced.
Burt's major responsibility at the start, however, was that of stage
manager. After the trial run of March and April, 1858, and the reor-
ganization, Burt became the manager of the theatre, under the new
name Union Theatre. In his announcement to the public he insisted
that "The 'Varieties' [Union Theatre] is emphatically a local institu-
tion the first regular Theatre in Kansas (owned by an association
of well-known men, who have used every exertion for its advance-
ment) and as such will be supported and protected by our citizens."
The Herald, whose editor, L. J. Eastin, was a theatre patron, took
similar ground "the Theatre' is now a fixed institution of Leaven-
worth." 7

Scott's Theatre, playing at Melodeon Hall in April and May,
1858, was operated by a man-and-wife team, Mr. and Mrs. D. L.
Scott. Late in May, J. C. Thome was brought to the theatre, and
after mid-June C. R. Thorne was manager of the Union Theatre.
The C. R. Thorne family, father, mother, and two sons "chips off the
old block" were well known in the west. The fire of mid-July
closed their career at this Union Theatre. 8

The project for a new theatre, which became the National, was
promoted by Burt and Hunter. When the National Theatre opened
September 10, 1858, Mr. and Mrs. Burt were still favorites, but
another man-and-wife team, well known to the river towns, Mr. and
Mrs. C. F. Walters, were hired to sustain the heavy characters. The
National's management changed rapidly; Burt and Coutra, April,
1859; Conrad and Haun, June, 1859; Langrishe and Allen, Novem-
ber, 1859; Thorne and Burt, December, 1859; and Burt again in
April, 1860. Its management during its last months is not clear.

The Daily Times gave theatre its editorial support and when the
outlook appeared discouraging, September 8, 1859, wrote of the
role of theatre as follows:

The question of whether we are to have some standard place of amusement
is being freely canvassed. The old National looks "like a banquet hall deserted."
As the evenings grow longer, and the time gradually approaches for overcoats
and fires, our "homeless" and restless citizens are growing exceedingly anxious
and restive. We have a host of unmarried folk in Leavenworth who would
patronize most anything in the theatrical line, and we cannot see why a
theatre well conducted would not be well supported.

During the winter of 1861-1862, with military personnel to enter-

7. Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, March 13, 20, 27, AprU 3, 10, 17, 24, May
1, 15, 1858.

8. Ibid, April 24, May 22, June 5, 12, 19, July 10, 17, 1858.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 19

tain, George Burt and George Gosling had remodeled Stockton Hall
as a theatre, but Addis bought into the Union (Stockton Hall)
Theatre in March, 1862. He was listed as manager, but the staging
of shows fell to Burt at first and then to John Templeton who
quarreled with Burt and dismissed him in July, 1862. Templeton's
control under the Addis regime lasted until July, 1863, when he and
a group of the company resigned, in protest of their treatment, and
founded a traveling company under Templeton's management.
George D. Chaplin became manager of the Union Theatre under
Addis in July, 1863, continuing until January, 1864, when the com-
pany broke up in a quarrel with Addis over salaries. This theatre
building burned and Addis' theatrical career as promoter ended.

The new "Leavenworth Theatre" in the rebuilt Stockton Hall
opened in September, 1864, under Coolidge as manager as well as
proprietor, with Henry Linden as acting and stage manager. With
some modifications in the proprietorship, this management con-
tinued until May, 1866. The Chaplin Opera House ( Stockton build-
ing ) opened in August, 1866, and operated under his control during
the season ending in June, 1867; and in reality his management
continued from September to November, 1867, when the company
broke up in a scandal. For this misfortune the blame did not rest
directly upon Chaplin, but lacking adequate financial resources
apparently he had found it necessary to make an arrangement that
later brought disaster to his enterprise. In the briefest terms, a
Leavenworth business man invested in an actress, Susan Denin,
making her manageress, with Chaplin as stage manager. The
company opened September 7, 1867, running until late October
when an engagement in Kansas City took them out of town for
several days, reopening in the home theatre November 5. Two
days later, without notice, the company went to St. Joseph where
they played between two and three weeks, again disappearing
without notice the company had collapsed when the sponsor de-
cided not to continue paying deficits. Possibly the sponsor and
Susan had quarreled. In a lawsuit which followed, the main facts
became public property. 9

During the winter seasons of 1867-1868 and 1868-1869 Leaven-
worth had no theatre, although the "Varieties" flourished until closed
August, 1869. This fulfilled the lament and prophecy of the
Conservative, November 24, 1867:

9. Daily Times, Leavenworth, September 6, 10, 1864, June 27, September 9, 10,
1865, August 19, 1866, August 7, September 7, October 23, 1867; Daily Conservative,
November 2, 3, 5, 8, 12, 27, 28, 1867.

20 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Our people have very generally concluded that they are to have no theatre
to entertain them this winter. Many of them even regret not having encouraged
Manager Chaplin, while he was here, and as they are at a loss to know how to
pass the long evenings, would probably be willing to go now and see Julia Dean,
Mrs. Gladstane, or some of the other artists of ordinary ability, who have ap-
peared in our city to $50 audiences during the past year. On the whole, we are
inclined to think the pleasure seekers of Leavenworth don't want a theatre.
They will probably be gratified, for a time at least.

Indeed the winter of 1869-1870 was well along before a break came.
Early in November, 1869, the tenor Brignoli, en route to California,
stopped for two days, November 9, 10. He presented an operatic
concert the first night, which included the first act of "Lucia di
Lammermoor" and the third act and garden scene from "Faust," and
on the second night came Rossini's "Barber of Seville." It was fol-
lowing the Brignoli performances that the Times and Conservative,
November 11, rendered its blunt verdict that: "The community are
getting tired of going into a hog pen unless it is warmed." Between
that time and the appearance of the Lords, December 20, the opera
house had been the scene of a minstrel show from St. Louis, and a
tragedian who read a number of dramatic roles and poems. 10 Of
course, this did not mean that Leavenworth had no entertainment of
any kind; only that there were no theatrical performances. From
time to time the opera house and other public halls had many kinds
of amusements and lectures, some good, and some very bad.

THEATRE CIRCUITS

Not only was theatre in the west in a state of flux, such was its
conspicuous characteristic elsewhere. One of the innovations was
the theatre circuit in some form. Thus whatever the origin of the
shows, they were assured a place in the offerings of the member
theatre in each city in the circuit.

H. R. Camp, of Kansas City, was reported to have arranged. for
a circuit including Leavenworth to begin in January, 1864. Ap-
parently this was premature. 11 In 1871 the Western Star circuit,
including Kansas City, Leavenworth, St. Joseph, and Omaha, was
under the management of J. A. Stevens of Kansas City, Mo., where
he headed a theatrical company. Apparently this circuit was based
upon stock companies and stars. In November, 1872, Stevens took
his company to Topeka for an experimental two-night engagement to
test out the feasibility of including Topeka in the circuit. The fol-
io. Times and Conservative, Leavenworth, November 4, 9-11, 14, 22-28, December
9, 1869.

11. Daily Times, Leavenworth, October 27, 29, 1863.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 21

lowing year reference is found to a Missouri river circuit, which
included Omaha, Lincoln, St. Joseph, Leavenworth, Topeka, and
Kansas City. It provided billing among member theatres for travel-
ing dramatic companies. 12 In the West these projects were con-
spicuously experimental and transitional, and were introductory to
more stabilized practices of the 1880's, if anything in theatre can be
properly termed stabilized.

IV. THE ACTORS
THEATRE BEGINNINGS, 1858-1860

In dealing with the management of theatres and dramatic com-
panies, necessarily something about the actors who appeared on
the stage has been included. Several of the managers were actors
in their own right. The story of George and Agnes Burt is the first
and most conspicuous case in point. When they came to Leaven-
worth in March, 1858, Mrs. Burt was given a special introduction
through the medium of a letter from St. Joseph where she was well
known. The writer defended the theatre in general but in particular
declared:

In view of a vulgar prejudice which has obtained to a great extent in the
towns of this region, I will add that Mrs. Burt's course in this city, has been
such as to gain for her the respect and esteem and love of all who have become
acquainted with her, and such as proves her title to move, as she always has,
in the best social circles. Of her abilities as a talented and sprightly actress,
you will not say I have spoken too enthusiastically when you have witnessed
them.13

Some days later, and on the basis of her Leavenworth perform-
ances, the verdict was that: "This talented and accomplished actress
and lady has obtained for herself in this community an enviable
reputation. She plays, sings and dances well, and so far has given
universal satisfaction." A few nights later her "Castinet Dance"
was said to have been "perfectly bewitching," and she was presented
with a gift by a number of gentlemen, headed by Judge G. W.
Purkins.

Additions were made from time to time to the original Burt
company. Among them, in June, 1858, were Mr. and Mrs. Pennoyer,
and in November Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Walters. 14 The wives in both
of these man-and-wife teams were distinctly the better halves.
Also during this first period in Leavenworth's theatrical history the

12. Ibid., September 26, 1871, February 6, 1873, February 3, 1875; Leavenworth Daily
Commercial, September 28, 1871, February 7, 1873; The Kansas Daily Commonwealth
Topeka, November 28, 1872.

13. Kansas Weekly H-erald, Leavenworth, March 20, 1858.

14. Ibid., June 5, 12, November 13, 1858.

22 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

beginnings of the star system were introduced, although not so
labeled. This is of some importance because at a later time Addis
was credited with this innovation. 15 Among the several stars,
Eliza Logan must be mentioned in particular. She appeared in
April, 1859, for two weeks, beginning April 11, the plays including
"Ingomar," "Evadne," "Lucretia Borgia," and "Romeo and Juliet."
In introducing her it was said: "Her name may be found on the
brightest page of American Drama. Miss Logan is not a glaring
meteor, flashing through the histrionic world; but she is a sweet
morning star, whose chaste and mellow light gives assurance of its
immortality." 16 Not only did she impress the scribe of the Herald,
but Mr. and Mrs. Burt named one of their daughters Eliza Logan
Burt. Another daughter was named Clara, possibly for Clara
Walters. 17

One of the points made in the press when Burt first arrived in
Leavenworth was that he was "determined to elevate the character
of the Stage in this upper country, and place it upon a proper
basis." Upon occasion the Herald featured the evaluations of out-
siders who were supposedly more objective than local critics. One
of these strangers who attended the theatre during a brief visit to
the city, commented favorably upon a number of the actors by
name, particularly the Burts in "The Lady of Lyons," "Ingomar,"
"The Maniac Lover": "In a word, the Union Theatre has a company
of professional artists, the majority of whom are competent to
appear on the boards of any theatre ... in elevating the stand-
ard of the legitimate drama, and in establishing an institution that
should meet with the hearty support of every lady and gentleman
in Leavenworth of scholarly attainments, refinement and intelli-
gence." On the same day the Herald editor commented that: "The
stock of performers is everything that it should be, embracing actors
of every variety, and well capable to fill the characters of any play,
however numerous."

Nearly a year later the Times admitted that: "Our neighbors of
St. Joseph and Kansas City laugh at us, and call us sneeringly, the
'Cottonwood town/ So be it. Let those laugh who win." Again a
stranger was quoted: "despite your newness, and the suddenness
of your being, yours is the only place which imitates which has the

15. Daily Times, Leavenworth, December 8, 1863.

16. Eliza Logan (1829-1872) was a member of the Cincinnati theatrical family of
Logans, and sister of Dr. C. A. Logan, the distinguished Leavenworth physician, who had
located at Leavenworth in 1857. She married George Wood, theatrical manager in her
home town, later in 1859 and retired from the stage.

17. Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, April 9, 16, 23, 1859; Daily Times, April
11-23, 1859, December 20, 22, 1866.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 23

air and look of a metropolis." Also, Leavenworth was still proud
of George and Agnes Burt because they were held "in the highest
esteem by our citizens, not only for the interest they contribute to
the stage, but for their social qualities." 18

The Thorne family played at Scott's Theatre in May and stayed
to perform at the Union Theatre, C. R. Thorne beginning in "The
Wife," June 2, and later playing "Richard III," and "Othello." Mrs.
C. R. Thorne played Amelia in the last named play. In July Thorne
was in charge of the Union Theatre. When the National Theatre
opened in November, 1858, Mr. and Mrs. Burt were on hand for the
lighter parts and Mr. and Mrs. Walters for the heavier parts. In
November, 1859, the Thornes took over the National and the next
month the Thornes, Burts, and J. R. Aliens worked together for a
time. Burt became ill, and the Thornes and Aliens went to St.
Joseph. Burt, who had been having reverses, became involved in
lawsuits, but in April, 1860, the Times reported he had been vindi-
cated "Burt is indomitable . . . and we may soon expect to
see the National again in its glory." Conditions were against the
theatre during the next months, the year of the great drought, and
the National closed in September leaving Leavenworth without a
theatre until 1862. Not at the National, but at Stockton's Hall, a
benefit was scheduled for Burt on September 1, 1860. The Time's
urged: "Let all who can scare up a quarter, invest it in making him
a bumper. He has fought hard here for his honorable profession,
and as the pioneer of Leavenworth histrionics should never be
slighted by our people." 19

During these trying years of beginnings, the Burts, the Thornes,
and the Aliens were closely identified with the area, particularly
with St. Joseph and Leavenworth. The elder Thornes retired from
the stage in 1862 and settled in California. 20 Part of the personnel of
these early years carried over into the second period beginning in
1862, but most of it in the later years was new.

BEN WHEELER AND AMERICAN CONCERT HALL, 1861

When the National Theatre suspended in September, 1860, Leav-
enworth was left without any regular place of amusement other than
the saloons, billiard halls, and places of a still lower order that did
not advertise or receive locals notice. Nevertheless a vacuum tends

18. Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, March 27, May 22, 1858 March 26 1859-
Leavenworth Weekly Times, April 23, 1859.

19. Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, May 22, 29, June 5 12 19 July 10 No-

y 10 No-
ber * 17 '
20. Daily Times, Leavenworth, May 2, 1862.

24 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

to be filled by something, and such was the case in Leavenworth.
Starting operations in Melodeon Hall, on Cherokee street, Ben
Wheeler, a flamboyant local "character," launched the American
Concert Hall during the winter of 1860-1861. On April 9, 1861,
the Daily Conservative, D. W. Wilder, editor, either as a "local" or
as an unidentified advertisement, reported on the nature of the at-
tractions: "Miss Fannie Gilmore in her songs and dances, Ben.
Wheeler in his Irish comicalities, Pendergrast in the 'Happy Land
of Canaan/ and Carroll and Lynch in their negro eccentricities, are
unapproachable, and present an array of talent unequaled in the
West." In this "varieties" type of entertainment "stars" came and
went and the composition of the company changed with some per-
sonalities persisting over a substantial period of time.

When the American Concert Hall moved to the old National
Theatre, July 10, 1861, the features stressed were songs, dances,
plays, and burlesques "never before produced in this city." Further-
more, the advertisement boasted that the price had been reduced
"from one dime to 10 cents." Of the opening it was said that "the
elephant 'Columbus' was hugely ludicrous, and the operatic bur-
letta, 'Oh hush/ was immense." The following week came the
"Orphan Girl," and the "Masquerade Ball," and the source of income
to supplement the reduction of price "from one dime to 10 cents"
was revealed to the historian who otherwise might be naive and
might worry about how so low an admission fee could finance a
show advertising at least a half dozen named stars: " 'Major John'
at the bar contributes to the comfort of the spiritually inclined."
Possibly some sense of the degradation involved was reflected in a
paragraph in which a parallel was drawn:

The old National Theater, wherein Hamlet and Romeo were wont to be
murdered, and Shakespear's [sic] ghost haunted the grim-visaged representa-
tives of his fertile brain, is now the nightly scene of Afric's fair sons excentricities
[sic], interspersed with a variety of entertaining amusement.

But the burden of the article in which the above paragraph oc-
curred was praise of the merits of the current show and its particular
star:

Miss Gilmore is gifted with rare musical talent, and in to all of her melodies
she throws her whole soul, imbuing each with a touching pathos, and feeling
that strikes the heart, and like sweet melody lingers to please the people of
Leavenworth, and they can properly show their appreciation by attending her
benefit on Saturday night.

With a change of bill the following week the public was assured:
"No plays will be introduced that need shock the nerves of the most

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 25

fastidious." Sure the American Concert Hall was well on its way to
earning its ironic appellation the "Moral Show." 21

The opening of the Civil War in April, 1861, inaugurated a fever-
ish activity of military preparations. These were momentous weeks
of decision for everybody. The selfish, the insincere, the charlatan
had an opportunity, and many made the most of it. Ben Wheeler,
colonel, if you please, went to St. Louis to see Fremont about
military matters and reported satisfactory arrangements for his
military company, the Fusileers, which would appear soon on dress
parade at the American Concert Hall. Soon the Conservative began
to ask what had become of them had they gone south to join the
Confederacy? They did not appear in the mayor's parade, and
the Conservative inquired again about the mystery. The excuse
given was that they were too busy preparing the next play: "He
Would Be a Son of Malta," which opened September 10. The
Fusileers were called to meet at the theatre September 18. The
following evening a new program was presented, including "The
Omnibus" featuring Ben Wheeler and others: ". . . those who
thirst will be attended to promptly by the lady waiters, or by 'J onn>
at the bar. The utmost order and decorum is preserved in every
part of the house, and everything is conducted with the strictest
regard to propriety." And so it went "rich, rare and racy" into
the winter of entertainment for soldiers and others that season of
1861-1862. But what became of Ben and the Fusileers is not clear.
The management of the Concert Hall changed rapidly.

In July, 1862, a facetious paragraph referred to both the American
and Fusileers, but without giving much tangible information:

The Ancient and Honorable Fusileers, Col. Ben Wheeler, commanding,
J. R. O'Neil Captain and A. G. G. G. (awful glorious, great gun), have con-
sented to come out, march and show themselves on the Fourth. Since last
year's festivities they have seen much action in the tented, contented and dis-
contented field. Persons wishing to unbend and recreate themselves should go
to the meeting at 4 o'clock this afternoon, at the American, when recruits will
be received. Under the new law half the bounty will be paid on enlistment.

In December, 1862, Maj. Ben Wheeler was reported to have
opened a saloon "in the lately remodelled and renovated Moral Show
building." Apparently his venture did not last long, because the
notorious "Varieties" took over under different management during
the winter of 1862-1863, and in spite of encounters with the law sur-
vived until its final closing in 1869. 22

21. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, AprU 9, July 7, 9, 10, 11, 16, 21, 25, 28, 1861.

22. Ibid., August 27, 28, 31, September 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 18, 19, October 30, No-
vember 10, 13, December 1, 5, 10, 12, 28, 1861, March 23, 25, June 14, 26, 27, July
1, 3, 20, 22, 31, November 19, December 9, 1862, July 25, 26, August 9, 1863; Dotty
Times, March 23, 25, 30, April 1, 2, 4, May 12, June 10, 1862.

35869

26 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

BURT AT THE UNION THEATRE, 1862

As actor, in differentiation from his career as manager, George
Burt's reception was cordial when he undertook, in February, 1862,
to operate the Union ( Stockton Hall ) Theatre. Before regular pro-
ductions began a benefit for Mrs. Burt was announced for March 20.
The play was to be "Honey Moon." The "local" of the Conserva-
tive pronounced Burt "the best theatrical manager in the West"

The house will be crowded and the crowd will be delighted. Manager
Burt, we are glad to state, has opened the Union on an entirely different
principle from that which has heretofore governed our theatrical representa-
tions. It will be strictly fastidious and our best people will favor it with their
patronage.

The Times "local" agreed that the heading "Mrs. Burt's Benefit" was
enough to attract all play goers: "Many of our citizens remember
and appreciate her good qualities as a woman and actress, and will
fill the house . . . Burt will be on hand with his usual budget of
fun."

The Conservative, March 21, announced sadly:

Burt has postponed that Benefit. He says he has lived here five years and
always brought a drenching storm whenever he advertised a Benefit. In the
fall of '59 he left the stage for other pursuits; hence that unprecedented
Drought [of I860]. We think it will pay those who drive over the prairies to
get up a purse and send Burt out of the State, to be brought back by the
farmers on the first indication of a dry season.

The Times continued, March 22, that despite the weather, Burt
was determined to satisfy the fun-loving people of the city by open-
ing the Union Theatre: ". . . we will not be responsible for
damaged vest buttons and buckles, when Burt opens his budget
of fun."

Again a benefit for George Burt was announced on April 3, for
that very evening "Benefit of George Burt (The Aquarius of
Kansas)." Three comedies constituted the bill: "Toodles," "Merry
Cobler," and "Ellsworth Tableau." But the "local" of the Conserva-
tive commented: "Go early and get a good seat, it will be a gay
old time 'if it don't rain'." The Times version reported that:
"Burt, by special request of many of our citizens, will open Union
Theatre Hall to-night, and entertain his many friends for an hour
or two . . . assisted by his ^better half. . . ." Also, several
young men had volunteered to take part. The plays listed by the
Times were "He Had a Brother," "Why Don't She Marry?," "Merry
Cobler," and "Toodles." Neither paper reported next day upon
the show. Not explicit in these notices was the fact that Burt had

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 27

not assembled a complete company and was not yet producing
plays. That accounted for the reference to volunteers who were
making a show possible.

When the announcement came, March 26, that Addis had bought
the Gosling-Collins interest in the Union Theatre, making Burt
manager, the Conservative observed:

The well established character of this gentleman as manager, and the high
popularity he has attained as a comedian will make the "Union" the chief at-
traction of the city. As an artist, Burt stands pre-eminent in his profession.
His National drop curtain would grace any theatre in the country, and is a
work of art of which our citizens should be proud. Burt has struggled through
hard times, ruinous law suits and numerous opposition to establish a good
theatre in Leavenworth, and he is justly entitled to the encouragement and
support of our citizens.

On April 5 the Conservative announced a benefit for Mr. and Mrs.
Kent and again took advantage of the occasion to elaborate upon the
debt owed to Burt:

The efforts of Mr. Burt to revive the drama in this city have been perfectly
successful. He has succeeded in producing fine pieces and making a place of
amusement fitted for the enjoyment of the best class of people. Our community
is indebted to his exertions for this privilege, and they have shown their ap-
preciation of his services by full houses every night of the new season. 23

But about a month later, in alarm (?), the Conservative asked:
"Where is Burt? We must send for him and have him get up a
Benefit. He is now at Fort Riley and they have showers there every
day. Burt is the only man equal to the dry emergency and must
be obtained at any cost." The occasion for the absence of Burt and
Addis was the troop movements of April and May, 1862. A May 25
local reported that "Mr. Addis, Deguereotype Artists, has returned
from an extensive and profitable trip through the State. . . ."
Thus Burt and Addis had been reported at Lawrence where the
show business was good on account of the troop assignments there.
Early in May they moved on to Topeka, and later came the report
quoted from Fort Riley. The next major movement of military per-
sonnel came the last week of May when named Wisconsin and Kan-
sas regiments were marched to Fort Leavenworth for transport by
steamboats. A soldier writing from Fort Riley, May 22, reported:

"Fort Riley is ours! Yesterday the 'Home Guards' evacuated the
Fort, 'retreating in good order/ and save the bedbugs and gray-backs
who hold a life lease on the place, we are the undisputed possessors."
As no one seemed to understand the purpose of the marching and

23. Daily Times, Leavenworth, January 24, March 20, 22, April 3, 1862; Daily Con-
servative, February 4, March 19, 20, 21, 26, April 3, 5, 1862.

28 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

counter-marching, or of the unpredictable transfers of officers, or
of the merits and status of the quarrel between Gov. Charles Robin-
son and the Lane faction about who controlled Kansas regiments,
morale was very low. Apparently, the soldier badly needed amuse-
ment that would relieve his mind even temporarily of troubles.

The return of Burt and Addis to Leavenworth near the end of May
was thus geared to the military situation. Also, the makeshift
theatrical company had served its purpose. Addis went east for
photographic equipment and to engage a new theatrical company.
Burt remained in Leavenworth to keep the show going, opening
May 27 with a four-play bill: "Kiss in the Dark/' "Yankee in Kan-
sas," "Brown's a Brick," and "Irish Assurance." Interspersed, of
course, were songs and dances. 24

In view of this background, the events of the following weeks
are particularly difficult to accept. The new Union Theatre com-
pany brought in Misses Julia and Lola Hudson, Miss Helena,
and Mr. Wilson, but most important to this story John Temple-
ton as stage manager and leading man. Mr. and Mrs. Burt re-
mained, Burt being listed as manager. The opening occurred
June 17 with "The Avenger" and "Honey Moon." The second night
the plays were "The Stranger" and "The Limerick Boy," on the third
night, "Black Eyed Susan" and "The Rough Diamond," on the fourth
night, "Camille," and on the fifth night, "The Taming of the Shrew"
and "Family Jars." Though hot were the summer days, every seat
was reported taken; then special ventilation was improvised to in-
sure greater comfort. Both the Times and the Conservative were
generous in their praise of the venture, the latter emphasizing that
it is "a first class place of amusement where persons of refinement
can go and be delightfully entertained;" "It is an orderly and com-
fortable place." The Times observed that "A well patronized
theatre is an evidence of unusual prosperity or depression, as in the
latter instance people will go to drive off the Iblues/ and in the
former because they want amusement, and think they can afford it."

The dramatic critics were less generous with individuals. Temple-
ton cast himself and Miss Helena in the leading roles for most of
the plays and he was pronounced only "fair," or "Templeton did
better, much better, than we anticipated as William* [in "Black
Eyed Susan"] night before last, and as 'Armand' [in "Camille"]
last evening . S ; . a really fine actor." Miss Helena received
the best press although that may be a reflection of a male bias in

24. Daily Times, Leavenworth, April 12, May 7, 1862; Daily Conservative, May 15,
25, 27, 28, 1862.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 29

an age which was peculiarly a man's world she "took the house
by surprise on Friday evening by her correct and spirited rendition
of 'Camille'." The play "Camille" was repeated twice soon there-
after. The Times commented that: "The play is one of those which
may be termed terribly sensational and wholly French. . . ."

The Burts got few good parts during these opening days of the
season. When the comedies "The Serious Family," and the "Two
Gregories" were to be presented, the Conservative local said: "We
want to see Burt's 'Aminadab' for we think he will do it to per-
fection." This was the same day that the Times pronounced
Templeton's playing in "Camille," the previous night's offering, as
only "fair" while saying that: "Burt's Izak was a happy conception
well rendered, as are all his comedy parts. . . ." And Miss Hud-
son was referred to as "refreshing" in the role of "Marie." 25

Trouble was brewing and quickly came to a climax. In the
papers for July 4 the advertisement of the Union Theatre changed
form, dropping Burt's name from the position of manager. The
Burt benefit announced for July 16 met the usual Burt luck, rain and
poor receipts. In the controversy Burt was dismissed. Friends
of the Burts met at the Planters' House, July 25, to try to arrange
a proper benefit, but apparently failed. Templeton issued a card
July 27 stating his side of the case and alleging that Burt had had
no financial interest in the Union Theatre since Addis had bought
control, and worked on a salary basis, had managed nothing, his
listed position as manager of the Union Theatre having been merely
a courtesy title. Whatever the merits of the controversy, for the
time being, the Burts were again eliminated from Leavenworth
theatre activities. Although out of sequence, perspective may be
better focused to quote the Conservative's compliment to the Burts
in announcing their benefit with the comedies "Asmodeus," "Lottery
Ticket," and "Omnibus." "Mr. and Mrs. Burt take a Benefit to-night
at the Theatre. Unless Burt's usual luck of a rainy night follows him,
the house will be packed to overflowing. . . . The public are
more indebted to Mr. Burt than to any other person for having a
Theatre here, and his long and successful labors should meet with
a substantial reward from his hosts of admiring friends." 26

Replacements were brought to the Union Theatre in July and only
about four weeks prior to summer closing, August 19, Mr. and Mrs.
C. F. Walters who were already known to Leavenworth, and Henry

25. Daily Times, Leavenworth, June 17-22, 24, 25, 1862; Daily Conservative, June 17-
22, 24-28, 1862.

26. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, July 16, 25, 1862; Daily Times, July 16, 17,
25, 27, 1862.

30 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

(Harry) Jordan, and Mr. Charles. They appeared for the first time
in Sheridan Knowles' "Hunchback/' The Conservative, July 23,
took exception to the conduct of Jordan: "Jordan ought to be told,
and we think we will do it, that profanity and vulgarity are not wit."
Other personal comment on the company pronounced Mrs. Walters
as "a good actress and sings finely," and except for Eliza Logan,
Miss Helena was the best actress to visit Kansas.

The impression Mrs. Walters made on the Times critic, as of
August 5, 1862, was expressed freely on the occasion of her benefit,
when she played in "Ireland as It Is" (Judy OTrot), and "A Loan
of a Lover": "The bill might be more attractive, perhaps, or at least
not so stale, but she has friends enough to fill the Hall, just for the
pleasure of hearing her sing 'Annie of the Vale/ and the 'Flag of
the Free'; and besides no one would tire of her inimitable rendition
of 'Judy O'Trot'." She was scheduled to sing other songs, one of
which was "I Have No Money," in the second play. After the
event, the Times continued August 7:

Mrs. Walters' benefit on Tuesday night was a perfect triumph, which she
must be proud of as long as her recollection of it lasts. She has made an
impression during her engagement here, and given us a sparkling and vivacious
originality which months of cut and dried conventionality will fail to extinguish.

On the occasion of the closing of the summer season, the Times
August 17 undertook to sum up the high points of the theatrical
situation, evaluating several personalities by name, apparently con-
demning others by silence, but paying respects adversely to one in
forthright terms. Addis was complimented as "successful" in his
role of manager, "earning the good will of the entire company."
Burt and his friends would have dissented. Miss Helena and Mrs.
Walters were linked: "Both favorites with our play goers, it would
be difficult, perhaps, to say which has made the deepest impression.
The former has charmed all by her very natural and correct style
of acting, while the latter, as an actress and vocalist, has taken a
new lease of admiration of our citizens." Templeton came in for
praise as "an indefatigable worker and fully competent manager.
... As an actor he has made himself many friends. . . ."
Jordan was rated as a number one comedian. And O'Neil: "What
would they do without . . . [him], who not only gets up the
scenery in a truly artistic manner, but plays everything from 'Bra-
bantio' to 'Lady Creamley.' He is at home in anything among the
'wings'." No mention was made of Mr. Walters. Apparently his
habits had made him a controversial subject, and as will come out
later, most unpopular. But, as with a bee, the sting of the Times
summary was in its tail:

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 31

Wright cannot consider his visit to Leavenworth as either a pleasant or
agreeable episode in his latter day experience. Well, we are a stupid set, thus
to ignore the presence of live genius; unable to distinguish between excellent
and execrable; which reflection may, in a measure, console the aforesaid for any
chagrin at his lack of success here.

THE TEMPLETON REGIME, 1862-1863, AND
MRS. WALTERS' PEOPLE'S THEATRE

The fall theatre season of 1862 got off to a slow start. Templeton
was retained by Addis as manager because, as the Conservative,
September 14, put it, he "gave such universal satisfaction last sea-
son." With a short company the opening came September 16 with
"The Stranger" and "Irish Lion." On the fourth night "Camille."
Templeton and Miss Helena took the leads, with Mr. and Mrs.
Jordan in secondary and comedy roles. A new danseuse, Mile.
Aubrey, was announced October 4, "said to be skilled in the 'poetry
of motion/" and the reappearance of Mr. and Mrs. Walters came
October 6. The following day the Conservative reported that they
drew an unusually large audience: "The Union has now an efficient
company, and can do up the 'legitimate drama/ as well as the farce,
the song and the dance in good style." But the Conservative, of
which D. W. Wilder was the editor, had not been satisfied with
some things:

We have thought for some time that we would make a friendly suggestion to
the manager of the Union Theatre, but have deferred it for some time. We pro-
pose to do so now. He must have noticed that the conduct of a large portion
of the audience, particularly those who occupy the rear of the building, is not
such as should be allowed in places where ladies and gentlemen are expected to
be present. Yelling, blasphemy and vulgarism, will do more to break down the
institution than the best artistes in the country can do to build it up. We be-
lieve that this accounts for the fact that fewer of the best portion of our people
attend the Theatre of late than formerly. We do not attribute blame to the
manager or proprietor, and believe they will see that the fault is corrected.

Others must have been dissatisfied and less tactful, because a later
note reported that: "Mr. Templeton, Manager of the Union Theatre,
still survives, all rumors to the contrary notwithstanding."

In spite of the unusual reception given to Mrs. Walters upon her
first appearance in October, she was not cast for important roles or
given prominence in billing. Principally, she was mentioned as
featuring ballads and the favorite songs of the day. Eventually,
on December 4, she was allowed a benefit, taking her turn as a sec-
ondary member of the company, but the Conservative gave her a
very special notice on the preceding day:

Of Mrs. Walters hardly too much can be said in this city, where her appear-

32 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ance upon the stage is always a signal for applause, where she has never sung
a song that was not encored, and where her versatile talents and irrepressible
mirth have won for her, from first to last, the hearty good will of the whole
community. She deserves a house crowded from dome to foundation, and she
will have it, and hundreds will snarl at Addis and at Leavenworth because
there is not a house here big enough to hold them.

The following day the praise continued:

She has labored long and faithfully to please the Leavenworth public, and
render the Theatre a pleasant and attractive evening resort, and has so far
succeeded as to excite rounds of applause at her appearance each evening. We
hope to see the house well filled.

The Conservative was no doubt sincere in its praise of Mrs.
Walters, but the editor was also propagandizing for a new theatre
building, which he said was "greatly needed." One of the leading
business firms was understood to be planning a new building at
the corner of Delaware and Third streets, its dry goods business
on the first floor with a theatre above.

A final round of benefits occurred at year's end and the first
days of January, 1863, before the season closed January 17. Tem-
pleton led off and afforded the Conservative an opportunity to say
kind things: ". . . no man ever worked harder or more suc-
cessfully to please his patrons, and render our Theatre a first class
one. . . ." In this reference was made both to his managerial
function and to his "proving himself an actor of uncommon merit."
Mrs. Walters' second benefit came January 16, 1863, in "Wandering
Boys," and "Irish Diamond." 27

MRS. WALTERS AND THE PEOPLE'S THEATRE

The reasons are not clear why a long vacation was taken by the
Union Theatre from January 17 to March 11, 1863, when a new
company was assembled. Actors had to eat the same as other
people, so the members got up a series of shows of their own for
which Addis permitted the use of the Union Theatre. But he made
the matter plain to the public: "The vacation exhibitions given now
are got up by the company for their own benefit. Mr. Addis has
sent Mr. Templeton East to engage a new company, and does not
wish to have it understood that the present performances are his
regular Theatre. . . ." This was printed February 4, the day
before Mrs. Walters' benefit was scheduled. The series of shows
had opened February 3, and the Conservative reported that: "This
institution opened as successfully as ever last night. A good audi-

27. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, September 14-20, October 3-5, 7, 8, 21, De-
cember 3-5, 24, 28, 1862, January 16, 17, 1863.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 33

ence was in attendance and everything passed off nicely." Diffi-
culties developed from another direction. Mr. Walters had not
been mentioned in the theatre reports which praised Clara Walters
so generously, but obviously he was unpopular as the following
notice makes only too evident:

Owing to the threats against Mr. Walters, by some rowdies in town, that
gentleman will not appear to-night at Mrs. Walters' benefit. . . . This
change will preclude the possibility of any trouble, and no one need have
fear of a disturbance. An efficient police force will be present and if any
rowdie interrupts the performance, he will be instantly arrested.

Five days later, February 10, but whether or not the threat of
difficulties at the theatre was a manifestation of general conditions
or strictly personal is not clear, the commanding officer of the
Military District of Kansas, Brig. General Blunt, proclaimed martial
law in Leavenworth. Mrs. Walters was personally popular with
the military people at the Fort, and presented a musical entertain-
ment there February 26, postponed from the previous night on
account of a storm. Early in March she accepted an invitation from
citizens to present a musical and dramatic entertainment at the
German Theatre Hall, March 4, but the public was assured that the
saloon operated in connection with the hall would be closed. She
was assisted by other members of the company. As the number
of chairs available was not sufficient, Mrs. Walters tried to rent
additional chairs from the Union Theatre, but Addis refused per-
mission. This led to a public controversy in which she proved
Addis untruthful, but also deprived herself of employment when
Addis reopened. 28

The new company secured by Templeton for Addis was only
partly new: George D. Chaplin, Frank Roche, Harry and Anne
Stone, Mr. and Mrs. Wildman, Mary McWilliams, Miss Miller, and
Mr. Smith. Seven of the old company were retained, including
Miss Helena, and Mile. Aubrey. Chaplin and the Stones were the
important additions, especially Chaplin, formerly of the New York
Winter Garden. After his second appearance he was rated "the
best actor who has ever visited Leavenworth." The Conservative
protested his playing female parts, insisting that he was too good
for that. On March 18 he played "Othello" to Templeton's "lago."
On April 20, the star system made its appearance again; Mary Shaw
for two weeks, Cecile Rush for three weeks, C. W. Couldock and
daughter Eliza for nine days, and Kate Denin for two weeks. These
stars, together with the new members of the company, made possible

28. Ibid., February 4, 5, 7, 11, 25, 26, March 4, 8, 10, 1863.

34 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the presentation of a number of plays seldom if ever offered in
Leavenworth. Cecile Rush was particularly popular in "Fanchion"
and played it five times during her visit; "Ida Lee" was played three
nights. On this and later visits Couldock and daughter played his
specialties, "Willow Copse," "Chimney Corner," "Richelieu," "Mer-
chant of Venice," "King Lear," "Romeo and Juliet," "Louis XI."

But Addis had not taken a true measure of the woman who was
Clara Walters, without a husband to complicate her life. She ar-
ranged for the remodeling of a hall on Delaware street, between
Fifth and Sixth streets, naming it the People's Theatre, of which she
was the sole lessee, with J. R. Healey of the former company as stage
manager, and Col. Lyman Eldridge as treasurer. She was the first
woman theatre executive in Leavenworth. The Conservative
greeted her venture cordially: "The company is said to be an ex-
cellent one, and under the energetic management of Mrs. Walters,
who is herself one of the best actresses and singers of the West, we
doubt not will draw crowded houses." This was April 10, and the
People's Theatre opened the following night.

The first regular performance, April 13, opened with a "Grand
Musical Olio" "The Battle Cry of Freedom" (new) by Mrs. Wal-
ters, "Robin Rough" (duet) by Mrs. Walters and Mr. Healey, a
ballad by Healey, and a ballad "Kathleen Mavourneen" by Mrs.
Walters. The featured play was Sheridan Knowles' "Hunchback"
and the afterpiece comedy, "The Irish Tutor." The company was
strengthened by new members as time passed, Arnold and Rogers,
both from Cincinnati, and April 29 the star of them all, Sophia,
the little daughter of Col. C. R. Jennison, jayhawker, saloon keeper,
gambler, horseman, and political boss of Leavenworth's third ward.
Her "Eva" played to Mrs. Walters' "Topsy" in "Uncle Tom's Cabin/'
George Aiken's version, was a smash hit. It ran four nights "Miss
Sophia Jennison's 'Eva' was superb." She showed "self possession
and grace" in her first appearance upon the stage. After May 6
Mrs. Walters took her show to Lawrence, returning at the end of the
month. On Saturday night, May 30, after the play was over she
collapsed and was unconscious until after daylight Sunday morn-
ing. The responsibilities of business management and acting had
proved too great a burden. 29

Apparently Clara Walters spent the month of June recuperating
her health, but possibly she had taught Addis a lesson. At any rate,
July 2, she was advertised to play Beatrice in "Much Ado About
Nothing" at the Union Theatre. The local observed that drama

29. Ibid, April 10 through May 6, June 2, 1863.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 35

lovers would learn with pleasure of her return after so long a re-
tirement and predicted the largest audience ever to assemble in the
hall. Mrs. Walters was featured regularly during the next two
weeks when the theatre closed for the summer. Furthermore, she
had good parts, playing heavy roles not formerly associated with her
career, including Queen Elizabeth in a second Shakespearean play
"Richard III." The closing announcement listed the members of the
company who would be retained for the fall opening the two prin-
cipals were Mrs. Walters and George Chaplin whose theatrical
careers were to be closely linked for several years. 30

The return of Mrs. Walters, whether causal or casual is not cer-
tain, coincided with the publication, July 2, of a card by John
Templeton and six other members of the company, including Miss
Helena and Mile. Aubrey, announcing their resignations: "to pre-
serve ourselves from theatrical imposition, and to maintain the
decent dignities of ladies and gentlemen." Chaplin became both
acting and stage manager, combining Templeton's position of acting
manager with his own as stage manager. Chaplin's end-of-season
benefit came July 10: "With Mrs. Walters to support him as leading
lady, we should be glad to see Chaplin become a permanency in
our midst, for none who have played here have more friends among
our play goers/'

Evidently the affairs of the company were not functioning
smoothly because the Times, July 12, enigmatically explained:
"When Stone announced on Friday evening that the next would be
positively the last night of the season, he probably forgot the fact
that Mrs. Walters was justly entitled to an extra night in considera-
tion of her laborious efforts to amuse our play-going public." With
this apologetic introduction, the Times announced the farewell
benefit for Mrs. Walters to occur Monday, July 13, in the plays
"Ben Bolt" and "Grandmother's Pet," "with a pleasing interlude of
vocal music in which herself and Miss Shaw will appear. Give her a
bumper."

Having been with the company for only the last days of the season,
July 2-11, the announced closing date, nine show nights, a rigid ap-
plication of the custom of theatre, might not have recognized Mrs.
Walters' rights even though she had appeared as the leading lady.
Miss Helena, the season's leading lady had resigned. But, in any
case, the Times announcement gave the impression that the benefit
was probably only an oversight in publicity. The Conservative,
of the same date afforded a contrasting version of the situation; that

30. Ibid., July 2 through July 14, 1863; Daily Times, July 2 through July 14, 1863.

36 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the benefit was tribute initiated independently of Addis if not ac-
tually in rebuke:

The patrons of the drama and the public generally will be pleased to learn
that Mr. Addis has given the use of the Theatre, and the old company of
favorites have volunteered their services for a farewell benefit to Mrs. Walters
tomorrow night. Never, since the first dramatic entertainment given in this city,
has an actress been upon Leavenworth boards, whose popularity has equalled
or been as long continued as that of Mrs. Walters. Stars from Eastern cities
have visited our city, who for a few nights have carried an expectant public by
storm, and after their departure the first appearance of the old favorite would
be more enthusiastically received than ever. In short, while she remains, no
other actress can usurp her hold upon the admiration of the patrons of the drama.
She has contributed more than any other member of the profession to the enter-
tainment of the theatre goers in the city, and on the occasion of her benefit
to-morrow night the hall should be filled as it never has been before.

Some people do not seem to learn easily. Others find it impossible
to learn any lesson well. Possibly the belated consideration of Mrs.
Walters' case, if the implications of the Times' version were true,
or permission for her friends to use the theatre, if the Conservative
interpretation was correct, reflected somewhat of a bad conscience
and a making of amends for the chair-renting incident, her omission
in the spring from the reorganized company, and her single-handed
challenge in launching the People's Theatre. Whatever may have
been the reasons, and the true inwardness of the affair may not have
found expression in the press: "Mrs. Walters' benefit was the largest
of the week, and one of the finest houses of the entire season. This
is the best evidence of the appreciation in which she is held by the
play going public." The season really did close the next night, with
the Ladies' Aid Society benefit from which Addis was reported to
have paid that organization $120 and possibly as much as $150.
In commenting on the close of the season the Times praised Addis,
and Chaplin since he "took the reins." The editor insisted that the
hall was not large enough and hoped for a new theatre by 1864. 31

During this long vacation Addis followed a policy rather different
from that of the earlier period. He announced a series of concerts,
beginning August 1, featuring Mrs. Walters. The second concert
was scheduled for August 15 but was postponed due to illness. On
August 21 came the Quantrill raid in Lawrence, and Addis arranged
an early extra performance of his new theatrical company for
August 28, the proceeds to go to the Lawrence victims. 32

31. Daily Times, Leavenworth, July 10, 12, 15, 1863; Daily Conservative, July 2-4, 7
through 15, 1863.

32. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, July 28, 31, August 15, 28, 29, 1863; Daily
Times, July 28, August 1, 25, 27, 1863.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 37

THE CHAPLIN REGIME, 1863-1864

The regular fall theatrical season for the Union Theatre, 1863-
1864, opened August 29 with a few new faces in the company, and
Chaplin in the managerial role as leading man. Mrs. Walters and
a new member, Annie E. Dillingham, shared the feminine leads. In
the "Lady of Lyons," "Uncle Tom's Cabin," "Les Miserables" ( Fan-
tine and the grown-up Cosette), Mrs. Walters played the leads,
but Miss Dillingham played Juliet to Chaplin's Romeo. None of
the local company, however, had much opportunity for personal
publicity in print because the time was well filled with the passing
succession of "stars"; Ettie Henderson, C. W. Couldock and daugh-
ter Eliza, Mr. Neafie, Emily Thome, Carlotta Pozzoni, Jean Hosmer,
Cecile Rush, and J. Wilkes Booth. At first the local actor who
played the lead opposite the star was billed by name, next only
the local company collectively was listed, but quickly even that
recognition was usually eliminated, the star shining in lonely
splendor. Couldock had the advantage over the others listed
because his daughter always played the feminine lead.

Between stars, however, the local company carried on, and were
recognized for benefits. Mrs. Walters was so honored November
13. The Times took advantage of the occasion that day and the
next to pay her the highest compliments:

The favorite pre-eminent of the Leavenworth play-goers, Mrs. C. F. Walters,
has a benefit this evening at the Union. . . . Mrs. Walters has been among
us longer than any other lady on the boards. . . . [Exceedingly versatile
comedy and tragedy.] Whatever have been the "foreign" attraction [star]
the appearance of Mrs. Walters has always been the signal for the heartiest
applause. . . .

The critic's appraisal after the event was even more enthusiastic:

We like home feeling. There is truth in the old saying "The prophet has
no home in his own country," yet, if rightly applied, there is no justice in it
the home man and the home feeling should be first.

Theater goers like "stars" so de we. But these stars should not blind
us to home worth. Yet they do, and often when they should not.

Of course, stock-actors are always the subject of abuse. We are so familiar
with them that we do not acknowledge their worth. This is wrong. Stand
by home men wherever they are, and by home talent wherever it shows itself.

We make these remarks especially in reference to Mrs. Walters. She is
always equal to her part. She is rarely inferior to the "stars" who shine around
her. The glitter of her coronet is as bright as the brightest we have seen in
those who are called or considered "above her." See her where you may be
Mrs. Walters in an ordinary or extraordinary part let her appear as she may
still, she is always excellent always acts well, and does well.

One characteristic marks her, and it is a shining one telling alike upon

38 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

actor and audience life. She is full of spirit; she never lags; the fire of the
heroine she represents is in her, and she flashes it out. That fire is in her song.
It is in all she does and says and, hence, she is, and should be, a favorite
of the public.

Her reception last night proves the truth of all we say. It was stirring and
earnest. It proved that the home actress of Leavenworth is appreciated.

For some reason not clearly apparent the editor of the Times,
December 8, saw fit to discuss the star system, prefacing his com-
ments by a theatrical interpretation of an index of prosperity of a
city. As a general rule, he argued, "the best criterion we can have
of the prosperity of a city is the extent of patronage bestowed upon
amusements. To be sure there are exceptions to this rule" people
may wish to escape from trouble they "may wish to obliterate the
blues or find a temporary relief from anticipations of bankruptcy."
But the editor insisted that such exceptions did not apply to Leav-
enworth. Credit for the high position of the theatre in Leaven-
worth was assigned to Addis "and to no other can be accredited the
introduction of the 'star system' which while it may be decried in
certain quarters, is the present policy of the stage." He insisted that
only this system had made possible "those dramatic 'luxuries,' Fan-
chon, Chimney Corner, Evadne, &c., as performed by the first artists
in the country, and produced in a style that would be creditable
. . . to any theatre in the West." Of course, this led up to a plea
for a new theatre building suited to the metropolitan position of
Leavenworth.

All this was a strange preface to what followed. The same issue
of the Conservative, January 3, 1864, that reported the joint curtain
call an enthusiastic audience had given Mrs. Walters and Chaplin
for their acting in "Black Eyed Susan," reported the alterations in
the heating system that assured patrons that the theatre would be
"thoroughly heated." Then came the turn of fate. On the .night
of January 5 the gas gave out leaving the theatre dark. By January
10 apparently substitute lighting had been provided or the gas had
been restored, but the audience was dismissed because of differ-
ences between the management and the actors about salaries.
Mary Gladstane, the star who should have played January 4, was
snowbound and did not arrive until January 13 after the salary
quarrel had closed the theatre. Announcement was made, how-
ever, that the theatre was available to her to present her own
performance, and that Chaplin and Walters would co-operate.
But already a benefit for them had been arranged at the Turner
Hall for January 13, along with the comment that they had not

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 39

participated in the controversy. This is difficult to reconcile with
other data. At any rate, Miss Gladstane left Leavenworth without
appearing on the stage.

When the storm broke, the Times, January 12, editorialized:
It is somewhat strange that Leavenworth must be periodically bored by the
quarrels of actors, actresses and managers. Last night, at the Union, the
audience was treated to a dish that has been served semi-occasionally since the
first time a theatrical company performed in this city. Will not managers be
just? Our citizens will support a good theatre, let it be managed by whom it
may, but not at the expense of those who depend upon their profession for
subsistence.

In contrast, the same editor in the same issue remarked pointedly:
"The difficulties at the Union Theatre do not deter our German
friends" at Harmony Hall giving "German Emigration to America,"
and "The Bewitched Villager." This is a reminder that the Turn-
verein and its related activities deserve a full historical treatment
that lies outside the scope of this essay.

In the Evening Bulletin, January 12, Chaplin issued a "card" alleg-
ing that Addis had said that if the falsehoods reported the previous
evening at the theatre were retracted, he would pay full salaries and
give benefits, thus acknowledging the season's end. Chaplin's re-
sponse to this proposal was explicit; that he had stated no false-
hoods therefore there was nothing to retract. Addis replied about
money matters the following day in the Conservative, Chaplin
rebutted the same day in the Bulletin and introduced a new factor
even more explosive than money. After calling Addis a liar and
detailing the alleged lies, Chaplin continued: "His reasons for not
liking the ladies of the company, I have only lately discovered:
there is scarcely one he has not grosely insulted and in every in-
stance he has been indignantly repulsed!' Chaplin closed by as-
serting that he stood ready to swear to these statements. Addis
replied with a libel suit. The Times quipped: "Between manager
and actors, the public is having as much fun as they would if the
Union was in full blast."

The first hearing on the Addis-Chaplin suit was held Saturday
January 16, when the case was dismissed on technicalities and a new
suit filed immediately which was set for hearing the following Mon-
day. The court room was filled, according to the Times, with row-
dies and lecherous individuals who enjoyed the lawyer's examination
of the ladies who blushed at the indelicate details they were required
to relate. Among the witnesses was C. F. Walters who was handled
by the Times as follows:

40 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

That nice young man truthful young man C. F. Walters, skevire, is in
town. He appeared at the Police Court yesterday, and testified adversely to
the veracity of a woman who has supported him when he couldn't raise a five
cent piece. As a matter of course, his testimony was ruled out. It's a pity
such a thing could not be kicked out of town.

No longer did the Times treat the controversy as providing "as
much fun as" the theatre "in full blast."

Suffice it to say, the whole proceedings from beginning to end were indeli-
cate and disreputable alike to all parties. . . . The course pursued by
manager and company, in this affair, will do no good to themselves or the pro-
fession. It conveys the idea that quarrels, rascality, bad morals, and obscenity
are the necessary consequence of the introduction of the drama. . . .

The editor had already given his readers what he considered
wholesome advice:

No theatres, no snows [showsl, no dances, no amusements of any kind in
our city at present. Some of our citizens are turning their attention to more
serious matters, as this evening at the M. E. Church will convince anyone who
will visit the interesting meetings now being held there. It is well. There is
something beyond the pleasures and pastimes of this mundane sphere, and it is
the duty of every one to obtain the pleasure which the consolation of religion
alone can give. We advise our citizens to attend these meetings. They may
reap some benefit, and it certainly can do no harm.

But in fact there were competing institutions and even actors had
to eat. A saloon occupied a part of the first floor of Stockton Hall
which housed the second floor Union Theatre and the proprietor
inserted the following advertising local:

Since the smash-up of the Union, Cooter pere has been giving, and will con-
tinue to give, a series of concerts, in the "Green Room" With "legitimate
artists," a "legitimate manager," and no "half-salaries," the institution is bound
to run. "The best of wines, liquors and cigars to be had at the bar." P.S.
No pretty waiter girls. Take suthin, Doc?

This was the situation when on the morning of January 25 fire
broke out above the stage in the Union Theatre destroying the whole
structure. The theatre had occupied the second floor; Coolidge and
Company drug store; Ashton & Bros., wholesale liquor; and Cooter's
Saloon occupied the ground floor, and the Ashton & Bros., pork pack-
ing establishment operated in the basement. Cooter moved what
he had saved back to his old location on Third street, between Dela-
ware and Shawnee streets:

Cooter the indefatigable, unconquered Cooter is on his pegs again.
. . . The season will open tonight [January 29] with a new Opera, written
expressly for the occasion by the Colporteur. A talented corps of artists will
render it in the inimitable manner for which they are so well known.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 41

Chaplin, Mrs. Walters, and the theatre company went to New
Orleans to play at DeBar's Theatre. The Times devoted a full para-
graph to praise of Chaplin's year at Leavenworth. "In the thank-
less role of Manager ... he has acquitted himself to the satis-
faction of even the most fastidious. . . ." Addis did not con-
tinue in the theatre business. For the evening of January 28, the
third day after the fire, a meeting was called to consider the organ-
ization of a fire department to replace the existing fire companies. 33

THE LINDEN REGIME, 1864-1866

The Leavenworth Theatre, successor to the Union Theatre, opened
September 10, 1864, in the new building erected upon the Stockton
Hall site. No proprietor was indicated, but W. H. Coolidge, pro-
prietor of the drug store which occupied part of the ground floor,
was listed as manager, with Henry Linden as acting and stage man-
ager. The play was the "Hunchback." The company was short-
handed and the reception given it was not enthusiastic. The show
closed October 2, for winter preparations and for Linden to recruit
additional talent, also to play an engagement on his own account
in Kansas City. The local paper became restive at his delay in re-
turning, but November 24 the theatre reopened. Linden and wife,
and J. B. Turner played the leading parts until January, 1865, when a
succession of stars was imported: Ettie Henderson, Carlotta Pozonni,
Mary Gladstane, Rachel Johnson and B. Macauley, McKean Bu-
chanan and Virginia Buchanan. J. B. Turner played "Nick of the
Woods, or the Jabbenainosay," which was repeated several times
before the end of the season, but the play that created a sensation
was the "Octoroon" by Boucicault which played ten times in succes-
sion, barring a single night interruption, and several times at inter-
vals later in the spring. This phenomenon drew from the Times,
February 21, on the occasion of the announcement of its tenth show-
ing, a long editorial on the failure of the legitimate drama in Leaven-
worth, which may have had a meaning beyond the single issue of
artistic excellence:

All efforts to establish the legitimate drama in this city have heretofore failed,
and they will continue to fail so long as the majority of the theater-going people
care more for sensation than acting, more for loud talking and fierce gestures
than correct reading and natural motions. The Hunchback was played last
night, to a comparatively small house, the greater portion of which was un-
doubtedly attracted more by the announcement that Linden would play "Cuffy"

33. Daily Times, Leavenworth, January 6, 7, 10, 12, 14-17, 19, 21, 26, 29, 1864'
Daily Conservative, January 3, 5, 13, 15-17, 20, 22, 1864; Evening Bulletin, Leavenworth'
January 12, 13, 1864.

45869

42 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

in a negro farce, than by the first named piece, and although the play was well
put on the boards, and better rendered than expected, it failed to interest the
audience, or extort from it one single round of applause. We advise the man-
agement to stick to the sensational. It is better suited to this community, be-
sides being more remunerative. To-night, at the earnest solicitation of a large
number of persons, the "Octoroon" will be played again. Owing to the bad
state of the weather, last week, many persons were prevented from seeing it,
and as it is decidedly sensational, it of course attracts attention and created a
desire in the minds of theatre-goers to witness its representation.

The theatrical season 1865-1866 continued under the same man-
agement, but the proprietors were designated as Coolidge and
George Ummethun, the resident agent of the Cincinnati owner of the
building. Again the company opened short-handed, Linden himself
being absent. The Times, September 10, 1865, editorialized in a
satirical attack upon the "poor simpleton public" and its absurd
expectations, not realizing realities, including "the risks and vicissi-
tudes of railroad and steamboat navigation." Linden appeared fi-
nally on September 16.

Again, during this season stars dominated the scene for most of
the time: Blanche DeBar, Ettie Henderson, C. W. Couldock and
daughter (twice), Cecile Rush (twice), Jenny Hight, Yankee Locke,
Pauline Cushman, Marietta Revel, Susan Benin, Fannie Price, the
Maddern Sisters, but more unusual three members of the local com-
pany were given star status, two for a week's run each, Mrs. Linden
being the first.

In February, 1866, two old friends returned to the Leavenworth
theatre, George Chaplin and Clara Walters. During their absence,
since the break-up of the Union Theatre in January, 1864, they had
been reported as playing in the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans
in May, 1864. Both were in Leavenworth a short time in June,
1864, and gave concerts in Laing's Hall. In December of the same
year Clara Walters was reported as making a sensation in. New
Orleans with "The Ticket-of-Leave Woman," a burlesque on "The
Ticket-of-Leave Man." Chaplin passed through Leavenworth again
in May, 1865. Now, upon his return to Leavenworth Theatre, Chap-
lin played Saturday, February 3, to Saturday of the following week
as the star after which he took his place in the company. Mrs.
Pennoyer was again a member of the company and played the femi-
nine lead, but without star billing. The following Saturday Clara
Walters was the star and remained as a regular member of the
company.

During his week as star, Chaplin played "Ingomar," "Hamlet,"
"Money," "Macbeth," "Lady of Lyons," and "Madelaine." It was

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 43

recalled that he had been a universal favorite some two years earlier,
but in commenting upon individual roles, the Times was patroniz-
ingly complimentary: "Hamlet" was a "very creditable rendition;"
his "Money" was "far beyond mediocrity;" his "Macbeth" was "not
so perfect as in previous efforts;" and finally: "He is emphatically a
good actor. . . ." Clara Walters, specializing in the lighter char-
acters, played in "Perfection," and "Ireland as it is." The Times in-
troduced her as "an old favorite . . . and if reports speak truly,
has greatly improved during her absence." After the event the
Times reported that in spite of the rain and mud she drew one of the
biggest houses of the season: ". . . We do not think she has
any superior in the delineation of Irish character." 34

CHAPLIN AGAIN, 1866-1867

The Chaplin Opera House opened the 1866-1867 theatre season
on August 20, virtually a "new" opera house after the summer's re-
modeling operations. The personnel included names from the pre-
vious winter; Clara Walters and Mrs. M. A. Pennoyer in particular.
The first plays were "Honey Moon," and "Sarah's Young Man," fol-
lowed by another favorite pair, "Lady of Lyons," and "Lottery
Ticket." The third night brought an Irish play "Arrah-na-Pogue."
Although the critic pronounced the company as yet awkward, this
play had four successive showings, including Saturday matinee,
giving way to J. E. Little's "Richard III" on Saturday evening. Re-
peat performances became frequent during this winter, both by stars
and the resident company. The traveling stars were Miss Leo Hud-
son, Blanche DeBar, C. W. Couldock (alone), Emilie Melville, Mrs.
J. H. Allen and D. R. Harkins, Cecile Rush, Jean Hosmer, Stuart
Robson, Lotta and Joseph Proctor. In December the Burt family,
with two small daughters, returned to Leavenworth, being assigned
stardom. Furthermore, Jean Clara Walters, as she was now officially
billed, had her turn from the local company as star in January, 1867.

The Burt family had been reported, during the winter of 1862-
1863, to be operating a theatre in Grand Rapids, Mich., but other-
wise information about the period of their absence from Leaven-
worth remains a blank. The prospect of their return was announced
December 16, 1866, and on the 18th notice was given of the "first
appearance of Mr. Burt, and the youthful progidy Eliza Logan Burt."
On December 20 Burt and little Eliza Logan played "Ten Nights in
a Bar Room," and were such a hit that, including Saturday matinee,

34. Daily Times, Leavenworth, May 7, June 22, 23, September 6, 8, 10, October 2
27, November 17, 24, December 9, 1864, February 21, May 5, June 27 September 10*
1865, February 3, 5-11, 13, May 18, 1866.

44 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

they played it four successive times Eliza Logan Burt "as 'Little
Mary' is the attraction in the piece." On Monday the Burt family
presented "Uncle Tom's Cabin": George playing Gumption Cute;
Mrs. Burt, Aunt Ophelia; and of course, Eliza Logan starred as Eva.
Christmas day Burt played his famous role in "Toodles." The elder
Burt daughter, Clara, was featured one night as a vocalist. After
the cordial star-rated reception the Burt family settled down as mem-
bers of the company.

In April, 1867, apparently the usual Burt luck was present. Mrs.
Burt and Eliza Logan were to have a benefit April 6, but it was post-
poned until April 10. A special attraction was provided, a card
picture of the little girl being presented to each woman attending
the theatre. About this time, apparently, the Burt family started a
new venture, a traveling company, a partnership known as the John-
son and Burt Theatrical Troupe, which played at Lawrence, Kansas
City, and Atchison. In 1876 the Burt family was still in the field as
a traveling dramatic company appearing in Independence, Kan.,
the week before Christmas. A benefit was given to the Burt children
(Clara not being mentioned, but two new ones being present):
Eliza (now 15), Willie, and Nellie. 35

The theatrical season of 1867-1868, at Leavenworth, "managed"
by Susan Denin, added nothing to the glory of Leavenworth theatre
and ended shortly after a few minor stars had appeared: Belle Boyd,
LaBelle Oceana (who had starred formerly at the American Concert
Hall), Mary Gladstane, and Madame Scheller, and of course Susan
herself. Then followed the two-season theatrical blank, 1867-1868
and 1868-1869, before the Lord Dramatic Company appeared in
December, 1869, a complete traveling theatrical company, not a resi-
dent stock company traveling-star combination. The Lords rep-
resented a new order in theatre. 36

Too much should not be made of the adverse criticism of the
theatre or of the obvious failures of the theatre and of its public in
Leavenworth. Theatre everywhere and always was in crisis that is
its normal condition regardless of place or time, or whether it thrives

35. Independence Kansan, December 15, 22, 1876. At Atchison, the Daily Champion,
April 13, 1866, gave Eliza Logan's age as five which would have made her 15 in 1876
when at Independence. If Clara had survived the rigors of traveling theatre, she may have
been in school or married.

36. Leavenworth Daily Times, August 19, 1866, through June 20, 1867, covers the
daily offerings and comment thereon, but a few particular issues may be designated to
document particular statements in the foregoing narrative; August 26, September 14,
December 16-30, 1866, January 6-13, February 3, March 17, April 5-7, 10, May 6, 1867.
The Daily Conservative provides similar daily coverage, but some dates of particular interest
for the history of the Burt family are December 11, 1862, January 11, 1863.

The fall season of 1867 is covered by both papers, the Times and the Conservative,
September 7, November 27, 1867, some issues of particular interest are Daily Conservative,
November 8, 12, 19, 24, 27, 28, 30, 1867.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 45

or dies only to live again in a different form. Primitive or "civilized"
people insist upon escape into a world of make-believe in some guise,
and for manifold purposes.

V. NOTES ON THE PLAYS

No complete record of the plays presented in the Leavenworth
theatre between 1858 and 1867 can be compiled. Prior to the spring
of 1859, for example before Eliza Logan was star, no formal theatre
advertisements appeared, and besides the newspaper files preserved
are incomplete. The "local" column contained comment and an-
nouncements, however, with an approximation of regularity. After
the summer of 1862, a fairly complete record is available. A large
part of the plays must be classed as ephemeral, with emphasis upon
the comedy and farce side. Nevertheless, the showing of Shake-
speare's plays and other classics, "The School for Scandal," and "She
Stoops to Conquer," for example, was substantial; "Othello," "Ham-
let," "Macbeth," "Richard III," and "King Lear" appeared about in
that order of frequency; and besides there were occasional show-
ings of "The Merchant of Venice," "Much Ado About Nothing," and
"As You Like It." Other plays that were popular included several
drawn from English literature; dramatized versions of Dickens'
"Cricket on the Hearth," "Chimney Corner," "Oliver Twist"; Tenny-
son's "Dora"; Scott's "The Bride of Lammermoor," "Rob Roy," and
"The Lady of the Lake." From the French were "Fanchion, the
Cricket," "Camille," Hugo's "La Tour de Nesle," and "Les Miser-
ables," besides several of lesser merit. From the German examples
were "Ingomar," "Leah (Deborah) the Forsaken," and Schiller's
"Robbers." The better American literature did not contribute much,
but Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" appeared in two or more dramatiza-
tions. Plays involving the American Indian were represented by
"Metamora," "Wept of Wish-ton- Wish," the farce "Pocahontas," and
the frontiersman of Kentucky and the Indian in the dramatized ver-
sion of R. M. Bird's "Nick of the Woods, or the Jibbenainosay." Be-
sides the ubiquitous Negro (burnt-cork) minstrels of continuously
declining quality, plays using the Negro, with exceptions to be men-
tioned later, dealt with him only as a comic character.

Social problem plays were fairly conspicuous, "The Poor of New
York," "Under the Gaslight," the "Drunkard," and "Ten Nights in a
Bar Room." Irish plays were probably the most numerous of any
single class, a list of over 20 in number has been compiled, all treated
the Irish as comic characters or in ridicule. Dion Boucicault's "Col-
leen Bawn," first produced in New York in March, 1860, is an excep-

46 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

tion. 37 Kate Denin first brought it to Leavenworth in June, 1863.
In offering "Ireland as It Is" to the Atchison audience it was char-
acterized as an Irish national drama sympathetic to the peasantry:
"This thrilling picture of the struggles, trials, and self-denials of the
Irish peasantry has been universally acknowledged as the most
beautiful and touching domestic drama ever placed upon the
stage." 38 Of course, the play "Robert Emmett" was unconcealed
Irish nationalist propaganda based upon the revolt of 1796.

The star system determined largely the choice of plays presented,
the more prominent of these luminaries specializing in a limited
number of roles. Necessarily, in the West, the theatres found their
choices of stars limited by availability. From 1863-1867, C. W.
Couldock offered quite regularly "Willow Copse," "Chimney Cor-
ner," "Still Waters Run Deep," "Richelieu," "Louis XI," "King Lear,"
"Othello," and others, with slight variation. Cecile Rush was almost
sure to present "Fanchion," "Evadne," the "Hunchback," etc. Others
seemed to follow the changing fashions.

Of the playwrights represented, the most conspicuous was Dion
Boucicault, born in Ireland, then of the New York theatre. The lead-
ing version of "Rip van Winkle" available after 1850 was that of
Charles Burke, but in 1865, Boucicault's appeared. Boucicault's
"The Poor of New York," which compared victims of the panics of
1837 and 1857, was offered first in New York, and later in Leaven-
worth in October, 1859. His "Octoroon," based on Mayne Reid's
"The Quadroon," was first played in New York in December, 1859,
and created a sensation in Leavenworth in February, 1865. "Colleen
Bawn," and "London Assurance" made frequent appearances in
1863 and later. Tom Taylors plays were popular, particularly "Still
Waters Run Deep," "Our American Cousin," and "The Ticket-of-
Leave Man."

Some plays were so striking in their impact upon the public as to
stimulate a demand for repeat performances. Partly, no doubt, the
effective combination of actor and play were the explanation rather
than the content of the production itself. On occasion this occurred
with the local resident company, but more often it was associated
with a limited number of stars. In a few cases the preoccupation
of the public with a particular subject might account for the re-
sponse. In May, 1859, Miss E. Mitchell, advertised as a niece of
Booth, played "The Mormons" four times and in October, 1859, the

37. Arthur H. Quinn, History of the American Drama, From the Beginning to the
Civil War (New York, 1923), p. 377. Quinn limited his generalization that there
was only one such Irish play to the use of the better common class of the Irish and other
conditions which might make his verdict rather drastic.

38. Atchison Daily Champion, February 21, 1866.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 47

Langrishe-Allen St. Joseph Theatre company played "The Poor of
New York" at the National for three nights. Public interest in sub-
ject matter as social issues of the day no doubt contributed to the
demand. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was played once in October, 1859,
five times in August, 1862, and four times in April, 1863, and raises
the perennial question about the hold exercised by both the book
and the play upon the public in the United States and abroad.
"Camille," played by the local company, was offered twice in June,
1862. The enthusiastic response, December, 1862, to "The Lady of
the Lake," played by Clara Walters and Healey of the resident com-
pany would seem to provide no special circumstances other than
good acting. American themes were treated in "Nick of the Woods,
or the Jibbenainosay" ( twice ) in January, and "The Hidden Hand"
(four times) in April, 1863, by the resident company. Mary Shaw
played twice each "Our American Cousin" and "Child of the Regi-
ment" in April, 1863, while Cecile Rush gave "Fanchion" (four
times) and "Ida Lee" (three times) in April-May, 1863. Kate
Benin's presentations of "Colleen Bawn" and "East Lynne" (twice
each), occurred in June, 1863.

A year and a half later the "Octoroon" sensation, ten nights, by
the resident theatre company, in February, 1865, must have been
associated with the state of public sentiment near the end of the
Civil War in relation to abolition of slavery and the race issue which
it raised. But the Maddern Sisters may have been responsible for
the run of "Three Fast Men" for six nights in May, 1866. In August
of the same year the resident company presented the Irish play
"Arrah na-Pogue" four times. The success in August, 1866, of such
widely different plays as "Mazeppa, or the Wild Horse of Tartary"
( six nights ) and "Putnam," a story of the American Revolution ( two
nights ) , must have been due primarily to the star Miss Leo Hudson.
The "Sea of Ice" was first presented in Leavenworth in October,

1866, by the local company for a five-night run. The return of the
Burt family, with the spotlight upon little Eliza Logan Burt, may
help to explain the four-night run, in December, 1866, of "Ten
Nights in a Bar Room." The vogue of the "Seven Sisters" in January,

1867, was only partly the responsibility of "Lotta," because the local
company played it for two nights in the February following. Also,
the resident company played "Rosedale" ( Wallock's 150 night sensa-
tion in New York) for four nights in June, 1867. "The Black Crook"
run of 18 days in July and August, 1867, was clearly a combination
of high pressure advertising and a sensational show. In retrospect,
this record reveals a peculiar grouping of repeat performances in two

48 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

chronological spots, April-June, 1863, and May-October, 1866, for
which there does not appear to be any assignable reason.

These repeat performances were one thing, but long-term popu-
larity of a play regardless of players is quite another. Shakespeare
and the classics held their own remarkably well in Leavenworth
during the decade 1858-1867, but were losing ground near the end,
and during the next decade. Other plays of a serious nature whose
popularity persisted included the "Hunchback," "Evadne," "Lucretia
Borgia," "Don Caeser de Bazan," "Ingomar," and "Camille." Of a less
serious nature, or in some cases farcical, were "The Lady of Lyons,"
"Our American Cousin," "Toodles," "Ireland as It Is," "The Serious
Family," and the farcical afterpieces, "The Limerick Boy," "The
Lottery Ticket," and "Jenny Lind." The social problem plays
"Uncle Tom's Cabin," and "Ten Nights in a Bar Room," were of
course in a class by themselves. What provided the hold of these
plays upon the public imagination is one of the intangibles that
eludes all attempts at explanation. Likewise, when "The Lady of
Lyons" was billed for July 24, 1862, the Daily Times protested that
it would not draw, that it was played out and should be laid on the
shelf. Afterwards, the editor had the courage to admit his error it
drew a large audience and went off remarkably well. Several of
these well-worn pieces continued to be standard fare for nearly two
more decades.

An extended reference to "Uncle Tom's Cabin" has been deferred
until this stage in the discussion. The vogue of the original book,
prior to the Civil War, was phenomenal and no more than a refer-
ence to that fact need be made here. The play presents some special
problems. In Leavenworth, a town with a strong Southern back-
ground, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was first presented on the stage Oc-
tober 24, 1859, to a house "quite well filled." In fact, the reporter
said: "It was by all odds the largest audience of the season."

Considering the limited extent of the company and their facilities for
rendering a scenic piece of this description, the play was excellently gotten up,
and the parts rendered in a respectable manner.

We trust that its representation will fill the depleted treasury of the managers
and make the Theatre no longer desolate with a beggerly arrray of empty
seats.

The evening did not pass, however, without trouble: "The Wil-
liam Yerby, who became so indignant at the Anti-Slavery senti-
ments of Uncle Tom as to compel the police to remove him from
the theatre, and for which on Wednesday he was fined by the Re-
corder, has, we understand, not subdued the pugnacious propen-

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 49

sities he then exhibited." On the same day as the trial, "he chal-
lenged Marshall M alone to fight a duel with Colt revolvers, large
size, at sixteen paces." Also, the report circulated that he threatened
the press: "Oh, dear! how we quake in our stocking-feet," jeered
the Times. 89

The second presentation of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" came in August,
1862, and prior to the preliminary emancipation proclamation. Also,
this was near the beginning of the Addis-Templeton regime at the
Union Theatre, and soon after Mrs. Walters' arrival. She played
Topsy, and the Conservative conceded that "a better Topsy than
Mrs. Walters cannot be produced." Nevertheless, Editor Wilder
was not happy. He conceded something, however, that the presen-
tation "did the highest credit to the manager, Mr. Templeton, and
the scenic artist, Mr. O'Neill. . . ." What distressed Wilder
was that in the midst of the Civil War a Proslavery version had been
presented:

The version used, however, leaves out Legree and some of the most important
scenes, and makes Uncle Tom a mere obedient servant. As it was put on the
boards in New York Uncle Tom's Cabin would be good for thirty nights. We
are not more pro-slavery than New York City, and there is no necessity for cater-
ing to that sentiment.

True, it ran five nights only in Leavenworth, not thirty. 40

The Times reacted positively also to this wartime offering of
"Uncle Tom's Cabin": "The most popular dramatization of modern
times, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' will be produced for the first [sic] time
in this city, at the Theatre this evening. Jordan does Uncle Tom,
Mrs. Walters, Topsey, Miss Mann, Eva, and Miss Helena, Eliza
Harris." After the second performance the Times, August 8, also
exploded about the alleged Proslavery version:

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" is announced at the theatre for this and to-morrow even-
ings. A crowded house greeted its first production, Wednesday night, and we
can unhesitatingly say that so far as it goes the play was excellently put upon
the stage, and in the leading characters well done. Mrs. Walters' "Topsey" is
an interesting and truthful portraiture of a character very common on the plan-
tations of the South; Miss Helena succeeds admirably, as she ever does, in the
effective part of Eliza Harris, the fugitive quadroon; Jordan's "Uncle Tom" is
a fine piece of character acting, and Healey does the generous Kentuckian,
Fletcher, in a manner that all along carries with it the sympathies of the
audience; but nevertheless the omission of the scenes with Legree and Gassy,
and the death of Uncle Tom, make the play seem as incomplete as if one had
read only the first volume of the book itself, with no chance of getting the re-
mainder of the story. Lack of people may be sufficient excuse for shortening
the play, and we would much rather this were the case than that it were done

39. Daily Times, Leavenworth, October 26-28, 1859.

40. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, August 6-9, 1862.

50 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

to spare the sensibilities of the resident remnant of Border Ruffianism in the
city. The whole piece, and it can be done by one or two "doubles" would
draw a good per cent on the cost of its presentation and the money invested
for canvas and colors. Except in a few minor points the play is exceedingly
well done. The crossing scene is well contrived; but were we disposed to be
critical we might ask how it is that feudal banqueting goblets find their way
into a Kentucky tavern? or why Tom Loker and Haley are made to resemble a
couple of grog shop loafers rather than the flashy "traders" they are intended
to represent? Little Miss Mann's "Eva" is a surprising performance, in view
of her inexperience, Wednesday evening being the first time she has ever ap-
peared on the stage. In a little time, however, her slight monotony will wear
off, and her rendition of "the flower of the South" be all that can be asked for.

In April, 1863, Leavenworth again saw "Uncle Tom's Cabin" on
the stage, a four-time run with Mrs. Walters again as Topsy and
Sophia Jennison as Eva at the People's Theatre. The Conservative
noted with satisfaction that George Aiken's version of the play was
to be used, and recalled the past:

It has been put on the boards once before in this city, but mutilated in the most
approved pro-slavery style. We sincerely hope and trust that such will not be
the case to-night. It is one of the most exciting pieces ever written, and we
believe the management of the People's will present it in a masterly manner. 41

The play was given again in September and December, 1863, and
January, 1864, but in Leavenworth its popularity was limited. In
Atchison, according to the Champion, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was
seen for the first time on April 30 and May 1, 1866. In conclusion,
whatever the meaning may be, the great vogue of "Uncle Tom's
Cabin" in its dramatized form in Kansas, came after the Civil War
and after the abolition of slavery was an accomplished fact. Further-
more, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" either in book form or in play form was
really popular only among white people. To self-conscious Negroes,
Uncle Tom's submissiveness and the patronizing attitude toward the
negro race were offensive. Only Eliza's escape stirred the race pride
and that was not central to the original conception of either the book
or the play. In its wanderings as a stage play, except for Topsy 's
antics, Eliza and the pack of hounds became the focus of the play's
more sensational advertising.

Introduced during the decade of the 1860's were a number of
new plays that proved durable. Those listed here in that category
probably reached their peak of popularity in Kansas during the dec-
ade of the 1870's, some continuing as standard even later. Although
records are too incomplete to be certain about firsts in Leavenworth,
Boucicault's "Colleen Bawn" (1860), probably had its initial presen-
tation in Leavenworth by Kate Denin in June, 1863. On the same

41. Ibid., AprU 28-30, May 2, 1863.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 51

visit she introduced "East Lynne." In April of the same year, with
Amy Stone as Capitola, "The Hidden Hand" received a first local
hearing. It was dramatized from Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth's
novel of the same name. "The Ticket-of-Leave Man" came to the
city in 1864, also by the local company. "Lady Audley's Secret"
was introduced by Jean Hosmer in May, 1867.

Burlesques on great or popular plays, especially the tragedies,
were a peculiar phenomenon. The first noticed was "Otello, or de
Moor ob Wenis" in November, 1862. Another "Norma" has been
found for March, 1863. The climax of this burlesque fad came
during the season of 1866-1867; "King Lear, the Cuss," "Hamlet, or
the Wearin of the Black," "Katherin and Petruchio" ("The Taming
of the Shrew"), "Antony and Cleopatria," "Camille, or the Cracked
Heart," the "Spectre Bridegroom," "Mazeppa, or the Wild Rocky
Horse," "Lady of the Lions," "The Ticket-of-Leave Woman," and
"The Ticket-of-Leave Man's Wife." Whether or not identified by the
form of the title or by description as a burlesque, during the season,
when one of the great plays or major current melodramas was
played as the afterpiece, or by the comedy members of the com-
pany, it was almost certain to be a burlesque on the real play.
Generalization about what this meant is difficult. Probably it was
in part a reaction against the excesses and artificialities of the actors
in both tragedy and melodrama. Also, it may be interpreted as a
reflection of postwar cynicism following the emotional extrava-
gances of the slavery crusade and war patriotism, and all the
"moral" bombast and pretenses that had accompanied the "national"
crisis. In part, almost certainly, it was escapism from postwar con-
fusion, public and private; economic, social, religious, and political.
But when all this has been said, the matter is still elusive.

VI. PRICES AND PATRONAGE

The prices of admission were not reported for 1858-1862. The
advertisements of June, 1862, listed dress circle seats at 40 cents
( ladies 25 ) , a lady and gentleman 75 cents, two ladies and a gentle-
man $1.00, parquette, 25 cents. In March, 1863, parquette seats
were 50 cents, with the same lady-gentleman combinations, dress
circle seats 40 cents, and the new gallery 25 cents. In the new
theatre on the Stockton Hall site, in September, 1864, the dress
circle and parquette seats were 75 cents, and the gallery and
colored gallery, 50 cents. The same prices prevailed a year later.
The Chaplin Theatre opened in August, 1866, at advanced prices:
dress circle, men, one dollar, ladies 75 cents, lady and gentleman

52 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

$1.50, parquette 75 cents, the galleries 50 cents respectively. Re-
ductions came within the month. The boxes for eight persons were
$8.00, dress circle and parquette, 75 cents, the galleries 25 cents.
The season of 1867 began with dress circle and orchestra chairs 75
cents, parquette seats 50 cents, and the colored gallery 25 cents.

VII. MORALS

Some form of dramatic representation seems to have been an
essential aspect of all cultures since primitive times. Theatre per
se is a-moral, its ethical significance depending upon its use. Among
primitive peoples the dramatic forms were conspicuously religious
and ethical, yet in modern society a separation occurred in which
theatre came to have many associations of essentially an opposite
social nature. Some of these have been revealed only too clearly
in the present study. Leavenworth had over 200 license-paying
saloons, in November, 1858, constituting a source of substantial
city revenue. A saloon, in the form in which such institutions
operated during the third quarter of the 19th century, was often if
not usually housed in the same building as the theatre. The
Market building, which housed the first Union Theatre in 1858,
had a saloon in the basement, and one of Burt's first steps as theatre
manager was an attempt to dissociate in the public mind the theatre
and the saloon.

"Order and decorum" were promised in 1858 as they had been
promised in 1856 when Gabay's Dramatic Company played in
Leavenworth. A third aspect of assurances related to the respecta-
bility of the acting personnel. Thus the Burts, especially Mrs. Burt,
were spotlighted in the social scene as good citizens. They were
determined to elevate the stage and overcome the "vulgar prejudice"
that obtained in the towns of the area. A particular bid was made
for the patronage of women. About 100 "ladies" were said to have
been present on the occasion of Mrs. Burt's benefit in April, 1858.
If true, this meant that one of every five persons in the "full house"
of 500 was a woman. Even this optimistic estimate, however, left
theatre attendance primarily an aspect of a man's world.

The theatre had its competitors in the entertainment field in the
form of minstrel shows, varieties (which "covered" a multitude of
sins), and showboats. During the years 1858-1859 the Gambrinus
Saloon offered its free concert every night in addition to a free
lunch. Of course, the liquor that was supposed to accompany these
was not free. The American Concert Hall, with its 10 cent admis-
sion charge, was only one step removed from the Gambrinus estab-

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 53

lishment. Reality was represented, therefore, in the plea of Sep-
tember 8, 1859, for some decent place of amusement for "unmarried
folks" without homes where they could spend their evenings. After
the National Theatre reopened to a precarious existence, the Times,
October 13, urged support for "a respectable place of amusement"
and warned: "The supply is regulated by the demand." Several
days later substantially the same advice was repeated, but the
National Theatre managed to operate only irregularly for less than
a year more.

Soon after the Union Theatre was re-established in Stockton Hall
in 1863, a saloon on the ground floor, an actor was admonished by
name that "profanity and vulgarity are not wit," and over a year
later another actor was reprimanded for drunkenness on the stage
which required a replacement during the evening's production.
On October 3, 1862, the Conservative insisted that audience be-
havior was a responsibility of the management. The quarrels be-
tween managers and companies over contracts and salaries came to
a climax in the libel suits of January, 1864. The Times' admonition
was to the point, that such scandal "conveys the idea that quarrels,
rascality, bad morals and obscenity are the necessary consequences
of the introduction of the drama." Benefits to good causes to offset
the public's moral sensibilities were futile gestures, whether to the
new Christian church building fund, the Hospital fund, the Ladies
Aid Society, or the Lawrence Quantrill massacre sufferers. Nor did
reduced admission charges for women offset moral delinquencies at
the theatre.

Possibly absentee ownership of the buildings equipped for theatre
may have had a bearing on saloon and theatre in the same structure:
a certainty of rental income to offset risk. The National Theatre
building was Philadelphia owned, and the Stockton Hall was Cin-
cinnati owned. The Union Theatre advertisements (old Stockton
Hall), during the hot summer months of 1863, reminded patrons:
"Ice Water in the Theatre for the accommodation of Ladies and
Children." Should it be necessary to point out the implication?
When the theatre in the new Stockton Hall opened in September
1864, the ubiquitous saloon was on the ground floor. However, on
the occasion of Clara Walters' vacation concert in the Turner Hall
Theatre, she had the saloon closed for the evening. But Clara
Walters was more than offset by Susan Benin, and Leavenworth
Theatre was discontinued for two years on that note.

(Part Two, the Theatre in Atchison, Lawrence and Topeka, Witt
Appear in the Summer, 1957, Issue.)

The Annual Meeting

THE 81st annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society
and board of directors was held in the rooms of the Society
on October 16, 1956.

The meeting of the directors was called to order by President
Wilford Riegle at 10 A. M. First business was the reading of the
annual report by the secretary:

SECRETARY'S REPORT, YEAR ENDING OCTOBER 16, 1956

At the conclusion of last year's meeting the newly elected president, Wilford
Riegle, reappointed Charles M. Correll and Frank Haucke to the executive
committee. The members holding over were Will T. Beck, John S. Dawson,
and T. M. Lillard.

Two members of the Society's board of directors died during the past year:
Mrs. W. D. Philip, Hays, and Henry S. Blake, Topeka. Mrs. Philip, a life
member since 1918, had served on the board of directors continuously since
1931. A resident of Ellis county since 1886, she was the first student to enroll
at Fort Hays State College when it was established. She early began to
collect historical objects of northwest Kansas and contributed many fine
relics, including an entire furnished room, to the Fort Hays museum. Mr.
Blake, president and general manager of Capper Publications, was also presi-
dent of the Capper Foundation for Crippled Children and was active in many
other civic, state, and charitable organizations. The death of these two
friends is noted with deep regret.

APPROPRIATIONS AND BUDGET REQUESTS

The legislative session which convened in January, 1956, was the first
"budget session" under the constitutional amendment of 1954. It was im-
mediately obvious that the session must find new sources of revenue to meet
financial needs as listed in the governor's budget recommendations or pare
budget requests in an attempt to stay within anticipated revenues. It chose
the latter course, but still failed to hold the total budget within these limits.
For the Society this meant that although necessary appropriations for salaries
and normal operating expenses were made, almost all items of special mainte-
nance were denied.

Major requests which were cut from the budget included completion of the
air-conditioning system, installation of steel stack floors, replacement of main
exterior doors, laying of asphalt tile flooring in the museum, and installation
of two new flagpoles. In fact, the only important maintenance requests allowed
were $10,000 to continue the rewiring of the building and $650 for new rear
entrance doors. A request for funds to convert the garage at the Kaw Indian
Mission, Council Grove, into living quarters for the caretaker, and to build a
new frame garage and toolhouse, was rejected for the second time. All major
requests for improvements at Shawnee Methodist Mission, near Kansas City,

(54)

THE ANNUAL MEETING 55

were also denied. These included construction of an addition to the garage,
erection of a chain-link fence, deepening of the West building basement and
laying a concrete floor. The only maintenance appropriation made was $3,500
for exterior and interior painting. The appropriation for operation of the
Funston Memorial Home near lola was only $1,300, which with a reappro-
priated balance from the preceding fiscal year allows approximately $25 per
month for all expenses of operation exclusive of the caretaker's salary. For
the First Territorial Capitol an appropriation of $400 was made for exterior
painting of the caretaker's cottage.

Budget requests for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1958, were filed with
the state budget director in September. In addition to appropriations for
salaries and operating expenses, the major items listed above were asked for
again. New requests included $800 for museum storage closets, $1,350 for
fire protection installations in the Memorial building, $4,000 for modernization
of plumbing, and $5,300 for interior painting. For the First Territorial Capitol
$700 was asked for a new electric line, and a supplemental appropriation of
$1,200 to be added to the $1,500 already available was requested for re-
placing the roof. The Funston Home needs a new well and a flagpole, and
$600 was budgeted for these items. New maintenance items for Shawnee
Mission included $2,000 for waterproofing and $3,000 for interior painting of
the East building, and $1,000 for tree-trimming.

Capital improvement items relatively large amounts for long-time improve-
ments and special maintenance of the buildings and properties constitute in
total an unusually large percentage of the budget. Yet these improvements
are necessary and must be requested if administrative responsibilities are not
to be neglected. Several of these requests undoubtedly will be cut from the
final budget, but the Historical Society as trustee of the state must nevertheless
point out the necessity for proper maintenance of the various properties.

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Work on the cumulative index to the Society's publications the Collections,
Quarterlies, Biennial Reports and special Publications was again interrupted
in order to finish the index to the new two-volume Annals of Kansas. However,
entries for the first ten volumes of the Collections have been completed, totaling
an estimated 26,000 index slips for 4,280 pages of text.

News releases, taken from territorial and other newspapers of a century
ago, are still being sent each month to the Kansas press. This program, launched
two years ago as part of the observance of the 1954 territorial centennial, has
been so well received by newspaper editors and readers that the articles will
be continued.

The report of the survey of historic sites and structures in Kansas authorized
by the 1955 legislature will be prepared for submission to the 1957 session.
Although many sites and buildings have not yet been examined and will not
be included in this report, it is expected that the work can be continued until
all important historic sites are covered. A project of this nature, to be carried
out efficiently and with a minimum of wasted effort, would require the services
of a full-time staff member for the greater part of a year. Since this is impos-
sible under present circumstances, it seems best to continue the survey as time
permits and as personnel is available.

56 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ARCHIVES DIVISION

Public records from the following state departments have been transferred
during the year to the archives division:

Source Title Dates Quantity

Agriculture, Board of ... Statistical Rolls of Counties, 1949 1,699 vols.

Population Schedules of

Cities and Townships . . 1955 4,031 vols.

Insurance Department . . Annual Statements 1948 50 vols.

Kansas Judicial Council, Correspondence and Papers, 1927-1946 1 box

Secretary of State Original House and Senate

Bills, Resolutions and

Petitions 1895-1917 34 transfer

cases

Annual reports for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1955, were received from
the accounts and reports division of the Department of Administration, di-
rector of Alcoholic Beverage Control, state auditor, Children's Receiving Home,
Crippled Children Commission, Entomological Commission, Fort Hays State
College, Horticultural Society, Industrial School for Boys, Industrial School
for Girls, Lamed State Hospital, Osawatomie State Hospital, Parsons State
Training School, Real Estate Commission, Sanatorium for Tuberculosis, Di-
vision of Institutional Management of the Department of Social Welfare,
Topeka State Hospital, state treasurer, and the Winfield State Training School.
Annual reports were also received from the School Book Division of the Board
of Education, the Board of Engineering Examiners and the state printer for
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1956.

A progress report on construction and remodeling programs in the state
as of January 1, 1956, was received from the state architect's office. Also
deposited in the archives was a copy of the "Transcript of Proceedings Before
the Investigating Committee of the Kansas State Legislature, March 10-20,
1953," relating to the sale of a building at the Sanatorium for Tuberculosis
at Norton.

A small body of county and local government archival material was received
during the year. One volume, a "Record of Bond Undertakings, 1887-1909,"
originally in the district court of Stevens county, was added to the collections
and some miscellaneous Stevens county records, including poll books and
school bond election papers, 1888-1895, were lent for microfilming. Two
volumes of Dickinson county commissioners' journals, 1861-1883, were -micro-
filmed, as were two volumes of early Abilene city records an ordinance book,
1869-1874, and a minute book, 1870-1876.

In co-operation with the State Records Board and the Governmental Re-
search Center of Kansas University, the Historical Society helped sponsor a
state conference on records management, June 26, 27, 1956. The conference
was prompted by the ever increasing records problems being encountered by
state agencies. Planned by the Governmental Research Center, the program
consisted of lectures by Benjamin Cutcliffe of the General Services Administra-
tion of the U. S. government and discussion sessions led by Prof. E. O. Stene
of Kansas University. Inventories of agency records, filing systems, records
disposal and storage, and microfilming were topics discussed during the
meetings. All sessions were well attended and nearly all state offices were

THE ANNUAL MEETING 57

represented. Other studies and conferences now in the planning stage should
eventually lead to a more efficient records program for Kansas.

A new assistant archivist, Carl W. Deal, joined the staff on May 10. Mr.
Deal is a graduate of Kansas State Teachers College of Emporia and holds
a master's degree in history from the Mexico City College.

LIBRARY

Alberta Pantle, acting librarian since the retirement of Helen M. McFarland,
has been appointed head librarian. Miss Pantle has been a member of the
staff since 1940.

The number of patrons using the library again reached a record high.
During the year 4,041 came in person, of whom 1,444 worked on subjects
pertaining to Kansas, 1,620 on genealogy, and 977 on general subjects. In-
quiries by correspondence were predominantly on Kansas topics, ranging from
a request from Woodstock, England, for information on the origin of Wood-
stock, Kan., to queries from several states concerning the authenticity of exploits
of Wyatt Earp as portrayed on a current television program. Some of these
inquiries were answered by sending 182 packages of material from the loan
file, which consists largely of pamphlets and articles on Kansas subjects.

Five special newspaper editions and 2,066 miscellaneous issues were read
and clipped in addition to seven daily newspapers which were regularly
searched for Kansas items. All clippings are classified and catalogued by the
library staff before being placed on the shelves. With the aid of a part-time
assistant during the summer, clippings from 14 worn volumes, totaling 4,118
pages, were remounted. Much remounting remains to be done because many
of the older clipping volumes are deteriorating.

A display of rare and interesting Bibles and other religious books from
the library collection has been arranged on the third floor. Several hundred
people, including groups of children from Vacation Bible schools in Topeka
and the surrounding area, have made special trips to see the exhibit.

The 1850 federal census of Vermont was added to the microfilm collection
of early out-of-state census records as a gift from the Kansas Society of
Colonial Dames. The 1860 census of Missouri and Nebraska was purchased,
bringing the number of states represented by these records to fourteen. Family
histories and vital records were donated by the Kansas Society, Daughters of
the American Revolution, and by a number of individuals. Some of these
genealogies were written by Kansas people, others were old and out-of-print
books which are rarely available for purchase.

Many Kansas churches celebrated their 75th or 100th anniversaries during
1955 and 1956. The library received copies of the following histories which
were published as part of these celebrations: Atchison, First Christian Church,
donated by the author, G. Harold Roberts; Hutchinson, Grace Episcopal Church,
donated by Mrs. Vernon McArthur; Leavenworth, Christian Church and First
Presbyterian Church, donated by John Feller; Manhattan, Congregational
Church, donated by the author, Charles M. Correll; Topeka, First Congrega-
tional Church, donated by Mrs. Charles Gait. A collection of historical sketches
of 11 Methodist churches in central Kansas was also received from B F.
Young, Winfield.

A number of reminiscences of early days in Kansas were given, among them
Mental Snapshots Along Life's Highway, by Mrs. Lutie Van Velzer, and Kansas

55869

58 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Heritage, by Mrs. L. L. Pabst. Historical works received included "Ness
County, Kansas, Histories," copied by Mrs. Minnie Dubbs Millbrook from
manuscript and newspaper sources; History of Boston, Kansas, by Herbert C.
Jones; and Prairie Pioneers of Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado, by John
C. and Winoma C. Jones.

Total library accessions, October 1, 1955-September 30, 1956, were:
Books

Kansas 304

General 541

Genealogy and Local History 110

Indians and the West 48

Kansas State Publications 59

Total 1,062

Pamphlets

Kansas 814

General 389

Genealogy and Local History 35

Indians and the West 8

Kansas State Publications 238

Total 1,484

Clippings (bound volumes) 10

Magazines (bound volumes) 220

Microfilm (reels)

Books, magazines, etc 8

Census 17

Total 25

MANUSCRIPT DIVISION

Twenty manuscript volumes and approximately 600 manuscripts were re-
ceived during the year.

Mrs. Eugene L. Bowers, Topeka, gave 74 family letters, 1827-1879, and
two manuscript volumes. Among the letters is a series written by Harrison
Clarkson in 1868. Clarkson, then a resident of Indiana, was on a business
trip to Kansas representing the Aetna Fire Insurance Co., and the letters offer
a lively description of the places visited. Later the same year Clarkson removed
to Topeka where he resided during the remainder of his life.

A small group of papers of Ebenezer Nicholas Orrick Clough was given
by Mrs. Gerald Clough Bulkeley, Abingdon, 111. Of special interest is a series
of four communications by Clough addressed to the Western Star of St. Charles,
Mo., in 1849, describing the Santa Fe trail from Independence to Council
Grove as the author found it in 1847. Clough was a resident of Leavenworth
for more than 40 years.

The Dickinson County Historical Society gave 25 historical sketches of that
county. This society has collected biographical and historical information
for more than 20 years and has filed copies of articles and sketches with the
state Society.

THE ANNUAL MEETING 59

A notebook containing papers of Albin K. Longren, pioneer airplane builder,
was given by his brother, E. J. Longren, Topeka. The papers include a de-
scription of the Longren factory facilities at Topeka.

Minutes of the annual meetings of the Bar Association of Northwestern
Kansas, 1929-1954, were received from Judge J. C. Ruppenthal, Russell.

A collection of records of the James Turner furniture and undertaking
business of Clyde was given by L. E. Turner, Clifton. The 17 manuscript
volumes and six files of invoices cover the period 1883-1924. Included is one
volume of minutes of the Clyde Development Company, 1904-1907.

Minutes of the Southwest Kansas Editorial Association, 1896-1945, were
given by Earl Fickertt, Peabody.

An interesting single item received during the year is a letter by James
Josiah Webb to his wife dated at Walnut Creek, Kansas territory, May 10,
1856.

Nine muster and pay rolls of the 6th regt, U. S. infantry, 1853-1855, were
received. The rolls were dated at Camp Center, Ft. Riley, Ft. Atkinson, and
Camp Precaution, all frontier army posts.

Other donors were: A. E. Anderson, Leoti; Jerome Beatty, Roxbury, Conn.;
H. E. Breed, El Cajon, Cal.; Mrs. Luther Burns, Topeka; Mrs. Bernard P.
Chamberlain, Charlottesville, Pa.; Mrs. Marion Catren, Olpe; Mary E. Clemens,
Core, West Va.; Mrs. Anna Conwell, Topeka; Lois Coons, Parsons; Mrs. Paul
Ernst, Olathe; Alan W. Farley, Kansas City; Dr. Madge Gabriel, Topeka;

D. V. Godard, Albuquerque, N. M.; Mrs. Bert Hay, 'Holton; Mrs. Lloyd
Hershey, Olathe; Dr. and Mrs. Gordon Hill, Topeka; Neal Jordan, Harper
county; Charlotte McLellan, Topeka; James P. McCollom, Dodge City; James
C. Malin, Lawrence; Dr. Karl A. Menninger, Topeka; Dorothy Murphy, Cald-
well; Jennie Small Owen, Topeka; Mrs. Ben Pannkuk, Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.;
the Jennie A. Philip estate; Mrs. Edward Rooney, Topeka; Julien V. Root,
Boise, Idaho; Mrs. Leland Schenck, Topeka; Mrs. Clif Stratton, Topeka; Dr.

E. B. Trail, Berger, Mo.; and J. A. Wells, Seneca, Mo.
Microfilm copies of the following have been acquired:

Diaries of Joseph Harrington Trego, Linn county pioneer, for the years
1844-1859. The originals were lent by Mrs. J. H. Morse, Mound City.

Diaries of Elizabeth Simerwell, daughter of the Baptist missionary, Robert
Simerwell, for the years 1852-1861, in two volumes. Vol. 2 contains farm
accounts of her husband, John S. Carter. The diaries were lent by Bessie
E. Moore, Wakarusa.

Five letters of James E. Love, 1862. Love was first lieutenant, Co. K,
8th regiment, Kansas Volunteer infantry. The letters give details of the move-
ment of troops from Camp Hunter to Aubrey, Johnson county. The originals
were lent by Love's grandson, Lewis B. Stuart, St. Louis.

Medical records of Andrew H. Fabrique, pioneer doctor of Wichita. The
records include a list of births, 1871-1876, and a visiting list for 1889. With
the records was a ledger of the Tefft House, Topeka, 1868-1870. The originals
were lent by Dr. Fabrique's daughter, Mrs. George T. Nolley, Wichita.

Records of the First Congregational church of Russell, 1886-1942. Orig-
inals were furnished through the courtesy of Mrs. Ralph Ewing, Russell.

Post returns of Camp Mackey, New Post Arkansas River and Ft. Atkinson,
early 1850's. Film was obtained from the National Archives.

60 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Papers in the claim of F. J. Marshall and Albert G. Woodward, Marshall
county, for depredations committed by the Pawnee Indians, 1854-1855. Orig-
inal documents are in the National Archives.

MICROFILM DIVISION

This year marked the tenth anniversary of the Society's microfilming pro-
gram. Although some film was purchased earlier, it was in 1946 that the
Society's camera was installed and a permanent microfilming program under-
taken. As of September 30, 1956, nearly 4,200,000 photographs have been
made, more than 380,000 of them during the past 12 months. This year there
were 330,000 photographs of newspapers, and nearly 45,000 of archival rec-
ords, with the balance divided between library and manuscript materials.

Work on the Ottawa Daily Herald was completed for the period November
18, 1896-November 27, 1952, a total of more than 148,000 exposures on 215
rolls of film. Microfilming of the Herald will be continued through 1954. The
Chanute Daily Tribune, reported last year as microfilmed for June 22, 1892-
November 1, 1915, was completed through 1954. Other newspapers filmed
during the year were the Cimarron Herald and Kansas Sod House, July 16,
1885-March 25, 1886; Coffeyville Journal, January 1, 1900-December 31, 1920,
and January 1-December 31, 1937; Coldwater Republican, November 27, 1884-
December 30, 1886; Coolidge Border Ruffian, January 2, 1886-January 15,
1887; Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, January 10, 1855-December 31, 1881
(with issues missing for December 7, 1874-January 6, 1876; October 19-
December 31, 1879); and the Kansas City (Mo.) Times, July 1-November 13,
1874.

Archival materials microfilmed included 148 volumes of the state census
of 1905 and two volumes of the census of 1925.

MUSEUM

The program of expansion and modernization of the museum has continued
through the year. Its success in part is reflected in the attendance figures
41,702 for the year ending September 30, as compared with 36,097 for the
preceding year.

Twenty new exhibit cases received last November have been fitted with
displays depicting the early history of Kansas, from the migrations of pre-
historic man and the expedition of Coronado to subjects of the territorial
period and such personalities as Gov. Andrew Reeder, John Brown, and
Abraham Lincoln. An additional 20 cases, funds for which were appropriated
by the 1956 legislature, are on order and should be delivered next month.
These will complete the renovation presently planned for the main gallery.
An appropriation for the purchase of a third group of 20 cases is included
in the budget for next year. These cases are to be used for Indian and
military displays.

Two more period rooms have been finished since the last report: a farm
kitchen of the 1900's and a parlor of the 1920's, though the latter still lacks
a few articles of furniture and accessories. Three additional rooms are planned
for this wing of the museum, but their construction probably must wait while
the staff turns its attention to the east wing. In this area, as mentioned in last
year's report, plans call for the development of a general store and post

THE ANNUAL MEETING 61

office, a blacksmith and harness shop, a print shop, doctor's office, and a
dentist's office.

Air-conditioning units to cool approximately one half of the museum area
were put into operation for the first time last spring. They have not only
made it possible for the museum staff to work far more efficiently but have
been a major factor in increasing attendance during the summer months. In
this connection a comparison of monthly attendance records is interesting.
In July, 1955, 2,786 persons visited the museum, and in August the number
was 3,772. A year later, when the air-conditioning was in operation, the
figures for the same months were 4,57.1 and 5,755, an increase of approximately
2,000 for each month.

Another important stimulus to increased attendance has been the publicity
given the Society by the two Topeka newspapers. The Topeka State Journal
has printed each week a photograph taken from our files showing old build-
ings and street scenes. Inevitably such pictures revive interest in the past,
and the credit line printed with each tends to focus attention on the Society
and its work. The Topeka Daily Capital has been publishing on Sunday a
"Museum Feature of the Week," pointing out by means of a photograph and
brief descriptive paragraph some object which is displayed in the museum.
Public response to this series has been excellent.

The museum's educational program also has continued to expand. Guided
tours are available to groups upon request, and approximately 150 school and
scout groups from all parts of the state have utilized this service during the
year.

A photographic darkroom is operated as an adjunct to the museum. In
addition to photographing and processing all pictures used in museum dis-
plays, the darkroom staff has been responsible for all photographic work for
the Annals, the Quarterly, and for newspaper releases. It has rephotographed
all the legislative pictures which formerly hung on the walls of the museum,
and made them into panels of a size suitable for the new display wings on the
third floor. A collection of color slides of state landmarks and historic sites,
some of which will be shown at the meeting this afternoon, has been started.
Many old photographs have been copied for better preservation, and hundreds
of prints from the Society's files have been made for patrons.

Through the generosity of the Eisenhower Museum at Abilene a temporary
exhibit of gifts and mementos belonging to the President is currently displayed
in two cases on the fourth floor. A series of original Eisenhower cartoons
by Karl K. Knecht, also lent by the Eisenhower Museum, may be seen in the
glass panels in the third floor lobby.

There were 68 accessions comprising 456 objects during the year. One
of the most important was a purchase of Indian materials relating to the Kansas
area from the Beloit College Museum at Beloit, Wis. Although the Society
rarely buys museum articles, the inadequacy of our Indian collections made
it advisable to take advantage of this opportunity to obtain a number of
interesting and valuable pieces.

Important accessions during the year include a collection of furniture from
the Emma Lodean Hinton estate, Kansas City; the Lillian S. Guy Memorial
collection of 142 items, many of them articles of clothing of the 1880's, re-
ceived through Mrs. Frank Pettit and Hinkle M. Guy, Jr., Topeka; fixtures and

62 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

equipment from the general store and post office at Zarah, from Mr. and Mrs.
Harry King, Zarah, with the assistance of Robert Baughman; articles from a
drugstore at Delia, from Mrs. B. E. Frisby, Delia; pioneer sod house items
from Mrs. Ira E. Harshbarger, Loveland, Colo.; household furnishings of the
1920 era which were the property of former Gov. W. E. Stanley, from his
daughter-in-law, Mrs. W. E. Stanley, Wichita; two large collections of house-
hold items from Mrs. Eugene Bowers, Topeka, and the estate of Mr. and Mrs.
Hugh D. Carver, Concordia, through their heirs, Mrs. Dean Finley, Mrs.
Grover Empson, and Lewis Carver; and a collection of Indian items belonging
to Prof. J. V. Cortelyou, formerly of Kansas State College, donated by his
wife through R. G. Cortelyou, Omaha, Neb.

Other donors during the year were Mrs. P. W. Allen, Topeka; Mr. and
Mrs. Milton F. Amrine, Council Grove; Mrs. Louise Baber, Lawrence; Mrs.
John B. Bellamy, Topeka; Roderick Bentley, Shields; Warren P. Chancy, To-
peka; Mrs. W. B. Collinson, Topeka; Mrs. Anna Conwell, Topeka; Eldon
Corkill, Dallas, Tex.; the Julia Cotton estate, Topeka; Col. Brice C. W. Custer,
Topeka; Alva E. Dillard, Melvern; Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Durkee, Manhattan;

A. R. Earhart, Topeka; Mrs. Harry B. Farnsworth, Oakland, Cal.; Dr. Newell
Feeley, Topeka; Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Ferguson, Valley Falls; Mr. and Mrs. R. I.
Forbes, Topeka; Mrs. W. H. Freienmuth, Tonganoxie; Al F. George, Topeka;
the Governor's Mansion through Mrs. Fred Hall; Horace T. Green, Topeka;
Ray W. Groom, Council Grove; Mrs. J. L. Grubaugh, Council Grove; heirs
of Loren Hadley, Kansas City, Mo.; Hall Lithographing Co., Topeka; Mrs.
Bert Hay, Holton; Chester Heizer, Caldwell; Mrs. Jack Hendrix, Topeka; Mrs.
Daisy Keller, Sapulpa, Okla.; Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Kelley, Topeka; Manuel
Kolarik, Caldwell; E. J. Longren, Topeka; Paul Lyons, Topeka; the heirs of
William D. McFarland, Chase; Mrs. Frank Miller, Topeka; John Miller, Topeka;
Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Mulroy, Topeka; Georgia Nicholson, Lawrence; Mrs. Gail
French Peterson, Lawrence; Ward R. Philip, Brownell; B. W. Purdum, Topeka;
Mrs. R. W. Richmond, Topeka; Mrs. George E. Smith, Topeka; Mrs. Hall
Smith, Topeka; Stanley D. Sohl, Topeka; the children of Mr. and Mrs. Richard

B. Stevens, Lawrence; Annie B. Sweet, Topeka; Mrs. Virgil Teeter, Partridge;
Mrs. Carl F. Trace, Topeka; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Tucking, Valley Falls; Judy
Ann Walker, Topeka; Mrs. L. R. Watson, Altoona; Charles J. Williams, Topeka;
Wolfe's Camera Shop, Topeka; the Woman's Kansas Day Club; Charles Wulf-
kuhle, Topeka; Otto Wullschleger, Frankfort.

NEWSPAPER AND CENSUS DIVISIONS

A total of 6,342 patrons who called in person were served this year by the
newspaper and census divisions, and a much larger number by correspondence.
This service involved the use of 6,191 single issues, 6,472 bound volumes, and
1,828 microfilm reels of newspapers, and 43,886 census volumes, an increase
of more than 12,000 over the number of census volumes searched during the
previous year.

The demand for certified copies of state census records continues to mount.
Another all-time high was reached this year with 17,580 certificates issued,
nearly 2,500 more than in the preceding year. These records provide proof
of age and place of birth needed for delayed birth certificates, social security,
railroad retirement, and other purposes. The broadening of the social security
program is undoubtedly responsible for the increasing demand.

THE ANNUAL MEETING 63

Nearly all Kansas newspapers are received regularly for filing. These
include 55 dailies, one triweekly, ten semiweeklies, and 292 regular weeklies.
The Society's files now total 57,353 bound volumes of Kansas newspapers
and over 12,000 volumes of out-of-state newspapers, dating from 1767 to 1956.
With the addition of 679 reels this year, the Society's collection of newspapers
on microfilm now includes 5,926 reels.

Publishers who contribute microfilm copies of the current issues of their
newspapers to the Society are: Oscar Stauffer and Rex Woods, Arkansas City
Daily Traveler; E. W. Johnson, Chanute Tribune; Harry Valentine, Clay Center
Dispatch; George W. Marble, Fort Scott Tribune; Angelo Scott, lola Register;
W. A. Bailey, Kansas City Kansan; Dolph Simons, Lawrence Daily Journal-
World; Daniel R. Anthony, III, Leavenworth Times; and Leland Schenck,
Topeka Daily Capital

The Society frequently receives miscellaneous issues of older newspapers.
Ruth E. Hunt, Topeka, recently donated several issues of out-of-state news-
papers, most of them published on historic dates. Charles H. Carr, Wichita,
gave The Phoebus, Hutchinson, July 20, 1891-April 1, 1892. This was a
small-size biweekly newspaper published by Carr and two other "printer's
devils" to gain experience. Other donors of older newspapers include: Norman
Niccum, Tecumseh; Mrs. Loyal Payne, Manhattan; Mrs. Wm. L. Smith, Sara-
sota, Fla.; and Mrs. Eugene Bowers, Ralph Crawshaw, Louis R. Smith, and
LeRoy Stevens, Topeka. Mrs. C. D. Churchill, St. Francis, lent the Wano
Plain Dealer, December 30, 1886, to the Society for photostating.

PHOTOGRAPHS AND MAPS

During the year 1,262 photographs were added to the collection. Of these,
707 were gifts and 555 were lent to the Society for copying. Many of the
pictures came in response to requests for Anna/5 illustrations. In addition,
a great many still photographs and color slides and several feet of motion
picture film were taken by the staff. New filing cases have made the picture
storage facilities less crowded, and the system of filing is being revised.

The new photographic darkroom, mentioned previously in this report, has
already proved of great value to the Society. All photographs lent for copying
were reproduced by our own staff and equipment rather than by a commercial
photographer as in the past. A large number of faded or damaged pictures
from the files were also copied. Service to the public has been substantially
improved. Dozens of patrons have been aided by the files and darkroom
facilities as the Society has been able to furnish copies in sizes from small
snapshots to large photo murals upon request.

The map collection has undergone some changes and 40 new maps have
been accessioned during the year. The acquisition of a new map case has
facilitated cleaner and more efficient storage. A large backlog of uncataloged
material has been recorded and filed. Space has been saved and the maps
themselves are more easily accessible.

SUBJECTS FOR RESEARCH

Subjects for extended research during the year included: Negro migration,
1879; St. John's Episcopal church, Wichita; banking in Kansas; the Indian
frontier on the upper Missouri before 1865 and missions and fur trade on the
upper Missouri before 1900; labor unions in Kansas; World War I; the

64 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Lecompton constitution; woman suffrage; railway promotion in the settlement
of Kansas; Shawnee county schools; cow towns; Pottawatomie Indians; local
taxes in Kansas; the Republican party; Highland Park; Kansas folklore; E.
Haldeman- Julius and his publications; textbooks used in Kansas schools; Kansas
sheriffs and outlaws, and life in central Kansas, 1870-1900; Eugene F. Ware;
Mary Elizabeth Lease; Frederick Funston; William Clark; and David R.
Atchison.

PUBLICATIONS

The Quarterly. Reduced printing appropriations of the past four years
were increased by the 1956 legislature, enabling the Society again to publish
a Quarterly of sufficient pages to warrant the binding of an annual volume.
Volume 22, therefore, will contain the four numbers for 1956, and should be
ready for distribution by the end of the year.

A larger magazine will permit publication of a greater variety of articles,
which in turn will attract more reader interest. Among the features this year
were the Charles B. Lines letters, edited by Alberta Pantle, which told the
story of the Connecticut-Kansas colony and its settlement at Wabaunsee 100
years ago. Articles relating the experiences of two pioneer women in western
Kansas, Mrs. Hattie E. Lee and Mrs. Catherine Wiggins Porter, have received
widespread praise. George C. Anderson's journal, being published in two
parts, records an Ohio land committee's impressions of several areas of Kansas
and Colorado in 1871. Dr. James C. Malin's contributions this year are articles
on James A. and Louie Lord, and other theatrical groups and individuals who
entertained in Kansas. The Winter number will include an account of the
old ghost town of Quindaro, by Alan W. Farley, and the journal of William
W. Salisbury, who joined the gold rush across Kansas to the Pike's Peak area
in 1859, edited by David Lindsey.

Annals of Kansas. Today the second and final volume at least for the
present of the new Annals of Kansas will be formally presented. It marks
the conclusion of a gigantic task. Nearly ten years of research, selection, and
editorial effort have gone into the preparation of these two books. The first
volume, published two years ago, covered the period 1886-1910. The second
volume continues this day-by-day history of the state through 1925. More
will be said of this work at the afternoon meeting, but it is fitting here to
make special mention of Jennie S. Owen, chief annalist, and the several
assistants who have worked with her through the years; of Kirke Mechem, the
editor; and Louise Barry, who undertook singlehanded the immense job of
compiling the index.

Upon the completion of her work on the Annals Miss Owen retired from
active service with the Society. Although she had been a member of the
staff for 18 years, she often spoke of her desire to write again for the news-
papers. Now she will have time, and Jennie's by-line undoubtedly will be
seen over special articles and feature stories, as it was in earlier years when
she worked for the Emporia Gazette, the El Dorado Times, and the Junction
City Union.

The Mirror. Publication of the Mirror, the Society's bimonthly newsletter,
has continued through the year. It has been well received by members and
friends and has been helpful in bringing them into closer contact with the
actual administration and activities of the organization. Many fine accessions

THE ANNUAL MEETING 65

have been received, particularly for the museum, as a direct result of articles
which have appeared in its columns.

THE FIRST CAPITOL

Registration of visitors at the First Territorial Capitol, on the Fort Riley
reservation, totaled 3,590 for the year. This is a decrease of approximately
1,000 from last year's figure, and may be accounted for at least in part by the
fact that many tourists now use the new U. S. 40 highway which by-passes
Fort Riley.

Installation of new display cases was completed during the year, and elec-
trical wiring was installed in the building for the first time. The new cases,
each with its own electrical fixture, may now allow exhibits to be seen under
the most advantageous conditions.

THE FUNSTON HOME

Officially known as the Funston Memorial State Park, this property did not
begin active operation until May, 1956. V. E. Berglund was employed as
caretaker and a great deal has been accomplished since that time despite the
handicap of extremely limited funds. Grounds have been cleaned up, trees
and shrubs trimmed, and new plantings have been set out.

Many articles of furniture, decoration, and household goods have been
received from Mrs. F. A. Eckdall, Emporia, and Aldo Funston, Parsons, a
sister and brother of Gen. Frederick Funston. The Society's museum staff has
installed two wall cases in which are displayed articles relating to the general's
career.

A visitors' register opened in June was signed by 377 persons through the
end of September. Thirteen states, in addition to Kansas, were represented.
The number of visitors undoubtedly will increase substantially, although lack
of a heating sytsem will make the home primarily a three-season attraction.

THE KAW MISSION

This has been a highly successful year for the Kaw Methodist Mission at
Council Grove. Visitors registered from 45 states, the District of Columbia,
Hawaii, Alaska, and nine foreign countries. Registrations totaled 5,722, a gain
of more than a thousand over the preceding year.

Much of the credit for the increase in attendance must go to local supporters.
A "Museum Scoreboard" published each week by the Council Grove Republican
has created a geat deal of interest, while an information bureau established by
the Junior Chamber of Commerce has done an excellent job of directing tourists
to the Mission. Council Grove is aware of its historic sites and their interest
to visitors. It is also aware of the commercial value of such places to the
community, and it is losing no opportunity to call attention to them.

Three floodlights purchased and installed by the Council Grove Ladies'
Civic Improvement Club, with the assistance of the Kiwanis Club, also have
made the Mission and grounds a place of beauty after dark. The Kansas
District of Kiwanis International has placed an attractive marble bench in a
corner of the grounds to commemorate the founding of the district at Council
Grove.

Donors during the year included Ralph Edwards, Burdick; Dorothy Miller,
White City; Fred Roy, Wilsey; John Ryman, Dunlap; and Lucy Porter Axe,

66 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Rose Axe, O. A. Copple, O. D. Griffing, Bud Larmer, Larry Stewart, W. H.
White, Jr., and Willard Young, Council Grove.

OLD SHAWNEE MISSION

During the year visitors representing 29 states, England, Germany, Australia,
Colombia, Ecuador, the Egyptian Sudan, and the Philippine Islands stopped at
Old Shawnee Mission, located in the Kansas City suburbs. All sections of
Kansas and Missouri were represented and there were many school and scout
groups. A group of approximately 100 new Johnson county public school
teachers visited the Mission on a tour to points of interest in the vicinity,
sponsored by the Mission, Kan., Chamber of Commerce. Among other visitors
were Mrs. Eleanor Lia, great granddaughter of the Rev. Isaac McCoy, Shawnee
Baptist missionary; Mr. and Mrs. Louis T. Dick, Tulsa, Okla., George Dick, and
James Squirrel, all Shawnee Indians.

The original brick walls of the North building and most of the West
building were tuckpointed and waterproofed. Three rooms in the North
building were papered with a reproduction of a wallpaper used before 1840.

The annual pilgrimage of the Kansas department, Daughters of the
American Revolution, was held as usual at the Mission on Constitution Day,
September 17. Approximately 115 members from over the state attended the
meeting and picnic.

The Society is indebted to the state department of Colonial Dames, Daugh-
ters of American Colonists, Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters
of 1812, and the Shawnee Mission Indian Historical Society for their continued
assistance at the Mission.

THE MITCHELL BEQUEST

In 1953 the board of directors accepted for the Society a 30-acre tract of
hill pasture known as Mount Mitchell. Bequeathed by William I. Mitchell in
memory of his father, Capt. William Mitchell, and the Connecticut-Kansas
colony of which he was a member, the hill overlooks the town of Wabaunsee
where the colony settled. The terms of the bequest required that an appropriate
monument or marker be placed on the hill. This condition was fulfilled last
month when a six-foot monument of Onaga stone was erected on the summit.
A bronze plaque attached to the stone reads:

In commemoration of the Connecticut Kansas Colony, known
also as the Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony, which settled at Wa-
baunsee in 1856, and in memory of Capt. William Mitchell, a '
member of the Colony, this monument is erected on Mount Mitchell
through the generosity of his son, William I. Mitchell, by the Kansas
State Historical Society, 1956.

This year is the centennial of the Connecticut colony's arrival in Kansas,
and it is therefore fitting that the marker should have been erected at this
time. The Society is pleased to have had a part in commemorating the con-
structive efforts of this group of pioneers.

THE STAFF OF THE SOCIETY

It is a pleasure this year, as always, to call attention to the work of the
staff. The Society's collections have made it one of the nation's leading
historical institutions, but the people who do the work day after day are

THE ANNUAL MEETING 67

responsible for the personal element which brings such commendations as this
from California: "In my opinion the Kansas State Historical Society is the
most efficient and co-operative historical society in the country.

While it is not possible to name every individual on the staff, the work of
each is sincerely appreciated. Special mention should be given to Edgar
Langsdorf, assistant secretary; Mrs. Lela Barnes of the manuscript division,
treasurer of the Society; Alberta Pantle, librarian; Robert W. Richmond,
archivist; Stanley D. Sohl, museum director; Forrest R. Blackburn of the
newspaper division; and Jennie S. Owen, annalist.

Acknowledgment should also be made of the fine work of the custodians of
the several historic sites administered by the Society: Mr. and Mrs. Harry
Hardy at Shawnee Mission, Mr. and Mrs. Elwood Jones at Kaw Mission, Mr.
and Mrs. V. E. Berglund at the Funston Memorial Home, and John Scott at
the First Capitol. Respectfully submitted,

NYLE H. MILLER, Secretary.

At the conclusion of the reading of the secretary's report, Karl
Miller moved that it be approved. Motion was seconded by Will
T. Beck and the report was accepted.

President Riegle then called for the report of the treasurer, Mrs.
Lela Barnes:

TREASURER'S REPORT

Based on the post-audit by the State Division of Auditing and Accounting
for the period August 5, 1955, to July 26, 1956.

MEMBERSHIP FEE FUND

Balance, August 5, 1955:

Cash (including $1,153.69 of the Elizabeth Reader

bequest) $6,396.36

U. S. bonds, Series K 3,500.00

$9,896.36

Receipts:

Membership fees $929.01

Gifts and donations 35.30

Bond interest 274.90

1,239.21

$11,135.57

Disbursements: $2,041.50

Balance, July 26, 1956:

Cash (including $775.19 of the Elizabeth Reader be-
quest) $4,094.07

U. S. bonds, Series K 5,000.00

9,094.07

$11,135.57

KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
JONATHAN PECKER BEQUEST

Balance, August 5, 1955:

Cash $68.02

U. S. treasury bonds 950.00

$1,018.02

Receipts:

Savings account interest 2.54

$1,020.56
Balance, July 26, 1956:

Cash $20.56

U. S. bonds, Series K 1,000.00

$1,020.56

JOHN BOOTH BEQUEST

Balance, August 5, 1955:

Cash $142.90

U. S. bonds, Series K 500.00

$642.90

Receipts:

Savings account interest 1.29

$644.19

Disbursements, books $27.12

Balance, July 26, 1956:

Cash $117.07

U. S. bonds, Series K 500.00

617.07

$644.19

THOMAS H. BOWLUS DONATION

This donation is substantiated by a U. S. bond, Series K, in the amount of
$1,000. The interest is credited to the membership fee fund.

ELIZABETH READER BEQUEST

Balance, August 5, 1955:

Cash (deposited in membership fee fund) $1,153.69

U. S. bonds, Series G 5,200.00

Receipts:

Interest (deposited in membership fee fund)

Disbursements, books

Balance, July 26, 1956:

Cash (deposited in membership fee fund)

$775.19

U. S. bonds, Series G 5,200.00

$6,353.69
130.00

$6,483.69
$508.50

5,975.19

$6,483.69

THE ANNUAL MEETING 69

STATE APPROPRIATIONS

This report covers only the membership fee fund and other custodial funds.
Appropriations made to the Historical Society by the legislature are disbursed
through the State Department of Administration. For the year ending June 30,
1956, these appropriations were: Kansas State Historical Society, including the
Memorial building, $217,232; Funston Home, $2,600; Pike Pawnee Village site,
$1,000; First Capitol of Kansas, $4,848; Kaw Mission, $4,534; Old Shawnee
Mission, $14,363. Respectfully submitted,

MRS. LELA BARNES, Treasurer.

On motion by Lea Maranville, seconded by John S. Dawson, the
report of the treasurer was accepted.

President Riegle then called for the report of the executive com-
mittee on the post-audit of the Society's funds by the state division of
auditing and accounting. The report was read by Will T. Beck:

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

October 12, 1956.
To the Board of Directors, Kansas State Historical Society:

The executive committee being directed under the by-laws to check the
accounts of the treasurer, states that the State Department of Post-Audit has
audited the funds of the State Historical Society, the Old Shawnee Mission,
the First Capitol of Kansas, the Old Kaw Mission, the Funston Home and
Pike's Pawnee Village, for the period August 5, 1955, to July 26, 1956, and
that they are hereby approved. WILL T. BECK, Chairman,

JOHN S. DAWSON,
FRANK HAUCKE,
T. M. LILLARD,

C. M. CORRELL.

Will T. Beck moved acceptance of the report. Alan W. Farley
seconded the motion and the report was accepted.

The report of the nominating committee for officers of the Society
was read by Will T. Beck:

NOMINATING COMMITTEE'S REPORT

October 12, 1956.
To the Board of Directors, Kansas State Historical Society:

Your committee on nominations submits the following report for officers
of the Kansas State Historical Society:

For a one-year term: Rolla Clymer, El Dorado, president; Alan W. Farley,
Kansas City, first vice-president; and Richard M. Long, Wichita, second vice-
president.

For a two-year term: Mrs. Lela Barnes, Topeka, treasurer.
Respectfully submitted,

WILL T. BECK, Chairman.

The report was referred to the afternoon meeting of the board.
Because of interest in the controversy over the Wyandotte Indian

70 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

burial ground in the heart of Kansas City, Kan., Alan W. Farley
was called on to speak briefly on the history of the site and its
current status. Mr. Farley concluded his remarks by presenting
the following resolution and moving its acceptance:

RESOLUTION

BE IT RESOLVED, by the Board of Directors of the Kansas State Historical
Society at the annual meeting on October 16, 1956, at Topeka, Kan., that the
Huron Indian Cemetery in Kansas City, Kan., is a place of unusual historical
interest and should be preserved for posterity because of its unique character
and because of the historical significance of the lives of those Wyandotte
Indians buried therein, and that the Secretary is hereby directed to notify
all of the Kansas representatives and senators of this resolution, and that they
be urged to secure the repeal of provisions relating to said cemetery contained
in Public Law 887 84th Congress, Chapter 843, Second Session, S 3970.

R. F. Brock seconded the motion by Alan W. Farley, and the
resolution was adopted.

There followed a brief discussion of means of obtaining new
members with remarks by Joseph C. Shaw, Charles C. Rankin,
Frank Haucke, Otto J. Wullschleger, and Karl Miller.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY

The annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society was
called to order at 2 P. M.

Before the president's address, Col. Brice C. W. Custer was intro-
duced to the meeting. Colonel Custer is a grandnephew of Gen.
George A. Custer and is currently serving as Senior Army Adviser
for Reserve units in the state of Kansas.

The address by President Wilford Riegle follows:

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT
PECK'S BAD BOYS

WELFORD RIEGLE

THIS is a brief story of an infantry division in World War I, a
division composed of men from Kansas and Missouri; a divi-
sion that covered itself with glory and everlasting fame by helping
to drive the Germans out of France, and across the Rhine river,
which brought peace for awhile to a troubled world.

I refer to the 35th division, a National Guard outfit, if you please.
When war was declared on the Germans in 1917, our United States
armed forces were neither large nor strong. Much planning, organi-

THE ANNUAL MEETING 71

zation, and reorganization had to be effected expeditiously by our
military leaders in Washington and elsewhere in the country, for the
Germans were driving toward Paris and ultimate victory over the
Allies. In order to reach the required strength for a war-size in-
fantry regiment, for instance, the National Guard regiments within
a state, and sometimes from two states, were joined together.

Uniting two regiments to make one regiment of the required
strength eliminated virtually half of the officers. Many officers were
transferred to other units or camps for duty; a good many were dis-
charged for physical disabilities; others were relieved from the serv-
ice because of certain deficiencies. Those were days that tried an
officer's soul because of the anxiety for his military future. In order
to reach the required strength of a division, battalions and regiments
of the various branches of several or more states were joined to-
gether. To make up the 35th division, the National Guard organiza-
tions of Kansas and Missouri were combined. The Missouri Guard
contributed, according to the record, 14,282 men, and Kansas 9,781
men. When the divisional strength was placed at 27,000 the addi-
tional men were taken almost entirely from Kansas and Missouri
drafts, so that the division about which we speak today, started out
and continued to be, to the time it was mustered out in 1919, a Kan-
sas and Missouri outfit.

Here in Kansas, for many years prior to 1917, our National Guard
units, small in size, and without much pay and equipment, were in-
structed, trained, and led by many devoted, loyal, and efficient offi-
cers. I have time here to speak briefly of only three of these officers
who helped to mould our Kansas National Guard in those days.
Many of you knew these officers personally, I am sure.

Gen. Charles I. Martin, of Fort Scott, was the adjutant general
of Kansas before and after World War I. He had a long and dis-
tinguished military career. As a captain of the famous 20th Kansas
infantry in the Battle of Manila, Martin's company suffered the
heaviest casualties of the regiment. Near Calucan in the Philippines
his company held the enemy in place without relief for six weeks.
Martin came out of that engagement a major and was the only Na-
tional Guard general officer with the 35th division in 1917 and 1918.

Gen. Wilder S. Metcalf, of Lawrence, had been in command of the
1st Kansas infantry regiment from 1897 to 1917, except during the
Spanish-American War, during which time he served as a major of
the 20th Kansas infantry. He succeeded Funston as commanding
officer of that famous regiment.

72 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Col. Perry M. Hoisington, of Newton, the grand old man of the
2d Kansas infantry regiment, was born in Michigan. He served in
the National Guard of that state as an enlisted man and officer before
coming to Kansas in 1884. Colonel Hoisington served in the Na-
tional Guard of Kansas most of the years from 1890 until 1925, be-
ginning as a private. He received the rank of colonel in 1895 and
commanded the 2d Kansas through the Spanish-American War and
on the Mexican border. He was the first commanding officer of
the 137th infantry in 1917. He gave the guard an uplifting and per-
meating influence which displayed devotion and love of service of
the highest order. Many a time the men followed on foot this gal-
lant soldier and his horse while on some hike or maneuver.

Such was the caliber of the officers who prepared the National
Guard for service in World War I.

Many of the men of the division served on the Mexican border in
1916, guarding and protecting our southern American frontier
against Mexican outlaws who were making life miserable for those
who lived there.

The service on the border proved to be a great training center for
these men who later became veterans of World War I. Down there
in the hot winds, sand, and cactus the men were moulded into
soldiers of the best quality by living a vigorous outdoor life and by
learning to endure fatigue, discomfort, and hardship.

On Sunday, August 5, 1917, the troops of Kansas, and other states,
were called into active service and assigned to home camps. The
units were federalized, passed from the control of the states, and
became a part of the United States army. From then until October
a steady stream of guard troops departed from many towns in Kan-
sas for Camp Doniphan, Okla. Here organizations were joined to-
gether and allotted designated areas. They started an intensive pro-
gram of exercises, marches, and drills; they became accustomed to
a daily menu of Oklahoma dust. Soldiers were routed out of bed
each morning with dust in their eyes and dust on their army bacon.
They drilled or hiked under a scorching sun with equally scorching
sands underfoot.

Gen. William M. Wright, the division commander, insisted firmly
that the men of his division be highly proficient in the use of the
rifle, accurate in firing at all ranges, and skilled at maneuvering in
the open woods by day or by night. The manual of arms, bayonet
drill, grenade throwing, and trench warfare became an important
part of each day's routine for the infantry. The field signal battalion,
with its radio work; the artillery with its range practice; and the

THE ANNUAL MEETING 73

medical men with their first aid training also were on a busy sched-
ule. Gruelling hikes took the men out into the scrub oak districts
surrounding the camp. The men had never trained for trench war-
fare so experts in the new art of war, French, Scotch, and English,
were sent from the battlefields of France to teach them. In spite of
living in tents, which meant a fight day after day to maintain their
health, the men were hardened and toughened by constant hard
work.

At Camp Doniphan the Kansas contingents of the division passed
in review before the governor of Kansas, the Hon. Arthur Capper.
It was a windy and dusty day, and the mental picture of Governor
Capper, astride a strange and frisky army steed has not yet faded.
During much of that day the governor also passed through the Kan-
sas area of the camp shaking hands with many soldiers over the age
of 21.

During the late winter of 1917 and the early spring of 1918 rumors
were numerous and insistent about the division's departure from
Camp Doniphan. Nobody knew just how and where all the rumors
were started. Finally, early in April, the order for evacuation came.
All the tracks of the spur railroad leading into camp were spotted
with empty passenger coaches. As troop train after troop train de-
parted, the soldiers bid a fond and profane adieu to Oklahoma's
dusty precincts.

Immense crowds saw the troop trains as they passed through
cities and hamlets. Once or twice each day the men were marched
through the streets of various cities in order to exercise their legs.

The whole division was assembled in Camp Mills, near Mineola,
on Long Island, N. Y. Here the equipment of the men was checked
and made complete and they were given last minute instructions
for the trip across the Atlantic Ocean. However, there was time
for relaxation and furloughs. Many of the men were given two-
day furloughs, so they could see the bright lights and wonders of
New York City. The old Hippodrome Theatre, with its spectacular
shows, was probably the main attraction for the men.

The men of the division attracted the immediate attention of the
New Yorkers because of their chin straps. The winds of Oklahoma
spoiled many formations on the parade ground by blowing hats
from the soldiers' heads. For that reason, General Wright, the
division commander, ordered every officer and enlisted man to secure
his campaign hat with a strap under his chin. The New York papers
called the division, the "Chin Strap Division," and the citizens of

65869

74 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the East concluded that the Kansans were either cowpunchers or
ranchers. In fact, a good many of the Easterners, smug in their
culture and provincial thinking, were a little afraid of these Kansans
as they walked their streets. Peering with strained necks at sky-
scrapers and getting lost among the canyons of the city, indicated
to the Easterners that these chin strap boys from the "Wild West"
might not be civilized.

On April 24 and 25, the Middle Westerners, many of them smell-
ing salt water for the first time, boarded ships at the loading docks in
New York City and Hoboken, N. J., and sailed away to the first
great adventure of their lives. It was a cold, windy voyage across
the boisterous sea. Because of the German submarine the ships
traveled in convoys, and they were routed far to the North Atlantic.
Turning southward near the Scottish coast, the ships passed through
the Irish Sea between England and Ireland. Immediately upon
debarkation at Liverpool the troops were marched through the city,
beneath flying flags, banners, and confetti to waiting trains. They
were then whisked away to Winchester, Southampton, and other
cities of southern England. Here they basked in England's sun-
shine; here they saw their first German prisoners, erect, proud,
and defiant.

After a few days' rest, the men embarked on small boats and
ships, and on a cold and foggy night, crossed the English channel
safely to Le Havre on the northern coast of France. The troops
moved to various bivouac areas, erroneously called rest camps,
near the city of Eu. The war was not far away. The division, with
eight other American divisions, was assembled in a little corner of
northern France not far from Dunkerque of World War II fame.
Here they were attached to the British army as reserves. The men
were issued English rifles and other British equipment. English
instructors and cooks were assigned to the various units. Under
their guidance the Kansans dug reserve trenches, and erected
barbed wire entanglements; they prepared a line of defense to
which the British could fall back, or into which some of the Amer-
ican reserve divisions could be thrown, if need be, to stop a push
of the Germans to the English channel.

About this time the Allied command was putting heavy pressure
on General Pershing for a drastic change in organization. The
English "Big Brass" insisted that these American reserve divisions
be split up. They wanted to use the men of these divisions as
replacements for British units. If their plan had been successful,

THE ANNUAL MEETING 75

American soldiers would have worn British uniforms, eaten English-
cooked food, and would have fought as Englishmen. The thought
of this un-American plan lowered the morale of the men greatly.
But General Pershing, God bless him, with speed and firmness,
convinced the Allied command that his men would fight under the
American flag, in American uniforms and units, under command of
American officers.

On June 7, 1918, the division boarded the small boxcars, com-
monly called 40 men or 8 horses, for the province of Alsace in
southeastern France. By lying bumper to bumper 40 men could
sleep most unsuccessfully in one of these boxcars. Alsace had been
taken from the French in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. It
remained a German province until the early days of World War I
when the French recaptured it from the Germans. The majority
of the people spoke German. Alsace was a quiet and peaceful
sector and a good training ground for the division. High pine-clad
hills looked down on the fertile valleys below. The homes of the
peasants were intact there and the fields produced their yearly
harvests. The linen factories, on the banks of the streams, hummed
the song of peace. The inhabitants of the villages clattered along
in their wooden shoes, like troops of trotting cavalry. Old women
at the municipal washing troughs beat out a symphony of peace
with their pounding paddles.

Golden-haired girls shouted welcomes, waved their hands, and
threw flowers in the trucks filled with soldiers. The men unani-
mously agreed that it was a bully sector in which to fight a war.
And every soldier felt sure he would do well in this peaceful sector.

After being in Alsace a short time, the men observed that most
of the farm work was done by women. The public relations officer
of the division issued a bulletin stating that all soldiers, who wished
to do so, might volunteer to assist the women in the fields on
Sunday after church. Eight hundred men volunteered. He never
issued such a bulletin again.

In the little town of Wesserling, high in the Vosges mountains
in Alsace, a good many of the men slept in a great barracks which
formerly had been a German headquarters. Others slept in hay-
mows. The stables usually were under these haymows so there
was always an elaborate assortment of odors. The soldiers were
annoyed by the stamping and moving cows. Rats and troops
developed into congenial bedmates.

The war in Alsace had taken on a subdued tone. There had been

76 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

no major action since 1915. It had been a rest center for both the
French and the German troops for some time. The roar of guns
was seldom heard and air raids never occurred.

However, the Kansans did their best to make things exciting for
the Germans, who retaliated with shrapnel, gas shells, and hand
grenades. The Kansans received their first baptism of fire when
the Germans staged a raid on their lines. A short time later
Company C of the 137th infantry, made up of boys from Burlington
and Great Bend, raided the German trenches and captured seven
prisoners. The division left 100 men in the foothills of the Alps
who had been killed during raids on the German lines, or who
had died of wounds, accident, or disease. Lt. Thomas Hopkins, a
Kansan, was killed while rescuing a wounded comrade from the
barbed-wire entanglement in "No Man's Land." He formerly lived
in Wichita, and the American Legion Post there is named for him.
Sgt. McKinley Pratt, of Emporia, threw himself upon an unex-
ploded hand grenade in order to protect near-by comrades and
was killed when the grenade exploded.

In Alsace the men learned how grim war could be. They swore
at the discomforts and were disgusted with fighting in the mountains.
Yet, when they had moved on to other sectors, where battles raged
and men died on every side, they remembered how serene their
lives had been in the high mountains of Alsace.

Intense fighting had developed in the Marne valley, east of Paris,
while the 35th trained in the Alsace sector. The enemy had at-
tacked, and they had been repulsed with heavy losses. For the
first time in four years conditions were encouraging for the Allies.
General Pershing had obtained consent from the supreme command
to reduce the sector above St. Mihiel, a strong and dominating area
which the Germans had occupied since 1914; so, early on the morn-
ing of September 12, after intensive artillery preparation, the
Americans launched their first major offensive, designed to wipe
out this St. Mihiel sector. The day before the St. Mihiel offensive
began, the 35th landed in the Foret de Haye, a densely wooded
area not far from Nancy and only a few miles in the rear of St.
Mihiel.

The 35th division was in reserve during the St. Mihiel offensive
which was an important assignment. The reserve is an essential
part of every attacking force, large or small, even if that reserve
never moves a foot nor fires a shot.

Those were trying days for the 35th. The St. Mihiel fight was

THE ANNUAL MEETING 77

only a few miles away, and the roar and flash of the guns could
sometimes be heard and seen by the men. At night enemy air-
planes came over and dropped bombs on the forest, and a good
part of the time it rained heavily. The St. Mihiel offensive was
tactically perfect and was operated with precision. The Americans
crashed at will against the German lines and there was no need to
call upon the reserves. Immediately after the St. Mihiel sector was
taken the 35th left its reserve position and moved by motor buses,
trucks, and on foot toward the Argonne Forest.

This forest, forever made immortal by the blood of many Ameri-
can boys, covered hills and low mountains. It dominated the
country surrounding it and was heavily fortified by the Germans.
As long as the Germans held and occupied this forest the war could
not end. It was the most essential area in the possession of the
enemy. The operation to attack and capture the Argonne was
set tentatively for the spring of 1919. However, the ease with
which the St. Mihiel sector was captured, and the obvious weaken-
ing of the enemy on all fronts, convinced Marshal Foch, the allied
supreme commander, that he could capture this forest and end
the war in the fall of 1918. He, therefore, set the force of the
Allied armies to the task of preparing for the last great battle of
World War I.

The American battle line extended from the Meuse river, a few
miles above Verdun, westward to the Argonne Forest, where it
connected with the French Fourth army which was attacking on
the left of the Argonne. Nine American divisions were in the
Meuse-Argonne line ready to attack on the night of September 25.
The men of these divisions had been under constant enemy fire
for four days and nights.

At 11:30 P. M., September 25, the American artillery opened a
deceptive fire to the east of the Meuse river and to the west of the
Argonne Forest. This was intended to deceive the enemy as to
the place at which the attack would come. It was hoped that the
enemy would shift his reserves and other forces away from the
American line. At 2:30, on the morning of September 26, all other
artillery concentrated its fire between the Meuse river and the
Argonne. All Hell broke loose. The sky was slashed and cut
with a mass of crimson. The earth jarred and rumbled, for three
hours, as 3,000 guns concentrated their fire upon the enemy lines.
Naval guns stationed at posts farther to the rear concentrated on
movement of troops behind the enemy lines.

78 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Then at 5:30 the infantry on the American line went over the
top. There was little ceremony about it. Every man knew that at
last he was going forward to a new and great adventure. He knew
that he might fall along the way, rise again to sweep toward the
enemy, and then fall again to rise no more.

The ground over which the division advanced was not heavily
wooded. The trees were scattered. There were many deep
ravines, destroyed villages and farms, and other obstacles.

It is impossible to relate here in detail the part played by the
35th in the Argonne. In five days of intensive, unremitting fighting,
the division had fought against the best the Germans had to offer.
In a bedlam of death, destruction, and debris it had thrust aside,
and pushed back, the pride of the German army. The 35th had
fought against and taken prisoners from six German divisions. It
had advanced ten miles into enemy territory. It had been pushed
back, had gone forward again, and then had been forced to organize
and hold a line about ten miles forward of the original front. The
division had advanced farther into the Argonne than any other
division in the First army. It had captured Vauquois Hill, a perfect
example of German fortification with an elaborate trench system.
Along with the 28th, Pennsylvania's National Guard division, on
the left, it had captured the town of Varennes. When the French
Revolution was brewing King Louis the 16th and Marie Antoinette
endeavored to escape from France. They got as far as Varennes
where they were captured, returned to Paris, and eventually turned
over to the executioner.

The 35th also captured the towns of Cheppy, Very, Neuvilly,
Baulny, Charpentry, Exermont, Fleville as well as Chaudron Farm
and Montrebeau Woods.

The division captured over 1,000 prisoners. It also captured a
great mass of enemy equipment: machine guns, auto rifles, anti-
tank guns, telephone systems, engineer dumps, ammunition dumps,
6-inch howitzers, antiaircraft batteries, and many other weapons
and materiel of warfare.

It suffered 8,023 casualties out of 27,000 men in five days of
desperate fighting. The War Department records show over 1,000
killed, 6,894 wounded, and 169 captured.

The 35th division played a decisive part in the Meuse-Argonne
offensive, the last great battle of the war. Under the dark, autumn
sky, and through the steady, cold rain it pushed ahead, and the
Aire river valley was reddened with the blood of a thousand dead.

THE ANNUAL MEETING 79

When the division had spent its force, it stepped aside to let the
First Regular army division take its place to carry on the battle.

On October 1, 1918, the weary columns of the 35th were on their
way to the rear. It was morning and the sky was clear. The air
was cool for it was October in France. The leaves on the trees
were purple and russet.

The division, as it went to the rear, looked more like a band of
refugees than a military organization. The men were unshaven,
dirty, and haggard. Their clothing was soiled and torn. Many
men had minor wounds, and white bandages were much in evidence.
A great deal of equipment had been lost or destroyed. A serious
dysenteric epidemic had broken out.

Into this scene, even before the men had time to recuperate, to
clean their clothes or equipment, or to get a good, square meal,
rode one Maj. Robert Gray Peck, of the Inspector General's depart-
ment. He arrived at the scene in a shining limousine, spic and span
in a clean, spotless uniform, stiff, erect, his military appearance
perfect in every detail. Major Peck was far behind the front lines,
during the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The roar and flash of the
guns of that battle had not disturbed his sleep. He had been sent
forward to inspect the troops, then ride back to his rendezvous
in the rear of the lines and make his report to his superior officers.

Major Peck was indeed a well-trained and discerning officer. He
had been taught to appreciate shining buttons, well-polished shoes,
and snappy saluting.

Colonel Rieger of the division explained to Major Peck about the
battle and the long march immediately afterward, whereupon Peck
heatedly replied, "The soldiers ought to be ready for inspection on
all occasions/' Some men did not have buttons on their coats.
Major Peck reported on that. Some did not have blouses at all,
and none could be obtained, but Major Peck severely reprimanded
the division for this deficiency. One soldier, sick with dysentery, his
uniform torn, and legging partly gone, as a result of the battle, was
reprimanded by Major Peck. When the Kansas boy said, "I
haven't any other clothes," Major Peck replied, "Why don't you get
them?"

Major Peck severely criticized the men because they did not
jump to their feet with military precision, stand at attention, and
salute him. He complained that the officers and men were talking
together. He came upon about 40 men resting together. A few of
them were sick. They failed to notice the major as he approached

80 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

them, and they did not come to attention. Major Peck severely
reprimanded these men and made three who were sick stand up and
come to attention.

As Major Peck was driving away in his limousine, he came upon a
wagon with officers' bed rolls. On them were two privates who had
been gassed in battle. "What the Hell are you doing on that
wagon?" shouted the major. The sergeant explained that the men
were sick, and had been ordered to rest on top of the rolls. To
which Peck instantly replied, "I don't give a damn who told you
to ride there, get the Hell off and stay off." The men got off. Major
Peck should have known better. Any officer knows, or should know,
that an Inspector General, or his representative, is an administrative
officer. He does not command except in his own department. His
job is to inspect, ascertain conditions, offer helpful suggestions and
advice, and then make his inspection report to his superior officers.
Major Peck had no business giving any commands to the lowliest
private in the division. If he wanted the two men to get off the
bedding rolls he should have asked the captain to order them off.

Major Peck's entire report showed how appalled he was by these
ragged and wearied men. He ended his written report by saying,
"Most of the organizations showed all the earmarks of National
Guard units, which they are. Captains and lieutenants were con-
tinually noticed on most familiar terms with enlisted men. The Na-
tional Guard attitude permeates the entire division and must be
gotten rid of at once."

The wheels of time turn.

On February 28, 1921, the names of 4,000 officers came before
the Military Affairs committee of the United States Senate for pro-
motion. The names had to be confirmed by the senate. The com-
mittee was about to take favorable action on the entire list when
Sen. Arthur Capper of Kansas inquired if there were a Robert Gray
Peck on the list. There was. Senator Capper then explained to the
committee about the Peck report on the 35th division. The committee
listened intently to Senator Capper and also to the reading of resolu-
tions opposing Peck's promotion, and then struck his name from the
list. Later another effort to force the promotion of Peck was balked
by Senator Capper in the committee. He was supported this time
by Sen. Selden P. Spencer of Missouri and by Sen. Charles Curtis
of Kansas. Later, the senate committee recommended the promo-
tion of Major Peck. Senators Capper, Spencer, and I. L. Lenroot of
Wisconsin filed a minority report against the promotion. The nom-

THE ANNUAL MEETING 81

ination of Peck to be a lieutenant colonel in the Regular army was
discussed later in an executive session in the senate. Strong opposi-
tion to the promotion developed early in the debate. Capper, and
many other senators, spoke against Peck. Finally, about 11 months
after his name was first considered, the senate in executive session,
by a vote of 41 to 19, confirmed the nomination of Peck to be a lieu-
tenant colonel in the Regular army. Thus ended one of the strangest
and most publicized episodes in the military history of the National
Guard of Kansas.

What became of Peck? He served as a lieutenant colonel only
seven months, for he was retired from the army on December 15,
1922.

What became of the 35th division? It was soon reactivated after
World War I, this time composed of the National Guard troops
from Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Charles I. Martin was its
first post-war commanding general.

In December, 1940, the division was ordered into Federal service
and was sent to Camp Robinson, Ark., near Little Rock. Here it
trained until a few weeks after Pearl Harbor, in December, 1941,
when it was ordered to the West Coast. After two years of training
and duty in various camps of the United States it was shipped over-
seas. On D-day it landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy under
command of General Eisenhower, and once more helped to drive
the Germans out of France and across the Rhine river.

Soon after the end of World War II, the division was again re-
activated and was composed once more of the National Guard
troops of Kansas and Missouri. It is now considered one of the best
trained and equipped National Guard divisions in the United States.

I am proud to have served in this division for over 25 years and
during two World Wars.

At the conclusion of the president's address, the secretary showed
a series of color slides of historic buildings and sites in Kansas. The
slides were selected from the collection being assembled by the
Society.

Kirke Mechem, former secretary and editor of the Annals of Kan-
sas, 1886-1925, was introduced by President Riegle. Mr. Mechem
in turn introduced Jennie Small Owen, annalist, and presented the
second volume of the Annals.

The report of the nominating committee was called for, and was
presented by Will T. Beck:

82 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS FOR DIRECTORS

October 12, 1956.

To the Kansas State Historical Society:

Your committee on nominations submits the following report and recom-
mendations for directors of the Society for the term of three years ending in

October, 1959:

Aitchison, R. T., Wichita. Malin, James C., Lawrence.

Anderson, George L., Lawrence. Mayhew, Mrs. Patricia Solander,

Anthony, D. R., Leavenworth. Topeka.

Baugher, Charles A., Ellis. Menninger, Karl, Topeka.

Beck, Will T., Holton. Miller, Karl, Dodge City.

Chambers, Lloyd, Clearwater. Moore, Russell, Wichita.

Chandler, C. J., Wichita. Motz, Frank, Hays.

Clymer, Rolla, El Dorado. Rankin, Charles C., Lawrence.

Cochran, Elizabeth, Pittsburg. Raynesford, H. C., Ellis.

Cotton, Corlett J., Lawrence. Reed, Clyde M., Jr., Parsons.

Dawson, John S., Topeka. Rodkey, Clyde K., Manhattan.

Eckdall, Frank F., Emporia. Shaw, Joseph C., Topeka.

Euwer, Elmer E., Goodland. Somers, John G., Newton.

Farley, Alan W., Kansas City. Stewart, Donald, Independence.

Knapp, Dallas W., Coffeyville. Thomas, E. A., Topeka.

Lilleston, W. F., Wichita. von der Heiden, Mrs. W. H., Newton.

Lose, Harry F., Topeka. Walker, Mrs. Ida M., Norton.

Respectfully submitted,

WILL T. BECK, Chairman,
JOHN S. DAWSON,
FRANK HAUCKE,
T. M. LILLARD,

C. M. CORRELL.

Will T. Beck moved the adoption of the report. Motion was sec-
onded by J. C. Shaw and the report was accepted. Members of the
board for the term ending in October, 1959, were declared elected.

Reports of local societies were called for and given as follows:
Orville Watson Mosher for the Lyon county society; Mrs. C. M.
Slagg for the Riley county society; Mrs. Clyde E. Glandon for the
Wyandotte county society; Lea Maranville for the Ness county so-
ciety; and Paul B. Wood for the Chase county society.

Emory K. Lindquist presented the following and moved that it
be made a part of the record:

In recognition of the distinguished contribution to a knowledge of the his-
tory of Kansas by the publication of the two volumes of the Annals of Kansas,
and in appreciation of the high level achievement which the volumes represent,

THE ANNUAL MEETING

we hereby extend our hearty congratulations and genuine thanks to Kirke
Mechem, Jennie Small Owen, Nyle Miller, Louise Barry, and all others who
have shared in the writing, editing, and publishing of the two volumes of the
Annals of Kansas.

The motion was seconded by Sylvester Baringer, and the members
of the Society voted their approval.

There being no further business, the annual meeting of the So-
ciety adjourned. Refreshments were served to members and visitors
in the museum.

MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The afternoon meeting of the board of directors was called to
order by President Riegle. He called for a rereading of the report
of the nominating committee for officers of the Society. This was
read by Will T. Beck who moved that it be accepted. J. C. Shaw
seconded the motion and the board voted to accept the report. The
following were elected:

For a one-year term: Rolla Clymer, El Dorado, president; Alan
W. Farley, Kansas City, first vice-president; and Richard M. Long,
Wichita, second vice-president.

For a two-year term: Mrs. Lela Barnes, Topeka, treasurer.

After the introduction of new officers and brief remarks by Presi-
dent Clymer, the meeting adjourned.

DIRECTORS OF THE KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
AS OF OCTOBER, 1956

DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR ENDING OCTOBER, 1957

Bailey, Roy F., Salina.
Beezley, George F., Girard.
Beougher, Edward M., Grinnell.
Bowlus, Thomas H., lola.
Brinkerhoff, Fred W., Pittsburg.
Brodrick, Lynn R., Marysville.
Cron, F. H., El Dorado.
Docking, George, Lawrence.
Ebright, Homer K., Baldwin.
Farrell, F. D., Manhattan.
Hall, Fred, Dodge City.
Hamilton, R. L., Beloit.
Harvey, Mrs. A. M., Topeka.
Haucke, Frank, Council Grove.
Hodges Frank, Olathe.
Lingenfelser, Angelus, Atchison.
Long, Richard M., Wichita.

McArthur, Mrs. Vernon E., Hutchinson.
McCain, James A., Manhattan.
McFarland, Helen M., Topeka.
McGrew, Mrs. Wm. E., Kansas City.
Malone, James, Gem.
Mechem, Kirke, Lindsborg.
Mueller, Harrie S., Wichita.
Murphy, Franklin D., Lawrence.
Rogfer, Wayne, Matfield Green.
Ruppenthal, J. C., Russell.
Simons, Dolph, Lawrence.
Slagg, Mrs. C. M., Manhattan.
Stone, Robert, Topeka.
Templar, George, Arkansas City.
Townsley, Will, Great Bend.
Woodring, Harry H., Topeka.

KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR ENDING OCTOBER, 1958

Barr, Frank, Wichita.
Berryman, Jerome C., Ashland.
Brigham, Mrs. Lalla M., Pratt.
Brock, R. F., Goodland.
Charlson, Sam C., Manhattan.
Correll, Charles M., Manhattan.
Davis, W. W., Lawrence.
Denious, Jess C., Jr., Dodge City.
Godsey, Mrs. Flora R., Emporia.
Hall, Standish, Wichita.
Hegler, Ben F., Wichita.
Jones, Horace, Lyons.
Kampschroeder, Mrs. Jean Norris,

Garden City.
Lillard, T. M., Topeka.
Lindquist, Emory K., Wichita.
Maranville, Lea, Ness City.

Means, Hugh, Lawrence.
Owen, Arthur K., Topeka.
Owen, Mrs. E. M., Lawrence.
Patrick, Mrs. Mae C., Sublette.
Payne, Mrs. L. F., Manhattan.
Richards, Walter M., Emporia.
Riegle, Wilford, Emporia.
Robbins, Richard W., Pratt.
Rupp, Mrs. Jane C., Lincolnville.
Scott, Angelo, lola.
Sloan, E. R. s Topeka.
Smelser, Mary M., Lawrence.
Stewart, Mrs. James G., Topeka.
Taylor, James E., Sharon Springs.
Van De Mark, M. V. B., Concordia.
Wark, George H., Caney.
Williams, Charles A., Bentley.

DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR ENDING OCTOBER, 1959

Aitchison, R. T., Wichita.
Anderson, George L., Lawrence.
Anthony, D. R., Leaven worth.
Baugher, Charles A., Ellis.
Beck, Will T., Holton.
Chambers, Lloyd, Clearwater.
Chandler, C. J., Wichita.
Clymer, Rolla, El Dorado.
Cochran, Elizabeth, Pittsburg.
Cotton, Corlett J., Lawrence.
Dawson, John S., Topeka.
Eckdall, Frank F., Emporia.
Euwer, Elmer E., Goodland.
Farley, Alan W., Kansas City.
Knapp, Dallas W., Coffeyville.
Lilleston, W. F., Wichita.
Lose, Harry F., Topeka.

Malin, James C., Lawrence.
Mayhew, Mrs. Patricia Solander,

Topeka.

Menninger, Karl Topeka.
Miller, Karl, Dodge City.
Moore, Russell, Wichita.
Motz, Frank, Hays.
Rankin, Charles C., Lawrence.
Raynesford, H. C., Ellis.
Reed, Clyde M., Jr., Parsons.
Rodkey, Clyde K., Manhattan.
Shaw, Joseph C., Topeka.
Somers, John G., Newton.
Stewart, Donald, Independence.
Thomas, E. A., Topeka.
von der Heiden, Mrs. W. H., Newton.
Walker, Mrs. Ida M., Norton.

Recent Additions to the Library

Compiled by ALBERTA PANTLE, Librarian

IN ORDER that members of the Kansas State Historical Society
and others interested in historical study may know the class of
books the Society's library is receiving, a list is printed annually of
the books accessioned in its specialized fields.

These books come from three sources, purchase, gift and ex-
change, and fall into the following classes: Books by Kansans and
about Kansas; books on American Indians and the West, including
explorations, overland journeys and personal narratives; genealogy
and local history; and books on United States history, biography and
allied subjects which are classified as general. The out-of-state city
directories received by the Historical Society are not included in this
compilation.

The library also receives regularly the publications of many his-
torical societies by exchange, and subscribes to other historical and
genealogical publications which are needed in reference work.

The following is a partial list of books which were received from
October 1, 1955, through September 30, 1956. Federal and state
official publications and some books of a general nature are not in-
cluded. The total number of books accessioned appears in the re-
port of the Society's secretary printed elsewhere in this issue.

KANSAS

ANDERSON, BERNICE, and DALE ASHER JACOBUS, Cabbage-Patch Magic, a Musi-
cal Play for Children in Two Acts. Cincinnati, Willis Music Company, c!954.

38p.
, and REBECCA DUNN, Purple on the Moon, an Operetta in Two Acts.

[Wichita] Raymond A. Hoffman Company, 1955. 72p.
APPLER, A. C, The Younger Brothers, Their Life and Character. New York,

Frederick Fell, Inc., Publishers [c!955]. 245p.
ATWOOD, FIRST METHODIST CHURCH, First Methodist Church, Atwood, Kansas,

Seventy-Fifth Anniversary, 1880-1955. No impr. Unpaged.
BAELES, KENDALL, From Hunting Ground to Suburb, a History of Merriam,

Kansas. N. p. [1956]. 42p.

BAIRD, MARTHA, Nice Deity. New York, Definition Press, 1955. 82p.
BARKER, ROGER G., and HERBERT F. WRIGHT, Midwest and Its Children, the

Psychological Ecology of an American Town. Evanston, 111., Row, Peterson

and Company, n. d. 532p.
BARNS, GEORGE C., Denver, the Man . . . Wilmington, Ohio, n. p., 1949.

372p.
BILL, EDWARD E., The Friendly Dragon and Other Poems for Little Folk. N. p.,

Privately Printed [c!955]. 94p.

(85)

86 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

BLAIR, JOHN ALVIN, The Flaming Torch. N. p., Comet Press Books [c!955].
373p.

BOGUE, ALLAN G., Money at Interest, the Farm Mortgage on the Middle Border.
Ithaca, Cornell University Press [c!955]. 293p.

BRUNSON, HOWARD, The Oilman Who Didn't Want To Become a Millionaire.
New York, Exposition Press [c!955]. [84]p.

CHEETHAM, FRANCIS T., Kit C arson , Pathfinder, Patriot and Humanitarian.
Taos, N. M., n. p., 1926. 27p.

CHOGUILL, ORLO, Let Every Heart. Topeka, First Presbyterian Church, 1955.
126p.

Claflin City Directory, 1954. [Claflin, Claflin Clarion] n. d. Unpaged.

CLEARWATER, METHODIST CHURCH, 1885-1955, Our 70th Anniversary, the Clear-
water Methodist Church ... No impr. [10]p.

COGGINS, CAROLYN, Fabulous Foods for the People You Love. Englewood
Cliffs, N. J., Prentice-Hall [c!955]. 308p.

COLLINS, EARL L., As of a Mustard Seed. New York, Vantage Press [c!954].
78p.

COMANDINI, ADELE, Doctor Kate, Angel on Snowshoes; the Story of Kate Pel-
ham Newcomb, M. D. New York, Rinehart & Company [c!956]. 339p.

CONNER, VIRGINIA, What Father Forbad. Philadelphia, Dorrance & Company
[c!951]. 219p.

COOPER, FRANK A., It Happened in Kansas. Ottawa, Tallman Printing Com-
pany, c!955. Unpaged.

COPELAND, LYNN, Old Wine in New Bottles. New York, Comet Press Books
[c!954]. 55p.

CORRELL, CHARLES M., Manhattan Congregational Church, 1856-1956, a His-
tory. No impr. 70p.

COWGILL, DONALD O., and WAYNE PARRIS, Senior Citizens of Wichita. Wichita,
Community Planning Council, 1955. 51p.

Cross Reference Directory, Topeka, July, 1956. Independence, Kan., City
Publishing Company, c!956. Unpaged.

DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, EUNICE STERLING CHAPTER, WICH-
ITA, Richard Eason of Bernardston, Massachusetts, and His Descendants,
Compiled by Mrs. Bertha Eason Haas. Wichita, n. p., 1956. Typed. 33p.

, KANSAS SOCIETY, Proceedings of the Fifty-Seventh Annual State Con-
ference, February 14, 15, and 16, 1955, Parsons, Kansas. No impr. 236p.

, MARTHA LOVING FERRELL CHAPTER, WICHITA, Goddard Cemetery Rec-
ords, Sedgwick County, Kansas, 1955; Will of John Irwin, Westmoreland
County, Pennsylvania; Will of William McCaughey, Jefferson County, Ohio.
Wichita, n. p., n. d. Typed. 24p.

, SUSANNAH FRENCH PUTNEY CHAPTER, EL DORADO, Notes Copied From

Will Book 'B' of Butler County, Kansas, 1880-1894. El Dorado, n. p., 1955.
Typed. [55]p.

-, WYANDOT CHAPTER, KANSAS CITY, Marriage Records, Book One, July,

1859-October, 1867, Wyandotte County, Kansas. No impr. Typed. 29p.
Dedication Ceremonies, The Frank A. Beach Music Hall, Kansas State Teachers

College, Emporia, Kansas, Tuesday, June 12, 1956. No impr. Unpaged.
DE FRIES, STANLEY, The Pendragon. N. p., c!949. 14p.
DITZEN, LOWELL RUSSELL, You Are Never Alone. New York, Henry Holt and

Company [c!956]. 253p.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 87

Dodge City Pictorial, No. 1. [Dodge City, Holland Jacquart, 1955.] Unpaged.

DONOVAN, ROBERT J., Eisenhower, the Inside Story. New York, Harper &
Brothers [c!956]. 423p.

Eisenhower Museum, Abilene, Kansas. No impr. 32p.

EMBREE, RAYMOND, The Kansas Wind Guage [sic], a Folksy Yarn. Chillicothe,
Ohio, Dave Webb, 1956. Mimeographed. [6]p.

ENGELHARDT, MADYNE FRANCES. Three Creeks to Cross. New York, Comet
Press Books [c!956]. 191p.

ENGLIS, GOLDEN LORRAINE, The Well Boston, Chapman & Grimes [c!956].
123p.

ESTERGREEN, MARION, The Real Kit Carson. Taos, N. M., n. p., 1955. [35]p.

FERRIS, BERNICE DODGE, Tales of Cats, Catastrophes and Kittens, Stories in
Verse. New York, Exposition Press [c!955]. 29p.

FILINGER, GEORGE A., The Story of Johnny Kaw, the Kansas Pioneer Wheat
Farmer. Manhattan, Manhattan Mercury, c!955. 28p.

FOOTE, STELLA ADELYNE, Letters From Buffalo Bill, Taken From the Originals
Now on Exhibit at the Wonderland Museum, Billings, Montana. Billings,
Foote Publishing Company, 1954. 80p.

Fort Leavenworth and the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leaven-
worth, Kansas. Fort Leavenworth, Public Information Office, n. d. Un-
paged.

FOTHERINGHAM & COMPANY, Elwood Directory for the Year 1860-61 . * *
St. Joseph, F. M. Posegate, 1860. 18p.

FRANKLIN, GEORGE CORY, Monte. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company [c!948].
[H0]p.

, Wild Animals of the Southwest. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company,

1950. 214p.

FREEMASONS, A. F. & A., LAWRENCE, LODGE No. 6, In the Beginning, a History
and Roster . . . One Hundredth Anniversary ... No impr. 80p.

FRIEDERICHS, HEINZ F., President Dwight D. Eisenhowers Ancestors and Rela-
tions . . . Neustadt/Aisch near Nuremberg, Verlag Degener & Com-
pany, 1955. 210p.

FULLER, WILBERT H., Gold Nuggets for Your Selling Kit. Wichita, Kashfinder
System [c!955]. 193p.

GALT, ANNA (MANLEY), Topeka, First Congregational Church, Our First 100
Years . . . 1855-1955. No impr. Unpaged.

GALT, CHARLES A., Terse Verse. Lawrence, Allen Press, 1955. 85p.

GENTRY, CLAUDE, Kit Carson. Baldwyn, Miss., Magnolia Publishers [c!956].
212p.

GIBSON, WILLIAM, The Cobweb. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1954. 369p.

HALL, EUGENE RAYMOND, Handbook of Mammals of Kansas. Lawrence, Uni-
versity of Kansas Museum of Natural History [1955]. 303p. (Miscellaneous
Publication, No. 7.)

, and JAMES W. BEE, Mammals of Northern Alaska on the Arctic Slope.

Lawrence, University of Kansas Museum of Natural History [1956]. 309p.
( Miscellaneous Publication, No. 8. )

HEIMANN, CHARLOTTE, and BETSY PEARSON, An ABC for Mothers. New York,
Simon and Schuster, 1955. lllp.

88 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

HEWETT, EDGAR L., Kit Carson, "He Led the Way." [Taos, N. M., Kit Carson
Memorial Foundation, 1955.] 12p.

HIBBARD, CLAUDE W., The Jinglebob Inter glacial (Sangamon?) Fauna From
Kansas and Its Climatic Significance. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan
Press, 1955. [50]p. (Contributions From the Museum of Paleontology,
Vol. 12, No. 10, pp. 179-229.)

HOLLAND, FRANCYS BELL, comp., Yesterday and Today, a History of the Leaven-
worth Christian Church, 1855-1940. N. p., Independent Publishing Com-
pany, n. d. Unpaged.

HOPE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION, Industrial Data on Hope, Kan-
sas. No impr. Mimeographed. [21 ]p.

HUGHES, LANGSTON, Famous Negro Music Makers. New York, Dodd Mead &
Company, 1955. 179p.

[HUTCHINSON, GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH, Grace Episcopal Church, a Short
History, 1879-1955.] No impr. 44p.

Information for Emigrants and Others in Regard to Kansas, From the Volten-
burg Kansas Association. Boston, C. C. P. Moody, 1857. 8p.

ISELY, MALCOLM D., Arkansas Valley Interurban. [Los Angeles, Ira L. Swett,
c!956.] 55p.

JOHNSON, LUTHER R., The Wonderful Morning. Emory University, Ga., Banner
Press [c!955]. 86p.

JOHNSTON, ELEANOR RICKEY, and BERNICE HANSON, Old Grinter House Cook
Book. Lawrence, Allen Press, 1953. 43p.

JONES, HERBERT C., The Trail to Progress, 1855-1955, History of Easton, Kan-
sas. Clay Center, Wilson's Engravers & Printers, 1956. [138]p.

JONES, JOHN C., and WINOMA C. JONES, Prairie Pioneers of Western Kansas and
Eastern Colorado. Boulder, Colo., Johnson Publishing Company [c!956].
[137]p.

KANSAS GRAIN AND FEED DEALERS ASSOCIATION, Kansas Official Directory, 1956
. . . Hutchinson, Association, 1956. 292p.

Kansas Magazine, 1956. [Manhattan, Kansas Magazine Publishing Association,
c!955.] 104p.

KARSON, MARC, A History of Trade Unions in Kansas . . . N. p., 1956.
[20]p.

KEFFER, ALFRED J., comp., Seventy-Five Years of Music. No impr. [8]p.

[KELLOGG, ALLEN O., and RAYMOND L. YORK, eds.], A Century for Christ and
His Church, 1856-1956. N. p., Kansas Conference (U. B.) Evangelical
United Brethren Church, n. d. 16p.

LATHROP, GILBERT A., Little Engines and Big Men. Caldwell, Idaho, Caxton
Printers, 1955. 339p.

LAUDE, KILMER H., The Fruitful Plains. N. p., 1956. Typed. 46p.

LEAVENWORTH, CHRISTIAN CHURCH, Centennial, 1855-1955. No impr. Un-
paged.

, FIRST METHODIST CHURCH, First Methodist Church, Leavenworth, Kan-
sas, 1854-1954. No impr. 24p.

LEONARD, ELIZABETH JANE, Buffalo Bill, King of the Old West. New York,
Library Publishers [c!955]. 320p.

LONG, WILLIAM RALPH, The Agra-Snow [Methodist Churches] Historical Book-
let. N. p., 1940. Mimeographed. Unpaged.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 89

LOUCKS, C. A., ABSTRACT COMPANY, Kearny County, Kansas, Yearbook-Direc-
tory, 1940. No impr. 16p.

LYLE, EARLE, Roaring Lions of Kansas, a Source Book of 37 Years of Historical
Information on Lionism in the Great Sunflower State. Anthony, Kansas State
Council of Lions Clubs, 1955-1956. 329p.

MCDANIEL, WILLIAM H., Beech . . . a Quarter Century of Aeronautical
Achievement. Wichita, McCormick-Armstrong Company [c!947]. 67p.

[MARKHAM, WILLIAM COLFAX], One Hundred Years in Kansas, 1854-1954.
N. p., Author, 1956. Unpaged.

MATSON, ARCHIE, From Mystery to Meaning, a Guide to Scientific Thinking
About Personality. New York, Pageant Press [c!955]. 206p.

MENNINGER, EDWIN A., What Flowering Tree Is That? Stuart, Fla., Author,
1956. [110]p.

MILLBROOK, MINNIE (DUBBS), comp., Ness County, Kansas, Histories. N. p.
[1955]. Typed. [151]p.

MILLER, ALEXANDER QUINTELLA, Jayhawk Editor, a Biography of A. Q. Miller,
Sr., Compiled and Edited by James D. Callahan . . . [Los Angeles,
Sterling Press, c!955.] 256p.

Moss, L. HANI, Thought Shadows. Dexter, Mo., Candor Press, 1955. lOOp.

NELSON, DICK J., The Old West and Custers Last Stand, as Recorded in the
Memory of Dick J. Nelson. [San Diego, Author, c!956.] 17p.

NELSON, EDWARD G., The Company and the Community. Lawrence, Univer-
sity of Kansas Bureau of Business Research [c!956]. 433p.

NICKEL, KATHARINE, Seed From the Ukraine. New York, Pageant Press [c!952].
113p.

NOWLIN, CLIFFORD HIRAM, My First Ninety Years, a Schoolmaster's Story of
His Life and Times. N. p. [c!955]. 147p.

OERKE, BESS VIOLA, Dress. Peoria, 111., Charles A. Bennett Company [c!956].
575p.

OSWALD, A. LEWIS, Jay Bok, Esq. Boston, Christopher Publishing House
[c!955]. 57p.

PABST, LETTIE LITTLE, Kansas Heritage. New York, Vantage Press [c!956].
153p.

PARKS, BILL, The Mestizo. New York, Macmillan Company, 1955. 187p.

PARSONS, JOHN E., and JOHN S. DU MONT, Firearms in the Custer Battle. Harris-
burg, Pa., Stackpole Company [c!955]. 59p.

PICKEN, MARY BROOKS, Dressmakers of France; the Who, How and Why of the
French Couture. New York, Harper & Brothers [c!956]. 178p.

Folk's Topeka (Shawnee County, Kansas) City Directory, 1955, Including Shaw-
nee County Taxpayers . . . Kansas City, Mo., R. L. Polk and Company,
c!955. [1179]p.

PRATT, [JOHN J.], and [F. A.] HUNT, Guide to the Gold Mines of Kansas: Con-
taining an Accurate and Reliable Map of the Most Direct Railroad Routes
From the Atlantic Cities . . . to the Gold Mines. Chicago, C. Scott &
Company, 1859. 70p. ( Mumey Reprint, n. d. )

PUSEY, MERLO J., Eisenhower the President. New York, Macmillan Company,
1956. 300p.

R. L. Polk 6- Go's lola City Directory, 1912. Wichita, R. L. Polk & Company,
c!912. 319p.

7_5869

90 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

R. L. Polk 6- Company's Parsons City Directory, 1912 . . . Parsons, R. L.

Polk & Company, c!912. 339p.
RANDOLPH, VANCE, The Devil's Pretty Daughter and Other Ozark Folk Tales.

New York, Columbia University Press, 1955. 239p.
RATH, IDA ELLEN, Frankie and Her Little Brother, a Story for Young People.

New York, Exposition Press [c!955]. 42p.

, The Year of Charles. San Antonio, Naylor Company [c!955]. 218p.

REDMOND, JOHN, comp., First Hand Historical Episodes of Early Coffey County,

From the Pens of George Throckmorton . . . and Many Other Pioneers.

No impr. 144p.
REIMER, GUSTAV E., and G. R. GAEDDERT, Exiled by the Czar, Cornelius Jansen

and the Great Mennonite Migration, 1874. Newton, Mennonite Publication

Office, 1956. 205p.
RICHARDS, RALPH, Our Endangered Life Sustaining Natural Resources Soil

and Water ... No impr. 48p.
ROBERTS, G. HAROLD, Concerning the Ministry of First Christian Church, 1882-

1956, Atchison, Kansas. Atchison, n. p., 1956. Mimeographed. 13p.
ROSSITER, RUTH (STOUT), How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching

Back. New York, Exposition Press [c!955]. 164p.
ROVERE, RICHARD H., Affairs of State, the Eisenhower Years. New York, Farrar,

Straus and Cudahy [c!956]. 390p.
SCHADT, RODNEY MARVIN, A Summary of the Independent Rural High School

District in Kansas. Ellinwood, n. p., 1956. Mimeographed. Unpaged.
SELL, HENRY BLACKMAN, and VICTOR WEYBRIGHT, Buffalo Bill and the Wild

West. New York, Oxford University Press, 1955. 278p.
SHOEMAKER, RALPH J., The Presidents Words, an Index. Vol. 1, Eisenhower,

June 1952 Thru May 1954. Vol. 2, Eisenhower, June 1954 Thru December

1955. Louisville, Elsie DeGraff Shoemaker [c!954, 1956]. 2 Vols.
SIEBEL, JULIA, The Narrow Covering. New York, Harcourt, Brace and Com-
pany [c!956]. 214p.
SMITH, WALTER BEDELL, Eisenhower's Six Great Decisions, Europe, 1944-1945.

New York, Longmans, Green and Company, 1956. 237p.
SNYDER, MARTY, with GLENN D. KITTLER, My Friend Ike. New York, Fred-
erick Fell, Inc., 1956. 237p.
Story of Clay. N. p., 1886. Unpaged.
TROTTER, GEORGE A., From Feather, Blanket and Tepee. New York, Vantage

Press, c!955. 190p.
VAN VELZER, LUTIE, Mental Snapshots Along My Life's Highway. Kansas City,

Mo., Burton Publishing Company [c!955]. 124p.
VESTAL, STANLEY, The Book Lovers Southwest, a Guide to Good Reading.

Norman, University of Oklahoma Press [c!955]. 287p.
WABAUNSEE, FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, Historical Sketch, Confession of Faith

and Covenant, and Standing Rules of the First Church of Christ, in Wabaun-

see . . . Lawrence, Lawrence Republican Office, 1858. Photocopy.

8p.
WALLACE, BERENICE ( BOYD), History of Paola, Kansas, 1855 to 1955. No impr.

Mimeographed. 128p.
WALLACE, ELIZABETH WEST, Scandal at Daybreak. New York, Pageant Press

[c!954]. 167p.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 91

WATERS, EDWARD N., Victor Herbert, a Life in Music. New York, Macmillan

Company, 1955. 653p.
WILHELM, IDA MILLS, Not Without Honor. New York, Exposition Press

[c!955]. 258p.
WILSON, HOLLY, Deborah Todd. New York, Julian Messner, Inc. [c!955],

192p.
WINSLOW, WALKER, The Menninger Story. Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday &

Company, 1956. 350p.
WOODSTON RURAL HIGH SCHOOL, CLASS OF 1956, History of Woodston, Kansas.

Woodston, n. p., 1956. Mimeographed. 20p.
WORLINE, BONNIE BESS, Sod House Adventure. New York, Longmans, Green

and Company, 1956. 147p.

YATES, ELIZABETH, Prudence Crandall, Woman of Courage. New York, Alad-
din Books, 1955. 246p.
[YOAKUM, HELEN], First Presbyterian Church, Leavenworth, Kansas, Centennial

Commemoration With Historical Sketch and Directory, January 1, 1956. No

impr. 31p.
YOST, BARTLEY, Memoirs of a Consul. New York, Vantage Press [c!955]. 186p.

AMERICAN INDIANS AND THE WEST

ABBOTT, E. C., and HELENA HUNTINGTON SMITH, We Pointed Them North, by
E. C. Abbott ("Teddy Blue") . . . Norman, University of Oklahoma
Press [c!939]. 247p.

AMSDEN, CHARLES AVERY, Navaho Weaving, Its Technic and History. Albu-
querque, University of New Mexico Press, 1949. 263p.

BATE, W. N., Frontier Legend, Texas Finale of Capt. William F. Drannan,
Pseudo Frontier Companion of Kit Carson. New Bern, N. C., Owen G. Dunn
Company, c!954. 68p.

BEEBE, Lucius, and CHARLES CLEGG, The American West, the Pictorial Epic of
a Continent. New York, E. P. Dutton & Company, 1955. Slip.

BROWN, MARK H., and W. R. FELTON, The Frontier Years; L. A. Huffman,
Photographer of the Plains. New York, Henry Holt and Company [c!955].
272p.

BUSHELL, WILLIAM, The Life of Captain Adam Bogardus. No impr. 12p.

CARTER, HARVEY L., ed., The Pikes Peak Region, a Sesquicentennial History.
N. p. [Historical Society of the Pikes Peak Region, c!956]. 75p.

, Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Pathfinder and Patriot. N. p., c!956. 32p.

COLORADO, STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Bent's Fort on the Arkansas, Edited by
Le Roy Hafen. [Denver, Society, c!954.] Unpaged.

CUNNINGHAM, EUGENE, Triggernometry, a Gallery of Gunfighters. Caldwell,
Idaho, Caxton Printers, 1952. 441p.

FATOUT, PAUL, Ambrose Bierce and the Black Hills. Norman, University of
Oklahoma Press [c!956]. 180p.

FOREMAN, CAROLYN THOMAS, Indian Women Chiefs. [Muskogee, Okla., Star
Printery, c!954.] [90]p.

FRANTZ, JOE B., and JULIAN ERNEST CHOATE, JR., The American Cowboy, the
Myth b the Reality. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press [c!955]. 232p.

FRINK, MAURICE, Cow Country Cavalcade . . . Denver, Old West Publish-
ing Company, 1954. 243p.

92 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

GARLAND, JOHN H., ed., The North American Midwest, a Regional Geography.

New York, John Wiley & Sons [c!955]. 252p.
GORDON, S. ANNA, Camping in Colorado, With Suggestions to Gold-Seekers,

Tourists and Invalids. New York, Authors' Publishing Company [c!879].

201p.
HAINES, FRANCIS, The Nez Perces, Tribesmen of the Columbia Plateau. Nor-

man, University of Oklahoma Press [c!955]. 329p.
HANSON, CHARLES E., JR., The Northwest Gun. Lincoln, Nebraska State His-

torical Society, 1955. 85p.
HARRIS, WILLIAM FOSTER, The Look of the Old West. New York, Viking Press.

1955. 316p.
HAVIGHURST, WALTER, Wilderness for Sale, the Story of the First Western Land

Rush. New York, Hastings House [c!956]. 372p.
HOLBROOK, STEWART H., The Rocky Mountain Revolution. New York, Henry

Holt and Company [c!956]. 318p.
Index Pony Express Courier, June 1934 to May 1944, and the Pony Express,

June 1944 to May 1954. [Sonora, CaL, Pony Express Publishers, c!955.]

167p.
IRVING, JOHN TREAT, Indian Sketches Taken During an Expedition to the

Pawnee Tribes, 1833, Edited by John Francis McDermott. Norman, Uni-

versity of Oklahoma Press [1955]. 275p.

JENSEN, LEE, The Pony Express. New York, Grosset & Dunlap [c!955]. 153p.
JOHANNSEN, ROBERT W., Frontier Politics and the Sectional Conflict, the Pacific

Northwest on the Eve of the Civil War. Seattle, University of Washington

Press [c!955]. 240p.
JOHNSON, CHARLES A., The Frontier Camp Meeting, Religions Harvest Time.

Dallas, Southern Methodist University Press [c!955]. 325p.
KELEHER, WILLIAM A., Turmoil in New Mexico, 1846-1868. Santa Fe, Rydal

Press [c!952]. 534p.
KELSEY, VERA, Young Men So Daring, Fur Traders Who Carried the Frontier

West. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill Company [c!956]. 288p.
KLUCKHOHN, CLYDE, and DOROTHEA LEIGHTON, The Navaho. Cambridge, Har-

vard University Press, 1947. 258p.
McFARLiNG, LLOYD, Exploring the Northern Plains. Caldwell, Idaho, Caxton

Printers, 1955. 441p.
MCKELVEY, SUSAN DELANO, Botanical Exploration of the Trans-Mississippi West,

1790-1850. Jamaica Plain, Mass., Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University,

1955. 1144p.
[MARTTN, CHARLES L.], A Sketch of Sam Bass, the Bandit . . . Norman,

University of Oklahoma Press [c!956]. 166p.
MATTISON, RAY H., Indian Reservation System on the Upper Missouri, 1865-

1890. (Reprinted from Nebraska History, Vol. 36, No. 3, September, 1955. )

MITCHELL, SAMUEL AUGUSTUS, Accompaniment to Mitchell's New Map of Texas,

Oregon, and California, With the Regions Adjoining. Philadelphia, Augustus

Mitchell, 1846. 46p.
MUMEY, NOLIE, Estelle Philleo, "Setting the West to Music" 1881-1936. Den-

ver, Artcraft Press, 1955. 20p.
- , Poker Alice . . . History of a Woman Gambler in the West. Den-

ver, Artcraft Press, 1951. 47p.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 93

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, WASHINGTON, D. C., National Geographic on
Indians of the Americas, a Color-Illustrated Record. Washington, D. C.,
Society, c!955. 431p.

NORDYKE, LEWIS, Great Roundup, the Story of Texas and Southwestern Cow-
men. New York, William Morrow & Company, 1955. 288p.

PENFIELD, THOMAS, Western Sheriffs and Marshals. New York, Grosset & Dun-
lap [c!955]. 145p.

PHARES, Ross, Texas Tradition. New York, Henry Holt and Company [c!954].
239p.

PRUITT, O. J., Indian Stories. Council Bluffs, Iowa, Pottawatomie County His-
torical Society, n. d. Unpaged.

ROOSEVELT, THEODORE, Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail. New York, Century
Company [c!888]. 186p.

Ross, ALEXANDER, The Fur Hunters of the Far West, Edited by Kenneth A.
Spaulding. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press [c!956]. 304p.

SAGE, RUFUS B., Rufus B. Sage, His Letters and Papers, 1836-1847 . { .
Notes by Le Roy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen. Glendale, Cal., Arthur H.
Clark Company, 1956. 2 Vols. ( The Far West and the Rockies Historical
Series, 1820-1875, Vols. 4-5.)

SCHMITT, MARTIN F., and DEE BROWN, The Settlers' West. New York, Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1955. 258p.

SETTLE, RAYMOND W., and MARY LUND SETTLE, Saddles and Spurs, the Pony
Express Saga. Harrisburg, Pa., Stackpole Company [c!955]. 217p.

SHIRLEY, GLENN, Six-Gun and Silver Star. Albuquerque, University of New
Mexico Press, 1955. 235p.

SONNICHSEN, C. L., and WILLIAM V. MORRISON, Alias Billy the Kid. Albu-
querque, University of New Mexico Press, 1955. 136p.

STRONG, WILLIAM DUNCAN, Indian Tribes of the Chicago Region, With Spe-
cial Reference to the Illinois and the Potawatomi. Chicago, Field Museum of
Natural History, 1938. 35p.

TOWN, CHARLES WAYLAND, and EDWARD NORRIS WENTWORTH, Cattle & Men.
Norman, University of Oklahoma [c!955]. 384p.

TUCKER, GLENN, Tecumseh, Vision of Glory. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill Com-
pany [c!956]. 399p.

UNDERBILL, RUTH M., The Navajos. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press
[c!956]. 299p.

WASHBURN, CEPHAS, Reminiscences of the Indians, Edited by Hugh Park. Van
Buren, Ark., Press- Argus [c!955]. 192p.

WEAVER, J. E., and F. W. ALBERTSON, Grasslands of the Great Plains, Their
Nature and Use. Lincoln, Neb., Johnsen Publishing Company [c!956].
395p.

WEISEL, GEORGE F., ed., Men and Trade on the Northwest Frontier as Shown
by the Fort Owen Ledger. [Missoula, Montana State University, c!955.]
29 lp. (Montana State University Studies, Vol. 2.)

WESTERMEIER, CLIFFORD P., comp., Trailing the Cowboy, His Life and Lore as
Told by the Frontier Journalists. Caldwell, Idaho, Caxton Printers, 1955.
414p.

[WESTERNERS, DENVER], 1954 Brand Book. N. p. [c!955]. 368p.

, Los ANGELES, Brand Book, Book 6. Los Angeles [The Los Angeles

Westerners, c!956]. 163p.

94 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

WHETSTONE, DANIEL W., Frontier Editor. New York, Hastings House Pub-
lishers [c!956]. 287p.

WOOD, DEAN EARL, The Old Santa Fe Trail From the Missouri River . .: .
the Panoramic Edition. N. p. [c!955], 278p.

YOUNG, OTIS E., The West of Philip St. George Cooke, 1809-1895. Glendale,
Cal., Arthur H. Clark Company, 1955. 393p.

GENEALOGY AND LOCAL HISTORY

ALBEMARLE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, The Magazine of Albemarle County

History, Vol. 14, 1954-1955. Charlottesville, Society, 1955. 62p.
American Genealogical-Biographical Index . . . Vols. 13-16. Middletown,

Conn., Published Under the Auspices of an Advisory Committee Represent-
ing the Co-operating Subscribing Libraries . . . 1955-1956. 4 Vols.
ASHFORD, CHARLIE RABB, SR., Some of the Ancestors and Descendants of James

and George Ashford, Jr., of Fairfield County, North Carolina. Starkville,

Miss., n. p., 1956. Mimeographed. 123p.
ATWATER, EDWARD E., ed., History of the City of New Haven to the Present

Time . . . New York, W. W. Munsell, 1887. 702p.
BANTA, THEODORE M., A Frisian Family; the Banta Genealogy . . . New

York, n. p., 1893. 412p.
BAYLES, RICHARD M., ed., History of Windham County, Connecticut. New

York, W. W. Preston & Company, 1889. 1204p.
BEGLEY, JACKSON ALLEN, comp., A History and Genealogical Record of the

Allens-Begleys-Mays of Kentucky . . . Cincinnati, n. p., 1953. 147p.
Biographical Memoirs of Wyandot County, Ohio . . . Logansport, Ind.,

B. F. Bowen, Publisher, 1902. 686p.
BODDIE, JOHN BENNETT, Southside Virginia Families. Redwood City, Cal.,

Pacific Coast Publishers, 1955. 422p.
BOND, OCTAVIA ZOLLICOFFER, The Family Chronicle and Kinship Book . . .

Nashville, McDaniel Printing Company, c!928. 663p.
BOWIE, EFFIE GWYNN, Across the Years in Prince George's County . . ;

Maryland . . . Richmond, Va., Garrett and Massie [c!947]. 904p.
BRINKMAN, EDNA EPPERSON, The Story of David Epperson ir His Family of

Albemarle County, Virginia. Hinsdale, 111., n. p., 1933. 304p.
BROOKS, HAZEL CARSON, comp., Family Ancestors and Descendants of Eulalia

Lucore 6- Wm. Leroy Lillie, From Written Notes of Willard Brooks. No

impr. Typed. 47p.

BROWN, WILLIAM GRIFFEE, History of Nicholas County, West Virginia. Rich-
mond, Va., Dietz Press, 1954. 425p.
BURGESS, KENNETH FARWELL, Colonists of New England and Nova Scotia,

Burgess and Heckman Families. N. p., Privately Printed, 1956. 134p.
BURT, ALVAH WALFORD, Cushman Genealogy and General History, Including

the Descendants of the Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and Monongalia

County, Virginia, Families. Cincinnati, Author, 1942. 432p.
[CHARLES, CORA COPPINGER], Coppinger Genealogy. No impr. Mimeographed.

116p.
, Sloop Genealogy, Beginning With the 1st Generation in America, 1837-

1946. No impr. Mimeographed. 69p.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 95

[COOK, FRANCES], comp., Cemetery and Bible Records, Vols. 1-2. [Jackson]

Mississippi Genealogical Society, 1954-1955. 2 Vols.
CORSON, ORVILLE, Three Hundred Years With the Corson Families in America

. . . N. p. [c!939]. 2 Vols.
COVINGTON, W. A., History of Colquitt County [Georgia]. Atlanta, Foote and

Davies Company, 1937. 365p.
CRAVEN, CHARLES E., History of Mattituck, Long Island, N. Y. N. p., Author

[c!906]. 400p.
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, FORT EARLY CHAPTER, History of

Crisp County [Georgia]. Cordele, Ga., n. p., 1916. 29p.
, GEORGIA SOCIETY, Catalogue of the Georgia Society, D. A. R. Library

( "the Georgia D. A. R. Collection Genealogical and Historical Records" )

. . . Compiled by Mrs. Mary Givens Bryan. Atlanta, Society, 1954-1955.

232p.

DICKSON, TRACY CAMPBELL, comp., Some of the Descendants of William Dick-
son and Elizabeth Campbell of Cherry Valley, New York. N. p. [c!937].

367p.
[DOOLEY, SQUIRE WASHINGTON], History of the Dooley Family. Whitestown,

Ind., Central Printing Company, 1908. 76p.
DREW, BENJAMIN, Burial Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts, Its Monuments and

Gravestones . . . Plymouth, D. W. Andrews [c!894]. 177p.
DUTCHESS COUNTY [NEW YORK] HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Year Book, Vol. 38, 1953.

N. p. [c!955]. 76p.

, Year Book, Vol. 39, 1954. N. p. [c!956]. 68p.

EASTMAN, CHARLES JOHN, That Man Eastman. N. p., 1952. 2 Vols.
EVERTON, GEORGE B., SR., and GUNNAR RASMUSON, The New How Book for

Genealogists. Logan, Utah, Everton Publishers, 1956. lOlp.
FRENCH, JANIE PRESTON COLLUP, Notable Southern Families, Vol. 6; the Doak

Family. Chattanooga, Lookout Publishing Company [c!933]. 98p.
FRISBEE, EDWARD S., The Frisbee-Frisbie Genealogy, Edward Frisbye of Bran-
ford, Connecticut . . . [Rutland, Vt, Turtle Company, c!926.] 778p.
FROST, JOSEPHINE C., ed., Underbill Genealogy. N. p., Myron C. Taylor, 1932.

4 Vols.
FRUTH, GLENN J., History of the Melchoir Fruth Family. Woodland, Mich.,

n. p., 1954. 46p.
GETZENDANER, GEORGIA BELLE, Cemetery Inscriptions From Leona Chapel

Cemetery. West Hartford, Conn., Chedwato Service, n. d. [ll]p.
, comp., Dillard Family of Uvalde County, Texas. West Hartford, Conn.,

Chedwato Service, 1956. [53]p.
, comp., George Washington Patterson Family History. West Hartford,

Conn., Chedwato Service, 1956. 73p.
GILBERT, HIRAM WHITNEY, Memoirs Regarding the Family of John Gilbert

(1752-1829) of Galway, Saratoga County, N. Y., by the Reverend Hiram

Whitney Gilbert, 1886. N. p., Privately Printed, 1955. 83p.
GOODYKOONTZ, COLIN B., A Short History of the Congregational Church of

Boulder, Colorado. Boulder, First Congregational Church, 1954. 31p.
GRAMMER, NORMA RUTLEDGE, and MARION DAY MULLINS, comps., Marriage

Record of Washington County, Tennessee, 1787-1840. No impr. [68]p.

96 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

HAYWARD, ELIZABETH, comp., American Vital Records From "The Baptist Reg-
ister," Volumes I and II, 1824-1826. Rochester, N. Y., American Baptist His-
torical Society, 1956. Mimeographed. 18p.

HEALD, EDWARD THORNTON, The Stark County Story, Vol. 4, Free People at
Work, 1917-1955; Pt. 1, a Contribution to the Canton, Ohio's Sesquicen-
tennial of 1955. Canton, The Stark County Historical Society, 1955. 856p.

HERTZLER, SILAS, The Hertzler-Hartzler Family History. N. p. [c!952]. 773p.

History of Cass County, Iowa . . . Springfield, 111., Continental Historical
Company, 1884. 910p.

History of Franklin and Cerro Gordo Counties, Iowa . . . Springfield, 111.,
Union Publishing Company, 1883. 1005p.

History of Livingston County, Illinois . . . Chicago. Wm. Le Baron, Jr.,
& Company, 1878. [901 ]p.

History of Tennessee . . . and the County Madison . . . Nashville,
Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1887. 917p.

HOLMAN, DAVID EMORY, The Holmans in America, Concerning the Descendants
of Solaman Holman . . . New York, Grafton Press, 1909. 295p.

HOLMAN, WINIFRED LOVERING, Descendants of Andrew Everest of York, Maine.
Wausau, Wis., David Clark Everest, 1955. 488p.

HORTON, GEORGE FIRMAN, The Hortons in America, Being a Corrected Reprint
of the 1876 Work by Dr. Geo. F. Horton . . . Compiled by Adaline
Norton White. Seattle, Sherman Printing & Binding Company, 1929. 650p.

HOSKINS, ELKANAH BARNEY, Historical Sketches of Lyman, New Hampshire.
Lisbon, N. H., Charles P. Hibbard, 1903. 149p.

HUBBARD, WILLIAM FRANKLIN, and others, comps., Golden Memories, Family
History of Allen Hubbard and Julia Blowers-Hubbard. [Hugoton, Kan.,
Compiler, c!955.] 50p.

HUGUENOT SOCIETY OF NEW JERSEY, Huguenot Ancestors Represented in the
Membership of the Huguenot Society of New Jersey . . . Second Edi-
tion. N. p., Society, 1956. 74p.

HUGUENOT SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, Transactions, No. 60. Baltimore,
Waverly Press, 1955. 54p.

HUNT, THOMAS, A Historical Sketch of the Town of Clermont [New York].
Hudson, N. Y., Privately Printed, 1928. 153p.

Index to the Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vols. 26-35, September, 1942-
Summer, 1952. Madison, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1955. 159p.

JOHNSON, BEULAH JEANETTE, comp., Genealogy of John Morton, Henrico
County, Virginia, and His Descendants. N. p., 1939. Mimeographed. 51p.

JONES, ALICE J., In Dover on the Charles, a Contribution to New England F oik-
Lore. Newport, R. I., Milne Printery, 1906. 114p.

KICHLINE, THOMAS J., The Kichlines in America ... No impr. 29p.

KIMMELL, J. A., Twentieth Century History of Findlay and Hancock County,
Ohio, and Representative Citizens. Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing
Company, 1901. 656p.

KING, GEORGE HARRISON SANFORD, Marriage Bonds and Ministers' Returns of
Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1782-1850; Also Tombstone Inscriptions From St.
George Cemetery, 1752-1920. N. p., Catherine Lindsay Knorr, 1954. 107p.

KNAPP, ALFRED AVERILL, comp., Supplement to Nicholas Knapp Genealogy.
Winter Park, Fla., n. p., 1956. 105p.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 97

KRAKEL, DEAN F., South Platte Country, a History of Old Weld County, Colo-
rado, 1739-1900. Laramie, Wyo., Powder River Publishers, 1954. Various
paging.

LAWSON, HARVEY M., History and Genealogy of the Descendants of Clement
Corbin of Muddy River (Brookline), Mass., and Woodstock, Conn., With
Notices of Other Lines of Corbins. [Hartford, Conn.] Hartford Press, 1905.
378p.

LEFFLER, LYDIA ANNE VALE, A Genealogy of the Vale and Garretson Descend-
ants . . . Ames, Iowa, n. p., 1913. Photocopy. 194p.

LINDENBERGER, RUTH W., [Information Copied From a Book Compiled and
Privately Printed by Jonathan Stutsman Howell, Rushville, Illinois, 1922.]
No impr. Manuscript Copy. 127p.

LOMEN, G. J., comp., Genealogies of the Lomen [Ringstad], Brandt and Joys
Families. Northfield, Minn., Mohn Printing Company, 1929. 361p.

[LORD, IRENE WILCOX], comp., From the Bend of the Little River, a Wilcox
Book . . . the Descendants of George Wilcox. [Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia Education Press, 1954.] 167p.

LYTLE, LEONARD, Descendants of Joseph Triplett of Hardy County, West Vir-
ginia, and Summit and Licking Counties, Ohio. N. p., Privately Printed,
1955. 12p.

M'CLUNE, JAMES, History of the Presbyterian Church in the Forks of Brandy-
wine, Chester County, Pa. . . . Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Company,
1885. 273p.

McCmNG, JAMES W., Historical Significance of Rockbridge County, Virginia.
Staunton, Va., McClure Company, 1939. 276p.

McMAHON, BLANCHE C., Sevier County, Tennessee, Population Schedule of
the United States Census of 1830 . . . Knoxville, Tenn., n. p., 1956.
Mimeographed. [61]p.

McNAiR, JAMES BIRTLEY, McNair, McNear, and McNeir Genealogies, Supple-
ment, 1955. Los Angeles, Author [c!955]. 457p.

MCQUEEN, ALEX. S., History of Charlton County [Georgia]. Atlanta, Stein
Printing Company, c!932. 269p.

MALL, DANIEL, Ancestry Mall. [Hoisington, Kan., Jesse M. Mall, c!954.]
241p.

MICHAELS, PAUL W., James and Nancy Gray Harkness, a Colonial Family His-
tory, 1700 to 1850. N. p., c!953. Mimeographed. 18p.

MILLER, JOSEPH LYON, 1652-1912, the Descendants of Capt. Thomas Carter of
"Barford," Lancaster County, Virginia . . . 2d Edition. No impr. 388p.

MOORE, EDITH AUSTIN, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Robert Austin, of
Kingstown, Rhode Island. No impr. 738p.

MORGAN, WILLIAM MANNING, Trinity Prostestant Episcopal Church, Galveston,
Texas, 1841-1953, a Memorial History. Houston, Anson Jones Press, 1954.
801p.

MORRIS, WHIT, A Morns Family of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. N. p.
[c!956]. 128p.

NORTON, DAVID, Sketches of the Town of Old Town, Penobscot County, Maine
. . . Bangor, S. G. Robinson, 1881. 152p.

Panhandle-Plains Historical Review, Vol. 28, 1955. [Canyon, Tex., Panhandle-
Plains Historical Society, 1955.] [148]p.

98 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

PORTER, JOHN H., and EDITH SMITH, Probate Records 6- Wills of Oklahoma

County, Oklahoma. No impr. Mimeographed. Unpaged.
PRESCOTT, WORRALL DUMONT, A Genealogical and Biographical Record Con-
cerning Phebe (Reed) Trott and John Trott . . . N. p., Privately

Printed, c!954. 235p.
HANDLE, ELMER T., Foster Family History and Genealogy and Other Families

Related Thereto. N. p., 1955. 102p.
RAVENSHAW, THOMAS F., Antiente Epitaphs (From A. D. 1250 to A. D. 1800)

Collected 6- Sett Forth in Chronologicall Order. London, Joseph Masters &

Company, 1878. 196p.
RIDENOUR, GEORGE L., Early Times in Meade County, Kentucky. Louisville,

Western Recorder, 1929. 107p.
RITCHIE, RUTH, and SUDIE RUCKER WOOD, Garner-Keene Families of Northern

Neck, Virginia. [Charlottesville, Va., Jarman Printing Company, c!952.]

241p.
SIEBERT, HARRIET ELLSWORTH, and WILLARD ELLSWORTH, comps., Ellsworth

Genealogy; Male Descendants of Moses Ellsworth of North Carolina and

Virginia. No impr. Mimeographed. [114]p.
SMITH, EDWARD M., Documentary History of Rhinebeck, in Dutchess County,

N. Y. . . . Rhinebeck, n. p., 1881. 239p.
SOCIETY OF INDIANA PIONEERS, Year Book, 1955. Published by Order of the

Board of Governors, 1955. 128p.
SOCIETY OF MAYFLOWER DESCENDANTS, ILLINOIS, Publication Number Four,

Memorial Edition. Chicago, Lakeside Press, 1925. 562p.
SONS OF THE REVOLUTION, MARYLAND, Year Book. Baltimore, n. p., 1896. 80p.
SORLEY, MERROW EGERTON, comp., Lewis of Warner Hall, the History of a

Family . . . N. p., 1935. 887p.
SPENCER, FRANCIS MARION, Spencer History and Family Records. No impr.

63p.

STEWART, WILLIAM H., ed., History of Norfolk County, Virginia, and Repre-
sentative Citizens. Chicago, Biographical Publishing Company, 1902.

1042p.
STUMP, JOSEPH, and MELTON STUMP, History or Record of the Descendants of

Peter Stump. No impr. 207p.
Tax Lists of Washington County, Penna., 1784-85, 1793. Washington, Pa.,

n. p., 1955. Mimeographed. 48p.
TEMPLETON, LEUMAS BASCOM, JR., comp., Templeton Family History .

Laurens County, South Carolina . . . N. p., c!953. 155p.
TINSLEY, HARRY D., History of No Creek, Ohio County, Kentucky, With a

Genealogy and Biographical Section. Frankfort, Ky., Roberts Printing Com-
pany, 1953. 310p.
TOWNSEND, CHARLES D., and EDNA W. TOWNSEND, Border Town Cemeteries of

Massachusetts. West Hartford, Conn., Chedwato Service [c!953]. 88p.
U. S. CENSUS, 1850, Vermont, 1850 Census Population Schedules. Microfilm.

12 Vols. on 4 Reels.
U. S. CENSUS, 1860, Missouri, 1860 Census Population Schedules. Microfilm.

28 Vols. on 12 Reels.
, Nebraska, 1860 Census Population Schedules. Microfilm. 1 Vol. on

1 Reel.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 99

VAN VOORHIS, E. W., comp., Tombstone Inscriptions From the First Reformed
Dutch Church, of Fishkill Village, Dutchess Co., N. Y. N. p., Privately
Printed, n. d. 229p.

WELCH, ALICE TRACY, comp., Family Records Mississippi Revolutionary Soldiers.
N. p. [Mississippi Society Daughters of the American Revolution], n. d.
457p.

WIEBE, DAVID V., My Parents, an Illustrated Biographical and Historical Sketch.
Hillsboro, Kan., n. p., 1955. 63p.

WILLARD, JOSEPH, Willard Memoir; or, Life and Times of Major Simon Willard,
With . . . His Descendants . . . Boston, Little, Brown, and Com-
pany, 1913. 470p.

WILLIAMS, IDA BELLE, History of Tift County [Georgia]. Macon, J. W. Burke
Company [c!948]. 503p.

WILLIS, BYRD CHARLES, and RICHARD HENRY WILLIS, A Sketch of the Willis
Family of Virginia, and of Their Kindred . . . Richmond, Whittet &
Shepperson, 1898. 160p.

WOOD, GRACE E. PEMBER, A History of the Town of Wells, Vermont . * .
N. p., Author, 1955. 150p.

WOODSTOCK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Publications, Vol. 17, December, 1955.
[Woodstock, N. Y.] Society, 1955. 38p.

WORRELL, ANNE LOWRY, comp. A Brief of Wills and Marriages in Montgomery
and Fincastle Counties, Virginia, 1773-1831. N. p. [c!932]. 56p.

, comp., Over the Mountain Men, Their Early Court Records in South-
west Virginia. Hillsville, Va., Hillsville Publishing Company, n. d. 69p.

WRIGHT, JAMES A., Historical Sketches of the Town of Moravia [New York]
From 1791 to 1873. Auburn, N. Y., Benton & Reynolds, 1874. 289p.

GENERAL

American Book-Prices Current, Index 1950-1955. New York, American Book-
Prices Current, 1956. 1709p.

AMERICAN PEOPLES ENCYCLOPEDIA, Yearbook, 1954. Chicago, Spencer Press
[c!955]. [1167]p.

Americana Annual, 1956, an Encyclopedia of the Events of 1955. New York,
Americana Corporation [c!956]. 866p.

ANDREWS, J. CUTLER, The North Reports the Civil War. [Pittsburgh] Uni-
versity of Pittsburgh Press [c!955]. 813p.

ARMITAGE, MERLE, The Railroads of America. N. p., Duell, Sloan and Pearce
Little, Brown [c!952]. 319p.

AYER, N. W., AND SON'S, Directory of Newspapers and Periodicals, 1956. Phila-
delphia, N. W. Ayer and Son [c!956]. 1540p.

BARTON, ROY FRANKLIN, The Mythology of the Ifugaos. Philadephia, Ameri-
can Folklore Society, 1955. 244p. (Memoirs of the American Folklore
Society, Vol. 46.)

BLEGEN, THEODORE C., Land of Their Choice, the Immigrants Write Home.
[St. Paul] University of Minnesota Press [c!955]. 463p.

BOSTONIAN SOCIETY, Proceedings, Annual Meeting, January 17, 1956. Boston,
Society, 1956. 61p.

BOTKIN, B. A., A Treasury of Mississippi River Folklore . . . New York,
Crown Publishers [c!955]. 620p.

100 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

BROOK, HERBERT, ed., The Blue Book of Awards. Chicago, Marquis Who's

Who [c!956]. 186p.
BRUCE, ROBERT V., Lincoln and the Tools of War. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill

Company [c!956]. 368p.
BUCHANAN, LAMONT, Ballot for Americans, a Pictorial History of American

Elections . . . 1789-1956. New York, E. P. Dutton and Company,

1956. 192p.

BYRD, CECIL K., and HOWARD H. PECKHAM, A Bibliography of Indiana Im-
prints, 1804-1853. Indianapolis, Indiana Historical Bureau, 1955. 479p.
CATHEY, CORNELIUS OLIVER, Agricultural Developments in North Carolina,

1783-1860. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1956. 229p.

(The James Sprunt Studies in History and Political Science, Vol. 38.)
CROZIER, EMMET, Yankee Reporters, 1861-65. New York, Oxford University

Press, 1956. 441p.
DALE, GEORGE A., Education for Better Living. [Washington, D. C.] U. S.

Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1955. 245p.
DAVIS, BURKE, Gray Fox; Robert E. Lee and the Civil War. New York, Rine-

hart & Company [c!956]. 466p.
DE SEVERSKY, ALEXANDER P., Victory Through Air Power. New York, Simon

and Schuster, 1942. 354p.
DURANT, JOHN, and ALICE DURANT, Pictorial History of American Presidents.

New York, A. S. Barnes [c!955]. 320p.

Encyclopedia of American Biography. New Series, Vol. 25. New York, Ameri-
can Historical Company, 1955. [466]p.
FADIMAN, CLIFTON, ed., The American Treasury, 1455-1955. New York,

Harper & Brothers, Publishers [c!955]. 1108p.
FERM, VERGILIUS, The American Church of the Protestant Heritage. New

York, Philosophical Library [c!953]. 481p.
FLEMING, HOWARD, Narrow Gauge Railways in America, a Sketch of Their

Rise, Progress and Success ... N. p., 1876. lOlp. (Grahame H.

Hardy Reprint, 1949. )
FLIESS, PETER J., Freedom of the Press in the German Republic, 1918-1933.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press [c!955]. 147p. (Louisiana

State University Studies. Social Science Series, No. 2.)
FRIEDBERG, ROBERT, Paper Money of the United States; a Complete Illustrated

Guide With Valuations. Second Edition. New York, Coin and Currency

Publishing Institute [c!955]. 151p.
GRAY, CARL R., Railroading in Eighteen Countries . . . New York, Charles

Scribner's Sons, 1955. 351p.
GREENE, SHIRLEY E., This Earth, This Land. [Denver, National Farmers

Union, cl955.] 141p.
GREGORY, JAMES P., JR., comp., Missouri Historical Review Cumulative Index

to Volumes 26-45, October, 1931 -July, 1951. Columbia, State Historical

Society of Missouri, 1955. 333p.
HANSEN, HENNY HARALD, Costumes and Styles. New York, E. P. Dutton &

Company [c!956]. 160p.

HOLBROOK, STEWART H., Machines of Plenty, Pioneering in American Agricul-
ture. New York, Macmillan Company, 1955. 246p.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 101

HORAN, JAMES D., Mathew Brady, Historian With a Camera. New York,
Crown Publishers [c!955]. 244p.

HORN, ROBERT A., Groups and the Constitution. Stanford, Gal., Stanford Uni-
versity Press, 1956. 187p. (Stanford University Publications, University
Series, History, Economics and Political Science, Vol. 12. )

JAMES, JOSEPH, The Framing of the Fourteenth Amendment. Urbana, Uni-
versity of Illinois Press, 1956. 220p. ( Illinois Studies in the Social Sciences,
Vol. 37.)

JEFFERSON, THOMAS, Papers. Vol. 11, 1 January to 6 August 1787. Princeton,
Princeton University Press, 1955. 701p.

, Papers. Vol. 12, 7 August 1787 to 31 March 1788. Princeton, Prince-
ton University Press, 1955. 70 Ip.

KENNEDY, JOHN F., Profiles in Courage. New York, Harper & Brothers [c!955].
266p.

KNOLES, GEORGE HARMON, The Jazz Age Revisited; British Criticism of Ameri-
can Civilization During the 1920' s. Stanford, Gal., Stanford University Press,
1955. 171p. ( Stanford University Publications, University Series, History,
Economics and Political Science, Vol. 11.)

LARSON, ARTHUR, A Republican Looks at His Party. New York, Harper &
Brothers [c!956]. 210p.

LEJAU, FRANCIS, The Carolina Chronicle of Dr. Francis Le Jau, 1706-1717,
Edited, With an Introduction and Notes, by Frank J. Klingberg. Berkeley,
University of California Press, 1956. 220p. ( University of California Pub-
lications in History, Vol. 53.)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, Library of Congress Catalog, a Cumulative List of Works
Represented by Library of Congress Printed Cards, 1955. Washington, D. C.,
Library of Congress, 1956. 3 Vols.

LILLARD, RICHARD G., The Great Forest. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1948.
[413]p.

LOCKMILLER, DAVID A., Enoch H. Crowder, Soldier, Lawyer and Statesman.
Columbia, University of Missouri Studies, 1955. 286p. ( The University of
Missouri Studies, Vol. 27.)

LUCAS, HENRY S., Netherlands in America, Dutch Immigration to the United
States and Canada, 1789-1950. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, 1955.
744p.

MACARTNEY, CLARENCE EDWARD, Mr. Lincoln's Admirals. New York, Funk &
Wagnalls Company, 1956. 335p.

MAXWELL, WILLIAM QUENTTN, Lincoln's Fifth Wheel, the Political History of
the United States Sanitary Commission. New York, Longmans, Green &
Company, 1956. 372p.

MITCHELL, JOSEPH B., Decisive Battles of the Civil War. New York, G. P.
Putnam's Sons [c!955]. 226p.

MONAGHAN, JAY, The Man Who Elected Lincoln. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill
Company [c!956]. 334p.

MOUNT VERNON LADIES' ASSOCIATION OF THE UNION, Annual Report, 1955.
Mount Vernon [Association, c!956]. 68p.

MUMEY, NOLIE, Two Broken Glasses and Other Poems. Denver, Range Press,
1952. 143p.

102 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

NATIONAL HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS COMMISSION, Writings on American His-
tory, 1951, James R. Masterson, Editor. [Washington, D. C., U. S. Govern-
ment Printing Office] n. d. 544p.

NEIDERHEISER, CLODAUGH M., Forest History Sources of the United States and
Canada. Saint Paul, Forest History Foundation, 1956. 140p.

New York Times Index for the Published News of 1955. New York, New York
Times, c!956. 1271p.

OLSON, OSCAR N., Sward- Johnston, Biographical Sketches of Augustana Leaders.
Rock Island, 111., Augustana Historical Society, 1955. 80p. (Augustana
Historical Society Publications, Vol. 15.)

PAINTER, MURIEL THAYER, and others, eds., A Yaqui Easter Sermon. Tucson,
University of Arizona Press [c!955]. 89p. (University of Arizona Bulletin
Series, Social Science Bulletin, No. 26. )

Pattersons American Education, Vol. 53. North Chicago, 111., Educational Di-
rectories [c!956]. [740]p.

PEIRCE, JOSEPHINE HALVORSON, Fire on the Hearth, the Evolution and Romance
of the Heating-Stove. Springfield, Mass., Pond-Ekberg Company [c!951].
254p.

PHELAN, JOHN LEDDY, The Millennial Kingdom of the Franciscans in the New
World, a Study of the Writings of Geronimo de Mendieta (1525-1604).
Berkeley, University of California Press, 1956. 159p. ( University of Cali-
fornia Publications in History, Vol. 52. )

[QUIGLEY, MARTIN], St. Louis, a Fond Look Back; an Appreciation of Its Com-
munity by the First National Bank in St. Louis ... No impr. Un-

RANDALL, JAMES GARFIELD, Lincoln the President; Vol. 3, Midstream. New

York, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1952. 467p.
RANDALL, RUTH PAINTER, Lincoln's Sons. Boston, Little, Brown and Company

[c!955]. 373p.

RIEGEL, ROBERT E., America Moves West. New York, Henry Holt and Com-
pany [c!956]. 659p.
SAUCIER, CORINNE L., Traditions de la Paroisse des Avoyelles en Louisiane.

Philadelphia, American Folklore Society, 1956. 162p. (Memoirs of the

American Folklore Society, Vol. 47.)
SHANKLE, GEORGE EARLIE, American Nicknames, Their Origin and Significance.

Second Edition. New York, H. W. Wilson Company, 1955. 524p.
SHEPHERD, WILLIAM R., Historical Atlas, Eighth Edition, 1956. Pikesville, Md.,

Colonial Offset Company [c!956]. [341]p.
SIEVERS, HARRY J., Benjamin Harrison, Hoosier Warrior, 1833-1865. Chicago,

Henry Regnery Company, 1952. 344p.
SILVER, DAVID M., Lincoln's Supreme Court. Urbana, University of Illinois

Press, 1956. 272p. (Illinois Studies in the Social Sciences, Vol. 38.)
SMITH, THOMAS C., Political Change and Industrial Development in Japan:

Government Enterprise, 1868-1880. Stanford, Gal, Stanford University

Press, 1955. 126p. (Stanford University Publications, University Series,

History, Economics and Political Science, Vol. 10. )

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 103

STROUPE, HENRY SMITH, The Religious Press in the South Atlantic States, 1802-
1865, an Annotated Bibliography With Historical Introduction and Notes.
Durham, N. C., Duke University Press, 1956. 172p. ( Historical Papers of
the Trinity College Historical Society, Series 32. )

TABER, MARTHA VAN HOESEN, A History of the Cutlery Industry in the Con-
necticut Valley. Northampton, Mass., Department of History of Smith
College [1955]. 138p. (Smith College Studies in History, Vol. 41.)

TROWBREDGE, JOHN T., The Desolate South, 1865-1866. New York, Duell,
Sloan and Pearce [c!956j. 320p.

TRUMAN, HARRY S., Memoirs, Vol. 1, Year of Decisions. Garden City, N. Y.,
Doubleday & Company, 1955. 596p.

, Memoirs, Vol. 2, Years of Trial and Hope. Garden City, N. Y., Double-
day & Company, 1956. 594p.

VANDERBILT, CORNELIUS, JR., The Living Past of America, a Pictorial Treasury
of Our Historic Houses and Villages That Have Been Preserved and Re-
stored. New York, Crown Publishers [c!955]. 234p.

Who's Who in America, Vol. 29 [1956-1957]. Chicago, A. N. Marquis Com-
pany [c!956]. 3335p.

Who's Who in the Midwest. Chicago, Marquis Who's Who [c!954]. 982p.

WILCOX, RUTH TURNER, The Mode in Footwear. New York, Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1948. 190p.

, The Mode in Furs, the History of Furred Costume of the World From

the Earliest Times to the Present. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951.
257p.

WILSON, RUFUS ROCKWELL, Lincoln in Caricature. New York, Horizon Press,
1953. 327p.

WORKS, GEORGE A., and SIMON O. LESSER, Rural America Today, Its Schools
and Community Life. Chicago, University of Chicago Press [c!942]. 450p.

World Almanac and Book of Facts for 1956. New York, New York World-
Telegram, c!956. 896p.

YEAR, INCORPORATED, Pictorial History of America . . . [Los Angeles, Year,
c!954.] [432]p.

Bypaths of Kansas History

TRAFFIC PROBLEMS IN MANHATTAN
From the Manhattan Express, December 24, 1859.
One of the greatest nuisances with which a town was ever cursed, is the
habit people from the country have of leaving their teams standing on the
crossing of streets, and any person of common sense will at once see the
inconvenience to which pedestrians are subjected, and refrain from doing so.
[See photograph between pp. 8, 9.]

GUILT BY ASSOCIATION?

From the Emporia News, September 8, 1860.

Sam. Wood, of the Council Grove Press, has two very nice Suffolk pigs,
which, judging from his looks, he eats with, drinks with and sleeps with. He
took us to see them when we were at the Grove lately, thinking, we presume,
that we would give him and his pigs an editorial notice. Out of respect for
the pigs we didn't do it, as they undoubtedly would hate to have folks know
that they associate with Sam.

GARBAGE DISPOSAL IN DODGE CITY?

From the Dodge City Times, July 27, 1878.

The practice of throwing rotten onions, potatoes, cabbage, turnips and
sometimes eggs, is becoming a very popular amusement for the gentlemen of
leisure who rusticate on the benches, boxes and kegs along the principal
thoroughfare. It is better than a monkey show to see an unsuspecting pedes-
trian struck between the eyes with a rotten potato.

AN EARLY-DAY FLYING SAUCER?
From the Ottawa Weekly Herald, April 8, 1897.
THE AIR SHIP MALADY BREAKS Our HERE SEVERAL SAW rr THURSDAY NIGHT.

The mysterious light which has created so many startling stories of its ap-
pearance over many cities and towns of the state of Kansas within the past
two weeks, is reported to have been visible in the heavens to the westward of
Ottawa that night and a large number of residents witnessed its mysterious
passage. They state that at about dusk a bright light about the size of a street
electric light appeared in the southwest and moved slowly in a wavy line across
the heavens to the northwest where it gradually grew fainter and fainter in
brilliancy until it disappeared from view. The same light was seen last night by
many people of Kansas City and is perhaps the same light that hovered over
Topeka a few days ago.

(104)

Kansas History as Published in the Press

Elizabeth Barnes* column "Historic Johnson County" has con-
tinued to appear frequently in the Johnson County Herald, Over-
land Park. Articles printed in recent months included: a history
of the town of Shawnee, August 9, 1956; biographical sketch of
Richard A. Hall, August 16; biographical sketch of Claude J. St.
John, August 23; biographical sketch of John Morrow, September
6, 13; a history of the Overland Park State Bank, November 29; and
"Fifty Years in Overland Park," December 6, 13.

The Pratt Daily Tribune published the third issue of Pride, its
annual progress edition, August 15, 1956.

Points of historic interest in Kansas are listed and reviewed by
John Watson in the Wichita Beacon, August 19, 1956. Also pub-
lished in the Beacon recently were : an article on the First Territorial
Capitol of Kansas, by Frank Madson, Jr., October 24; and "Kansas
Salt Mining Industry Has Historical Past in Kingman Area/' by Dee
Ridpath, December 23.

Historical articles appearing in the Pittsburg Headlight the past
several months included: an article on the town of Lane, Franklin
county, August 20, 1956; a brief history of Girard, September 29; a
sketch of the First Christian church, Pittsburg, October 12; and "Old
Landmark [Miller home] Recalls Colorful Miller History in Mul-
berry," October 29.

Among historical articles of recent date in the Emporia Gazette
were: "[Plymouth] Community's First House Was Built by John
Carter," August 25, 1956; "Emporia Pioneer's [Curtis Heitt] Square
Dealing With Indians Once Saved His Life," September 27; articles
on the First Christian church, Emporia, October 2, 10; a history of
the Verdigris church, near Olpe, October 5; "First Fire Department
Was Organized in 1874," October 11; "J. W. Bolton Remembers
Grasshoppers and Ducks," October 15; "Lincoln Adair Was First
Negro Child Born on Townsite, Probably in 1864," October 19;
"Plymouth's Indian Neighbors," by Mrs. S. H. Bennett, October 25,
29; "Area West of Emporia Was First Settled in Year 1855," by Mrs.
E. M. Stanton, December 24; and "First Wedding in Emporia Area
Was on January 7, 1857," January 7.

Roy F. Nichols reviewed a century's writing about the Kansas-
Nbraska act and traced its passage through congress in 'The Kan-

85869 (105)

106 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

sas-Nebraska Act: A Century of Historiography," published in The
Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Lin-
coln, Neb., September, 1956.

On September 2, 1956, the Hutchinson News-Herald published
an article entitled "Electric Trolley Debut 50 Years Ago," by Charles
Remsberg. "South Hutchinson Remembers Saga of Old Ben Blanch-
ard," by Jim Skinner, appeared in the News-Herald, September 23,
and on January 6, 1957, Ruby Basye's "Great Stone Churches Stand
as Monuments to Pioneers," a history of the Schoenchen community
and church, Ellis county, was printed.

Veteran business men featured in the Great Bend Tribune in re-
cent months included Jake Bisenius, a druggist in Great Bend for 22
years, September 4, 1956, and Ed McNown, who operated a meat
market in Great Bend for many years, December 23.

Near Canton is the grave of Edward Miller, 18-year-old boy
killed by Indians in 1864. The story of Miller's death is told in an
article by Ruth Meyer in the Wichita Eagle, September 6, 1956. On
January 22, 1957, "Elgin, Kan., Once 'Biggest Shipping Point* in
World," by Charlotte Offen, appeared in the magazine section of the
Eagle. Elgin became a cattle-shipping point in the middle 1880's
with the coming of the Santa Fe railroad.

A historical article in the McCune Herald, September 7, 1956,
called attention to the 75th anniversaries of the town and news-
paper. The Times, started in 1882, is claimed as the Herald's earliest
ancestor. McCune was incorporated in 1881.

A historical sketch of the First Methodist church of Hugoton ap-
peared in the September 13, 1956, issue of the Hugoton Hermes.
The Rev. Charles Brown was the first pastor of the church after its
organization October 11, 1886.

Some early-day experiences of W. G. Nicholas, born in 1873 at
Eureka, are related in the Western Star, Coldwater, September 14,
1956. Nicholas engaged in a number of activities in early Kansas,
including freighting, well digging, and farming.

Regular publication of historical articles in the Hays Daily News
has continued with the appearance of the following: "[Town of]
Chetola Once Meant Gold in Hays Area," September 16, 1956; "First
Old Settlers' Reunion [1894] Received a Few Sharp Digs From Early
Editor [George D. Griffith]" and "[Town of] Yocemento Had Its
Start in Cement," September 23; "Much of What Was Rome, Kans.
Important to Life of Hays City," and "The Great Fire of 1895 De-

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 107

stroyed Most of Landmarks of Early Hays," September 30; "Kipple
Murder Case in Toulon Rocked Ellis County in 1880's," October 7;
"Strong Men Wept at News That General Bull Was Dead," October
21; "New Story About Custer Proves Daring of the Handsome Gen-
eral," November 25; and "Strain of Rebellion Leads Stockton's 'Old
Doc' to Take Rocky Road to Osteopathy 50 Years," a biographical
sketch of Dr. J. W. McMillen, Sr., by Bernice Brown, December 2.

A history of the Trinity Lutheran church, Atchison, and "Once-
Booming Doniphan a Ghost Town," by Charles Spencer, were pub-
lished in the Atchison Daily Globe, September 16, 1956. The Globe
printed the story of High Prairie school, district No. 3, near Lan-
caster, in the issue of October 24.

Included among articles by Howard Moore in recent issues of the
Abilene Reflector-Chronicle, were: "Visit Here Led to Marriage [to
Augustus Packard] for Beauty Queen [Alice Belle Tuton]," Septem-
ber 18, 1956; "Enterprise Bars Raided by Carry Nation in 1901," Oc-
tober 3; "Fought Over Site of Early Courthouse," and "Early-Day
County Commissioners Had Their Troubles, Too," October 20. On
October 10 the Reflector-Chronicle printed a history of the Mt.
Pleasant Presbyterian church, Dickinson county, which was observ-
ing its 75th anniversary.

Articles of historical interest appearing in the News Chronicle,
Scott City, in recent months included a short sketch of the Scott City
& Northern Railway, which has ceased to exist, September 20, 1956,
and a history of school district 37 in Scott county, November 29.

Independence history down through the years comprised the 24-
page historical section of the Independence Daily Reporter, Septem-
ber 23, 1956. The special edition was published in observance of the
Reporters 75th anniversary.

Newton's more violent history was reviewed in an article pub-
lished in the Newton Kansan, September 25, 1956. It is pointed out
that Newton has a "Boot Hill" cemetery where eight to fourteen gun-
slingers now rest.

In 1876 Benjamin H. Smith organized the Chetopa Christian
church with 25 charter members. An article sketching the history
of the church was published in the Chetopa Advance, September
27, 1956.

The Highland Vidette, September 27, 1956, printed a history of the
Zion Methodist church, near Robinson. The congregation was or-
ganized in 1881 by the Rev. John Asling.

Kansas Historical Notes

Officers elected at the 22d annual meeting of the Chase County
Historical Society in Cotton wood Falls, September 8, 1956, were:
Paul B. Wood, president; Henry Rogler, vice-president; Clint A.
Baldwin, secretary; George T. Dawson, treasurer; and Mrs. Ruth
Conner, chief historian. Appointed to the executive committee
were: Mrs. Conner, Mrs. Ida M. Vinson, Mrs. Helen Austin, Charles
Gaines, Beatrice Hays, R. Z. Blackburn, and Wood.

The Shawnee Mission Indian Historical Society met at the home
of Mrs. Sola Bradley in Merriam, September 24, 1956, for an elec-
tion of officers. Those elected were: Lucile Larsen, president; Mrs.
Yolande Smith, first vice-president; Mrs. Roy E. Boxmeyer, second
vice-president; Mrs. Pearl Christ Miller, recording secretary; Mrs.
Elwood Hobbs, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Louis Rieke, treas-
urer; Mrs. H. B. Sullivan, historian; Mrs. Charles Houlehan, curator;
and Mrs. James G. Bell, member-in-waiting. Mrs. Harry Meyer was
the retiring president.

On September 30, 1956, members of the Crawford County His-
torical Society toured the county by bus, visiting 32 historic sites.
The organizer and guide for the tour was the society's president,
C. M. Cooper.

New members elected to the Allen County Historical Society's
board of directors at a dinner meeting of the society in lola, October
1, 1956, were: L. T. Cannon, W. C. Caldwell, and Lewis Drake of
Humboldt; Stanley Harris of Colony; R. L. Thompson, Jr. of Moran;
and Spencer Card, Mrs. R. H. Carpenter, Mary Hankins, and Angelo
Scott of lola. A feature of the program was the showing of colored
slides of historic sites and structures in Kansas by Edgar Langsdorf
of the Kansas State Historical Society.

Raymond Tillotson, Shields, was elected president of the Lane
County Historical Society at a meeting in Dighton, October 8, 1956.
Other officers are: Walter Herndon, vice-president; Mrs. Arle Boltz,
secretary; and Mrs. R. G. Mull, Sr., treasurer. Arle Boltz, A. R.
Bentley, and Frank Vycital were elected to the board of directors.

Officers elected by the Dickinson County Historical Society at the
annual meeting October 12, 1956, at Enterprise, for two-year terms
were: Mrs. Ray Livingstone, second vice-president; and Mrs. Adele
Wilkins, treasurer. Willard Connell, Kansas City, a former resident

(108)

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 109

of Enterprise, was in charge of the program. B. H. Oesterreich is
president of the society.

New officers elected by the Leavenworth County Historical So-
ciety at a meeting in Leavenworth, October 18, 1956, were: Mrs.
Jesse Jones, president; Col. Ralph Stewart, first vice-president; John
Feller, second vice-president; Mrs. Gorman Hunt, secretary; and
Homer Cory, treasurer. The following will serve on the board of
directors: George S. Marshall, W. Hans Frienmuth, E. Bert Collard,
Sr., D. R. Anthony, III, Byron Schroeder, J. V. Kelly, and Ruth Bur-
gard. Feller was the retiring president.

Mrs. C. M. Slagg was re-elected president of the Riley County
Historical Society at the annual meeting in Manhattan, November
15, 1956. Other officers are: Clyde Rodkey, vice-president; Homer
Socolofsky, recording secretary; Mrs. F. F. Harrop, corresponding
secretary; Dave Dallas, publicity secretary; Mrs. C. M. Correll, mem-
bership secretary; Carl Pfuetze, curator; and Ed Amos, historian.
Joe D. Haines, John Holmstrom, and Bruce Wilson were elected to
three-year terms on the board of directors. The speaker for the
program was Louise Barry of the Kansas State Historical Society.
The Riley county society has recently acquired new quarters and
equipment for its museum. The new location is in the Memorial
Auditorium.

Twenty Ottawa county citizens met in Minneapolis December 1,
1956, organized the Ottawa County Historical Society, and elected
the following officers: Marshall Constable, president; W. A. Ward,
vice-president; Mrs. Myrtle Thompson, secretary; and Fred Jagger,
treasurer.

Approximately 150 persons attended the annual dinner of the
Shawnee County Historical Society at the Hotel Jayhawk, Decem-
ber 4, 1956. The following trustees were elected for three-year terms
ending December 5, 1959: Paul A. Lovewell, Ray A. Boast, Beryl
R. Johnson, F. J. Rost, Frank Durein, Mrs. Paul Adams, Mrs.
Henry S. Blake, Dr. John D. Bright, Mrs. W. M. Mills, Mildred Quail,
and Earl Ives. Highland Park was featured on the program which
included a slide show by John Ripley. On February 22, 1957, the
directors met and elected the following officers: J. Glenn Logan,
president; Milton Tabor, vice-president; Mrs. Harold Cone, secre-
tary; and Mrs. Frank Kambach, treasurer.

Alan W. Farley, first vice-president of the Kansas State Historical
Society, was named sheriff of the Kansas City posse of the Western-

110 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ers, succeeding Frank Glenn, at a meeting December 11, 1956.
Other officers are James R. Fuchs, chief deputy sheriff, and Col. Ray
G. Sparks, deputy sheriff.

Dr. George L. Anderson, chairman of the department of history,
University of Kansas, delivered the presidential address entitled
"From Beef to Wheat, the Impact of Agricultural Developments
Upon Banking in Early Wichita," to a meeting of the Agricultural
History Society, December 30, 1956, in St. Louis.

Charles N. McCarter, Wichita, was elected president of the Native
Sons, and Mrs. George Marshall, Basehor, was chosen to head the
Native Daughters at the annual meeting of the Native Sons and
Daughters of Kansas in Topeka, January 28, 1957. Other officers
named by the Native Sons were: Roy Bulkley, Topeka, vice-presi-
dent; Wayne Randall, Osage City, secretary; Dean Yingling, To-
peka, treasurer. The Native Daughters elected Mrs. Hobart Hoyt,
Lyons, vice-president; Evelyn Ford, Topeka, secretary; and Mrs.
J. C. Tillotson, Norton, treasurer. Retiring presidents were Jim
Reed, Topeka, and Mrs. J. B. McKay, El Dorado. Bob Considine,
International News Service columnist, was the principal speaker at
the meeting. Parts of the program appeared on a nation-wide tele-
vision broadcast. Among those appearing on the broadcast were:
Considine, Dr. Karl Menninger, chosen "Kansan of the Year" by
the Native Sons and Daughters, Gov. George Docking, and former
Gov. Alf Landon. John McComb, Kansas State College, won the
oratorical contest sponsored by the Native Sons and Daughters.

Using the theme "Chautauquas," the Woman's Kansas Day Club
held its annual meeting in Topeka, January 29, 1957. The retiring
president, Mrs. Emerson L. Hazlett, Topeka, presided at the meet-
ing. As its new president the club chose Mrs. Edna Peterson,. Cha-
nute. Other new officers are: Mrs. Lucile Rust, Manhattan, first
vice-president; Mrs. Harry Chaff ee, Topeka, second vice-president;
Mrs. Eugene McMillin, Lawrence, recording secretary; Mrs. Paul H.
Wedin, Wichita, treasurer; Mrs. Tillie Karns-Newman, Arkansas
City, historian; Mrs. McDill Boyd, Phillipsburg, registrar; and Mrs.
Claude Stutzman, Kansas City, auditor. District directors include:
Mrs. T. M. Murrell, Topeka, first district; Mrs. Chester Young, Kan-
sas City, second district; Mrs. Raymond Smith, Parsons, third dis-
trict; Mrs. Ruth Vawter Rankin, Wichita; fourth district; Mrs. Glee
Smith, Lamed, fifth district; and Mrs. Sharon Foster, Ellsworth,
sixth district. Historical material gathered by the historian, Mrs.

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 111

Edward Isern, Ellinwood, the district directors and assistant his-
torians was presented to the Kansas State Historical Society. This
year's meeting marked the golden anniversary of the club.

Eleven members were named to two-year terms on the board of
directors of the Finney County Historical Society at the society's
annual meeting February 12, 1957, in Garden City. They are: Mrs.
Frank Crase, Mrs. Mabel Rowe Brown, J. E. Greathouse, Albert
Drussel, R. G. Brown, Mrs. Ella Condra, William Fant, Chet Reeve,
George Anderson, Mrs. Irene Walters, and Arthur Stone. Clifford
Hope, Sr., was the principal speaker at the meeting. R. G. Brown
is president of the society.

Development of the Prairie Grove battlefield in Arkansas as a
historic shrine is under way, sponsored by the Washington County
( Ark. ) Historical Society and other groups. It is designed to honor
both Union and Confederate soldiers. Kansas troops were among
those who fought at Prairie Grove.

The New York Community Trust announced recently the grant
of the Byron Caldwell Smith Award posthumously to Dr. Robert
Taft for his Artists and Illustrators of the Old West, 1850-1900, pub-
lished in 1953. The $750 award is financed by the Kate Stephens
bequest in the foundation. Miss Stephens was formerly professor
of Greek at the University of Kansas. Dr. Taft was well known to
readers of the Quarterly where his articles, including "Artists and
Illustrators . . .," frequently appeared.

Wamego had its beginning on May 1, 1866, when seven men ar-
rived at the site and constructed a small shack. In 1956 a 22-page
pamphlet on the town's history and development was published by
the Chamber of Commerce.

Snowden D. Flora, head of the United States Weather Bureau
at Topeka from 1917 to 1949, is the author of Hailstorms of the
United States, published by the University of Oklahoma Press in
1956. The 201-page volume includes information on hail forecast-
ing, damage, and insurance. Flora also discusses the characteristics
of hail and the storms that produce it. During the period 1944-1953
Kansas had the greatest hail damage of any state by a considerable
margin.

Historical sketches of towns served by the Missouri Pacific are
printed in The Empire That Missouri Pacific Serves, a 352-page book

112 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTEBLY

recently published by the railroad. Also included are brief histories
of the states through which the line operates.

Sigma Nu at Kansas University 1884-1956 is the title of a 222-
page history published by the Sigma Nu fraternity at Lawrence in
1956. Authors included: Grant W. Harrington, Burton P. Sears,
Solon W. Smith, Webster W. Holloway, Edward H. Hashinger,
John J. Wheeler, Owen C. Jones, and Edward F. Hudson.

Vision a Saga of the Sky, by Harold Mansfield, a 389-page "nar-
rative account of forty years of progress in the air, the trials and
triumphs of the great Boeing Airplane Company," was recently
published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York. Of special in-
terest to Kansans is the chapter "Battle of Kansas," the story of pre-
paring the first B-29's for use in World War II.

A biography of George Rogers Clark, by John Bakeless, entitled
Background to Glory the Life of George Rogers Clark was re-
cently published by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and
New York. Clark was the military leader who fought the British,
French, Spanish and Indians to win the Old Northwest during the
American revolution.

The Founding of Public Education in Wisconsin, a 252-page book
by Lloyd P. Jorgenson, was published in 1956 by the State Historical
Society of Wisconsin, Madison.

Medicine in Chicago, 1850-1950, a 302-page work by Thomas N.
Bonner, was published early in 1957 by the American History Re-
search Center, Madison.

THE

KANSAS HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY

Summer 1957

Published by

Kansas State Historical Society

Topeka

NYLE H. MILLER KIRKE MECHEM JAMES C. MALIN

Managing Editor Editor Associate Editor

CONTENTS

A SURVEY OF HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES IN KANSAS 113

With photographs of Allen county jail, Tola; Gen. Frederick Funston home, near Tola;
officers' quarters, old Fort Scott; "Fort Blair" blockhouse, Fort Scott; birthplace
of Amelia Earhart, Atchison; birthplace of Arthur Capper, Garnett; Pawnee Rock,
Barton county; boyhood home of Dwight Eisenhower, Abilene; Irvin Hall, High-
land Junior College, Highland; Constitution Hall and Lane University, Lecomp-
ton; Iowa, Sac and Fox Presbyterian Mission, near Highland; Old Castle Hall,
Baldwin; "Cathedral of the Plains," Victoria; Fort Harker guardhouse, Kanopolis;
boyhood home of Walter Chrysler, Ellis; Fort Hays blockhouse, Hays; Santa Fe
trail ruts, near Dodge City; "Tauy" Jones house and Silkville colony, Franklin
county; Shawnee Methodist Mission, Fairway; covered bridge, Leavenworth
county; Mark W. Delahay and Fred Harvey homes, Planters' House, Leaven-
worth; Point of Rocks, Morton county; "Last Chance" Store and Kaw Methodist
Mission, Council Grove; Pottawatomie Baptist Mission building, near Topeka;
Fort Larned, Pawnee county; cabin of Dr. Brewster Higley, Smith county;
El Quartelejo monument, Scott county; Brookville Hotel, Saline county; "Cow-
town Wichita," Sedgwick county; birthplace of Damon Runyon, Manhattan; Fort
Wallace cemetery marker, Wallace county; First territorial capitol, Fort Riley;
Pond creek stage station, Wallace county; cave in Battle canyon, Scott county;
Hollenberg ranch Pony Express station, Washington county; Moses Grinter house,
Wyandotte county, and Beecher Bible and Rifle Church, Wabaunsee, between
pp. 144, 145.

A FREE-STATER'S "LETTERS TO THE EDITOR": Samuel N. Wood's Letters

to Eastern Newspapers, 1854 Edited by Robert W. Richmond, 181

THEATRE IN KANSAS, 1858-1868: Background for the Coming of the Lord
Dramatic Company to Kansas, 1869 (Part Two, Atchison, Lawrence

and Topeka) Concluded James C. Malin, 191

BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 204

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 211

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES . 221

Entered as second-class matter October 22, 1931, at the post office -at To-
peka, Kan., under the act of August 24, 1912.

THE COVER

Students and faculty of Lane University, Lecompton, about 1884.
The parents of President Dwight Eisenhower attended this college.
Ida Elizabeth Stover, the President's mother, is seated sixth from
the right in the front row. Photo courtesy J. O. Gunnels, Colby.

For a picture of the Lane University building at it appears today
see between pp. 144, 145.

THE KANSAS '

HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Volume XXIII Summer, 1957 Number 2

A Survey of Historic Sites and Structures in Kansas

DURING 1955 and 1956, in compliance with an act of the 1955
legislature, the Kansas State Historical Society conducted a
survey of historic sites and structures in the state. The law required
that a report containing "the results of the survey and recommenda-
tions for acquisition, maintenance and preservation" of such sites
and structures should be made to the 1957 session.

The report was presented to the governor and members of the
legislature in March, 1957. Since it was not printed in sufficient
quantity that it could be sent also to the members of the Society
it is reprinted here, with several additions and revisions, in the
belief that it will be of general interest to the membership and
other readers of the Quarterly. The presentation includes a brief
historical statement for each site, its location and present status,
and a recommendation for preservation or marking if such recog-
nition is believed desirable and practicable. Points of scenic interest
have not been included unless there is a definite historical connec-
tion.

As a general rule, if the site is public property or is administered
by an established organization, or if it is already marked, the rec-
ommendation is "status quo," by which is meant that no change
is considered necessary at this time. This is not to say, however,
that preservation or administration is in all cases as effective as it
should be.

Of the 186 sites reported in this survey three, Fort Leavenworth,
Fort Riley and Point of Rocks in Morton county, are federal prop-
erty. Three others Shawnee Methodist Mission near Kansas City,
Fort Larned in Pawnee county, and the Santa Fe trail remains
west of Dodge City have been designated by the National Park
Service as worthy of further study and possible recognition as Na-
tional Monuments, and this survey recommends that they be so
recognized. If for any reason the National Park Service does not
accept Fort Larned and the Santa Fe trail remains, they should be

(113)

114 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

preserved as valued historical assets by the state, or locally, as
parks and museums.

Eighteen sites, including Shawnee Methodist Mission, are now
state property and at least two more should become state parks
and museums. El Quartelejo in Scott County State Park, the site
of which is owned by the Kansas Society of the Daughters of the
American Revolution, is an outstanding archaeological attraction
and should be rebuilt and maintained. Pottawatomie Baptist Mis-
sion near Topeka, now privately owned, for reasons stated in the
report should be taken over by the state.

State historical markers have been erected for 45 sites included
in this report; it is suggested that 25 additional sites be given the
same recognition. Forty-four sites have been marked by organi-
zations or individuals; the survey suggests that 52 others be sim-
ilarly marked. Fourteen sites are now preserved and maintained
locally; six others are noted as sufficiently important to warrant
local preservation if economically feasible. Several buildings cur-
rently maintained for regular use are not included in this count.

Many omissions will be discovered in this list. However, the
Society intends to continue the survey as part of its regular oper-
ations, and ultimately will examine all important sites and struc-
tures in the state. Lacking full-time survey personnel, the work
must be done as it has been during the past two years by staff
members whenever time can be spared from their regular duties,
or whenever it is possible to combine the survey with other ac-
tivities.

The Society is grateful to the many friends who assisted in ob-
taining information for the survey, and will appreciate suggestions
as to additional sites and structures which should be included in
future lists. Thanks are due also to the Kansas Industrial Develop-
ment Commission for seven photographs, and to the Omaha office
of the National Park Service for six photographs, published in the
picture section between pp. 144, 145.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 115

ALLEN COUNTY

1. GEN. FREDERICK FUNSTON HOME.

History: This property was homesteaded in 1867 by Edward H.
Funston, later a member of congress from Kansas, 1884-
1894. His son, Frederick (1865-1917), won fame as colonel
of the Twentieth Kansas regiment in the Philippine Insurrec-
tion by capturing the insurgent leader Aguinaldo, was
awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, and at the time
of his death was a major general in the U. S. army.

Location and description: A two-story frame house on U. S. 59
about five miles north of lola.

Status: The Funston home was presented to the state by the
general's sister, Ella Funston Eckdall, and her husband, and
was accepted by act of the 1955 legislature. It is now ad-
ministered by the Kansas State Historical Society as a mu-
seum. A state historical marker stands in front of the home.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. COUNTY JAIL, IOLA.

History: Built in 1869 and still in use as a county jail, this is one
of the oldest public buildings in Kansas in continuous use.

Location and description: Two-story limestone block building
at 204 North Jefferson St.

Status: Still in use as a county jail.

Recommendations: An excellent place for a local museum.
Local historical marker.

3. STONEY LONESOME SCHOOLHOUSE.

History: Formerly a rural school at which Gen. Frederick Fun-
ston was a teacher in 1886.

Location and description: Fragmentary remains about five miles
south of lola on U. S. 59.

Status: On privately owned land. A local historical marker has
been erected on U. S. 59 at the school site.

Recommendations: Status quo.

116 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ANDERSON COUNTY

1. ARTHUR CAPPER HOME, GARNETT.

History: Arthur Capper, distinguished newspaperman and pub-
lisher of farm journals, governor of Kansas, 1915-1919, and
U. S. senator from Kansas, 1919-1949, was bora in this house
July 14, 1865.

Location and description: A small one-story red brick structure
at Fifth and Cedar Sts. A manufacturing plant has been
built to the side of the house and almost touching it.

Status: In 1956 the Capper Memorial Museum Association was
chartered to preserve the property.

Recommendations: Status quo.

ATCHISON COUNTY

1. AMELIA EARHART BIRTHPLACE, ATCHISON.

History: Amelia Earhart, famous aviatrix and first woman to
fly the Atlantic solo, was bom in this house and spent most
of her childhood here.

Location and description: A two-story frame structure with
brick addition at the back, located at 223 North Terrace.

Status: Privately owned and occupied as a residence.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

2. BYRAM HOTEL, ATCHISON.

History: Opened as the "Otis House" on May 14, 1873, and still
in operation, this is the oldest hotel in the city. It was origi-
nally to be called the "Pomeroy" in honor of Sen. S. C. Pome-
roy, but the senator was involved in an election scandal early
that year and his name was not used.

Location and description: Brick, stone and stucco four-story
structure, located at 202 Commercial St.

Status: Privately owned and operated as a hotel.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

3. ED HOWE HOME, ATCHISON.

History: Edgar Watson Howe, famous writer, editor and pub-
lisher, built this home in 1880. He also owned a home,
"Potato Hill," outside the city.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 117

Location and description: Two-story red brick house at 1117
North Third St.

Status: In good repair and occupied as a residence by Adelaide
Howe, niece of Ed Howe.

Recommendations: Local historical marker or plaque.

4. JOHN A. MARTIN HOUSE, ATCHISON.

History: John A. Martin, pioneer Atchison newspaperman, built
this house in 1871. Martin served as colonel of the Eighth
Kansas infantry in the Civil War and as governor of Kansas,
1885-1889.

Location and description: A two-story red brick structure at
315 North Terrace.

Status: Still owned by members of the Martin family and oc-
cupied as a residence.

Recommendations: Local historical marker.

5. OLD PRIORY, ST. BENEDICT'S COLLEGE, ATCHISON.

History: The Priory was the first building at the college, con-
structed by the Benedictine order in 1859. A wing was
added in 1861 and a church was begun in 1866. The latter
was not completed until after the turn of the century.

Location and description: A three-story brick structure located
on the St. Benedict's campus. It now connects the church
building and another wing.

Status: The building is still in use by the college.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

BARBER COUNTY

1. CARRY NATION HOME, MEDICINE LODGE.

History: Carry Nation and her husband David moved into this
house in the late 1880's. Mrs. Nation was one of the coun-
try's most militant reformers and prohibitionists, and re-
ceived national attention for her "barroom-smashing" activi-
ties.

Location and description: One-story brick house at the comer of
Fowler Ave. and Oak St., on U. S. 160.

118 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Status: The house is now a museum and is open to the public
daily. It is owned and operated by the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. MEDICINE LODGE PEACE TREATY, MEDICINE LODGE.

History: In October, 1867, Kiowa, Comanche, Arapahoe, Apache
and Cheyenne Indians signed peace treaties with the U. S.
government near Medicine Lodge. Several famous chiefs
and military men were present and the council drew wide-
spread interest.

Location and description: Site only, confluence of Elm creek
and Medicine Lodge river.

Status: There is a state historical marker on U. S. 160, just east
of Medicine Lodge, and there is a monument in the town
commemorating the treaty.

Recommendations: Status quo.

BARTON COUNTY

1. FORT ZARAH.

History: Fort Zarah was a frontier army post on the Santa Fe
trail and was in use from 1864 to 1869.

Location and description: Only the site remains. It is located
two miles east of Great Bend on U. S. 56.

Status: Located near a state roadside park. A state historical
marker on the highway calls attention to the site.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. PAWNEE ROCK.

History: A famous landmark on the Santa Fe trail, the rock
served as a lookout point for Indians and was also a favorite
ambush. Later the area at the base was popular as an
emigrant campground. Much of the top was stripped off
by railroad builders and pioneers, and the rock is now much
smaller than it was originally.

Location and description: Large rock elevation, just north of
the town of Pawnee Rock off U. S. 56.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 119

Status: The remaining rock is now in a state park. A shelter
and monument are on the summit, and there is a state
historical marker on U. S. 56 west of the town of Pawnee
Rock.

Recommendations: Status quo.

BOURBON COUNTY

1. OLD FORT SCOTT, FORT SCOTT.

History: Fort Scott was established in 1842 and was in use
most of the time until 1873. It was one of the most import-
ant early posts on the Western frontier and in Kansas is
second only to Fort Leavenworth in age. During the Civil
War the post was of strategic importance to the Union
and played an important part in preventing Missouri from
joining the Confederacy.

Location and description: Several buildings of the old fort still
survive a double set of officers' quarters, half of a double
set of officers' quarters, the bakery, the cavalry stables, and
the hospital building all of them located on Carroll Plaza.

Status: Several of the old buildings are owned and preserved
by the city of Fort Scott. One contains a museum which is
administered by the Business and Professional Women's
Club. A state historical marker has been erected on U. S. 69
at the north edge of Fort Scott.

Recommendations: Status quo.

BROWN COUNTY

1. TORT LEXINGTON" AND THE LANE TRAIL.

History: In order to avoid the dangers and difficulties often en-
countered by Free-State immigrants traveling through Mis-
souri to Kansas, James H. Lane in 1856 opened the Lane
trail. Running south from Iowa through Nebraska, it
crossed western Brown county where Lane and his "Northern
Army" founded the settlements of Plymouth and Lexington,
neither of which survived for long.

Location and description: Plymouth was located on Pony creek,
in Sec. 15, T 1 S, R 15 E. Lexington was about three miles

120 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

southeast of Sabetha and about two miles northwest of
Fairview.

Status: Privately owned farm land.

Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 36 near
Fairview.

2. KICKAPOO PRESBYTERIAN MISSION, HORTON.

History: In December, 1856, a Presbyterian mission and school
for the Kickapoo Indians was established on what is now
Horton Heights. It passed into other hands in 1869, and in
1871 was abandoned and the building razed.

Location and description: Site only, in Horton.

Status: One of the least publicized Indian missions in Kansas. A
local historical marker has been erected.

Recommendations: Status quo.

BUTLER COUNTY

1. FIRST BUILDING IN AUGUSTA.

History: This building was erected in 1868 and served at various
times as a store, post office, school, and a meeting place for
the Masonic Lodge and Baptist and Methodist congregations.

Location and description: One and one half story log and frame
structure located on the main street of Augusta, U. S. 77.

Status: The building is owned and operated by the Augusta
Historical Society as a museum.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. STAPLETON No. 1 OIL WELL, EL DORADO.

History: The discovery well of the El Dorado oil field, known as
Stapleton No. 1, came in on October 9, 1915. It was drilled
by the Wichita Natural Gas company and opened one of the
richest oil fields in the West.

Location and description: SEM, Sec. 29, T 25 S, R 5 E, on the
northwestern outskirts of El Dorado.

Status: A marker was erected near the site of the well in 1940
and the land on which it stands was presented to the Kansas
State Historical Society at that time.

Recommendations: Status quo.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 121

CHASE COUNTY

1. SAMUEL N. WOOD HOME, COTTONWOOD FALLS.

History: This house was built in the 1860's by Samuel N. Wood,
Free-State leader and pioneer newspaper publisher (Cotton-
wood Falls, Council Grove and Lawrence) who remained
active in Kansas affairs until his death in 1891. He was
murdered during the county-seat fight in Stevens county.

Location and description: Two-story stone house located in the
southeast part of town.

Status: Privately owned and occupied as a residence.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY
CHEROKEE COUNTY

1. BAXTER SPRINGS MASSACRE, BAXTER SPRINGS.

History: On October 6, 1863, a Union military force under
Gen. James Blunt was attacked and nearly annihilated by
Confederate guerrillas under William Quantrill. Another
group of Union soldiers was also attacked by the Con-
federates in the same vicinity. A number of the victims are
buried in the National Cemetery near Baxter Springs.

Location and description: Battle sites within present city limits.

Status: A state historical marker telling the story of these battles
has been erected on U. S. 66 at Baxter Springs.

Recommendations: Status quo.

CHEYENNE COUNTY
CLARK COUNTY

1. "LIVING WATER MARKER" ST. JACOB'S WELL.

History: St. Jacob's Well was a famous watering place on the
Fort Supply-Fort Dodge trail which was used during pioneer
days in western Kansas by the U. S. army, cattlemen and
buffalo hunters. It is said to have never been dry, even

122 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

during years of extreme drought. About one half mile south
was a marker with an index stone on top pointing to the
well.

Location and description: A pile of stones on the Fort Supply-
Fort Dodge trail, west of Ashland and near U. S. 160. Traces
of the old trail are still in evidence about ten miles west of
Ashland.

Status: On privately owned farm land.

Recommendations: Marker should be rebuilt and a state his-
torical marker placed on U. S. 160-283. The entire area of
the Great Basin is rich in fossils and might well be made a
state park.

CLAY COUNTY
CLOUD COUNTY

1. BOSTON CORBETT HOMESTEAD.

History: Boston Corbett, Civil War soldier and slayer of John
Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, settled on a claim in Cloud
county in the fall of 1878. In 1887 he was appointed as-
sistant doorkeeper of the Kansas House of Representatives.
During the session he went berserk and was committed to
the Topeka State Hospital. He escaped in 1888, and his
whereabouts after that time were never established.

Location and description: Site only, WX, NE&, Sec. 12, T 7 S,
R 3 W, about four miles east of U. S. 81.

Status: On privately owned farm land.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

COFFEY COUNTY
COMANCHE COUNTY

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 123

COWLEY COUNTY

1. CHEROKEE STRIP OPENING, ARKANSAS CITY.

History: In September, 1893, thousands of persons gathered
in and around Arkansas City prepared to make the "run"
into Oklahoma territory to obtain land.

Location and description: General area near Arkansas City.

Status: A state historical marker has been erected on U. S. 77
three miles south of Arkansas City. A granite marker south
of the city on the same highway also commemorates the
event.

Recommendations: Status quo.

CRAWFORD COUNTY

1. TOWNSHIP HALL, FARLINGTON.

History: Built in 1873 for use as a township hall, it is still used
for meetings.

Location and description: Clay block building in Farlington.

Status: In good repair.

Recommendations: Local historical marker or plaque.

2. FRANKLIN FLATTER HOME.

History: This house was built about 1880 by Franklin Playter,
an early settler of Crawford county, and was the center of a
large cattle-ranching operation.

Location and description: Two-story stone house with a large
cupola, located two miles southeast of Walnut.

Status: Privately owned and occupied as a residence.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

DECATUR COUNTY

1. LAST INDIAN RAID IN KANSAS.

History: In 1878 Northern Cheyennes, led by Chief Dull
Knife, left their Oklahoma reservation in an attempt to re-
turn to the tribal home in the North. They were harassed
by U.S. troops and cowboys and in turn terrorized resi-

124 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

dents of several western Kansas counties. Forty Kansas
settlers were killed on their farms, 19 of them on Sappa
creek in Decatur county.

Location and description: General area along Sappa creek.

Status: The bodies of several of the murdered settlers are
buried in a cemetery on the northern city limits of Oberlin,
and a monument to their memory stands in the cemetery.
A state historical marker is located at the junction of U. S.
36 and U. S. 183.

Recommendations: Status quo.

DICKINSON COUNTY

1. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER HOME, ABILENE.

History: Boyhood home of Dwight D. Eisenhower, President
of the United States and famed military leader in World
War II.

Location and description: Two-story frame house at 201 South
East Fourth St.

Status: The home is maintained by the Eisenhower Foundation.
Recommendations: Status quo.

2. DICKINSON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL, CHAPMAN.

History: This school building is said to be the first county
high school in the United States. Construction began in
1887 and it was dedicated September 3, 1889. The Hi-Y
movement was organized here in 1889. . .-

Location and description: Two-story stone building.

Status: The building is still in use as a high school. Two local
markers have been erected.

Recommendations: Status quo.

DONIPHAN COUNTY

1. IOWA, SAC AND Fox PRESBYTERIAN MISSION.

History: The Presbyterian Church established a log-cabin mis-
sion and school to the Iowa, Sac and Fox Indians in 1837
under the direction of Samuel and Eliza Irvin. A three-story

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 125

stone and brick building of 32 rooms was completed in 1846.
The present building is a remaining portion of the original
one.

Location and description: A brick building located two miles
east and a little north of Highland, off U. S. 36.

Status: The building is owned by the state and a museum is
under the direction of the Northeast Kansas Historical So-
ciety. A state historical marker is located on U. S. 36, just east
of the town.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. IRVIN HALL, HIGHLAND JUNIOR COLLEGE, HIGHLAND.

History: Highland Junior College is the oldest institution of
higher learning in Kansas. It was chartered as Highland
University on February 9, 1858, and Irvin Hall was com-
pleted in 1859. The school was an outgrowth of the Presby-
terian mission to the Iowa, Sac and Fox Indians.

Location and description: Two-story brick building on the
Highland campus on U. S. 36.

Status: The building is still in use by the school although some
alterations have been made since it was built. A marker has
been erected on the campus.

Recommendations: Status quo.

DOUGLAS COUNTY

1. OLD CASTLE HALL, BAKER UNIVERSITY, BALDWIN.

History: Baker University was chartered February 12, 1858, and
the "old castle" was its first building. Baker is the oldest
four-year college in Kansas.

Location and description: A three-story stone building located
near the Baker campus.

Status: Owned by the university and operated as a museum by
the Old Castle Memorial Association. A plaque is mounted
on the front of the building.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. BIG SPRINGS.

History: Once a popular watering place on the Oregon trail
between Lawrence and Topeka, the springs for which the

126 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

town was originally named are now dry. The Free-State
party of Kansas held a policy-making meeting in Big Springs
in 1855 and the first United Brethren church in Kansas was
built there in the 1850's.

Location and description: Unincorporated village on U. S. 40

K-10, between Lawrence and Topeka.
Status: Some remains of the early church exist, and the present

organization, which has a church across the highway from

the original site, has erected a marker. No marker for the

town and its territorial status exists.

Recommendations: State historical marker.

3. BATTLE OF BLACK JACK.

History: One of the more important skirmishes between Free-
State and Proslavery partisans, this incident occurred June 2,
1856. John Brown and his company attacked and defeated
a Proslavery group led by Henry C. Pate.

Location and description: Battleground was three miles east
and one fourth mile south of Baldwin, off U. S. 50.

Status: Privately owned farm land. A monument commemorat-
ing the incident stands on a small plot of state-owned ground.
A state historical marker has been erected on U. S. 50 three
miles east of Baldwin.

Recommendations: Status quo.

4. 'ToRT'Trrus.

History: During the territorial troubles Col. H. T. Titus, a Pro-
slavery leader, built a strong log house which soon became
a Proslavery rendezvous. On August 16, 1856, Free-State
forces besieged and captured the building and its defenders
after both sides suffered several wounded. Following the
skirmish the building was burned.

Location and description: Site only, EM, Sec. 10, T 12 S, R 18 E,
about two miles south of Lecompton, off U. S. 40 K-10.

Status: Privately owned farm land.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

5. FRANKLIN.

History: Franklin was a Proslavery settlement, a rival of Law-
rence during the early territorial period and headquarters for

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 127

Southern forces during border difficulties in 1856. Two
"battles" of Franklin were fought, in June and August, 1856.
In the first, Free-State men captured a quantity of arms,
ammunition and provisions. In the second, they captured
the cannon, "Old Sacramento," and more small arms.

Location and description: Site only, Sec. 10, T 13 S, R 20 E,
about two miles east of Lawrence, off K-10. The town's
cemetery is about all that remains of old Franklin.

Status: Privately owned farm land.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

6. Gov. CHARLES ROBINSON HOUSE, LAWRENCE.

History: Charles Robinson, first governor of the state of Kansas,
built this house in 1867. His will bequeathed it and the
farm on which it stands to the University of Kansas.

Location and description: Two-story frame house about three

miles northeast of Lawrence, off U. S. 24-40.
Status: In good repair. Property of the University of Kansas.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

7. TRINITY EPISCOPAL PARISH HOUSE, LAWRENCE.

History: Erected in 1858, this is the oldest church building in
Kansas, with the exception of early missions. It was origi-
nally the church but was converted to a parish house upon
the completion of the present church in 1871.

Location and description: One-story limestone English Gothic
structure, 1009 Vermont St.

Status: Still in use by the parish and in good repair. There is a
small marker on the building.

Recommendations: Status quo.

8. CONSTITUTION HALL, LECOMPTON.

History: Lecompton was a territorial capital of Kansas. In this
building the Proslavery constitution of 1857 was drafted.

Location and description: Two-story white frame structure, three
miles north of U. S. 40 K-10.

Status: The building is owned and used by the I. O. O. F. lodge
of Lecompton and is in reasonably good repair.

Recommendations: Local historical marker.

128 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

9. LANE UNIVERSITY BUILDING, LECOMPTON.

History: This building was used by Lane University, a school
which opened in 1865 and closed in 1903 when it was merged
with Campbell College in Holton. Although the building
was not erected until the early 1880's, it rests on part of the
foundation of the territorial capitol, begun in 1856 but never
finished. Dwight D. Eisenhower's parents met as students at
Lane University and were married in 1885 in Lecompton.

Location and description: Two-story stone building.

Status: The building is now owned by the local school board
and is used for storage.

Recommendations: Local historical marker.

EDWARDS COUNTY

1. BATTLE OF COON CREEK.

History: On June 17, 1848, a small body of U. S. troops from
Fort Leavenworth, en route to Fort Mann, was attacked by a
large band of Comanche and Apache Indians between Coon
creek and the Arkansas river near the site of present Kinsley.
These troops were among the first in the army to be equipped
with breech-loading carbines, which could be loaded and
fired five times per minute. The Indians were bewildered
by the rapid fire and their attack was repulsed.

Location and description: Site only, near U. S. 50 just east of
Kinsley.

St at us: Privately owned land.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

ELK COUNTY

ELLIS COUNTY

1. WALTER P. CHRYSLER HOME, ELLIS.

History: This house was the boyhood home of automobile manu-
facturer Walter Chrysler. He was once employed in the
Union Pacific railroad shops in Ellis.

Location and description: Two-story white frame house on U. S.
40.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 129

Status: The house is open as a museum, sponsored by the
Chamber of Commerce of Ellis.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. FORT HAYS, HAYS.

History: Fort Hays was an army post and supply depot on the
Western frontier, 1865-1889, and was an important head-
quarters during the Indian wars. Such famous names as
Hickok, Cody, Sheridan and Custer are associated with the
history of the fort.

Location and description: Two limestone structures, the original
blockhouse and guardhouse, located in Frontier Historical
Park, near junction of U. S. 183 and U. S. 40.

Status: These buildings are in good condition and are located in
a state park which is supervised by a state board of man-
agers. A museum has been established in the old block-
house and a state historical marker has been erected on
U. S. 40.

Recommendations: Status quo.

3. VICTORIA.

History: Victoria was established in 1873 by George Grant, a
wealthy Scottish merchant. Grant sold parts of his 69,000-
acre holdings to English and Scottish colonists, many of them
younger sons of aristocratic families. On these estates they
were to learn the arts of agriculture and stock-raising.
Actually most of their time was devoted to cricket, polo and
hunting. Herzog, a Russian-German colony established in
1876 one half mile north of Victoria, gradually merged with
the English colony, and in 1913 they were incorporated under
the name of Victoria.

Location and description: The original townsite was in the
SWM, Sec. 7, T 14 S, R 16 E.

Status: State historical marker is soon to be erected on U. S. 40.
Recommendations: Status quo.

4. ST. FIDELIS CHURCH, VICTORIA.

History: Designed by John Comes of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Joseph
Marshall of Topeka, this church was built through the ef-
forts of the parishioners, most of them German-Russian emi-

107716

130 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

grants. William Jennings Bryan called the church the
"Cathedral of the Prairies/' It was dedicated in 1911.

Location and description: Romanesque limestone structure with
twin spires 141 feet high.

Status: In use as a Roman Catholic church.
Recommendations: Status quo.

5. GEORGE GRANT VILLA.

History: Built about 1874 by George Grant, founder of Victoria
colony, for his own home.

Location and description: Two-story stone house, with porch
on three sides, located on a county road five miles south and
one and one half miles east of Victoria, in Sec. 6, T 15 S,
R16E.

Status: In excellent condition, privately owned and occupied
as a residence.

Recommendations: Local historical marker.

ELLSWORTH COUNTY

1. WHITE HOUSE HOTEL, ELLSWORTH.

History: The hotel was built in 1872 by Arthur Larkin and was
first named the Grand Central Hotel. It was a famous West-
ern hostelry during the cattle trail days and its register boasted
such names as Wm. F. Cody and "Wild Bill" Hickok.

Location and description: Two-story stone, brick and stucco
building on North Main St., on city route U. S. 40. , v

Status: The hotel is still in operation.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

2. FORT HARKER, KANOPOLJS.

History: Fort Harker, first named Fort Ellsworth, was a frontier
army post and an important base of operations and supplies
during the Indian wars, 1864-1873.

Location and description: Four stone buildings, two miles south
of U. S. 40.

Status: The old guardhouse building is owned by the city of
Kanopolis and is leased to the local American Legion post
for museum purposes. The other three buildings are former

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 131

officers' quarters and are used as residences by private own-
ers. All the buildings are in a good state of preservation.

Recommendations: Directional markers and a state historical
marker on U. S. 40 when a suitable turnout area can be ob-
tained.

FINNEY COUNTY

1. SANTA FE TRAIL CROSSING; RAVANNA.

History: One of the Santa Fe trail crossings of the Arkansas
river was just west of present Holcomb. Ravanna, a Kansas
ghost town, was established about 1881 some eight miles
northwest of Kalvesta.

Location and description: The site of Ravanna is seven miles
north of U. S. 156.

Status: Markers have been erected by the Finney County
Historical Society. The society has also placed a marker in
Finnup Park, Garden City, commemorating the fact that the
Arkansas river served as the boundary of the United States,
1803-1845, and has marked the site of the U. S. Land Office,
103 North Main St., in Garden City.

Recommendations: Status quo.

FORD COUNTY

1. FORT ATKINSON; "THE CACHES."

History: Fort Atkinson was a military post on the Santa Fe trail,
1851-1854. A short-lived post called Fort Mann had been
established on the same site in 1847 but was gone by 1850
when Col. E. V. Sumner encamped there. Camp Mackay
was the name given Sumner's encampment from August,
1850, until June, 1851, when Fort Atkinson was actually
built. "The Caches," first used by a pack train outfit in 1822
for temporary storage of supplies, was a famous landmark
on the Santa Fe trail near these military posts.

Location and description: Site only, SW&, Sec. 29, T 26 S, R
25 W, about two miles west of Dodge City and just south
of U. S. 50. The location of "The Caches" is about three-
fourths of a mile northwest of the fort site.

Status: Privately owned farm land.
Recommendations: State historical marker.

132 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

2. FORT DODGE.

History: Fort Dodge was an important post on the Indian
frontier, 1865-1882.

Location and description: Group of stone buildings, four miles
southeast of Dodge City on U. S. 154.

Status: Two of the original adobe structures still stand, although
they have been veneered with stone. The commandant's
quarters, now the superintendent's home, and another build-
ing, now used as the administration building, were built
in 1867 and the exteriors have not been altered. There are
five stone buildings which cannot be definitely dated but
remain from the days of military occupancy: the old fort
hospital, now "Pershing Barracks," housing residents; the
present library building, presumed to be the old fort com-
missary; and three small stone cottages. The old jail has
been moved to "Boot Hill" in Dodge City.

Fort Dodge is now a state soldiers' home and all existing
buildings dating from army days are still in use. A state
historical marker has been erected on U. S. 154, four miles
southeast of Dodge City.

Recommendations: Status quo.

3. SANTA FE TRAIL REMAINS.

History: The Santa Fe trail was the most important highway
to the West from the Missouri river to Santa Fe, N. M.
before the era of the railroads. It was used extensively by
traders and travelers from its survey by the federal govern-
ment in 1825 until the 1870's.

Location and description: An area nine miles west of Dodge
City, just off U. S. 50, where ruts and tracks which are the
most prominent and extensive remains of the Santa Fe trail
may still be seen.

Status: Privately owned.

Recommendations: This area is one of three historic places
in Kansas the others being the Shawnee Methodist Mission
in Johnson county and Fort Larned in Pawnee county
which have been recommended by the National Park Serv-
ice for comprehensive study and evaluation with a view to
national recognition and possible designation as national
monuments. Every co-operation should be extended to the
Park Service so that these remains may be preserved.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 133

FRANKLIN COUNTY

1. CHDPPEWA INDIAN CEMETERY.

History: This is a tribal cemetery with graves dating from the
1860's and 1870's.

Location and description: Small burial ground, six miles west
of Ottawa.

Status: The cemetery is cared for to some extent but many
of the grave stories are in poor condition. The area is rela-
tively easy to reach and ownership is still vested in the
Chippewa tribe.

Recommendations: Local historical marker, with directional
markers on U. S. 59.

2. OTTAWA INDIAN CEMETERY.

History: This was the cemetery of the Ottawa Baptist Indian
mission and is the burial place of "Tauy" Jones and of Jotham
and Eleanor Meeker. Meeker was a missionary to the Ot-
tawas and Kansas' first printer. There are other graves,
mostly Indian, including that of Compehau, Ottawa chief.

Location and description: Small burial ground three miles east
and a short distance north of Ottawa.

Status: The cemetery is in poor condition. Many of the stones
have been badly damaged and others are unreadable. Al-
though the plot is easily accessible it apparently receives
minimum care, for weeds and grass have overrun the area.
The land is owned by Ottawa University.

Recommendations: Local historical marker, with directional
markers on U. S. 59 in Ottawa.

3. POTTAWATOMDE MASSACRE.

History: On May 24, 1856, three days after the Proslavery sack
of Lawrence, John Brown and his men appeared among the
settlements near Dutch Henry's crossing, where the Cali-
fornia road crossed Pottawatomie creek in Franklin county.
They called out five Proslavery men and killed them. "No
other act," wrote D. W. Wilder, "spread such consternation
among the Ruffians, or contributed so powerfully to make
Kansas free."

134 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Location and description: "Dutch Henry" Sherman's homestead
was the NWK, Sec. 34, T 18 S, R 21 E. The crossing was
in this quarter section.

Status: Privately owned farm land.

Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 169, south
of Lane.

4. SELKVILLE.

History: Silkville was established in the 1870's by a Frenchman,
Ernest Valeton de Boissiere. As the name indicates, it was
planned as a silk-producing enterprise. It was technically
successful and silk produced here won first prize at the
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. However, the
project was an economic failure because of marketing diffi-
culties. A dairy farm and cheese factory attempted later
also had little success.

Location and description: Group of stone buildings on a ranch
southwest of Williamsburg, on U. S. 50.

Status: The buildings are in private hands and are used in
ranching operations.

Recommendations: State historical marker and directional signs
on U. S. 50.

5. "TAUY" JONES HOUSE.

History: Home of John Tecumseh Jones, who was a Baptist
minister and missionary, a member of the original Ottawa
Town Company and one of the founders of Ottawa University.
The house was built about 1867 of cut limestone, with all
joists fitted and pegged. The interior is finished in walnut
and oak.

Location and description: Two-story stone house about four
and one half miles northeast of Ottawa.

Status: Now in use as a farm residence.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 135

GEARY COUNTY

1. WETZEL CABIN.

History: The cabin was originally built during the territorial
period as the home of the Christian F. Wetzel family. It
first stood on Clark's creek, seven miles southeast of Junction
City, and is significant because an early Lutheran missionary
to Kansas, F. W. Lange, made his home in the cabin and
organized the first Kansas parish of the Missouri Synod there.

Location and description: The log building has been relocated
at the junction of U. S. 40 and K-57, two and one half miles
east of Junction City.

Status: Restored by the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod.
Recommendations: Status quo.

GOVE COUNTY

1. CARLYSLE STAGE STATION.

History: Stage station on the Smoky Hill trail, used by the
Butterfield Overland Dispatch in the 1860's.

Location and description: Site only, Sec. 15, T 15 S, R 30 W,
north of Smoky Hill river, 35 miles southeast of Grinnell.

Status: Cellar holes and trail ruts still visible on site. Private
pasture.

Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 40 covering
this and the other three Gove county stage station sites de-
scribed.

2. CHALK BLUFFS STAGE STATION.

History: Stage station on the Smoky Hill trail; scene of Indian
fight.

Location and description: Site only, Sec. 13, T 15 S, R 29 W,
north of Smoky Hill river, east of K-23, south of Gove.

Status: Cellar holes and trench still visible on site. On pasture
land privately owned.

Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 40 covering
this and the other three Gove county stage station sites de-
scribed.

136 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

3. GRINNELL SPRINGS STAGE STATION.

History: Stage station on the Smoky Hill trail.

Location and description: Site only, SEH, Sec. 23, T 14 S,
R 27 W, 22 miles southeast of U. S. 40.

Status: Trail ruts and rifle pit remains still visible around station
site. On pasture land privately owned.

Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 40 covering
this and the other three Gove county stage station sites de-
scribed.

4. MONUMENT STATION.

History: Stage station and military post on the Smoky Hill trail.

Location and description: Site only, SW&, Sec. 33, T 14 S,
R 31 W, 25/2 miles south and east of Oakley, near Monument
Rocks.

Status: Cellar holes, ruins of walls, trail ruts and trenches still
visible at site. Private pasture land.

Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 40 covering
this and the other three Gove county stage station sites de-
scribed.

GRAHAM COUNTY

1. NlCODEMUS.

History: This interesting little town was settled in the late
1870's by "exodusters," Negroes from the South who were
encouraged to come to Kansas following the Civil War.

Location and description: A hamlet, virtually abandoned, 12
miles east of Hill City.

Status: Two two-story stone buildings and a stone church still
remain of the old community. A few small residences are
occupied, but the post office was closed in 1953.

Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 24.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 137

GRANT COUNTY

1. WAGON BED SPRINGS.

History: These springs were famous as a watering place and
campground on the Santa Fe trail. Near here Jedediah
Smith, famous scout and "mountain man/' was killed by
Comanche Indians in 1831.

Location and description: A draw on the bank of the Cimarron
river, about five miles from U. S. 270, on a pasture road south
of Ulysses.

Status: The original springs no longer flow in the draw. There
is a near-by flow in the bed of the Cimarron which may
come from the same source. The site is on privately owned
land. A state historical marker is located on the new, re-
routed U. S. 270, and a small monument to Jedediah Smith
is on the old route.

Recommendations: Status quo.

GRAY COUNTY

1. CIMARRON CROSSING.

History: Crossing of the Arkansas river on the Santa Fe trail,
where the "Dry Route" connected with the main trail.

Location and description: Crossings at this point varied with
river conditions, but they were located in the general area
of the towns of Cimarron and Ingalls.

Status: Marker in Cimarron city park commemorates one of
the river crossings.

Recommendations: Status quo.

GREELEY COUNTY

1. BARREL SPRINGS, JUMBO SPRINGS, AND WILD HORSE CORRAL.
History: Watering place and campground for early settlers and
for travelers on the Fort Lyons-Fort Wallace trail.

Location and description: Flowing springs, one half mile apart,
in North Colony township about five miles north of K-96,
near Tribune. There are canyons and some timber.

138 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Status: On privately owned pasture land, easily reached on a
gravel road except for about one half mile of pasture lane.

Recommendations: Might be suitable for a locally-maintained
park and picnic ground.

GREENWOOD COUNTY
HAMILTON COUNTY

1. FORT AUBREY.

History: Fort Aubrey was a temporary U. S. army post on the
Indian frontier, 1865-1866.

Location and description: Site only, in Sec. 23, T 24 S, R 40 W,
one mile south of U. S. 50, near Syracuse.

Status: No buildings remain at the site but faint traces of rifle
pits and trenches may still be seen. The site is on private
farm land.

Recommendations: Local historical marker on U. S. 50.

HARPER COUNTY

1. RUNNYMEDE.

History: "Old" Runnymede, set up as a town in 1887, became
a typical English village occupied by adventurous younger
sons of wealthy English families. Although these young men
supposedly were to learn American farming methods they
devoted most of their attention to such activities as polo,
horse racing, and riding to hounds, and the colony failed to
survive.

Location and description: Site only, two miles northeast of K-2
at Runnymede.

Status: Site is now on private farm land. No vestiges of the old
town remain except a headstone at the grave of one of the
colonists. State historical marker is being erected on K-2.

Recommendations: Status quo.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 139

HARVEY COUNTY

1. DAVID L. PAYNE HOMESTEAD.

History: David L. Payne originally settled in Doniphan county
in 1858 and was active in the political affairs of northeast
Kansas. He served as a Kansas volunteer during the Civil
War and in 1870 took a homestead in what is now Harvey
county. Near by was the home of I. N. Lewis, later to become
famous as the inventor of the Lewis machine gun, a noted
weapon of World War I. About 1879 Payne left his farm for
the southern Kansas border, where he played a significant
role in promoting the settlement of Oklahoma.

Location and description: Site only, SEM, Sec. 6, T 23 S, R 1 E,
near Newton.

Status: On privately owned farm land.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

HASKELL COUNTY

1. SANTA FE TOWNSITE.

History: The town of Santa Fe, established in 1886, was for 33
years (1887-1920) the county seat of Haskell county. The
town company was chartered in 1886 and a post office was
opened in 1887. For some years Santa Fe had a sizeable
population but it was by-passed by the railroad and its people
eventually moved to Sublette and Satanta. In 1920 the
county offices were transferred to Sublette.

Location and description: Site only, at the junction of U. S. 83
and U. S. 160, near Sublette.

Status: No buildings remain. Part of the land on which the
town stood is now being farmed.

Recommendations: State historical marker at the junction of
U. S. 83-160.

HODGEMAN COUNTY

1. DUNCAN CROSSING OF THE PAWNEE RIVER.

History: Crossing of the Pawnee on the old Fort Hays-Fort
Dodge trail. The Duncan ranch settlement, dating from
1871, was the first in the county.

140 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Location and description: Site only, 11 miles northeast of Jet-
more off U. S. 56.

Status: The site is marked.
Recommendations: Status quo.

JACKSON COUNTY

1. BATTLE OF THE SPURS.

History: On January 31, 1859, John Brown and about 20 fol-
lowers were confronted by a posse of 45 Proslavery men at
the Fuller crossing of Straight creek. Brown had with him
several slaves whom he had taken from their Missouri own-
ers. The Proslavery group had dug rifle pits at the crossing,
but nevertheless retreated in panic when the Free-State
group determinedly crossed the ford. Not a shot was fired
by either side. Richard J. Hinton, noted newspaper cor-
respondent of the period, gave the name "Battle of the Spurs"
to the affair, believing that spurs were the most effective
weapons used.

Location and description: The crossing was located in Sec. 10,
T 6 S, R 15 E, four miles north of Holton just off U. S. 75.
An "underground railway" station used by John Brown was
located two miles north of this site in the NW# of Sec. 3,
T6S,R15E.

Status: Site only, on privately owned farm land.

Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 75 north of
Holton.

JEFFERSON COUNTY

1. JEFFERSON COUNTY COURTHOUSE, OSKALOOSA.

History: This is the oldest courthouse building in Kansas still
in use. Construction began in 1867 and was completed in
1868.

Location and description: A two-story brick and stone building
on the courthouse square.

Status: Occupied by Jefferson county offices. The exterior has
undergone little alteration but some remodeling has been
done on the inside.

Recommendations: Status quo.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 141

2. PIAZZEK MILL, VAT. LEY FALLS.

History: This mill was built by J. M. Piazzek in 1878. Piazzek
came to Kansas during the territorial period and operated
another mill prior to building this one. It is an excellent
example of its type, widely used on the Midwest frontier.

Location and description: Three-story stone building located
near the Delaware river.

Status: The building is in reasonably good repair and has a good
roof. Old machinery and burrs are still in the building and
might be restored to working order. There is a question of
ownership involved since the Piazzek estate is not yet settled.

Recommendations: The restoration of the mill, providing the
estate is settled and the heirs would donate the property,
would be an excellent local project.

3. ST. PAUL'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, VALLEY FALLS.

History: The St. Paul's Lutheran congregation, organized June
14, 1857, as the English Lutheran church of Grasshopper
Falls, is reported to be the oldest Lutheran congregation west
of the Missouri river. The original church building, erected
in 1857, is no longer used by St. Paul's but is still standing.

Location and description: One-story frame structure.

Status: The building is in good repair and is currently used by
the St. John's Methodist church.

Recommendations: Local historical marker.

4. BATTLE OF HICKORY POINT.

History: This skirmish occurred as a result of the Proslavery
sacking of Valley Falls in September, 1856. A Free-State
force besieged the Proslavery men in a log building and
many shots were fired by both sides with little effect. While
the incident was not unusually significant it was one of many
which helped give the name "Bleeding Kansas" to the
territory.

Location and description: Site only, one fourth mile southeast
of Dunavant.

Status: The site is on privately owned farm land. No traces of
the battle remain. A state historical marker is in place on
U. S. 59.

Recommendations: Status quo.

142 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

5. DANIEL M. BOONE FARM.

History: In 1827 Daniel Morgan Boone, son of the great
frontiersman, came to what is now Kansas to be "farmer"
for the Kaw Indians. He settled in present Jefferson county,
on the Kansas river about seven miles northwest of Lawrence,
and remained there until 1835.

Location and description: Site only, near Williamstown, in
SWE, Sec. 29, T 11 S, R 19 E.

Status: Privately owned farm land.

Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 24 near
Williamstown.

JEWELL COUNTY
JOHNSON COUNTY

1. JUNCTION OF SANTA FE AND OREGON TRAILS.

History: At this point two famous Western highways divided.
Here westbound travelers to Oregon and northern California
followed the Oregon trail northwest while those bound for
Colorado and the Southwest followed the Santa Fe trail
across Kansas.

Location and description: Historic area, present Gardner.

Status: There is a state historical marker near Gardner on U. S.
50 which notes the trail junction.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. LONE ELM CAMP GROUND.

History: This site was a campground on the Santa Fe trail, the
first overnight stop out of Westport. Here the routes from
Old Franklin and Westport met.

Location and description: Site only, Sec. 23, T 14 S, R 23 E, off
U. S. 169 and K-7.

Status: A local historical marker has been erected by the
Daughters of the American Revolution.

Recommendations: Status quo.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 143

3. SANGRO HOUSE, SHAWNEE.

History: This is reputed to be the oldest building in Shawnee,
erected in 1824 on the trail to Gum Springs. Part of the
building was burned by Quantrill during the Civil War.

Location and description: One-room structure made of hand-
pressed brick, located just north of the town square.

Status: The building is now used as a display room by an
electric company. The original walls, window and door
casings are still preserved. There is a marker on the
building.

Recommendations: Status quo.

4. SHAWNEE BAPTIST MISSION.

History: The Baptist mission to the Shawnee Indians was
established in July, 1831, through the efforts of Isaac McCoy
and Johnston Lykins. It was to this mission that Jotham
Meeker brought the first printing press used in what is now
Kansas. He set the first type on March 1, 1835, and on
March 8 he made the first press impression.

Location and description: Site only, NEM, Sec. 5, T 12 S, R 25 E,
just north of U. S. 50.

Status: On privately owned property.
Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 50.

5. SHAWNEE FRIENDS MISSION.

History: On this site in 1837 the Society of Friends opened a
mission school for the Shawnee Indians which was operated
almost continuously until 1869. The main building stood
until 1917.

Location and description: Site only, about one mile from the
junction of K-10 and U. S. 50, near Shawnee.

Status: A state historical marker at the junction of K-10 and
U. S. 50 tells the mission school's story. There is also a
marker on the site of the main building.

Recommendations: Status quo.

6. SHAWNEE METHODIST MISSION, FAIRWAY.

History: The mission was originally established in 1830 near
present Turner and moved to the Fairway site in 1839.

144 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The school provided instruction in English, manual arts and
agriculture for Indian boys and girls. During the years
of the school's operations it also served as a temporary
territorial capital and many of the famous personalities of
the West were visitors there. The school was discontinued
in 1862 and the property fell into private ownership. The
present acreage and buildings were acquired by the state
in 1927.

Location and description: Three two-story brick buildings on
12 acres of landscaped grounds at 53rd St. and Mission Road.

Status: The State Historical Society as trustee for the state
now administers the property and maintains museums. The
mission is one block north of U. S. 50-69.

Recommendations: The National Parks Advisory Board in 1936
considered Old Shawnee Mission worthy of recognition as
a national historic site. It is one of three sites in Kansas
which the National Park Service in 1956 recommended for
further study as possible national monuments. If the Park
Service should want to take title to the property and oper-
ate it as a national monument it undoubtedly can do much
more for the promotion of the mission as a major historic
attraction than the State Historical Society is able to do
with the present extremely limited appropriations. Further,
state funds which are now used for the maintenance of the
mission could be devoted to the preservation of other his-
toric sites in Kansas which are now neglected, should such
a transfer seem feasible from all viewpoints. In addition
a state historical marker should be erected on U. S. 50-69
if and when suitable right of way for a turnout can be ob-
tained.

7. SHAWNEE METHODIST MISSION CEMETERY, FAIRWAY.

History: This is the burial ground for the old mission and con-
tains the graves of some of the pioneer mission people, in-
cluding the Rev. Thomas Johnson, founder of the school.

Location and description: Small cemetery plot located a short
distance from the mission on U. S. 50-69.

Status: The site is owned by the state and administered by the
State Historical Society. It is well marked.

Recommendations: Status quo.

Allen county jail/ tola.

Gen. Frederick Funston home/ near lola.

<: TV v

Irvin Hall, Highland Junior College, Highland.

Constitution Hall, Lecompton.

Lane University, Lecompton, where the par-
ents of Dwiqht D. Eisenhower attended col-

Remaining portion of Iowa, Sac and Fox
Presbyterian Mission building near High-

Old Castle Hall, Baker
University, Baldwin.

"Cathedral of the Plains/'
St. Fidelis Catholic Church, Victoria

Fort Marker guardhouse, Kanopolis.

If!

it i i ..iriiinnnnniinnniinnnnnnnr

Boyhood home of Walter Chrysler, Ellis.

The Planters' House, Leavenworth, one of the
finest nineteenth century hotels in the West.

Point of Rocks, a Santa Fe trail landmark on
the Cimarron river, Morton county.

"Last Chance" Store, Council Grove, on the
Santa Fe trail through Morris county.

Kaw Methodist Mission, established in 1851
on the Kaw reservation, present Council Grove.

Pottawatomie Baptist Mission building, just west of Topeka.

Aerial view of Fort Larned, in Pawnee county.

Cabin of Dr. Brewster Higley, who wrote
the words to "Home on the Range/'

El Quartelejo monument,
Scott County State Park.

Brookville Hotel, Salina,
savors of the Old West.

Part of the "Cowtown Wichita'
restoration in Riverside Park.

Birthplace of Damon
Runyon, Manhattan.

Fort Wallace cemetery
marker, Wallace county.

First Territorial Capitol, Fort Riley.

Pond Creek Stage Station,
Wallace county.

Cave in Battle Canyon,
Scott county.

Hollenberg Ranch Pony Express Station, near
Hanover, Washington county.

fillllllfillKllIllll

Moses Grinter house, near Muncie, Wyandotte county.

Beecher Bible and Rifle Church, Wabaunsee.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 145

8. WAGON MASTER'S HOUSE, SHAWNEE.

History: This house was built in the 1850's by Jack and Uriah
Garrett for Dick Williams, a wagon boss on the Santa Fe
trail.

Location and description: Stone building, K-10 and Nieman
Road.

Status: The house is privately owned and occupied. The orig-
inal walls, floors and windows are unaltered.

Recommendations: Local historical marker.

KEARNY COUNTY

1. CHOUTEAU'S ISLAND.

History: In 1816 a party of trappers was besieged by Pawnee
Indians on this island in the Arkansas river. In 1825 it was
listed as a turning off point on the Santa Fe trail for the dry
route to the Cimarron. Four years later Maj. Bennet Riley
and four companies of U. S. infantry camped at the island
and spent the summer fighting Indians.

Location and description: Site only, five miles southwest of La-
kin.

Status: Aerial photos show what is presumed to be the area
once known as Chouteau's Island, although the changing of
the river's course through the years leaves the exact spot diffi-
cult to determine. State historical marker in place on U. S. 50.

Recommendations: Status quo.

KINGMAN COUNTY
KIOWA COUNTY

1. HAND-DUG WELL, GREENSBURG.

History: Construction of the Greensburg well was begun in
1887 and completed in 1888. One of the largest hand-dug
wells in the world, it is 32 feet in diameter and 109 feet deep.
It supplied water to the Wichita & Western railroad, later
incorporated into the Santa Fe system, until the line discon-
tinued service in 1895, and to the city until 1932.

117716

146 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Location and description: On U. S. 54 in Greensburg.

Status: In good repair, and operated by the Chamber of Com-
merce as a tourist attraction.

Recommendations: Status quo.

LABETTE COUNTY

1. TRADING POST SITE, OSWEGO.

History: In the early 1840's John Mathews established a trading
post on this site.

Location and description: Corner Fourth and Union Sts.

Status: Site only.

Recommendations: Local historical marker or plaque.

2. BENDER MOUNDS.

History: The mounds are named for the Bender family William,
his wife, son John and daughter Kate. Here the Benders
perpetrated several murders. It has never been proved
that the Benders were ever apprehended nor is it certain that
they made a successful escape.

Location and description: Small hills about 12 miles west of
Parsons, off U. S. 160.

Status: Site only.

Recommendations: Local historical marker.

LANE COUNTY

LEAVENWORTH COUNTY

1. COVERED BRIDGE.

History: This is the only covered bridge remaining in Kansas.
Date of construction is uncertain, but the bridge probably
was built in the 1860's or 1870's.

Location and description: Wood and steel bridge with wooden
cover located near K-92 about two miles northeast of Spring-
dale.

Status: Maintained and preserved by the State Highway De-
partment.

Recommendations: Status quo.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 147

2. DAVID J, BREWER HOUSE, LEAVENWORTH.

History: This house was once the home of David J. Brewer, the
first Kansan to serve on the U. S. Supreme Court (1889-1910).

Location and description: Two-story frame house at 400 Fifth
Ave.

Status: Privately owned and used as a residence.
Recommendations: Local historical marker or plaque.

3. THOMAS CARNEY HOUSE, LEAVENWORTH.

History: This was once the home of Thomas Carney, second gov-
ernor of the state of Kansas, 1863-1865.

Location and description: Large two-story brick house, now
stuccoed, at 411 Walnut St.

Status: Owned and used by the First Presbyterian church of
Leavenworth.

Recommendations: Local historical marker or plaque.

4. MARK DELAHAY HOUSE, LEAVENWORTH.

History: This was the home of Mark W. Delahay, pioneer Free-
State newspaperman, politician, U. S. Surveyor General for
Kansas and Nebraska, and U. S. district judge. Delahay's
wife was a cousin of Abraham Lincoln.

Location and description: Two-story brick house at 231 Third
Ave.

Status: Privately owned and used as a residence.
Recommendations: Local historical marker or plaque.

5. FRED HARVEY HOUSE, LEAVENWORTH.

History: This was the home of Fred Harvey, famed for his rail-
road restaurant and dining car food service.

Location and description: Large three-story stone house at
624 Olive St.

Status: Owned and used as offices by the Leavenworth board
of education.

Recommendations: Local historical marker or plaque.

148 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

6. PLANTERS* HOTEL, LEAVENWORTH.

History: This was once one of the most popular and elegant
hostelries of the West. It was opened in 1856 and was orig-
inally to serve only Proslavery patrons. In December, 1859,
Abraham Lincoln made a campaign speech from the west
steps of the hotel.

Location and description: Four-story brick building with a
large two-story porch on the south and east sides. The hotel
is at the northeast corner of Shawnee and Main Sts. over-
looking the Missouri river.

Status: The hotel is now used as an apartment house and is de-
teriorating rapidly. There is a plaque on the west wall of the
building commemorating Lincoln's visit.

Recommendations: Preservation if economically possible.

7. RUSSELL, MAJORS, WADDELL OFFICES, LEAVENWORTH.

History: Russell, Majors and Waddell was one of the most
famous freighting firms in U. S. history. Its general offices
were located in Leavenworth in the late 1850's and early
1860's. The marshalling yards and corrals of the company,
located near the edge of the present city limits, represented
an investment of about two million dollars and involved thou-
sands of men, oxen and wagons.

Location and description: The offices were located in the two-
story brick building still standing at the northwest corner of
Fourth and Delaware Sts.

Status: The building is in use and in good repair.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

8. FORT LEAVENWORTH.

History: This is the oldest military post west of the Missouri
river. It was established in 1827 by Col. Henry Leavenworth
and troops of the Third U. S. infantry. From that date to the
present the post has been one of the most important installa-
tions in the nation, serving as a vital military center for the
Mexican War, the Civil War, the Indian Wars and two World
Wars. Fort Leavenworth is the home of the army's Com-
mand and General Staff School, and most of the nation's fore-
most officers have been stationed at the post at some time
during their careers.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 149

Location and description: A 7,000-acre military reservation near
the city of Leavenworth.

Status: Active military installation. All historic buildings and
sites on the reservation are being preserved, maintained and
marked. A state historical marker has been placed at the
main entrance to the post, on U. S. 73.

Recommendations: Status quo.

LINCOLN COUNTY

1. INDIAN RAIDS.

History: In 1864 Cheyenne Indians killed four buffalo hunters
near present Lincoln, and in 1868 three women were cap-
tured and later released, half-dead. In 1869 ten persons
were killed and two women captured on the Saline river and
on Spillman creek.

Location and description: Several sites within the county, one
a short distance south of K-18, two miles east of Lincoln, and
another northwest of the same point.

Status: There is a state historical marker on K-18, two miles
east of Lincoln, and a monument to the victims of 1864 and
1869 in the courthouse square in Lincoln.

Recommendations: Status quo.

LINN COUNTY

1. BATTLE OF MINE CREEK.

History: The battle of Mine Creek, October 25, 1864, in which
about 25,000 troops were engaged, was the largest Civil War
battle fought in Kansas. Confederate troops were led by
Gen. Sterling Price and the Union forces were under Gen-
erals Pleasonton, Blunt and Curtis. Price was retreating
from Kansas City when he was engaged by the Union force,
and although the Rebel army was not destroyed the defeat
was decisive enough to end the threat of a Confederate inva-
sion of Kansas.

Location and description: Site only, south of Pleasanton, on
U. S. 69.

150 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Status: The site is on a privately owned farm. There is a state
historical marker on U. S. 69, two miles south of Pleasanton.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. MARAIS DES CYGNES MASSACRE.

History: On May 19, 1858, a band of Proslavery Missourians
captured 11 Free-State men and lined them up before a
firing squad. Five were killed, five were wounded and one
escaped. This slaughter, one of the most brutal incidents in
the struggle over slavery in Kansas, inflamed the North.

Location and description: Site only, about four miles northeast
of Trading Post, off U. S. 69.

Status: The site and an early building are preserved in a state
memorial park. A monument to the victims is in the Trading
Post cemetery. A state historical marker stands on U. S. 69
at the north edge of Trading Post.

Recommendations: Status quo.

LOGAN COUNTY

1. FORKS OF THE SMOKY HILL RIVER.

History: Coaches and wagons on the Smoky Hill trail had to
cross both forks of the Smoky Hill river west of Russell
Springs. This was a favorite place for Indians to ambush
travelers and freighters.

Location and description: Site only, SEM, Sec. 11, T 13 S, R 36
W, about nine miles south of Winona and five miles north-
west of Russell Springs.

Status: Site in pasture land. Remains of walls and cellar holes
can still be seen.

Recommendations: Local historical marker.

2. GERMAN FAMILY MASSACRE.

History: At this point on the Smoky Hill trail four daughters
of the Germans were captured by Cheyenne Indians in
1874, and others of the family were killed.

Location and description: S%, Sec. 26, T13S, R34W, near
Russell Springs.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 151

Status: Site is on privately owned land and trail marks are in

evidence.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

3. HENSHAW'S STAGE STATION.

History: This was a stage station on the Smoky Hill trail, the
first stop east of Fort Wallace.

Location and description: Site only, NWM, Sec. 14, T 13 S,
R 37 W, near McAllaster.

Status: Cellar holes still visible. In pasture land.

Recommendations: State historical marker for this, Russell
Springs and Smoky Hill stage stations, should be located on
U. S. 40. Possibly should be included on Wallace county
Pond Creek Station marker.

4. MONUMENT STATION.

History: This was a station on the Kansas ( Union ) Pacific rail-
road just after construction was completed in Logan county.
In a draw just west of the station site Wm. F. Cody and "Buf-
falo Bill" Comstock had a buffalo hunting contest.

Location and description: Site only, Sec. 15, T 11 S, R 34 W, two
and one half miles west of Monument.

Status: Site in pasture land. Cellar holes still visible.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

5. RUSSELL SPRINGS STAGE STATION.

History: This was a stage station on the Smoky Hill trail. It was
noted for the large springs on the site.

Location and description: Site only, S, Sec. 22, T 13 S, R 35
W, near Russell Springs.

Status: Cellar holes near spring still visible. In pasture land.

Recommendations: Should be included on state historical marker
as noted under Henshaw's Station.

6. SHERIDAN.

History: Sheridan was a rip-roaring end-of-track town on the
Kansas (Union) Pacific railroad for about 18 months, 1868-
1870. It was for a time a large settlement which supplied
Fort Wallace, and from which freighters started for the
Southwest.

152 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Location and description: Deserted townsite, Sec. 7, T 12 S,
R 36 W, near McAllaster.

Status: The site is now in privately owned pasture land. Nothing
remains of the town.

Recommendations: Local historical marker.

7. SMOKY HILL STAGE STATION.

History: Stage station on Smoky Hill trail. A battle with Indians
took place here in 1866.

Location and description: Site only, S&, SE, Sec. 32, T 13 S,
R 33 W, 20 miles southwest of Oakley.

Status: Cellar holes and circular trench still visible. In cul-
tivated field, but the station site has not been plowed.

Recommendations: Should be included on state historical marker
as noted under Henshaw's Station.

LYON COUNTY

1. HARTFORD COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE BUILDING, HARTFORD.
History: Construction of the building began in 1860 and first

classes were held in 1862. The institute was to serve as a
branch of Baker University, under the control of the Meth-
odist church. Through the years the building has served also
as a public school, church and pastor's residence.

Location and description: Two-story stone building located in
the town of Hartford.

Status: The building was renovated in the spring of 1957. The
first floor is to be used for community activities. The second
floor will house a museum.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. MICKEL HOUSE.

History: Built about 1856 by W. L. Mickel, who laid out the
town of Waterloo in 1858, the Mickel House was a hotel for
many years. It was on the Fort Leavenworth-Fort Sill gov-
ernment trail and was a tavern and relay station for stages.

Location and description: Two-story frame house built of native
walnut, four miles southwest of Miller, 17/2 miles northeast
of Emporia.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 153

Status: House is privately owned.
Recommendations: Local historical marker or plaque.

3. WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE HOME, EMPORIA.

History: The house was built in the 1880's for Judge Almerin
Gillett. It became the White home in 1900 and is known as
"Red Rocks/' White, the editor of the Emporia Gazette,
gained national fame for his writing and political activity.

Location and description: Two-story house of Colorado sand-
stone with Victorian-Gothic gables and dormer windows at
927 Exchange St.

Status: House is owned by W. L. White, son of W. A. White.
Recommendations: Local historical marker or plaque.

McPHERSON COUNTY

1. CORONADO HEIGHTS.

History: The Spanish explorer Coronado is thought to have
camped here while on his search for Quivira in 1541.

Location and description: The "Heights" are the southernmost
of a series of rugged buttes rising above the floor of the
Smoky Hill valley, three miles northwest of Lindsborg.

Status: A road leads to the top of the butte and a park and
shelterhouse have been constructed there.

Recommendations: Local historical marker on U. S. 81.

2. KANSAS INDIAN TREATY SITE (DRY TURKEY CREEK).

History: In 1825 a treaty between the U. S. government and the
Kansas Indians was signed here. For a consideration of $800
in cash and merchandise the Kaws promised not to molest
travelers on the Santa Fe trail.

Location and description: Site only, about five miles southeast
of McPherson on U. S. 81.

Status: Site now in farm land. State historical marker on U. S.
81.

Recommendations: Status quo.

154 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

MARION COUNTY

1. LOST SPRINGS.

History: The spring was a watering place and campground on
the Santa Fe trail.

Location and description: Site only, about two and one half miles
west of the village of Lost Springs, a short distance off U. S.
77-56.

Status: Privately owned farm land. Two historical markers have
been erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Recommendations: Status quo.

MARSHALL COUNTY

1. ALCOVE SPRINGS.

History: Alcove Springs was a famous landmark and camping
place on the Oregon trail. The ill-fated Donner party
stopped here in 1846 and "Grandma" Sarah Keyes, a mem-
ber of that group, is buried near the springs.

Location and description: Site only, about seven miles south
of Marysville. Sees. 31, 32, R 7 E, T 3 S.

Status: The site is on privately owned farm land and the springs
were not flowing during the summer of 1956.

Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 36.

2. INDEPENDENCE CROSSING.

History: Famous ford and ferry crossing of the Big Blue river
on the Oregon trail.

Location and description: Site only, on Big Blue river about five
miles southwest of Marysville.

Status: The crossing is mentioned on the state historical marker
on U. S. 36, Marysville.

Recommendations: Status quo.

3. LA.GRANGE POST OFFICE.

History: This cabin was built in 1857 by E. F. Jones, who was
postmaster at LaGrange until his death in the 1880's. It was
used as a residence until the early 1930's.

Location and description: One-story log building with loft, just
off K-99, eight miles south of Frankfort.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 155

Status: The structure stands in the yard of a farm and is in a
reasonably good state of preservation.

Recommendations: Local historical marker.

MEADE COUNTY

1. LONE TREE MASSACRE.

History: On August 24, 1874, a band of Cheyennes ambushed
a six-man surveying party and killed them all after a running
fight. The victims were buried temporarily near a solitary
cottonwood five miles south of the state historical marker
which stands on U. S. 54.

Location and description: Site only, southwest of Meade, off U. S.
54.

Status: Site is on farm land. The story is adequately told on
the historical marker near Meade.

Recommendations: Status quo.

MIAMI COUNTY

1. CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, OSAWATOMIE.

History: The building was begun in 1859, completed in 1860
and dedicated in 1861. The congregation's first pastor was
the Rev. Samuel Adair, brother-in-law of the famous aboli-
tionist John Brown.

Location and description: Small stone structure located in the
city of Osawatomie.

Status: Now privately owned and used as a hay barn. There
is a marker at the building.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. JOHN BROWN MEMORIAL PARK, OSAWATOMIE.

History: The battle of Osawatomie, which took place on August
30, 1856, between Free-State forces of John Brown and Pro-
slavery "Border Ruffians," was one of the many incidents
which occurred in the territorial struggles. The cabin, al-
though it was owned by the Rev. Samuel Adair, served as
a headquarters for John Brown during much of his Kansas
stay. It originally stood about one and one half miles north-
west of Osawatomie.

156 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Location and description: A park of some 20 acres. It includes
the site of the battle of Osawatomie and contains the cabin
of Samuel Adair which was used by John Brown.

Status: The park is administered by a local board and receives
assistance from the state for its operation. The cabin is en-
closed in a shelter and is well preserved.

Recommendations: Status quo.

MITCHELL COUNTY

1. WACONDA OR GREAT SPIRIT SPRINGS.

History: An Indian legend tells of Waconda, a beautiful princess,
who fell in love with a brave from another tribe. Prevented
from marriage by a blood feud, the warrior embroiled the
tribes in battle. During the fight he was hit by an arrow
and fell into the spring. Waconda, grief-stricken, plunged
after him. Believing her soul still lived in the spring, tribes
carried their sick to drink the waters and be healed. Victories
were celebrated and losses were mourned at the spring, and
tokens were thrown into the spring for the Great Spirit.

Location and description: A mineral pool, about 50 feet in diam-
eter, set in a limestone basin, about three miles east of
Cawker City, off U. S. 24.

Status: The spring is on privately owned land and a health
resort is located there. A state historical marker is on U. S.
24 east of Cawker City. Waconda Springs will be inundated
if and when the Glen Elder dam on the Solomon river is com-
pleted.

Recommendations: Status quo.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

1. D ALTON RAID, COFFEYVILLE.

History: On October 5, 1892, the last great gun battle in Kansas
between outlaws of the Old West and the forces of law and
order took place in downtown Coffeyville. In an attempted
robbery of the First National Bank and the Condon Bank,
Bob and Grat Dalton, Bill Powers and Dick Broadwell were
killed and Emmett Dalton was wounded. Four Coffeyville
citizens were also killed and three others wounded.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 157

Location and description: In the Plaza area of Coffeyville.

Status: A "Dalton Defenders" museum featuring relics of the
raid has been established in the Plaza. It is open to the
public.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. CrvxL WAR BATTLE.

History: In May, 1863, a party of about 20 Confederates, nearly
all officers, set out from Missouri to recruit troops in the West.
Several miles east of the site they were challenged by loyal
Osage Indians. In a running fight two Confederates were
killed and the others were surrounded on a gravel bar in the
Verdigris river. The Osages killed and cut the heads off all
but two of the party. These, wounded, hid under the river
bank and escaped.

Location and description: Site only, on the Verdigris river, about
three miles north and one mile east of Independence.

Status: There is a state historical marker on U. S. 160 about one
mile east of Independence.

Recommendations: Status quo.

3. DRUM CREEK TREATY.

History: In 1870 a treaty was signed between the U. S. govern-
ment and the Osage Indians which authorized the removal
of the Osages to what is now Oklahoma.

Location and description: Site only, on Drum creek, four miles
southeast of Independence.

Status: The site is on private land. There is a state historical

marker on U. S. 160 about one mile east of Independence.
Recommendations: Status quo.

MORRIS COUNTY

1. COUNCIL OAK, COUNCIL GROVE.

History: Near this oak was signed the 1825 treaty with the Osage
Indians which led to the establishment of the Santa Fe trail.

Location and description: A large oak tree, two blocks east of
the bridge, on Main St. (U. S. 56).

158 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Status: The tree, which stands on private property, is marked.
Recommendations: Status quo.

2. CUSTER ELM, COUNCIL GROVE.

History: Gen. George A. Custer and the Seventh U. S. cavalry
are reported to have camped under this tree in 1867.

Location and description: A large elm tree five blocks south of
Main St. on K-13.

Status: The tree is on public right of way and is marked.
Recommendations: Status quo.

3. HAYS TAVERN, COUNCIL GROVE.

History: The tavern was built in 1857 by Seth Hays, a descendant
of Daniel Boone.

Location and description: Two-story frame building, one half
block west of the bridge on Main St. (U. S. 56).

Status: The building, privately owned and still operated as a
restaurant, is marked.

Recommendations: Status quo.

4. KAW METHODIST MISSION, COUNCIL GROVE.

History: This building was completed in 1851 as a mission and
school for Kansas Indian children, under the direction of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The Indian school was
discontinued in 1854 but a school for white children was con-
tinued in the building.

Location and description: Two-story stone building on land-
scaped grounds, on Mission St., three blocks north of U. S. 56.

Status: The property is owned by the state and administered as
a museum by the State Historical Society.

Recommendations: Status quo.

5. LAST CHANCE STORE, COUNCIL GROVE.

History: Built in 1857, this store was the traveler's last chance on
the Santa Fe trail to secure provisions before reaching New
Mexico.

Location and description: A small one-story stone building, on
West Main and Chautauqua Sts. (U. S. 56).

Status: The building, which is privately owned, is marked.
Recommendations: An excellent location for a local museum.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 159

6. POST OFFICE OAK, COUNCIL GROVE.

History: A cache at the base of this tree served as a post office
for travelers on the Santa Fe trail from 1825 to 1847.

Location and description: A large oak tree, one block east of the

bridge on Main St. (U. S. 56).

Status: The tree, which stands on private property, is marked.
Recommendations: Status quo.

7. DIAMOND SPRINGS.

History: One of the most famous watering places on the Santa
Fe trail.

Location and description: Site only, about two miles south on
gravel road which intersects with U. S. 56 three miles west
of Wilsey.

Status: Site is now in privately owned pasture land. A historical
marker has been erected by the Daughters of the American
Revolution.

Recommendations: Status quo.

8. KANSAS INDIAN AGENCY BUILDING.

History: Following a treaty signed in 1859 by the Kaw Indians
and the federal government, the Kaw reservation was di-
minished and the agency was moved a short distance south-
east of Council Grove. Several substantial buildings were
erected by the government, including an agency, stables,
storehouses and schools. In addition, about 150 small stone
residences were constructed for the Indians. These build-
ings were in use until the tribe's removal to Oklahoma in 1873.

Location and description: The agency building is a two-story
stone structure located near the mouth of Big John creek
about four miles southeast of Council Grove. The few stone
cabins which still remain are scattered over the surrounding
area.

Status: The agency building is on privately owned farm land
and is in poor repair.

Recommendations: Local historical marker on K-13. The build-
ing might be restored and used in connection with a local
park or recreation area.

160 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

MORTON COUNTY

1. POINT OF ROCKS.

History: Point of Rocks was a famous landmark on the Santa Fe
trail marking the crossing of the Cimarron. This is the west-
ernmost landmark of significance on the trail in Kansas.

Location and description: Natural landmark. A rocky bluff
rising above the bed of the Cimarron river near Elkhart, two
miles west of K-27.

Status: The site is on grazing land owned by the U. S. govern-
ment.

Recommendations: State historical marker on K-27.

NEMAHA COUNTY
NEOSHO COUNTY

1. MISSION NEOSHO, SHAW.

History: The first Indian school and mission in present Kansas
was established here in 1824 among the Great Osages who
had migrated from Missouri about 1815. It was abandoned
after five years. Near here on September 29, 1865, the
Osages signed a treaty with the U. S. government agreeing
to a reduction of their lands in Kansas.

Location and description: Sites only, at and near the town of
Shaw.

Status: The story of the mission and of the treaty is told on the
present state historical marker at Shaw, three and one half
miles west of U. S. 59. The marker will be relocated on
U. S. 59 after improvements to the highway are completed.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. OSAGE CATHOLIC MISSION, ST. PAUL.

History: This mission was established in 1847 for the Osages
on the Neosho and Verdigris rivers. A manual labor school
for boys and a department for girls were conducted by
Jesuit brothers and the Sisters of Loretto. In 1848 the first
Catholic church in southern Kansas was built here. When
the Osages moved to Indian territory in 1870 the school was

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 161

continued for white children. A town, Osage Mission, or-
ganized in 1867, became St. Paul in 1895.

Location and description: Site only, town of St. Paul.

Status: The story of the mission is told on the present state
historical marker on K-57 at the east edge of St. Paul.

Recommendations: Status quo.

NESS COUNTY

1. GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER HOMESTEAD.

History: George Washington Carver, famous Negro scientist
and educator, in 1886 filed on the homestead which was his
residence for a few years.

Location and description: Farm site, SEM, Sec. 4, T 19 S, R 26 W,
near Beeler.

Status: The land is privately owned. The Ness County His-
torical Society has erected a marker memorializing Carver's
residence in the county.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. STONE HOUSE, NESS CITY.

History: This building is said to be the oldest house in Ness
City and perhaps in Ness county.

Location and description: One-story native stone and brick build-
ing on K-96, downtown Ness City.

Status: The property is owned by the Ness County Historical
Society and operated as a museum.

Recommendations: Status quo.

NORTON COUNTY
OSAGE COUNTY

1. BURLINGAME.

History: Burlingame, originally named Council City, was
founded in November, 1854, and was incorporated under
its present name in 1858. It was an important stop on the
Santa Fe trail, which followed the present main street, Santa

127716

162 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Fe Ave. The town takes its name from Anson Burlingame,
member of congress from Massachusetts and later U. S. min-
ister to China, a strong advocate of the Free-State cause who
is best known today as the author of the Burlingame treaty
with China.

Location and description: The original townsite was located on
Switzler creek at the Santa Fe trail crossing.

Status: Incorporated as a third class city.
Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 56.

OSBORNE COUNTY
OTTAWA COUNTY
PAWNEE COUNTY

1. FORT LARNED.

History: Fort Larned was one of the most important posts on
the Santa Fe trail and the Indian frontier, 1859-1878. It is
described by the National Park Service as "an excellent sur-
viving example of a frontier military post, undoubtedly the
best preserved post along the old Santa Fe trail."

Location and description: Five stone buildings on the Frizell
ranch, six miles west of Larned, off U. S. 156.

Status: The buildings are still in use in ranching operations and
are well preserved. There is a marker on the old parade
ground and also a state historical marker on the highway.
The Fort Larned Historical Society maintains a museum in
one of the buildings.

Recommendations: Fort Larned was one of three historic sites
in Kansas which in 1956 were recommended by the National
Park Service for further investigation and possible designa-
tion as national monuments. If it could be arranged, such
permanent designation and maintenance of the old fort by
the Park Service would be highly desirable.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 163

PHILLIPS COUNTY

1. CAMP KIRWAN.

History: Camp Kirwan was a temporary encampment for U. S.
troops providing escort for a government survey party in
northwest Kansas and southwest Nebraska during the sum-
mer of 1865. Troops of the Twelfth Tennessee cavalry, sta-
tioned at the camp, were under the command of Lt. Col.
John S. Kirwan, for whom the post was named.

Location and description: Site only, about one and one half miles
southwest of Kirwin.

Status: Site is now in the Kirwin Dam reservoir area and is inun-
dated. There is a local marker in the city park of Kirwin.

Recommendations: Status quo.

POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY

1. INDIAN AGENCY BUILDING, ST. MARYS.

History: The building was constructed in 1862 as part of the
agency for the Pottawatomie Indians.

Location and description: Small one-story stone building located
in St. Marys.

Status: On private land. Building is mentioned on state historical
marker for St. Marys.

Recommendations: Status quo.

PRATT COUNTY

RAWLINS COUNTY

RENO COUNTY

1. FIRST SALT WELL.

History: Salt was discovered in South Hutchinson on September
27, 1887, by Ben Blanchard who was drilling a deep well
hoping to strike gas or oil. The finding of this fabulous
"vein of pure salt" led to the development at Hutchinson
of one of the state's most important industries.

164 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Location and description: Site only, in the South Hutchinson
area.

Status: A marker commemorating the discovery was placed on
K-17, in South Hutchinson, by the Daughters of the American
Revolution in 1939.

Recommendations: Status quo.

REPUBLIC COUNTY

1. PIKE-PAWNEE VILLAGE.

History: Said to be the site of the Pawnee Indian village where
Zebulon Pike conferred with the Pawnees in 1806 and per-
suaded them to raise the U. S. flag for the first time in
present Kansas.

Location and description: Site only, two miles southwest of
town of Republic.

Status: The site, owned by the state, has a monument, marker
and fenced park plot. There is a historical marker on U. S. 36
at Scandia.

Recommendations: Status quo.

RICE COUNTY

1. CORONADO-QUIVIRA SlTE.

History: In the summer of 1541 the Spanish explorer Coronado
visited present Kansas in search of the land of Quivira and
its fabled riches. Quivira is believed to have been located
in what is now the central part of the state. Father Juan de
Padilla, a missionary with the Coronado expedition, was
killed in 1542 by the Indians, reputedly the first Christian
martyr in the present United States.

Location and description: Coron ado's exact route cannot be
traced today, but the presumption is that he reached central
Kansas. The site of what is believed to be a large Quiviran
Indian village is located in Sec. 2, T 20 S, R 9 W, four miles
west of Lyons. A large cross has been erected near this
site in memory of Father Padilla. Other Padilla monuments
stand in the city park at Herington and near Council Grove.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 165

Status: State historical markers are located on U. S. 56 west of
Lyons, and on U. S. 56-77 near Herington.

Recommendations: Status quo.

RILEY COUNTY

1. FIRST TERRITORIAL CAPITOL, FORT RILEY.

History: This building was erected in 1855 at the now extinct
town of Pawnee. The first territorial legislature used it as
a meeting place July 2-6, 1855, before adjourning to the
Shawnee Methodist Mission.

Location and description: Two-story stone building located on
the Fort Riley military reservation, on K-18.

Status: The building is owned by the state and is operated as
a museum by the State Historical Society.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. FORT RILEY.

History: Established as a frontier military post in 1853, Fort
Riley has remained active since that time. It was the home of
the U. S. army cavalry school and for some time was the
headquarters of the famed Seventh U. S. cavalry. Many of
the nation's noted military leaders from the 1850's to the
present have served at the post.

Location and description: Military reservation, 53,000 acres.

Status: Active military installation. A state historical marker
is located on the post, on K-18.

Recommendations: Status quo.

3. DAVID A. BUTTERFIELD HOUSE, MANHATTAN.

History: The house was built by Butterfield between July 18,
1857, and July 8, 1858. Butterfield became famous as the
operator of the Butterfield Overland Dispatch which ran
stages along the Smoky Hill trail to Denver. This is said
to be the oldest house still standing in Manhattan.

Location and description: Stone building, 307 Osage St.
Status: Privately owned.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

166 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

4. DAMON RUNYON BIRTHPLACE, MANHATTAN.

History: Damon Runyon, author and journalist, was born here
on October 3, 1880.

Location and description: Two-story frame house, 400 Osage St.

Status: The house is privately owned and used as a residence.
On the corner of the lot is a marker stating that the house
was Runyon's birthplace.

Recommendations: Status quo.

5. ISAAC GOODNOW HOUSE, MANHATTAN.

History: This house was built for Isaac T. Goodnow, pioneer
settler, in 1859. Goodnow was one of the founders of Blue-
mont College, which later became Kansas State College,
and was state superintendent of public instruction, 1863-
1867. He was also land commissioner of the Missouri, Kansas
and Texas railroad.

Location and description: Two-story stone house on Claflin Road.
Status: The house is privately owned and is well preserved.
Recommendations: Possibly should be a state-owned museum.

ROOKS COUNTY

RUSH COUNTY

RUSSELL COUNTY

1. CARRIE OSWALD No. 1 OIL WELL. t ;
History: Carrie Oswald No. 1 was the discovery well of the

Fairport pool, one of the largest and most famous in Kansas.

Location and description: Site only, 16/2 miles northwest of Rus-
sell, near Fairport.

Status: There is a monument at the site.
Recommendations: Status quo.

2. KIT'S FORK INDIAN RAID.

History: In May, 1869, a section gang working on the Kansas
Pacific (now Union Pacific) railroad was attacked by Plains
Indians. The workers fled on a handcar and carried on a

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 167

running fight with the Indians. Two men were killed and
four were wounded. This was a typical incident in the
struggle of the Indians to prevent the railroads from build-
ing through their lands.

Location and description: Site only, near Russell, off U. S. 40.

Status: A state historical marker is now being made (August,
1957) and will be erected in the near future. A monument
also stands in the city cemetery, a memorial to the railroad
workers who died.

Recommendations: Status quo.

SALINE COUNTY

1. BROOKVILLE HOTEL, BROOKVILLE.

History: This hotel was built in 1870 and is said to be the oldest
hotel in Kansas operating in its original location without a
change of service. It was a cafe and hostelry during the cattle
trail days and its register contains famous names of the Old
West.

Location and description: Two-story frame building, one block
off U. S. 40. (The caption for the photograph of the hotel,
on page 13 of the picture section accompanying this article,
incorrectly reports the location as Salina. )

Status: Owned and operated privately; well preserved.
Recommendations: Status quo.

2. INDIAN BURIAL PIT.

History: One of the most notable archaeological discoveries in
the United States, the pit was opened in 1936. It contains
more than 140 skeletal remains of prehistoric Indians.

Location and description: Prehistoric Indian burial pit covered
by a permanent structure. Four miles east of Salina on
U. S. 40.

Status: Now in private hands and open to the public with an
admission charge. There is a state historical marker on
U. S. 40.

Recommendations: Status quo.

168 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

SCOTT COUNTY

1. BATTLE CANYON.

History: Here was fought the last battle between Indians and
U. S. troops in Kansas, September 27, 1878. Dull Knife's
band of Cheyenne Indians who were fleeing to the north
from Indian territory engaged in a skirmish with a detach-
ment of troops from Fort Dodge. Lt. Col. William Lewis,
commanding the troops, was killed. The canyon was a
natural place for the Indians to make a stand. The women
and children were hidden in a cave at the closed end of
the ravine.

Location and description: Natural box canyon and cave approxi-
mately one and one half miles off gravel road to the Scott
County State Park.

Status: The site is on land privately owned and has undergone
little alteration through the years. Rifle pits of the Cheyennes
are still in evidence, ringed with stones, and the cave where
the women and children were hidden is still there although
it is partially filled with water. This site is in broken
country which possesses a great deal of natural beauty, but
the pasture road leading to it makes access difficult.

Recommendations: Should be improved and a state historical
marker erected.

2. EL QUARTELEJO.

History: On this site, in the 17th century, stood an Indian
pueblo. It is believed that Indians of the Southwest migrated
to the site to escape Spanish oppression and the pueblo
became a meeting place for traders in the early 18th century.

Location and description: Site area is located in Scott County
State Park, a short distance off a main park road.

Status: The site was excavated several years ago and then al-
lowed to drift full again. The Daughters of the American
Revolution have erected a monument at the site and there is
a state historical marker north of Scott City. There is local
interest in re-excavation.

Recommendations: Should be re-excavated, rebuilt if possible,
and maintained locally or by the state as a historic site.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 169

3. STEELE HOUSE.

History: In this house was the first post office in Scott county.
The H. L. Steele family pioneered in the county and owned
the land where the state park is now located.

Location and description: Stone building in Scott County State
Park, on main park road. Stone barn stands across the road.

Status: The house is under the supervision of the Kansas For-
estry, Fish & Game Commission and there is a collection of
museum items in the house. It is difficult to gain admission
although it is intended to be open to the public. The property
is also being allowed to fall into a state of disrepair.

Recommendations: Better care by Forestry, Fish & Game Com-
mission and perhaps county historical society operation of
the museum.

SEDGWICK COUNTY

1. INDIAN TREATY SITE.

History: In 1865 several tribes of Plains Indians camped on the
Little Arkansas river to confer with representatives of the
federal government. The whites wanted peace, unmolested
traffic on the Santa Fe trail and the limitation of Indian terri-
tory. The Indians asked for unrestricted hunting grounds
and reparation for the Chivington massacre of Black Kettle's
Cheyenne band on Sand creek, in Colorado. The treaties
made here gave the Indians reservations south of the Arkan-
sas and excluded them north to the Platte.

Location and description: Site only, and that not specific, on the
Little Arkansas north of Wichita.

Status: There is a state historical marker on U. S. 81, four miles
north of Wichita, which tells the story of the treaties.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. COWTOWN WICHITA.

History: This is a project for the re-creation of part of the old
cowtown of Wichita, 1869-1876. Several original buildings
have been moved to the new site and restored, among them
the Munger house, the first cabin to be erected in present
Wichita; and the original Presbyterian church and parsonage.

170 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Location and description: Twenty-three acres in the Riverside
section of Wichita, north of U. S. 54.

Status: Cowtown Wichita is being re-created under the direction
of a local corporation, assisted by the city.

Recommendations: Status quo.

SEWARD COUNTY
SHAWNEE COUNTY

1. ARTHUR CAPPER HOUSE, TOPEKA.

History: Built in 1912, this house was the personal residence of
Arthur Capper. It was also his official residence during the
two terms he served the state as governor, 1915-1919, and
was used for the same purpose, 1919-1923, by Gov. Henry J.
Allen.

Location and description: Two-story limestone and concrete
house built in the style of an Italian villa, 1035 Topeka Ave.

Status: Privately owned.

Recommendations: Local historical marker or plaque.

2. CHARLES CURTIS HOUSE, TOPEKA.

History: This home was once the property of Charles Curtis,
who served in the U. S. house of representatives and senate
from Kansas. He was vice-president of the U. S., 1929-1933.

Location and description: Three-story red brick house built in
an ornate Victorian style, 1101 Topeka Ave.

Status: The property is now privately owned and used as an
office building by an insurance firm. There is a plaque on
the building.

Recommendations: Status quo.

3. EXECUTIVE MANSION, TOPEKA.

History: The mansion was built in 1887 at a cost of $60,000 by
Erastus Bennett. It was purchased by the state in 1901 as an
official residence for the state's chief executive, and all gov-
ernors since that time, with the exception of Capper and
Allen, have lived there.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 171

Location and description: Three-story brick home, located at
801 Buchanan.

Status: Still the governor's official residence.

Recommendations: When the new Executive Mansion is occu-
pied, this building, complete with furniture, should be op-
erated as a museum, if feasible, or if sold by the state, it
should be marked by a historical plaque or sign.

4. RICE HALL, TOPEKA.

History: Built in 1872 and occupied in 1874, this building has
been used by Washburn University as a dormitory, for class-
rooms, and as a dining hall. It is the oldest building on the
campus. The school was founded in 1865.

Location and description: Three-story limestone building on
the Washburn University campus.

Status: The building currently houses classrooms, offices and
laboratories.

Recommendations: Local historical marker or plaque.

5. OLD STONE HOUSE.

History: This house is reputed to be one of the oldest, perhaps
the oldest, in the county. Estimates of the date of its con-
struction range from the 1830's through the 1850's. No defi-
nite date of construction has been arrived at but it is safe
to assume that it was as early as the 1850's.

Location and description: Two-story limestone structure east
of Silver Lake on U. S. 24.

Status: The house is now a private residence and well preserved.
Recommendations: Status quo.

6. POTTAWATOMIE BAPTIST MISSION.

History: This was one of the buildings of the Baptist Mission to
the Pottawatomies, built in 1849 near an important Oregon
trail crossing of the Kansas river. The mission school, estab-
lished in 1848, existed here until 1859 and was a thriving
institution. The mission was also a stopping place for
travelers on the trail to Fort Riley and it was here that Gov.
John Geary issued the first official Thanksgiving proclama-
tion in 1856.

172 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Location and description: Two-story limestone structure about
three miles west of Topeka, just north of U. S. 40 K-10.

Status: The walls of the mission building have been incorporated
into a barn. Barn doors and a modern roof have been added
but basically the building has not been greatly altered.

Recommendations: Should be acquired by the state and oper-
ated by the State Historical Society as an annex to its down-
town museum, because of its historic importance, and the
availability of an abundance of parking area on a well-
traveled highway.

SHERIDAN COUNTY

1. COLONEL SUMNER'S CHEYENNE CAMPAIGN.

History: During the summer of 1857 Col. E. V. Sumner, com-
mander at Fort Leavenworth, was engaged in a campaign
against the Cheyenne Indians in Kansas and Nebraska. To-
ward the end of July Sumner's force engaged a large body of
Indians in the Solomon river valley. A running fight ensued
in which the Indians were routed. Two soldiers were killed
and nine wounded, including Lt. J. E. B. Stuart, who later
became famous as a Confederate general.

Location and description: General area of the Solomon valley,
east of Hoxie.

Status: Private farm land.

Recommendations: This incident was selected in 1941 by a gov-
ernor's committee on historic sites as worthy of recognition,
and a text for a marker was prepared by the State Historical
Society. A state historical marker should be erected on U. S.
24 east of Hoxie.

SHERMAN COUNTY

1. KIDDER MASSACRE.

History: In June, 1867, Lt. Lyman S. Kidder, with ten men from
the Second U. S. cavalry, then stationed in northeastern Colo-
rado, and an Indian scout, were killed by a hunting party of
Cheyenne and Sioux Indians near Beaver creek in present
Sherman county. Kidder and his men were in search of
Gen. Geo. A. Custer, to whom they were to deliver dispatches.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 173

Location and description: Site only, about 23 miles northeast of
Goodland, near the Cheyenne county line.

Status: Privately owned land.

Recommendations: Local historical marker on U. S. 24.

SMITH COUNTY

1. HOME ON THE RANGE CABIN.

History: This cabin was once the home of Dr. Brewster Higley,
pioneer Kansas physician, who wrote the words to "Home on
the Range" in the early 1870's.

Location and description: One-room log cabin, in Sec. 7, T 2 S,
R 14 W, on Beaver creek, about 17 miles northwest of Smith
Center, off K-8.

Status: On privately owned farm land. The cabin was restored
and dedicated as a historical memorial to Higley in 1954
and is open daily. The site is indicated by directional mark-
ers on U. S. 36.

Recommendations: Status quo.

STAFFORD COUNTY

STANTON COUNTY

STEVENS COUNTY

SUMNER COUNTY

1. CmsHOLM TRAIL.

History: The original Chisholm trail, as followed by Jesse Chis-
holm about 1865, ran from Wichita 220 miles south into
Indian territory. Later the trail was extended north to Abilene
and became famous as the route of many cattle drives from
Texas.

Location and description: The trail crossed the Kansas-Okla-
homa border near Caldwell, Sumner county. Traces may
still be seen in some localities.

174 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Status: A state historical marker has been erected on U. S. 81,
a mile south of Caldwell, and a local marker is in a roadside
park on U. S. 160, about six miles west of Wellington.
Another local marker is located on a county road one mile
east of Clearwater, Sedgwick county.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. FAIRBANKS HOUSE, CALDWELL.

History: This building housed a tavern on the Chisholm trail
in the late 1860's and 1870's.

Location and description: One-story stone building, off U. S. 81.
Status: The building is privately owned.
Recommendations: Local historical marker or plaque.

THOMAS COUNTY
TREGO COUNTY

1. CASTLE ROCK CREEK STAGE STATION.

History: This was a stage station established in 1865 on the
Smoky Hill trail.

Location and description: SWK, Sec. 31, T 13 S, R 25 W, one
mile east of Castle Rock, south of Collyer.

Status: A farm building now stands on the main station site
and very little evidence of the station can be found.

Recommendations: This site and Downer's Station should be
included in Cove county state historical marker.

2. DOWNER'S STATION.

History: This was established in 1865 as a stage station on the
Smoky Hill trail, and was a temporary military outpost.

Location and description: Site only, NWM, Sec. 3, T 14 S, R 24 W,
south of WaKeeney, off U. S. 40.

Status: The site is on privately owned pasture land. Cellar
holes and ruins of stone wall are still in evidence.

Recommendations: See Castle Rock Creek Stage Station.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 175

WABAUNSEE COUNTY

1. BEECHER BIBLE AND RIFLE CHURCH, WABAUNSEE.

History: This church was organized in 1857 by settlers from
New England and the building was dedicated in 1862. The
church, Congregationalist, takes its name from the "Beecher
Bibles" in reality Sharps carbines which were furnished
Free-State settlers who came to Kansas to combat Proslavery
sympathizers. The famous abolitionist preacher, Henry Ward
Beecher, collected money for the arms and they were shipped
to Kansas territory in boxes labeled "Bibles/'

Location and description: Stone building located in the town of
Wabaunsee, off K-29.

Status: The building is well preserved and is still in use as a
Congregational church.

Recommendations: State historical marker on K-99 near junction
with K-29. Immediately southeast of this junction and over-
looking a beautiful valley is Mount Mitchell, a state property
which could be made a park and scenic drive.

WALLACE COUNTY

1. FORT WALLACE AND CEMETERY.

History: Camp Pond Creek, established in 1865, was renamed
Fort Wallace in 1866. It was an active army post until 1882,
and for some years was one of the largest and most important
on the Indian frontier.

Location and description: Fort site about two miles southeast of
Wallace. Cemetery plot is across the road from the fort site.

Status: The site is on privately owned land. No buildings re-
main but foundations, cellars and other surface indications of
the post are evident. The cemetery contains a monument
to military dead. These bodies were later removed to Fort
Leavenworth. The remaining graves are not of military per-
sonnel. A state historical marker is located on U. S. 40 at
Wallace.

Recommendations: Status quo.

176 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

2. POND CREEK STATION.

History: This was a station on the Smoky Hill trail and was a
temporary military post in 1865 and 1866. It was also the
first county seat.

Location and description: Site only, one mile west of Wallace,
south side of U. S. 40.

Status: The site is on privately owned farm land. Cellar holes
and remains of dirt fortifications are still visible. The stage
tender's building and coach house which stood on this site
is still intact and is now located on the Madigan ranch, ten
miles north and four west of Wallace. Bullet holes may still
be seen in the siding, evidence of the times when the station
was under Indian attack.

Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 40 near junc-
tion with K-27, possibly also to include Logan county stage
station sites.

WASHINGTON COUNTY

1. HOLLENBERG RANCH PONY EXPRESS STATION.

History: This is said to be the only original unaltered Pony Ex-
press station still standing. It was built originally as a ranch
house in 1857 and was used as a station on the short-lived but
famous Pony Express route of 1860-1861.

Location and description: A one-story frame structure located
about one mile northeast of Hanover off K-15E.

Status: The building is owned by the state and contains a small
pioneer museum. There is a state historical marker on U. S.
36 near the junction with K-15E.

Recommendations: Status quo.

2. STAGE STATION, HADDAM.

History: This house is said to have been built in the latter 1850's
for use as a stage hotel.

Location and description: Three-story stone house near the edge
of Haddam.

Status: Occupied as a residence.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 177

WICHITA COUNTY
WILSON COUNTY

1. FIRST COMMERCIAL OIL WELL, NEODESHA.

History: The first oil well to produce in commercial quantities
was drilled in Neodesha in 1892, in what became known as
the Mid-Continent field.

Location and description: Site only, west edge of the city on U. S.

75.

Status: There is a marker on U. S. 75 which identifies the site.
Recommendations: Status quo.

2. FORT BELMONT.

History: Fort Belmont was a military post and stagecoach sta-
tion in the early 1860's. Hapo, a chief of the Osage Indians,
is reported to be buried near here.

Location and description: Site only, two miles west of Buffalo,
off U. S. 75.

Status: On privately owned land.
Recommendations: Local historical marker.

WOODSON COUNTY
WYANDOTTE COUNTY

1. FOUR HOUSES TRADING POST, BONNER SPRINGS.

History: This trading post was established by Francis and
Cyprian Choteau in 1820. The four buildings were built of
logs and faced on a square. The post was active as late
as 1826.

Location and description: Site only, within the present city
limits of Bonner Springs.

Status: On privately owned land.

Recommendations: A state historical marker might be erected
on K-32 at Bonner Springs.

137716

178 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

2. HURON CEMETERY, KANSAS CITY.

History: This is the Wyandot National Cemetery in which
Wyandot Indians were buried beginning in 1844.

Location and description: Two-acre plot on Minnesota Ave.,
between Sixth and Seventh Sts., in downtown Kansas City,
Kan.

Status: Sale of the property by the Wyandot tribe was author-
ized by congress in 1956.

Recommendations: It should continue to be preserved as a his-
toric Indian cemetery.

3. QUINDARO, KANSAS CITY.

History: Quindaro was a town laid out in 1856 by a group that
included Charles Robinson, Kansas' first state governor. The
town thrived for a time but declined after the Civil War and
eventually became a part of Kansas City.

Location and description: The site of Quindaro is bounded on
the north by the Missouri river; on the east by Twelfth St.;
on the south by Parallel Ave.; on the west by North Forty-
second St.

Status: Foundations of some business buildings can still be traced
and an old spring house and a few stone walls still stand.

Recommendations: Local historical marker.

4. Six MILE HOUSE, KANSAS CITY.

History: This building was erected in 1860 and served as a
tavern on the Wyandotte-Leavenworth road.

Location and description: Two-story log structure, now covered
with asbestos siding, located at 4960 Leavenworth Road. This
is a part of the original building.

Status: The building is privately owned and is used as a resi-
dence.

Recommendations: Local historical marker.

5. MOSES GRINTER HOUSE, MUNCIE.

History: This house was built by Moses Grinter, operator of the
first ferry on the Kansas river and pioneer Indian trader. He
lived in a cabin near the ferry site from 1831 until 1857,
when the present house was constructed.

HISTORIC SITES AND STRUCTURES 179

Location and description: Two-story brick structure at 1420
South Seventy-eighth St., Muncie (on K-32).

Status: The building is privately owned and operated as a
restaurant. It is well preserved.

Recommendations: State historical marker on U. S. 40.

6. CYPRIAN CHOUTEAU TRADING POST.

History: Cyprian Chouteau established this post in 1827 and it
continued in operation until the mid-1850's. It was here
that John C. Fremont completed preparations for his explor-
ing trip to the Rocky Mountains in 1842.

Location and description: Site only, Sec. 11, T 11 S, R 24 E,
north of present Turner.

Status: On privately owned land.

Recommendations: Include on state historical marker for Four
Houses, if one is erected.

7. DELAWARE BAPTIST MISSION (FIRST).

History: This mission was established in 1832 as a school for
Delaware Indian children. It declined in the early 1840's
and by 1848 was permanently abandoned.

Location and description: Site only, SW&, NEM, Sec. 26, T 11 S,
R 23 E, near present Edwardsville.

Status: On privately owned land.

Recommendations: Possibly a state historical marker for all
Delaware missions could be erected on U. S. 40 near junction
with K-107.

8. DELAWARE BAPTIST MISSION ( SECOND ) .

History: This mission was established in 1848 by John G. Pratt
as a revival of the earlier mission. It became a sizeable insti-
tution and included both a church and school. Pratt con-
tinued to work among the Delawares until their removal to
Indian territory in 1867-1868, and made his home at the
location until his death in 1900.

Location and description: Site only, NW, Sec. 10, T 11 S
R23E.

Status: On privately owned land.

180 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Recommendations: Include on state historical marker for Dela-
ware missions if one is erected.

9. DELAWARE METHODIST MISSION.

History: This mission was begun in 1832 under the direction of
William Johnson. It was moved to a new location in 1837
and continued in operation until 1844.

Location and description: The first site was in Sec. 3, T 11 S,
R 23 E; the second in the EM, NW&, Sec. 20, T 11 S, R 24 E.
Only the sites remain.

Status: On privately owned land.

Recommendations: Include on state historical marker for Dela-
ware missions if one is erected.

10. WHITE CHURCH AND DELAWARE RURIAL GROUND.

History: This church was founded in 1832 by the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, in connection with the mission to
the Delawares. The present building is the third at approxi-
mately the same site. The Delaware burial ground adjoining
the church is believed to be the oldest in Wyandotte county.
Several famous Delaware chiefs are buried there.

Location and description: Site is located one mile north of U. S.
24-40 at White Church.

Status: Present church building is in use as a community church.

Recommendations: Include on state historical marker for Dela-
ware missions if one is erected.

A Free-Stater's "Letters to the Editor"

SAMUEL N. WOOD'S LETTERS TO EASTERN NEWSPAPERS, 1854

Edited by ROBERT W. RICHMOND

I. INTRODUCTION

SAMUEL Newitt Wood is perhaps best known for the part he
played in the Stevens county "war" which involved the towns
of Hugoton and Woodsdale in a struggle for the county seat and
which drew to a close with the murder of Wood by Jim Brennan,
June 23, 1891. However, this fatal participation in a Kansas county-
seat fight was only the final chapter in a long and turbulent career
which included newspaper work, politics, ranching, and railroad
promotion.

Sam Wood was born December 30, 1825, at Mount Gilead, Ohio,
and completed a common school education. Before he was old
enough to vote he was involved in local politics and in 1848 sup-
ported Martin Van Buren, a Free-Soil candidate, for the presidency.
Wood's parents were members of the Society of Friends and as a
result he was brought up to despise slavery. Because of his strong
feelings on the subject he became active in the operation of the
"underground railroad" through Ohio and conducted fleeing South-
ern Negroes on several occasions.

On June 4, 1854, Sam Wood was admitted to the practice of law
and two days later was on his way to the newly-created Kansas
territory, convinced that the Kansas-Nebraska act was wrong and
that he should do something about making Kansas a free state.
With his wife and two small children he went by wagon to Cin-
cinnati where he secured steamboat passage to Independence, Mo.
From the Missouri border the family again traveled by wagon,
this time to a point about four miles west of Lawrence on the
"California Road." Here Wood settled and this claim was to be his
home through the most difficult period of the Proslavery and Free-
State controversy.

Wood was immediately involved in the political life of the terri-
tory and he was not hesitant about expressing himself regarding
politics. He bought into the Kansas Tribune, Lawrence, which
was first printed by John Speer in the fall of 1854. The Tribune
was a typical frontier newspaper and its editorial policy, similar

ROBERT W. RICHMOND, state archivist of Kansas, is a member of the staff of the State
Historical Society.

(181)

182 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

to that of other early Kansas newspapers, was extremely outspoken
and biased. Such a policv appealed to the fiery Ohioan and he
later (1859) carried it on in his own newspapers at Cottonwood
Falls and Council Grove.

In November, 1855, a Free-Stater, Charles W. Dow, was killed
by Franklin N. Coleman, Proslaveryite, near Hickory Point in
Douglas county. A Free-State group held a meeting on November
22 at the scene of the murder and that night Samuel Jones, sheriff
of Douglas county, arrested Jacob Branson, with whom Dow had
lived, for taking part in the assembly. The sheriff and his posse
started for Lecompton with their prisoner but before they reached
their destination they were met by an armed band of Free-State
men which included Sam Wood. Jones lost his prisoner to the
opposition and the incident led to what has been known as the
Wakarusa War.

Wood's part in the Branson rescue and similar incidents made
him one of the territory's most unpopular citizens in the eyes of
Proslavery partisans. Such notoriety did not bother Wood. In
fact, he thrived on it and did all that he could to increase his un-
popularity by encouraging Free-State settlers to come to Kansas.
This he accomplished by returning on several occasions to the East
where he spoke to potential settlers and by writing letters to Eastern
newspapers.

The four letters that follow were selected from newspapers in
the files of the Kansas State Historical Society and were all written
by Wood during the first year of his residence in Kansas. They
are excellent examples of the fervid Free-State messages that went
to the East during the early territorial years and vividly express
Wood's opinions of the Kansas political situation and also give some
idea of what life was like on the Trans-Missouri frontier of the
1850's.

II. THE LETTERS

WESTPORT, JACKSON Co., Mo.,

June 28, 1854.
To the Editor of the National Era:

DEAR SIR: I have left my Ohio home and friends, and have come
here, for the purpose of selecting myself and family a future home
in this, the fairest portion of God's earth. A struggle is before us.
It looks as though the inhabitants of this county think that they can
people, or dictate who shall people, the whole Kansas Territory.
They in the start flocked into the Territory by hundreds. Men
would take perhaps a dozen claims, stick their stake, mark their

FREE-STATER'S LETTERS 183

names, get up a little meeting, resolve to protect each other and
each other's claims. They also resolved, at all hazards, that Kansas
belonged to, and should be settled exclusively by, slaveholders.
After this, nine out of every ten return to their Missouri homes,
supposing that they have fixed, beyond the possibility of repeal,
the institutions of Kansas for all time to come. Meetings are held
in Missouri, where lynching is publicly recommended, as the last
resort, to drive those "white-livered Abolitionists" out of Kansas
into Nebraska, which they condescendingly say is "set apart for
us/' A few Northern men already have been driven from the Terri-
tory; others frightened away. A few slaveholders already have
moved in with their slaves.

The Methodist missionaries sent here for the purpose of enlighten-
ing and Christianizing the poor Indian, have their slaves to do
the drudgery of the missions; thus, while they are enlightening and
Christianizing one class of heathens, as an auxiliary in the good
cause, they are grinding down and blotting out the very souls of
other heathens. Indeed, it is a question whether they Christianize
or heathenize the most. Of course, the influence of these large
mission establishments is against us. 1

At Fort Leavenworth, the United States officers are degrading
themselves and their calling, by going with the South, and hooting
at Northern men, and even justifying lynching of them, for no other
cause than that they are Northern men! A dark picture, truly; but
think not that it has no bright side; Northern men have been found
who could not be scared; settlements have been commenced, slave-
holders have become frightened, already, we hear "they will not
trust their slaves there!" I have just made a trip over into the
Territory, found on the Indian reserve scores of families from Iowa,
Illinois, Indiana, and other States, and still they come.

Next week we are to have a general meeting up on Kansas river,
where hundreds of freemen will be rallied; a fiat will then go forth
that will sound the death knell to Slavery, in Kansas, at least. 2 All
we ask is, for Northern men, and Southern men, tired of Slavery,
who design emigrating here, to come now! Now is the time they
can suit themselves with homes; and, above all, now, or soon, this
Slavery question must be met, and settled. During our trip over
into the Territory, we saw the Baptist missionary a pure and warm

1. Wood was referring to the Shawnee Methodist Mission of which Thomas Johnson
was superintendent. The mission, located in present Fairway, Johnson county, was under
the direction of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and did have Negro slaves.

2. No record can be found establishing the fact that such a meeting was held early
in July, 1854.

184 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Anti-Slavery man. 3 We also took dinner at the Friends or Quaker
mission; found the superintendent, Friend Fayer, sick, but were
kindly received by his family, and Richard Mendenhall, their
teacher, and his amiable wife all strong Anti-Slavery people, to
whom we are indebted, not only for their kindness to us, but for
much valuable information. 4 Say to freemen, "Come on, secure a
home, and assist in this great struggle between Slavery and Free-
dom!"

Our nearest post office at present is Westport, Jackson county,
Missouri.

Yours, truly,

SAMUEL N. WOOD 5

WESTPORT, JACKSON Co., Mo.,

July 12, 1854.
To the Editor of the National Era:

Presuming that you, as well as your numerous readers, would
read with pleasure a line from this far-off Territory, I seat myself
for the purpose of keeping you posted on Kansas matters. Since
writing to you last, I have spent about ten days in the Territory,
have been over much of the country south of Kansas river, and
must say that I have viewed, to my mind, some of the best as well
as most beautiful places in the world. Prairies could not be richer,
nor scarcely better watered; it is true, in places, timber may be
scarce, yet limestone exists in abundance, enough to fence in the
whole country. Stone-coal, I am satisfied, exists in abundance.
The want of timber will be but trifling, even where it does not exist.

Emigrants are pouring in from all parts of the country, a great
majority of whom are non-slaveholders; yet great ignorance pre-
vails among them on the Slavery question. Slaveholders finding,
with all their threats and bullying, that Northern men could riot be
scared or kept out of the Territory, are now trying to control the
public sentiment, and contend that we have no right to exclude
slave property from the Territory, and that it stands in precisely
the same relation as other property. By this means, they are gain-
ing a foothold here, which, I fear, it will be hard to rout them from.

Would some one, who is capable, write a small tract showing
the true relation between master and slave, asserting that Slavery

3. Wood probably was referring to Francis Barker, superintendent of the Shawnee
Baptist Mission school. This mission, located in present Johnson county, was established
in 1831 and was in its final year of operation when Wood visited it.

4. "Friend Fayer" was Davis W. Thayer, superintendent of the Shawnee Friends
Mission which was also located in present Johnson county. Richard Mendenhall, mentioned
here, was an outspoken foe of slavery and wrote many letters to the East upholding the
Free-State cause.

5. Washington (D. C.) National Era, July 20, 1854.

FREE-STATER'S LETTERS 185

is a local institution, sustained only by positive law, and is without
foundation in common or natural law, consequently cannot exist in
Kansas without positive enactment, and the danger of letting it get
a foothold; and then write another, giving a general comparison
of the slave and free States, together with the expense Slavery is to
the Government let these two tracts be circulated over the Terri-
tory, and to my mind the work is done. Will not some of our Anti-
Slavery-extension friends in the States take hold of this matter, and
furnish us something on this subject at once, whilst the public mind
is famishing for food upon this subject?

It is really a question which here takes precedence of all others,
and will our friends in the States but furnish us the matter, we will
distribute it broadcast over the whole Territory, and wake up a
feeling that will die only with Slavery itself.

To members of Congress I would say, all the matter you can
possibly send me, calculated to throw light on Slavery, shall be
faithfully distributed among the Kansas settlers.

To emigrants from the North I would say, after you get into the
slave States, believe nothing you may hear about Kansas. Every
misrepresentation imaginable will be told, to discourage you from
coming here; and even after you arrive, find Anti-Slavery men, as
you will learn nothing of the Territory by inquiry.

Yours for the right, S. N. WooD. 6

KANSAS, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 1854.

Yours of July 14 is just received by the hand of a friend. I am
fifty-five miles from the Post-Office, in what I deem a first-rate
country timber, perhaps, a little scarce. But I have not time, now,
to describe the country. Some will get sick and go home, yet
hundreds of first rate families are staying. Log cabins are going up
in every direction. If your wife and daughter could consent to live
for a time in a cabin sixteen feet square, and do without a thou-
sand luxuries and many necessities which you enjoy in New- York,
you could live very well. Furniture of all kinds here is very high.
Did I live even in New- York, I would ship all necessary articles of
household goods, but no unnecessary ones. Provisions I do not
think are high. Corn Meal 40 cents; Oats 30 cents; Wheat $1 per
bushel; Flour $3.50 per 100 Ibs.; Bacon about 6M to 8%. 7 Goods
are some higher I speak of the Westport market.

Now, after answering many questions you have not asked, I will
just say that I believe a newspaper establishment here, right where

6. Ibid., July 27, 1854.

7. This is a cent per pound price on bacon.

186 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

we are, would be a paying concern. I know of no way for a printer
to get employment now but to establish an office himself. You, of
course, would know the expense of one best. I suppose $500 would
fit up an office for this country. I have to-day talked with a number
of settlers, and all say "Bring along a Press" yet you could not
look for pecuniary help here now. It is poor, hardworking men
we have here now.

The fare from New- York to Cincinnati, I believe, is $16; from
Cincinnati by steamboat to St. Louis, $9; from St. Louis to Kansas 8
the best landing and most convenient place varies. I paid $10, $16,
$9 $35; wife $35 $70 from New-York. Goods from New-York
I think would average $2.50 per 100 Ibs.; or perhaps you could come
quicker from New- York by Chicago. The fare from Chicago I
suppose to be about the same as to Cincinnati; from Chicago to
Alton, 111., or Rock Island about $5; from Alton or Rock Island to
St. Louis, about $9. There is also a railroad building from Indian-
apolis, Ind., to St. Louis. If it was finished it would be the best
way to come from New- York via Cleveland through Ohio to Indian-
apolis, thence to St. Louis. You might ascertain whether the road
is finished. My figures via Chicago are mere guess-work.

At Kansas you are sixty miles from us, and about eight miles
from the Quaker Mission among the Shawnee Indians, which is on
the road. If you come, write to me; I will try to meet you at the
Mission, or arrange with them to bring you here. Of course you
can share our cabin until better provided for. You say you are an
"Abolitionist." Does that mean a Garrisonian, a Gerrit Smithite,
or what? 9 As to myself, I am an Anti-Slavery man, and could now
take by the hand an "Abolitionist" of any kind. Any other queries
I will with great pleasure try to answer. Send me a number or two
of THE TRIBUNE; I used to read it in Ohio. I believe it is conserva-
tive, seeking popularity. But enough.

Yours for Freedom the world over, SAM'L A. WooD. 10

P. S. Kansas will be free! Thirty Massachusetts men arrived
yesterday. 11

8. Present Kansas City, Mo.

9. William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of the Boston Liberator, and Gerrit Smith, New
York philanthropist, were both active in the movement against slavery. However, the two
were opposed in theory. Smith believed that political action should be used in bringing
about reform while Garrison thought that political parties could never succeed in securing
emancipation for the slaves of the South.

10. New York Tribune, August 15, 1854.

11. The pioneer party of the Emigrant Aid Company of Massachusetts, numbering
29 men, arrived in Kansas City on July 29, 1854. They moved into the territory immedi-
ately and camped on Mount Oread, August 1, 1854. Louise Barry, "The Emigrant Aid
Company Parties of 1854," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 12 (May, 1943), pp.

FREE-STATER'S LETTERS 187

KANSAS TERRITORY, August 20, 1854.
To the Editor of the National Era:

Since the publication of my former letters in your paper, I have
received hundreds of letters from all parts of the country, inquiring
about Kansas. Although wishing to impart all the information in my
power, yet were I to devote all my time to letter-writing, one-half
at least would go unanswered. A few put me under personal obli-
gations, such that I am obliged to write at least to them. Others,
whose letters may be unanswered, will from this learn the reason
why.

One wants to know "if the lands here are subject to pre-emption?"
another, if we "get them for nothing, or how to pay twenty-five cents
per acre, the cost of survey," &c. things that are known all over
the States weeks before we can possibly know them here, as we
are fifty miles in an Indian country, and the same distance from
Westport, Missouri, our nearest post office. Another wants to know
"what kind of winters we have here, what kind of summers," &c.
forgetting that I am just from Ohio and have not resided in Kansas
yet three weeks. Another wants to know "if we have the ague here,
and if so, whether as bad as in Illinois," a place I never set foot
upon, and so on ad infinitum.

But hundreds of questions are asked which are all right; and,
so far as I possibly can, I wish to write one general answer. The
lands purchased of the Indians embrace nearly fifteen millions of
acres; of this, all except about eight hundred thousand acres belong-
ing to the Weas south of Kansas river, and the Delawares and
lowas north of said river, are subject to pre-emption. As to the
Homestead bill, we know nothing of it here, whether passed or not,
or whether it would apply to the Kansas lands or not. 12 I think
the Shawnee lands, south of Kansas river, will be first settled; they
appear to be settling fastest between Kansas and Wakarusa rivers,
on the California road. 13

To reach here, a person coming by the Missouri should land at
Kansas, cross the Shawnee Reserve thirty miles, to Wakarusa ferry, 14

12. There was a homestead bill under discussion in congress during 1854 but the Home-
stead act did not become law until 1862. The Pre-emption act of 1841, in effect when Kansas
became a territory, allowed squatters to buy their claims, prior to public auction, at $1.25
an acre. On July 22, 1854, congress extended the pre-emption privilege to settlers on
unsurveyed public lands in Kansas to which Indian rights had been ceded. For a complete
study of the land question in the territory see Paul Wallace Gates, Fifty Million Acres:
Conflicts Over Kansas Land Policy, 1854-1890 (Ithaca, N. Y., 1954).

13. The California road was the same as the California-Oregon trail in eastern Kansas.

14. George A. Root, "Ferries in Kansas," Pt. 13, The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 6
(February, 1937), pp. 16-19, states that the only known ferry across the Wakarusa was
that of Charles Bluejacket, located where the Oregon trail from Westport crossed the stream,
Sec. 12, T 13 S, R 21 E. According to Root this service was begun early in 1855 which
would be a year later than Wood's reference but it is possible that the ferry was in opera-
tion during the summer of 1854.

There was another crossing of the stream directly south of Lawrence, Sec. 19, T 13 S,
R 20 E, but no record has been found of a ferry in use there.

188 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

and you come to the promised land. As to holding claims here,
I refer the reader to the Constitution of the mutual Settlers' Associa-
tion, which, of course, you will publish. 15 These laws will be re-
spected, and justice administered here as peaceably as in the States.
Claims are, however, frequently sold by settlers.

I think this Territory is well watered; springs exist in abundance;
prairie could not be richer, timber may be scarce in places, yet
limestone and coal exist in abundance. Our timber consists princi-
pally of walnut, oak, cotton wood, blue ash, &c. Soil of all kinds,
from clay loam to rich, sandy soil; good clay, for brick or potter's
ware, can now be found. This part of the Territory is very rolling.
I am at least five hundred feet above Kansas river, and only three
miles from it, on the richest of soil. A pleasant breeze greets us
from the southwest; to inhale a draft of it is almost equal to a drink
of water. I am satisfied that the country must be healthy, much
more so than in Ohio. Possibly some may have the ague along
the river, or other streams on the low lands. I think no difficulty
would be experienced in securing a location for a "colony of any
size," where water, timber, and stone, exist, sufficient for all pur-
poses; yet, to secure such a place now, emigrants would have to
go further west.

The Kansas river is nearly as large as the Missouri. Steamboats
have been up one hundred and seventy-five miles, to Fort Riley,
and I think, with small boats, it may run that high the year round. 16
There are good water privileges in the Territory. Horses, oxen,
cows, and in fact all kinds of stock, are high cows, from $25 to $40;
oxen, from $75 to $100 per yoke; good horses, from $100 to $150
per head. All kinds of furniture high at least one-third higher
than in Ohio. Bacon, 8M cents per Ib. Flour, $3.50 per 100 Ibs.
Store goods a shade higher than in Ohio. I speak of the Kansas
market in Missouri.

Notwithstanding the threats and browbeating of the Missourians,
the greatest proportion of the settlers here are Northern people
nine-tenths of the balance honest Southerners, who are coming, as
they say, to get rid of slavery. I was much mistaken in the character

15. On August 12, 1854, a meeting of the Actual Settlers' Association was held at the
home of B. W. Miller near Lawrence and at that time the Wakarusa Association combined
with it. The new organization took the name of the Mutual Settlers' Association of Kansas
Territory and had as its purpose the protection of the claims of bona-fide Free-State settlers.
S. N. Wood was one of the most active members of the group. D. W. Wilder, Annals of
Kansas, 1541-1885 (Topeka, 1886), p. 48; William E. Connelley, Kansas and Kansans
(Chicago, New York, 1918), v. 1, pp. 357-360.

16. Wood was not alone in his optimism about the navigation of the Kansas river but
unfortunately that stream did not live up to expectations. Generally speaking, the attempts
at regularly scheduled navigation were unsuccessful although when Wood wrote his letter
the Excel, a little stern-wheeler, had made the run to Fort Riley. Edgar Langsdorf, "A
Review of Early Navigation on the Kansas River," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 18
(May, 1950), pp. 140-145.

FREE-STATER'S LETTERS 189

of the Missourians. A few fanatics, who were resolved to extend
slavery at all hazards, seem for the time being to give tone to the
whole people; but a better acquaintance convinces me that a great
majority of the people condemn the violent resolutions of Westport
and other places. But the die is cast. Westport will be another
Alton. 17 Blood is in her heart. Hundreds will shun her; and
Kansas, only four miles further, 18 will reap the fruits of her treason.

"Do you apprehend any serious difficulty with the slaveholders?"
is frequently asked. I answer, no; although they have boasted and
threatened much, yet they are not fools, and well know the shedding
of Northern blood to sustain slavery here, would raise a storm that
would end only with slavery itself. Northern men need not fear;
all they have to do, is to be true to themselves, and not, coward-like,
knuckle to the demands of these slaveholders, and padlock their
lips, and "wait till the proper time to meet this question." Now
is the proper time now is the time that the slaveholders are moving
heaven and earth to establish slavery here; and now is the time,
like men, we should meet them, and not, like cowards, cry, "Hush,
be quiet; don't agitate the question now; wait till we are stronger."

One explanation is necessary here. In speaking of the mission
establishments, in my last, I did not make the proper distinction.
My remarks were true as to Johnson's mission; but since, I have
become acquainted with Dr. Still, a true man, who also has a
mission here. 19

One word to newspapers which copy my articles. Do not put
words into my mouth which I never utter. Copy exact from the
Era, or not at all. Much injustice was done me in former articles
by a portion of the Eastern press. Besides, those copying my say-
ings will do me a favor by complying with the "courtesies of the
press."

One word to emigrants. Those who have money can do well
here. Lands which can be got for nothing now, by paying a year
hence Government price, I honestly think in two years will be
worth $25 to $30 an acre. No new country ever settled one-fiftieth
part as fast as Kansas is now settling. Emigrants are arriving in

17. Wood's reference to Alton was in regard to the riots that took place in that
Illinois city in 1837, when the Rev. Elijah P. Loyejoy was murdered and his newspaper
plant destroyed on November 7 because of his antislavery stand. The violence and bitter-
ness in St. Louis and Alton could be likened to the Kansas-Missouri border difficulties. See
Theodore C. Pease, The Frontier State, 1818-1848 (Springfield, 1918), pp. 364-370.

18. Kansas City, Mo.

19. Dr. Andrew T. Still came to Kansas in 1853 with his father, a Methodist missionary,
and engaged in farming and the practice of medicine. He served in the territorial legis-
lature in 1857 and with several volunteer military organizations during the Civil War. His
greatest fame was gained in the 1870's when he became the world's first osteopath. The
Stills were members of the Northern branch of the Methodist church.

190 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

scores; tents are stretched all over the prairie; cabins are going up
in all directions. Labor is plenty. A man, though poor, if he can
and will work, can do well here. A man with only a team is inde-
pendent. But to those who have no means, cant nor wont work,
Kansas is no place for you.

Emigrants must expect to meet some hardships. We have no
fine houses to receive you in; everything is inconvenient yet; settlers
are generally of the right kind, with pioneer hearts. Society is good;
we are all sociable, accommodating, and the person who now has
the will, and meets these difficulties, and gets his choice of the land,
will never regret it. Were I in Ohio today, with my knowledge of
Kansas, I should lose no time in coming here, pitching my tent,
building a cabin, and preparing for living. Understand me, I urge
no one to come; for, as in all new countries, many chicken-hearted
ones will get home-sick, and leave. But if you have made up your
minds, and are coming, now is the time. The sooner here, the
better for you.

I am, truly, yours, SAMUEL N. WooD. 20

20. Washington (D. C.) National Era, September 7, 1854.

Theatre in Kansas, 1858-1868: Background

For the Coming of the Lord Dramatic

Company to Kansas, 1869 Concluded

JAMES C. MALIN
VIII. ATCHISON THEATRE

FOR the years prior to 1869 Atchison's theatrical history was re-
markably simple and brief. During the 1850's and early 1860's
halls were available for small gatherings, Holthaus Hall being the
principal one. On September 22, 1860, the Freedoms Champion wel-
comed the near completion of Pomeroy's Hall on the corner of
Kansas avenue and Fourth street. "We have long needed such a
Hall in Atchison. . . ." The specifications given were 45 by 86
feet with an 18-foot ceiling, and fitted with a stage. The Turn-
verein's new Turner Hall at the corner of Kansas avenue and Sixth
streets was opened in December, 1867. It was a brick structure 40
by 70 feet, two stories. The gymnasium in the rear was 40 by 40
feet, with a 19-foot ceiling, and front, facing the avenue, two club
rooms, 30 by 20 feet and 22 and 20 feet. The main entrance was
from Kansas avenue to the public hall on the second floor, 40 by 70
by 16 feet, which was not completed until the spring of 1868. 42

The major focus of Atchison's theatrical history was Price Hall,
and about that structure tradition became much confused. In 1859
John M. Price, lawyer, began construction on a three-story brick
building on the corner of Fourth and Main streets. The ground floor
was designed for stores, the second floor for professional offices, and
the third floor for a public hall with an 18-foot ceiling. The dimen-
sions of the building were given as 45 by 100 feet. It was begun in
June, 1859, as a two-story structure but March 3, 1860, the Champion
reported the three-story building nearly completed. Periodically, a
similar report appeared about imminent completion, but not until
October 6, 1860, did the Champion record that Price had moved his
law office into his own building. On December 1 the ground floor
was reported occupied. The reason for the delay in completion
appeared in the Champion, July 28, 1860, when the builders were
said no longer to fear that it would collapse. When war came in

DR. JAMES C. MALIN, associate editor of The Kansas Historical Quarterly, is professor of
history at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and is author of several books relating to
Kansas and the West.

42. Atchison Daily Champion, December 19, 1867.

(191)

192 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

April, 1861, and Atchison was training its first volunteer regiment,
two companies were assigned to Price's Hall for drill Companies A
and C. 43

Contrary to Atchison's traditions, no evidence has been found that
the Price Hall was finished as a theatre. 44 Structural weakness did
persist and the building was virtually torn down, the reconstruction
being completed in May, 1865, celebrated by a concert and grand
ball, May 16. In its new form the Price building was 70 by 100 feet,
two stories, except the original portion, 45 by 100 feet, which was
three stories, the third story again being a public hall with a stage
20 by 45 feet, two green rooms, and a balcony 10 by 45 feet. But
the public hall was not equipped for theatrical performances. That
the floor was level and the seats movable was emphasized by the an-
nouncement for the opening festivities. After the concert by Paddy
Walsh, vocalist, with patriotic and sentimental songs and dances, the
floor was cleared for the ball. 45

The conversion of the Price Hall for theatrical production took
place in 1866. On January 31, the Champion reported that:

. . . Price ... is now engaged in fitting up his splendid hall with
scenery, drop curtain, &c., preparatory to the advent here of one of the finest
theatrical companies in the West. He has leased his Hall to an experienced
manager, and as soon as it can be prepared, a Theatre will be opened in our
city, and kept up permanently. This news will be received with satisfaction by
our people. . . .

The theatrical company in question was that of C. H. Irving, then
of St. Joseph. He was in Atchison to inspect the preparations the
second week in February, and in addition to the scenery already
constructed, he would bring "a large supply with him." The work
was being done by James C. Breslaw of his company, a scenic artist
who had "already completed two elegantly designed and . finely
finished drop curtains, and is now engaged in painting the wings,
side scenes, etc." The carpenter work was being done by a local
workman.

On February 14, 1866, the big day arrived:

We are glad to announce that the theatrical company, under the manage-
ment of C. H. Irving, for which Price's Hall has been fitted up, has arrived and
will inaugurate the season by a performance to-night. The company is not a
second-class traveling troupe, but a large combination of talent and ability,
which has been playing with great success during the fall and winter at St.
Joseph, Mo., where none but first class merit can attain the position which has
been . . . awarded them.

43. Freedom's Champion, Atchison, June 11, October 8, 1859, March 3, April 28,
July 28, August 4, October 6, December 1, 1860, May 11, 18, 1861.

44. Atchison Daily Champion, September 27. 1883, editorial and description of
Price's New Opera House; Daily Globe, July 16, 1894.

45. Atchison Daily Champion, April 14, May 12, 14, 1865.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 193

Note should be taken of the slighting reference made to travel-
ing troupes in other words, the innovation which the conventional
tradition about theatre condemned as inferior to the resident theatre,
the established standard by which excellence was supposed to be
measured. The first bill was Tobin's "great drama/' "The Honey
Moon," and the comedy, "The Spectre Bridegroom." But the vicis-
situdes of travel intervened, a telegram announced that on account
of stormy weather train connections had been missed and the show
would be given the next night, sure. This was Thursday, and the
plays for the remainder of the week were "Lucretia Borgia," and
"Camille." The following week the plays were "The Ticket-of-
Leave Man," "Othello," "Ireland as It Is," "Love's Sacrifice," "Marco,
the Marble Heart," and "Macbeth." The leading players were Fran-
cis I. Frayne, and Mrs. J. C. (Melissa) Breslaw. The season closed
with the show of March 10. On March 8, the night of Frayne's bene-
fit, the play was "Romeo and Juliet," Melissa Breslaw appearing as
Juliet to Frayne's Romeo. The audience was reported to have been
the largest of the season, over 600 persons. 46

The Irving Company's season of three weeks and three days was
not exactly permanent theatre. Apparently the company broke up
then or soon afterwards, but was reorganized with some new talent
during the following month, under Frayne and Breslaw. The an-
nouncement of the new venture appeared in the Champion, March
20, saying that part of the actors had been engaged, and Frayne was
going to St. Louis to obtain others. The opening of "The Atchison
Theatre," first announced for Tuesday, April 10, occurred April 11,
1866. The roster of the company, nearly complete and containing 17
names, was published in the theatre advertisement for April 10,
amended later. The leading parts were still in the hands of Frayne
and Melissa Breslaw. George and Agnes Burt were present for
comedy, and, but not least in importance, there was Eliza Logan
Burt at the ripe age of five. Another acquaintance of Leavenworth
days was Charles F. Walters, but, of course, without Clara.

The management promised to study the tastes of the people of
Atchison and to be governed accordingly in the selection of plays
they hoped "to instruct, amuse and entertain. . . ." The bills were
the same as those offered by the preceding company and by the
Leavenworth Theatre. C. W. Couldock and Eliza starred for one
week, April 23-28. The season closed June 1. Still, the thinking
about theatre was in the accepted terms "a home institution

46. Ibid., January 31, February 8, 11, 14, to March 10, 1866.
147716

194 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

. . . firmly established." Atchison did not know it, but all that
was passed and already a new order was imminent.

But whatever the fate of the institutional forms, the personal
equation was still present. The Champion summarized the first
three performances of April 11-13, 1866, at one sitting, reporting
for the first "a large and appreciative audience." The players
named were given perfunctory approval, except one who really
touched a responsive chord in the reporter: "Geo. Burt . I .
convulsed the audience with laughter, and won from it loud and
enthusiastic applause. Burt is an old Kansas favorite, and will be
one wherever he goes. . . . Altogether the performance was a
brilliant success." The second play, "The Stranger," was passed over
briefly, and the third, "Othello," likewise, except for notice of "The
first appearance of the Infant Actress and Vocalist, Eliza Logan
Burt, Only Five Years Old, in her great Comic Song in character,
'Get Out of Mexico/ "

On April 30, 1866, came "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and "for the first
time in this city." This seems almost incredible such isolation of
Atchison from Uncle Tomism! Afterwards, the Champion reported
"the largest and most appreciative audience ever assembled in this
city." Accordingly, the show was repeated May 1, but only to "a
very fair audience." Was Atchison's Uncle Tomism exhausted in
one evening? Probably the answer lies in another direction, and
that enthusiasm could be satisfied to even better advantage with
plays of more general interest. Mrs. Burt, as Topsy, won approval:
"But what shall we say of that child-wonder, little Eliza Logan
Burt, in her character of Eva? She is truly an infant prodigy. Her
song exhibited fine musical genius and her acting would have done
credit to anyone of thrice her age and experience. For a child of
five years she is truly wonderful, and will some day make a star in
the profession." 47 So much for her "Eva" performance. The point
was that she had her place on the bill quite regularly for a song,
and apparently her appearance meant an ovation, whatever the
song. The young-unattached-male dominated audience (wishfully
dreaming) could not resist such baby-girl charms.

On May 29, 1866, just prior to the close of the season, George
Burt, stage manager of the Atchison Theatre, had a benefit, the
play, "the fine moral drama of 'Ten Nights in a Bar Room/ .
Mr. Burt is deservedly popular as a versatile, talented and correct
actor. ... As a comedian he has few equals in the Western

47. Ibid., March 20, April 5, 10, to June 1, 1866.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 195

country." The newspaper commentary continued: "The play . . .
is justly regarded as one of the best moral dramas of the time. Its
characters are lifelike, and as a lesson to the young, it is without
parallel." 4S

The next theatrical season, 1866-1867, Price's Hall did not have a
resident theatre, or a pretense of one, but was used by a varied
succession of entertainers. In May Burt and Johnson's (or Johnson
and Burt) Theatrical Company engaged the hall for two weeks,
coming from Lawrence, Kansas City, and other places. They
missed connections to play Monday, May 6, but met their engage-
ment the following night in "The Little Barefoot." Eliza Logan
Burt took part in both the feature and the after piece and sang her
favorite song: "I'm Ninety-Five." Clara Burt sang a popular ballad.
The Champion summed up: "Burt and his family are well known
to our people as talented and versatile performers. . . ." On
Saturday night, May 11, "the wonderful child-actress, Eliza Logan
Burt, has a benefit, and the splendid sensational drama of the 'Rag
Picker of Paris' will be produced. . . ." This was to have been
the final performance, but response to the wishes of Atchison people
induced them to stay an extra day, Monday, as a benefit for Nellie
Grover, the leading lady. The plays were "The Taming of the
Shrew," and the "Little Sentinel" "This is the most attractive bill
ever presented to the theatre goers of Atchison. . . ."

But the Champion gave the impression that the theatre-going
public would not be satisfied. On Tuesday the company consented
to present "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Of course, "The child actress,
Eliza Logan Burt, appears as Eva, in which character she stands un-
rivaled." The company was so short handed that both Burt and
Johnson played dual roles, and little Clara Burt was cast as Eliza
Harris. Clara must have been somewhat older than Eliza Logan,
but no clue to her exact age has been found. Wednesday night,
May 15, the solicitation of the citizens again prevailed, and the play
was "Ten Nights in a Bar Room." The winter of 1868-1869 was simi-
larly irregular, but in March, 1869, Melissa Breslaw and a theatrical
company played there several nights. The transition from the at-
tempt of 1866 at a resident theatre as a permanent institution to the
complete traveling troupe was in the making. In a sense, of course,
it had already arrived, but such companies as presented themselves
were few and far between. Varied types of entertainment were
available, theatre was only occasional.

48. Ibid., May 29, 1866.

196 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

IX. LAWRENCE AND TOPEKA THEATRE

Early Lawrence had a succession of halls available for public
gatherings, but no place that could properly be called a theatre.
Prior to the Quantrill raid, of August 21, 1863, Miller Hall, over a
business building, had been the principal meeting place. Miller re-
built during the winter of 1863-1864, the hall being pressed into
service even before the structure was finished. 49 Frazer's Hall super-
ceded it for public entertainments, and was located on Massachusetts
street next door to the Eldridge Hotel which occupied the south-
west corner of Massachusetts and Seventh (Winthrop) streets. The
hall was the third floor of a business building. An Alexander Gard-
ner photograph of Massachusetts street looking south from this in-
tersection, taken in 1867 and reproduced in The Kansas Historical
Quarterly, Summer, 1954, shows this building. The name "Frazer
Hair appeared clearly in the original photograph but lost out in the
reproduction. The Lord Dramatic Company played in this hall in
December, 1869, and January, 1870, but on the occasion of the sec-
ond of these visits Lawrence was celebrating the dedication of a
new public meeting place, Liberty Hall, in Poole's building over a
pork-packing establishment and retail butcher shop, basement and
first floor, at the northeast corner of Massachusetts and Seventh
streets, or diagonally across from the Eldridge Hotel. 50 The ap-
parent affinity of a place of public entertainment and a saloon may
be easier to explain than association of such gathering places with
pork packing. Leavenworth's old Stockton building had had a pork-
packing firm in the basement, and a saloon on the ground floor, the
theatre occupying the second floor. In Lawrence, the pork business,
but not the saloon business, was in the same building under the
principal public hall. To be sure, Lawrence had a generous supply
of saloons, the distinction being made here pertained merely to loca-
tion. In 1859 three brewers and 14 saloon keepers were on the list
of registered voters in Lawrence, then a town of 1,600 population,
while in 1870 there were 25 saloons in a town of 8,000. 51

Lawrence had no resident dramatic company. Its population in
1870 was only a few more than Leavenworth's in 1860. Topeka's
mushroom growth from a village of less than 800 in 1860 to a town
of nearly 6,000 in 1870 had not yet provided it with a theatre build-

49. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, January 17, 1864.

50. Lawrence Daily Tribune, January 21, 1870; Republican Daily Journal, Lawrence,
December 31, 1869, January 16, 19, 30, 1870.

51. Otto F. Frederickson, "The Liquor Question in Kansas Before Constitutional
Prohibition" (Typed Ph.D. thesis, University of Kansas Library, 1931), pp. 163, 346
347, 349.

THEATOE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 197

ing or a resident dramatic company. Even the largest river cities
of the area, Kansas City, St. Joseph, and Leavenworth, were only
partially successful in their resident theatrical enterprises. The
occasional references to Leavenworth, St. Joseph, and Kansas City
theatre companies playing in Lawrence and Topeka represent only
short excursions into the interior, the provincial towns, according
to the outlook of the river cities. In 1859 Mr. and Mrs. Langrishe
made a tour of the interior, giving theatrical entertainment in To-
peka and Junction City, but this appears to be an isolated instance
for so early a venture. 52 The Langrishes had been closely identified
with St. Joseph theatre and made the transition from resident to
traveling theatre proving their durability through the 1860's and
1870's. The Burts had given theatrical and other entertainment to
the soldiers in Lawrence, Topeka, and Fort Riley in April and May,
1862. 53 Mrs. Walters had taken her People's Theatre Company to
Lawrence in May, 1863. 54 The Leavenworth Theatre played in
Frazer Hall, March 18-24, 1867, presenting "Honey Moon," "The
Lady of Lyons," "Ten Nights in a Bar Room/' "Richard III," "Ingo-
mar," and "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Chaplin and Mrs. Pennoyer
played the leads in "Ingomar," while J. Z. Little played "Richard III,"
with Burt for a change in the dignified role of Lord Mayor. In their
traditional character of fun makers, however, Mr. and Mrs. Burt
portrayed "Toodles." The Burt children did their turn also. On the
first night little Eliza sang "I'm Ninety-five," and "was rapturously
encored," and on Thursday night "the wonderful little Eliza fairly
brought down the house with her 'Josiah and his Sally.' " 55

Entertainment at Lawrence, except for the occasional theatrical
performance, was generally similar to other towns, and included
such family groups as the Peak Family (Swiss Bell Ringers), and
the Hutchinson Family (temperance), but with a greater accent
possibly upon lectures and music. At this point a word may not be
out of place about lectures and lecturers who toured the West. They
represented all the "isms" that plagued that era elsewhere. Dif-
ficulty is encountered in differentiating legitimate lecturers provid-
ing information and inspiration from misguided enthusiasts of
various descriptions, and charlatans exploiting "magic" and pseudo-
psychic phenomena. A study of this problem in relation to public

52. Daily Times, Leavenworth, December 1, 13, 1859.

53. Lawrence Republican, April 10, 17, 24, 1862; Smoky Hill and Republican Union
Junction City, May 1, 8, 1862; Leavenworth Daily Times, April 12, May 7, 1862. Addis
had carried his photographic business with him.

54. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, June 2, 1863. Lawrence newspapers for this
period are not available.

55. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, March 19-24, 1867.

198 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

gullibility would be well worth while. The emotional tensions of the
day, especially those associated with the sense of insecurity, engen-
dered by the conflict about science and religion, and the disillusion-
ments, the bereavements, and the tragedies occasioned by the border
troubles and the American Civil War, afforded opportunities for the
unscrupulous which they did not ignore. Pending a fuller study
of the problem, the present writer would suggest tentatively that
probably Lawrence was peculiarly victimized in this respect.

X. SOCIAL ROLE OF THEATRE

In the history of the human race, theatre has served several func-
tions, and with time and change in social structure the cultural role
of that institution is modified. All individuals are not affected
equally and some not at all. In Leavenworth the Times, June 20,
1862, suggested two possible reasons why the theatre was patronized
liberally: because of prosperity when people felt they had money
to spend, and of depression when they sought forgetfulness from
their troubles. That was an oversimplification, certainly, but never-
theless it contained an element of truth. Some, no doubt, used
theatre merely to kill time, but for others it meant something else.
Each individual finds release from tensions in a different manner,
even going on a drunk, but for many the theatre offered a temporary
escape, relaxation without unfavorable side-effects. Theatre served
for them as a sanatory psychological experience which contributed
to mental health. In this context there was a place for George and
Agnes Burt in their hilarious rendition of "Toodles," and for Coul-
dock and Chaplin in the tragedies "Hamlet," "Othello," and "King
Lear."

XI. THE YEARS 1866-1869, LOCAL AND NATIONAL >

The years following immediately upon the American Civil War
constitute a period of unique political crises in the United States
which included controversies about reconstruction of the national
government and of the South in accordance with the military victory
of nationalism on the battlefield. All of these controversies, besides
being political, had economic and social consequences in a compre-
hensive sense; the impeachment and trial of the President of the
United States, the post-war deflation of a fantastic wartime price
structure, national debt policies, greenbacks in relation to monetary
standards, and a national banking system these and many others
besides were all transpiring in the midst of phenomenal mechaniza-
tion of society and economic boom associated with a new technologi-

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 199

cal system based upon coal, petroleum, iron, steel, and steam, rail-
road building, and corresponding redistributions of population and
power through urbanization, and the occupation of areas hitherto
less developed or wholly undeveloped in terms of these new tech-
nologies.

In such a period of dislocations and reconstitutions of society, in-
dividual fortunes were highly unstable; they might be made or lost,
not once only but several times in succession in the most unpre-
dictable fashion, or fortune might always elude the grasp of others,
which gave a peculiar fascination to a favorite question for debate
in lyceums and schools: Which affords the greater satisfaction,
pursuit or possession? There was no post-war panic or general de-
pression comparable to those inaugurated by the years 1837 and
1857, in the midst of phenomenal expansion of the economic plant
of the nation there was no general prosperity characterized by a
sense of either economic or social well being rather the prevailing
attitudes were those of stress and tension.

Still more fundamental to the state of society were the impacts
of the new deference to scientific method and to science as they
were related to philosophy, theology, and ethics. The scientific
method of the "higher criticism" applied to religious records, and
the implications of the physical and biological sciences for reinter-
preting human culture challenged prevailing ideas about philosophy,
religion, ethics, and human destiny. Could there be any basis of
certainty established between the traditional absolutes and the new
absolute of a complete relativism derived from Herbert Spencer,
Charles Darwin, and Thomas H. Huxley? Sooner or later, more
and more people, in the years after the American Civil War, had to
find some answer to these disturbing challenges as affecting their
private lives, and their hope of a future life. If life did not have
meaning, What then? 56

Kansas was being settled and resettled by populations new to the
area, peoples to whom the grassland West was a strange environ-
ment. The pre-Civil War occupants remaining were overwhelmed
by the numbers of this influx of new people, the most of whom
did not remain long in any one place or even in Kansas. Yet,
institutions in the western Missouri and the eastern Kansas area,
the Missouri river elbow region, maintained a remarkable continuity
of development in their own right and in relation to the changing
national scene. Although continuity of development may quite

56. These aspects of the Kansas scene will be treated at length in another local case
study centering upon Fort Scott.

200 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

properly be stressed, it was in fact a transformation, or a series of
successive transformations not only in the local area in question,
but in American society as a whole a process of interrelations
among the localities as foundations and the nation being newly
reconstructed.

On the western bank of the Missouri river, Leavenworth was
a city most developed and most nearly representative in reflection
of that national transformation. But at the same time it contributed
to the aggregate which made up the national whole its local variant
in a unique setting. As a local case study it puts in comprehensible
terms particulars which were the underpinnings of the larger na-
tional transition. Atchison, Lawrence, Topeka, Emporia, and Junc-
tion City, each in its own way as newer and lesser towns, contributed
their unique behavior to the sum total. It is only out of such local
foundations, assembled from the several parts of the United States,
that the historian can reconstruct accurately an over-all national
history.

XII. RAILROAD COMMUNICATION AND REORIENTATION
OF THE MISSOURI RIVER TOWNS AND KANSAS

During the decades of the 1850's and the 1860's the fact is con-
spicuous that the Missouri river and water communication influ-
enced, if they did not actually dominate, not only the orientation
of theatre and other entertainment, but most aspects of the outlook
and activities of the inhabitants of the Missouri valley. Until well
along in the 1860's most travel necessary to entertainment was
dependent upon the river almost as literally as showboats. What-
ever the theatrical organization and practices in the East and its
large cities, in order to provide continuity and variety along the
Missouri river, the resident dramatic company associated with the
star system was almost a necessity. Such a combination required
the least possible dependence upon mobility, especially during
the winter months when the river was closed to navigation. Inci-
dentally, theatre was peculiarly a summer institution outside of
the largest cities. The orientation upon New Orleans by way of
Cincinnati or by way of St. Louis was based upon long practice
interwoven with the multitude of familiar connections and personal
relations attendant upon a going concern.

Recruitment of actors for the resident companies at Leavenworth
was from St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, or New Orleans, but
especially Cincinnati the Leonards, George Pardey, Frank Roche,
Arnold, J. H. Rogers. When the Union Theatre broke up in Jan-

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 201

uary, 1864, Chaplin, Mrs. Walters, and other members of the
company went to Ben DeBar's St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans.

A study of the New Orleans Theatre of the 1850*5 and 1860's, both
before and after the American Civil War, reveals the major role
of that city in relation to the interior river cities, extending to the
Missouri river elbow region including Leavenworth. Ben DeBar
(1812-1878) came to the United States and New Orleans by way
of New York in 1835. Between that date and 1853 when he took
over the management of the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans
he had been in both New York and New Orleans. In 1855 he
bought a theatre in St. Louis to which he gave his own name. Ex-
cept for the Civil War period, when the St. Charles was closed, he
kept both going, adding in 1873 the Wakefield Opera House to
his holdings in St. Louis.

Many, if not most, of the stars who played in the Leavenworth
Theatre as related in this essay, played at the St. Charles and DeBar
Theatres in New Orleans and in St. Louis, and others. Some of
them should be named in order to make the point concrete: McKean
Buchanan and Virginia, Blanche DeBar (her mother, Clementine
DeBar had married one of the Booth family ) , C. W. Couldock and
daughter Eliza, Lotta Crabtree, Julia Dean, Kate and Susan Denin,
Mrs. Mary Gladstane, Eliza Logan, the Maddern Sisters, Emma and
Lizzie (Lizzie was the mother of Minnie Maddern Fiske), and
Cecile Rush. In the St. Charles stock company at times were George
D. Chaplin, Clara Walters, and Mrs. Pennoyer. And the plays
presented on the stage were mostly the same at New Orleans, St.
Louis, and Leavenworth, so far as conditions permitted. After
the Civil War interruption at the St. Charles (DeBar remained in
St. Louis and operated throughout the war) the old system was
continued substantially as prior to hostilities. 57 Except for the
physical equipment and size of the house, a theatregoer might not
be able to distinguish which of the three cities he was in: New
Orleans, St. Louis, or Leavenworth.

57. John S. Kendall, The Golden Age of the New Orleans Theatre (Baton Rouge,
Louisiana State University Press, 1952), pp. 286-321, 495-552. The portion of the book
cited reviews the main features of DeBar's career. Kendall spelled C. W. Couldock's
name Couldrock. C/., Dictionary of American Biography, v. 4, pp. 466-467; The National
Cyclopedia of American Biography, v. 2, p. 346. Kendall misidentified Mrs. Walters, or the
indexer did, as all references to her are collected under the name Mary Walters. Evidently
her career was not known to Kendall. In other respects the index is quite inadequate.

Other books of some importance to commercial public entertainment, in some cases only
because they are the only ones on the particular subject available, are listed here: Philip
Graham, Showboats: The History of an American Institution (Austin, University of Texas
Press, 1951 ); Philip D. Jordan, Singing Yankees: The Story of the Crusading Hutchinson
Family (Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1946); Edward Mammen, The Old
Stock Company School of Acting: A Study of the Boston Museum (Boston, Published by
the Trustees of the Public Library, 1945); Carl F. Wittke, Tambo and Bones: A History
of the American Minstrel Stage (Durham, N. C., Duke University Press, 1930).

202 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Even prior to the Civil War the railroads were changing all this,
but slowly, because of the momentum of the "going concern," and
the reluctance to abandon old and accustomed connections for new
and uncertain methods and personalities. Ben DeBar and his
enterprises in both St. Louis and New Orleans, continuing after the
war as before, were telling examples of persistence of old associa-
tions long after railroads had superceded the water navigation which
had originally made the cities and his theatrical enterprises in the
Mississippi valley possible.

In all lines of business the intervention of the railroad, and the
new orientations it provided were not overlooked. In Atchison the
dry goods firm of A. S. Parker ran a two-column advertisement in
the spring of 1860 announcing that its stock of spring and summer
goods had arrived by railroad. About the same time the Western
Stage Company, mail contractors, announced that because of the
Atchison and St. Joseph railway, connecting with Hannibal and
St. Joseph railroad opened in 1859, nearly 12 hours had been gained
in mail arrivals. A new stage service for mail and passengers was
announced from Leavenworth to Topeka and Lawrence making
possible travel from St. Joseph to either of those points in the in-
terior in one day. The river cities were served by railroad packets
which began operations with the breaking of the ice. The first
task was to distribute among the river towns the goods that had
accumulated by rail for river points, or for rail shipment east 58

The Civil War in Missouri in 1861 interrupted river and rail
communication. By February, 1862, railroad connections were re-
established to Chicago by way of Palmyra, Mo., and Quincy, 111.,
and stages afforded connections with railroad terminals along
the Missouri river. 59 With the opening of navigation on the river
in 1864 and 1865 traffic moved in a similar pattern, with the aid of a
steamboat plying between Weston and Kansas City. 60 The Union
Pacific, Eastern division, finished its line from Kansas City to Law-
rence late in 1864, and to Fort Riley in December, 1866. The
Leavenworth-Lawrence branch was completed in May, 1866. On
the Kansas side of the Missouri river, Kansas City was connected
with Leavenworth by the Missouri River railroad in July, 1866, and
Atchison, September, 1869. On the Missouri side, the Missouri
Valley railroad from Kansas City to St. Joseph was completed in
December, 1868, but it had served between St. Joseph and Weston

58. Atchison Freedom's Champion, February 24, March 10, 17, 1860.

59. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, February 1, 1862.

60. Ibid., February 16, 1864; Daily Times, February 18, 1865.

THEATRE IN KANSAS: 1858-1868 203

since early 1864. The Pacific railroad from St. Louis reached
Kansas City in September, 1865, providing the second rail line be-
tween the Mississippi river and the Missouri river towns of eastern
Kansas. The first bridge across the Missouri river was the Hannibal
and St. Joseph railroad bridge serving Kansas City, completed in
July, 1869. The river was bridged at Leavenworth in 1872, and at
Atchison in 1875. By the end of 1869 the Mississippi river was
bridged at Quincy, 111., as well as the Missouri at Kansas City, af-
fording through rail traffic between Kansas City and Chicago with-
out ferries, and Leavenworth was tied into this route by the Missouri
River railroad 24 hours to Chicago. 61

In 1856 Gabay's Dramatic Troupe, a complete theatrical company
traveling from town to town was a rare thing in the West. By 1870
a revolution had occurred that was made possible by railroads. The
traveling dramatic troupe had gained during the late 1860's while
resident theatre had declined or had been eliminated. In Leaven-
worth the coming of the James A. Lord Dramatic Company in
December, 1869, not only provided the first legitimate theatrical
entertainment in that city for a long time, but it was a sign of the
completion in large measure of the reorientation of the area upon
Chicago by means of rails. 62

61. Leavenworth Daily Commercial, October 17, 1869 ff., adv.; Times and Conserva-
tive, February 25, 1870; Evening Bulletin, January 29, 1870.

62. For a study of Kansas City in this perspective, see James C. Malin, Grassland
Historical Studies: Natural Resources Utilization in a Background of Science and Tech-
nology, v. 1, Geology and Geography (Lawrence, the author, 1950), Ch. 22, "After the Civil
War," especiaUy pp. 324-338.

Bypaths of Kansas History

A KANSAS BELLE OF 1857

Appreciation of the delicately-turned ankles of womankind, no
matter where or in what generation, evidently has been universal.
Prof. James C. Carey of Kansas State College, Manhattan, a twen-
tieth-century connoisseur, sends in the following article which he
found in Harper's Weekly, New York, November 7, 1857.

How THE LADIES DRESS IN KANSAS. A Kansas letter-writer, who recently
came down the Missouri on the steamer Omaha, says: "At Atchison we took
on a young Kansas belle, whose only attendant was a young Missouri blood.
The young lady was apparently dressed in the latest agony and style of fashion;
the chaste straw hat, the innumerable flounces and wide-spreading hoops of
her gay striped silk dress, set off her commanding figure very gracefully. Her
stature tall as Byron says, I hate a dumpy woman. But the richest scene in
relation to this young belle was behind the curtain, and is to come yet. At
Leavenworth our fair one left us, and, as she was standing on the bank, 'casting
a last, long, lingering look* back, we were tempted to admire her delicately-
turned ankles 'who can resist a nicely laced gaiter or a peeping ankle?* when,
behold! she hadn't any stockings on! I am unable to say what the fashion is
in Kansas whether it is fashionable for ladies to go without hose or not; but
certain I am that the finest dressed one whom I saw in the territory didn't
use the article."

WHEN BUFFALO WERE PLENTIFUL

From the Newton Kansan, December 26, 1872.

It is estimated that there are about two thousand buffalo hunters now pur-
suing game in western Kansas, and that they average bringing down about fif-
teen buffalo daily. One man near Dodge City killed 100 in a day. The hides
and meat bringing him a handsome sum of $300. At Dodge City the hams
are worth 1% to 2 cents a pound, and the hides from $1.50 to $2.50 a piece.
Notwithstanding the immense business which is being done, there seem to be
no diminution in their number, and trains are frequently stopped by them.

FASTIDIOUS EARLY-DAY DODGE CITY

From the Dodge City Times, July 27, 1878.

A good story is told of a well known citizen of this city, whose name we

suppress. The story runs in this wise. He went into 's saloon,

took a seat, threw his feet on the table, and called for a glass of beer, a
sandwich and some Limberger cheese, which was promptly placed upon the

table beside his feet. He called to and told him that the cheese

was of no account, as he could not smell it, whereupon the proprietor replied:
"Damn it, take your feet down and give the cheese a chance."

(204)

BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 205

THE GREATEST RACE OF THE CENTURY

Although Oklahoma has only this year arrived at its 50th anni-
versary of statehood, Kansas has looked down on her (from across
the border, that is) for many more years than that.

Most of the Indian tribes formerly residing in Kansas were
resettled in Oklahoma, and a considerable number of Kansans
also migrated to the Sooner state, many in the celebrated opening
of the Cherokee Outlet on September 16, 1893. This strip of land
150 by 59 miles, bounded on the north by the southern Kansas
line, was literally peopled within two hours. For days prospective
settlers lined the borders of the Promised Land awaiting the noon-
day signal for the start. The crush was perhaps heaviest along
the southern Kansas boundary, particularly in the Arkansas City
and Caldwell areas.

The story of the Cherokee run has been told many times. Few
eye-witness accounts are more vivid than that written from Cald-
well by L. R. Elliott and printed in the Manhattan Nationalist,
September 22, 1893. It is republished here in recognition of
Oklahoma's birthday anniversary and the part Kansans had in
the settlement of that state.

The culmination of the long-looked-for event of the year perhaps the
event of the century came at noon of the 16th of September, 1893. It was
like that of a decisive battle. The hosts had gathered awaiting the command
that should start the contestants, and the crack of a carbine repeated along
the line was the sign that the contest was on. The great army moved, many
miles long as it was, horsemen and infantry and supply trains, at the instant.
Never a great army was more prompt for the charge. But all the seemings
of an army, moving to the battle-shock, ended at the moment of starting. The
line was broken on the instant, and speed and endurance were the test. The
swiftest horse took his man to the front, and the next and the next and the
next in speed, took positions relatively as far as the eye could reach, and
clouds of dust obscured the lesser objects completely, and must have greatly
annoyed the active participants in the early part of the race. Later, as the
mass became a scattered multitude, the dust was less dense. In two hours that
bald and parched plain the Famous Cherokee Outlet "The Strip" which
has for many months been the cynosure of the ten thousands, was punctured
with claim stakes and peopled by many more thousands than will occupy it
six months hence. It was our privilege to witness this great race for land
and lots, and we wish to let our readers see it, if possible, as we saw it.

Caldwell was probably as good a point of observation as could be found, for
it was a central one along the line; and, because of its accessibility, was the
rallying point of multitudes.

We were early on the ground, and had a chance to observe the many
"outfits" that were moving from their camps of weary waiting to the borders
of the promised land. Only a kodak in skillful hands could depict them

206 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

faithfully. A noticeable thing in almost every vehicle was the barrel or keg
of water, and every man had his canteen slung on his back, and his sharpened
stick with a flag attached, by which he was to show location. The demand
for canteens was enormous here, and all the neighboring towns were drawn
on. The most common and convenient canteen was made by soldering
together at the edges two small pressed tin pans or basins, and providing the
aperture for filling, and loops for the strap or cord. Sometimes a basin and
a pie-tin were thus joined and made to do service. Those who could, filled
their canteens with coffee, and this was very palatable even after exposure
to the hot sun for hours.

The town of Caldwell was a densely populated city, and every department
was over-taxed. The lines of men at the postoffice, getting their last batch
of mail, stretched far out into the street. We tried in vain for a conveyance
to take us to the registering booths in the 100-foot border, so took to our
never-failing resource, "shank's horses."

The booth was two miles away when we started, but it took fully four
miles of dusty travel to reach it. The woods were, as had been the streets
of the city, full of outfits, or of the debris of the broken camps, and the ankle
deep dust was being early stirred, where once was vegetation. The ranch men
on this border will have paid dearly for their proximity to the Strip. It was
no use for them to complain, the horde was here, and it came to stay, like
an army of grasshoppers till ready to move on.

Fortunately for all concerned, a merciful Providence had given, for this last
morning of the struggle, the lowest temperature of the month, and thus saved
from suffering, and no doubt from death, not a few of the worn and anxious
people and their poor beasts.

The multitudes seemed moving without purpose, so various were their
directions, but the rallying point was just at the line, where, on the 100 feet
allotted inside the border, all who could find standing room for team or horse
or self, stood.

The booth was a couple of white square tents standing at right-angles to
each other, under the fly of which were rough counters. Behind these stood sev-
eral clerks, two at a time on actual duty, while a line of hundreds of applicants
stretched out in the dust from this attractive corner. We fell in line, at the
rear where a man was giving to each, as he came, a number, supposed to
indicate his place in the ranks. Ours read "6-39." There were four persons
at this time in "our" squad, each received a consecutive number, the "6"
being common to all. "It will never do for us to stand in that line," we said;
so three stood and one took the four numbers, and soon, with a fee, and a
little strategy, the squad was put through and the line relieved by just so
much. Our certificate read:

F. Certificate that must be held by party desiring to occupy or enter

upon the lands opened to settlement by the President's Proclamation of

August 16, 1893, for the purpose of settling upon a TOWN LOT.
No. 11,577.

General Land Office, Sept. 16, 1893,
Booth in T. 29 N., R. 4 W.
This certifies that L. R. Elliott has this day made the declaration

before me required by the President's proclamation of August 19, 1893,

BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 207

and he is, therefore, permitted to go in upon the lands open to settlement
by said proclamation at the time named therein for the purpose of
settling upon a town lot. MELL H. HULL,

Officer in charge.

This certificate is not transferable. The holder will display the certifi-
cate, if demanded, after locating on claim.

Officially certified so we could get aboard the cars at the proper time, we
were at liberty to move about among the masses. From the elevated posi-
tion occupied by the booth we could see the city of Caldwell in the distance,
and the space between, alive with moving objects, and canopied with dust.
Several traveled roads led across the Strip from Kansas to Oklahoma diverging
here; and, necessarily, the teams must keep [to] these roads. This caused a
massing of vehicles at the points where these roads cross the line, and insured
a jam and no doubt some trouble at the start. But horsemen, and lighter
vehicles disregard the roads and stretch along for miles and miles, as far
as the eye can see. It is reasonable to suppose that this line of invaders was
more or less dense on the entire length of the Strip. Think then, of a line
of eager men and women stretched out for 150 miles due east and west,
fronting south, all waiting for the hour of noon. On the south, fifty-nine miles
away, is another such line, ready to advance northward at the moment when
these about us move southward, and you may get some idea of the situation.

The Rock Island track enters the promised land through a deep cut, and is
fenced on both sides the whole distance with a five-wire fence. The company
sent out a caboose and a force of men and sold tickets at the line. This was a
great convenience. Those who wanted to ride had a chance to fall in line and
procure tickets. Somebody from the top of the caboose called out so no one
could fail to understand. "Pond Creek 75 cents, Enid $1.25" and so on. "Get
your tickets, or you can't get on the train." From a good position we looked
on; and J. C. Bonnell, who always has just the right equipment at hand, caught
Kodak views of the crowds for the next Western Trail and the Settler.

As tickets were procured the purchasers passed on from the east to west
side of the track, received successive numbers, were put into companies under
captains, and placed in position along the track ready, each company to board
a car when the train came along. The train was made up of Montgomery
Palace Cattle Cars 35 cars and it was loaded with 5,200 persons who bought
tickets, and several hundreds of marshals and others, and officers of the road.
A Palace Cattle Car will hold a host, when necessary. The second car in
this train held 300 persons. These cars proved to be just the thing. The tops
afforded good seats for sight-seeing, and the side doors gave easy egress to
claim-takers. We held a standing place on one of the upper decks, and com-
manded a wide range of vision.

The train was propelled by two engines in front and two pushers up the
grade. All was at high pressure in the way of excitement as the hour of
twelve approached, and comparison of watches was frequent. The crowds
in and on the cars were not less excited than those on the ground. There was
a lull in the conversation and a pause, a silence as high noon came, broken by
the sound of a carbine, and instantly supplemented by several shots along the
line. The flash was the signal, and before the sound came the trained horses
were several leaps on their way, and before the engineers could communicate

208 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the starting signal to each other, and get the train under way, the miles of
strippers were stripping through the Strip.

It was a sight never to be forgotten that spread out over the miles of
landscape east and west and south. North was Kansas, and clouds of dust,
and vacated camps.

Two of the wagon roads mentioned heretofore, ran for some miles nearly
parallel with the railroad, one on either side of the track not far away, and
along these many vehicles kept, so we from the train could cheer them, and
yell comments on their speed and endurance. For a few miles there was a
chaos of vehicles and horsemen, but the best horses were soon far ahead, and
looking like pigmies in the distance. A double spring wagon with a man and
woman, at our left, did some marvelous driving, and a similar rig at the right,
with two men, distanced the train for fully fifteen miles, and then collapsed
in a chuck-hole, and we left them trying to repair their rig.

Every five miles the train slowed up or stopped, and many took to the
prairie for claims. It was not necessary for the train to stop. Strippers would
pitch out the bundle and roll after it in the sand, hastily rush for the wire
fence and for the land on the other side of it. It was a very amusing sight.
The wire fence, built by the Railroad Company, is new, and has five well
stretched wires; and not every one is good at scaling a wire fence, even when
not excited. Many a bundle was lacerated by the barbs, and many a garment
rent. The stripper could not stop to unhook lest the other fellow should get
ahead, so he would yank it loose, and the appearance of some whose coats
caught was that of "strippers" for sure. The sachels and bundles would some-
times burst open as they were tumbled from the train, and as the owner
somersaulted after them he would find lunch and supplies scattered in the
sand. Generally the victim would stop and gather up the contents, some of
which were not intended for public view, but sometimes he would rush on
with his sharp stick, and let his grub take the chance of the future. Not a
few left their hats in this way, and one man went through the fence minus
one shoe, but he didn't stop for such a trifle. It was what the boys call
"dead loads of fun/' for those that looked on. How the poor mortals fared
who went into camp for the night with such a reduced equipment was not so
easy to see. If it was fun for us, it was to them, as it was to the frogs when
the boys stoned them.

Not a few women, young and old, were among the claim-seekers, and as
a rule they scaled the wire fences very well. One woman in black, with
black vail and fan and parasol, and leading a small boy, scaled the fence with
all her drapery intact, and the crowd became interested. A man who was
more active began to stick his stake, apparently not seeing the woman, when
the crowd on the train set up a yell to him to leave that claim, and he yielded
it to the woman, who stuck her parasol into the ground, and so made her claim.
It was all right for the man to give it up, but what in the world could that
woman do as the train pulled away and left her on the bald prairie with
apparently only her fan and parasol, and a possible bite of lunch in her hand
bag. No water for miles, and no trains to take her away to water, and a ten
year old boy to suffer with her?

As we have said, nearly every one who wanted a claim had supplies of water
and grub, but a few who left the train, seemingly had nothing but the flag

BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 209

stick, with which to show location. Such men will have claims to sell in an
hour or two.

Jack rabbits, and coyotes, and no end of prairie dogs, were startled by the
unusual visit to their realm. The rabbits made good time, as did the coyotes,
hastened by the puffs of dust raised near them by the balls that didn't hit
them. But the prairie dogs, amid the crack of pistol shots, took no further
notice than to give their short tails an extra shake. It takes a chance shot to
strike these little fellows from the moving train.

A most interesting sight, was that of an antelope, which, roused by the
intruders, vainly ran hither and thither only to be met by strippers which
ever way it turned. This was at the point where the fleet horsemen from
the south met those from the north; and one of the horsemen took after the
weary and frightened antelope, and actually lassooed it in plain view of the
thousands of interested ones on the train. A shout went up that rolled across
the prairie in a great volume. It was a rare and remarkable sight, and one
probably never before observed by such a large audience, if, indeed, such an
act was ever before performed.

The exit of strippers from the train all along the line, had seemingly not
reduced the number on board, and when the train reached Pond Creek station,
twenty- two miles from the north line of the "strip," the people went out of
it like flies out of a sugar cask, and in five minutes a square mile of the prairie
was spotted with squatters looking like flies on a sticky paper. Oh! it was fun
to see that swarm go through that wire fence! The fleet horses, and possibly
some "sooners" from the brush, were ahead, but could not take all the lots.
A large number of women were among the company, and among these we
noticed one who hobbled on a crutch. A friend helped her through the fence,
and soon she was leaning on her crutch with a satisfied air near the stake of
a corner lot. And it was noticeable that the expression of satisfaction on
the faces of the women was much more marked than on those of the men.
To the women it was, evidently, the event of a lifetime.

Three miles south of Pond Creek is the rival town established by the
government for the Land Office, and here a similar exodus of town-lotters
took place, and then the cars looked as a man feels at noon without having had
breakfast.

At Wild Horse, twelve miles south of Pond Creek, (and about midway in
the Strip north and south) our train met the corresponding train from Hen-
nessey. Passengers on that train recited a similar experience with ours, except
that in the scramble two women had got broken bones and one man was killed
in leaping from the cars. Our train moved southward and developed, as it
moved, a most interesting panorama. At first were the scattered settlers, here
and there in the distance just simply holding down their claims and resting;
then came those who had begun to look up their lines and corners; and farther
on, even some attempt at improvement had begun. Besides these fixtures
in the landscape, there was a continuous line of vehicles, like the supply train
of an army, moving northward. The lightest loads and best teams were in
the lead, and the less favored and more heavily burdened came on as they
could, but the line was continuous for many miles, and the dust rolled over
them, and all were of one color of grime. The white and the black had all
become bronzed. This motley train, whose makeup was indiscribable, whose

15-7718

210 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

burdens were varied and miscellaneous, was the rearward of the runners
bringing on the supplies and the household goods that were to be set up in
cabin or cot or city palace in this Beulah land.

And it was well that these were so faithfully coming on, for supplies are
needed at the front, and shelter for the night is only to be found as these
burdened vehicles reach the lot or the land which the runner for the family
has chosen. There is the lumber for the cabin, the house on wheels complete,
the "knocked-down" structure, ready to be erected on the claim; the tent that
will do service till something better can be provided. These "outfits" are
quite a contrast to those that stood at the northern border, and are now
following their swift runners from the north, as are these from the south border.
In this train are the unmistakable rigs from the southland. That wagon top
shirred in the middle with a puckering string, is from Arkansas; and that
strange load of appliances with Uncle Tom for a driver, rigged with rope
harness and lines, came from lower Texas, and the gate of the skeleton team
indicates that Dinah will wait a long time for the supplies on the claim she
has taken.

Passing the town-sites of Enid and its duplicate three miles away, the
prairie was even more populous with town-lotters than were those we left
behind. A big run had been made from the south line, and the restive
multitude is said to have broken away from the duress of the military, and
made the start eleven minutes before the set time. But it was just as well,
since all on the south line had an equal chance.

The Enid townsite had a large percentage of colored squatters, and among
them a preponderance of women. Indeed the colored people got in their work
mostly from the south line.

From Hennessey, where we could find no accommodation for the night, we
took the first train northward and passed the populous towns, built in an hour,
whose thousands must have had a distressful night on the bare earth, then
only to spend the Sabbath following in hardly less discomfort because of
President Cleveland's ill-timed proclamation. Sundry lights, gleaming from
the prairie, were the only indication in the darkness that a large city was at
hand.

It was our good fortune that we got a seat. That train of four cars carried
four hundred people out of the Strip. To say that we were tired was only to
hint at the fact. But we had seen the run for location in the Strip, the sight
of the century the last, it is to be hoped, of its kind.

L. R. E.
[Manhattan.]

Kansas History as Published in the Press

On October 3, 1886, the Rev. John A. Bright organized what is now
the Excelsior Lutheran church near Ellsworth. A brief history of
the church appeared in the Ellsworth Messenger, September, 1956.

The Coffeyville Daily Journal published a short history of the
Chetopa Christian church September 28, 1956. On October 5 an
article by Alice Wade appeared in the Journal on incidents of the
attempted Coffeyville bank robbery by the Daltons, October 5, 1892,
as recalled by Mrs. A. L. Severance.

Late in 1899 the novelist, William Dean Howells, made a lecture
tour which included several engagements in Kansas. An account of
the tour entitled "The Dean in Person: Howells' Lecture Tour/' by
Harrison T. Meserole, appeared in the Autumn, 1956, number of
Western Humanities Review, Salt Lake City.

American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, included in its issue of
October, 1956, a 71-page article entitled "Trail Blazers of the Trans-
Mississippi West." The two-page section devoted to Kansas men-
tioned several of the state's early Jewish settlers.

Identification of the principal printed items that chronicle the
origin and growth of Protestantism in Kansas is the objective of Dr.
Emory Lindquist's The Protestant Church in Kansas: an Annotated
Bibliography which comprised the October, 1956, number of The
University of Wichita Bulletin.

"Who Were the Pioneers? What Became of Them?" was the title
of a series by Charles A. Scott, beginning October 4, 1956, in the
Westmoreland Recorder. Included were biographical sketches of
Pottawatomie county pioneers.

Argonia's early history is the subject of a series of articles by
Mrs. Grace Handy which began appearing in the Argonia Argosy,
October 11, 1956. This Sumner county town was incorporated on
Kansas Day, 1885.

A sketch of the Marion Hill Lutheran church, near D wight, was
printed in the Junction City Union, October 12, 1956. The church
was organized June 1, 1876, with 61 charter members. Histories of
the church also appeared in the Council Grove Republican, October
17, and the Alta Vista Journal, October 18.

(211)

212 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Recent articles in the Chanute Tribune included: a biographical
sketch of Octave Chanute, the man for whom the town of Chanute
was named, October 16, 1956; and Woodson county pioneer life as
recalled by O. C. Rose and G. C. Jackson, whose parents were early
settlers in the county, December 1.

T. C. Briggs, a Kiowa county rancher, was the subject of a bio-
graphical sketch by Mrs. Fern Eller in the Kiowa County Signal,
Greensburg, October 18, 1956. Briggs came to the county in 1885
when he was ten years old.

W. F. Elland organized the Christian church of Bucklin in 1906
according to a history of the church printed in the Bucklin Banner,
October 18, 1956. The first church building was completed in 1909.
The article appeared in the Clark County Clipper, Ashland, October
25.

Beginning October 18, 1956, the Turon Press has been publishing
a historical series by Alfred B. Bradshaw entitled "When the
Prairies Were New A History of the Lerado Community." Settle-
ment of the Reno county community started in 1873.

Goodland's city library was the subject of a historical sketch in the
Sherman County Herald, Goodland, October 25, 1956. In Novem-
ber, 1908, a small library was opened as the result of efforts by Good-
land church groups. A grant from Andrew Carnegie provided a
library building which was completed in 1913.

Two anniversaries were celebrated by the Fort Scott First Meth-
odist church, November 1, 1956: the 90th anniversary of its founding
and the 50th of the cornerstone laying for the present church build-
ing. Historical notes on the church were published in the Fort Scott
Tribune, November 1.

The Colby Free Press-Tribune, November 5, 1956, printed a his-
tory of Wesley chapel, near Colby, by Mrs. Ruth Pence. The chapel
was dedicated October 29, 1916.

In 1903 a Methodist church organization was effected and a minis-
ter assigned at Talmo, Republic county. A building was erected in
1906. The Belleville Telescope and the Concordia Blade-Empire
published a church history November 8, 1956.

Haviland was incorporated in 1906. The town company was
formed and the townsite established in 1886. In observance of the
town's double anniversary, a special edition was published by the

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 213

Haviland Journal, November 8, 1956. An eight-page section re-
viewed the history of the community.

In 1920 Anna VanLew read a history of Axtell at an old settlers'
reunion. The manuscript was recently rediscovered and the story
printed in the Axtell Standard, November 8, 15, 1956. By 1871 Axtell
was "on the map," with a railroad and a post office.

Reece Ingle, Cherokee, Okla., narrated his personal experiences in
making the Cherokee Strip "run," September 16, 1893, staking, filing,
and farming his claim, and living in a dugout for six years, in the
Cunningham Clipper, November 8, 15, 29, December 6, 13, 1956.
Ingle still lives on his claim.

In June, 1857, D. R. Anthony, I, left Rochester, N. Y., to settle in
Kansas. From his new home Anthony wrote frequent letters to his
father, brother, and sister in Rochester. Excerpts from the letters
were published in the Leavenworth Times, beginning November 18,
1956.

A history of the Herington Methodist church, by Mrs. F. E. Mun-
sell, was published in the Herington Advertiser-Times, November 22,
1956. Organization of the church was effected in 1884 and the first
building was dedicated in 1886.

School districts 22, 24, 50, and 56, Rawlins county, were organized
in 1885, according to a historical sketch by Ray Moore in the Citizen-
Patriot, Atwood, November 22, 1956. The sketch was given as an
address at the recent dedication of the new school building in these
districts now consolidated into district 234.

Bernard H. Lemert's reminiscences of his experiences as a Western
cattleman, 1879-1889, are related in an article called "The Round Up
of Eighty-Four/' Portions of this story appeared in the Southwest
Daily Times, Liberal, November 23, to December 8, 1956.

"Know Your Town" is the title of a series on the history of Derby
beginning in the Derby Star, November 29, 1956. First settlers in
the area were featured in the first article.

A "Highland Park" edition of the Bulletin of the Shawnee County
Historical Society, Topeka, was issued in December, 1956. In-
cluded are biographical sketches of many prominent Highland Park
families.

"Living Conditions 1860 to 1956," an article by Nellie Oder
Whiteside, read at a recent meeting of the Butler County Historical

214 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Society, began to appear serially in the El Dorado Free-Lance, De-
cember 13, 1956.

"Wellsford Once a Thriving, Bustling City, Has a Colorful and
Exciting History," by Ecile Hall, was published in the Kiowa County
Signal, Greensburg, December 20, 1956, and in the Haviland Jour-
nal, January 3, 1957. Included in the history of this Kiowa county
town is a biographical sketch of C. E. Anderson, for 59 years a Wells-
ford merchant.

Historical articles appearing in the 1957 number of Kansas Maga-
zine, Manhattan, included: "Noon Doings at the Sod School," by
Boyne Grainger; "When Russian Royalty Hunted American Buf-
falo," by Lelia Munsell; "Earliest Americans," by L. L. Hodgdon;
and "A Century of Kansas Architecture," by John Cranston Heintzel-
man.

"Missouri's Struggle for Kansas the Story of a Lost Cause," an
article by Bartlett Boder, was included in the Winter, 1957, issue
of Museum Graphic, published by the St. Joseph, Mo., museum.

An article by Carl G. Klopfenstein, "Westward Ho: Removal of
Ohio Shawnees, 1832-1833," published in the Bulletin of the Histori-
cal and Philosophical Society of Ohio, Cincinnati, January, 1957,
tells of the migration of the Shawnee Indians from Ohio to present
Kansas in the 1830's.

As a background for Butler county's centennial in 1957, Clarence
King has written a review of early Butler county history which was
published in the Augusta Gazette, January 9, 10, 1957. William
Hildebrand was the county's first permanent resident, arriving in
May, 1857, and settling near present El Dorado.

Historical articles continue to appear regularly in the Hays Daily
News. Included recently were: "Union Pacific's 1887 Prospectus
Painted Rosy Picture of Country," January 20, 1957; "Fast Thinking
Saves Buffalo Bill [Cody] on Ride," January 27; "Old Stone Depot
at Victoria Served as Station, Hotel, Post Office, Club," and "St.
George's Church in Victoria Unique in Beauty for Its Time [1877],"
February 3; "Parties, Indian Killings, Flood, Mad Dogs Highlight
1878 News," February 10; "Englishman [Robert Cox] Surprised at
Pleasant Life on Kansas Plains at Victoria in 1877," February 17;
"Dramas Were Risky Business With Failure Certain Back in 1874,"
February 24; "Buffalo Wallows Near Hays Still Show Signs of King
of the Prairie's Reign," March 3; "Copies of Old Letters Prove Wild
Bill Hickok Could Write," and "[Dave] Morrow, Purveyor of Prairie

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 215

Dogs, Calmly Kills Legendary White Buffalo," March 17; "Old Time
Editor [W. A. Montgomery] Lauds Industry, Ingenuity, and Thrift
of German-Russian Settlers," March 24; "In 1877 Detroit News-
paperman Wrote Wonderful Things of Hays City Area," April 7;
"Mrs. [Amelia] Huntington, Real Pioneer Woman, Helped Improve
Culture, Beauty of Hays," April 14; "Peach Tree Corner in Old
Hays Favored as Spot for Swapping Ideas and Tales," April 21;
and "Cody Shot 69 Buffalo in Only Challenge of His Title as 'World
Champion Killer'," by Maurine Bergland, April 21.

Articles prepared by the Lane County Historical Society from
information received in answer to questionnaires sent to residents
and former residents of Lane county, have appeared regularly in
the Dighton Herald, beginning January 23, 1957. The stories are
in the form of personal reminiscences and family histories.

"90 Years of Ellsworth and Ellsworth County History," by George
Jelinek, began appearing by installments in the Ellsworth Messen-
ger, January 24, 1957. The Ellsworth townsite was laid out in
January, 1867.

Mrs. Fred Gerken's history of the Girard Public Library, pre-
sented at a library board dinner, was printed in the Girard Press,
January 24, 1957. Work toward a library for Girard was started in
1898 by the Ladies' Reading Club. Other city clubs were invited
to join in a federation which was successful in opening a library
early in 1899.

In 1867 the Frankfort Town Company was formed, a townsite
purchased and laid out, and the first houses were built, according
to a history of Frankfort by J. M. Lane published in the Frankfort
Index, January 31, 1957. Frankfort became a third class city July
24, 1875.

An article in the Smith County Pioneer, Smith Center, January
31, 1957, reviewed the history of Smith county. Gov. James M.
Harvey organized the county February 1, 1872.

Heritage of Kansas, a quarterly publication of the department of
English, Kansas State Teachers College, Emporia, made its first ap-
pearance in February, 1957. Articles in the first issue were: "Men
Against the Frontier," by Neil Byer; "The Drouth of 1860," by J. N.
Holloway; "At Kawsmouth Station," by Henry King; "Emigrant Life
in Kansas," by Percy G. Ebbutt; and William Allen White's "The
Story of Aqua Pura."

216 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Among historical articles appearing the past few months in
the Clay Center Dispatch were: "Rivers, Creeks Once Supplied
Ice for Use in Summer Here," by L. F. Valentine, February 2,
1957; "The Beginning of the Clay Center Schools," by Mrs. A. R.
Russell, February 22; a description of Clay Center 90 years ago,
written 30 years ago by George A. Gray, March 6; and "Our Once-
Forested Country Now Has Tree Planting Day," by L. F. Valentine,
March 30.

The Valley Falls Vindicator, February 6, 1957, printed a short
history of the Pony Express. Beginning April 3, 1860, the express
operated for about 17 months on the route between St. Joseph and
California.

On February 6, 1957, the Arkansas City Daily Traveler printed an
article entitled "Last 'Boomer' Train Left Arkansas City 74 Years
Ago This Month." In February, 1883, over 500 "boomers" under
Capt. David L. Payne set out from Arkansas City intending to
settle near present Oklahoma City. But Payne and several others
were arrested by federal troops and the plan failed.

A biographical sketch of Maj. Andrew Drumm was published in
the Kiowa News, February 7, 1957. Drumm came to Kansas in the
early 1870's, settling near Caldwell. Later he was one of the
founders of New Kiowa.

The Jetmore Republican, in conjunction with Jetmore's 75th an-
niversary, has in recent months published a group of historical
articles by Margaret Raser. Included were: "Story of the County
Seat," February 7, 14, 1957; "The First Houses Built in Jetmore,"
March 7; "Lives of Early Settlers," March 14, 21; "Early Finances,
From 1879-1882," March 28; "The Big Blizzard of 1886," April 4;
and "It Happened 75 Years Ago," May 2, 9.

Elizabeth Barnes' column "Historic Johnson County," has con-
tinued to appear regularly in the Johnson County Herald, Overland
Park. A few recent subjects were: reminiscences of Fred W.
Stolte, Jr., February 7, 1957; Hotel Olathe, February 28, March 7;
and the Bishop Miege High School, March 14.

A new feature began in the Hutchinson News-Herald, February
8, 1957, titled "This Was Hutchinson." It is a series of pictures of
early scenes and old buildings in Hutchinson with brief explana-
tions. An article by Ruby Basye, "Merry Men of England Wrote
History on the Prairies of Western Kansas," appeared in the News-
Herald, February 10. On April 21 a 20-page special section was

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 217

printed by the newspaper, now called the News, which included
items of its own history.

Seventy years ago pioneers of German origin began arriving in
the area of present Bushton, according to an article on the history
of Bushton in the Bushton News, February 14, 1957. Mentioned in
the story are the city officers, businesses, schools, churches, and
other institutions.

William Errol Enrau's "The History of Fort Larned, Kansas: Its
Relation to the Santa Fe Trail and the Plains Indians" began appear-
ing serially in The Tiller and Toiler, Larned, February 19, 1957. The
history will also be printed in booklet form. A revised version of
the story is scheduled for publication in The Kansas Historical
Quarterly late in 1957.

Stanton county's 70th anniversary was the occasion for a special
38-page edition of the Johnson Pioneer, February 21, 1957. Included
were articles on Stanton county people, institutions, and organiza-
tions.

"Early Creameries Helped Recovery of Central Kansas During
1890's," an 11-column article by Earl W. McDowell, appeared in
the Hillsboro Star-Journal, February 21, 1957. The establishment
of creameries began in 1889 in several towns, just as "hard times"
appeared in Kansas. This new market did much to "save the day
for the farmers."

Cherokee county's county-seat war between Columbus and Baxter
Springs, was reviewed in the Columbus Advocate, February 28,
1957. Some historical information about Columbus was included
in the Advocate, April 12. John Appleby, who settled at present
Columbus in 1868, is credited with being the first settler in the
area. The Modern Light, Columbus, has continued its column of
historical information, "Do You Remember When," which included
notes on the Columbus-Baxter Springs fight, March 21.

Zebulon Pike's expedition of 1806-1807 was reviewed in an article
by Dick Blackburn, the first installment appearing in the February
28, 1957, issue of the Belleville Telescope. A large portion of the
article is devoted to the location of the Pawnee Indian village visited
by Pike in late September, 1806.

Histories of the Beloit Presbyterian church were published in
the Beloit Gazette, March 7, 1957, and in the Beloit Call, March 15.
The church was organized in 1872 under the leadership of the Rev.
Charles Higgins.

218 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Historical articles in the March 7, 1957, issue of the Marysville
Advocate included a biographical sketch of Joe Carroll, by Mrs.
Byron E. Guise, and an article on early Marysville schools. A story
in the Advocate, May 9, by Gordon S. Hohn, recalled horse racing
in Marysville around 1906.

"Indians, Hostile Whites Pioneer Perils," by U. S. Grier, was pub-
lished in the magazine section of the Wichita Eagle, March 10,
1957. The article is comprised largely of pioneer experiences of
Grier's father. In the same issue of the Eagle was an article on
Sedan by Velma E. Lowry. The town was founded in 1868.
"Everything Goes in Wichita," was the signboard greeting to visitors
to that town in 1877, Lynne Holt said in an article on early Wichita
in the Eagle magazine, May 12, 1957. The article points out that
Wichita lived up to the promise.

Joseph Thoes and his brother, who arrived in 1855, are thought
to be the first settlers at Alma. A series on the history of Alma
began in the Alma Signal-Enterprise, March 14, 1957.

Publication of "Gardner Where the Trails Divide," a historical
series by Virginia L. Johnson, began in the Gardner News, March
14, 1957.

Glasco was founded in 1870 and incorporated in 1877, Mrs.
L. W. Sheets reports in a brief history of the community printed in
the Glasco Sun, March 14, 1957. The same issue of the Sun in-
cluded reminiscences of Theodore D. Palmer, who came to Glasco
in 1878, and Estell Arthur Owens, who recalls life there in 1912.

Histories of Emporia's colleges have recently been featured in
Emporia newspapers. Leon Reynolds' history of the College of
Emporia appeared in the Emporia Times, March 21, 1957, and in
the Emporia Gazette, April 1. A history of Kansas State Teachers
College, by Ralph Daggett, was published in the Gazette, April 2,
and the Times, April 25 and May 2. The College of Emporia was
founded in 1882 and Emporia State in 1865.

The historical committee of the Lebanon Community Develop-
ment Association has prepared a brief history of Lebanon which
appeared in the Lebanon Times, March 28, 1957. The original town
was established about two and a half miles west of the present site
in 1873. The move to the new location was made in 1887.

On April 7, 1882, a meeting was called in the Chautauqua county
courthouse to organize the Sedan Baptist church, it is pointed out
in histories of the church by H. E. Floyd in the Independence

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 219

Reporter, March 31, 1957, and Howard Moore in the Coffeyville
Daily Journal, April 4. The first pastor was the Rev. F. M. Walker,
and the first building was completed in 1889.

History Today, a London magazine, published "The John Brown
Legend," by Arnold Whitridge, in its issue for April, 1957. Whit-
ridge says the legend that surrounds the name of John Brown was
put together "out of most unpromising materials/*

Simon E. Matson's series, "Early-Day Events in Shaping an
Empire," a history of the St. Francis area, first printed in the St.
Francis Herald, June 14, 1956, continues to appear regularly.

Articles in the April, 1957, number of the Bulletin of the Shawnee
County Historical Society, Topeka, included: "The Story of My
Life," by Albe Burge Whiting; "History of Potwin," by Charlotte
McLellan, continued from the July, 1955, Bulletin; "The Forty-
niners and the Pottawatomie Baptist Mission," by Lena Baxter
Schenck; and "1256 Western Avenue and the People Who Lived
There," and "Julia Ward Howe Visits Kansas," by Lois Johnson
Cone.

"Last Major Indian Battle in Kansas Fought Near Scott County
State Park," is the title of a full-page article in the News Chronicle,
Scott City, April 4, 1957. The article reviews the Battle of Punished
Woman Creek in 1878 and events leading up to it. The troop com-
mander, Col. William H. Lewis, was killed in this action.

Caldwell is designated the "Border Queen" cowtown by George
Viele in an article published in the Caldwell Messenger, April 11,
15, 18, 25, 1957. The town was laid out in 1871, incorporated in
1879, and became a cowtown in 1880.

The Kansas Chief, Troy, celebrated its 100th anniversary with
a special 16-page edition April 11, 1957. The first issue of the
Chief was published June 4, 1857, in White Cloud by Sol. Miller,
its founder. Featured in the special edition is a biographical sketch
of Miller which includes an autobiography first published in 1893.
Among other articles is a sketch of Henry J. Calnan, Sr., publisher
of the Chief, 1904-1919. His son, Charles C. Calnan, is the present
publisher.

A biographical sketch of Prudence Crandall, by Lily B. Rozar,
was published in the Independence Reporter, April 14, 1957. Miss
Crandall is credited with establishing at Canterbury, Conn., in the
early 1830's, the country's first integrated school. In the 1870's
she came to Elk Falls, Kan., where she died and is buried.

220 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Stories on the opening of Indian territory for settlement and
articles on the history of Oklahoma and the West, by Dr. B. B.
Chapman and others, were included in the Guthrie (Okla.) Daily
Leaders annual *89er edition published April 16, 1957.

Wayne A. O'Connell is the author of a history of Chetopa which
appeared in the Chetopa Advance, April 18, 25, May 2, 1957; the
Oswego Independent, April 19, 26, May 3; Oswego Democrat, April
19, 26, May 3, 10, 24. Chetopa's history began in 1857 when Dr.
George Lisle and several companions arrived and the first cabins
were built. Chetopa was named after an Osage Indian chief.

A story by Myra Lockwood Brown on Butler county's first court-
house was printed in the Butler County News, El Dorado, April 18,
1957. The building, a log cabin, is believed to have been erected
about 1867.

Winding Vale school, district No. 20, Jackson county, was organ-
ized April 26, 1862. A history of the now-abandoned school, pre-
pared by M. C. Barrows, appeared in the Holton Recorder, May 2,
1957.

Southeast Kansas history as found in 1903-1906 directories of
that area, by Harold O. Taylor, appeared in the Pittsburg Sun,
May 5, 1957. Advertising in the directories recall business firms of
the period.

An article by M. F. Amrine entitled "The Good Old Days," was
published in the Council Grove Republican in three installments,
May 6, 8, 13, 1957. The author compares life in Kansas in the
1870's and 1880's to life at present, and leaves the impression that
the "good old days" weren't so good.

Oxford school history was featured in the May 9, 1957, number
of the Oxford Register. The Oxford high school started in 1896,
the grade school a few years earlier.

With the issue of May 15, 1957, the Hiawatha Daily World pub-
lished the first section of the Centennial World. Section two was
printed June 11, section three July 18, others appeared later. The
special editions were described by the publishers: "The Centennial
World is dedicated to a review of the historical events of the past
century and a recital of stories that relate to the activities of the
people who have brought this wonderful, modern community into
being from the raw prairies/'

Kansas Historical Notes

The 82d annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society
will be held at Topeka on Tuesday, October 15, 1957.

Gov. George Docking has appointed a Kansas centennial com-
mission to formulate plans for the state's 100th anniversary in 1961.
Maurice Fager, Topeka, has been named chairman of the commis-
sion. Other members are: Barbara Aldrich, Atchison; Howard
Blanchard, Garden City; Fred Brinkerhoff, Pittsburg; Lynn Brod-
rick, Topeka; H. E. Bruce, Horton; Rolla Clymer, El Dorado; Dr.
Elizabeth Cochran, Pittsburg; Leila Elliott, Coffeyville; Mrs. Frank
Haucke, Council Grove; John Helm, Jr., Manhattan; Henry Jame-
son, Abilene; Walter Keith, Coffeyville; Frank W. Kirk, Parsons;
Marion Klema, Salina; Mrs. Charles Larkin, Leavenworth; Larry
Miller, Topeka; Nyle Miller, Topeka; John Montgomery, Junction
City; Jim Reed, Topeka; T. T. Riordan, Solomon; Rev. G. Harold
Roberts, Atchison; Sen. Fayette Rowe, Columbus; Homer E. Soco-
lofsky, Manhattan; Mrs. Alice M. Wade, Coffeyville; Lester Weath-
erwax, Wichita; and Robert Wells, Garden City.

All officers of the Butler County Historical Society were re-elected
at a meeting of the board of trustees in El Dorado January 14, 1957.
They include: F. H. Cron, president; Charles E. Heilmann, vice-
president; Mrs. R. C. Loomis, secretary; and Clifford W. Stone,
treasurer.

Angelo Scott, Tola, was re-elected president of the Allen County
Historical Society at a meeting of the board of directors in lola,
February 5, 1957. R. L. Thompson, Jr., was chosen vice-president;
Spencer Card, secretary; and Mary Hankins, treasurer.

Chester C. Heizer was elected president of the Border Queen
Museum Association at a meeting of the board February 4, 1957,
in Caldwell. Other officers chosen were: Walker Young, first vice-
president; Don Stallings, second vice-president; Frederick Thomp-
son, secretary; and Harry Jenista, treasurer. J. E. Turner is resident
agent of the organization.

Rolla A. Clymer, editor and publisher of the El Dorado Times
and president of the Kansas State Historical Society, was recipient
of the William Allen White award for journalistic merit February
11, 1957.

The newly organized Ottawa County Historical Society met in
Minneapolis February 16, 1957, adopted a constitution, and named

(221)

222 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

a board of directors. In addition to the officers, those elected to
the board included: Glen Adee, Rolla Geisen, and Louis Ballou. At
a meeting in Minneapolis April 27 the society heard historical talks
by Mrs. Louis Ballou, Mrs. Bert Bourne, B. E. Ferris, Ray Halber-
stadt, and Mrs. Claud Childs.

The Lyon County Historical Society met in Emporia, March 4,
1957, for its annual business meeting. Officers were elected as
follows: O. W. Mosher, president; Sam Mellinger, first vice-presi-
dent; Fannie E. Williams, second vice-president; Lucile Owen,
secretary; Warren Morris, treasurer; and Lucina Jones, Mrs. F. L.
Gilson, and Mabel Edwards, historians.

Dr. Dudley T. Cornish reviewed his book, The Sable Arm, the
story of Negro soldiers in the Civil War, at a February 27, 1957,
meeting of the Crawford County Historical Society in Pittsburg.
At a meeting on April 26 Nyle Miller, secretary of the Kansas State
Historical Society, showed and commented on colored slides of
historic places and structures in Kansas. Dr. G. W. Weede is
president of the Crawford county society.

All officers were re-elected at a meeting of the Ford Historical
Society March 8, 1957. They are: Mrs. Walter Umbach, president;
Mrs. Harold Patterson, vice-president; Mrs. Addie Plattner, secre-
tary-treasurer; Kathleen Emrie, historian; and Mrs. W. P. Warner,
custodian.

The Riley County Historical Society opened its museum in new
quarters in the Manhattan city building April 7, 1957. It was re-
ported that 450 persons visited the museum the first three days.

Dr. S. J. Sackett, of Fort Hays Kansas State College, spoke to a
meeting of the Lane County Historical Society in Dighton, April
8, 1957, on Kansas folklore.

Herman M. Quinius was elected president of the Wichita His-
torical Museum Association at a meeting April 11, 1957. Owen
McEwen, retiring president, was named first vice-president. Other
officers elected were: Mrs. Schuyler Jones, Jr., second vice-presi-
dent; Morris Neff, Jr., secretary; Carl Bitting, treasurer; and Mrs.
Frank Slay, curator. Elected to the board of trustees were: Brace
Helfrich, R. T. Aitchison, Bitting, Gene Combs, Bertha Gardner,
Mrs. Harry Overend, Britt Brown, Bruce Petrie, Waldo Toevs, E. L.
Meader, Mrs. Frank Grabendike, and Wilh'am Quiring. The mu-
seum was opened in its new quarters at 3751 E. Douglas, May 19.

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 223

Events included in Chetopa's 100th birthday celebration May 4,
1957, were a parade, a calf show, an Indian dance, and presentation
to the city of a plaque by George F. Lisle, honoring his father, Dr.
George Lisle, founder of Chetopa.

Fort Larned, established in 1859 as Camp Alert, was opened to
the public as a museum and place of historical interest with colorful
ceremonies May 19, 1957. Events included a sham battle between
cavalrymen and Indians, talks by political and military leaders,
including Col. Brice C. W. Custer, grand nephew of Gen. George A.
Custer, a parade of military units, unveiling of the dedicatory
plaque, and raising of the flag. To handle the maintenance and
administration of the museum the Fort Larned Historical Society
has been organized. The fort is the property of Robert Frizell.

Much of the history of printing in Topeka is included in a 64-page
booklet recently published as a 75th anniversary souvenir by Topeka
Typographical Union No. 121.

"1857 Emporia 1957," by Roger Triplett, was the featured
article in Emporia's 76-page historical booklet, published as a part
of the city's centennial observance.

A 36-page pamphlet entitled Ottawa-Kansas City Tornado, by
Joseph B. Muecke, published by the Central Press, Topeka, presents
the story and pictures of the destructive tornado of May 20, 1957.

Through the 'Years, a 50-page pamphlet by Mrs. Cecil Moore and
Joy Fox, edited by Chas. A. Knouse, was published by the Greeley
centennial committee in connection with Greeley's recent centen-
nial celebration. The townsite was selected in 1856, settlement and
building began the following year.

On August 14, 1886, the Methodist church of Hugoton was or-
ganized under the direction of the Rev. A. P. George. The history
of this church was recently published in a 10-page pamphlet. The
Rev. Charles Brown was the first pastor.

The lives of two chiefs of the Osage Indians, Black Dog and his
son, also named Black Dog, are reviewed in Tillie Karns Newman's
new 221-page book, The Black Dog Trail, published by the Christo-
pher Publishing House, Boston.

224 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

B. Smith Haworth is the author of a recently published 174-page
history of Ottawa University entitled Ottawa University: Its History
and Its Spirit. The first classes were held in 1866, although efforts
to start the school had begun several years before. The book was
published by the Allen Press, Lawrence.

Earning the Right to Do Fancywork is described by the author,
Kunigunde Duncan (Mrs. Bliss Isely), as an informal biography of
Mrs. Ida Eisenhower. It is a 38-page booklet published by the
University of Kansas Press in 1957.

THE

KANSAS HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY

Autumn 1957

Published by

Kansas State Historical Society

Topeka

NYLE H. MILLER KIRKE MECHEM JAMES C. MALIN

Managing Editor Editor Associate Editor

CONTENTS

PAGE

THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION: An Analysis of Its Mem-
bership Robert W. Johannsen, 225

With picture of Gen. John Calhoun, facing p. 240, and photograph of portion of
first page of the Lecompton constitution, facing p. 241.

THE ORIGINAL LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION RETURNS TO KANSAS AFTER

100 YEARS 244

THOMAS BENTON MURDOCH AND WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE

Rolla A. Clymer, 248

With portraits of Thomas Benton Murdock and William Allen White, facing p. 256.

THE STORY OF FORT LARNED William E. Unrau, 257

With a sketch of Fort Larned (1867) and a photograph (1886), facing p. 272, and
a facsimile of first page of The Plains, an 1865 Fort Larned newspaper, facing
p. 273.
NOTES ON Two KANSAS IMPEACHMENTS: Josiah Hayes, 1874, and Theo-

dosius Botkin, 1891 Cortez A. M. Ewing, 281

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS: The James A. Lord Chicago Dramatic
Company, 1869-1871. (In two installments, Part One)

James C. Malin, 298

BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 324

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 326

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 333

Entered as second-class matter October 22, 1931, at the post office at To-
peka, Kan., under the act of August 24, 1912.

THE COVER

An Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe inspection train
near the end of track, 50 miles west of Dodge City, in
the fall of 1872.

The blurred appearance of the man on horseback was
caused by movement of his mount while the time ex-
posure was being made. Perhaps to his surprise, the
photographer came up with an excellent silhouette of
himself and camera.

THE KANSAS
HISTORICAL aUARTERLY

Volume XXIII Autumn, 1957 . Number 3

The Lecompton Constitutional Convention:
An Analysis of Its Membership

ROBERT W. JOHANNSEN

DURING the latter years of the decade preceding the Civil War,
the town of Lecompton, Kansas territory, received a notoriety
that completely belied its humble and dusty existence. Its name
became a byword in political controversy. Spread across news-
paper columns from coast to coast and hurled forth by countless
political speakers, the town's name came to symbolize one of the
most significant developments in a growing sectional conflict. An
already declining Presidential administration was further weakened,
an additional gash was torn in a great national political party and
the Union itself was brought closer to the brink of destruction by
the events which Lecompton symbolized.

On December 8, 1857, President James Buchanan, in his first
message to congress, reviewed in calm and approving tones the
recent events in Kansas. A constitutional convention had assembled
and had drafted a state constitution that promised to settle all the
difficulties for which Kansas had become notorious. That the consti-
tution to which Buchanan referred did not settle these difficulties,
but on the contrary, created new and insurmountable ones, has be-
come one of the grim and inescapable facts of the pre-Civil War
decade.

On the following day, December 9, Stephen A. Douglas, senator
from Illinois and author of the act which created Kansas territory,
exploded in a three-hour address to the senate. The action of the
convention was, he charged, "a mockery and insult," "a system of
trickery and jugglery," and the fight was on. In the resulting melee,
the Kansans who had participated in the convention, innocent of
the reactions that would greet their efforts, were denounced and
maligned. Few groups of frontier politicians and state makers
have suffered more at the hands of their contemporaries and later

DR. ROBERT W. JOHANNSEN, associate professor of history at the University of Kansas,
Lawrence, is currently on leave at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, as visiting lecturer
in history.

(225)

226 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

historians than the members of the constitutional convention that
assembled in Lecompton one hundred years ago.

Lecompton, Kansas territory, was at the height of its prosperity in
1857. Laid out in the spring of 1855 on the south bank of the
Kansas river about 50 miles above its confluence with the Missouri
river, the town was named for Judge Samuel D. Lecompte, one
of the first justices on the territorial supreme court and member of
the original town company. In August, 1855, the territorial legis-
lature designated Lecompton the capital of the territory, and for
the next few years the town served as the headquarters for the
Proslavery element in Kansas. With a population of one thousand
or more in 1857, the town boasted a half dozen dry goods stores,
a school, four churches, three hotels (described as "roomy" in the
local press), and a livery stable, besides the land office, the sur-
veyor-general's office, the capitol, and the United States court.
Lots in the center of town were priced from $500 to $1,000 each.

The local newspaper editor reported that the town was in the
throes of rapid and unrestrained growth; the din and clatter of the
hammer, plane, and saw prevented quiet concentration. Lecomp-
ton already had direct stage and express connections with all parts
of the territory and steamboats plied the Kansas river. A bridge
soon to be constructed across the Kansas river would put the town
on the shortest route between the Missouri and the High Plains. 1
The correspondent of an Eastern newspaper more realistically ob-
served that Lecompton was "not particularly progressive," owing
its trade "more to the fact that it is the seat of Government than to
any advantage of location." 2

In February, 1857, the Kansas territorial legislature passed a bill
providing for a convention to frame a state constitution, to meet
in Lecompton on the first Monday of the following September.
Delegates to the convention were to be apportioned among the
counties on the basis of a special census of voters carried out by the
sheriffs and supervised by the local county officials. The election of
delegates was scheduled for June. The bill was vetoed by Gov.
John W. Geary in one of his last acts in office but was promptly
passed over his veto. 3

1. A. T. Andreas and W. G. Cutler, History of the State of Kansas (Chicago, 1883),
p. 351; Lecompton Union, April 11, 1857.

2. New York Times, June 6, 1857. One young settler of antislavery proclivities described
Lecompton, "The only proslavery town in Kansas that flourishes is Lecompton, and that is
built up entirely by the patronage of Uncle Sam. The only business places besides one or
two stores are lawyers' shops and grogshops and the United States Land Office." John
Everett to his father, September 18, 1857, "Letters of John and Sarah Everett, 1854-1864:
Miami County Pioneers," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 8 (August, 1939),
p. 285.

3. The bill calling a constitutional convention was passed in response to the decision
of the voters at the previous territorial election, when the question of forming a state consti-
tution was approved by a decisive majority. The free-soil element in the territory, however,
had boycotted this election and did not vote.

THE LECOMPTON CONVENTION 227

The bill met the immediate hostility of the antislavery group in
the territory. Governor Geary reflected this opposition in his veto
message. Not only was the statehood movement premature, 4 in
his opinion, but the apparatus for taking the census and registering
the voters was faulty, being entirely in the hands of county officials
appointed by the Proslavery legislature. Finally, he maintained,
the failure of the legislature to insist on the submission of the con-
stitution to a popular vote constituted a breach of legislative re-
sponsibility. When the secretary of the territory, Frederick P.
Stan ton, issued a proclamation in May setting forth the apportion-
ment of delegates to the convention, further cries of opposition were
heard from the Free-State camp. The census for the apportionment
of delegates to the convention was not taken in many of the interior
counties, where Free-State sentiment was strong. Out of an esti-
mated 20,000 adult males in Kansas, only slightly more than 9,000
were registered. Since the population of the territory was heaviest
in the eastern counties, these areas secured the largest number of
delegates. Thirty-seven out of the 60 delegates were to be elected
from counties bordering on Missouri, thus assuring, the free-soilers
maintained, a thoroughly Proslavery body. T. Dwight Thacher,
editor of the Lawrence Republican, expressed the point of view of
the antislavery group when he wrote,

A corrupt, bogus concern, calling itself the Legislature of Kansas, but in
reality a creation of fraud and violence, passes an act over the Governor's veto
for taking a census and registry, and holding an election for delegates to a
constitutional convention. That act is framed with cunning malignity for the
express purpose of defrauding the great mass of people of any voice in making
the constitution. . . . Nearly half of the counties of the Territory are left
off of the returns. . . . The sixty delegates are all apportioned, and the
Missouri River districts, where a pro-slavery victory has been made sure, get
thirty-seven out of the sixty.

He urged all Free-State men to ignore this election as they had
previous territorial elections, in the hope that "no Congress will dare
to admit Kansas with a constitution based upon a representation in
which half the Territory had no part." 5 Thacher's advice was en-
dorsed by a convention of Free-State men at Topeka just three days
before election day.

4. Much was made of the "prematurity" of this statehood movement in the arguments
condemning the action of the legislature. Later historians have reiterated this argument
without taking into consideration the fact that statehood movements had been organized in
territories with smaller populations and that the free-soil group in Kansas had already written
a state constitution and appealed to congress for admission as a state.

5. Lawrence Republican, June 11, 1857. The editor of one of the Proslavery journals
in the territory, himself a candidate for the convention, admitted that the census was faulty,
but maintained that the fault lay with the Free-State men who refused to co-operate with
the census takers. Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, June 13, 1857.

228 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The election for the 60 delegates to the constitutional convention
was thus a one-sided affair. The Democratic party organizations on
the county level, dominated by Proslavery men, nominated candi-
dates and in most counties these tickets were unopposed. In some
of the counties independent slates were presented in opposition to
the Proslavery tickets, but these tickets, if they did not fall apart
before election day, secured almost no votes. In Leaven worth and
Douglas counties, for example, Free-State Democrats attempted
without success to oppose the Proslavery leadership in the regular
party organizations. 6 Only slightly more than 2,000 voters partici-
pated in the election, less than one fourth the total number of voters
registered in the census and only one tenth of the estimated adult
population; the Proslavery tickets were in all cases successful. 7 The
election was denounced as a sham by the Free-State elements in the
territory but the men elected to the convention approached the task
of constitution-making with seriousness and a great sense of re-
sponsibility. The one-sided nature of the election caused some
feelings of apprehension among Proslavery men in the territory, 8
but for the most part they were confident of the election's legality.

The members of the constitutional convention gathered in Le-
compton during the first week in September, 1857. The town was
transformed. Not only delegates, but also newspaper correspond-
ents and interested bystanders taxed the facilities of the community.
The correspondent of the New York Herald, dispatched to Le-
compton just to cover the convention, described the scene:
Although the Constitutional Convention . . . has brought to this miserable
little town a large number of people some of them of the most excitable
character everything goes on quietly and peaceably. There has been so far
no disturbance. . . . There are two small inns here, not capable of ac-
commodating properly one-fifth of the number of people that are registered as
guests. But the most is made of every apartment in these houses. As many
beds and cots as can be got into a room are laid down, and as many persons
as they can possibly hold are squeezed into each of them. But still many lie
about the bar rooms and even under the trees and it is customary to consign
to the barn such as are not otherwise provided for. There is not a private
habitation in the town large enough to admit of renting an apartment. 9

6. Lecompton Union, June 12, 1857; Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, June 13,
1857; New York Times, June 25, 1857.

7. The lightness of the vote was explained by one Proslavery editor: "The vote is small
but it would have been much larger if our friends had thought there was any show for the
opposition ticket. They knew it would be defeated, and hence they made no effort to bring
their friends to the polls." Kansas Weekly Herald, June 20, 1857. Sen. William Bigler or
Pennsylvania, visiting in Kansas during the election, reported that many voters were in-
different to the election of delegates, confident that they would be able to vote on the
ratification or rejection of the constitution that resulted. Clearfield (Pa.) Republican, July
21, 1857, quoted in Kansas Weekly Herald, August 15, 1857.

8. The correspondent of the St. Louis Missouri Democrat wrote, "The Pro-Slavery
residents are greatly discomfited, and declare that the Free-State men are a 'd d stubborn
set of people'," quoted in the New York Times, June 27, 1857.

9. New York Herald, September 19, 1857.

THE LECOMPTON CONVENTION 229

The delegates opened their convention in a simple two-story frame
building on September 7 and remained in session for four days.
After electing permanent officers and choosing a slate of committees,
they adjourned until the 19th of October. One of the delegates, a
newspaper editor, explained that the adjournment had been carried
to give the committees time to gather and examine information and
to save the members money. "No rooms could be obtained at
Lecompton," he wrote, "for the sitting of the different committees.
With all these disadvantages it could not be expected that members
were willing to remain there and pay $14 per week for board." 10

The comments of the Free-State press in the territory on the
adjournment were probably closer to the truth. An election for
territorial delegate to congress and for members of the territorial
legislature was scheduled for the first week in October. The newly-
arrived territorial governor, Robert J. Walker, had made repeated
assurances that this election would be a fair and impartial one. As
a result, the Free-State group, meeting in a convention at Grass-
hopper Falls in late August, pledged their participation in the elec-
tion. With the prospect that the October election would be the first
in the territory in which all parties participated, the hopes of the
Proslavery element for continued domination in the territorial
government dimmed. The Lecompton convention, it was said, had
adjourned until after the results of the election should be known.
Its deliberations, particularly with regard to the submission of the
constitution to the electorate for ratification, would depend upon
the political complexion of the territory after the election. 11

The election resulted in a Free-State triumph. Marcus J. Parrott,
the Free-State candidate for delegate to congress, won over his
opponent, former Michigan governor Epaphroditus Ransom, by a
decisive majority. After Governor Walker threw out the election
returns from two voting areas as being fraudulent, the Free-State
group counted majorities in both houses of the territorial legislature.
Thus the cause of the Proslavery Lecompton constitutional conven-
tion was lost before it got under way. The delegates became aware
that no constitution which they could produce would possibly be
endorsed by the voters and some feared that congress might reject
their constitution if it were not submitted to the electorate for
approval. There were rumors that the delegates would resign their
positions and abandon the statehood movement. 12 However, the

10. Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, September 26, 1857.

11. Lawrence Republican, September 10, 17, 1857; New York Herald, September 22,
1857.

12. Ibid. A mass meeting of the Free-State supporters was held in Lecompton on
October 19 to protest against the reassembling of the convention.

230 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

dilemma in which some of the delegates may have found themselves
as they reassembled in Lecompton in October did not concern them
for long. Many recognized instead a new urgency in their labors;
the last hope for establishing slavery in Kansas now resided in the
Lecompton movement.

The members of the Lecompton convention were denounced in
1857 by the Free-State supporters, and they have been generally
condemned by subsequent generations of historians. To the editor
of the Lawrence Republican, the convention was a "plug-ugly" or
"felon" convention and its members were "lawless malefactors." l3
A meeting of Free-State men at Big Springs in late November de-
nounced the proceedings of the convention as the "sublimated
essence of all villainies" and the authors of the new constitution as
"traitors and villains, fit only for the association of robbers and
outlaws." 14 Preston B. Plumb, editor of the strongly antislavery
Kanzas News, of Emporia, described the convention as a "conclave
of broken-down political hacks, demagogues, fire-eaters, perjurers,
ruffians, ballot-box stuff ers, and loafers." Under the heading "The
Roll of Infamy" he listed the members of the convention and for
some of them provided brief thumb-nail sketches in the most un-
complimentary language. 15 William Phillips, the correspondent of
Horace Greeley's New York Tribune, emphasized the "grotesque"
appearance and intemperate drinking habits of the delegates. 16 But
the peak of invective came from the pen of the correspondent for a
New Hampshire newspaper:

A more incongruous mass of heterogeneous materials than this said Convention,
it has never been my lot to meet. I do verily believe that if the Messrs. Fowler
of New York City were to come out here and take casts of the heads of the
delegates, they would make such a splendid addition to their phrenologic
museum of "busts of distinguished criminals" as could be procured under no
other circumstances. The low, retreating foreheads the red, inflamed eyes;
the bulging development of animalism at the back of the cranium, eclipsed
everything I have heretofore seen or ever again hope to see. You might rake
the purlieus of the "Five Points" of New York City to their very dregs, but you
could find nothing whose characteristics of depravity were more marked than
those of the men who have usurped the office of law-makers of the people of
Kansas. . . .

Faces so much like snakes you could hear their sibilant hisses.

Faces like trodden worms, beseeching you to let them wriggle to their holes.

Faces like a tormented conscience, livid with rage, and purple with the pains
of hell.

13. Lawrence Republican, December 3, 10, 1857.

14. Ibid., December 10, 1857.

15. Kanzas News, Emporia, November 21, 1857.

16. New York Tribune, November 6, 19, 1857.

THE LECOMPTON CONVENTION 231

Faces like the concentrated essence of all meanness and all scoundrelism;
faces which struck a chill to your heart like death.

Such are the faces of some of those who are to draft a State Constitution for
the government of the people of Kansas. 17

The Proslavery press in both the territory and the South devoted
little space to a discussion of the character of the convention mem-
bership. To this element, the convention was a regularly constituted
body, legally elected, and differing but little from other such bodies
in other territories.

Against the great body of denunciation emanating from the Free-
State spokesmen, the description of the convention by Samuel G.
Reid, editor of the Proslavery Tecumseh Note Book and a member
of that body, seemed pitiful and ineffectual. "Of one thing we
cannot be mistaken," Reid wrote, "rarely have so able, zealous, and
commanding a body of men, young and old, presided over the or-
ganization of a sovereign State of the American Union." But Reid
continued, "The rights of the South can, shall, and must be main-
tained." 18 John Calhoun, elected president of the convention,
reiterated these sentiments in his opening address: "I think that the
character of the members of this convention over which I have the
honor to preside, ought to give the world assurance that their de-
liberations will result, not merely in the settlement of difficulties
here, but in the settlement of the question as to whether this Union
shall continue. . . ." 19

Some of the venom of the Free-State men fell upon the town of
Lecompton. As the center of Proslavery influence in the territory,
the community had never enjoyed a high degree of popularity with
the antislavery group. 20 As the meeting place of the constitutional
convention, the town became the target of additional verbal abuse.
The correspondent of the New York Tribune, who seldom failed to
mention the drinking habits of the Proslavery men in his dispatches,
referred to Lecompton as "this celebrated whisky-drinking capital"
and reported that on election day "the grog-shops were closed in
Lecompton, which well-nigh amounted to a total abolition of the
business of the place for the time being." 21 Preston Plumb's Kanzas

17. Kansas correspondence of the Concord (N. H.) Independent Democrat, quoted in
Lawrence Republican, October 8, 1857.

18. Tecumseh Note Book, September 18, 1857.

19. Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, September 19, 1857.

20. The New York Times correspondent wrote of Lecompton in May, 1857, "Being
recognized throughout the Territory as the rendezvous the point d'appui of the 'Border
Ruffians' its social reputation in the Free State towns is not peculiarly flattering. So far
as I have seen it, however, I feel called upon to say that a more friendly, generous, warm-
hearted and intelligent people than that of this same Lecompton I have not met since my
entrance into Kansas," June 6, 1857.

21. New York Tribune, October 8, 15, 1857.

232 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

New s described the assembling of the convention delegates in Le-
compton after the adjournment:

It's the meanest town that ever was manufactured for a speculation. It's one
of the towns we read of. In the summer time it is overrun with rattlesnakes,
most of the fall and spring by mud, and by loafers and land sharks all seasons
of the year. ... It ought to be good for the Constitution to sit and hear
them [the delegates], for I declare to patience, Job couldn't keep from laughing.
. /> . They have been here just ten days since the adjournment, and have
done so near nothing that I can't tell the difference. The first four days were
spent without a quorum, in swearing against the absentees, making big mouths
at all Governors and Secretaries, and drinking all the whisky they could get
on credit or in treats from those who wanted to take care of the constitutions
of the delegates rather than the constitution of the future State. 22

To the editor of the Lawrence Republican, Lecompton was "the
citadel of usurpers of the rights and powers of a harrassed and down-
trodden people/' 23

Most historians of the pre-Civil War decade have shown a ten-
dency to continue in the tradition of denunciation established by the
antislavery press in the 1850's, probably because the most complete,
although at the same time the most biased, reports of the convention
proceedings were those of the antislavery newspaper correspond-
ents. In 1948 Roy Franklin Nichols, in his Pulitzer Prize winning
Disruption of American Democracy, dismissed the membership of
the Lecompton convention with the comment that it was

composed of poor material. Its members were largely ignorant, unstable,
frontier adventurers, too often drunk. Though the convention officially num-
bered sixty, a large part were irregular in attendance and inattentive when
present . . . the manner of conducting business was slovenly in the ex-
treme. 24

Two years later, Allan Nevins, in his study of the controversial 1850's,
relied heavily on the New York Tribune and Plumb's Kanzas News
for his descriptions of the convention members. "Any critic of
democracy," Nevins maintained, "who wished to indict its American
workings would have done well to attend the constitutional con-
vention which sat at Lecompton in the fall of 1857." By far the
greater majority of delegates, according to Nevins, were "ignorant,
semi-illiterate, and prejudiced men." 25 In 1956 Nevins wrote that
the convention delegates were "a handful of ignorant, reckless, semi-
drunken settlers . . . led by a few desperadoes of politics

22. Kanzas News, Emporia, November 7, 1857.

23. Lawrence Republican, December 10, 1857.

24. Roy Franklin Nichols, The Disruption of American Democracy (New York, 1948),
p. 121.

25. Allan Nevins, The Emergence of Lincoln (2 vols., New York, 1950), v. 1, p. 229.

THE LECOMPTON CONVENTION 233

. . . the shabbiest conclave of its kind ever held on American
soil." 26

What were these delegates to the Lecompton convention really
like? Was the vituperation levelled against the meeting by the
antislavery press justified by the character of the members them-
selves? Was this convention any more "shabby" in its composition
than other such frontier political meetings? The answers to these
questions are not easily available. Many of the men who sat at
Lecompton in the fall of 1857 have slipped into almost complete
obscurity. Most of them left Kansas following the convention when
it was apparent that their cause had been lost. 27

One eastern newspaper correspondent who attended the opening
of the deliberations in September, 1857, reported that the Lecomp-
ton convention differed but little from similar conventions in other
parts of the country:

As to the personnel of the Convention, I have nothing unfavorable to say. It
differed not at all from the usual construction of party conventions in New York
and elsewhere. There was the usual supply of bores men who will talk,
though it be nonsense, and will make speeches which no one wants to hear,
which few can understand, and which tax the ingenuity of the reporter to shape
into correct English. There were also pretentious young lawyers innumerable,
and several equally pretentious young editors. And finally, there was a large
proportion of farmers and country shopkeepers, (merchants they call them-
selves) few of whom were talkers, while some of them were practical business
men and not unused to the work of political conventions. It was, altogether,
a body of ordinary respectability; but it struck me as being one little qualified
to frame an organic law or perform a work of such immense responsibility and
requiring so much legal, political, and historical knowledge. One of two of the
delegates only appeared to me to be so qualified. The rest might do very well
for county conventions or even for State Legislature, but were rather out of
their sphere in a convention to frame a constitution. 28

An examination of the membership of the convention bears out this
conclusion.

Although the number of delegates actually participating in the
proceedings varied from time to time, a total of 55 out of the 60
elected were present at one time or another. Only 45 of these
signed the finished constitution. Five of the elected delegates never
appeared in Lecompton. Like most frontier political conventions,
the Lecompton convention was primarily a gathering of young men.

26. Allan Nevins, "The Needless Conflict," American Heritage, New York, v. 7, No. 5
(August, 1956), pp. 6, 88.

27. An examination of the 1860 census schedules for Kansas has revealed that 41 out
of the 55 members who attended the deliberations were not residing in Kansas during that
year. At least two of these were deceased by 1860; two others were living in the Colorado
mining country.

i , 28 v New Yo , rk Herald > September 22, 1857. The reports of the Herald correspondent,
although more objective in their tone, have been ignored by most historians in favor of the
fiery antislavery accounts of the New York Tribune.

234 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Thirty-seven members were below 40 years of age and 18 of these
were in their 20's; only nine members were over 50. The youngest
delegate was Batt. Jones, 21 years of age, representing Johnson
county, although residing in Westport, Mo. The eldest was Dr.
Blake Little, a Fort Scott physician, 64 years old. The delegates
were almost wholly from slave states. Only 12 members had been
born in free states and only six had resided in free states before
migrating to Kansas. More delegates had been born in Kentucky
than in any other state; Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee followed
in that order. A majority of the members originated in the border
region, both slave and free, of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, the
area that contributed the most to the peopling of the West and
represented a stronghold of conservatism during the sectional con-
flict. 29 In occupation, there were more farmers in the convention
than any other group, followed by lawyers, merchants, newspaper
editors, and physicians. 30

Politically, the Lecompton convention, with some exceptions, was
a conservative body. Thirty-four of its members were Democrats
and seven still called themselves Whigs, in spite of the fact that the
Whig party by 1857 had disappeared as a political force. Twenty
had been Whigs before their arrival in Kansas. The remaining
members employed such labels as Proslavery, State Rights, Ultra
Southern Rights, Nullifier, and Ultra Democrat to describe their
political affiliations. 31

All the members were Proslavery in their sympathies and at least
seven of them were, or had been, slave owners. 32 One of these, a
Leavenworth county farmer named Jesse Connell, expressed the
views of the majority of his colleagues when he argued that since
slavery already existed in the territory, the convention should "recog-
nize the institution as it now exists and throw around it the same
safeguards that they would any other vested property."

Having been born and raised in Kentucky [he continued], having owned
slaves all my life, unfortunately for me perhaps, I have always considered the

29. The places of birth of the convention delegates were as follows: Kentucky 18,
Virginia 7, Georgia 6, Tennessee 5, Pennsylvania 4, Missouri 2, Ohio 2, Alabama 2, North
Carolina 2, Indiana 1, Iowa 1, Massachusetts 1, New York 1, South Carolina 1, Illinois 1,
and Michigan 1. Not all of the delegates had come to Kansas directly from the states of
their births. Thirty-eight of them had resided in Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and
Illinois immediately before their arrival in Kansas.

30. Farmers 21, lawyers 11, merchants 8, newspaper editors 6, physicians 5, and
mechanic, surveyor, stone mason, and carpenter, 1 each.

31. The statistical information dealing with the age, birthplace, residence before Kansas,
occupation, and political affiliation of each of the members has in large part been drawn
from a table in the New York Tribune, November 19, 1857. This table was based on writ-
ten statements from each of the delegates.

32. J. H. Barlow, Jesse Connell, Rush Elmore, Blake Little, William Mathews, John M.
Wallace, and William Walker. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 7 (1901-1902), pp. 238-
240, v. 10 (1907-1908), p. 184; Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, June 13, 1857;
"Kansas Territorial Census, 1855" (manuscript returns in Kansas State Historical Society).

THE LECOMPTON CONVENTION 235

system a good one and that the condition of the slave is preferable to that of
the free negro. I should always be opposed to the admission of free negroes
into the Territory, as a free negro population is conceded to be worthless by all
intelligent and thinking men, both at the North and South. 33

The antipathy toward the free Negro in Kansas was not limited to
the Proslavery group but had been expressed as well by the Free-
State men in their earlier Topeka statehood movement. Not only
were the Proslavery attitudes of Kansans in 1857 justified by racial
arguments but they were also supported by an appeal to economic
considerations. The large majority of the Kansas population, wrote
one correspondent, was desirous only of "promoting their individual
wealth and the general prosperity of the Territory. If they were
of opinion that the establishment of slavery in the Territory were
more calculated to produce that end, there would be undoubtedly
a large majority in favor thereof without any reference to politics;
and vice versa." 34 This notion that slavery was simply a matter
of "dollars and cents" was a typical frontier attitude toward the
institution. 35

Although occupying the same general Proslavery position, the
delegates expressed differing opinions regarding the advisability of
imposing the institution on Kansas against the will the people,
especially after the October elections indicated a Free-State ma-
jority in the territory. The conservatism of the convention was
ruffled by a small group of Proslavery fanatics. Three Georgia-born
delegates, Lucius Boling, a Lecompton attorney described as "the
finest looking man of the lot, tall, with dark hair and eyes, and con-
siderable talent"; 86 Joshua H. Danforth, correspondent of the
Charleston Mercury, "a dangerous foe and a devoted partizan"; 37
and Batt. Jones, who was in correspondence with Ho well Cobb,
Buchanan's secretary of the treasury, during the sitting of the con-
vention, 38 together with William H. Jenkins of South Carolina, led
those who argued that Kansas must be made a slave state at all
hazards. Of this group, the correspondent of the St. Louis Missouri
Republican, a Democratic newspaper, wrote,

They are as fanatic in their views as the ultra Massachusetts abolitionists,
and equally as honest in avowing their purposes and objects, that they would
as soon see the Union dissolved as not see Kansas admitted as a slave State.

33. Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, June 13, 1857.

34. New York Herald, September 19, 1857.

35. See Robert W. Johannsen, Frontier Politics and the Sectional Conflict: The Pacific
Northwest on the Eve of the Civil War (Seattle, 1955), ch. 2.

36. Kanzas News, Emporia, November 21, 1857.

37. Ibid.

38. Howell Cobb to Alexander H. Stephens, October 9, 1857, Ulrich B. Phillips, ed.,
The Correspondence of Robert Toombs, Alexander H. Stephens, and Howell Cobb, Annual
Report of the American Historical Association 1911 (Washington, 1913), v. 2, p. 424.

236 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

With the exception of Boiling of Douglas (who is young and talented) there
is not a leader of the ultra proslavery interest on the floor of the Convention who
will come up to mediocrity. They are a burlesque, in my opinion, upon South-
ern statesmanship.

Of the rest of the delegates, this correspondent reported, "Much the
largest portion of the Convention are proslavery in sentiment, but
conservative in their political action . . . and, I think, with a
single exception, they have all or most of the talent in that body." 39
The New York Herald correspondent supported this conclusion.
By 1857, he reported, the conviction was growing in Kansas, even
among the Proslavery men, that slavery would not enhance the local
economy. From an intimate acquaintance with the delegates, he
wrote, "you would find that most of them, particularly responsible
settlers and property holders, while they had 'slave State' on their
lips had 'free State' in their hearts/' The few extremists, he con-
tinued, "are men who came here on principle, and who stand ready
to vacate Kansas so soon as that principle is defeated." 40

As in many frontier political conventions, the members of the
Lecompton meeting had little previous political experience, and for
most of them, service in the convention was to be their last excursion
into local politics. 41 Seventeen of the delegates had been, or were
at the time, either members of the Kansas territorial legislature, 42
or officers in their county governments. 43 A large proportion of them
were active in the territorial Democratic party organization. 44

Three of the most prominent members of the convention were
William Walker, John Calhoun, and Rush Elmore. Walker, a
member of the Wyandotte Indian nation, had resided in Kansas

39. Correspondence of the St. Louis Missouri Republican, quoted in New York Herald,
November 17, 1857.

40. New York Herald, September 22, 1857. . ,r

41. There are some exceptions, Jesse Connell, a life-long slave owner, was elected to
Kansas' first state legislature; James Adkins later became a member of the Missouri state
legislature; Thomas Jefferson Key was elected to the Arkansas state legislature; and Isaac
Hascall put his experience in the Lecompton convention to good use as a member of the
Nebraska constitutional convention, later becoming a member of the Nebraska legislature.
Kansas Historical Collections, v. 10 (1907-1908), p. 238; Atchison Daily Globe, July 10,
1909; Wirt Armistead Gate, ed., Two Soldiers: The Campaign Diaries of Thomas J. Key,
C.S.A., and Robert J. Campbell, U.S.A. (Chapel Hill, 1948), p. 4; "Kansas Biographical
Scrapbooks, H," v. 10, pp. 167-172 (Kansas State Historical Society).

42. James Adkins, Harrison Butcher, Cyrus Dolman, Lucian Eastin, William Heiskell,
William Jenkins, James Kuykendall, Blake Little, David Lykins, John W. Martin, and Hugh
M. Moore. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 10 (1907-1908), pp. 170, 208; Daniel Webster
Wilder, The Annals of Kansas, 1541-1885 (Topeka, 1886), pp. 60, 61, 140, 149.

43. James Adkins, Alexander Bayne, Harrison Butcher, Cyrus Dolman, William Heiskell,
Samuel Kookagee, James Kuykendall, Claiborne R. Mobley, John S. Randolph, M. Pierce
Rively and Hiero Wilson. Kuykendall had been sheriff of Platte county, Missouri, for four
years before moving to Kansas. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 10 (1907-1908), pp. 208,
648; Andreas and Cutler, op. cit., pp. 311, 422, 521, 941, 1071, 1304; George A. Root,
"Ferries in Kansas," Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 2 (November, 1933), p. 358; "Col-
lected Biography, Clippings," v. 1, p. 38 (Kansas State Historical Society).

44. Nineteen of the members of the Lecompton constitutional convention sat as dele-
gates in a convention of the "National Democratic" party of Kansas territory, held at
Lecompton during the summer of 1857. Kansas National Democrat, Lecompton, July 30,
1857.

THE LECOMPTON CONVENTION 237

since 1843 when his tribe was removed from the Ohio valley to a
small reservation at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri
rivers. Born in Michigan and educated at Kenyon College in Ohio,
Walker had owned slaves since 1847. In 1853 he was elected gov-
ernor of the provisional government of "Nebraska territory," a nebu-
lous organization promoted by certain members of the emigrant
Indian tribes to safeguard their interests west of the Missouri river. 45
Although to the Free-State men, Walker was "completely broken
down by intemperance," his election to the convention was a source
of gratification to some in the area. One editor wrote,

Aside from his known and acknowledged ability, it is but right that the red
men should have one of their own race in the convention which frames the
organic law for the State of Kansas. They have a deep interest in the results of
this constitutional movement, and need a representative bound to them by
blood as well as by friendship ... it will be the first instance in our
history where the Indian participated in enacting the fundamental laws of a
civilized Stated

John Calhoun was the most controversial of the members of the
Lecompton convention. As surveyor-general of Kansas and Ne-
braska territories, with headquarters at Lecompton, Calhoun had
come to be regarded as the real power in the territorial government.
Although a New Englander by birth, he had spent his entire life in
Illinois where he became a close personal friend of both Abraham
Lincoln, to whom he taught surveying, and Stephen A. Douglas,
whose cause he served in local Illinois politics. He had been a
member of the Illinois state legislature, mayor of Springfield for
three terms and an unsuccessful candidate for congress before he
was appointed to office in Kansas territory in 1854. Calhoun was
elected president of the convention, a wise choice according to one
correspondent who described him as "a discreet, conservative man
. . . a gentleman of profound talents, and broad, liberal and
comprehensive views." 47 To a second correspondent, he was "a
clever democratic manager, a shrewd politician, and an astute and
energetic laborer in the cause of conservative democracy." 48 He
was regarded in the territory as a champion of the Proslavery cause.
"Born and raised in the North," wrote one local editor, "his sym-
pathies are all with the South, and he is to-day stronger on the

45. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 9 (1905-1906), p. 85. See, also, William E.
Connelley, The Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory, Proceedings and Collections of
the Nebraska State Historical Society (Lincoln, 1899), series 2, v. 3.

46. Kanzas News, Emporia, November 21, 1857; Kansas City (Mo.) Enterprise, June
13, 1857.

47. Correspondence of the St. Louis Missouri Republican, quoted in New York Herald,
November 17, 1857.

48. New York Times, September 17, 1857.

238 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

slavery question than one half of those born and raised in the
South." 49 For the same reason, the Free-State element looked
upon Calhoun with contempt. Preston Plumb described him as "a
choice specimen of the genus homo known as political demagogue
. < . . his principal aim has been to advance ruffianism, annoy the
Free State men, drink bad liquor and do the smallest amount of
work possible." 50 Much of the criticism of the Lecompton con-
vention was heaped on Calhoun and his reputation and career was
one of the principal casualties of the Lecompton movement.

Rush Elmore, "a keen party leader, an acute, high-minded, and
well-disposed Southern Democrat," 51 was conceded even by the
Free-State press to be a man of outstanding ability. An Alabaman
by birth, Elmore had served in the Mexican War and practiced law
in Montgomery in partnership with William Lowndes Yancey before
being appointed by President Pierce to the supreme court of Kan-
sas territory. He moved to Kansas shortly after his appointment
with his family and 14 slaves, becoming one of the original pro-
prietors of the town of Tecumseh in Shawnee county. Removed
from office in the fall of 1855 because of alleged speculation in
Indian lands, Elmore was reappointed to the supreme court by
President Buchanan, and remained in this office until Kansas was
admitted to the Union as a state in January, 1861. Even Plumb
admitted that he was "decidedly the most talented of his profession
ever appointed to office in Kanzas," although he hastily added that
Elmore was nonetheless "unscrupulous and designing ... a
schemer [whose] physiognomy expresses a mixture of cunning and
intellect, vigor and weakness, and animal passions, restrained by
a desire to appear decent." 52

One of the most important positions in the convention was the
chairmanship of the committee on slavery. Not only was this com-
mittee charged with the responsibility of formulating the slavery
provisions of the constitution, but it also was compelled to grapple
with the submission issue. This important post fell to Hugh M.
Moore, a young native of Georgia and a prominent Leaven worth
attorney. Moore, in addition to occupying this key chairmanship,

49. Lecompton Union, November 20, 1856.

50. Kanzas News, Emporia, November 21, 1857. Allan Nevins has accepted the Free-
State estimate of Calhoun, describing him as a man whose "limited moral stamina had been
weakened by whiskey," with "florid face, swinish eyes, and Bardolph nose" and a "drink-
fogged mind." Emergence of Lincoln, v. 1, pp. 230-233. For a brief biographical sketch
of Calhoun, see Dictionary of American Biography, v. 3, pp. 410, 411.

51. New York Times, September 17, 1857.

52. Kanzas News, Emporia, November 21, 1857. Elmore remained in Kansas, prac-
ticing law in Topeka until his death in 1864. Elmore's career is described in John Martin,
"Biographical Sketch of Judge Rush Elmore," Kansas Historical Collections, v. 8 (1903-
1904), pp. 435, 436.

THE LECOMPTON CONVENTION 239

had been elected vice-president of the convention. Calhoun, El-
more, and Moore led the submissionist forces in the convention and
were responsible, more than any others, for the final compromise of
the submission issue. 53

John Calhoun and Rush Elmore were not the only federal office
holders to have seats in the Lecompton convention. Two men in
the Indian service, Harvey Foreman and Daniel Vanderslice, were
present at the deliberations. Foreman had been employed as a
farmer for the Sac and Fox Indians in northeastern Kansas since
1844. 54 Daniel Vanderslice, a Pennsylvanian by birth and a news-
paper editor in Kentucky before he moved to Kansas, had been
appointed Indian agent to the Iowa, Sac, and Fox Indians by Presi-
dent Pierce in 1853, an appointment he held until Lincoln became
President in 1861. 55

The number of newspaper editors elected to the Lecompton con-
stitutional convention was indicative of the important role played
by the press in frontier politics. Six of the delegates were associated
in an editorial capacity with newspapers in the area. Perhaps the
best known was Lucian J. Eastin, who, on October 20, 1854, became
editor of the Kansas Weekly Herald which had been established in
Leavenworth on September 15, the first newspaper in Kansas terri-
tory. Eastin had a long journalistic career behind him, having
edited five different Missouri newspapers between 1834 and 1854.
He left his post as editor of the St. Joseph ( Mo. ) Gazette in the fall
of 1854 and crossed the river into the newly-opened Kansas terri-
tory. He identified himself immediately with his new home, helped
to locate the town of Easton and was elected to the first territorial
legislature. Although strongly Proslavery in politics, Eastin never-
theless commanded the respect of many Kansans, regardless of their
political sympathies. The Free-State Kanzas News described him
as "polite and polished, compared to the majority of his colleagues,"
but added that Eastin was nevertheless "stout, gross looking and
careless in his dress and appearance." 56 In 1859, with his cause
lost, Eastin returned to Missouri where he edited a newspaper in
Chillicothe. Much less respect was accorded one of Eastin's jour-

53. Of Moore's oratorical style, Plumb wrote, "Moore dealt much in metaphor, saved
the Union about fifty times in each speech, and folded the starry flag around him so often
that we feel sure that he wore that much abused banner all to pieces." Kanzas News,
Emporia, November 21, 1857.

54. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 16 (1923-1925), p. 729. Foreman's brother,
John W. Foreman, was a member of the Free-State Wyandotte constitutional convention in
1859.

55. Martha B. Caldwell, ed., "Records of the Squatter Association of Whftehead Dis-
trict, Doniphan County," Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 13 (February. 1944), p. 21; P. L.
Gray, Gray's Doniphan County History (Bendena, Kan., 1905), pp. 41-43.

56. Kanzas News, Emporia, November 21, 1857. For Eastin's biography, see Walter
Bickford Davis and Daniel S. Durrie, An Illustrated History of Missouri (St. Louis, 1876),
pp. 505, 506.

240 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

nalistic rivals in Leavenworth, 24-year-old John Dale Henderson,
editor of the Leavenworth Journal. Little is known of Henderson,
other than the fact that he aligned himself with the conservative
group in the convention and was later, in December, arrested for
falsifying election returns from a Leavenworth county precinct. By
1860 he had moved to Denver to participate in the gold rush there.
To hostile Free-State observers, Henderson was a "tall, coarse look-
ing man, [with a] light, freckled face, and features on which de-
votion to whisky and licentious habits are plainly written/' 57

Alfred W. Jones, editor of the Lecompton Union and one of the
delegates from Douglas county, had arrived in Kansas in 1855 at
the head of a company of colonists from his native Virginia. Only
23 years old, he described himself as a Proslavery conservative.
Jones ended his connection with the Union before the convention
met, perhaps to take up the practice of law, and left Kansas after
the defeat of the Lecompton constitution. By 1868 Jones had
returned to the East, where he edited a New Jersey newspaper. 58
Samuel Reid, a delegate from Shawnee county, edited the Pro-
slavery Tecumseh Note Book. Twenty-four years old and an Ala-
baman by birth, Reid also mixed the legal profession with his
journalistic career. Thomas Jefferson Key had been editor of a
newspaper in Tuscumbia, Ala., before he migrated with a group
of colonists to Kansas territory. In Kansas he established the
Doniphan Constitutionalist, a militant Proslavery Democratic paper.
Key soon became convinced that the South was fighting a losing
battle in Kansas; his own presses were dumped into the Missouri
river by angry free-soilers. After the defeat of the Lecompton
movement, he moved to Arkansas, where, as a member of the
Arkansas state legislature in 1860, he voted for secession. In 1862
he enlisted in the Confederate army. 59 G. W. McKown, the sixth
journalist in the convention, was one of two delegates listing West-
port, Mo., as a home address. McKown was assistant editor of the
Kansas City (Mo.) Star of Empire.

The Lecompton constitutional convention was not composed of
recent arrivals in Kansas who had no roots in the territory or interest

57. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 10 (1907-1908), p. 198; Kanzas News, Emporia,
November 21, 1857.

58. Jones was responsible for the preservation of the engrossed draft of the Lecompton
constitution. After his return to New Jersey, he presented it to the New Brunswick Historical
Club. The club in turn permitted the constitution to become a part of the collections of the
Rutgers University Library. See L. Ethan Ellis, "The Lecompton Constitution," Journal of
the Rutgers University Library, New Brunswick, N. J., v. 3 (June, 1940), pp. 57-61. In
September, 1957, the Lecompton constitution was returned to Kansas where it is now
preserved in the archives of the Kansas State Historical Society. (See pp. 244-247.)

59. See Gate, op. cit., pp. 3, 4.

60. Kanzas News, Emporia, November 21, 1857. The other resident of Westport in
the convention was Batt. Jones. Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, September 9, 1857.

Gen. John Calhoun (1806-1859), president of the Lecompton consti-
tutional convention, was a nationally-known Democrat who had been
state surveyor of Illinois and mayor of Springfield. He came to Kansas
in 1854 when President Pierce appointed him surveyor general of Kan-
sas and Nebraska.

Q. O

THE LECOMPTON CONVENTION 241

in its development. The stereotype of the Missouri "border ruffian"
invading Kansas for the sole political purpose of making Kansas a
slave state cannot be applied with accuracy to the membership in
the Lecompton body. Most of the delegates had resided in Kansas
since 1855, the year following the organization of the territory. 61 At
least seven of the members had settled in Kansas before the terri-
torial government was organized in 1854. David Lykins established
a Baptist mission among the Wea Indians in 1840, and two years
later Henry Smith, delegate from Brown and Nemaha counties,
settled in what became Johnson county, probably being connected
in some way with the Indian service. William Walker arrived in
1843 with his tribe, and in the same year, Hiero T. Wilson became
sutler at Fort Scott after serving nine years in a similar capacity at
Fort Gibson. Harvey Foreman and Daniel Vanderslice settled in
Kansas in 1844 and 1853 respectively, each holding appointments in
the Indian service. M. Pierce Rively operated a trading post near
Fort Leavenworth in 1852. 62

Many of those who gathered at Lecompton in the fall of 1857
played leading roles in the economic and social development of
Kansas territory. Ten delegates had participated in the establish-
ment of towns. Wathena, Richmond (in Nemaha county), Marys-
ville, Palmetto (later absorbed by Marysville), Easton, Tecumseh,
Iowa Point, Paola, and Fort Scott were founded either wholly or in
part by members of the Lecompton convention. 63 Two of the dele-
gates, Hiero Wilson, one of the founders of Fort Scott, and David
Lykins had been honored by the territorial legislature when counties
were organized bearing their names. Six members either incorporated
or maintained ferries on Kansas streams and three had been ap-
pointed road commissioners. 64 When the territorial legislature au-
thorized the organization of the Historical and Philosophical So-
ciety of Kansas Territory in 1855, four of the incorporators named
in the act were men who later sat in the Lecompton convention. 65
At least two of the delegates, John W. Randolph and William S.

61. The date of settlement in Kansas of the members of the convention has been
difficult to ascertain. Of the 55 members who attended the deliberations, at least 31 had
settled in Kansas by 1855 and at least 20 of these were living in Kansas in 1854.

62. WUder, Annals of Kansas, 1541-1885, p. 33; George A. Root, "Ferries in Kansas,"
loc. cit., v. 2 (August, 1933), p. 274; Kansas Historical Collections, v. 7 (1901-1902), p.
47 i ; ^ ? (1905-1906), pp. 85, 569; v. 10 (1907-1908), p. 278; v. 16 (1923-1925),
p. 729; Andreas and Cutler, op. cit., pp. 459, 1065.

63. Ibid., pp. 461, 494, 533, 881, 917, 942, 1071; Root, "Ferries in Kansas," loc. cit.,
v. 2 (May, 1933), p. 134.

o% % d " V V 2 ( ?Sfej iaiy ' 1933) pp ' 14 ' 19 ' < Ma y 1933 ^' P- 134 ' (August, 1933),
p. 278; (November, 1933), pp. 358, 359; v. 3 (February, 1934), pp. 22, 38.

T 65 - William Walker, David Lykins, James Kuykendall, and Lucian J. Eastin. See
James C. Mahn, 'Notes on the Writing of General Histories of Kansas," Kansas Historical
Quarterly, v. 21 (Spring, 1955), p. 339.

1723

242 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Wells, had been preachers; David Lykins had been a missionary
among the emigrant Indians. 66

Few of the members conformed to the popular conception of a
"border ruffian" and some had actually suffered violence at the
hands of Free-State individuals. Batt. Jones and G. W. McKown,
the two delegates from Johnson county who resided in Missouri,
probably came closest to being "border ruffians/' Batt. Jones had
the additional distinction of being an election judge at the Oxford
precinct in Johnson county during the October territorial elections
where over a thousand fraudulent votes were cast. The Kanzas
News described the 21-year-old Jones as "the beau ideal of a bully
. . . Desperate looking, loud voiced and reckless, looks a char-
acter that we should not desire to meet on a dark night if our purse
was well lined/' 67 Two of the members, James Adkins and Jarrett
Todd, had participated in the organization of the Platte County
(Missouri) Self -Defensive Association in July, 1854, but each of
them, unlike some others in the association, settled in Kansas shortly
afterward and became identified with their new homes. John W.
Martin was captain of the Kickapoo rangers, of which Adkins was
also a member, a band of men organized to "protect" Kansas from
abolition influences. 68

An examination of the membership of the Lecompton constitu-
tional convention does not lend credence to the charge of the Law-
rence newspaper editor that the meeting was one of "plug-uglies"
and "felons" nor does it substantiate the conclusion of Allan Nevins
that this was the "shabbiest" group of its kind in all of American
history. At the same time, the talent and ability ascribed to the
group by the Southern and Proslavery press does not seem justified.
The body was, as the New York Herald correspondent had noted,
one of "ordinary respectability," differing from numerous other
frontier political conventions only in the one-sided political align-
ment represented. 69

The constitution produced by the convention was not a bad
constitution. Like most such documents of the period, particularly

66. Kanzas News, Emporia, November 21, 1857; Wilder, op. cit., p. 33.

67. Kanzas News, Emporia, November 21, 1957.

68. History of Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri (St. Louis, 1885), p. 633; Kanzas
News, Emporia, November 21, 1857.

69. Three constitutional conventions were meeting in widely separated frontier areas
during the fall months of 1857. Besides the Lecompton convention, meetings were in ses-
sion in Oregon territory and Minnesota territory. In Minnesota the efforts to draft a state
constitution were hampered by an extreme amount of partisan rivalry and confusion, the
convention itself splitting into two distinct groups. Lucian Eastin, a member of the Lecomp-
ton meeting, commented, "From news received from Saint Paul, Minnesota, we learn that
they are having a most novel and interesting time up there. It seems that they are taking
the wind out of our sails." Kansas Weekly Herald, Leaven worth, August 1, 1857.

THE LECOMPTON CONVENTION 243

those drawn up on the frontier, it was a "paste-pot" constitution,
embodying elements from several older frames of government. Only
in the manner of submission did the convention deviate from sound
practice. In their attempt to extend the protection of the new
government to the slave property already in Kansas, the convention
delegates denied the populace an opportunity to pass on the con-
stitution as a whole. The New York Times commented, at the
conclusion of the deliberations, "It seems to be generally conceded
that, in the main, and with the exception of the Slavery clause, the
new Constitution of Kansas is not obnoxious to any very serious
objection. Its provisions are substantially such as are embodied
in all the more recent Constitutions of the other States/* 70 Even the
provision forbidding the amendment of the constitution before the
year 1864 had precedent in the action of the Free-State element in
Kansas. The Topeka state constitution, drafted by this group in
1855, forbade amendment until after 1865. 71

The most serious indictment of the Lecompton convention seems
to have been its unrepresentative character. The members of the
convention, as the October elections so clearly indicated, did not
represent the true sentiments of the people of Kansas territory.
Yet the fact that the convention was wholly a Proslavery meeting
cannot be blamed on the Proslavery members who were elected.
The Free-State faction boycotted the election of delegates, thereby
insuring a one-sided result. Actually there was no alternative for
if the Free-State leaders had agreed to participate in the Lecompton
movement, it would have meant giving up their own premature,
unrepresentative, and extra-legal statehood movement.

The attitude of historians toward the convention has been molded
in large part by the role the Lecompton constitution played in dis-
rupting the pattern of American politics and in heightening sectional
tension. At the end of October, 1857, the editor of the New York
Herald wrote, "We await the issue of this Kansas pro-slavery Con-
vention. It may be, as we expect, a fire-breathing monster, but
it may, perhaps, be an innocent mouse." 72 Not many months later
when President Buchanan urged the admission of Kansas as a
slave state the nation became aware that the Lecompton convention
had indeed brought forth a monster.

70. New York Times, November 21, 1857.

71. See James C. Malin, "The Topeka Statehood Movement Reconsidered: Origins,"
Territorial Kansas: Studies Commemorating the Centennial (Lawrence, 1954), pp. 64, 65.

72. New York Herald, October 30, 1857.

The Original Lecompton Constitution Returns
To Kansas After 100 Years

THE original Lecompton constitution, historic Proslavery docu-
ment of Kansas territory which inflamed the nation 100 years
ago, has been returned to the area of its origin. In September,
1957, the Kansas State Historical Society received the constitution
as a gift from the New Brunswick Historical Club of New Bruns-
wick, N. J. For many years this priceless Kansas item has been
held for the New Jersey organization by the library of Rutgers Uni-
versity. Dr. Richard P. McCormick of the club and of the Rutgers
history department, and Donald A. Sinclair of the library were in-
strumental in returning it to Kansas.

The circumstances of the constitution's removal to the Eastern
seaboard still are not known. On October 29, 1875, the constitution
was presented to the New Brunswick Historical Club by Col. Alfred
W. Jones, then of Woodbridge, N. J. 1 Jones, one of the members of
the Lecompton constitutional convention, was a delegate from Doug-
las county. Since he was neither president nor secretary of the con-
vention, it can only be surmised why the constitution remained in
his possession for the years between the adjournment of the conven-
tion and the presentation to the New Brunswick group.

Jones first arrived in Kansas in 1855 as a member of an emigrant
party from Virginia and on May 3, 1856, with C. A. Paris, began
publication of the Lecompton Union. He continued in that capacity
for nearly a year, publishing his "valedictory" in the April 11, 1857,
number of the newspaper. He remained in Lecompton for several
months and engaged in the practice of law but it cannot be estab-
lished definitely when he ceased to be a resident of the town. The
advertisement for his law office does not appear in the Lecompton
newspaper, then the National Democrat, after the issue of January
28, 1858, but it is possible that he remained in the territory beyond
that date.

Jones was one of the more conservative members of the Lecomp-
ton convention an assemblage which contained some of the arch
Proslaveryites of the territory. His party affiliation was given as
"Democrat" rather than "Ultra States Rights" or "Proslavery" but

1. Ethan Ellis, "The Lecompton Constitution," The Journal of the Rutgers University
Library, v. 3 (June, 1940), pp. 57-61.

(244)

ORIGINAL LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION 245

even so he came in for his share of criticism from the rabid Free-
State press.

Preston B. Plumb, editor of The Kanzas News, Emporia, in the
issue of November 21, 1857, labelled the movement "the traitors'
convention." He published a "Roll of Infamy/' and wrote brief
sketches of some of the members. While Jones was not as roughly
denounced as men like John Calhoun, president of the convention,
Plumb did write the following paragraph about him:

A. W. Jones, of Lecompton, formerly of Virginia a lawyer, ex-editor of the
defunct Union, and a sound National Democrat. Jones is good looking, twenty-
three, talented, very ambitious, cunning and reserved. A pretty good speaker
his aim seemed to be to impress upon the Free State reporters who were pres-
ent, the fact that he was in favor of submitting the whole Constitution to the
people for adoption or rejection. In reality he was most active in pushing
through the dodge submission, being the secret log-roller of that party. He will
be heard from again.

The "dodge submission" mentioned by Plumb was the provision
that the constitution be submitted to a popular vote, with the ballots
marked "Constitution with Slavery," and "Constitution with no
Slavery." This meant that the people were not to be allowed to vote
on the constitution itself. Neither would a victory for the second
alternative mean what it said, for only the extension of slavery was
to be prohibited. Slave property already in Kansas in either case
was not to be interfered with. So the 200 or 300 slaves then in Kan-
sas, and their descendants, were consigned to continued servitude,
no matter whether Kansas voted for or against slavery. 2 No wonder,
then, that the howls which arose in Kansas reverberated throughout
the nation and in the halls of congress. This furor, coupled with the
persistent efforts of the Buchanan administration to persuade Kan-
sas to accept the constitution, explains why all United States political
histories inevitably mention the Lecompton constitution.

Jones apparently moved to Missouri soon after the close of the
convention. On March 23, 1858, at Independence, Mo., he mar-
ried Julia Lawrence of that city where he engaged in the practice
of law.

On May 18, 1861, Jones was made a lieutenant colonel in the
Missouri state guard on Sterling Price's staff. It was later stated
by Jones' political supporters in New Jersey that he had deserted
the Confederate cause in October, 1861. However, Confederate
records show that he was still with the Missouri forces in December,
1861, and probably through the first few months of 1862. In

2. Ibid., p. 60.

246 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

February, 1863, he was in Union custody and was investigated by
Gen. B. F. Loan, commanding the central district of Missouri.
Loan, who had known Jones before the Civil War, decided that he
no longer had any sympathy with the "rebel cause" and paroled
him. 3

In 1868 he appeared as an editorial partner in the Middlesex
County Democrat, Perth Amboy, N. J. In November of that same
year he was elected to the New Jersey state assembly from Mid-
dlesex county. In April, 1876, he started The Independent Hour,
a newspaper at Woodbridge, N. J., which he published until the
summer of 1879. 4

Jones, in his letter of presentation to the New Brunswick Histori-
cal Club which accompanied the constitution, did not explain why
the document was in his possession. He addressed the club on the
subject of the constitutional convention and its aftermath on Novem-
ber 4, 1875, and the New Brunswick Daily Fredonian carried a
lengthy article about his speech the following day.

It reported that Col. Jones was a "very fine orator, and his speech
. . . was an excellent production." The newspaper went on to
say that Jones was planning to deliver the speech in New England,
presumably on a tour of some sort, and the reporter felt that it would
not offend the New Englanders because it did not have any of the
"hot-headed Southern in it." Although the Fredonian reported ex-
tensively on the Kansas situation of 1857 and mentioned Brown,
Lane, Pomeroy, Calhoun and numerous other prominent names of
the territorial period it neglected to shed further light on Colonel
Jones' career between 1858 and 1868.

There is one course of conjecture which might explain Jones' pos-
session of the manuscript. Someone possibly had to take the con-
stitution to Washington, D. C., in late 1857 or early 1858 for presen-
tation to President Buchanan and the Congress. The Lecompton
National Democrat files in the Kansas State Historical Society are
not complete but the issues are representative of December, 1857,
and January and February, 1858, and no mention is made in them
of anyone acting as a courier for the constitution. Neither does the
Congressional Globe list any Kansas names on February 2, 1858,
the day that Buchanan sent the constitution to Congress for con-

3. Information about Jones' marriage and his service with Price and the Missouri state
guard is taken from a letter written to Robert W. Richmond, state archivist, by Donald A.
Sinclair of the Rutgers University library, September 20, 1957. Sinclair has been a student
of Jones' career for several years and obtained his information from newspapers and Con-
federate records in the National Archives.

4. Ellis, loc. cit., p. 61.

ORIGINAL LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION 247

sideration. It is possible that Jones was the messenger or one of
the messengers to Washington and that after the constitution's re-
jection he retained custody of the document.

The constitution is written on eight large sheets of parchment
each of which are approximately 23/2 by 27/2 inches. The ink has
faded with the passage of a century but the writing remains
legible. The final page of the document bears the signatures of the
delegates to the convention including, of course, that of Mr. Jones.

Thomas Benton Murdock and
William Allen White

ROLLA A. CLYMER

BUTLER county, in its long history some say 100 years, some
say 90 has been the home and working arena of numerous
accomplished newspaper men and women.

El Dorado has had its full share of these and it is significant
that the most eminent were writers, gifted ones who wafted the
glory of the Walnut valley and the Kingdom of Butler into far
places.

Many of them were of pioneer persuasion. None of them ever
knew wealth in any form. Few of them experienced even compe-
tence or comfort in worldly affairs. All of them were accustomed
to grinding toil, to hardship in the routine of their vocation, and
even to personal danger.

But all of them were filled with zeal for their work, and sustained
with pride in the products of their art. So they came with their
few fonts of type and their hand presses and other rude tools of
their craft and helped to write some stirring pages of Kansas
history that shall forever shine with their ardor and their valiance.

It would be interesting, perhaps highly valuable in an historic
sense, for someone, some day, to chronicle carefully the lives and
works of these competent newspaper folk, who made valuable
contribution to the sturdy progress that Butler has always known.

Today, however, we are concerned with only two of them
but those two among the most noteworthy of all, whose lives were
singularly bound together by professional ties as well as long-endur-
ing and affectionate personal relationship.

The elder of these was Thomas Benton Murdock, a figure of
marked charm and character, whose color still gleams after the
passage of many years. He was a power both politically and
editorially in a period during which Kansas, after having thrown
off its sod-breaking shackles, was seeking to blossom into the full
stature of statehood. The times were hard, the public economy
was weak, revolution and rebellion against established custom were
in the air.

ROLLA A. CLYMER, of El Dorado, the 1956-1957 president of the Kansas State His-
torical Society, is editor of the El Dorado Times.

This paper was the address he delivered at the dedication of a plaque on the site of
the historic home of the El Dorado Republican, at ceremonies held by the Eureka Federal
Savings and Loan Assn., in El Dorado on March 17, 1957.

(248)

THOMAS B. MURDOCK AND W. A. WHITE 249

Through this troubled scene, Mr. Murdock strode with calm mien
and superb assurance. He was a born leader; he had faith in him-
self, and a way with people. He was friendly and down to earth
in his contacts, and was made to be esteemed and admired. While
he had enemies who worked at the job, few hated him with bitter
intensity.

He was a handsome man, above middle height and built thick-
about through the chest. As a lowly cub around the office of the
Emporia Gazette, I remember seeing him many times. He had
the "full, round, ruddy face of a man who loved good living, and
the soft voice of one who persuaded rather than commanded." He
was always faultlessly dressed, his collar flaring out to points and
his cravat neatly tied, and he invariably wore a flower in his lapel.

He had suffered snow blindness during his army campaigning
in the Rockies, and this affliction bothered him all the rest of his
life. So he never appeared without glasses and behind these
glasses his kindly eyes twinkled with a canny and complete under-
standing of human kind.

He was born in the mountains of Virginia in 1841. His parents
could not endure the iniquity of slavery, so freed their slaves and
went to Ohio in 1849. After some wanderings, they came to
Kansas to Topeka in the winter of 1856-1857 just 100 years ago.

They kept a tavern and young Benton grew up in the company
of Jim Lane, A. D. Stevens, and other famous border fighters.
The family finally settled permanently near Emporia.

When the Civil War broke out, Benton enlisted with his father
and brother, Roland, in the Ninth Kansas cavalry but was dis-
charged in 1863 because of illness. Returning from the army, he
learned the printing trade after having served as a hod carrier and
a general workman around Topeka in his youth. He worked in
the office of the Emporia News, then owned by P. B. Plumb later
a famous Kansas senator and Jacob Stotler. His brother, Marshall,
who later founded the Wichita Eagle, was then running the Bur-
lingame Chronicle.

Benton came to El Dorado, and on March 4, 1870, founded the
Walnut Valley Times with J. S. Danford.

His first wife was Frances Crawford, the sweetheart of his boy-
hood, and Mary Alice Murdock (Pattison) became the survivor of
their marriage. The wife and mother died in a tragic ending after
ten years. Mr. Murdock then was married to Marie Antoinette
Culbreth. They had five children, but only Ellina Murdock Starke,
who died several years ago, survived to womanhood.

250 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

From the first, Mr. Murdock became a political leader in this
county. In 1876, he was elected a member of the state senate.
There he served with many of the distinguished men of that day
both in the house and the senate. In 1880 he was defeated for re-
election, unfairly he thought, so sold the Times to Alvah Shelden,
moved to Topeka and became connected with the Daily Common-
wealth.

But the lure of El Dorado still held him, and in 1883 he returned
to this town and founded the El Dorado Republican. The daily
edition followed the weekly in 1884, and the paper at once took
a prominent place among Kansas publications.

Thus, Mr. Murdock established in this town the two papers
which comprise the roots of the present El Dorado Times, as that
paper came into being by merger of the two elder ones on Decem-
ber 1, 1919. These roots go back to the early date of 1870.

It is related that Mr. Shelden felt aggrieved when Mr. Murdock
returned to start the Republican. Mr. Shelden claimed that Mr.
Murdock had made a promise never to engage in the newspaper
business in El Dorado, after selling the Walnut Valley Times.
Whatever the truth of that contention, these two men both strong,
able leaders were bitter enemies all the rest of their days.

In 1888 Mr. Murdock was again elected to the state senate.
He was a member of the committee that tried Theodosius Botkin
and canvassed the county-seat troubles of western Kansas. He
was upset by the Populist and Farmers' Alliance wave in 1892,
and never ran for office again. At the end of his career he was
named state fish and game warden by Governor Stubbs. He took
office on July 5, 1909, and died November 4 of the same year.

Volney P. Mooney's History of Butler County, Kansas praises
Mr. Murdock in warm and cordial fashion. The late Judge Mooney
wrote: "He was a public man all the time. His influence on the
state was more rather than less because of the fact that he was
not in office. In every Republican State convention for forty
years Mr. Murdock has been a power of the first class."

That power and influence reached its zenith when he was in the
state senate, for he was leader among the forces that ruled the
roost in those days. That was a period in which all public officials,
as well as most politicians of sorts, rode on railroad passes. But
Mr. Murdock warranted much more than a pass; he had a private
car and when it rolled into El Dorado and stood on a siding while
he spent a day or two at home, it was the focus of monumental
pride and interest.

THOMAS B. MURDOCK AND W. A. WHITE 251

W. A. White said impishly in his Autobiography that even after
Mr. Murdock was named fish and game warden, he still had his
private car though it was the car in which young fish were de-
livered from the state hatchery at Pratt to various points around
Kansas.

Again Judge Mooney testified: "As an editor he was equipped
as few men are equipped with an individual style. He expressed
something more than an idea. He reflected an ideal plus a strong,
unique personality. He therefore in a way dramatized whatever

he wrote made it the spoken word of a combatant in the conflict.

William Allen White is also on record as saying: ". . . he
taught me more than anyone before him to write short sentences,
to use simple common words, to say exactly what I meant in the
vernacular. . . ."

An illuminating aside about Mr. Murdock was related by Mr.
White, also in the Autobiography. A noted criminal lawyer had
made an eloquent plea in a court trial, and White had written a
full column about it. Next day, the lawyer slipped a $5 bill into
White's hand.

Feeling conscience stricken and that he had been bribed and
corrupted, the young reporter went to Mr. Murdock, told the story
and asked, "What shall I do?"

The old man looked at me quizzically and broke out: "Tried to bribe
my reporters, eh? The damned scoundrel! Hasn't he got any moral sense left?"
He saw the bill still in my hand and said: "Willie, give me that bill. By
Godfrey's diamonds, plowing with my heifer, eh? I'll show him he can't
buy my reporters." And slipping the bill into his pocket, he gave me the
funniest, quizzicalest and chucklingest smile, and added, "Now go to work."
He kept the bill!

And that reminds that Murdock, who was indifferent to business
matters, was always hard up. He loved his fleshpots, and he never
lowered his standard of good living, but he had to borrow from
Peter to pay Paul, he always owed the banks and there was never
enough money to go around. His managers, like Sumpter Smith
and Earl Forgy, had to "steal" money out and carry it in separate
accounts to pay paper and material bills. But Mr. Murdock was
serene and though he often was hagridden for lack of ready cash,
he never failed to carry on in the comfortable way of life he set for
himself.

Judge Mooney further related that Murdock

always stood by the home folks. Of course he took part in local matters,
and having taken part he had to take sides. He was never neutral in any

252 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

important contest here at home. But he always fought in the open, and
he always fought fair. He never abused a man. He attacked causes, move-
ments, administrations . . . [but not the personal character of his op-
ponents]. He had no newspaper fights. ... He had no office black-
list. . . Many [a county] politician ... in the old days .
fought Mr. Murdock knowing he could depend upon [him] ... to
keep to the issue, to be silent on old scores, to leave personal matters out of
the question.

The other El Dorado and Butler county editor we consider today,
of course, was William Allen White.

He had his first newspaper training in this town, and it led him
into a career that reached the heights. No editor in the history of
this state which has produced outstanding members of the pro-
fession at all its ages ever attained the breadth and quality of
fame that came to him.

Mr. White was born in Emporia on February 10, 1868, the son
of Dr. Allen White and Mary Hatten. "Old Doc" White was an
individualist a story in himself a vocal Democrat in days when
members of that party were almost poison in Kansas, and variously
a doctor, a trader, and a merchant. Both the father and mother
were well long toward middle age when "Willie" was born.

Shortly after "Willie's" birth, "Doc" White, who was always rest-
less, came "down the Warnut" southwest from Emporia and estab-
lished a store in what was then the straggling village of El Dorado.
The White Autobiography relates this incident:

On the journey I came within an ace of my life. It was spring. The creeks
were swollen. We were traveling by spring wagon. We were crossing a
stream and missed the ford. The wagon lurched. I was wrapped in a big,
brown shawl and was thrown into the swiftly moving spring flood. For two
or three seconds I floated, and in those seconds I was rescued by the driver
of the team and went on my way rejoicing in my deep, infantile sleep."

From the age of two until he finally went to work in Kansas City
when he was 24 or 25, barring absences while he was off at college
or the University, Mr. White lived in this town. Thus, he spent
nearly a third of his life in the beautiful Valley of the Walnut.
Here he romped and rollicked through the "Court of Boyville,"
drinking deep the heady bead of adventures which he later re-
created in a book by that name. And here he came under the in-
fluence of "Bent" Murdock.

His own father died when he was about 14 years old. The
Whites and Murdocks were closely akin in the little town. Mur-
dock was the elder White's best friend. Will White, seeing the
Murdocks every day and being a companion to their little crippled

THOMAS B. MURDOCK AND W. A. WHITE 253

daughter, Alice, was to all intents and purposes a member of the
family. And so White wrote:

He [Murdock] was my foster father. Because my father held him as his
little brother Benjamin, he took me as his spiritual child. I was proud of
him, grafted him into the wound that death had left when my father went,
and gave him a son's affection and respect which I never withheld.

Again White wrote:

Across the years, he stands before me, looking down over his glittering bi-
focal glasses, and making humorous self-deprecating noises, not words, more
than grunts but less than giggles, framed by funny grimaces, when con-
fronted with some shortcoming. Then he turns away airily sighing, "Well
oh, well I guess we're all poor sinners!" and shuffles away.

It is a temptation to relate a number of Mr. White's joyous expe-
riences in this town of the early days this microcosm of Kansas
pioneer life, which was decidedly not all grief and affliction but
gilded heavily with joy and good cheer. Yet time will not permit
that indulgence, so only a few brief high lights may be noted.

White learned to set type at Emporia during his college days,
and his first newspaper job in El Dorado was under T. P. Fulton
of the El Dorado Democrat another intriguing character.

Then later, one summer between school terms, he went to work
for Mr. Murdock at the El Dorado Republican for what he called
the "princely" salary of $8 a week. He served as reporter, general
roustabout, and boss of the carriers. Still later, as he developed,
he drew $18 a week when Murdock went off on political excur-
sions and put him in charge of the paper.

He tells that once, when he was home for the summer, the "boys"
took him on a raid on Sandifer's melon patch. It was a put-up job.
Just as the young vandals began their melon thumping, one of the
elder Sandifers started blasting with his shotgun. White said:
"And I, who in childhood's happy hour had been regarded as a good
second-class runner by my innocent companions, started out, fleet
of wing as Eden's garden bird. Lord, how I ran!"

White had trouble with higher mathematics at the university,
and consequently never received enough credits to enable him to
graduate. But, friends of that period have reported, he spent
more time with books than he did in classroom work.

When he finally left El Dorado, he worked a year or two for
both the old Journal and the Star in Kansas City his talent con-
stantly expressing itself and a mild fame growing up about him.
And then, in 1895, he bought the Emporia Gazette from Billy
Morgan and was firmly set on the way to glory.

254 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

This chronicle today need not recount the steps by which he
rose. All of you, in a general way, and some in particular fashion,
are familiar with the manner in which he increased his stature
and broadened his favor with God and man. Suffice it to say, that
in his middle 40's a scant 20 years after he located in Emporia
he was a figure of national prominence.

None of the numerous able contemporaries of his day approached
the dimension of his talent. He set the standard for professional
competency, as well as a wide understanding of men and affairs,
that not only encompassed the Kansas, but the American, heart.

Sometimes we hear the remark that someone of the writing craft
hereabouts is "another William Allen White/' Nothing could be
more carelessly said nor farther from the truth. In his day he
stood supreme among the writers of his field for individual color,
for clarity, and for stirring vigor of expression. Ellery Sedgwick
has said of him that he was "as authentic a saint as ever wrote
American."

He gave the country press a lustre which it had not hitherto
attained; there was not an editorial chair in the country which he
could not have graced.

He was hugely gifted by talents above the run of ordinary men
and wielded dominance in three fields of endeavor:

In newspaper making,

In literary accomplishment, and

In the arena of politics and government, where he fought more
valiantly for causes than for men.

I was fortunate to be in his employ for seven years at an im-
pressive stage of my life. Not only did he influence me profoundly,
but he gave me the kindest and most generous personal considera-
tion. I have always looked upon him as a foster father of my own.
It was at his urging that I came to El Dorado. I had held other
plans in mind. I wanted to go to the Kansas City Star where a
job had been offered me.

In the years when I was a Gazette reporter, the paper was small.
What gave it essential and outstanding distinction was the omni-
presence of Mr. White himself. He literally to employ his own
expression "ran about the paper in his shirt sleeves." It was not
alone the daily swing and sweep of his powerful editorials that
lifted the Gazette from the ruck, but that his capable hands were
busy in every nook and corner of the Gazette's being.

He burst in every morning with suggestions for timely news
stories, which usually meant that the town's sacred cows were in for

THOMAS B. MURDOCK AND W. A. WHITE 255

another distressing series of shocks and outrages. He interpolated
straight-away news copy here and there with some twist of his own
that raised ordinary reporting to a high level. Upon occasion, he and
Walt Mason would collaborate in blocking out display heads in
rhyme the main line and decks and sub-decks all forming a true
jingle. I have never seen anyone else do this.

He himself worked with blazing fury. When something hot was
coming off the griddle of his nimble mind, his flying fingers beat a
tattoo on his old double-keyboard Smith-Premier that was little
short of plain assault.

Many golden memories flood back from those years around the
Gazette office, and I have time to recount only one or two of them.
His comebacks in conversation were lightning thrusts of wit.

Once I hesitatingly told him that a shady politician, who thought
he was running for congress but wasn't, had hinted that he might
take me to Washington as his private secretary, in the event of his
election.

Whereat, Mr. White gave vent to a roaring, gusty laugh as he
exclaimed: "Boy, all you private secretaries to Joe Boltz ought to
get together and hold a mass meeting."

Then again, I mentioned to him the quick and fat profit a cer-
tain miserly fellow had made on a land deal, and he flashed out
with a grin: "Well, Rolla, the Lord shows how little he thinks of
money by the kind of folks he gives it to."

During the years after I left his employ, he wrote me a total of
more than two hundred letters messages of friendliness and wis-
dom and faith.

Occasionally he would drop an offhand line to say that Joe
Dobbins might be good material for attorney-general or lieutenant-
governor, and that I might profitably look into his qualifications.
Then, after I had done so and had timidly written a few words to
the effect that Joe might shed glamor on the state service, Mr.
White would pick up my remarks in his column.

Observing, in the manner of one making a great discovery, that
"the papers around the state" were beginning to mention Joe Dob-
bins, he would forge ahead in slashing, 12-cylinder fashion to boost
the candidate he had already hand-picked and launched upon his
trail to the stars.

Thus, all the way and in many phases, his life was shed over
mine as a great benediction. Nothing could ever come to me in
the way of honor or riches or fame that would outweigh the en-
compassing friendship which he so bountifully extended.

256 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

One of his contemporaries has said of him: "He may not have
been the greatest man that Kansas has ever produced, but un-
doubtedly he was the Kansan to have the greatest effect upon the
country as a whole."

The world of William Allen White was spun from out his heart
a glowing, gorgeous, fervent heart which keenly perceived all the
lust and cruelty and evil with which this earth is encrusted, and
yet through the surpassing richness of his own character made
of it, for himself and others, a world of beauty and of joyousness
and of love.

So, my friends, I have tried to give to you here today a picture
of two men of unusual traits and sterling achievements whose
lives ran partly parallel in what was once the little town of
El Dorado. They lived and worked and complemented each other
in the publication of a newspaper which was long housed in a build-
ing, standing upon a portion of the ground where this handsome,
modern edifice has now been reared.

The officers and directors of the Eureka Federal Savings and
Loan association, I believe, have performed a gracious act as well
as one helpful historically, by having installed a suitable plaque
which commemorates enduringly the names and fame of these two
gifted men.

For myself, I have always felt a sense of unfitness and of futility
in trying to carry on the destinies of a newspaper which grew
partially out of the product which they so consummately created.

Today, we dedicate that plaque and its stirring memories, not
so much by formal words of expression, as by the abiding gratitude
and admiration that moves our hearts.

The Story of Fort Larned

WILLIAM E. UNRAU

ONE of the motives that prompted the government to construct
a fortification at the confluence of Pawnee creek and the Arkan-
sas river was to provide a base from which troops might protect
Santa Fe trail commerce in an area that was notorious as an Indian
rendezvous. Equally important was the desire for a more centralized
annuity distribution point to carry out the government's treaty obli-
gations to the Plains Indians.

In the years 1822-1843, the monetary value of the Santa Fe com-
merce averaged over $130,000 per year, making a total of nearly
$3,000,000 for the 21 years. The last year before the Mexican ports
were closed ( 1843 ) saw $450,000 worth of goods being shipped, in-
volving 250 wagons and 350 men. In this 21-year period, however,
only three official military escorts were provided. 1

The acquisition of vast new stretches of territory through the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided an added impetus to traffic.
The trade in 1859, according to one source, had risen to $10,000,000
annually. The Missouri Republican, St. Louis, reported that be-
tween March 1 and July 31 2,300 men, 1,970 wagons, 840 horses,
4,000 mules, 15,000 oxen, 73 carriages, and over 1,900 tons of freight
left Missouri for New Mexico. These were exclusive of the gold
seekers who "were too numerous to count." 2 With such a volume,
it became obvious that some type of fortification was needed be-
tween Forts Riley and Leavenworth and Forts Bent and Union.

As white settlements became more numerous in Texas during the
1840's, depredations by Indians increased. The belligerent attitude
of the people of Texas forced large groups of Kiowa and Comanche
Indians to relocate farther north, especially along the heavily
traveled Santa Fe trail. William Bent, agent for the Upper Arkansas
Indians, in a letter to A. M. Robinson, superintendent of Indian
affairs for the Central Superintendency at St. Louis, reported on
October 5, 1859, that he had encountered 2,500 Kiowa and Co-
manche warriors at the mouth of Walnut creek (25 miles east of

WILLIAM E. UNRAU, formerly social science instructor at the Lewis High School, is an
instructor in history at Bethany College, Lindsborg.

1. Hiram Martin Chittenden, The American Fur Trade of the Far West (New York'
Francis P. Harper, 1902), v. 2, pp. 588, 589 (quoting the figures of Josiah Gregg).

5ig Busi
L932), E

(257)

Walker Wyman, "Freighting: A Big Business on the Santa Fe Trail." The Kansas
Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 1 (1931-1932), p. 24.

1823

258 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Pawnee Fork ) . Bent also stated that he had witnessed, to October
of 1859, 60,000 white people along the trail. 3

A. B. Greenwood, commissioner of Indian affairs, in his annual
report ( 1859 ) , enlarged upon the critical relations between Indians
and travelers on the trail. He attributed the accelerated traffic to
the discovery of gold in the Pike's Peak region, and his report
pointed out the difficulty the Indians were having to maintain their
natural subsistence. 4

The location of Fort Lamed at Pawnee Fork was the choice of
William Bent. In his appeal for military protection, he stated,

I consider it essential to have two permanent stations for troops, one at the
mouth of Pawnee Fork, and one at Big Timbers, both upon the Arkansas River.
. . . To control them [the Indians], it is essential to have among them the
perpetual presence of a controlling military force. 5

There was no legal barrier to the establishment of a permanent
military post and mail escort station. 6 By the Treaty of Fort Laramie
of 1851 the Cheyenne-Arapaho reserve came as far east as the 101st
meridian and the eastern Indian reserve line was approximately the
97th meridian. 7 The area where Fort Larned was to be located was
government held land, being free from any binding Indian treaty.

On October 22, 1859, Maj. Henry Wessels arrived at Pawnee Fork
with two companies of United States infantry. This group began
the actual construction of "Camp on the Pawnee Fork," as the first
Fort Larned was named. The exact location of this installation was
at the base of Lookout Hill (now known as Jenkins Hill), on the
south side of the Pawnee, eight miles from its confluence with the
Arkansas river. 8 Major Wessels was aided by Company K of the
United States cavalry, under the command of Capt. George H.
Stewart. This company had been busy during the summer patrol-
ling the region between Cow creek and Fort Union. 9

A description of the first structures of "Camp on the Pawnee
Fork" is given in Capt. Lambert Wolfs diary,

3. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1859, pp. 138, 139.

4. Ibid., pp. 20, 21.

5. Ibid., p. 138.

6. The need for a mail escort station along the trail appears to have been another mo-
tive for the building of Fort Larned. An official mail route survey was instigated along the
Santa Fe trail, the route being selected by Jacob Hall with L. J. Berry as official surveyor.
The route, as designed in 1858, was to begin at Wyandotte and terminate at Pawnee Fork.
The record of this survey to October, 1859, shows that at this date the farthest penetration
was to Durham, roughly halfway to Pawnee Fork. See Twenty-Seventh Biennial Report of
the Kansas Historical Society (1928-1930), p. 23.

7. James C. Malin, "Indian Policy and Westward Expansion," University of Kansas
Humanistic Studies, Lawrence, v. 2 (1921), facing p. 103.

8 George A. Root, ed., "Extracts From the Diary of Captain Lambert Bowman Wolf,"
The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 1 (1931-1932), p. 204.

9 Merrill J. Mattes, ed.. "Patrolling the Santa Fe Trail: Reminiscences of John S.
Kirwan," ibid. (Winter, 1955), pp. 583, 584.

THE STORY OF FORT LARNED 259

October 23, plans are made for the horse and cattle stable, also for officers'
and company quarters, all of which are to be built of sod, cut with spades by
members of our company. Our stable [probably meaning fortification] is to be
100 feet square . . . wall 12 feet high. . . .10

These plans, however, apparently were deferred for several months,
since as late as July 22, 1860, a letter from Camp Alert ( as the in-
stallation was then called ) , failed to note anything more permanent
than tents in the fort. 11

The forces of Stewart and Wessels remained at "Camp on the
Pawnee Fork" until November 27, 1859, when they were relieved
by a detail of 40 men under the command of one Lieutenant Bell,
whose specific instructions were to act as a construction crew for
the permanent site. 12 Some time during the period from October
22, 1859, until the midsummer of 1860, the original plans to con-
struct a permanent sod fort were carried out at a new location three
miles west. 13 The new location had the natural advantage of being
located on the south side of the Pawnee, with a big bend of the
creek affording a natural barrier on two sides.

Just prior to the completion of the sod buildings and earth works,
the post was given its third and lasting name, Fort Lamed. On
May 29, 1860, pursuant to General Order No. 14, the post was
named Fort Larned, in honor of Col. Benjamin F. Larned, pay-
master of the United States army. 14 The reservation was four miles
square, but the official survey was never carried out. 15

On April 24, 1860, Major Wessels left Fort Riley to return to the
nearly completed fortification with 160 men who had been based
at Fort Riley. 16 Some of these recruits left immediately on a cam-
paign against the Kiowas and Comanches. 17 Obviously the new
commander was wasting no time attempting to make the govern-
ment's new investment pay dividends.

10. Root ". . . Diary of Captain Lambert Bowman Wolf," loc. cit.

11. The Daily Times, Leavenworth, August 2, 1860.

12. Kansas Historical Collections, Topeka, v. 9 (1906), p. 572.

13. "Statement of Theodore Weichselbaum . . . ," ibid., v. 11 (1910), pp. 562,
563.

14. Frank W. Blackmar, Kansas, A Cyclopedia of State History . (Chicaeo-
Standard Publishing Co., 1912), v. 1, p. 663.

15. "Report on Barracks and Hospitals," Report of the Surgeon General, 1870 p 299
According to General Order Number 22, Headquarters, Department of Missouri, 1867 16
square miles were "laid out," the exact center of the reservation being the northwest corner
of the commanding officer's quarters that were constructed in 1867. See Larned Eaele-
Optic, November 10, 1899.

16. Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General (De Vinne Press, 1903), v. 2,
p. 11.

17. Leavenworth Daily Times, August 2, 1860.

260 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

INDIAN RELATIONS AT FORT LARNED

By the Treaty of Fort Atkinson (1853), the Kiowas and Co-
manches accepted annuities amounting to $18,000 a year for a ten-
year period, the distribution point for these annuities to be at Beaver
creek in present-day Oklahoma. 18 Since this station was to be a
temporary one, and since Bent had stated in his October 5, 1859,
report that the Kiowas and Comanches desired an annuity distribu-
tion station on the Arkansas, it is reasonable to assume that Fort
Larned was an official Indian post as early as 1860. To support
this assumption is the fact that Col. Jesse Leavenworth at Fort
Larned was known to be sending reports about these Indians in
1861. 19

Efforts to relocate the Southern Cheyennes and Arapahoes farther
south came in 1860, the year that Fort Larned was under construc-
tion. In this year congress authorized the negotiation of a treaty
to take place at Fort Wise 20 on the Arkansas. Initial parleys with
several Indian chiefs left the opinion that there was little hope that
a permanent treaty would be drawn up. 21 This proved false, for on
February 18, 1861, the Fort Wise treaty was concluded with the
Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians of the Upper Arkansas. The treaty
authorized annual payments and it provided for a new reservation
farther south that would initiate these Indians to an agricultural
economy. 22

Fort Lyon was located in this reservation and was headquarters
for these Cheyennes and Arapahoes. Great difficulty was experi-
enced in keeping the Indians confined to a permanent location, as
evidenced by the report of a large group of Indians camped near
Fort Larned on August 5, 1862. 23 Since this group included tribes
of Cheyennes and Arapahoes, it is reasonable to assume that Fort
Larned was storing and handing out annuities under the Fort Wise
treaty. In support of this assumption is the fact that Fort Larned
was much closer to Forts Riley and Leavenworth, the general supply
depots for Indian annuities, and as such, the freight to Fort Larned
would have been considerably less than to Fort Lyon.

18. Charles J. Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties (Washington; Government
Printing Office, 1903), v. 2, p. 446.

19. George B. Grinnell, The Fighting Cheyennes (New York; Charles Scribner's Sons,
1915), p. 121.

20. Named for the governor of Virginia. After Virginia seceded, it was renamed Fort
Lyon after Nathaniel Lyon, Union military hero.

21. Congressional Globe, 36th Cong., 2d Sess., November 30, 1860, appendix, p. 26.

22. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1863, p. 617. A map of this reser-
vation is found in "Map of the Public Lands, States and Territories From the Surveys in the
General Land Office, 1864" Ibid., 1864.

23 Joyce Farlowe and Louise Barry, eds., "Vincent B. Osborne's Civil War Experi-
ences," Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 20 (May, 1952), p. 132.

THE STORY OF FORT LARNED 261

With the establishment of Fort Lamed, the roving Indians began,
for awhile, to respect the trail commerce. In August, 1861, Colonel
Leavenworth, reporting from Fort Larned, stated that the Indians
had left the Santa Fe trail area and that there was no apprehension
of any hostilities in the near future. 24 In the following spring, how-
ever, Fort Larned very nearly became directly involved in the Civil
War. In May, 1862, Gen. Albert Pike, Confederate officer in Texas,
arranged an alliance with some Kiowas and a group of renegade
Seminoles. This alliance had as its design the seizure of Forts
Larned and Wise by these Indians. Nothing came of this, since
as soon as the weather permitted, the Indians left for their annual
hunt. 25

In June of the same year, Fort Larned's small garrison was
threatened by a large group of hostile Indians. Squadrons B and
C of the Second Kansas cavalry under the command of Captain
Whittenhall were sent from Fort Riley to bolster the fort. 26 A group
of traders had induced some Cheyennes and Arapahoes to attempt
the seizure of their annuities before they were to be issued. This
incident, which took place in August, 1862, was thwarted by the
ever watchful Colonel Leavenworth. 27

As more white people came to the area along the Arkansas river,
the buffalo supply diminished immensely, with the result that the
Indians resorted to looting in order to survive. It was this siutation
that brought about what is called the Nine Mile Ridge massacre. 28
In January, 1863, a wagon train that was preparing to bed down for
the night was surrounded by a group of hungry Indians who de-
manded food and coffee. In the excitement that followed, a team-
ster wounded one of the Indians. This prompted them to return
before daylight and massacre all the teamsters, excluding one who
escaped to the protection of Fort Larned. 29 In that same year a
group of destitute Kiowas, under the guise of wanting to trade,
ran off 300 cattle from Fort Larned. 30

The deterioration of peaceful relationships between the Santa Fe
traders and the Indians in the early 1860's was furthered by the

24. Grinnell, op. cit., p. 121.

25. Ibid, pp. 121, 122.

26. Official Military History of Kansas Regiments . . . (Leavenworth; W. S. Burke
Company, 1870), p. 69.

27. Grinnell, op. cit., p. 123.

28. Nine Mile ridge is located approximately 75 miles west of Fort Larned, near the
source of Pawnee creek in present eastern Finney county.

29. William H. Ryus, The Second William Perm Treating With Indians on the Santa
Fe Trail, 1860-1866 (Kansas City, Mo., Frank Riley Publishing Co., c!913), pp. 16-20.

30. James F. Meline, Ttco Thousand Miles on Horseback (New York, Kurd and Hough-
ton, 1868 ) f pp. 291, 292.

262 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

killing of an Indian chief at Fort Larned. In August, 1863, Little
Heart, en route from his Cheyenne village just west of Fort Larned
to the fort for the purpose of obtaining supplies, was shot by a
sentry. It was later determined that Little Heart had been drunk
and that he had attempted to ride over Isaac Marrs, the sentry.
Gifts presented to this Cheyenne tribe by the Indian agent at the
fort to compensate for the killing seemed to have little effect. 31

Conditions precipitated by the Civil War resulted in further re-
sponsibilities for Fort Larned. On January 25, 1863, S. G. Colley,
agent for the Upper Arkansas was visited at Fort Larned by 26
chiefs of the Caddo Indian confederacy. These chiefs represented
one thousand Indians who farmed near Fort Cobb, in present Okla-
homa. They told Colley that they had been abandoned by their
agent, a man by the Name of Leaper, who had deserted to the
Confederate army. Not wanting to join the Confederate army,
these Indians drifted north to seek aid. Being very destitute, they
were befriended by the authorities at Fort Larned, and W. P. Doyle,
commissioner of Indian affairs, forwarded to Colley $5,000 to help
provide for them. 32

Since these Indians had been accustomed to farming, this money
was used to set up a farm along the banks of Pawnee creek. Ac-
cordingly, 2,000 acres of land were surveyed on the south side of
the Pawnee; this site was chosen over a Fort Lyon site because it
was the opinion that more water would be available for irrigation
purposes. Corn was planted the following spring, and here was
probably the first instance of a large scale irrigation attempt in the
Pawnee valley, an area that today is noted for irrigated farming. 33

This farming enterprise of the Caddos lasted till the fall of 1864,
when open hostilities broke out in the area. By October 4, 1864,
250 acres of corn had been planted and buildings were being built.
These Caddos, fearing that they might become involved in the
Indian war, drifted to the southeast and finally established them-
selves between Cow and Crow creeks. They left all their crops,
buildings, and equipment, and what the warring Indians did not
take was plundered by soldiers from Fort Larned and freighters on
the Santa Fe trail. 34

In the early months of 1864 conditions between the whites and
the Indians became progressively worse, with the result that a gen-
eral war broke out on the Plains. The underlying factor appears to

31. Grinnell, op. cit., p. 126.

32. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1863, pp. 253, 254.

33. Ibid., pp. 257-260.

34. Ibid., 1864, pp. 387, 388.

THE STORY OF FORT LARNED 263

have been that the Indians, due to the encroachments of white
settlers, were having difficulty finding enough game to live on. Also
it is a fact that most of the military posts on the Plains, due to the
Civil War, were not adequately garrisoned 35 and that a good per
cent of these meager garrisons did not appreciate the Indians* pre-
dicament. At Fort Lamed, for example, the soldiers were reported,
on January 28, 1864, to be selling whisky to the Indians and de-
moralizing their women. 36 The Chivington massacre of the Chey-
enne Indians at Sand creek in November, 1864, served to compound
the problem. From an examination of the documents concerning
this incident, it appears that a very basic factor was that some
Indians were openly friendly and that others were not, but that it
was, in many cases, difficult to determine the one group from the
other. 37

The decision was made by the War Department to subdue by
force the Indians who were guilty of depredations. On July 27,
1864, Gov. John Evans of Colorado territory ordered all friendly
Indians to the military posts, so that only the belligerent ones would
remain in the field. He ordered the Sioux to Fort Laramie, the
Arapahoes and Cheyennes of the Arkansas to Fort Lyon, the Arap-
ahoes and Cheyennes of the Platte to Camp Collins, and the Kiowas
and Comanches to Fort Larned. 38

In the summer of 1864 large numbers of horses and mules were
stolen by angry Indians who found that ration day did not provide
adequate supplies. 39 This and other similar events, brought about
General Field Order No. 2, Headquarters, Department of Kansas,
July 31, 1864, which stated that stockades or abatis enclosures must
be provided for all troops and stock at the military posts of the
frontier. These same orders severely reprimanded Fort Larned for
not having a stone blockhouse or enclosures for the animals. 40 Con-
sequently, on February 20, 1865, Col. James H. Ford reported the
erection of a stone fortification. 41

During the Indian war of 1864, Lt. George Eayre used Fort
Larned as a base for a campaign against the Cheyennes. He en-
gaged the Cheyennes about 50 miles northwest of Fort Larned, an
encounter that Grinnell thought to be an unprovoked attack. Soon

35. Ibid., p. 381.

36. Ibid., p. 389.

37. These documents are found in Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 26, 39th Cong., 2d Sess., 1866-

38. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1864, p. 362.

39. "A Brush With the Cheyennes," The Trail, Denver, v. 2 (April, 1910), p. 17.

40. Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 26, 39th Cong., 2d Sess., 1866-1867, p. 76.

41. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Ser. 1, v. 48, pt. 1, p. 923.

264 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

after the battle, Eayre moved his force to Fort Lamed. The fort
was under the command of Captain Parmeter, who had been
warned by a group of Kiowas that they intended to run off Lieu-
tenant Eayre's horses. Parmeter was reported drunk, and while the
Indians were entertaining the fort's garrison, other Indians were
stealing 240 horses and mules. Subsequent events led to even more
strained relations. 42

Col. J. M. Chivington campaigned in the vicinity of Fort Larned
during this same period. On July 26, 1864, upon his return to Denver
from Fort Larned, he reported that ten men had been killed at that
post, and that all coaches on the Santa Fe trail were given an escort
of between ten and forty men. 43 In October, 1864, Gen. James
Blunt and Maj. Scott Anthony met a group of Cheyennes at Walnut
creek, with the result that nine Indians were killed. 44

The Chivington massacre in November brought an official opin-
ion from Fort Larned, as voiced by J. H. Leavenworth, Kiowa and
Comanche agent, January 9, 1865:

It is impossible for me to express to you [addressed to the commissioner of
Indian affairs] the horror with which I view this transaction [Chivington mas-
sacre]; it has destroyed the last vestige of confidence between red and white
man. . . . What can be done? Nothing; unless the department takes the
matter up in earnest, and demands that the parties who were the cause of this
wicked treatment of the Indians be properly dealt with. 45

In the spring of 1865 Colonel Leavenworth requested the govern-
ment to authorize him to hold a peace treaty with the various war-
ring tribes. At the same time, Gen. J. H. Ford, commander of the
Upper Arkansas district, was marching to Fort Larned with orders
to pay no attention to any peace movements. Ford was overruled
on June 15, 1865, when President Andrew Johnson authorized
Leavenworth to go ahead with his treaty plans. 46 Six tribes of
Kiowas, one tribe of Apaches, eight tribes of Comanches, four
tribes of Arapahoes, and five tribes of Cheyennes agreed to meet
at a camp on Bluff creek, about 40 miles south of the mouth of the
Little Arkansas 47 in October, 1865. 48

42. Grinnell, op. cit., pp. 138-141. Thi
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1864, p. 383.

This incident is also recorded in the Report of the

43. Ibid., pp. 374, 375.

44. Grinnell, op. cit., pp. 155-157.

45. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1865, p. 571. This was obviously a
statement from the standpoint of the Indian agent and it shows the disagreement that existed
between the War Department and the Department of Indian Affairs as related to the Plains'
Indian problem in general.

46. Ibid., pp. 573-576.

47. Approximately 125 miles southeast of Fort Lamed.

48. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1865, pp. 278, 279.

THE STORY OF FORT LARNED 265

At this treaty conference, Col. Jesse Leavenworth was retained
as Kiowa-Comanche agent at Fort Larned and an official Cheyenne,
Arapaho, and Apache agency was created there, with Maj. E. W.
Wynkoop as their agent. 49 This brought 8,600 Indians under the
control of Wynkoop. 50 On October 14, 1865, the Cheyennes ac-
cepted annuities amounting to $56,000 for a period of 40 years, 51
and they agreed to a reservation immediately south of Fort Larned.
The Apaches broke their confederation with the Kiowas and Co-
manches and allied themselves with these Cheyennes and Arapa-
hoes; 52 they were to receive $16,000 a year for a period of 40
years. 53 The Kiowas and Comanches accepted annuities amount-
ing to $40,000 for a period of 40 years, 54 and they agreed to a res-
ervation which was to be located south of the Cimarron river. 55
It was emphasized that these reservations were not to be con-
sidered permanent, since in the future all Indians were to be re-
moved from the state of Kansas.

Continued depredations by roving bands of Cheyennes in 1866
and early 1867 prompted the War Department to plan an exten-
sive campaign to chastise the so-called dog soldiers. For this job
the department chose Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, a hero of the
Battle of Gettysburg. Just prior to marching to Fort Larned, he
wrote to Agent Wynkoop that he was able to chastise any tribes
who might molest people traveling across the Plains. 56 The general
left Fort Harker on April 3, 1867, and arrived at Fort Larned on
April 7. His force, numbering nearly 1,400 men, included four com-
panies of the 7th cavalry, six companies of infantry, one company
of the 37th infantry under George Custer and some artillery. 57

At the suggestion of Agents Wynkoop and Leavenworth, Hancock
was induced to hold a council with the Cheyenne chiefs on April
13, about 20 miles up the Pawnee, near the Cheyenne village.
Nothing came of this council, so, on the following day, Hancock
moved within a mile of the village, where he met the dog soldiers.
Hancock's understanding was that the Indians were to remain, but
during the ensuing night, the Cheyennes quietly slipped away,

49. Ibid., pp. 710, 711.

50. Ibid., 1868, p. 514.

51. Ibid., 1867, p. 361.

52. Kappler, op. cit., p. 679.

53. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1867, p. 361.

54. Ibid.

55. Kappler, op. cit., pp. 683-685.

56. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1868, p. 497.

57. George A. Custer, Wild Life on the Plains (St. Louis, Royal Publishing Co., 1891),
pp. 39, 40.

266 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

much to his disgust. General Custer was sent after these Indians,
but was not able to locate them. They (the Cheyennes) crossed
over to the Smoky Hill river, where they destroyed some stations of
the Overland Stage Company. When notified by Custer of this
action, General Hancock ordered the whole Indian village to be
burned to the ground. 58

General Hancock had great difficulty understanding the conduct
of these Cheyenne Indians, when he found out later that they
thought he was planning another Sand creek massacre. Agent
Wynkoop answered by saying, "The nation knows, and I know, who
General Hancock is ... but the Indians . . . had no
means of discriminating between him and Colonel Chivington or
distinguishing the man from the monster." 59 Wynkoop also showed
the true character of General Hancock by pointing out that the
general had ordered the killing of six Cheyennes at Cimarron cross-
ing before he had received any word from Custer regarding the
Overland Stage depredations. 60

Before leaving the plains General Hancock had a council with
Satanta, Kiowa chief. In a meeting at Fort Larned, it became ap-
parent that the Civil War hero was no match for the Kiowa chief.
Hancock was so impressed with Satanta's peace overtures that he
presented the chief with a coat of a Union major general. A few
days later Satanta proudly displayed this new wearing apparel while
stampeding the livestock at Fort Dodge. 61

By the fall of 1867 the Indians had agreed to peace councils to
be held on Medicine Lodge creek. 62 This parley was to solve
permanently the Indian problem in its entirety. A preliminary
council was held at Fort Larned, and on October 13, 1867, the peace
commissioners and chiefs left Larned for Medicine Lodge creek.
At the same time the gifts for the oncoming treaties were being
shipped from Fort Larned to the treaty grounds, a task that took
nearly a month. 63

Upon the completion of the Medicine Lodge treaty arrange-
ments, 64 it became obvious that the Indians were not quick to re-
move themselves to their new homes. As late as July 4, 1868, Gen.

58. William E. Connelley, "The Treaty Held At Medicine Lodge," Kansas Historical
Collections, v. 17 (1926-1928), pp. 601, 602.

59. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1867, p. 314.

60. Ibid., pp. 310-313.

61. Harper's Magazine, New York, v. 36 (February, 1868), pp. 297, 298.

62. Located near present Medicine Lodge, some 75 miles south of Fort Larned.

63. Grinnell, op. cit., pp. 263, 264.

64. Stipulations of the Medicine Lodge treaty are found in Kappler, op. cit., pp. 754-
764.

THE STORY OF FORT LARNED 267

Alfred Sully had to detach six companies of cavalry from Ellis Sta-
tion to Fort Lamed where the Kiowa and Comanches were holding
up Santa Fe freighters. 65 The Cheyennes were reported to have
killed 16 men at Pawnee Fork in September of the same year. 66 Be-
cause of these sporadic depredations, Agent Wynkoop was in-
structed to withhold all issues of arms until the Indians had con-
fined themselves to their new reservation as outlined in the treaties
of the previous year. Just after this order was issued, the Cheyennes
raided the Kaw settlements near Council Grove where they stole
some livestock. Since Wynkoop was not aware of this incident and
since he still did not believe that any of the Indians of his agency
would deceive him, he acted contrary to his orders by issuing arms
to a group of Cheyennes who argued that unless they were issued
arms and ammunition, they would starve. These very same Indians,
with their newly acquired weapons, proceeded to the Saline and
Solomon where they killed 16 white farmers and ravished several
women. 67

The War Department acted swiftly after these depredations were
reported. Lt. Gen. William T. Sherman of the Department of Mis-
souri, on August 10, 1868, issued General Order No. 4, which stated,
"W. B. Hazen, Major General, United States Army will have the
supervision of all issues and disbursements to said Indians. . . ." 68

On September 21, 1868, Agents Wynkoop and Leavenworth were
relieved of their duties at Fort Larned and on September 25, the
Interior Department (Department of Indian Affairs) abandoned
the annuity distribution center at Fort Larned. Fort Cobb, in the
Indian territory, had thus inherited the functions of Fort Larned
with respect to the five Indian tribes. 69 In the fall of 1868, General
Custer was planning his winter expedition to the Washita river
and the outcome of this campaign served to remove any organized
Indian troubles for the area around Fort Larned.

Troops remained at Fort Larned to as late as 1882, but these
garrisons saw veiy little action. In the early 1870's Fort Larned
troops were used to subdue the Wichita and Osage Indians who
were revolting against railroad construction, 70 and in 1874 three
Fort Larned cavalrymen were wounded in a battle which saw five

65. Report of the Secretary of War, 1888, p. 10.

66. Ibid., p. 5.

67. Ibid., pp. 3-12.

68. Ibid., p. 8.

69. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1868, pp. 536-538.

70. Topeka Daily Capital, June 24, 1928.

268 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Indians killed. These Indians had scalped a man south of Dodge
City. 71

Ralph Wallace, manager of the Larned Tiller and Toiler, stated
that newspaper files record 192 deaths of red and white men in the
vicinity of Fort Larned from the year 1859 to 1869. In addition to
this, Wallace stated that there were approximately another 200
wounded cases recorded, bringing the total casualties to nearly 400
for the period that Fort Larned was active in Indian affairs. 72

LIFE AT FORT LARNED AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION

It will be remembered that early as February, 1865, General Ford
had erected a stone blockhouse, primarily because of an official
reprimand from the War Department. The type of defenses at
Fort Larned prior to this construction were described as "earthen-
works [that] were . . . washed away by the constant rains." 73
Other installations were described as tents, 74 dugouts covered with
thatch and sod, 75 or mud-houses. 76

There may have been some who entertained the idea that the
treaty at the camp on the Little Arkansas in the fall of 1865 had
resolved the Indian troubles, but surely it was not the War Depart-
ment. Maj. Gen. John Pope, in a letter dated August 11, 1866, to
General Sherman, stated that he was sure that hostilities would
break out in the near future. He went on to say that he would
order the military posts on the frontier to be placed in the best
possible condition, since he did not believe the Treaty of 1865
worth the paper that it was written on. 77

Also in 1866 Gen. U. S. Grant, in a letter to Secretary of War
Stanton, remarked on the adverse condition of the frontier military
posts. Explaining the great need for more suitable barracks and
storehouses, he suggested that the appropriations needed to cor-
rect the situation could be held to a minimum by having the garri-
sons of each fort do their own construction work. 78 Consequently,
a building program was instigated at Fort Larned, beginning in
late 1866 and ending some time in 1868. For construction materials,

71. Progress in Pawnee County ( 18th anniversary supplement to the Larned Tiller and
Tolier), December, 1952.

72. Ibid.

73. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, loc. cit.

74. George A. Root, ed., "Reminiscences of William Darnell," Kansas Historical Col-
lections, v. 17 (1926-1928), p. 510.

75. Larned Chronoscope, November 20, 1919.

76. Harper's Weekly, New York, v. 11 (June 8, 1867), p. 357.

77. Report of the Secretary of War, 1866, p. 30.

78. Ibid., pp. 17, 18.

THE STORY OF FORT LARNED 269

pine timbers were obtained from Michigan and sandstone blocks
were quarried from near-by Lookout hill.

The building of barracks probably began in late 1866, since a
drawing made in June, 1867, shows one division completed. 79 When
finished, the two barracks, which also included mess rooms, kitchens,
orderly rooms, and storage space, were capable of accommodating
four companies. The space allotted each company was 40 feet
square. Both of these buildings were ten feet high and they were
located just south of the Pawnee creek bed, facing south and form-
ing the north side of the quadrangular parade grounds. 80 These
buildings still stand today, the only basic change being the addi-
tion of roofs to provide for hay lofts that are today used by the
Frizell family in their ranching operations.

The dimensions of the buildings today are, west barracks, 150
feet by 43 feet, east barracks, 172 feet by 43 feet. It is reasonable
to assume that these dimensions are the same as when constructed,
since there is no physical evidence that the masonry has been
tampered with.

The officers' quarters, probably built in late 1867, were con-
structed of sandstone, with shingle roofs and broad porticos in
front. They were located on the west side of the quadrangle, fac-
ing east, with the banks of the Pawnee forming a convenient means
of protection to the rear. The commanding officer's building was
the middle of the three in this group. It had four rooms, 14 by 16
feet each, a kitchen 19 by 16 feet and servants' quarters upstairs. 81
This building, containing the original sandstone (although re-
modeled somewhat), still stands today.

The other two buildings for officers were described in 1870 as
follows:

Each contains four sets of quarters. They are traversed by two halls seven
feet wide, each hall being common to two sets of quarters so that each building
is supposed to accommodate two captains and four lieutenants. The captain's
quarters are in the ends, and consist of two rooms (sixteen by fourteen and
one-half feet by twelve feet high) and a kitchen (nineteen by ten feet), from
which opens a servants' room. The two rooms communicate by folding doors
and the kitchen opens into the back or bedrooms. Under the kitchen is a cellar
that has been transformed into a kitchen, leaving the kitchen proper for use as
a dining room. On the opposite side of the hall two lieutenants live in one room
each, without kitchens. 82

79. Harper's Weekly, v. 11 (June 8, 1867), p. 357.

80. "Report on Barracks and Hospitals," Report of the Surgeon General, 1870, pp. 299,
300.

81. Ibid.

82. Ibid.

270 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Additions to these subalterns' quarters were made in 1870 to pro-
vide them with kitchens, dining rooms, and additional room for
servants. 83 Today, excluding repairs and modernization, these two
buildings are practically as they were when constructed in 1867.

The hospital at Fort Larned, an adobe structure, was erected in
1860. It contained four rooms, two for use as wards with four beds
in each ward. In 1866 a shingle roof was added and in 1867 the
bare ground floor was covered with planks; the ceiling was of
canvas. 84 The medical officers made repeated requests for a new,
more permanent hospital. The following excerpts from a letter
give an example of one of these requests:

FORT LARNED
October, 1868
WAR DEPARTMENT
Washington D. C.

Sm:

I have the honor to request that I may be furnished with one hospital in
good order, for use of the sick at this post. The adobe building now used for
this purpose is about worn out, and in a condition which renders it liable to fall
down on the sick at every storm that comes. ... It was custom in former
times to look after the comfort of the sick as one of the first things in building
a post, but here it seems to have been left to the last, and, finally, by some over-
sight, neglected altogether. ...

Very respectfull
Your obedient servant,

W. H. FORWOOD
Brevet Major and
Assistant Surgeon 85

This request was not granted. After a storm in 1869 destroyed
one of the walls, another request for a new hosiptal was sent to
Washington, but this was turned down also. 86

By 1874 the fort had become less important, as reflected by the
smaller garrisons stationed there. 87 Since a substantial part of the
enlisted men's barracks was empty, the eastern part of the east bar-
racks was converted into a hospital. This new hospital had two
wards, a mess room, dispensary, kitchen, storeroom and attendants'
rooms. A portico was added to the front to give it a more attractive
appearance. The old adobe hospital (which has long since disap-

83. Ibid.

84. Ibid.

85. Ibid.

86. Kansas City (Mo.) Star, April 11, 1926.

87. Official garrisons of Fort Larned are found in Report of the Adjutant General. The
reports begin in 1867 and end in 1878.

THE STORY OF FORT LARNED 271

peared) was converted into an ordnance shop, with the cellar as
a magazine. 88

The blockhouse erected in 1865 was a hexagonal building located
about 50 feet southeast of the southeastern comer of the parade
grounds. It had a strategic location, since it protected that side of
the fort which had no natural means of protection. This block-
house was taken down some time after 1886, since a photograph of
that year shows it intact.

In 1866 the commissary building was constructed. 89 Located on
the eastern end of the south side of the parade grounds, this build-
ing today measures 160 feet by 28 feet and it was used primarily to
house the livestock. Just west of the commissary building is lo-
cated the quartermaster building, constructed in 1867. 90 The
measurements of this building are 158 feet by 40 feet. These two
buildings guarded the south side of the quadrangular fortification,
the side that faced the vast open prairie. Both were constructed of
sandstone blocks nearly two feet thick and it is interesting to note
that the south wall of the quarter-master building has gun slits,
similar to openings found in blockhouses.

Other buildings constructed during the years 1866-1868 were a
bakery in 1868 91 and a utility shop which was used by the black-
smith, wheelwright, and harness repairmen. Both of these build-
ings, located on the east side of the parade grounds and forming the
final side of the quadrangle, measure 84M feet by 30 feet and they
also were constructed of sandstone. They are still standing today.

A stone sutler's store was built at Fort Lamed in 1861 and it was
termed "the first stone building west of Fort Riley." 92 There was
either another sutler's store built the following year or an addition
to the existing one, since John K. Wright was reported to have built
the foundation for a sutler's store in 1862. 93 The exact location of
this building or these buildings is not known.

Other civilian buildings at Fort Larned included a saloon, 94 a dry
goods store, 95 a trading post operated by Dave Butterfield, 96 and a

88. "Report on the Hygiene of the United States Army," Report of the Surgeon Gen-
eral, 1875, p. 272.

89. This date appears on a concrete block on the north wall.

90. This date appears on a concrete block on the north wall.

91. This date appears on a concrete block on the west wall.

92. Larned Eagle-Optic, November 3, 1899.

93. "Statement of Theodore Weichselbaum," Collections of the Kansas Historical So-
ciety, v. 11 (1909-1910), p. 567.

94. Larned Chronoscope, September 4, 1947.

95. The Tiller and Toiler, Lamed, May 21, 1936.

96. Henry M. Stanley, My Early Travels and Adventures in America and Asia (New
York, Charles Scribner's Sons), v. 1 (1895), p. 28.

272 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

corral and some additional civilian buildings constructed in 1872. 97
Regular mail service to Fort Larned was begun in 1863 and as a re-
sult a stage and mail building was erected that year. 98 The govern-
ment put up a power sawmill in 1861; it was located about 15 miles
west of the fort on the banks of the Pawnee. 99

Probably the pride of the commander of Fort Larned was a 100-
foot flagpole that was erected in the exact center of the parade
grounds. It had been hauled to Fort Larned from Fort Leaven-
worth in 12-foot sections some time prior to June, 1867, and was
reported destroyed by lightning in 1878. 100

The water supply for Fort Larned was obtained by hauling water
from Pawnee creek and placing it in huge barrels that were lo-
cated in the yards adjacent to the barracks. Wells were drilled
down to 40 feet, but the water was too sulphurous for human con-
sumption. 101 The great importance placed on the water supply for
a military post is exemplified by the construction of a tunnel from
the fort to the creek bed, probably used in time of siege. 102

Whisky consumption seems to have been quite prevalent at Fort
Larned. A Santa Fe freighter related how he sold a barrel of
whisky to the director of the stage station. Since whisky was con-
sidered contraband at United States military posts, the spirits were
smuggled into the fort under a load of hay. 103 H. T. Ketcham, who
visited Fort Larned in April, 1864, had this to say concerning the
morals of that post, "Dissipation, licentiousness and venereal dis-
eases prevail in and around [the fort] to an astonishing extent." 104

Fort Larned experienced a mild cholera epidemic in the summer
of 1864. It was brought to the fort by the 38th infantry, en route to
New Mexico territory. The commander of the fort knew that the
detachment carried the dreaded disease, but contrary to the request
of the surgeon general he allowed the men to stop there. The first
case broke out on July 6 and the victim died ten hours later. Two
more cases occurred on the 10th and llth; one died in six hours and
the other recovered. 105

97. Report of the Surgeon General, 1875, p. 272.

98. Larned Eagle-Optic, November 10, 1899.

99. Ibid., November 3, 1899.

100. The Tiller and Toiler, Lamed, October 23, 1947.

101. "Report on Barracks and Hospitals," op. cit., p. 299.

102 O P Byers "When Railroading Outdid the Wild West Stories," Kansas Historical
Collections,' v.' 17 (1926-1928), p. 339.

103. Charles Raber, "Personal Recollections . . . ," ibid., v. 16 (1923-1925), p.
322.

104. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1864, p. 401.

105. "Report on Epidemic Cholera and Yellow Fever," Report of the Surgeon General,
1868, p. 46.

VOL.1

FORT LARNED, SATURDAY, NOV. 25, 1865.

NO. 1

TMBr F IL. A. I IV S ,

rabi..h.d every Saturday at Ft lan4, Ka.,

BY T1IK OFFICKRS AXD SOLDIERS

OF THE UNITED STATES SEiLVffE,

rr ATI It KI) OK THE KROHTIF. K.

I?OKTBY.

<Rd bless the Wives.

They till our hives
With little IK-.-S an. I honey :

They case life's shock*.

They mend our socks.
But don't they spend the

When .we arc sick.

They heal us quiek-
That in. if they should lore lu :

If not. we die.

And yet they cry..
And place tombstone a attove us.

Of rogni'h girl*.

With sunny curl*.
We may in faney dream :

Bat wive* true wir

Throughout our live*.
Are everything they seem.

HiliUry.

HK FORTV-XlNTII WlSCOXSIX l.NFAVT-

RY". We leant that . ,.i,,|..mi, - I: . C and
l>. of UK- i:ili r. -in,, ni. have IM-.-M dis-
rrr.-.! an.) paid. -111.- Colonel of the
r> -.in, n; . C>t. S.turM. FALLOWS,, ha- hud
be rji.t of Brigadier General, liy brevet.
o>nftT-l MI-.II him. r..r ; -.ill.ini and .Hi
. fit sTHfS. Who's next?

Capt. 3T. V. tt. Hi TCHLVSOX. Co. K.

-fcSth W i-im-'in Inl.iiilrx . Post eiiiiiiii.inil

ant at Fort Zarah. and IJeut. Wixcmn.i..

A. V.j. M.. at thai Post, came up to tin-
urt wn MoiHfay last. They report the
[> - ail well anl everything lovely.
j3U*coed l.tr -ji . M v-. A. Jt>u\~i\ .

Co. I. **th Ww-.)*.*in In&ntrv. ha-i lwn[<

"Ohferalb

01, for a bom* be>*l* the hilb--
Where gladly leap tttr tot
Where sunlight dwell, 'mid fclry a>wer
WhkluMbom, and lmd '

would look on green vale wide,
'Mid which the gay wild water* hide.
Oh for a home beside the Mills.
Where ever glide the laughing rills
A home thru"* bright with birds and

rtowj-n^-
'Tin there Pd live life's happy Hours,

How we SUrUd.

i no purchase niul procitrcinciit ot our
litll<- paper was the ri-sult of a ooeial <-oii-
veiitionoii the evening of IKtliof Octoln-r,
when a number of us were enjoying -our

smoke

on after iup|>cr nt tlie #ton-

our worthy sutler. A subscription paper
was immediately started, which, up to the
present time has fully realized our uio*t
an<ruinc cx|x-ctations.

The following is our subscription list :
Col. U. II. IVarsall. $20.00

Capt. <'bas. W. Felker. 10.00

Fir-t Lieut. 8. .1. foiiklin, R.Q.M. 10.00
r '

< r . 1'. Dodds.
John F. I I.M],|. .
He

in- Bradlev. Interpreter,
nkO. Craiie.
. \V. Crane.

II. Crane.

. J. F. llazleton,

10.00
10,00
10.00
10.00
10.01)

10.00

5,00
10.00

. witbi. filtet-n.lay., - .

from NOT. fith. t.> ai.-. r to the chargt ,rf - n pi. K. Iteker.

whbonl leave," or and di*-l<l. II. JleKeever.
H* h beet. cwmnU-l

Wi4MD.4in. bat

10.01)
10.00

10.00

Adj'i. lo'.OO
mr-r Capt. CvnH ilulehinsoii. 10.00

l*t Lieut. Peter Tnidell, 10.00

1st Lieut. A. B. Cadv. Adjutant. 10.00
W. A.ok. Jr..

Waller retigned. DaU- <
Oct. tfc, 18>.

First IJeotcnant J. *. Driggs from 2nd
Lieutenant. Co. H. vice Peter Trudeil
promoted 1 .

Second Lieutenant Chas. Fowler from
1st Serg't vice J. S. Drciggs promoted 1st
Lieutenant.

l>. Olin. to Captain of Co. C,

Second TJeiitenant Jonn S. Kendall 1st
Lieutenant 'o. C. vice L. 1). Olin pro-
moted.

M..I. BriggK
Capt. M. V. B. Hutchinson.
IJeut Ilenrv Felker.
1st Lieut. Don A. Winchcll.
l-i. l.ieni. W. W. Black.

The cost of press, tvpe, Ac

otSt. I,ouis. Mo.'.
Express charges.

Total,

$300. (

$23!), aT.
i.9.00

$338,55

By the alKive it will be seen THE PLAINS
is almost a solvent Institution, and unlike
many Western enterprises, is founded on
real capital . Our thanks are due to Chaa .

.IVim-i.al /* Health/ First. Sarg 1 11ifoplulfisDan.es to be2d| M ... .....,

.wfilchcWniiifobV'fai. highest milhorfty in Lfeutenf Co. r. viro Jolni S. Hcrrick to'"; r^ , i r K : V T
medical Hdence. hn* t/ik,i> a stati-t against . ,.. i Jp , rtoTl:ul t Co. K. vice Carver rc- |lnrtr " for len<1 '? hls efforts to secure
mnrrlxl pponl^ rt1>itf t.*etliw. but T^*. s"d> a lieautiftil little Prew. Also, to

itilnkx thev had hHWr slevp 111 adjoining fard. Mesrs. M. S. Mepham & Bro.. of 81. 2d

ItwivstlKit KftwiMMid qnwm do First Sergi'iii Peter Miillingcr. Co. K, | street. St. Louis, through whom the St.
ll win- should other robe 2ilLiTrtenant vitv Herrick promoted. il_' oui - s Tyjie Foitudn-. located at No. 9,

lfii*s .liHinnd .l Health "ays* .. T.ieut.Mi;
) to gr^s. Mr. Hall. .igiied.

was dispatched rt-tleets eredit on ihe
enterprise of that eompany.

THE FIRST NEWSPAPER OF WESTERN KANSAS

The first page of The Plains, a three-page newspaper published at Fort
Larned November 15, 1865. There was no fourth page, for it was intended
that this space should be used by soldiers for letter writing. The size of the
original page is approximately 8x10 inches.

THE STORY OF FORT LARNED 273

Diarrhoea was a common malady in such places as Fort Larned,
where the drinking water was not overly sanitary. The official treat-
ment used by the medical officers in 1868 was described as follows,
". . . large doses of calomel, injections of starch, strong tea,
brandy, acetate of lead, sinapisms, frictions and ice sucking/' 106

In the late fall of 1865 a printing press was purchased by the of-
ficers, the purpose being to print a weekly newspaper. The press
was ordered from St. Louis, at a price of $239.55. First subscription
sales brought in $300, so the venture started on a sound financial
basis. The first edition was published on November 25, 1865, and
a short editorial stated the motive for printing The Plains, as the
paper was called:

We are running a paper for our own amusement for the fun of the thing.
Thats all and why not, pray tell? Why not run a paper for fun, as well as
play cards or billiards, or go to a saloon or a horserace, or to hear Beecher
preach, all for fun? 107

The paper was to be published every Saturday and the motto on
the front page reflected the idea of manifest destiny, "Westward the
Star of Empire Takes Its Way." The following are examples of want
ads that appeared in the first edition:

WANTED At this office, a half dozen young ladies to learn printing busi-
ness. The foreman of this office will render all the assistance possible. None
but good looking ones need apply.

JOB WORK We are prepared to print visites, ball tickets, wedding cards,
bills of fare, stage, railroad and toll tickets, programmes, posters and show bills;
in short, everything in the line of letter press printing from a primer to a bible.

It is not known how long this paper was published, but since later
literature concerning Fort Larned makes no mention of The Plains,
it is reasonable to assume that it did not remain in publication for
long. Considering the rapid turnover of troops at Fort Larned, the
founding group of this paper may have left soon after the first pub-
lication, with the result that only one edition may have been pub-
lished.

Two major freighting firms monopolized the supplying of the
military posts on the Plains. They were Irwin, Jackman and Com-
pany and Russell, Majors and Waddell; in 1860 they loaded 863
wagons for Forts Larned, Garland, Wise, and Union. The distribu-
tion of annuities to the government posts was the job of Bent and
Campbell, who, in one year, sent out 57 wagons. 108 In August, 1872,

106. Ibid.

107. The Plains, Fort Larned, November 25, 1865. A copy of this first edition is in
the possession of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka.

108. W. D. Wyman, "Kansas City, Mo., A Famous Freighter Capital," Kansas Histori-
cal Quarterly, v. 6 (1937), p. 11.

1923

274 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad was completed to
Larned with the result that these freighting firms handled a much
smaller volume of business. 109

During the 1860's very few of the frontier military posts were sup-
plied with decent food. Dishonest contractors, distance from the
main depots and the Civil War brought about this situation. One
report in 1867 told of some bacon that was sent to the frontier after
having been stored in dugouts for two years. 110 An establishment
such as Fort Larned could easily provide fresh meat for the troops,
since large herds of buffalo roamed that vicinity. Lt. C. A. Camp-
bell related how he and two other soldiers brought in, at one time,
52 buffalo hind quarters. They were hung to dry on the walls of
the enlisted men's barracks. 111 Albert H. Boyd and Al and George
Cox, pioneer ranchers near Fort Larned, supplied Forts Larned,
Hays, and Dodge with fresh beef. 112

Fresh vegetables were a luxury. The Plains stated that, "The
arrival of a train loaded with antiscorbutics, is a subject of con-
gratulations for everybody . . ." 113 Potatoes were reported to
have sold for $2.50 per bushel and tomatoes for $1.00 per peck.
Gardens were attempted by the soldiers on several occasions, but
their efforts were futile, the causes of failure being, ". . . de-
ficient rains, intense heat, poor soil, grasshoppers and hailstorms." 114

Frontier posts were poorly supplied in the quartermaster and
commissary stores due to an intricate system of regulations badly
adapted for posts many miles from the main source of supply. There
seemed also to exist a good degree of corruption in these depart-
ments of supply. 115

The supply of hay for Fort Larned was derived from native fields
that existed along the bottomlands. Theodore Weichselbaum, who
was the sutler at Fort Larned, arranged a contract for hay in 1860.
Hauling from south of the Arkansas river in wagons, he reported
profits of $20.00 a day for a 30-day period. 116

The sale of buffalo robes amounted to big profits for the traders.
Bands of six different Indian tribes sold, during the season of 1863-
1864, 15,000 robes worth nine dollars by the bale wholesale (the

109. Bradley, loc. cit., p. 25.

110. Raymond Welty, "Supplying the Frontier Military Post," Kansas Historical Quar-
terly, v. 7 (1938), p. 163.

111. The Tiller and Toiler, Larned, September 27, 1923.

112. Ibid., October 23, 1947.

113. The Plains, November 25, 1865.

114. "Report on Barracks and Hospitals, 1870," loc. cit., p. 300.

115. Welty, op. cit., p. 169 (citing House Ex. Doc. No. 20, 39th Cong., 2d Sess., pp.
5, 13, 14).

116. Weichselbaum, loc. cit., p. 568.

THE STORY OF FORT LARKED 275

average bale contained three 50-pound robes). The Indians, not
able to realize the economic value of these goods, traded them for
trinkets whose value amounted to 75 cents per robe. 117

Society of the Plains centered around the fort. Capt. Henry,
Booth, who was stationed at Fort Larned, described the full-dress
dinner parties that were given when notables visited there. The
Indians enjoyed harrassing the guests who were en route to these
celebrations. On one occasion some prospective party goers were
obliged to toss to the Indians a suitcase containing their best party
clothes in order to divert their attention. 118

In the spring of 1867, when General Hancock's force was at Fort
Larned, the life of a soldier stationed there seemed to follow the
military code to a strict degree. Henry M. Stanley, who visited the
fort at that time, described it as follows:

Fort Lamed ... is a model of neatness. Everything is carried on ac-
cording to the strict letter of the military code. Guard mounting, inspection,
and dress parade are announced by the familiar sounds of the fife and drum,
accompanied by all the pomp and circumstance of military form. The officers
are affable with their equals and gracious toward their subordinates. 119

This, it should be remembered, was the situation when notables
visited at the fort, and was probably the exception, rather than the
rule. At any rate, it is quite the opposite of a Fourth of July (1863)
celebration, which was notable for the drinking of "rot" and running
of foot races. 120

Many of the soldiers kept gamecocks and cockfighting became a
very popular sport before the area came under local civil law. 121
Dave Butterfield, of the express company, not only entertained
soldiers with "comical pictures," but on one occasion, delighted
Satanta, the Kiowa chief, with "parlour scenes." 122

Horse racing seemed to be one of the most popular forms of enter-
tainment not only for the soldiers, but for the Indians as well. For
the race track, they dug ditches about four feet apart; the ditches,
which ran parallel to one another, were separated by a sod embank-
ment. Betting was heavy: The Indians would put up ponies, buffalo
robes, and deer skins against the silver dollars of the soldiers. 123

In 1863 some Comanches and Kiowas from Texas brought a black
stallion to Fort Larned. This horse was considered by the Indians

117. Meline, op. cit., p. 282.

118. The Tiller and Toiler, August 28, 1919 (Wheat edition).

119. Stanley, op. cit., p. 28.

120. Letter of Capt. A. W. Burton, Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 7 (1938), p. 100

121. The Titter and Toiler, March 4, 1943.

122. Stanley, op. cit., p. 61.

123. Ryus, op. cit., pp. 57, 58.

276 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

to be the best race horse on the Plains. People from as far as 300
miles came to witness a match race, which also included a barbecue
for the several thousand spectators. The race was won by the
Indians' horse, which obliged the soldiers to pay off a $300 purse.
The Indians, in the joy of their victory, spent the money buying
candy, canned goods, etc., from the sutler, most of which was given
away. Some soldiers from Fort Riley were greatly impressed with
the performance of the black stallion and they purchased him from
the Indians. 124

Among unusual incidents at the fort was a snowstorm in Decem-
ber, 1863, when nearly 15 inches of snow fell. A coach en route from
Santa Fe became stranded and the lives of its passengers were saved
when the soldiers at Larned from their watchtower spied a passenger
attempting to get to the fort for help. 125 On January 3, 1869, a fire
broke out in one of the barns. Thirty-nine horses, 30 tons of hay,
500 bushels of grain, 40 saddles, and 6,000 rounds of ammunition
were destroyed. Company M of the 19th Kansas regiment, under
the command of Capt. Sargent Moody, discovered the fire and was
credited by the Manhattan newspaper for bringing this near dis-
aster under control. 126

THE ABANDONMENT OF FORT LARNED

As early as 1870 it became apparent that it was only a matter of
time before Fort Larned would be abandoned. It will be remem-
bered that the Indian annuity distribution station had been moved
from Fort Larned to Fort Cobb in the fall of 1868. In 1870 a re-
port from Fort Larned stated that commercial traffic on the Santa Fe
trail was practically nonexistent, due to the completion of the Kan-
sas Pacific railroad, approximately 50 miles north. 127 The Atchison,
Topeka and Santa Fe railroad, which reached the area in August,
1872, further reduced the need for troops on the trail, although they
were a definite asset during the construction of the road.

In 1872 General Sheridan stated that due to lack of reports of
Indian engagements in the Fort Larned area, the fort should be
abandoned. He went on to say that the buildings there were frail
and temporary, a statement that was obviously in error, since the
buildings today are considered quite substantial for their age. 128 In
that same year General Pope reported that, "Forts Larned, Dodge

124. Ibid., pp. 59, 60.

125. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, December 10, 1863.

126. Manhattan Standard, January 16, 1869.

127. "Report on Barracks and Hospitals," loc. cit., p. 299.

128. Mrs. F. C. Montgomery, "Fort Wallace and Its Relation to the Frontier," Kansas
Historical Collections, v. 17 (1926-1928), p. 250.

THE STORY OF FORT LARNED 277

and Lyon are substantial, well built posts, and will last a long
time." 129

As a result of General Sheridan's statement, Governor Harvey of
Kansas made an official appeal to keep troops at Fort Larned. The
people, especially the workmen constructing the railroad, were still
in need of protection from the sporadic raids of the Indians. 130 Con-
sequently, the military garrisons remained there.

During the winter of 1873-1874 the main body of settlers came
into the area to establish farms on land that had been granted to the
Santa Fe railroad. Many of these people were destitute that first
winter, which resulted in appeals for supplies stored at Fort Larned,
which were refused. 131

On October 3, 1878, General Pope's report to the War Department
stated that Forts Larned, Hays, and Lyon were no longer needed.
He explained that a large centralized force at Fort Wallace would
be adequate to protect the settlements. 132 The garrisons at Fort
Larned were removed to Fort Dodge on October 28, 1878. 133 Since
an act of congress was needed to dispose of this military property,
the government left a small detail of men at the Fort, under the
command of Lt. John A. Payne. 134

The military cemetery at Fort Larned was located about three
eighths of a mile northwest of the fort buildings. On May 28, 1886,
the cemetery was officially abandoned. 135 This cemetery contained
68 known graves. The man who removed these bodies to the Fort
Leavenworth Military cemetery received ten dollars for each grave
he opened. The grave pits were left open and were a spectacle for
some years. 136

Upon the evacuation of the soldiers from Fort Larned, the people
in that vicinity began to eye the bottom-land reservation as ideal
farmland. As a result a bill to return this property to the public
domain was introduced by Sen. Preston B. Plumb of Kansas. The
bill was signed by President Arthur on August 4, 1882. It stated
that no one individual should be allowed to purchase more than one
quarter section, and provided for survey and appraisal. Also in-
cluded was a clause stating that the section containing the improve-

129. Report of the Secretary of War, 1872, p. 48.

130. Marvin H. Garfield, "The Military Post as a Factor in The Frontier Defenses of
Kansas," Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 1 (1931-1932), p. 54.

131. James C. Malin, "J. A. Walker's Early History of Edwards County," ibid., v. 9
(1940), pp. 266, 267.

132. Montgomery, loc. cit., p. 277.

133. Report of the Adjutant General, 1878, p. 61.

134. The Tiller and Toiler, March 4, 1943.

135. Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 20 (1952-1953), p. 171.

136. The Tiller and Toiler, February 1, 1951.

278 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ments was to be sold at auction or at private sale as deemed best by
the commissioner of the General Land Office. 137

Some of the land came under the federal land grant to the Atchi-
son, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. The section which contained
the fort improvements was sold to Sage and Jackson representing the
Pawnee Valley Stock Breeders Association. 138 This sale took place
on March 13, 1884, at a public auction, at the town of Lamed. The
final bid received was $11,056, but the purchasers defaulted on their
payment, after which the property was sold for $4,000. An investi-
gation was ordered by the General Land Office, which resulted in
causing the purchasers to make an additional payment of $7,056
dollars, thus making good the amount bid at the sale. 139

A portion of the remaining land was sold by direct transaction to
the General Land Office. The rest was sold through H. M. Bickel
and Henry Booth, who were appointed land receivers, with offices
at Lamed. 140 The sale of one of the tracts resulted in an official ap-
peal to the General Land Office of the Department of the Interior.
This case was known as Cook v. Wilbur. Cook's contention was that
Wilbur was not entitled to his property, since he had not carried out
the residence requirement of the pre-emption law. Wilbur's appeal
was based on the phrase of the bill of August 4, 1882, which stated
that ownership of Fort Lamed land could be obtained by following
a plan "... as nearly as may be in conformity to the provisions
of the pre-emption laws of the United States. . . ." 141 Wilbur
lost his claim to this piece of land when Commissioner Vilas upheld
Cook's contention. Two laws were cited by the General Land Of-
fice to support the decision. They were the Osage act of May 9,
1872, which stated that pre-emption laws must be followed ". . .
in every respect . . . ," 142 and Section 2283 of the Revised
Statutes, which stated that any land settlement must accord ". . *
with the general provisions of the pre-emption laws. . . ." 143

In 1902 E. E. Frizell bought the Fort Larned ranch from a man by
the name of Fohrer of Illinois. The purchase involved approxi-
mately 3,000 acres, 250 acres in cultivation, the rest in native grass.

137. For documents concerning the Fort Larned bill, see Congressional Record, 46th
Cong. 1st Sess., v. 9, p. 63; Congressional Record, 47th Cong., 1st Sess., v. 13, pp. 55, 304,
1081, 6696, 6697, 6762, 6800, 6998.

138. "Records" of the register of deeds, Pawnee county, Kansas.

139. "Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office," Report of the Secretary
of the Interior, 1884, v. 1, p. 28.

140. "Records" of the register of deeds, Pawnee county, Kansas.

141. Letter of Secretary Vilas to Commissioner Stockslayer, March 31, 1888. Deci-
sions of the Department of the Interior . . . Relating to the Public Lands, v. 6, pp. 600,
601.

142. Ibid.

143. Ibid.

THE STORY OF FORT LARNED 279

In 1956 there were only 200 acres in grass, the rest being devoted
to irrigated alfalfa and row crop production. The ranch employed
half a dozen families part of whom resided in the officer's quarters.
The two enlisted men's barracks have been converted into a huge
barn. The buildings on the east side (old blacksmith and bakery)
are used as machine shops, and the commissary and quartermaster
buildings serve as barns for storing grain, hay, etc. The quad-
rangular parade grounds have been fenced in and the native buffalo
grass still grows there.

During the early 1900's the beautiful ranch along the Pawnee be-
came a favorite picnic ground for the people in that vicinity. Ac-
cording to Charles Welch, early Pawnee county homesteader, a
Pennsylvania picnic was an annual affair. Barn dances were fre-
quent, and in one instance the local National Guard unit held a
sham battle on the grounds. 144

As time went by, tourists in increasing numbers were attracted to
this historic spot. The Frizell family erected signs to welcome
visitors, and the Kansas Historical Society and the State Highway
Commission erected a historical marker just north of the fort on
United States Highway 56. In the early 1950's the late E. D. Frizell
was approached by various organizations who discussed with him
the possibility of selling the fort buildings and a small tract of land
to make the establishment into a type of monument. Frizell stated
that he would be glad to move over about a quarter of a mile if he
were provided with improvements to match the existing ones.

On January 10, 1955, Sen. Frank Carlson introduced a bill in con-
gress which provided for an investigation and report on making Fort
Larned a national monument, similar to Fort Laramie on the Oregon
trail. 145 Since the amount of money needed to buy and restore the
fort is quite large, it will no doubt have to be derived from some
government agency or philanthropic group.

On October 6, 1955, Merrill J. Mattes, regional historian of Region
Two, National Park Service, Omaha, made an official tour of inspec-
tion at the Fort Larned ranch. He was impressed with the good
condition of the original buildings. He stated that factors favorable
to designation of the fort as a monument were that the government
has established no national monuments along the Santa Fe trail and
that the fort has a potential attraction for tourists because of the
near-by federal highway. 146

144. The Titter and Totter, February 1, 1951.

145. Concessional Record, 84th Cong. 1st Sess., v. 101, pt. 1, p. 163.

146. The TUler and Toiler, October 7, 1955.

280 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

On January 19, 1956, Rep. Clifford R. Hope received a memo-
randum from Conrad L. Wirth, director of the Department of In-
terior's National Park Service, stating that of the 11 original historic
sites chosen in Kansas for further study, Fort Larned was one of the
three given a favorable rating and that further examination by the
federal government would follow. 147

At present the National Park Service has no funds for the pur-
chase of sites as expensive as Fort Larned. In some instances con-
gress has appropriated the necessary funds for such a project. State
legislatures have been known to appropriate the necessary money,
as for example, the state of Wyoming, which purchased 214 acres
of land and the buildings at Fort Laramie in 1927. 148 It should be
remembered, however, that Western state legislatures are generally
conservative and reluctant to authorize the expenditure of state
funds for the acquisition of historic sites. It would take several
times as much money to purchase Fort Larned as it took to pur-
chase Fort Laramie.

In February, 1957, due largely to the work of Ralph Wallace,
Larned newspaperman, the Fort Larned Historical Society was
organized. He and the society planned a formal opening of Fort
Larned as a tourist attraction, which was held May 19, 1957. The
United States Department of the Interior also announced another
examination of the property soon. As a result of these movements,
this interesting chapter in the history of the West may before long
be suitably commemorated.

147. "Correspondence Number L58-H," Conrad L. Wirth to Rep. Clifford R. Hope,
January 19, 1956.

148. David L. Hieb, Fort Laramie (National Park Service Series No. 20, Washington,
Government Printing Office, 1954, p. 33.

Notes on Two Kansas Impeachments

CORTEZ A. M. EWING

I. JOSIAH HAYES, 1874

fourth Kansas impeachment was that of State Treasurer
-L Josiah Hayes in 1874. * Hayes was elected in 1872, taking office
in the January following. The financial and business depression
was then reaching its climax, and bank failures were common
throughout the country. State officials were concerned over the
safety of state funds, especially as there existed a strong demand
for state loans from bankers who sought to postpone public admis-
sion of the insolvency of their institutions. It was obvious that a
temporary loan might be lost to the state if the borrowing banker
was not able to stave off ruin.

At the time of his election, Hayes was president of the First
National Bank of Olathe. He retained his connections with that
institution after his induction into office. During the year and
more that Hayes was state treasurer, he was continuously in poor
health; and as a result, the care and management of the state
finances devolved upon his chief clerk, John C. Collins. Before
assuming these duties, Collins had been engaged in farming. His
conduct of the treasury was not featured by any particular business
acumen, nor even by a fairly faithful adherence to the statutory
regulations relating to the reception, retention, investment, and dis-
bursement of state funds.

In all fairness to Hayes and Collins, some of the unreasonable
statutory provisions relating to the state treasury should be men-
tioned. In the first place, the state auditor, secretary of state, and
governor constituted an ex officio board of examiners, and were
required by law to make a monthly examination of the condition of
the treasurer's office. 2 The statutory intent was a close scrutiny of
public accounts, but no test of thoroughness was specified. The
legislators were apparently convinced that frequent examinations
would effectively thwart any evil or irregular designs that the cus-
todian of the public funds might harbor. But, largely on account
of the excessive frequency stipulated, the three members neglected

DR. CORTEZ A. M. EWING is research professor of government at the University of
Oklahoma, Norman.

1. The first three were of Gov. Charles Robinson, Secretary of State John W. Robinson,
and State Auditor George S. Hillyer, in 1862. See my "Early Kansas Impeachments,"
Kansas Historical Quarterly, \. 1 (1932), pp. 307-325.

2. The General Statutes of the State of Kansas, 1868, p. 982.

(281)

282 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

to perform their function. They even failed to act in a perfunctory
capacity. Knowing that the provisions of the law had not been
complied with in the past, Governor Osborn recommended its repeal
in 1873, but the bill embodying his recommendations failed of
adoption in the senate. This bill would have provided for semi-
annual examinations.

Instead of the 12 examinations required by law, only two were
made in 1873, and both were performed, not by the board, but by a
Topeka grocer, employed for that purpose. His examinations
were of a perfunctory nature. In fact, he was a most agreeable
examiner. His reports were colorless documents, not intended to
embarrass either the treasurer or the board. For instance, his only
evidence of one ten-thousand-dollar item was a verbal statement
by Collins that it was all right; whereupon, through courtesy, it
was immediately listed as cash in hand. 3

A second important factor that rendered administration of state
finances difficult was the general instability of banking institutions.
Large Eastern banks were dragged down, one after another, in an
orgy of financial failure. The state of Kansas maintained a financial
agency in New York for the payment of state bond coupons. That
agency failed also. Moreover, the state treasurer could not, without
grave risk, put the surplus state funds out on time or call loans.
As a result, most tax moneys were retained in the vaults of the
treasury.

A third embarrassing problem with which Hayes was confronted
was the retirement of issues of state scrip. In 1872 Congress
appropriated $336,817.37 for the payment of state scrip issued to
conduct the two campaigns of 1864, one against Gen. Sterling Price
and the other against insurrectionary Indians. This scrip was issued
to pay for services, supplies, and even damages resulting from these
military episodes. In paying some 15,000 of these claims, many
irregularities naturally occurred. 4 Duplicates of scrip were retired;
individual pieces of scrip were paid without indorsement either
of the person to whom it had been originally issued or of the final
payee; some payments were made without the signature of the
treasurer.

In the early autumn of 1873 the state auditor, D. W. Wilder, was
aware that the irregularities in the state treasurer's office had reached

3. Proceedings of the Court of Impeachment Sitting for the Trial of Josiah E. Hayes,
Treasurer (Topeka, 1874), p. 39. Hereafter, this document will be cited as Hayes Im-
peachment Proceedings.

4. An itemized record of these payments is printed, as an appendix, in Hayes Im-
peachment Proceedings, pp. 140-352.

NOTES ON Two KANSAS IMPEACHMENTS 283

a status not conducive to public confidence. Wilder was told by
Governor Osbora that Hayes would resign. However, it was not
yet generally known that Hayes had been drawing on the New
York funds of the state in favor of Kansas bankers. Wilder wanted
to conduct an examination in December, 1873, without giving
prior notice to Hayes or Collins, but the governor thought the
examination should be deferred until January 1. When McFadden,
the groceryman auditor, attempted to make the inspection, Hayes*
"man Friday," Collins, begged for time, saying that he would have
to do a little work on the records so as to bring them down to date.
Wilder favored the institution of legal proceedings against Hayes,
and the publication of McFadden's report. In the meantime a
newspaper correspondent picked up a clue concerning the treasury
troubles from another source. The silence was immediately broken
and demands for the impeachment of Hayes became insistent. In
his annual report of 1873, Wilder demanded a legislative investiga-
tion of Hayes* official conduct; and on January 19, 1874, a resolution
was adopted in the lower house providing for such an investigation.
The committee on state affairs, which conducted the investiga-
tion, reported on March 2, after having examined 26 witnesses.
The majority report, signed by four members, recommended the
impeachment of Hayes and a revision of the laws relating to the
administration of the treasury office. The minority report, signed
by Eli Gilbert, stated that the condition of the treasurer's office
was apparently as satisfactory as it had been since Kansas was
admitted to statehood. Moreover, Gilbert charged that the legis-
lative investigation had been conducted to the plain prejudice of
Hayes and that it had failed "to bring out fully and completely all
the facts and circumstances connected with the affairs of the
Treasurer." The house immediately adopted the majority report
by a vote of 74 to 20. The senate was notified on the day following
and, on March 5, the articles of impeachment were formally adopted
in the house. In brief, they alleged:

1. That Hayes, despite the duty to receive moneys due the
treasury in either gold or silver, treasury notes of the United States,
or national bank notes, did receive and accept evidences of indebted-
ness in lieu of the above legal tender; and specific allegations of his
misconduct in this regard were set forth in four specifications;

2. That he, in violation of law, lent state moneys to certain
parties, corporations, companies and individuals, and specific alle-
gations of this misdemeanor were set forth in 14 specifications;

284 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

3. That he, in violation of law, and of his oath of office, deposited
state moneys with certain companies, corporations, and individuals,
and specific allegations of this misdemeanor were set forth in ten
specifications;

4. That he did not, as stipulated by law, retain in the state treas-
ury all of the state funds until proper orders came for their dis-
bursement;

5. That he, wrongfully and illegally, contrived to conceal the
true condition of the treasury from McFadden, who had been duly
selected by the board of examiners to make a thorough and com-
plete examination of the treasury;

6. That he, in deceiving the board of examiners, presented to
McFadden a letter which falsely stated that $50,000 was then in a
New York bank subject to the call of the treasurer, when no portion
of that amount was ever deposited in that New York bank;

7. That he appropriated the sum of $10,000 to his own use, and
that he refused to produce the same upon the demand of McFadden;

8. That he willfully neglected to perform his duties as state
treasurer, and that he committed his duties to the charge of John
C. Collins, under whose care there had been gross neglect in the
discharge of those duties; and specific allegations of the same were
set forth in five specifications;

9. That he had failed personally to examine and count the state
funds in the treasury, and that he had failed to remove Collins of
to give his personal attention to his official duties, thereby com-
mitting a misdemeanor;

10. That he had paid out of the funds appropriated by the United
States Government to reimburse those who rendered service in the
Indian wars of 1864, and that these payments were made without
authority of law;

11. That scrip issued to suppress and repulse the Price invasion
of 1864 was retired by him out of money appropriated by the
United States Government, and that of all sums paid out, he spe-
cifically paid to one Alois Thoman and others the sum of $4,000
without authority of law;

12. That under the above presumed duty, he paid out $3,000
without having signed his name as treasurer;

13. That for the above, he paid out the sum of $5,000 when the
names of the payees were not appearing on the said pieces of scrip
which were retired. 5

5. For complete and official text of the articles, see Hayes Impeachment Proceedings,
pp. 18-32.

NOTES ON Two KANSAS IMPEACHMENTS 285

The impeachment court was organized on March 5 and 6, and
the managers of the house appeared and exhibited the articles of
impeachment against Hayes. Formal answer to the charges was
presented by the respondent. The managers made replication.
Because of the necessity of taking depositions of banking officials
in New York City, the impeachment court adjourned till May.
When the court met on May 12, the resignation of Hayes was
announced by the board of managers. The attorney general ad-
vised the abandonment of the impeachment. The board of mana-
gers deemed it inadvisable to proceed with the trial merely to effect
Hayes' disqualification for future office holding. Besides, the two
officers against whom impeachment articles had been sustained in
1862 were not disqualified by the court, so further prosecution might
result in no alteration of the existing situation. 6

The impeachment court adjourned sine die on May 13, after
wrangling for a day over the matter of printing the depositions
taken in New York and other such insignificant evidence. One
enthusiastic member of the court introduced a resolution calling
for a thorough investigation of the treasury office by a committee
of the impeachment court. This would, incidentally, have repre-
sented an unusual usurpation of authority by an impeachment
court, if it had been adopted. Such court is constitutionally man-
dated to try impeachments, and when that has been done, its duties
end. If the court member had realized it, the investigation which
he sought could, without violating the constitution, have been
effected only by order of a legislative body. The action of the
court in permitting the dismissal of the impeachment proceedings
against Hayes was in conformity with the preponderance of Amer-
ican impeachment precedents that are at point. The court's duty
is to try, and not prosecute, impeachments. Only a few examples
of the refusal to dismiss impeachments after the resignation of the
impeached officers are extant in American impeachment history.
Most important of these were the trials of Secretary of War William
W. Belknap and Judge Crum (Montana).

II. JUDGE THEODOSIUS BOTKIN, 1891

The fifth Kansas impeachment was that of Theodosius Botkin
in 1891. Botkin was judge of the 32d judicial district, which com-
prised six counties in the extreme southwestern part of the state.

6. In the cases against J. W. Robinson and George S. Hillyer (1862), each was
removed from office but, on the separate motions to disqualify them for future office
holding, only one member of the court voted to disqualify. See Proceedings in the Cases
of the Impeachment of Charles Robinson, Governor; John W. Robinson, Secretary of State;
George S. Hillyer, Auditor of State, of Kansas, (Lawrence, 1862) pp. 349, 397.

286 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Frontier conditions of an intensely bold and mendacious nature
dominated the life of that section when Botkin was appointed by
the governor in 1889. In the following year he was duly elected
for a four-year term. Botkin's appointment was purely political.
He was a Republican, and had performed yeoman's service for his
party during the period immediately preceding his selection.

The impeachment remedy is, at best, a complicated political
method for the riddance of incompetent or corrupt public officers.
If it had been employed merely for that purpose, it might well
have remained an efficient and trustworthy remedy. That it did
not is primarily due to the fact that it was dominated by partisan
politics.

Like many other states, Kansas experienced particular tumult
from 1865 to 1895. Agrarian revolts stirred the political waters
into a maelstrom. The Greenback movement was more than a
mere gesture. It represented a political attempt to solve agricul-
tural economic ills. When it spent itself, the malcontents discarded
the political weapon and returned to an economic organization
that closely resembled the powerful Granger movement of the early
1870's. This new organization was known as the Farmers' Al-
liance. 7 Embracing many of the features of a secret fraternal so-
ciety, its membership increased to an astounding total. Contempo-
raneously, the Knights of Labor were enrolling urban workers
into another great economic organization. Scheming politicians
dreamed of realizing at last a Farmer-Labor party which would
sweep the country and seize from the great corporate interests
the destiny of the country. The age of Popocracy was at hand in
1890, and with it the determination among the farmers of the West
"to raise less corn and more hell."

The counties comprising the 32d judicial district were agricul-
tural counties, and the Alliance was well organized there. In the
election of 1890, the Democrats practically merged with the Al-
liancemen, presaging the complete assimilation of six years later.
There were, it should be noted, four important factions in the pre-
impeachment situation in Botkin's district. In the middle 1880's
a bitter fight had arisen over the location of the county seat of
Seward county. Partisans of Springfield and Fargo Springs be-
labored one another with all manner of opprobrium. When Spring-
field finally emerged victor, the inhabitants of Fargo Springs re-
moved to Arkalon, and there was every indication that Springfield's
victory was regarded as merely temporary. Judge Botkin had be-

7. There existed both southern and northern branches of the Farmers' Alliance.

NOTES ON Two KANSAS IMPEACHMENTS 287

longed to the Fargo Springs forces during the fight and, as a re-
sult, Springfieldians never forgave him even though he established
a permanent residence in their town. Added to this issue was a
bank fight. Two banks sought the patronage of Springfield. The
Adams bank supported Botkin; the Kennard bank opposed him.
The whole community took sides in the controversy. A third fac-
tor was the aforementioned struggle between the Alliance and the
Republicans. This was primarily local in its character, and was ex-
tremely personal. Col. Samuel Wood, an experienced Kansas politi-
cian, was the acknowledged leader of the Alliance. The Republi-
can forces followed the leadership of Botkin, since he was the highest
official of the district. The fourth issue centered about the person-
ality of Judge Botkin.

From the testimony elicited from witnessess during the subse-
quent trial, it is easy to gather some of the salient features of Judge
Botkin's character. He was domineering, vindictive, and the pos-
sessor of a tremendous capacity for indignation, and of a temper
that was unpredictable. His knowledge of the law was certainly not
particularly noteworthy, yet it could scarcely be expected that a
John Marshall would have been riding the circuit on the Kansas
frontier. Like many men of his district, he indulged an appetite for
strong liquor. Yet no one, except his personal enemies, seemed to
perceive any misbehavior in that fact. At one county seat, a com-
municating door of the courtroom opened into a liquor joint. It was,
thus, no difficult matter for a judge to find himself swigging a social
dram with attorneys, jurors, spectators, or even litigants. Both the
law and the judicial ermine lost much of their traditional majesty
in such surroundings, but the formal judicial process was only a
recent innovation in that section.

Soon after Botkin's election in November, 1890, his enemies
began to gather evidence preparatory to his removal by the legis-
lature. The judge and his supporters collected depositions and
signed statements that testified, favorably, to Botkin's character,
ability, and record as a judicial officer. On February 6, 1891, a
petition was presented to the Kansas house of representatives,
praying that Botkin be removed from office "for unfitness, im-
morality, and corruption in office." 8 The local political fight of
Seward county was thereby projected into the larger arena of
state politics. Such is the usual origin of state impeachments, and
when they are viewed in the larger perspective they appear child-

8. Daily Journal of the Senate, Trial of Theodosius Botkin ... on Impeachment
by the House . . . J89J (Topeka, 1891), p. 5. Hereafter this official transcript of
proceedings shall be cited as Botkin Proceedings.

288 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ish and insignificant. Moreover, Kansas politicians were by no
means certain as to the ultimate outcome of the Alliance bid for
political power. It represented a threat to Republican political
hegemony. To oppose it unequivocally might mean political
decapitation. For that reason, trembling before the torrent, the
lower house, on February 27, impeached Botkin of high misde-
meanors in office and specifically charged the same in ten formal
articles of impeachment. In this case the impeachment was voted
in the house through the adoption of the articles against Botkin.
The house managers presented the ten articles before the senate
on March 3. In brief, they alleged:

1. That Judge Theodosius Botkin, unmindful of the high duties
of his office, had been repeatedly intoxicated in public places in
his district, and specific indictments of such public intoxication
were charged in ten specifications;

2. That he, unmindful of the dignity and proprieties of his
office, had during terms of court been intoxicated, and this charge
was set forth in ten specifications;

3. That he had, while sitting on the bench as judge, been in-
toxicated, and express indictment of the same was set forth in
four specifications;

4. That on August 29, 1890, he was publicly intoxicated on the
streets of Leoti, and while thusly intoxicated he engaged in a
drunken and boisterous quarrel, thereby bringing his office into
contempt, ridicule, and disgrace;

5. That despite the fact of the state prohibition law, Judge
Botkin has frequently repaired to places where liquor was sold
in violation of such law, to the great scandal of all good citizens,
and specific indictment of the same was set forth in three specifi-
cations;

6. That, unmindful of the prohibitory law, he has frequently pur-
chased liquor in violation of such law, and specific allegation of the
same was set forth in three specifications;

7. That during his term, he has been an habitual user of intoxi-
cating liquor to the extent of impairing and incapacitating him for
a clear-minded discharge of his judicial functions and duties;

8. That he, on January 10, 1891, in a drug store which sold liquor
in violation of law, cursed and swore in a blasphemous manner
and said in the presence of others that "God Almighty was a God-

9. It is the usual procedure for an investigating committee to recommend the
adoption of an impeachment resolution to the house; thereafter, if impeachment is voted,
the committee presents specific articles for adoption by the house. However, in this case,
the two steps were merged.

NOTES ON Two KANSAS IMPEACHMENTS 289

damned fool," whereby he brought his office to contempt, ridicule,
and disgrace;

9. That he, on four specific occasions set forth in separate speci-
fications, was guilty of "willfully, maliciously, oppressively, par-
tially and illegally" exercising the duties of his office, by issuance
of fraudulent warrants, illegal arrests, and failure to permit filing
of exceptions;

10. That he, unlawfully and corruptly, aided and abetted officers
and others to boodle the city of Springfield out of $5,897, which
illegal expenditures were made with the aid of Judge Botkin and
his receivership order and his subsequent approval of such items
of expenditure; and that when he had so defrauded the city out
of this amount he dissolved the receivership and departed from
the county. 10

After the upper house had duly organized itself into a high court
of impeachment and had adopted rules for the conduct of the trial,
the respondent appeared and demurred to each and every article.
In the discussion upon the demurrer, counsel for both sides pre-
sented able and interesting arguments either for or against the
articles as charging impeachable offenses. The Kansas constitution
specified that the governor and other named officers of the state,
including judges of the district courts, "shall be impeached for mis-
demeanors in office." Counsel for respondent argued, therefore,
that these enumerated officers could be lawfully impeached only
for violation of the constitution and laws of the state: thus, im-
peachment would lie only against an indictable offense. Moreover,
in relation to the constitutional provision "in office," respondent's
counsel contended that officers could be impeached only for acts
done under color of office. Under this interpretation, none of the
specific charges against Botkin relating to his conduct off the
bench constituted an impeachable offense.

The managers replied by stating that "misdemeanor" and "crimes"
were synonymous terms within the meaning of the constitution, and
that they were so defined by Blackstone. Moreover, impeachment
being a civil process, the term "misdemeanor" also included mis-
conduct and even incompetency. The English impeachment had
been altered to fit the American political scene. It thereby became
the instrument of the citizenry to protect itself against corrupt or
incompetent officers. Wherein lies protection to the officer against
irregular and unjustifiable removal; it lies where Chief Justice

10. Botkin Proceedings, pp. 31-42.
2023

290 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Marshall once said it lay as a protection to corporations against
unreasonable regulation in the consciences of the state legislators.
The managers argued that impeachable offenses were not necessarily
indictable offenses, for impeachment was a civil process. If it were
not, then the demurrer was entirely illegal, and the respondent was
here offering his demurrer in apparent good faith. Heretofore,
Kansas impeachment trials had not included the use of the demurrer.
In all four of them, the respondents had proceeded immediately to
make answer to the articles, whereupon the managers submitted
that the answers were insufficient, and, under joiners of that nature,
the opening arguments were begun.

Both the prosecution and defense supported the condonation
principle of impeachment, which denies that an officer may be
impeached for acts committed prior to his election or re-election
by popular vote. In the case of Judge Botkin, it implied that he
could be impeached for no act committed by him during his term
under the governor's appointment up to and including election day
in November, 1890. The articles of impeachment were so phrased
as not to include allegations of impeachable misdemeanors before
that date, except in the charges of intoxication. In order to prove
the habitual use of intoxicants, proof of inebriations prior to his
election were admissible.

Sen. R. R. Hays, a member of the impeachment court, presented
an interesting question as to the authority of the senate court to
sustain a demurrer. Was not the house of representatives, the
impeaching body, the sole judge of what constituted an impeach-
able offense? Was not the senate court constitutionally obligated
to try all impeachments? On what authority could the senate court
dismiss a single article when they were specifically charged with
the duty of trying all impeachments? Under this interpretation, a
demurrer was "an innovation and an anomaly in impeachment pro-
ceedings." n The attorney general, who, in Kansas, is empowered
with the duty of aiding the board of managers, declared that the
impeachment court could enter a plea of guilty for the respondent,
in that he had admitted the allegations. 12

The respondent withdrew the eighth article from the scope of
his demurrer before the argument was finished. When the de-

11. Botkin Proceedings, p. 258.

12. Yet, on his demurrer, the respondent had reserved the right to submit further
answers to the articles. Despite the logical strength of Senator Hays' argument, there are
numerous examples of demurrers being interposed and, in certain cases, sustained by the
impeachment court. The cases of Judge William Russell (Texas, 1871) and of Supreme
Court Commissioner Chas. Ruth (Oklahoma, 1923) are examples of impeachments being
terminated through demurrers.

NOTES ON Two KANSAS IMPEACHMENTS 291

murrer was put to a vote, it was sustained for the fourth, fifth, and
sixth articles. TABLE I shows how the individual members voted
on the separate articles. Seven articles remained for further dis-
position.

During the testimony-taking stage of the proceeding, the state
called 49 witnesses to the stand. The respondent called 64. During
the investigation in the house, Botkin had refused to call a single
witness when the committee would not let him subpoena an un-
limited number from his remote district. In the trial proper, he
subpoenaed 98 persons, but the court, on several occasions, banned
further testimony concerning certain specifications. At the outset,
the court had limited each side to five witnesses per specification,
but that dispensation was not strictly adhered to during the trial.
For the most part, this feature of the case was uninteresting. The
managers put witnesses on the stand who testified that the judge
was a notorious drunkard; the defense produced an equal number
who denied that they had ever seen him under the influence of
intoxicants.

The final arguments were long and spirited. Most generally
impeachment trials peter out in spirit before the final balloting.
It was not so in this case. The lawyers flung the lie back and
forth among them for 15 hours. The managers were fairer in their
summary of the evidence. W. P. Hackney, for the respondent,
introduced bold partisanship into the case; it was merely an at-
tempt of the "contemptible" Alliance to dishonor a "faithful" Re-
publican. Concerning the Alliance, he said:

It is a small outfit, from stem to stern. Why, the first thing we find is, they
are sneaking around, looking through windows of a bank, in that town down
there, to find if the Judge was taking a drink. Then they bring these witnesses
on the stand who say that they smelled his breath. It is on the principle
of the smelling committee appointed to investigate the Governor, and to in-
vestigate his appointments, and to investigate the Coffeyville dynamite matter;
and they are smelling around, and are yet, in this case. Their infernal olfac-
tories are ready to smell everything. That is the cardinal doctrine of the
Alliance. It is a political organization of outcasts and characterless scoundrels,
and no honest man can get in to deny it. That's your political party. . . .
The time will come in this State when every man within the sound of my
voice will know that this infamous political side-show is more damnable than
the Jacobins of France. 13

From the beginning of the trial, members of the court were
far from regular in their attendance. At times the proceedings
were postponed until a quorum was present. The attorney general

13. Botkin Proceedings, p. 1320.

292

KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

TABLE I "
VOTE ON DEMURRERS: BOTKIN IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

MEMBER

Party

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

IX.

T
A.

otal

Bentley

Rep.

Berry

Rep.

Buchan

Rep.

Carroll (Leavenworth) .

Dem.

Carroll (Miami)

Rep.

Elliston

Rep

Emery

Ren

Forney

Rep

Gillett

Rep.

Harkness

Rep.

Hays

Rep.

Howard

Rep.

Rep

Kelley (Crawford)

Rep.

Kelly (McPherson)

Rep.

Kimball

Rep.

King

Rep.

Kirkpatrick

R eD

Lockard

Rep.

Long . .

Rep.

McTaggart

Rep

Martin

Rep

Mechern

Rep.

Mohler. . . ,

Rep.

NOTES ON Two KANSAS IMPEACHMENTS 293

VOTE ON DEMURRERS: BOTKJN IMPEACHMENT TRIAL Concluded

MEMBER

Party

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

IX.

tal

Moody

Rep.

N .

Murdock

Rep.

Norton

Rep.

Osborn

Rep.

Rankin

Rep.

Richter

Rep

Roe

Rep.

Rush

Rep.

Schilling

Rep.

Senior

Rep.

Smith

Rep.

Tucker

Rep.

Wheeler

All'nce

Woodward

Rep.

Wright

Rep.

Total "A"s

Total "N"s

207

-)-

-j-

Demurrers Overruled . . .

14. Data compiled from Botkin Proceedings, v. 1, pp. 245-248. "A" means a vote to
sustain the demurrer; and "N" means to overrule the demurrer. The record shows that
Sen. Hill P. Wilson took the oath but failed to attend any of the sessions of the impeachment
court. Sen. Sydney C. Wheeler was listed as a member of the Alliance party.

294 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

practically demanded that at least two thirds, 27 members, should
be in constant attendance, arguing that that was the number re-
quired to sustain the articles. The court did not regard the dicta-
tion as valid, and there were motions presented to force regular
attendance on the part of the attorney general. 15

On May 5, sixteen days after the trial began, the court adopted
a stringent rule requiring that 30 members, at least, be in attend-
ance at all times. If that number were not present, warrants were
to be issued for all members absent without leave of the court. 16
Thereafter the attendance was perceptibly higher. On May 14 a
resolution was adopted which called for each member to be present
at the final balloting and declaring that no member would be ex-
cused except in case of sickness. 17

At the close of the final arguments, the court engaged in a con-
troversy as to whether the vote should be taken upon each of the
31 specifications or upon each of the seven articles. It was finally
decided to vote only upon the separate articles, thereby avoiding
the question that might have arisen as to whether votes on specifica-
tions within an article were to be counted cumulatively. Thirty-
five members voted in the final balloting. Only on articles nine and
ten were a majority of the votes cast in favor of sustaining the
charges, and the 18 total that each of these articles received was
nine votes short of the necessary two thirds majority. On the three
articles charging intoxication, not a single vote was cast for con-
viction. TABLE II records how members voted on each article. Fif-
teen of the members voted unanimously for acquittal, which num-
ber, in itself, was sufficient to prevent a sustainment of any article.

It is unnecessary to recapitulate the various factors that produced
the final acquittal. The trial soon degenerated into a wrangling
partisan scuffle. One court member was led to declare that it seemed
that no one was on trial except the Republican party. Others were
acid in their criticism of the personalities engaged in by counsel on
both sides. The whole trial was extremely tedious, and there were
constant interruptions and objections concerning the admissibility of
testimony. Especially in regard to proving Botkin was an habitual
drunkard, the burden of proof was upon the managers, and in the
face of a mass of contradicting evidence the charges broke down.

15. After a few days, the attorney general ceased to attend and thereby repudiated
the statutory mandate that he should aid the state in impeachment cases. Presumably, he
discerned the rabid partisan character into which the trial degenerated and was desirous
of evading partisan criticism.

16. Botkin Proceedings, p. 527.

17. Ibid., p. 1142.

NOTES ON Two KANSAS IMPEACHMENTS

295

TABLE II is
FINAL VOTE IN BOTKIN IMPEACHMENT

MEMBER

Party

II.

III.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

>tal

Bentley

Rep.

Berry

Rep.

Buchan

Rep.

Carroll (Leavenworth)

Dem

Carroll (Miami)

Rep.

Elliston

Rep.

Emery . . .

Rep

Forney

Reo

Gillett

Rep.

Harkness

Rep

Hays

Rep

Howard

Rep.

Johnson

Rep.

Kelley (Crawford)

Rep.

Kelly (McPherson)

Rep.

Kimball

Rep

King ....

Rep

Kirkpatrick

Rep.

Lockard

Rep.

Long

Reo

McTaggart

Rep.

Martin

Rep.

Mechem. ..

Reo.

296

KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

FINAL VOTE ON BOTKIN IMPEACHMENT Concluded

MEMBER

Party

II.

III.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

tal

Mohler

Rep

Moody

Rep

Murdock

Reo

Norton

Rep.

Osborn

Rep.

Rankin

Rep.

Richter

Rep.

Roe

Rep.

Rush

Rep.

Schilling

Rep.

Senior

Rep.

Smith

Rep.

Tucker

Rep.

Wheeler

All'nop

Woodward

Rep.

Wright

Rep.

Total"A"s

Total"N"s

194

18. Data compiled from Botfrt'n Proceedings, v. 2, pp. 1380-1400. "A" means a vote
to sustain the article of impeachment and, is, therefore, a vote for conviction; "N" is a vote
for acquittal; "E" represents excused from voting; and blank spaces signify that the members
were absent and unexcused.

NOTES ON Two KANSAS IMPEACHMENTS 297

A curious bit of irony occurred during the trial. One of the wit-
nesses who was summoned by the prosecution to prove Botkin's un-
failing appetite for strong drink was twice arrested for drunkenness
by the Topeka police during the trial. In regard to the tenth article,
the state built up a good case against Botkin, and the evidence would
seem to have justified a conviction. The managers even traced
money to Botkin, but he did not take the stand, and his attorney,
Hackney, who had given him the $750, testified that it was only a
loan and that it had been repaid. No documentary proof was
offered to show that it had been.

Thirty-seven of the 39 court members were members of the Re-
publican party. Botkin was a Republican. Moreover, he was an
old soldier, and he was popular with the veterans, who, at this time,
provided most of the leaders for that party. To sustain the im-
peachment of Botkin would have represented a substantial victory
for the Populist crusade, and the Republican party could, in that
threatening period, ill afford to admit corruption within its own
ranks. To anyone reading carefully the proceedings and the con-
temporary comments on the trial, there comes the impression that
the impeachment was unfortunately transplanted from its legitimate
milieu local government and that it should have been decided
in a regular court of law rather than in a political tribunal.

Traveling Theatre in Kansas:

The James A. Lord Chicago Dramatic Company,

1869-1871

JAMES C. MALIN
I. INTRODUCTION: TRAVELING THEATRE

JAMES A. Lord and Louie Lord first appeared on the Kansas
scene as traveling theatre during the season of 1869-1870. The
conditions which marked their coming indicated a break in theat-
rical traditions which were crystallizing in the area during the late
1860's. The decade 1858-1868, dominated for the most part by the
resident theatre combined with the traveling star system, has been
given comparatively detailed historical treatment in an earlier
essay. The basis is provided in this manner for differentiating this
past mode of operation from the new one, the complete traveling
theatrical company of which a typical case is the Lord Chicago
Dramatic Company, the subject of this essay.

On their first tour of Kansas the Lord Dramatic Company ar-
rived by rail from Chicago through Quincy, 111., and St. Joseph, Mo.,
playing in towns along the road. In Kansas the company filled
engagements in four towns: Atchison, December 13-18 (six days),
Leavenworth, December 20-28 ( seven days ) , Lawrence, December
30, 1869-January 5, 1870 (six days), Topeka, January 6-19 (11
days and 12 performances), and Lawrence a second time, Janu-
ary 20-22, 1870 (three days). The totals were 35 plays in 33
working days. These places were close together, the most popu-
lous towns, and were served by railroads, considerations that were
critical in keeping expenses in line with receipts. The prices
charged were 50 cents for admission, or 65 cents for reserved seats.

Information about these theatrical events and the Lord Company
are dependent solely upon the newspaper files of the towns they
visited. Atchison, unfortunately for the historian, has only one
surviving file, the Champion, filling only one dramatic critic's seat,
and he was not threatre-minded. Two of Leavenworth's three daily
paper files survive for the first tour and all three for the second

DR. JAMES C. MALIN, associate editor of The Kansas Historical Quarterly, is professor of
history at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and is author of several books relating to
Kansas and the West.

(298)

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 299

tour, the Times and Conservative, the Commercial, and the Evening
Bulletin. Three, or even two commentators rounded out perspec-
tive. At Lawrence and Topeka, two papers each afforded some
contrasts, and one of the editors in each case demonstrated a more
active interest than his rival. At Lawrence they were the Kansas
Daily Tribune, and the Republican Daily Journal, and at Topeka
the Kansas Daily State Record, and the Kansas Daily Common-
wealth.

The nature of the traveling company as a self-contained organiza-
tion had best be described with due regard to contrasts with the
resident theatre. As guest stars were not used, the company was
constructed in such a manner as to include, within the regular
personnel, pairs of first and second leading players of tragedy
and comedy. One pair might emphasize tragedy and the other
comedy, but no discussions of the theoretical aspects of player
composition of such companies have been encountered. In case
of illness of either of the leading actors, that role devolved upon the
second. Frequently man-and-wife teams were used, but so often
the parties to these pairs were not of equal quality, and one of the
team had to be content with minor roles. Always a company must
have a comedian, better, a pair, male and female. The Burts
afforded a good example of a man-and-wife team in this category,
but more frequently the man who was most successful in the Lord
Company was not one of the team. If his quality justified, he might
be cast in comedy leading roles. Lord assigned Simon to play
"Rip" in "Rip Van Winkle" during the first Kansas tour. A child
actor was desirable, although a small woman was used on occasion
to play "Eva" or "Mary Morgan" or other child roles. Miss Mann
did "Eva" in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in Leavenworth, in August,
1862. Addie Corey was with the Lords on their first tours. Plays
employing child characters were peculiarly conspicuous during
the 1850's and 1860's.

Other than the classical dramas, most of the plays emphasized
youthful characters, and required actors accordingly. A complete
company must have, however, members suitable for playing mature
or elderly parts, but there was not much opportunity for older
people. So strongly was the theatre's accent upon youth, that the
historian must constantly ask the question: what became of older
actors? Acting careers must have been quite short. Altogether,
these specified types, plus a complement of minor players, made
up a company of 12 to 15 persons. The fact that this kind of com-

300 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

pany traveled, meant that they met new audiences; a solution of
the problem of variety which plagued resident companies.

The maintenance of family life in the traveling theatre was virtu-
ally impossible. Yet, there were examples of family units in the
business. The George Burts changed from the earlier regime to
the traveling troupe, and were still on the road during the 1870's.
The Plunketts, likewise, were a persistent family, Charles and
Carrie, with their three daughters, Annie, Blanche, and Clara. 1
Although a pursuit of the history of such family groups through the
second generation would be important historically, such an enter-
prise is beyond the scope of the present essay.

The earliest examples of the traveling theatre in Kansas were
the Gabay Company of 1856 about which little information has
been found, and Mr. and Mrs. Langrishe, whose trail has been
crossed for some two decades. During the winter of 1859 the
Langrishes showed at Atchison, Leavenworth, Junction City, and
Topeka, when the only transportation available was the stagecoach. 2
Their demonstration that it could be done only emphasized how
unusual it was. During the mid-1860's, the occasional traveling
show became more frequent, but not prevalent.

II. LOUIE LORD: BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

The personal story of James A. and Louie Lord has been told
elsewhere, except for some additional data on Mrs. Lord's early
life. The Topeka Commonwealth, December 9, 1870, published a
biographical sketch, and the only one found thus far. Part of the
data given was corroborated by other sources, a fact that tends to
encourage confidence in the unverified portions. According to this
source she was born November 12, 1847, at LaPorte, Ind., her
parents moving to Chicago when she was five:

Her ultimate intention was to become a teacher, and, having prepared herself
for that profession, she was about entering on her duties, when fate threw
in her path a young soldier, in the shape of J. A. Lord, who had just been
sent home from Vicksburg, wounded and dying. Cupid ( mischievious boy)
thought that there was a fine chance for more game. He took aim, and sent
his arrow through two devoted hearts. A marriage was the consequence;
it took place on the 18th day of October, 1864, Dr. Patterson, of the Second
Presbyterian church of Chicago, officiating. The soldier returned to his pro-
fession [theatre] and the girlish wife followed her husband, another candidate
for histrionic fame. Her first appearance on the stage was in the part of
"Minnie," in the play of Rip Van Winkle, in 1865, at the Metropolitan Theater,
Indianapolis, Indiana, under the management of W. H. Riley.

1. Wamego Tribune, February 18, 1879.

2. Daily Times, Leavenworth, December 13, 1859; Freedom's Champion, Atchison,
December 17, 1859.

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 301

If the date 1847 was correct, Louie was married at 17 and made
her theatrical debut at 18. Nothing in that chronology appears
particularly unusual. This account would have her entering upon
a teaching career at 17, and according to another account she was
already a school teacher prior to her marriage. As the dates of
Lord's discharge from the Union army and the marriage were con-
firmed by the probate court papers filed in connection with the set-
tlement of his estate, any questioning of her chronology would focus
upon the birth date. A 17-year-old school teacher was not impos-
sible, but relatively unusual. But accepting that date tentatively,
Mrs. Lord was one month past 22 when she first appeared in Kansas;
two months past 37 when Mr. Lord died, and 42 when she made her
last recorded tour in Kansas. If she was actually present at Oberlin,
Kan., in 1897, she was 50 years of age. This chronology would fix
the difference in age between Mr. and Mrs. Lord at 18 years.

But returning to the opening of her theatrical career, 1865-1869,
the Commonwealth sketch continued:

Mrs. Lord became a general favorite with the public and her friends; and,
possessing the sacred "fire," obstacles melted like ice before the sun's rays.
Many of the first "stars" of this country and England admitted that they had
never met so young a person endowed with such superior talents in comedy
and tragedy, possessing such pleasing vocal abilities. She seems peculiarly
fitted by nature to adorn and brighten the profession she has chosen. She is
a lady of great accomplishments. Her manners are easy, graceful and engaging,
and she makes a fine appearance on the stage. Having appeared in the prin-
cipal cities with success, she is pronounced by all to be worthy of the plaudits
of the most intelligent. One of the most flattering engagements was tendered
her, being no less than three hundred nights, to support "Vestvali," in London,
England; but previous engagements prevented the acceptance of the offer.

In 1869, upon arriving in Kansas in November, James A. Lord
was probably 40 years of age and had behind him 14 years of
theatrical experience, less the term of his military service. Louie
Lord had four years on the stage to her credit, a young woman
just turned 22, and 18 years her husband's junior.

III. THE FIRST TOUR OF KANSAS, 1869-1870
ATCHISON, DECEMBER 13-18, 1869

In Atchison the troupe was advertised merely as the J. A. Lord
Dramatic Company. No background was provided although this
was their first appearance in the area. The only introductions to
the theatre-going public were the commendations of the St. Joseph,
Mo., press, the Gazette, and the Herald, both of which were en-

302 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

thusiastic. Possibly the recommendations of a neighbor were the
best of endorsements.

The plays presented at Atchison, in Price's Hall, were "The
Hidden Hand," "She Stoops to Conquer," "The Ticket-of-Leave
Man," "The Sea of Ice," "Rip Van Winkle," and "Under the Gas-
light." Louie Lord took the feminine lead in each: "Capitola,"
"Kate Hardcastle," "May Edwards," the double role of "Louise De
Lascours" and "Ogarita, the Wild Flower of Mexico," "Gretchen,"
and "Laura Courtland." The male lead was not featured, but was
played by Mr. Lord, except in "Rip Van Winkle," when the young
comedian, J. A. Simon, was billed to play the name character. Kan-
sas theatre patrons were to hear more of him later as head of his own
company for some two decades. The Champion pronounced him
"the best comedian who has ever visited our place. . . ." After
Goldsmith's "She Stoops to Conquer," the Champion indicated
that: "Miss Louie Lord, Mr. Simon, and Mrs. J. A. Lord are espe-
cially deserving of praise. . . ." The company is rapidly grow-
ing in public favor. It is undoubtedly the best troupe that has
visited our city for a long time. . . ." In view of the theatre
record at Atchison, as already reviewed, that superlative praise
might not mean much, but at any rate, it is probably the best the
Champion could do under the circumstances. After "The Ticket-
of-Leave Man" the verdict was that the company was "growing
more and more popular." The Champion was John A. Martin's
paper, but no clue is available about who wrote the dramatic
criticism, which was perfunctory. Clearly, the man responsible for
it was not a drama enthusiast. If all reporters were as noncom-
mittal comparatively little of historical reality could be recovered. 3

LEAVENWORTH, DECEMBER 20-28, 1869

In the Kansas metropolis, Leavenworth, the Times and Conserva-
tive exhibited little more enthusiasm for theatre than the Atchison
Champion, but the Commercial dramatic critic was in an exuberant,
uninhibited mood and possessed a flamboyant vocabulary. Dif-
ferent also from the Champion was the fact that both papers recog-
nized the coming of the Lord Chicago Dramatic Company as a re-
sumption of theatre in Leavenworth after a long absence. The
Times and Conservative comment was a sober statement of fact:
"We are glad that our citizens again have the opportunity of seeing
a good dramatic troupe." But the Commercial knew not such re-

3. Atchison Daily Champion and Press, December 12. 14-19, 1869.

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 303

straint, and opened a long Sunday editorial on "The Resurrection of
the Drama'':

For weary and monotonous months the Opera House has been closed,
with all its former life, bustle and animation suspended. To the vitalized
portion of Leavenworth, this has been a grievous deprivation, and one which
they have loudly lamented. With the advent of Lord's Dramatic Troupe of
Chicago, who to-morrow throw open the portals of the long deserted halls
of Thession, the revival of the drama will be effected. 4

Two other aspects of the advent of the Lords were newsworthy;
they were completely unknown to the Missouri river elbow region,
and they came from Chicago (not St. Louis, New Orleans, or Cin-
cinnati), and by rail. The Atchison Champion had commented
that the Lords "appeared for the first time before an Atchison
audience. . . ." and quoted plaudits from the St. Joseph Gazette
about their reception at that place. The Times and Conservative
was no more explicit in saying: "Lord's Dramatic Troupe comes
here with high recommendations from all the places they have
visited. The proprietor is a gentleman of wealth and education,
and his troupe is composed of artists who will give our people a
pleasant surprise." But the Commercial was more informing.
George Chaplin was with a traveling theatrical troupe at this time
as a star, having made the transition in part from the resident
theatre to the new mode of operation, and was supposed to have
played in Leavenworth. Although operating with the newer type
of organization, had Chaplin resurrected theatre in Leavenworth,
the event would have represented something of a carry-over from
the old regime. Under the heading "Dramatic Sensation," the
Commercial handled the situation this wise:

The habitues of the theatre in Leavenworth, although disappointed in the
non-fulfillment of Mr. Chaplin's engagement are nevertheless to be favored
with choice dramatic entertainments throughout the coming week. On next
Monday night [December 20] a company from McVicker's theatre, in Chicago,
will open at the Opera House. Both in Quincy [Illinois], St. Joseph and
other cities, the troupe have been favored with splendid audiences, and we
hope they will be equally favored while here. A lady of fashion and wealth
from Chicago, under the stage name of Louise Lord, is the star.

In the editorial "The Resurrection of the Drama" from which the
opening paragraph has been quoted, the Commercial continued:

Hailing from McVicker's, Chicago, and playing at the intermediate cities,
where they have invariably been well received with patronage of the people,
and the plaudits of the press, we bespeak for them and their merits a fair
reception. We commend them to the attention of our play-goers not because

4. Times and Conservative, Leavenworth, December 18, 1869; Leavenworth Daily
Commercial, December 19, 1869.

304 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

we can "speak by the card," but for the simple reason of their apparent popu-
larity in other places, as on their route hitherward. Mr. Lord, is a gentleman
of standing in Chicago, possessed of wealth, and only induced to venture
in the uncertain enterprises at present attendant upon the legitimate drama,
because of his wife's (Louisa Lord) passion for the same.

Parenthetically, this is not the first time a wife was held respon-
sible for her husband's actions, and in that matter the record of the
Lords would indicate that the editor was mistaken. But he should
be commended upon another point inasmuch as this was the only
instance found in which Louie's first name was spelled correctly
Louisa, not Louise. More important, however, is that in all the
public relations of this first tour of the Lords in Kansas, the name
of the city of Chicago was conspicuous. No one was permitted to
forget that windy city. As early as 1857 Chicago's rise in a decade
from a village of 5,000 to a city of almost 100,000 was explained
as the result of her citizens' continual talk about Chicago, and
railroads. They were still "blowing."

Except that "Rip Van Winkle" was omitted, and "Under the
Gaslight" was given twice, the same program of plays was given in
Leavenworth as in Atchison. The company was induced to stay
on for a benefit to Mrs. Lord on Tuesday, December 28, when
"Lady Audley's Secret" and "Rip Van Winkle" were presented as
a double bill.

The Times and Conservative report on "The Hidden Hand" per-
formance was perfunctory and colorless: "This company made
their debut to a good house last evening, and the lively sensation
of the Hidden Hand was brought out creditably." In contrast, the
Commercial was extravagant:

The Lord Dramatic Troupe gave an initial performance at the Opera House
last evening, and were received with great eclat by a large and stylish audience.
As they came unheralded their unmistakable success can only be regarded as
a testimonial to their merits. The "Hidden Hand," dramatized from Mrs.
Southworth, constituted the bill of the evening, prefaced by "Captain Jinks"
in character, by little Addie Corey, who was most enthusiastically received
and encored. The little lady's songs will certainly render themselves popular
with all ages. The Star, Miss Louie Lord, may safely felicitate herself on her
triumphant debut. She is a beautiful blonde, possessing fine stage presence,
a melodious and effective voice and unmistakable dramatic abilities of high
order. To the sparkling and dashing role of "Capitola" she emparted all of
the abandon and espieglerie that pertains to it, and was deservedly the re-
cipient of much applause and call before the curtain. As she is certain to
prove a favorite while she remains with us, we counsel the public to be in
attendance to-night to see her in a congenial character that of "Kate Hard-
castle," in "She Stoops to Conquer."

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 305

Mr. Simon, as "Wool," divided the honors fairly, and created much mirthful-
ness. He introduced several hits at the times, which were readily recognized
and applauded by the audience. Mr. Lord was a successful "Old Hurricane.*

While the Times and Conservative, December 22 and 23, gave
one sentence each to the plays of the preceding night and used the
identical phrase "in fine style" for each, the Commercial man cumu-
lated his estimates of three nights in superlatives, if not rhapsody:

Those of our citizens who have been in attendance at the Opera House dur-
ing the past week, have no cause to regret the patronage they have thus ex-
tended to a very talented and meritorious dramatic company. Strangers to this
community, and our theatre goers, they won much regard on their first appear-
ance, which has steadily increased on each subsequent performance. The "fair
one" with the golden locks, Louie Lord, on her debut fairly established her-
self as a favorite in her successful assumption of "Capitola," which she sur-
passed as "Kate Hardcastle;" and still farther perfected in the "Ticket-of-Leave
Man," last evening, as "Mag Edwards."

As acceptable as the previous performances had proven, the accomplish-
ment arrived at in the "Ticket-of-Leave-Man" far transcended the precedent
plays, and fully demonstrated the talent and capacity of the company, all of
whom are worthy of unqualified commendation. Louie Lord as "May Ed-
wards," was subdued, affectionate, and natural, playing the character feelingly
and effectively, and with entire satisfaction to the numerous auditory. By and
by, the display of blonde hair which she afforded in "Jenny Lind" should be
more frequently seen, as its beauty would greatly delight the boys, and arouse
the ire of the chignon headed ladies. It almost rivaled Godiva's "rippled
ringlets to her knee," or the description of Miles O'Reilley:
"It was brown with a golden gloss, Jeanette,

It was finer than the silk of the floss, my pet;
"Twas a beautiful mist falling down to your waist,
"Twas a thing to be braided, and jeweled, and kissed;
"Twas the loveliest thing in the world, my pet."

Mr. Lord, as "Bob Brierly rendered the Yorkshire lad, with peculiar force
and effect, and, together with his wife, were honored with a call before the
curtain. Mr. Simon, as "Melter Moss" the jeer, surpassed all of his previous
assumptions. The other ladies and gentlemen of the company are entitled to
their need of praise for the painstaking evinced.

The Commercial was so deeply impressed by "The Sea of Ice"
that the writer regretted that "they did not produce it on their
opening night." Again Louie Lord received a curtain call: "She
realized all of the tender, truthful and affectionate, that pertains
to the character" of "Ogarita." Again: "Last night the wealth of
her golden hair was exhibited to the delighted audience. Like
the fair 'Rosamond' she surpasses her mates, and deserves the
strongest support from her sisterhood."

On Christmas Eve the play was "Under the Gaslight":

2123

306 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

It was finely executed by the Chicago Company last evening, Louie Lord
surpassing herself in her quiet, natural effectiveness, a distinguishing qualifi-
cation, immeasurably superior to the demonstrative style so much in vogue.
As in "Ogarita," she as "Laura Courtland," charmed each and every one
in the audience. It is in roles of this description that she accomplishes her
finest effects, and as they are precisely those calculated to minister to the
educated taste of Leavenworth, we counsel her persistence in them to the
neglect of all "Lotta" imitations.

The littlest star of that Christmas Eve was the child actress of
the company, Addie Corey:

Little "Peach blossom" created a sensation, carrying a great part of the ap-
plause in her favor. "Addie Coren" is a little wee thing, but immense in her
assumption of the character. We know nothing that will so interest the chil-
dren, as to let them see her in her antics tonight. [The play was being re-
peated.] Her singing of the "Merriest Girl that's Out," was loudly applauded
and encored. She is really a prodigy. ... Go and see them to-night
take the children.

That would have been, as the article was headed, "Gala Christmas
Night," and closed the regular engagement of the company at
Leavenworth, but "the furore" created by "this versatile and fas-
cinating artiste [Louie Lord]" brought a proposal to the manager
to stay over "and allow our citizens to testify to their appreciation
of his Company's excellencies in a testimonial to his wife." A
double-bill for Tuesday night, after two days of rest, was the result,
and next day the report ran:

All the town was out last evening to testify of their appreciation of the stage
gifts and graces of the accomplished artiste Miss Louie Lord. . . . The
house was literally packed, surpassing any audience in number since Lotta
entranced the town. As Lady Audley, the bewildering blonde, unscrupulous
as lovely she surpassed herself, and added one more laurel to her Leaven-
worth renown. She was equally successful in her assumption of "Gretchen,"
in Rip Van Winkle. . . .

Thus did theatre return to Leavenworth, though only for a memor-
able Christmas week, to be followed by a fairly long void. 5

LAWRENCE, DECEMBER 30-jANUARY 5, 1870

At Lawrence the formal advertisements again announced "Lord's
Chicago Dramatic Company" to the public. The list of plays pre-
sented December 30, 1869, to January 4, 1870, six nights, included
the first four on the Atchison and Leavenworth lists, but introduced
two others: "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "Ten Nights in a Bar Room."
The first play came Thursday night, and the Tribune noted that it
was the company's first appearance in Lawrence, quoting Leaven-

5. Daily Times and Conservative, Leavenworth, December 17-19, 21-25, 29, 1869;
Leavenworth Daily Commercial, December 17-19, 21-25, 28, 29, 1869.

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 307

worth's appreciation. Of the first performance, the Tribune re-
ported: ". . . Frazer's Hall was filled with a large and ap-
preciative audience much larger, in fact, than we had anticipated,
for the company are almost entire strangers to us."

The editor admitted that they compared favorably with older
companies in Eastern cities: "We cannot but admire Miss Louie
Lord. She is perfectly natural, and combines ease with a pleasant
vivacity. Her singing was not what it might have been, for she
was suffering from a severe cold." The editor then proceeded to
put the Leavenworth papers in their places: "Miss Lord has been
on the stage for six or seven years, and is not as the Leavenworth
papers made her out, a debutante." The New Year's Eve audience
suffered from social competition. The third night, the Tribune
concluded, was the best performance to date. Mr. Simon, the
comedian, was given more space than the star. After commending
generally the performance of "The-Ticket-of-Leave Man" the Trib-
une turned to "Uncle Tom's Cabin":

Last night the comedy entitled Uncle Tom's Cabin was given with equal
success. After having seen Miss Louie Lord as Capitola in The Hidden Hand,
and as May Edwards in the Ticket-of-Leave-Man, we are not a little surprised
to see with what perfection she effected so total a transformation from one
character to another. The role of Topsy is a difficult one to take, but was
perfectly rendered last night. Little Addie Corey as Eva, performed her part
well. The death scene was very affecting, and we saw more than one hand-
kerchief raised to wipe away a tear.

Likewise the Journal pronounced "Uncle Tom's Cabin" rendered
"in a very happy manner. Topsy kept the house in an uproar, and
little Eva (Addie Corey) drew tears from many eyes as she affect-
ingly played her part. This is a play which requires much of the
ridiculous, and contains much that is affecting, and last evening it
was well rendered. . . ."

The fifth play was "the great spectacular drama, 'The Sea of
Ice/ . . . This piece is one of the specialties of the troupe,
and every effort has been made to have it a success. Scenery for
this play, in particular, has been brought here, and we can assure
our readers that it will be put upon the stage in better shape than
anything ever played here before." Afterwards, the same paper
related that: "The play . . . was one requiring special and
costly scenery, and we heard predictions during the day, that it
would be impossible to present it in an acceptable manner, on
that account. But . . . when the magnificent scene in which
appears the rugged ocean of ice, opened to view, all doubts were

308 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

dispelled, and the audience, with one accord, pronounced it per-
fect."

The Journal elaborated, emphasizing first that "universal senti-
ment" pronounced the troupe "good actors." Second, it admitted
that "Heretofore, theatrical performances have been but poorly
patronized here. . . ." Having made that confession, however,
the writer turned it into a compliment to the Lord company: "the
people of Lawrence have no lack of appreciation of the dramatic
art, as has been seen by the full houses which have greeted this
troupe. The fact is, this is the first time we have ever had a com-
pany of true artists in the city." The Tribune confirmed the JournaTs
enthusiasm for the scenic success: It "was produced with a pre-
cision, exactness and effect which we had hardly hoped to realize.
There was nothing wanting. The scene of the breaking up of the
ice, the most touching and at the same time the most important
part of the play, was perfect. . . ."

In announcing "Ten Nights in a Bar Room" the Tribune ex-
plained that: "In this piece the horrid and baleful effects of the vice
of intemperance are fully pictured and brought out. It will serve
as a temperance lecture, but the lessons in morals it teaches will
create a deeper impression than the most talented lecturer could
hope to achieve." Afterwards the only comment was to the effect
that the performance was a success: "The play was brought out in
the force which it requires. . . ."

The Journals advance notice of the play asserted: "It has been
said that this play is one of the most effective temperance argu-
ments ever presented to the public." Afterwards "to say that it
was good, would be rendering faint praise for acting so nearly per-
fect. Mr. Lord as 'Joe Morgan/ drew tears from many eyes, by his
life pictures of the miseries of drunkenness; and J. A. Simon, as
'Sample Switchell/ kept the house convulsed with merriment while
upon the stage."

If the press reports were an accurate guide, Simon and his laugh-
ter producing qualities were really the major features of the week's
theatre. Of course, the whole company was praised, but more even
than the star, Simon was given personal attention. The Journal
expressed what it deemed the general wish: "that they favor us
with another visit this winter." Singular also was another Lawrence
reaction; a stir among the young gentlemen to organize a Lawrence
Dramatic Association. All interest were invited to address a note
in care of the Tribune office. 6 Could it be possible that the young

6. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, December 29-31, 1869, January 1, 1870; Repub-
lican Daily Journal, Lawrence, December 30, 31, 1869, January 1, 3-6, 1870.

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 309

gentlemen of Lawrence did not recognize the existence and ne-
cessity of young women? If so, then Lawrence was indeed the
strangest place in Kansas. The form of the announcement was
significant nevertheless of the extent to which 1870 was, according
to the male mind most everywhere, a man's world, and all therein
belonged to the male of the species. At any rate he would have
the world think so and take him at his own evaluation.

TOPEKA, JANUARY 6-19, 1870

The westernmost stop by the Lord company was Topeka. Chi-
cago was again advertised to Kansas people, the advertisements in
the Record reading "Lord's Dramatic Co. of Chicago," and in the
Commonwealth, "Lord's Chicago Dramatic Company," "with the
young and versatile actress, Louie Lord. . . ."

In Topeka an 11-day season brought 12 performances. All the
plays used at Atchison, Leavenworth, and Lawrence were repre-
sented, plus "Don Caesar de Bezan" and "The Lady of Lyons."
Furthermore, "Ten Nights in a Bar Room" was offered twice, once
at a matinee for women and children. The appearance of "Uncle
Tom's Cabin" only once, while "Ten Nights" was demanded a sec-
ond time for the matinee, may provide food for thought.

When "Rip Van Winkle" was performed, with Simon in the
name part, the Commonwealth's verdict was that this is "un-
doubtedly his character." The writer emphasized his own quali-
fications for dramatic criticism in this case: he had seen Joseph
Jefferson in the role, and Simon's "Rip . . . could not have
been better portrayed." One concession was made: "the only dis-
advantage the troupe labors under is the lack of scenery, which
cannot be remedied here at the present time." Also the Record
reported favorably on Simon and paid its compliments to the
"Gretchen" of the piece: "We have never seen Mrs. Lord to better
advantage than as the sorely-tried and loud-voiced wife of poor,
foolish 'Rip.'"

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" came fourth in the series and without
special fan fare, the Record merely closing its comment on the per-
formance of "The-Ticket-of-Leave Man" to a "fair" audience, with
the bare announcement: "The company promise a rare treat next
Monday night, when they will bring out 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.'"
Afterwards the same paper reported:

The "popular drama," as it is generally called, . . . proved very popular
last night. Union Hall was packed, every seat was filled, and many persons

310 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

stood up during the performance. Among the audience was a large number
of children, who enjoyed the entertainment hugely. . . . Miss Louie Lord
was a very amusing "Topsy," throwing a world of "nigger" into the delinea-
tion. Mr. Simon's "Marks," with his everlasting "Shake!" was well done, as
is customary with Mr. Simon.

The Commonwealth's short comment awarded special praise to
Addie Corey's "Eva" and as for the company "Seldom have we
seen acting better appreciated. . . ."

The sixth play on the list was "The excellent play of 'Ten Nights
in a Bar Room'" when "little Addie sang the well known ballad,
'Father, come home/ with a pathetic tenderness and sweetness we
have never heard equalled. She was loudly applauded at the close
of each verse. The play from first to last gave unalloyed satis-
faction." The Commonwealth was more restrained: "This very
popular play was well rendered. . . . The house was, as usual
since Lord came, full. Again Addie Corey is deserving of praise.
The other characters all did well." Nothing in these comments
would seem to prepare the reader for what came three days later
when a matinee performance was arranged. That story belongs
here to round out the theme, and to call attention by contrast with
the neglect of "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

In announcing the Saturday afternoon matinee, the Record
stated that it was done by the Lord troupe "to accommodate ladies
and children who cannot always conveniently attend night per-
formances. ... To accommodate the little folks, the admission
fee will be fixed at twenty cents, and it is worth many times that to
any human being, big or little, to hear Addie Corey sing 'Father
Come Home/" The Commonwealth was brief and to the point:
"It is for the benefit of the children especially, though 'children of
larger growth' will find it worth while to be present." This per-
formance of Saturday afternoon, January 15, 1870, was noteworthy
on another account. The village of Topeka was showing signs of
"growing up," or emerging as a city supposedly, this was the
first matinee ever given there, and that unique fact was duly noted,
by the Commonwealth:

The first matinee ever given in Topeka, was very fully attended yesterday.
"Ten Nights in a Barroom" was even better delivered than a few evenings since.
Before the last act, Mr. Lord came before the audience. His remarks were
chiefly to the children. He said that he had presented the piece to thousands
of people, but never to a better behaved, more appreciative audience than the
one then before him. He warned the children that just as sure as they followed
the practice of using intoxicating liquor, just so sure would such scenes as
they had seen portrayed, be the result.

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 311

The Record's report likewise emphasized that:

The audience which filled Union Hall . . . was compose^ of the
youngest lot of play-goers and theatrical critics we ever remember to have
seen assembled.

The request "down in front," was quite unnecessary, for the front seats were
filled with little chaps not over three feet high to begin with. The play,
"Ten Nights in a Bar Room," interested the children immensely. The house
was deathly still during the solemn scenes, and perfectly uproarious when any-
thing comical was on the stage. Before the curtain rose for the last scene,
Mr. Lord made a neat little speech, thanking the children for their appreciation
of the play, and explaining its moral. Mr. L., as a temperance lecturer to chil-
dren, was an unqualified success.

Another play in the series at Topeka warrants a short notice.
"The Sea of Ice," according to the Record was "a decided hit." It
required scenery that could not be expected to be found in the con-
ventional assortment of stage equipment. Shipment of much of
such properties was prohibitive, in spite of the recorded three rail-
road cars required by "The Black Crook." When Burt had launched
the Union Theatre in Leavenworth, in 1858, he doubled or rather
tripled as manager, actor, and scene painter. In the Addis regime
in 1862, after Burt was dismissed by Templeton, O'Neil doubled as
scene painter. When "The Sea of Ice" was presented for the first
time in Leavenworth in October, 1866, no mention was made of
how the special scenery and mechanical devices were produced.
The Lord Company had been presenting "The Sea of Ice" on this
tour, but only at Lawrence had the practical question of scenery
been mentioned "Scenery for the play, in particular, has been
brought here. . . ."

At Topeka the newspapers presented a different story. According
to the Record: "The scenic effects introduced were far beyond our
expectations, and what makes the matter more wonderful, the
scenes were painted, and the whole stage machinery gotten up
here. The first scene representing the deck of the good ship
Urania, was excellent. The great scene of the play, the breaking
up of the ice, was infinitely better than we supposed it could
possibly be made in Topeka." 7 The Commonwealth agreed in part,
but limited the extent of the local production: "The scenery was
excellent the scene in the last act of the chamber was painted in
this city by Harry Gray and was magnificently done."

The Commonwealth admitted that: "We feared that the com-
pany . . . would not sustain its reputation . . . but after

7. There was no explanation whether in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" the escape of Eliza over
the breaking ice utilized the same or similar devices.

312 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

visiting the play, we must say we never saw it better performed.
J. A. Simon played his part well. We admired the splendid posing
of Louie Lord. That is everything in the presentation of pieces of
this cast. She fil[l]ed the ear with her words, while she charmed
the eye by her actions/' The Record emphasized that: "She played
throughout with great spirit and force. Her final exposure of and
triumph over the villain, Del Monte, was a fine piece of acting.
It is in characters like these requiring great physical and mental
force; in portraying the stormier passions of the heart, that Mrs.
Lord has appeared while here, to the best advantage."

The benefit for Louie Lord was set for Saturday night, January
15, and the play "that old, yet always new and interesting play,
the 'Lady of Lyons/ . . . She has appeared in almost every
variety of character, and in none of them has she slighted her part.
. . ." On account of an Editorial Association Ball Monday night,
January 17, there was no show, but the season was to close Tuesday
night with "Under the Gaslight." The public was assured that:
"The celebrated 'Railroad Scene' will be produced, also the 'Pier
Scene/ "

After the event the Record said the hall "was crammed" and that:
"The audience was the largest which has attended any of the per-
formances." The Commonwealth insisted that the company had
kept this play back and had "presented their best, as the closing
play, in this city. It is a piece most difficult to faithfully enact;
yet each character was, (we might almost say), perfectly repre-
sented. We were very anxious about their success in running the
engine upon the stage, but they succeeded admirably. Other
troupes whom we have seen in this play have made a fizzle with
the engine. ..."

But this proved not to be their closing show. As in Lawrence
they stayed over another day and revealed "Lady Audley's Secret."
"Louie Lord was a perfect success ... as she is in all her
parts." Mr. Lord made a curtain speech complimenting the town
and expressing the hope of visiting Topeka again the next season.
His generosity in yielding the hall to the Editorial Association Ball
paid off well in public relations as the press made amply clear.
After commending Lord, the Commonwealth entered into the rec-
ord a moral verdict: "in no play that he has presented here, has
there been the least thing that could offend the taste of the most
fastidious of hearers." The Record volunteered that: "no company
has ever been in Topeka that gave such universal satisfaction. The

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 313

whole company are gentlemanly and ladylike, and they try their best
to instruct and amuse, and do so. 8

LAWRENCE, SECOND VISIT, JANUARY 20-22, 1870

When the Lord Company returned to Lawrence January 20-22,
1870, for a second visit the same winter, both papers greeted them
cordially; this time on the basis of the favorable impressions in De-
cember. The three plays featured were "Lady Audley's Secret/'
"Under the Gaslight," and "The Lady of Lyons." The Tribune had
asked for "Rip Van Winkle," but that request was not honored.
Notwithstanding the fact that on their opening night Lawrence was
celebrating the dedication and naming of "Liberty Hall" in the Poole
building, a good audience turned out.

On account of an instance of mistaken identity, the Lord Com-
pany very nearly suffered a depletion of its ranks that would have
stopped their Lawrence appearances:

It seems that a house on Pennsylvania street kept as a mansion of pleasure
. . ., was entered in broad daylight ... by two men and robbed.
. . . A colored woman who has been doing duty as a servant in the house,
saw the parties making off with the plunder, and at once sent for her husband,
who was at work near by. They overtook the burglars, and recovered the
property. ... A few minutes afterwards two members of the dramatic
company, who had just arrived on the Topeka train, came out of the hotel,
and were at once pointed out by the colored man as the thieves. They were
accordingly arrested and brought before Judge Banks for examination. . . ,
Meanwhile the whole troupe, and the janitor at Frazer's Hall, united in testi-
fying that they had been constantly on duty since their arrival, at the hall,
in preparing for the [evening] play. Of course they were at once discharged
but not until so late an hour as almost to prevent the performance. . . -.

The play "Under the Gaslight" was staged "with a force and skill
which we were not prepared to see," because the effect depended
so largely upon the scenery. Besides this verdict, the Tribune
said Louie Lord "was splendid," and Mr. Simon "could hardly be
surpassed." In fact, "He was decidedly the favorite of the eve-
ning." The next night the critic agreed that the presentation
"placed a crown on the already brilliant achievements of the
troupe. . . ." 9

So far as Kansas showings were concerned, the Lord Company's
excursion into Kansas appears to have been a success. Evidently
the troupe was carrying the minimum number of players, if not

8. Daily Kansas State Record, Topeka, January 4, 7-9, 11, 16, 19, 20, 1870; Kansas
Daily Commonwealth, Topeka, January 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 16, 19, 20, 1870.

9. Lawrence Daily Tribune, January 20-23, 1870: Republican Daily Journal, Lawrence
January 18, 20, 22, 1870.

314 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

actually shorthanded. If the newspaper commentary meant any-
thing in the way of independent audience judgment upon the merits
of particular members, Mrs. Lord was easily the favorite, but
Simon would seem to have rated a close rival for Mr. Lord for
second place, and possibly he should be granted that distinction.
Jennie Woltz was unquestionably the next in line, although her
singing rather than her acting was the basis of the praise accorded
her. The commentary upon other members of the troupe was too
vague to indicate who could have substituted for Mrs. Lord had an
emergency occurred. Depending upon the role required, the
chance might have fallen to Miss Woltz, or to Mrs. Graham. The
important point, however, was the fact that Mrs. Lord did not miss
a night, and no performance was cancelled or even a different play
substituted at the last minute on account of illness of a key member
of the cast.

IV. INTERIM REPORT ON THEATRE, 1870; BETWEEN SEASONS

Too narrow a focus upon the Lord Dramatic Company would rob
the story of perspective that could only distort the representative
character of that organization, and thereby do a disservice alike to
the Lords and to theatrical history in general. As Leavenworth
was the only Kansas town possessing a substantial theatrical history,
it must serve again as a sample of what was being done in the older
river cities of the Missouri river elbow region. Following the
visit of the Lords there during Christmas week, 1869, the next
newspaper-advertised entertainment in the Opera House was the
Skiff and Gaylord Minstrels, January 25-27, 1870. On January 29
there was an expose of the Davenport Brothers' Spiritualist frauds,
followed by the Fakir of Ava in Laing Hall legerdemain and
necromancy.

The first theatre in the new year was Felix Rogers and Jenny
Willmore, February 11, 12, followed by a return visit of the Skiff
and Gaylor Minstrels. A vocal quartet, The Original Bakers, came
February 22, and The Alleghanians, Swiss Bell Ringers, March 10,
The Peep O'Day Boys, songs and dances, March 25, and Blind Tom,
April 14-16. The only series of real theatre performance came be-
tween April 25 and July 2, or late spring and early summer. The
Emerson Minstrels appeared August 5 and 6, the Duprey and
Benedict Minstrels, September 26-28, Leavenworth's local amateur
minstrels, October 4, the burnt-cork monotony being broken only by
the Peak Family, Swiss Bell Ringers, October 6 and 7. But the
town was not long spared another burnt-cork invasion, Johnny

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 315

Allen's Sensation Minstrels, October 17 and 18. For more than a
month the Opera House was closed, then the Lord company arrived
in Leaven worth, November 21, for a prolonged tour of Kansas.

The late spring and early summer interval within this miscellany
had a significance all its own. The season of the year ran against
the current of the new dispensation when traveling theatre returned
to home bases. The heat of summer, the seasonal occupation of a
predominantly agricultural area, and the preferences for outdoor
recreation were not favorable for theatre. Even Leavenworth,
Kansas City, and St. Joseph were not yet large enough to support
year round theatre. The summer theatre was in some respects a
carryover from the transition of river transportation when naviga-
tion was closed during the winter months. But the railroads made
summer vacation time for the more pretentious forms of commercial
entertainment. If any was offered, it was of the lighter sort.

The National Theatre was a relatively new organization which
had been put together, if not for the first time, certainly in its 1870
version, at Fort Scott where it operated at McDonald Hall, January
17 to March 3, as a resident theatre without benefit of traveling stars.

The girl who emerged there as its star was May Preston who was
still present when the Nationals opened in Leavenworth, April 25.
She played during the first four nights. The replacement of May
Preston, Friday, April 29, by Nellie Johnson, and the arrival of
another new girl, Imogin Kent, both from Cincinnati theatres, just
about completed an entire change of personnel after the Fort Scott
run. A two-week engagement was completed at Leavenworth
May 7. On the occasion of its last day but one in the city, the
Commercial pronounced the Nationals "the best dramatic enter-
tainment . . . for a long time past. ... As a travelling
company, the Nationals are not to be excelled. We are given to
understand that Mr. Bancroft will shortly return here, he having
engaged the services of Mr. G. D. Chaplin, an old time favorite
of Leavenworth and one who as a Tragedian is almost unequalled."

Next, Kate Benin, a familiar name to Leavenworth theatre goers,
came for two weeks, May 9-21, "with a carefully selected, full,
complete and powerful DRAMATIC COMPANY." This was the Mills
Dramatic Company, traveling theatre, and Kate Denin traveling
star, associated only for a short engagement. The Collins Dramatic
Company followed for five days, May 23-27; Satsuma's Royal Japa-
nese Troupe came Saturday May 28, remaining through June 2, the
Mills Dramatic Company filling in the last two days of the week,
June 3 and 4. This time the Mills Company was without Kate

316 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Denin or other traveling star. It was advertised as a "full" com-
pany: "The best in the West." The local critic indulged in super-
latives: "[the] Troupe is the best which has ever performed in
Leavenworth." Its Annie Ward was pronounced the next day as
"bewitching as usual." On Saturday night a benefit was tendered
her, but "that charming little actress" was taken ill during the
afternoon and could not perform. Nevertheless, the public was
assured the company would be back soon. Legitimate theatre
was interrupted at that point for three days of Arlington's Minstrels
of Chicago.

The next theatre was Leavenworth's old friends, C. W. Couldock
and his daughter Eliza, supported by none other than the Mills
Dramatic Company, June 20-25. The plays were the old Couldock
bill of fare "Willow Copse," "Chimney Corner," "Louis XI," "The
Jew of Frankfort," "The Porter's Knot," and a second showing of
"Chimney Corner." The climax of the summer season, however,
was the last: Post and Rogers' Dramatic "Star" Combination, with
G. D. Chaplin and Louise Sylvester, supported by "a full and
efficient Company from De Bar's Opera House, St. Louis." The
coming of Leavenworth's theatrical hero whom many had come to
appreciate fully only after he was gone, had been announced by
the Commercial, June 3:

George D. Chaplin, a man who 'has done more for the legitimate drama in
Leavenworth than any other man who ever honored us with a long or
short stay, is positively to appear at the Opera House, on the 27th inst, re-
maining one week. He will receive an ovation that will convince the people
who allowed the drama to leave us, that they in so doing lost more than they
appreciated. Chaplin will have a warm welcome from his host of friends.

This was the third announcement found which assured the public
that Chaplin would visit Leavenworth. On April 29, the Times and
Conservative had reported his movements :

George Chaplin is about closing his engagement with DeBar, at St. Louis,
and is going to Boston to take the management of Selwyn's Theatre. He is
now playing a star engagement at Chicago. He will be at liberty, the last
of May, to come here. He has hosts of friends here who are more the less
true because he had bad luck here. We should be greatly pleased to see
George Chaplin once more on the Leavenworth boards.

The above story is not easy to follow or unravel except that Chaplin
would be at liberty to come to Leavenworth the last of May. It was
about a week later that Bancroft, manager of the Nationals had
given assurance that Chaplin would appear as star with his organ-
ization. Now on June 3 he was announced again, without the sup-

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 317

porting company being named, but when the time came, June 27,
he was with the Post & Rogers Company.

Again, on the day before Chaplin would open, the Commercial
paid tribute:

As an artist of the first class, he is well known to the society and the public
of this place who have been delighted before by his dramatic talent. Leaven-
worth owes much to Chaplin, who has given his time in by gone years to
feeding the taste for the higher order of true art. Let Chaplin on this occasion,
call forth the fashion and sensibility of the city.

After the first performance the Commercial reported upon the
"old time favorite" in "Enoch Arden" "he achieved the success
which his talent always commands . . .," supported by Louise
Sylvester, "one of the most charming of actresses/' In spite of
Monday's heat maximum of 96, "a fashionable audience . . ,
gave these artists a worthy greeting. . . ." Again the writer
acknowledged Leavenworth's debt to Chaplin and for a reversal
of audience response insisted that: "Owing to the continued warm
weather and the presence of Mr. Chaplin at the Opera House/'
La Rue's Minstrels at Laing's Hall had a smaller attendance than
on the preceding Saturday.

As was so frequently the case, the Bulletin provided a variant in
response:

We shall never forgive Tennyson for his concluding plot in the great epic
of "Enoch Arden." The idea of Enoch returning . . . only to find his
beautiful wife and his children gobbled by Philip Ray, and to go dead over
the sight, is too sad. The whole-souled reality which G. E. [D.] Chaplin threw
into the character of "Enoch Arden" last evening will not soon be forgotten.
. . . The applause was so great at the conclusion, that he was called back
to the stage, where he made an impromptu address, which was cheered like
that of [Patrick] Henry before the Virginia delegates.

This was Louise Sylvester's first appearance before a Leaven-
worth audience, but she did so well the Bulletin critic concluded
her success was assured. Also, in the afterpiece, she played the title
role: "Nan, the Good-for-Nothing," which did something to the
dramatic critic: "Miss Sylvester . . . leaves nothing more to
be imagined or desired/'

On Tuesday night, in the "Lorelie," the Commercial reported the
audience of "a very fashionable description," which was evidently
a euphemism for a disappointingly small house: "George Chaplin
seldom appeared to a better advantage. . . . Miss Sylvester is
also a charming performer, who wins the hearts of her audience by
her natural grace and cultivated talent." Wednesday night Chaplin
played his favorite role "Elliott Gray" in "Rosedale," and in spite

318 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

of the heat "pleased" his friends, while Miss Sylvester, "acquitted
herself admirably . . . but they should have had a larger
audience." The Bulletin was more outspoken: Chaplin's "broad
nobility of conduct instructs everyone, because he goes right to
every heart. His imposing stature, with head thrown back, is the
envy of such as have an eye for form." And no one could justly
argue that the Bulletins critic was lacking in "an eye for form,"
but the form was feminine:

She is not only about the comeliest daughter of Eve whom we have ever
clapped eyes upon, but is likewise one of the most gifted. Young, brilliant
and ambitious, may her star rise very high. Her features are finely cut, show-
ing a swift thinker and a piercing observer. Like Absalom in the king's gate,
she steals the hearts of all who approach. Rarely does nature endow one with
such a union of physical and mental qualities. Every feature is full, and
the head is moulded with queenly beauty hinting a possible foundation for
that "cube of human faculty" of which Hugo has written! The stage can no-
where show a finer ornament. May the hemlock never spring in the furrows
of her life. Such a queenly one has a mission which, if cut off, leaves all dark.

Right the Bulletin boy was in a bad way, and Louise Sylvester
had appeared only three nights, halfway through the week. Thurs-
day night the play was "Michael Erie, or the Maniac's Oath," which
was greeted by "a good audience, . . ." Some scenes were
said to have been enacted with good effect: "Let every one see
Chaplin before he goes. They may not see such another actor for
a long time." The thermometers in the city had varied from 102
to 106 during the day. On Friday, the play was "Our American
Cousin," and the burlesque "Pocahontas." In the title role of the
latter Louise Sylvester was the focus of the Bulletins attention:

Her fine, original sense of love's ludicrous phases was well given. Her singing,
dancing, and loving were polished with the choicest burlesque. She drew
enough applause to keep her heart beeting for a month. Admiration followed
the actress everywhere, like the eyes of a servant upon his master.

On Saturday night came Louise Sylvester's benefit, with the
largest audience of the week. But prior to the event, the Bulletin
rhapsodized again (and Webster's Dictionary defines rhapsody as:
"A disconnected series of sentences or statements composed under
excitement," "confused," or "an estatic or highly emotional utter-
ance. . . ."):

It is courtesy which people owe the fairest of their kind; for what is life, if
it is not sometimes cheered with similies which fulfill the ideality of every
mind? The stage may not, indeed, be the best sphere for such youthful en-
dowments as Louise's. Yet it throws some ray on every life-path: while
many of the daughters of fashion, who live in endless plenty, give no blessing
on life's reality and paint no model for its fulfillment.

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 319

The critic of the Bulletin had an eye only for Louise: "The
smartest, prettiest, and most Tailing' gal of the west is Lousie [sic] ."
According to him, her benefit drew the largest audience of the
season. The Times had been most forthright in recording small
audiences. The ovation predicted for Chaplin did not materialize.
If anything, the response was the reverse. No doubt there were
still many people in Leavenworth who had known and admired
him when he had been playing at the old Union Theatre. But he
had left Leavenworth three years before, the turnover of popula-
tion had been extensive, and Chaplin was history. As of the sum-
mer of 1870, more were absorbed in the living present, especially
such as the Bulletins dramatic critic when the live present was em-
bodied in the form of Louise Sylvester. He continued to follow
her through press reports to Topeka and elsewhere: "Louise Syl-
vester is receiving the most flattering comments ever before given
to any woman by the Kansas press."

Who was this woman? The Topeka Commonwealth secured the
material for a biographical sketch, according to which she was born
in Albany, N. Y., March 29, 1851, her professional career beginning
in Pittsburgh in 1864 as a child actress in such roles as "Eva" in
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "Mary Morgan" in "Ten Nights in a Bar
Room." From these roles she found a place in the ballet and finally
her chance came on two occasions to take leading roles in emer-
gencies. From Pittsburgh, her path led to Albany, New Orleans,
Cincinnati, Cleveland, and then during the summer of 1869, Topeka,
followed by a winter in Chicago until Christmas and then De Bar's
Theatre in St. Louis from which she came to Kansas again.

Notably, she had never played in New York, and she entered
the Mississippi Valley by way of New Orleans, her season at Chi-
cago being only a brief side trip in the otherwise familiar pattern
which led from New Orleans along the river towns to Kansas
through the St. Louis gateway. Thus, if the birth date assigned
her was real, not a publicity date, she was 19 years of age with
a professional career since she was "knee high to a trundle bed." 10
This is the Louise Sylvester whom Frank Montgomery had remem-
bered along with Louie Lord, so vividly in 1903.

Several important conclusions are evident from this interim re-
port on Leavenworth theatre during 1870. The prevailing form of
commercial entertainment in Leavenworth's principal playhouse

10. The Chaplin-Sylvester episode is covered by the Leavenworth Daily Commercial,
June 3, 17, 26, 28, 30, July 1, 3, 1870; Daily Bulletin, June 16, 28, 30, July 2, 5 13 1870-
Times and Conservative April 29, June 26, 28-30, July 1, 2, 1870. Kansas Daily Common-
wealth, Topeka, July 9, 1870.

320 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

was Negro (burnt-cork) Minstrels; and similar shows occupied
Laing's Hall, the second place of amusement. The miscellany of
other entertainment was not impressive in quality. The legitimate
theatre was still closely allied with the forms and traditions of the
past era of resident theatre and river navigation with its river and
Southern connections.

The transition to traveling theatre was slow indeed in being com-
pleted, although railroads had already displaced steamboats for
most passenger travel. Summer theatre was only one evidence of
this fact. The replacements in the National Theatre were from
Cincinnati. Kate Denin, Couldock, Chaplin, were all of the resi-
dent theatre star tradition associated with Leavenworth history
in that old form.

These traveling stars were dependent no longer upon resident
theatres of the several cities visited for support, but associated
themselves with traveling companies. In each of these cases just
cited, the stars were evidently not integral members of the com-
panies with whom they were playing, but appeared essentially as
guest stars of traveling companies. The advertisements read:
"supported by a full and complete company," or a variant of such
wording. That significant separateness was emphasized in the
cases of Kate Denin, Couldock, and Chaplin. The Mills Company
had visited Leavenworth May 9-14 with Kate Denin as star, June
3 and 4 as a full traveling company, without a star, but returned
June 20 in association with Couldock and daughter as stars. Chap-
lin had been referred to in April as having been engaged by the
National Theatre, but came with the Post & Rogers "Star" com-
bination supported by "a full and efficient Company from De Bar's
Opera House, St. Louis."

The traveling company was still referred to slightingly by the
Commercial: "As a traveling company, the Nationals are not to
be excelled." The full acceptance of the traveling company, a self-
contained organization, as possessing status and complete pro-
fessional respectability had not yet been achieved in 1870. Pos-
sibly, in a sense, it might be said that such a condition was never
realized because the velocity of change introduced too soon suc-
cessive innovations that perpetuated its doubtful position. But in
the course of transitions, the resident theatre and the star systems
were eliminated altogether in favor of something different; not a
single new form but several innovations.

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 321

V. THE SECOND TOUR OF KANSAS, 1870-1871
INTRODUCTION: ITINERARY, PLAYS PRESENTED AND FREQUENCY

The Lord Dramatic Company made its second excursion into
Kansas during the winter of 1870-1871, beginning at Leavenworth,
November 21, and ending at Atchison, February 25, a few days
in excess of three months of continuous performances, or 80 show
days with 81 shows performed. This was much longer than the
preceding season of 33 show days, and included six towns instead
of four, Emporia and Junction City being added to the circuit.
A route sheet for the season would appear thus:

Leavenworth, November 21-26, 1870 6 days

Lawrence, November 28-December 3 6 days

Topeka, December 5-7, 9, 10 5 days

Atchison, December 12-17, 19, 20, 22-24 11 days

Leavenworth, December 26- January 7, 1871 12 days

Topeka, January 9-21 12 days

Emporia, January 23-28 6 days

Junction City, January 31-February 4 5 days

Topeka, February 6-11 6 days

Lawrence, February 13-16, 18 5 days

Leavenworth, February 20-22 3 days

Atchison, February 23-25 3 days

Leavenworth and Topeka, the largest cities, were visited three
times each, Atchison and Lawrence, twice each, and Emporia and
Junction City, once each. Ranked in the number of shows per-
formed, the order was: Topeka 24, Leavenworth 21, Atchison 14,
Lawrence 11, Emporia 6, and Junction City 5.

In the 1870-1871 season, 21 different plays were presented not
counting the after pieces, while in the preceding season only 11
were used. Of the plays on the second season's schedule, 15 were
new to their Kansas production, six having been given the preced-
ing year. For the two seasons together, a total of 26 different major
plays were staged.

The plays produced for the two seasons appear in alphabetical
order in the following tables, followed by their frequency numbers.
Emporia and Junction City are omitted from the enumerations
because of incompleteness of data. Thus frequency numbers
represent the same four large towns for both seasons.

PLAYS PRESENTED 1869-70 Frequency

Don Caesar de Bezan 1

The Hidden Hand 4

Lady Audley's Secret 3

The Lady of Lyons 2

Rip Van Winkle 3

2223

322 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

PLAYS PRESENTED 1869-70 Continued Frequency

The Sea of Ice 4

She Stoops to Conquer 4

Ten Nights in a Bar Room 3

The Ticket-of-Leave Man 4

Uncle Tom's Cabin 2

Under the Gaslight 5

35 performances in 33 days

PLAYS PRESENTED 1870-1871 (OMITTING EMPORIA AND JUNCTION CITY),
EXCLUDING THOSE REPEATED FROM PRECEDING SEASON

Frequency

The Child Stealer 2

Dora 6

Fanchion, the Cricket 3

Frou Frou . 5

The Hunchback 4

Ingomar 4

Ireland as It Is 4

Marco, the Marble Heart 3

The Mormons 5

The Octoroon 4

Oliver Twist 4

Othello 1

Our American Cousin 4

Richard III 4

The Serious Family 3

PLAYS PRESENTED 1870-1871 (OMITTING EMPORIA AND JUNCTION CITY),
REPEATED FROM THE PRECEDING SEASON

Frequency

Don Caesar de Bezan 1

The Sea of Ice 2

Ten Nights in a Bar Room 3

The Ticket-of-Leave Man 1

Uncle Tom's Cabin 3

Under the Gaslight 4

For the first season, the plays, "Under the Gaslight," and for
the second season, "Dora," "Frou Frou," and "The Mormons"
were leaders in frequency of production. That this criterion is
not necessarily an accurate index of the impact of a play upon the
public would seem evident from the review already presented of
the first season. The press reactions to the several plays during
the second season would seem to confirm that conclusion. For
the first season, the impression given by the press reports would
indicate "Ten Nights in a Bar Room" was at least an equal to, if
not entitled to priority over, "Under the Gaslight." As will be
seen later, opinion on the second season was more widely divided.
The score of four for so many plays both seasons reflected little
more than the fact that these were the company's choice of the
fare for each season and these plays were staged unless there were

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 323

special local factors that suggested a variation. The Leavenworth
Bulletin, November 21, 1870, noted particularly the change the
second season and made the introduction of new plays a point of
special commendation.

During the first time around the circuit of four major Kansas
towns, the four plays presented in all places were "Dora," "Richard
III," "Frou Frou," and "The Mormons." "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and
"Our American Cousin" made up the remainder of the week's bill
of six plays which inaugurated the Kansas tour. At Lawrence,
"Ireland as It Is" was substituted for "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Why
in Lawrence, with its antislavery-abolition tradition, an Irish piece
was substituted for the old Negro classic was not explained, nor
commented upon, but Mr. Lord usually had sound reasons for
his planning. At Topeka the Lawrence bill was continued except
"Our American Cousin" was dropped out because of a five-night
week. The Atchison engagement was a two-week run, the first
week using the Topeka five and "The Serious Family." "Uncle
Tom's Cabin" found its place in the second week's bill.

Topeka saw "Uncle Tom's Cabin" on the second round of the
circuit. "Ten Nights in a Bar Room," which had been quite popu-
lar apparently the previous year, was not introduced until the third
round ( second for Lawrence and Atchison ) when the basic bill had
been "Ingomar," "The Hunchback," and "Ten Nights in a Bar
Room." Because Topeka and Lawrence had six-day runs, three
other pieces were added to this solid core of three. Thus it was the
second round, or second week, in the case of Atchison, where the
greatest variability of offerings occurred. Lord was wary of repeat
performances, even on different rounds of the circuit, usually declin-
ing even when urged by his patrons. The few times he relented, the
house was small. The theatre-going public was apparently not large
enough to draw a second full house of new listeners, and two few
second-nighters actually attended. A new play would draw good
houses.

Upon first appearance in Kansas, during the season 1869-1870,
the press had recognized the untried character of the company
they must be taken upon recommendation until they had proved
themselves. This second the Lord company of some 15 persons,
some old and some new, was greeted in the four towns of their
previous visit as old friends. 11

11. Leavenworth Daily Times, November 20, Leavenworth Daily Commercial, November
20, Leavenworth Bulletin, November 21, 1870; Lawrence Republican Daily Journal, Novem-
ber 26, Kansas Daily Tribune, November 26, 1870; Topeka Kansas Daily Commonwealth,
December 6, Daily Kansas State Record, December 6, 1870; Atchison Daily Champion 6-
Press, December 10, 1870.

(Part Two, the Final Installment of This Article, Will Appear in
the Winter, 1957, Issue.)

Bypaths of Kansas History

To YOUR DICTIONARIES!

From the Western Kansas Express, Manhattan, July 6, 1861.

FOUND, on the third inst., in the City Hall over our office, a ladies silk reticule
with green ribbon strings, which the owner can have by calling at our office
and kissing the Editor and Printers.

Lo, THE BRAVE INDIANS

From the Junction City Weekly Union, May 16, 1868.

A few days after the recent attack by Indians on the construction train
[in present Gove county] west of Coyote, our Railroad friends tell us that
the Indians attempted to capture the locomotive alive. They took a large
quantity of telegraph wire, and doubling it several times, stretched it across
the track, an Indian or two holding each end. They didn't want to shoot
the thing lest they might injure it, and hence this strategy. Of course the
locomotive, under full head of steam, was captured in this way. The noble
red man is an imitative cuss if he wasn't he wouldn't be as mean as he is.
They can now enjoy their special train about the country, meeting peace
commissioners, and sling on as much style as a one-horse lieutenant of militia.
About two days after they burned the cars, we understand an officer at Hays
telegraphed the Superintendent to send him a locomotive and a special car,
that he might go out and see what the Indians had done. Considering the
number of horses and ambulances Uncle Sam furnishes, this may be considered
a superb specimen of cheek.

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

From The Nationalist, Manhattan, October 25, 1872.

THEATRICAL TROUPE. Mrs. Millie Willard, "a star actress," tore Lucretia
Borgia to tatters at Bluemont Hall, last Friday evening. The next night she
"went for Leah," in some other play. She has voice enough for a whole troupe.
Five minutes sufficiently filled the editorial ear.

FREEDOM OF THE BAR

From the Ellis County Star, Hays City, June 22, 1876.

The following scene in a Dodge court room, as described by the Times,
in which our boys figure conspicuously, we consider too rich to with-hold
from our readers.

"State vs. Charley Beeson, shooting with intent to kill N. R. Gilbert, prose-
cuting witness; W. N. Morphy and E. F. Colborn, attorneys for defendant.
Prosecuting witness failed to appear, and defendant was released, on payment
of costs. In discussing the case Mr. Colborn made a remark reflecting upon

(324)

BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 325

the dignity of the Court, which His Honor rebuked by leaning over the
bench and remarking with great severity of manner: "I will permit no puppy
to run this Court!" The attorney retorted by vaguely alluding to His Honor
as being himself a relative of a certain variety of canine. The Judge, with
his characteristic dignity, ruled that his position as Justice of the Peace in
Ford county entitled him to the common courtesy due from one gentleman
to another. Mr. Colborn inquired if common courtesy permitted a Judge on
the bench to call an attorney a pup. His Honor explained that he did not
refer to him in particular, but to all puppies in general. Mr. C then stated
that he was an authorized attorney, and appeared before the Court in be-
half of his client. The Court suggested that he would do well to go back to his
old business. The lawyer inquired what his old business was. His Honor
commenced to state that he had grave suspicions that he was an ex-bull-
whacker, when Mrs. Mclntosh, the Squire's estimable lady, who did not seem
to take a proper pride in the able and masterly manner in which the Judge
was getting away with the young attorney, peremptorily ordered him to "shut
up!" In the temporary lull that followed Mr. C. fervently thanked God that
there was another Justice of the Peace in the county who would give a lawyer
the same rights accorded a "yaller dog" in Court. The Court very appropriately

remarked: "You and your d d Justice may go to h 1 for all I care.

I don't want the d d office!"

"At this juncture County Attorney Sell and W. N. Morphy interfered, and
the argument closed."

AN EDITOR MUST LIVE

From The Times, Clay Center, November 7, 1889.

If there are any who desire to take the Clipper have not the money to pay
we will send the paper one year for four bushels of potatoes, or twenty-four
head of cabbage, or one bushel of sweet potatoes, or fourteen pounds of fresh
pork, or eight chickens, or five bushels of corn, or six bushels of oats, or three
bushels of onions, or two bushels of apples, or ten pounds of butter, or eight
dozen eggs. Haddam Clipper.

The editor of the Minneapolis Messenger $2 per year in advance author-
izes us to make the following additions: One cord moist elm wood; two pairs
of jeans pants, not much worn; six straw hats, for May delivery; one overcoat,
sleeves intact, tails bifurcated; six dozen good eggs; two undershirts, heavy,
immediate delivery, any color, red preferred (if red, well read); three pairs
one-legged drawers, or two pairs two-legged drawers, men's; six pairs winter
socks, delivered in installments, one pair the first of each month; one extension-
ribbed umbrella, delivered each time it rains; two snow-shoes, one male and
one female.

Kansas History as Published in the Press

With the issue of March 14, 1957, the Alma Signal-Enterprise be-
gan publishing a history of Wabaunsee county. The series is gen-
erously illustrated with pictures of people, buildings, and other
things connected with the county's early history. Organization
of the county was in 1859.

Historical articles of interest to Kansans in the Kansas City ( Mo. )
Star in recent months included: "Beauty of the Kansas Prairie in
Spring Gave Olathe Its Name," by Stan Chapman, March 28, 1957;
some history of the Strawberry Hill section of Kansas City, Kan.,
where homes are being removed to make way for new roads, by
Joseph A. Lastelic, June 9; and "The Fourth Was Celebrated Eagerly
by Territorial Towns of Kansas," by Lelia Munsell, July 4. Among
articles in the Kansas City (Mo.) Times were: "Joys of the Pawpaw
Season Won Praise From a Famous Kansan [William Allen White],"
by Jennie Small Owen, November 21, 1956; "William Allen White
Sang of Spring and Redbud Trees in Kansas," by Jennie Small Owen,
April 6, 1957; "A Doctor [George Lisle] With Varied Talents Led
Ohioans in Founding Kansas Town [Chetopa]," by Sallie Shaffer,
April 18; "A Wife, Children and Governess [Frank Houts Family]
Rode the Rugged Chisholm Trail," by Bev Bunce, May 31; "There's
Much in a Name for a Kansas County [Montgomery] and a General
[Richard M. Montgomery]," June 23; "At 90, Survivor [Mrs. Julia
Brooks] Returns to Scene of Kansas Massacre and Capture," by
Ruth Jackson, July 2; "With Rifles and Bibles, Lovers of Freedom
Founded Wabaunsee," by Mary S. Koch, August 21; "A Literary
Gem Resulted From Trip of 'Henry [Allen] and Me [William Allen
White]/" by John Edward Hicks, August 22; and "New Study of
Bat Masterson Cuts Down Number of His Gun Notches," a review
of Richard O'Connor's Bat Masterson, by John Edward Hicks,
September 6.

"Trolley Through the Countryside," the story of the Strang Line,
the interurban which operated for many years between Olathe and
Kansas City, by Allison Chandler, was published in The Johnson
County Democrat, Olathe, May 2-August 22, 1957.

On May 16, 1957, the Atchison Daily Globe printed a history of
the Atchison First Christian church by the Rev. Harold Roberts.
The church was organized in December, 1869. A short history of

(326)

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 327

Muscotah under the title "Muscotah Given Name by Indian Trader,"
appeared in the Globe, June 9.

"Some of the History of Old Irving" appeared in the May 16, 1957,
issue of the Blue Rapids Times. The town, named for Washington
Irving, was established in 1860.

Historical material from Through the Years, Greeley's centennial
booklet, by Mrs. Cecil Moore and Joy Fox, was published in the
Osawatomie Graphic-News, May 16, 1957.

Histories of Jetmore, other settlements in the area, and Hodgeman
county institutions and businesses were included in the 18-page 75th
anniversary edition of the Jetmore Republican published May 16,
1957. The plat of Jetmore was filed March 25, 1882, by Elizabeth
and T. S. Haun. Historical articles in other recent numbers of the
Republican included: "Pioneer Account of Old Hodgeman," by
Abbie Ruff Sidebottom, and "History of the [Edgar] Frusher Fam-
ily," by Louisa Stairrett and Grace Strachan, May 23; "A History of
the [John] Glunt Family," June 6; "History of the A. E. Myers Fam-
ily," by A. J. Myers, June 27; and "History of the J. A. Baldrey Fam-
ily," by Zella Baldrey Hubbell, July 25.

The Hartford Times published a 24-page centennial edition May
17, 1957. Hartford's history started early in 1857 when Harvey D.
Rice, A. K. Hawkes, and others chose the townsite. The following
year the town was laid out and in 1859 building began.

Historical articles in the Clay Center Dispatch in recent months
included: a history of Immanuel Lutheran church of Washington
county, May 20, 1957; "First School District in County Organized
on March 8, 1864," by L. F. Valentine, May 25; and "In 1870's
Deweyville [Clay county] Looked as if It Might Become Town," by
L. F. Valentine, June 22.

Americus' early history was the subject of a three-column article
in the Emporia Gazette, May 28, 1957. The town's beginning dates
from the autumn of 1857 when a town company was formed and the
townsite located and surveyed. Settlers had been in the area as
early as 1855.

The "Haymeadow Massacre," an incident in the Stevens county
county-seat fight, was reviewed in the Hutchinson News, May 29,
1957. On June 16 the News printed an article by Ruby Basye giving
some Dodge City history and describing the Boot Hill and Beeson
museums at Dodge City.

328 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Muscotah's history was the subject of an article in the Horton
Headlight, May 30, 1957. On July 18 the Headlight printed a history
of Hiawatha. An article on Brown county's first school, the Presby-
terian Kickapoo Indian Mission, established in 1856, appeared Au-
gust 5.

In the early 1880's P. B. Lewis established the Randolph Echo,
the town's first newspaper, according to a history of newspapers and
printing in Randolph published in the Blue Valley News, Randolph,
May 30, 1957. The News which was discontinued with this issue,
was a casualty to the Turtle Creek dam now under construction.

Stories by C. H. Tade about the early days in the Collier Flats
area, Comanche county, appeared in the Protection Post, May 31,
June 21, 28, and July 19, 1957.

James C. Malin, associate editor of The Kansas Historical Quar-
terly, is author of an article entitled "On the Nature of Local His-
tory," in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, Madison, Summer,
1957. Dr. Malin concludes "Local history ... is vital to sound
history at any level. . . . The best way to raise the public esti-
mate of it is to produce good local history and to give it the tangible
support it deserves by publishing, buying, and reading it. ...

Minutes of Nebraska Presbytery, 1849-1851, and Presbytery of
Highland, 1857-1858, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., were printed
in the Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society, Lancaster, Pa.,
June, 1957. The minutes show that Nebraska Presbytery was or-
ganized December 1, 1849, and discontinued in 1851. Highland was
established May 21, 1857, within Kansas territory.

Emporia's centennial has been the occasion for the publication of
historical articles and editions by the town's newspapers. The June
6, 1957, issue of the Emporia Gazette included two pages of The
Kanzas News, June 6, 1857, the first issue of Emporia's first news-
paper. Also in the Gazette, June 6, were an article on the News
and its publisher, Preston B. Plumb, and a history of Emporia's First
Methodist church, which has reached its 100th year. Other Gazette
articles included: a biographical sketch of Mrs. Lilly Forman, a
Kansas pioneer, June 16; "Welsh Have Left Impact on County," June
27; and "As Resident of Area for 99 Years, She [Mrs. Ruffin Fowler]
Recalls Most of Town's Historic Events," June 29. On June 13 the
Emporia Times published a history of Emporia High School, which
had its beginning in 1876 with 13 students. A special edition, featur-
ing Emporia history, was published June 27 by the Times.

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 329

A brief history of the Chisholm trail, by Will Brown, was pub-
lished in the Cedar Vale Messenger, June 6, 1957. Included are
directions to portions of the trail that are still visible. On June 20
the Messenger printed a story by Brown on the sod house.

Included in the Winfield Courier, June 8, 1957, was a history of
the First Christian church of Winfield. The church was organized
in 1872 and A. F. Womack was the first pastor.

Will Hixon's life and reminiscences are the subjects of an article
by Faith McConnell in the Independence Reporter, June 9, 1957.
Hixon has lived near present Altoona since 1867 when he was six
years of age.

Montgomery county was named for Gen. Richard Montgomery,
Revolutionary War hero. A biographical sketch of Montgomery, by
Wilma Schweitzer, appeared in the Independence Daily Reporter,
June 9, 1957. A plaque bearing his name was recently placed in
the Montgomery county courthouse.

Articles of historical interest have continued to appear in the Hays
Daily News the past several months: "No Brides Who Braved
Rugged Life at Fort Hays Were More Fascinating Than Lovely
Wife of [General] Custer," June 16, 1957; "Custer's Island Really
Buzzard's, Story in Old Hays Paper Shows," June 26; "Fourth of July
Celebrations Last for Whole Day With Dancing, Speaking and Can-
nons Back in 1870's," June 30; "Life on Kansas Plains Was Lonely,
Austere During Pioneer Days of 1870's," by S. F. Miller, June 30;
"Mrs. Buffalo Bill [Cody] Writes Hilarious Story of Husband and
His Red Flannel Jockey Suit," July 7; "County Took Staggering Loss
in Blaze That Destroyed 3-Story Courthouse in '95," July 14; "Sad
Tale of Buffalo Jo [Joseph H. North] Is Highlighted by Example of
Western Justice/' July 21; "Ignorance Concerning Indian Traits
Made Hancock's War in Western Kansas Futile," by Howard
Raynesford, August 4; and a second article by Raynesford entitled
"Custer's Concern for Fort Wallace Troops Brought Court Martial
in Hancock's War," August 11.

St. Paul's Lutheran church, Valley Falls, was established in June,
1857, it is reported in a history of the church in the Valley Falls
Vindicator, June 19, 1957. The Rev. J. B. McAfee organized the
congregation and erected the first building.

Some of Spring Hill's history is told in articles by Mrs. Nina Dal-
zell and Margaret Ann Westhoff in the Spring Hill New Era, June

330 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

20, 27, 1957. Also on the 27th the New Era printed a biographical
sketch of Frank R. Morrison who settled near Spring Hill in 1864.

Biographical material on John Larrick and some of his reminis-
cences of Kansas in the 1870's and 1880's appeared in the Concordia
Blade-Empire, June 21, 1957. Larrick, now 87, grew up near Logan.

The Sherman County Herald, Goodland, published special edi-
tions June 27 and July 4, 1957, in observance of Goodland's 70th
anniversary. The Goodland Daily News also honored the occasion
by publishing a number of historical articles, including: "Accounts
of County Seat Battle Between Eustis, Goodland Vary," June 30,
1957; and "Papers Preceding Daily News Have Long History in
Sherman Co./' July 1.

On September 11, 1874, four daughters of the John German family
were taken captive and the parents, two other daughters, and a son
were slain near present Russell Springs by Cheyenne Indians. The
story of this incident is told in the Oakley Graphic, June 27, 1957,
and the Gove County Republican Gazette, Gove, July 4. Mrs.
Sophia German Feldman, one of the captives, has told of the expe-
rience in The Westerners Brand Book, New York, 1957. A monu-
ment marking the graves of those who lost their lives was dedicated
July 4 in the Fort Wallace cemetery.

Cleardale's history, prepared by Mrs. D. G. Heeney, was pub-
lished in the South Haven New Era, June 27 and July 4, 1957. The
Cleardale post office was opened in 1872 and discontinued in 1887.

On July 4, 1957, a history of the Altamont Baptist church appeared
in the Altamont Journal, the Edna Sun, and the Times- Journal,
Mound Valley. The congregation was organized in 1882. C. T.
Daniel was the first pastor.

"Early Ellsworth County History" is the title of a series which
began appearing in the Ellsworth Reporter, July 11, 1957. The
county was organized in 1867. On August 8 and 15 the Reporter
published part of the diary of the late Ira E. Lloyd relating to life in
Ellsworth in 1873.

St. Paul's Lutheran church at Fairview was organized in July,
1882, it is reported in articles on the history of the church in the
Fairview Enterprise, June 11, 18, 1957, and the Daily World, July 12.
The Rev. C. H. Becker was the first pastor.

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 331

The Coffeyville Daily Journal published a history of the Bethel
African Methodist church of Coffeyville, July 12, 1957. It was
founded in 1879.

Biographical information on Daniel Stine, one of Augusta's earliest
pioneers, by Stella B. Haines and Mrs. Hazel Robinson, a grand-
daughter of Stine, appeared in the Augusta Daily Gazette, July 17
and August 7, 1957.

Beginning July 18, 1957, a history of Madison by Lura Pettyjohn
and Christine Jardinier, has appeared in the Madison News.

A five-column history of Blue Mound, written by L. R. Simpson
and read at the Blue Mound July 4 celebration, was published in
the Mound City Republic, July 18, 1957. While there was a Blue
Mound post office as early as 1854, building of the town did not
begin until 1882.

Bartley Yost's reminiscences of the early days in the Downs area
appeared in the Downs News 6- Times, July 25, 1957.

A 28-page centennial supplement was published by the Eudora
News, July 25, 1957. In 1856 a group of Germans organized an as-
sociation at Chicago for the purpose of making a settlement in the
West. The site of present Eudora was chosen and the first group
arrived to settle in April, 1857. A history of the Eudora Methodist
church, compiled by Mrs. Ray Long, Mrs. Phoebe Westheffer, and
Mrs. Bonnie Davis, was printed in the News, August 8.

Pittsburgh First Baptist church was founded August 3, 1872, as
the Eden church, according to a history of the institution in the
Pittsburg Headlight, July 31, 1957. It was the first chartered re-
ligious body in Pittsburg.

Buffalo: Lord of the Plains was the general title of the August,
1957, number of Heritage of Kansas, Emporia. Articles included:
"Buffalo: Lord of the Plains/' by Neil Byer; "Buffalo Served Pio-
neers," by S. H. Jones; "The Buffalo," from The Overland Stage to
California by Frank A. Root and William E. Connelley; and "Gen-
eral Sheridan Hunts the Buffalo," from Sheridan's Troopers on the
Border by De B. R. Keim.

The first in a series of articles on the history of Robinson, by Mrs.
Myrta Martindale, was printed in the Robinson Index, August 1,
1957.

332 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Biographical material on Mrs. Lena Greene, Arkansas City, and
her brother, the late Maj. Gordon William ["Pawnee Bill"] Lille, ap-
peared in an article by Dorothy Shirley published in the Arkansas
City Daily Traveler, August 5, 1957.

Wallace county history, including a story on Fort Wallace, was
featured in the 44-page growth-and-progress edition published by
The Western Times, Sharon Springs, August 8, 1957. The edition
commemorated the arrival of railroad surveyors in the area in 1867,
which marked the beginning of the development of the county.

A 22-page St. Benedict's centennial section was published by the
Atchison Daily Globe, August 11, 1957. Among the historical ar-
ticles were: "The Saddle Padre a Father to Five States," "Ministry
to 'Bleeding Kansas' Begun in 1857," and "Monks of 1857 Steam-
boat to Doniphan."

Early history of Kansas and Norton county, compiled by Mrs.
Amy Lathrop, appeared in the Norton Daily Telegram, August 21,
1957. The county was organized in 1872.

Kansas Historical Notes

Wichita's "Cowtown" project is growing. Improvements now in-
clude a church, jail, the Munger house, drugstore, Santa Fe depot,
railroad handcar and boxcar, and schoolhouse. The church, jail,
and Munger house are original buildings; the others replicas.

Mrs. E. G. Peterson was re-elected president of the Edwards
County Historical Society at a meeting in Kinsley, May 13, 1957.
Other officers chosen were: Lavina Trotter, first vice-president;
Harry Offerle, second vice-president; Mrs. Leonard Miller, third
vice-president; Mrs. Elsie Jenkins, secretary; Cecil Mathews, treas-
urer; and Mrs. Mary Vang and Mrs. Myrtle H. Richardson, his-
torians.

Hartford celebrated its centennial May 17-19, 1957, with a talent
show and a parade high-lighting the program. Mrs. A. S. Bernheisel
was crowned queen of the centennial.

An organization to re-create early-day Abilene as a tourist attrac-
tion and business promotion, called Old Abilene Town Co., was
formed May 20, 1957. Directors and officers were chosen. The
officers are: Henry B. Jameson, president; William Guilfoyle, R. R.
Biggs, Charles Krenger, C. A. Case, O. B. Landes, and G. E. Duck-
wall, vice-presidents; Don StefPes, secretary; and Charles Stapf,
treasurer. Guilfoyle was named legal counsel for the corporation.

Jetmore celebrated its 75th anniversary May 30, 31, June 1, 1957,
with picnics, square dances, a parade, a horse show, and a historical
pageant portraying the history of the area. The pageant was written
and directed by Judge Lorin T. Peters of Ness City.

On June 1, 1957, Americus observed its centennial with a program
which included a parade, a dance, and the re-enactment of one of the
important events in the town's history, the stealing of the county
records from Americus by a group of Emporia men in 1860.

All officers of the Hodgeman County Historical Society were re-
elected at a meeting in Jetmore, June 15, 1957. They included:
L. W. Hubbell, president; Mrs. Leigh Newport, vice-president; Earl
Harlan, secretary; and Mrs. C. W. Teed, treasurer.

Muscotah observed its 100th birthday June 21, 22, 1957, with a
two-day celebration high-lighted by a parade and the honoring of
the community's oldest citizens.

(333)

334 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Hanover's annual "Days of '49" celebration was held July 22-24,
1957, commemorating, this year, the 100th anniversary of the build-
ing of the Hollenberg pony express station. The three-day program
featured two parades.

Emporia's centennial celebration, featuring a parade and "The
Emporia Centurama," a pageant telling the area's history, was held
June 29-July 6, 1957.

Ellsworth's 90th-year celebration began August 13, 1957, with an
old settlers' day, and extended through August 18 with parades,
dances, a 4-H fair, rodeos, and other events.

All officers of the Chase County Historical Society were re-elected
at the annual meeting of the society in Cottonwood Falls, Septem-
ber 7, 1957. They include: Paul B. Wood, president; Henry Rogler,
vice-president; Clint A. Baldwin, secretary; George T. Dawson,
treasurer; and Mrs. Ruth Conner, chief historian.

J. Wallace Higgins, III, is author of a recently issued, 43-page
booklet entitled The Orient Road A History of the Kansas City,
Mexico and Orient Railroad. The booklet is a reprint from Bulletin
95, Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, Boston, October,
1956.

Biographical sketches of Abner Yates, Swan Johnson, John George
Hilbert, Peter Knott, and other Woodson county men, and some of
the history of Yates Center, are included in a recently published
59-page booklet by Fannie Johnson Landes entitled Silent Men.

Campbell Brothers Great Consolidated Shows The Story of the
Second Largest Circus in the World, a 24-page booklet by Levi
Bloyd was published in 1957. The Campbell brothers were Kansas
pioneers, the family settling at Haddam in 1878.

The First One Hundred Years a History of the City of Hartford,
Kansas, 1857-1957 is the title of a 26-page pamphlet published as
a part of Hartford's centennial celebration, May 17-19, 1957. A cen-
tennial edition of the Hartford High School alumni directory was
also published which included histories of the town and high school.

Americus' history is summarized in a 32-page pamphlet entitled
Americus Centennial Yesterday and Today, issued as a part of the
town's centennial observance, June 1, 1957.

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 335

Muscotah published a 41-page souvenir booklet in connection
with its centennial celebration, June 21, 22, 1957. The booklet is
largely made up of biographical sketches of residents and former
residents of the Muscotah area.

Olathe published a 55-page historical album entitled Olathe, "The
City Beautiful" as a souvenir of the town's centennial observance,
September 1-7, 1957.

De Soto, Kansas Is 100 'Years Old, 1857-1957 was the title of a 64-
page recently published history of De Soto by Dot Ashlock-Long-
streth, commemorating the completion of the town's first century.

Topeka Guide to the Capital City of Kansas is the title of a 32-
page pamphlet giving historical facts and other information about
Topeka. It was published recently by the Junior Chamber of Com-
merce.

A new one-volume 417-page, general history of Kansas, bearing
the title Kansas A History of the Jayhawk State, by William E.
Zornow, was published in August, 1957, by the University of Okla-
homa Press, Norman. The author states that the book "is intended
merely as a general survey which traces some of the pertinent de-
velopments in the political, economic, social, and intellectual life of
Kansas."

Kansas Monks is the title of a 362-page book by Peter Beckman,
O. S. B., published in 1957 by the Abbey Student Press, Atchison.
The work is a history of St. Benedict's Abbey which was founded in
1857.

The American Heritage Book of Great Historic Places is a 376-
page, highly-illustrated volume published recently by the American
Heritage Publishing Co. The book tells the stories behind many of
the most significant of America's historic places. A 28-page section
is devoted to the Great Plains, including Kansas.

In 1905 Thomas Henry Tibbies wrote the story of his life, includ-
ing his experiences many years before while living, hunting, fighting
with the Indians of the Plains. Recently this manuscript has been
edited and published by Doubleday & Co., Garden City, N. Y., in
a 336-page volume entitled Buckskin and Blanket Days.

In connection with cases before the Indian Claims Commission,
appraisals of certain Indian lands in Kansas have been made in the

336 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

last few years by William G. Murray. His detailed reports contain
much historical information, particularly relating to physical fea-
tures of the tracts, land markets, and population movements. The
appraisals include: Pottawatomie tracts in Iowa and Kansas, 1846;
Miami tract in Kansas, 1854; and Shawnee tract in Kansas, 1854.
Copies of the reports, in booklet form, were recently presented to
the State Historical Society.

THE

KANSAS HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY

Winter 1957

Published by

Kansas State Historical Society

Topeka

NYLE H. MILLER KIRKE MECHEM JAMES C. MALIN

Managing Editor Editor Associate Editor

CONTENTS

AN ARMY HOSPITAL: From Dragoons to Rough Riders

Fort Riley, 1853-1903 George E. Omer, Jr., 337

With photographs of the hospitals of Fort Riley in 1854, 1865 and 1889;
main post dispensary, 1889; hospital ambulance, 1900; the medical de-
tachments of 1870 and 1900, and portraits of Medical Officers Joseph
K. Barnes, James Simons, William A. Hammond and Bernard J. D.
Irwin, between pp. 352, 353.

A KANSAS REVIVAL OF 1872 Willam E. Berger, 368

THE KIOWA AND COMANCHE CAMPAIGN OF 1860 AS RECORDED IN THE
PERSONAL DIARY OF LT. J. E. B. STUART. .Edited by W. Stitt Robinson, 382

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS: The James A. Lord Chicago Dramatic
Company, 1869-1871 Concluded James C. Malin, 401

BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 439

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 441

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 445

ERRATA AND ADDENDA, VOLUME XXIII 448

INDEX TO VOLUME XXIII 449

Entered as second-class matter October 22, 1931, at the post office at To-
peka, Kan., under the act of August 24, 1912.

THE COVER

A hospital ward at Fort Riley, 1900. From
J. J. Pennell and C. S. McGirr, Picturesque
Fort Riley (Junction City, 1900).

THE KANSAS ,: ^
HISTORICAL aUARTERLY

Volume XXIII Winter, 1957 Number 4

An Army Hospital: From Dragoons to Rough Riders
Fort Riley, 1853-1903

GEORGE E. OMER, JR.
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Although this article deals with the medical history of Fort Riley,
Kansas, it is a vivid picture of army life on the frontier. Cholera,
surgery without anesthesia, alcoholics on a whisky ration of three
quarts a day these were some of the problems faced by the army
physician. Of the medical officers who served at Riley, seven became
surgeons general of the army. The first Congressional Medal of
Honor went to a doctor who served there. The first president of the
association of military surgeons of the United States was a Fort Riley
post surgeon, who later became president of the American Medical
Association. Of special interest and value are the biographical
sketches, many of men who became famous in the annals of army
medicine.

I. THE TEMPORARY HOSPITAL

nrVHE Westward expansion of the youthful United States burst
J- into the territory of Missouri following the War of 1812. The
early explorers into the Indian country (which included present Kan-
sas ) followed the prehistoric river routes both southwest and north-
west to establish trade. The first successful commercial trip to Santa
Fe was made along the Arkansas river in 1821 by Capt. William
Becknell from Franklin, Mo. In 1822 the Rocky Mountain Fur
Company was organized at St. Louis and extended its business into
the valleys of the Missouri and Platte rivers. John C. Fremont's
Oregon expedition camped at the junction of the Republican and
Smoky Hill rivers in 1843. He reported great numbers of elk,
antelope, buffalo, and Indians in the vicinity where Fort Riley
would be established in one short decade.

MAJ. GEORGE E. OMER, JR., MC, is chief of surgery, U. S. Army Hospital, Fort Riley.

(337)

231378

338 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The Indians resented the invasion of their lands. Their resistance
was so successful that in the spring of 1829, Maj. Bennet Riley was
ordered to take four companies of the Sixth infantry from Fort
Leavenworth and accompany a trading caravan to Santa Fe. This
was the first military escort of a wagon train. The traders were
protected by the soldiers until the train crossed the Arkansas river,
since the territory south of the river was Mexico. The Mormon
migration in 1847 and the gold rush of 1849 greatly increased the
travel over all the trails. The first overland mail and stage route
was established in 1849 as a monthly service across present Kansas
from Independence, Mo., to Santa Fe, with Council Grove as the
only town down the 775-mile trail. This westward migration was
patrolled and protected by the army, which was so thin-spread that
in 1859 there were only three regiments of cavalry, and these horse
units were still being called dragoons or mounted riflemen.

Col. Thomas T. Fauntleroy, commanding the First dragoons at
Fort Leavenworth, urged the establishment of a military station
at the junction of the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers as an outpost
for more efficient defense of the Oregon and Santa Fe trails. A
board of four officers, including Brev. Maj. Edmund A. Ogden,
who was quartermaster at Fort Leavenworth, was appointed to
locate the new post near the fork of the Pawnee (Kansas) river.
The board and a detachment of First dragoons established a camp
at the present site of Fort Riley. The new station was first called
Camp Center because it was believed that its location was close
to the geographical center of the United States.

In May, 1853, Capt. Charles S. Lovell commanded a second
expedition and established the first post of temporary buildings with
Companies B, F, and H of the Sixth infantry, in accordance with
Order No. 9, Headquarters Sixth Military District, Jefferson Bar-
racks, Mo.

The only muster and pay roll of the medical department issued
from Camp Center listed Joseph K. Barnes as surgeon and Ann
McCarrol as the hospital matron. This first surgeon in charge of
the Fort Riley hospital became Surgeon General of the Army in
1864 and held the position until 1882. He was born in Philadelphia
in 1817 and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical
School in 1838. He joined the army as an assistant surgeon in 1840
and was a brilliant brigade medical officer in the Mexican war.
After his tour at Fort Riley, he was assigned to duty in Washington

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 339

and was promoted to medical inspector, with the rank of colonel
in 1863.

Barnes received the first major general rank (brevet) awarded to
the senior medical officer of the army when he became surgeon
general in 1864. While he was surgeon general he succeeded in
removing hospital food from the jurisdiction of the commissary
department; he placed the medical department in charge of ambu-
lances instead of the quartermaster corps; and generally succeeded
in bringing the military hospitals, as well as the transportation of
the wounded, under the control of medical officers. Barnes' friendly
relation with Secretary of War Stanton fostered the establishment
of the army medical museum and library, better known today as the
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and The National Library of
Medicine. He had prepared and published the Medical and Surgi-
cal History of the War of the Rebellion an important contribution
that is still used for reference work. Doctor Barnes dressed Secre-
tary of State Seward's wounds on the night of April 14, 1865, and
was in attendance at President Lincoln's deathbed. He also at-
tended President Garfield after he had been shot by an assassin.
He died in 1883, only one year after retirement from office.

To return to the fort. War Department General Order No. 17,
dated June 27, 1853, permanently changed the name of Camp
Center to Fort Riley in honor of Maj. Gen. Bennet Riley. Riley,
who commanded the first wagon train escort over the Santa Fe trail,
was born in Alexandria, Va., in 1787. He entered the army as an
ensign of rifles when he was 16 years of age. He succeeded Col.
Henry Leavenworth in command of Fort Leavenworth, and became
a colonel in the First infantry on January 31, 1850. He was pro-
moted to major general for his gallant conduct in the Mexican war
under Gen. Winfield Scott. In 1847 Bennet Riley acted as the last
territorial governor of California. He died in Buffalo, N. Y., on
June 9, 1853. Thus Fort Riley was named for an infantry officer
who never saw the post.

The army appropriated $65,000 for the erection of temporary
buildings at the new post. Supplies were moved to the station by
steamboat and overland freight wagons. The Excel, a small
steamer, made several supply trips up the Kansas river from.
Weston, Mo. River navigation was extremely difficult and finally
one steamboat was so firmly grounded that she was abandoned.
Mule teams from Fort Leavenworth were substituted as the primary

340 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

method of transportation. This military road had started as an
Indian trail and extended west from Fort Leavenworth to Fort
Riley. The firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell established an
extensive outfitting base at Leavenworth for this freighting trade
and later inaugurated the Pony Express. Much of the food for
the men and animals at Fort Riley was purchased from the nearest
settlement, Saint Mary's mission, 42 miles east along the military
road.

When the temporary post was being built the construction crews
selected a parade-size field on a flat ledge of rimrock north of the
Kansas river and above the marshy flat of Whiskey Lake. One of
the buildings was the hospital, located on the present-day lower
parade ground between Patton Hall and the Administration build-
ing. The locks, hinges, and hasps on the one-story hospital were
hand-forged at the building site from scrap metal, wheel rims, old
sabers, and plow shares. Pine and oak were used for lumber and
the building boasted the luxury of a veranda along its front or north
wall.

In December, 1853, Asst. Surg. Aquila Talbot Ridgely was the
doctor in charge of the temporary hospital and T. W. Simson was
the acting hospital steward. The hospital staff included three male
soldier attendants, one soldier cook, and the hospital matron, Ann
McCarrol. Surgeon Ridgely was born in Maryland and resigned
June 23, 1861, to join the Confederate forces as a surgeon.

In May, 1354, Kansas was organized as a territory. There were
no white settlements in the new territory except at Forts Leaven-
worth, Scott, and Riley, in addition to the Indian missions and agen-
cies. On October 4, Andrew H. Reeder, of Pennsylvania, arrived
as territorial governor. He set up his office at Fort Leavenworth.
On April 16, 1855, Reeder issued a proclamation requesting that the
first territorial legislature meet at the new town of Pawnee, which
was located at the present site of Camp Whitside and the canton-
ment hospital on the Fort Riley reservation.

The Pawnee Town Site Association had been organized Septem-
ber 27, 1854. The association consisted of Major Montgomery,
Second infantry, commanding officer of Fort Riley, 13 other army
officers, five civil territorial officers, and five civilians. The army
officers included Surg. Madison Mills, Asst. Surg. William A. Ham-
mond, and Asst. Surg. James Simons. In July, 1855, after Reeder's
proclamation, a resurvey of the boundaries of the Fort Riley military
reservation was ordered by Jefferson Davis, the Secretary of War.

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 341

The new survey found that the reservation included the new town
of Pawnee and the settlement was removed from the reservation.
Major Montgomery, for granting the land to the Pawnee Town
Association, was court-martialed and dismissed from the army on
December 8, 1855. The trial was held at Fort Leavenworth with
Robert E. Lee among the members of the court-martial board.

II. CHOLERA EPIDEMIC

In the summer of 1855 all troops at Fort Riley had left for cam-
paigns against the Indians, so that of the military there was left
only Asst. Surg. James Simons, John A. Charters, a private of Sixth
infantry acting as hospital steward, and Chaplain Clarkson. The
hospital steward combined the duties of druggist, medical clerk,
and storekeeper as well as assistant to the surgeon. Asst. Surg.
James Simons had been the physician in charge of the hospital
since April, 1854. The hospital stewards had been Cpl. Jacob
Hommes and Private Charters of the Sixth infantry. Margaret O. D.
Donnall was the hospital matron.

Maj. Edmund A. Ogden returned from Fort Leavenworth to
command the station and supervise the permanent construction of
Fort Riley. The actual construction crews were civilians undei the
supervision of a Mr. Sawyer, the architect and general superintend-
ent. Ogden was appointed to the United States Military Academy
in 1827 and served in many posts throughout his brief career. He
participated in the Seminole war, the occupation of Texas from 1845
to 1846 and in the Mexican war from 1846 to 1847. He began
construction at Riley during the first week of July, 1855.

Tragedy struck during the night of August 1 when cholera rap-
idly developed into an epidemic. Without the healing aid of 20th
century intravenous therapy, the bacillus of cholera produces a
usually fatal diarrhea. Patients soon filled the temporary hospital
and created a mountainous problem of nursing, washing bedding,
and cleaning the patients. The camp was filled with panic when
it was discovered that Major Ogden was ill. A rider was sent to
Fort Leavenworth with a letter requesting medical help. Sawyer
appointed men to act as nurses and promised extra pay, but only
a few wanted to work at the hospital where the dead were being
coffined and carried out by burial parties while new patients took
their places. The heroic effort required to attend the men in the
agonies of the fatal disease proved too much for Asst. Surg. James
Simons, and his mental breakdown was complete after Major

342 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Ogden died on the third. In desperation he deserted the hospital
and his patients, collected his family and fled east to Saint Mary's
mission during the night.

On August 4, hope came on horseback from Dyer's bridge, 19
miles east on the military road near present-day Manhattan. Dr.
Samuel Whitehorn, recently from Michigan, had heard of the epi-
demic while at Dyer's bridge and came to offer his services to the
hospital steward. He was youthful in appearance and manner, and
for fear of doubts of his being really a doctor, he showed the stew-
ard his diploma and other testimonials from his patients at Dyer's
bridge. Doctor Whitehorn's presence renewed confidence, and a
spoonful of brandy or port wine by the physician's order gave
relief from anxiety if not death. In addition, Whitehorn ordered
barrels of pine tar to be burned at the open windows of the hos-
pital. If this served no other purpose, it counteracted the offensive
odors.

Relief came on August 6, 1855, when a four-mule government
ambulance arrived from Fort Leavenworth with Lt. Eugene Carr
and Dr. Samuel Phillips, a contract physician. While Carr received
an account of the situation from Sawyer, Phillips proceeded at once
to the hospital for consultation with Doctor Whitehorn. With good
nursing and encouragement, each day brought fewer cases and the
epidemic was broken. Dr. Samuel Phillips volunteered for his
relief duty to Gen. E. V. Sumner, then commanding Fort Leaven-
worth. General Sumner had asked each of the many physicians
practicing in the city of Leavenworth but all had declined the
service except Phillips. Doctor Phillips was paid less than $40 for
his hazardous tour of duty.

Maj. John Sedgwick, artillery, came to Fort Riley in October,
1855, to investigate the cholera epidemic and especially Asst. Surg.
James Simon's conduct. The doctor was court-martialed and dis-
missed from army service on January 15, 1856, for his failure. How-
ever, he was reinstated on October 24 of the same year and was
breveted a colonel on March 13, 1865, for faithful and meritorious
service during the Civil War.

Somewhere between 75 and 100 persons died in the cholera epi-
demic of 1855 and were buried in the present cemetery. Lead lin-
ings from tea caddies were procured from the commissary to make
an airtight coffin for Major Ogden. However, wooden headboards
were used to mark the graves and the headboards were subse-

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 343

quently destroyed in a prairie fire set by Indians. Today, a grassy
area is set aside in the post cemetery with a few stones set at random
to indicate the resting place of the victims.

III. THE FIRST PERMANENT HOSPITAL

Asst. Surg. William A. Hammond was recalled from the troops
in the field and took charge of the hospital on August 31, 1855. His
staff included Mary Miller, who was paid $6.00 a month as the
hospital matron. Hammond was born in Annapolis, Md., in 1828
and received his degree in medicine from New York University in
1848. He had been on active army duty for five years when he first
came to Fort Riley in 1854. His controversial personality often
brought him personal problems. He owned slaves at Fort Riley
but quickly joined the Union forces when war came. He witnessed
the marriage ceremony of one of his subordinates, Cpl. Robert Al-
lender, after the post commander, Major Montgomery, had refused
permission for the wedding. For this escapade Surgeon Hammond
was promptly placed in arrest but was afterward released. In spite
of these idiosyncrasies, Hammond brought to his frontier medical
duties the unbounded energy and practical foresight that charac-
terized his future achievements. In the summer of 1855 he served
as medical director of a large force operating against the Sioux
Indians and was medical officer with an expedition which located
a road to Bridger's pass in the Rocky Mountains.

After this field trip he remained the chief surgeon at the Fort
Riley hospital until December, 1856. Perhaps his experiences in
Kansas were the basis for his future sweeping improvement of the
army medical service when he achieved high position. After com-
pleting his Fort Riley tour and ten years at frontier stations, he
resigned from the army to teach anatomy and physiology at the
University of Maryland, but re-entered the service within two
years because of the outbreak of war. When the United States
Sanitary Commission was formed in 1861 as an advisory body to
the army medical bureau, the members sponsored a new surgeon
general. Hammond was chosen, and he received the first general
officer rank ever awarded to the senior medical officer in the army.
He worked to produce great improvements in battlefield evacuation
of the wounded, hospital administration, and medical supplies. One
little known contribution was his action in removing calomel and
tartar emetic from the medical supply table, thus removing items

344 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

having as long and as worthless a medical history as venesection.
Other practical improvements included such minor items as the
provision of hospital clothing for patients.

As a result of quarrels with Secretary of War Stanton, Hammond
was suspended as surgeon general in 1863 and charged with irregu-
larities in contracts. He appealed to President Lincoln to be
restored to his position or be tried by court-martial. After a session
prolonged for many months, a military court found him guilty and
sentenced him to dismissal. Hammond soon established himself
as a leading physician in New York City, and was a pioneer in the
practice and teaching of neurology, holding the professorship of
nervous and mental diseases at Bellevue Hospital Medical College
and subsequently at New York University. He wrote numerous
medical articles, and co-operated in the founding and editing of
the New York Medical Journal and the Journal of Nervous and
Mental Diseases. In 1878 his military dismissal case was reviewed
and the verdict of the court-martial was reversed, with Hammond
being honorably retired from the army. He died in 1900.

As stated, Hammond left Riley in December, 1856. The first
permanent post hospital had been finished in the fall of 1855.
Slightly southeast of the new building was the old temporary hos-
pital which had been used during the cholera epidemic. The old
temporary hospital was converted into quarters for the hospital
steward. The new permanent hospital was constructed of native
limestone with a wooden veranda on two sides and surrounded by
a wooden picket fence. The north hospital section contained the
surgeon's offices and was two stories high, with a long one-story
wing extending to the south. The first permanent hospital in 1855
was later remodeled and is now the Administration building . ( 30 )
on the lower parade ground.

In October, 1855, six companies of the Second dragoons arrived
at Fort Riley from Texas under the command of Lt. Col. Philip St.
George Cooke. The Second dragoons later were called the Second
cavalry and the history of the regiment is closely connected with
the post of Fort Riley and the cavalry school. Asst. Surg. Robert
Southgate arrived with the Second dragoons and assisted Surgeon
Hammond at the post hospital. Pvt. Charles Harling, Second dra-
goons, was also added to the hospital staff as an acting hospital
steward.

In December, 1856, Asst. Surg. Richard H. Coolidge became the
post surgeon at Fort Riley. His sanitary report in June, 1857, in-

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 345

eluded a discussion of the topography of the post, a record of the
weather, and the chief causes of sickness :

Intemperance has been the fruitful cause of both diseases and injuries. The
extent to which this vice prevailed may in part be inferred from the number
of cases of delirium tremens reported. During the year previous to my joining
this station, say from October 1, 1855, to September 30, 1856, six cases of
delirium tremens are reported, the average strength of the command being 392.
From October 1, 1856, to June 30, 1857, nine months, there occurred sixteen
cases in a command averaging 335. From the statements of convalescents and
from other sources, I am satisfied that three quarts of whisky was the cus-
tomary daily allowance of quite a number of men; one quart, as they expressed
it, being required "to set them up before breakfast." It appeared to me that
larger quantities of opium were necessary in the treatment of these excessive
drinkers than in ordinary cases of delirium tremens.

Four cases of scorbutus are reported in March, and others occurred among
the hired men of the quartermaster's department. Scarlatina and variola,
which have prevailed to a very considerable extent in some of the eastern
cities, have also appeared here. The vaccine virus for which I applied on the
18th of February did not arrive until the 8th of May. I had fortunately
obtained from Surgeon Abadie, at St. Louis, through Surgeon Cuyler, at Fort
Leavenworth, part of a crust of vaccine virus, with which and its proceeds
all the command who required protection were vaccinated. The first case of
scarlatina occurred on the 23rd of May in the person of a Dragoon. So far
as I could learn, no case had previously occurred in this vicinity. The disease
was severe from the beginning, attended with much cerebral disturbance, and
an extremely sore mouth and throat. He had passed the febrile stage, and the
period of desquamation was nearly complete, when he escaped from his ward
one cool morning soon after daylight, and ran unclothed to the company gardens.
Dropsy of the abdomen and anasarca supervened the left thigh being the first
to swell which finally terminated in death. Hospital Steward Drennan, who
had been exposed to the first case, was the next person attacked, and though
for a time dangerously ill, he now has recovered. Several children at the
post have sickened with this disease, and it is still occurring among them.

The surgical cases occurring up to the date of my special report of
February 16, 1857, are sufficiently noted therein, and I have only to add .in
regard to one of those cases, that of gangrene of the feet requiring amputa-
tion of both legs, that it terminated favorable. A small party of emigrants were
attacked on the 7th of June, about eighty miles from this post, by a band of
Cheyennes. Four men were killed, two wounded, and one young woman
severely wounded in the back and side. They made their way on foot to
the nearest settlements, having been six days without food. The wounded
were conveyed from their first place of refuge to this post, and have since
been attended by myself.

Surgeon Coolidge also reported on the long-continued drought,
the condition of the crops, the mean difference between the ther-
mometer and hygrometer, and rainfall compared with previous
years. Coolidge was born in New York state. He was appointed

346 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

as assistant surgeon on August 16, 1841, and became a major sur-
geon June 26, 1860. He was breveted a lieutenant colonel on March
13, 1865, and died January 23, 1866.

Maj. Surg. Thomas C. Madison became post surgeon of Fort Riley
in April, 1858. He was assisted by Hospital Steward Henry Lamp,
who was the first actual hospital steward assigned to Fort Riley,
since all previous stewards were enlisted men from line units acting
in the capacity of steward. The hospital staff was completed by
two male enlisted cooks, four male enlisted nurses, and two matrons
Mary Nash and Hannah Frame. Madison was born in Virginia
and was appointed an assistant surgeon February 27, 1840. He was
promoted to major surgeon August 29, 1856. He resigned from fed-
eral service August 17, 1861, and was a surgeon for the Confederacy
from 1861 to 1865. He died November 7, 1866.

In August, 1860, Maj. Surg. Madison Mills was in charge of the
fort hospital. He had previously been associated with Fort Riley
as a member of the Pawnee Town Site Association. He joined the
army as an assistant surgeon April 1, 1834, and was promoted to
major surgeon February 16, 1847. He was breveted lieutenant
colonel and colonel on November 29, 1864, for meritorious service
at the siege of Vicksburg. He was promoted to brigadier general
on March 13, 1865. Mills died April 28, 1873.

Surgeon Mills made the periodic weather summaries, considered
so important at that time as an influencing factor on disease. A
system of observations and reports of weather was made by the
surgeons at all military stations, and was the only weather service
of the United States for more than half a century. This medical
service resulted finally in the creation of a signal corps in the army
in 1863, with Surg. Albert J. Meyer as the first chief of corps.
Meteorological work was given to the weather bureau in 1890.

IV. THE CIVIL WAR

Fort Riley was a child of the frontier and the post was neglected
by Washington from the time the permanent buildings were con-
structed until the end of the Civil War. To protect the communica-
tion-transportation routes and the Western settlements from Indian
attack, the garrison was composed of varied volunteer cavalry units
that included the llth and 15th Kansas, the 7th Iowa, and the 2d
Colorado.

Asst. Surg. Fred P. Drew was the post surgeon from August,

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 347

1861, until his death at Fort Riley on March 20, 1864. He was born
in Waterbury, Vt, 1829, and retained an interest in collecting fauna
all his life. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington probably
owes its collection of early Kansas fauna to Doctor Drew. Among his
papers was a bill for three lizards, one frog, one tortoise, one beaver,
and two nests of eggs which he collected, boxed, and shipped to
the Smithsonian Institution in December, 1862. His hospital staff
included Essex Camp as hospital steward, Elford E. Lee as ward-
master, and Mary Lee as hospital matron.

The military physicians had a rural practice which extended
beyond Fort Riley for a radius of 50 miles. The doctor used fitted
saddle bags to carry his drugs or a medical chest was placed in his
mule-drawn ambulance wagon. Some items indicative of the
pharmacopedia of the mid-19th century would include: alum, as a
gargle for sore throat; balsam copaiva, used for gonorrhea; blister
plaster, for application to stop pains about the lungs; spirit of
camphor, used in typhus fever; flax seed, made into a tea useful
in lung fever; quinine, for intermittent fevers; opium, for pain;
tartaric acid, used as a beverage in scurvy. Among the instruments
and utensils were included lancets, penis syringes, cylster syringes
( enema ) , gum elastic catheter, bougies, tooth pliers, curved needles
and waxed thread. Some physicians had a cylinder stethoscope.
Leeches were still carried and blood letting was often practiced.
To practice medicine with this medical armament the Fort Riley
surgeon was paid $80.00 a month.

In June, 1864, Jeremiah Sabin signed the report of sick and
wounded as "Citizen (Contract) Surgeon." Doctor Sabin had been
recruited from the Fort Riley region and continued as a contract
physician for a year. He was a note of continuity during that time
along with Hospital Stewards Essex Camp and E. Norris Stearns.
Military physicians came and left, including: Acting Asst. Surg.
Irving J. Pollock in October, 1864, Asst. Surg. George S. Akin in
December, 1864, Asst. Surg. Thomas B. Harbison in February,
1865, and Acting Asst. Surg. W. C. Finlaw in August, 1865.

In the midst and in spite of this confusion, the hospital continued
to function, as announced in a newspaper story of February 4, 1865:

E. Norris Stearns, Hospital Steward, arrived on the 20th from Leavenworth,
with a bountiful supply of Sanitary stores, consisting of Canned-fruits, Dried-
apples; Pickles; Codfish; Cordials; Clothing; and other good things for our
sick Received through the hands of Mr. Brown, Agent for the Western Sanitary
Commission.

348 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

V. THE INDIAN-FIGHTING MEDICS

During the days of Indian uprisings on the frontier, Fort Riley
grew in stature from a supply base for summer campaigns to the
formal status of the cavalry and light artillery school.

The Second cavalry was the first regular army unit to return to
Fort Riley from the Civil War. The army was again thinly spread
and overworked, as indicated by the stations occupied by the
Second cavalry: regimental headquarters, band, and Company E
at Fort Riley; Companies A and B at Fort Kearny, Neb.; Company
C at Fort Hays; Company D at Fort Lyon, Colo.; Company F
at Fort Ellsworth (Harker); Companies G and I at Fort Leaven-
worth; Company H at Pond Creek (Fort Wallace); Company K
at Fort Dodge; Company L at Fort Larned; and Company M at
Fort Aubrey.

The Seventh cavalry was organized at Fort Riley in September,
1866, under an act of congress of July 28, 1866. Andrew J. Smith,
a veteran of the Mexican and Civil wars, was colonel, and George
A. Custer was its lieutenant-colonel. (It was this year that the
Union Pacific railroad reached the fort.)

The post surgeon and probably the first regimental surgeon for
the Seventh cavalry was Brev. Lt. Col. and Surg. Bernard John
Dowling Irwin. Irwin had been post surgeon since April, 1866, and
for the fighting "Garry Owens" a more distinguished fighting medi-
cal officer could not have been selected than the first winner of the
Congressional Medal of Honor.

Irwin was born in Ireland June 24, 1830. He was educated by
private tutors, at the University of New York, the Castleton Ver-
mont Medical College, and received his doctor of medicine in 1852
from the New York Medical College. His military interest led him
to be a private in the Seventh regiment of the New York National
Guard from 1848 to 1851 and he was commissioned as first lieu-
tenant assistant surgeon on August 28, 1856. He was promptly
ordered to frontier service in New Mexico and Arizona. At this
point the following account written by Irwin will give a vivid de-
scription of this individual, his skill, endurance, and bravery:

On the 16th of September, 1858, I was requested to visit one of the sta-
tions of the Southern Overland Mail Company, where a number of men were
reported to have been dangerously wounded. I set out at once, and arrived
at the place early the next morning, after a smart ride of one hundred and
fifteen miles, but found that three of the four wounded men had already died.
The history of the survivor, Silas St. John, a strong robust, healthy young man
of twenty-four, a native of New York City, was as follows: He, with three

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 349

Americans and three Mexican boys, was engaged in keeping the mail station.
On the evening of the eighth, one of the latter was placed on guard, and
the remainder of the party retired to rest for the night; about midnight the
Mexicans arose, and with axes and a large hammer attempted to murder their
sleeping companions. St. John awoke, and hearing blows given, was in the
act of springing from his bed when he received a terrible blow from an axe,
which almost severed his left arm from his body, followed quickly by another
that cut the fleshy part of the same arm in a shocking manner; this was suc-
ceeded by another stroke that cut through the anterior external portion of the
right thigh, a short distance below the joint. By this time he succeeded in
grasping his pistol, and having fired at the desperate assassins, they fled and
were seen no more.

One of the unfortunate victims who slept outside of the door of the rude
shed never awoke; another, with his face and head frightfully chopped and
mangled, lived in great agony until the evening of the next day; while a third,
whose head was almost cloven in two, the brain continually oozing from the
shattered skull, lingered until the sixth day, during which time his frenzied
craving for water to quench his burning thirst was of the most heart-rending
character. On the evening of the next day the mail stage came by and found
St. John, the only survivor of his party, alone in a rude hovel in the wilderness,
without food or water, unable to move; his wounds undressed, stiffened, and
full of loathsome magots; his companions had died one by one a horrible
death, and lastly, to add to the horrors of his suffering, the hungry wolves
and ravens came and banquetted upon the putrefying corpse of one of his
dead companions which lay but a few feet from his desolate bed. The mental
and physical sufferings which he endured are marvelous to think of. Yet he
never complained nor flinched for a moment. Calm and resigned, he bore
his torments with the fortitude of a martyr.

After administering to his immediate wants, one of the mail party was left
with him, and remained until my arrival on the seventeenth, at which time his
condition was as follows; he was weak and pallid from loss of blood, [lack of]
sleep and constant mental and physical suffering; his disposition was cheerful,
and he evinced much pleasure at the prospect of having his wounds attended to.
A deep, incised wound, about eight inches in length, extending from the point
of the acromion process, passing inwards, downwards, and backwards, laid
open the shoulder-joint, passed through the external portion of the head of the
numerous, and thence downward, splintering the bone through about four
inches of its course. The wound in the thigh proved to be only a severe lesion
of the soft parts, about eight inches long and three deep.

After a careful examination, I saw it would be impossible to make any
effort to save the arm; I therefore determined to remove it at once. The
patient was informed of the necessity for the operation, and his permission was
accorded almost cheerfully. The only assistance that I could command was
from three of the men forming my escort. Having made a kind of bed of some
bags of corn, the patient was placed on it. One of the men having been
instructed how to compress the axillary artery, and the other assistants prop-
erly disposed of, I removed the limb as follows: the patient lying on his back,
with the shoulder elevated, I placed myself on the outside, and grasping the
arm, I passed the catling through the original wound, thence inwards behind the

350 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

fractured point of the humerus, and downwards, forming a large flap from
the anterior and inner aspect of the arm, which made up for the deficiency
caused by the character of the wound, which left the superior-posterior aspect
of the joint entirely devoid of muscular tissue. With the aid of a scalpel, the
remaining portion of the head and neck of the humerus was removed from
the glenoid cavity, the granulated surface of the old wound revivified, and the
arteries tied as quickly as possible, after which the edges of the wound were
brought together and retained by interrupted sutures and some bands of
adhesive plaster. Cold-water dressing was applied, with a light bandage
suitable to the part.

The wound in the lower limb was dressed by inverting the large fleshy flap,
and retaining it in its normal position by several interrupted sutures. Cold-
water dressing and the maintenance of the thigh in a semi-flexed position
were the only requisites here. Forty drops of tincture of opium were admin-
istered, and the patient placed in as comfortable a bed as the meagre circum-
stances of the place would permit. Chloroform was not at hand to be given,
and the only stimulus obtainable was a few drachms of essence of ginger. The
celerity with which the operation was performed, and the fortitude and ex-
cellent disposition of the patient, saved him from everything like protracted
suffering. In the evening, the tincture of opium was repeated, and proper
directions having been given for the dressing of his wounds, I left him, having
previously sent for some wine, brandy, and other nourishment. Of the
former, 8 ounces, and the latter, 6 ounces, were allowed him daily.

During the night of the twenty-third he arrived at the fort, having trav-
elled in a common wagon sixty miles over a rough road during the two preced-
ing days; and, as he was weak and fatigued, half a grain of sulphate of
morphia was given him, and he was placed in a comfortable bed. Next morn-
ing I examined his wounds, and found that the lesion at the shoulder had
united by first intention, save at a point where the ligatures protruded. The
wound in the thigh had partly opened. Proper dressings were applied, gen-
erous diet given, and the patient continued to convalesce without an untoward
symptom. Most of the ligatures came away between the ninth and twelfth
days, and on the fifteenth the last, that from the axillary artery. Occasionally
he suffered from frightful dreams, and imaginary pain in the lost arm. Whilst
recovering, he had two attacks of quotidian intermittent fever, which readily
yielded to quinine. On the twenty-fourth day after the operation he was
walking about, and in less than six weeks he started for the Eastern States,
restored to perfect health.

On February 13 and 14, 1861, Irwin commanded detachments
from Companies C and H, Seventh infantry, in engagement with
the Chiricahua Indians near Apache Pass, Ariz., and was awarded
the Congressional Medal of Honor for "Distinguished gallantry in
action." He was promoted to captain and assistant surgeon on
August 28, 1861, and was advanced to major and surgeon on Sep-
tember 16, 1862. During the Civil War he served as medical
inspector of the Army of the Ohio and the Army of the Cumberland

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 351

and was medical director of the Army of the Southwest. In addi-
tion, he was superintendent of the Army General Hospital at
Memphis, Tenn. After his extended tour in Kansas, Surgeon Irwin
was chief medical officer of the U. S. Military Academy from 1873
to 1878 and medical director of the Department of Arizona from
1882 to 1886. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assistant
medical purveyor on September 16, 1885, and to colonel on August
28, 1890. He was vice-president of the founding group of the
Association of Military Surgeons of the United States in 1891. In
1894 he was a delegate to represent the Medical Department, U. S.
army, at the llth International Medical Congress, Rome, Italy,
March-April, 1894. On June 28, 1894, he was retired and advanced
to the rank of brigadier general. He died December 15, 1917. The
new 250-bed permanent army hospital at Fort Riley is to be dedi-
cated in honor of this "Fighting Doctor."

Hospital Steward Louis O. Faringhy began a long tour at Fort
Riley that extended from 1866 to 1873. His son, George Faringhy,
is quoted in Pride's book on hospital episodes:

Quinine was given for colds and was always prescribed. A shot of good whiskey
was always given to follow the dose, as capsules were unknown. Whiskey was
cheap. You could buy it in the Commissary and an enlisted man could get
it if he had the wherewithal. But he could easily get a cold and the steward
would give him a dose of quinine and a good chaser for nothing, so who
would want to suffer? J [unction] C[ity] was a tough burg and Abilene worse,
with horsethieves were all over the land. [Mr. Faringhy] once took up a
man in J [unction] C[ity] who had received a bullet in his hip. He extracted
the bullet, kept the man in the hospital until he was entirely recovered, then
one night this man repaid the kindness ... by stealing his mare and colt
and also two black horses from Chaplain Reynolds.

George Faringhy is also authority for the fact that the ground
just north of the hospital (Administration building 30) was the
burial ground for arms and legs amputated in surgery. "The limb
was simply wrapped in a towel or sheet, a spade made a hole
and without ceremony the interment was made/'

In addition to Hospital Steward Faringhy, the hospital staff
included Ellen Faringhy as matron. This pattern of husband and
wife was often repeated at frontier hospitals as a means of main-
taining a higher caliber of medical attendants. In 1866 the hospital
steward was paid $33 a month, while the matron drew $14 each
pay day.

During the summer of 1867 cholera again broke out in Kansas
and visited many of the frontier posts. George Faringhy states:

352 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

This epidemic caused a stampede and everyone left the buildings and went
into tents beyond the limits of the Post. My father [Hospital Steward Louis
O. Faringhy] took care of the soldiers who were brought to the hospital.
There were many cases out of which 79 died and are buried in rows near the
north wall of the cemetery. A detail of prisoners under a sentry dug the
graves. In those days prisoners wore shackles and some carried a ball and
chain. Father put the dead in their coffins, which were made at the Quarter-
master's carpenter shop, mostly of black walnut, and drove the mules, hooked
to an ambulance, to the cemetery where prisoners lowered the coffin and
covered it up. Chaplain Reynolds, who came to Fort Riley in 1865,
conducted the services.

The news of the epidemic caused General Custer to desert his
command at Fort Wallace and hurry to his wife who was still in
quarters at Fort Riley.

Another medical officer at the hospital in 1866 was Brev. Maj.
and Asst. Surg. William Henry Forwood, who signed the report
of sick and wounded for the Seventh cavalry in November, 1866,
and reported 12 cases of cholera during the past sixty days. W. H.
Forwood was a brilliant surgeon and was the third surgeon general
of the army that served at Fort Riley. He was born at Brandywine
Hundred, Del., on September 5, 1838. He was educated at Crozier
Academy, Chester, Pa., and received his M. D. from the University
of Pennsylvania in 1861. Forwood was appointed an assistant
surgeon on August 5, 1861. He was severely wounded in battle
in October, 1863, and removed from field duty.

During 1864 and 1865 Forwood commanded Whitehall General
Hospital of two thousand beds. He was breveted captain and major
on March 13, 1865, for faithful and meritorious services during the
Civil War. He then had several years of frontier duty and was the
surgeon and naturalist for Sheridan's exploring expeditions from
1880 to 1882. He became lieutenant colonel and deputy surgeon
general on June 15, 1891, and colonel and assistant surgeon general
on May 3, 1897. Meanwhile, he had served on various army boards
and in teaching positions. Forwood built Montauk Hospital in
1898. He was the second president of the army medical school
from 1901 to 1902. He was promoted to brigadier general and the
position of surgeon general on June 8, 1902. He retired September
7, 1902, and became professor of surgical pathology at Georgetown
Medical College. He died May 11, 1915.

The medical staff in 1866 included Acting Asst. Surg. B. E.
Dodson in addition to Brev. Lt. Col. and Surg. B. J. D. Irwin and
Brev. Maj. and Asst. Surg. W. H. Forwood. In spite of the fact

EARLY HOSPITALS AT FORT RILEY

Upper: Original temporary hospital, about 1854.

Cenfer: First permanent hospital, about 1865. Now the Fort Riley museum.

Lower: Second permanent hospital, 1889. Now part of post headquarters.

Q- <D

E 2>

3 X.

o .y o

6 ^

. o

O 0)

a i o

JC -^

< -;

Part of the medical detachment at the Fort Riley
hospital about 1870.

The Fort Riley medical detachment in 1900.

FORT RILEY MEDICAL OFFICERS

Joseph K. Barnes
(1817-1883)

The first post surgeon, who also was the

first senior medical officer to become a

major general.

James Simons

The physician who deserted his medical

post during the disastrous cholera epidemic

of August, 1855.

William A. Hammond
(1828-1900)

A controversial figure who made sweep-
ing improvements in the army medical serv-
ice while serving as U. S. surgeon general.

Bernard J. D. Irwin
(1830-1917)

The first recipient of the Congressional

Medal of Honor, for whom the new hospital

at Fort Riley has been named.

(The above photos courtesy the National Archives and the Armed
Forces Medical Library.)

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 353

that physicians had been awarded military rank since 1847, they
retained their older method of medical rating as well, and were
usually addressed by their professional title. The medical rating
was given only after examination and demonstrated efficiency and
included: assistant surgeon (first lieutenant and captain) surgeon
(major and lieutenant colonel), and then more specific titles such
as assistant surgeon general, medical inspector or medical purveyor
( colonel and brigadier general ) . The military rank did not always
correspond with the medical rating; as demonstrated by Major,
but Assistant Surgeon, Forwood and Lieutenant Dodson who was
only "acting" as an assistant surgeon. Of course, the military title
determined the pay grade and a brevet military rank was more
desirable than an acting medical rating. Other titles, such as post
surgeon and surgeon general, were due to the military position held
by the physician and still survive in present day army vocabulary.

Brev. Maj. and Asst. Surg. George Miller Sternberg, a brilliant
bacteriologist, epidemiologist, and surgeon general of the army,
was post surgeon at Fort Riley from August, 1867, until October,
1870. Doctor Sternberg was born on June 8, 1838, at Hartwick
Seminary, Otsego county, N. Y., the son of a Lutheran clergyman.
He was educated at Hartwick Seminary, Buffalo University and
the College of Physicians and Surgeons (Columbia University)
where he received his M. D. in 1860. With the outbreak of the
Civil War, he was appointed assistant surgeon. Joining his com-
mand, he was captured at the battle of Bull Run, but escaped to
participate in the battles of Gaines's Mill, Malvern Hill, and Harri-
son's Landing. He contracted typhoid fever at Harrison's Landing
and the remainder of his war-time duty was spent in military hos-
pitals at Portsmouth Grove, R. I., and Cleveland, Ohio. He
received brevet commissions of captain and major during the war
and commanded the hospital in Cleveland at the end of hostilities.

Just before his appointment as post surgeon at Fort Riley, Stern-
berg's first wife, Louisa Russell, died from cholera at Fort Harker
(Ellsworth). On August 28, 1869, a Junction City newspaper ac-
count suggested that the bachelor would begin married life again:

Surgeon George M. Sternberg and Assistant Surgeon Leonard Y. Loring
have charge of the Sanitary Department and no better commendation can
be extended these gentlemen than the simple statement that they have nothing
to do. By the way, we are informed that Doctor Sternberg is shortly to
receive a leave of 30 days for the purpose of taking a trip east. We hope soon
to see him back at Riley in possession of the prize he so richly deserves.

241378

354 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The result was marriage to Martha L. Pattison, who wrote a delight-
ful biography of Sternberg that included a masterful description
of frontier life in Kansas. The varied and unhurried life of an army
physician as described by Martha Sternberg is beyond the experi-
ence of the modern, scientific, efficient, and overworked military
surgeon.

Doctor Sternberg indulged himself in developing inventions while
at Fort Riley. Impressed with the desirability of maintaining an
even temperature in hospital wards, he patented an automatic
heat regulator based on a thermometer that made and broke an
electric circuit. The regulator won a prize at the American Institute
and had wide use. He also perfected an anemometer and a fruit
drier while serving as post surgeon. In April, 1870, Doctor Stern-
berg prepared a report on the climate at Fort Riley, which was
published in the local paper. However, all was not luxury, since
in 1868 and 1869, Surgeon Sternberg took part in several expeditions
against hostile Cheyennes along the upper Arkansas river in Indian
territory and western Kansas.

After leaving Fort Riley and during service at Fort Barrancas,
Fla., Sternberg was stricken with yellow fever. Later he published
two medical articles that gave him a definite status as an authority
on yellow fever. In 1879 he was ordered to Washington and de-
tailed for duty with the Havana Yellow Fever Commission. In
1881 simultaneously with Louis Pasteur, he announced his discovery
of the pneumococcus. In the United States he was the first to
demonstrate the plasmodium of malaria (1885), and the bacilli of
tuberculosis and typhoid fever ( 1886 ) . His interest in bacteriology
naturally led to an interest in disinfection, and with Sternberg and
Koch scientific disinfection had its beginning. His essay: "Disin-
fection and Individual Prophylaxis Against Infectious Diseases"
(1886), received the Lomb prize and was translated into several
foreign languages. Major Sternberg was breveted a lieutenant
colonel on February 27, 1890, for gallant service in performance of
professional duty under fire in action against Indians at Clearwater,
Idaho, on July 12, 1877. On May 30, 1893, he was made surgeon
general of the army with the rank of brigadier general. He was
surgeon general nine years and during that time the army nurse
corps and the army dental corps were organized.

The army medical school was founded in 1893 by Sternberg for
indoctrinating newly appointed medical officers in military medical
practice. He created the Tuberculosis Hospital at Fort Bayard,

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 355

N. Mex. Sternberg supervised the expansion of the army and the
establishment of several general hospitals during the Spanish-
American war. His own early difficulties in acquiring knowledge
led to a liberal-minded policy in the establishment of laboratories
in the larger military hospitals where medical officers could engage
in scientific research. In 1898 he established the Typhoid Fever
Board and in 1900, the Yellow Fever Commission headed by Maj.
and Surg. Walter Reed. Doctor Sternberg published several
books including: Malaria and Malarial Diseases (1889), Manual of
Bacteriology (1892), Immunity and Serum Therapy (1895), and
Infection and Immunity (1904). He died in Washington on No-
vember 3, 1915.

From October, 1870, until August, 1871, Capt. and Asst. Surg.
Leonard Young Loring served at Fort Riley as post surgeon. Loring
was born in St. Louis, Mo., on February 1, 1844. He was appointed
first lieutenant and assistant surgeon on May 14, 1867, and promoted
to captain and assistant surgeon on May 14, 1870. His first assign-
ment was Downer's Station (in present Trego county), where he
was post surgeon from June, 1867, until June, 1868. He became
assistant to Sternberg until 1870 and then served as post surgeon.
After duty at Fort Riley, Loring was in the field in western Kansas
with the Sixth cavalry until February, 1872. He returned to serve
at Fort Hays, Camp Supply, Indian territory, and Fort Dodge, from
1878 until 1882. Doctor Loring was promoted to major and surgeon
October 9, 1888, and was retired in 1908.

From August, 1871, until October, 1873, Brev. Col. and Surg,
Bernard J. D. Irwin returned as Post Surgeon. He was assisted by
First Lt. and Acting Asst. Surg. W. O. Taylor, who came to Fort
Riley when the Third infantry replaced the Sixth cavalry in 1873.

In 1872 the hospital was remodeled to some extent by making a
single dormitory, or hospital ward, of the main part of the building.
The dining room and kitchen were in the south wing. Water for
the hospital was obtained from a cistern which was just east of the
center of the main building, in the center of the rectangle between
the two wings. This cistern and pump remained there until the
drive was paved after the turn of the century. The hospital staff
included Hospital Steward Louis O. Faringhy and hospital matrons
Ellen Faringhy and Kathryn Burns. There were two enlisted men
who were rated as nurses and one enlisted cook.

From October, 1873, until April, 1877, Brev. Maj. and Asst. Surg.
William Elkanah Waters was post surgeon. He was assisted by

356 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Acting Asst. Surgs. M. M. Shearer, L. Hall, A. L. Fitch, and W. S.
Tremaine. Surg. B. J. D. Irwin had left for duty at West Point and
had taken Hospital Steward L. O. Faringhy with him. Hospital
Steward John M. McKenzie came to Fort Riley from West Point
and Clara McKenzie became hospital matron. In December, 1877,
the muster and pay roll of the medical department had a new and
first entry of "Hospital Steward per Warrant" when Thomas Hills
reported for duty. Surgeon Waters retired in November, 1897.

In April, 1877, Lt. Col. and Surg. Charles Carroll Gray became
post surgeon as the 19th infantry was relieved at Fort Riley by the
23d infantry. Doctor Gray was born in New York and retired in
January, 1879, at the completion of his tour of duty at Fort Riley.
Asst. Surg. H. S. Kilbourne was also at the hospital and signed the
report of sick and wounded in June, 1878.

From February, 1879, until March, 1883, Maj. and Surg. Henry
Remsen Tilton was post surgeon. Doctor Tilton had just returned
from frontier duty and had demonstrated fearless gallantry in action
against Indians at Bear Paw Mountain on September 30, 1877. He
was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on March 22, 1895,
for this action. Tilton was born in New Jersey and was appointed
as assistant surgeon on August 26, 1861, and promoted to major
and surgeon in June, 1876. After his tour of duty at Fort Riley, he
went to Detroit and was promoted to lieutenant colonel and deputy
surgeon general in August, 1893.

Hospital Steward Louis O. Faringhy transferred from West Point
to Fort Riley on April 23, 1879, to replace Hospital Steward Joseph
Meredith. Faringhy was discharged from the army on September 8,
1881. In 1883 Charles Hoffmeier was the hospital steward, with his
wife, Mary Hoffmeier, serving as hospital matron.

Fort Riley was linked by telephone with the outside world for
the first time in the spring of 1883.

From March, 1883, until June, 1885, Maj. and Surg. Albert Hart-
suff was the post surgeon. Doctor Hartsuff was born in New York
on February 4, 1837, and received his M. D. from the Castleton
Medical College of Vermont. He was appointed an assistant sur-
geon on August 5, 1861, and was breveted captain and major for
services during the war and for services during the cholera epidemic
in New Orleans in 1866. Hartsuff became a lieutenant colonel and
deputy surgeon general on December 4, 1892, and was promoted
to colonel and assistant surgeon general on April 28, 1900. He

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 357

retired in 1Q01, but was advanced to the rank of brigadier general
on April 23, 1904. He died in 1908.

First Lt. and Asst. Surg. C. C. Goddard was assistant to Surgeon
Hartsuff. In addition, First Lt. and Asst. Surg. A. C. Van Doryn was
assigned to Fort Riley in June, 1884.

An effort was made by Congress in 1884 to sell the reservation
of Fort Riley, since the post was garrisoned by very few troops and
the frontier had moved on. However, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan
stated in his annual report that it was his intention to enlarge the
post and make it the headquarters of the cavalry.

From June, 1885, until March, 1887, Maj. and Surg. Samuel
Miller Horton was hospital commander and post surgeon. Doctor
Horton was born in Pennsylvania and was appointed an assistant
surgeon on August 26, 1861. He received a brevet major rank in
1865 and was promoted to lieutenant colonel and deputy surgeon
general in December, 1893. He retired in June, 1894.

In addition to First Lt. and Asst. Surg. C. C. Goddard, the medical
staff included First Lt. and Asst. Surg. R. R. Ball, who was assigned
in 1886.

Through the efforts of General Sheridan and others, congress
passed a law in 1887 providing the sum of $200,000 for construction
at Fort Riley, to provide facilities for a school of instruction for
cavalry and light artillery. The school was established by Gen.
Order No. 9, Headquarters of the Army, February 9, 1887.

VI. THE SECOND PERMANENT HOSPITAL

In March, 1887, a board of officers headed by Lt. Col. and Surg.
A. A. Woodhull was appointed to investigate and report upon the
sanitary conditions of the post, upon the water supply and sewer-
age, and to make such recommendations as might be deemed
necessary for a considerable increase of the garrison.

Surgeon Woodhull had been detailed for the board from his
position of instructor in military hygiene at the infantry and cavalry
school at Fort Leavenworth. He was born at Princeton, N. J., on
April 13, 1837, the son of a physician, and prepared at Lawrence-
ville School for the College of New Jersey, where he received the
degree of A. B. in 1856 and that of M. A. in 1859. In 1859 he was
also graduated from the medical department of the University of
Pennsylvania. During the two years following his graduation, he
practiced medicine, first in Leavenworth, and later at Eudora.

358 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

With the outbreak of the Civil War, he was active in recruiting a
troop of mounted rifles for the Kansas militia, in which he was
commissioned a lieutenant. Before the unit was mustered into the
federal service, Woodhull received an appointment to the medical
corps of the regular army, on September 19, 1861. At the close
of the war, he was breveted a lieutenant colonel. He had duty
tours in the Army Medical Museum, the office of the surgeon gen-
eral, command of the Army and Navy Hospital at Hot Springs,
Ark., and in 1899 he was chief surgeon of the Department of the
Pacific at Manila. He was retired in 1901 but in 1904 was advanced
to the grade of brigadier general on the retired list. After his
retirement he was a lecturer at Princeton University. He died
October 18, 1921.

From March, 1887, until July, 1889, Maj. and Surg. Dallas Bache
was the post surgeon. Doctor Bache was born in Pennsylvania and
was appointed an assistant surgeon on May 28, 1861. He was
breveted captain and major in 1865, rated surgeon in 1867, pro-
moted to lieutenant colonel and surgeon in 1890, and became colonel
and assistant surgeon general in 1895. He died in 1902.

Early in February, 1888, a board of officers consisting of Col.
James W. Forsyth, Maj. and Surg. Dallas Bache, two cavalry officers
and one quartermaster officer met to determine a site for a new
hospital. The location selected was north of the main post, on a
level shelf with rimrock behind and the Kaw valley spread in front.
In April, 1888, the contract was let after Gen. Philip Sheridan
recommended an appropriation of $300,000. The north wing of
the hospital was completed in 1888. The building was built of
native limestone, as were the rest of the post buildings.

The new hospital was far from the center of the post, so a dis-
pensary was built north of the old hospital in 1889 and continued
to function as a medical building until 1924, when it was occupied
as officers' quarters. In 1890 a dead house was built behind the
new hospital. A laundry for the hospital was constructed beside
the dead house in 1891, and quarters for the hospital steward were
built on the west side of the new hospital in 1891.

The old hospital had been in use since 1855. The structure was
extensively modified and a clock tower added in 1890, whereupon
the building became the cavalry administration building and post
headquarters.

Serving on the same board with the post commander was fruitful
for Surgeon Bache, for in 1891 he was married to Bessie Forsyth,
daughter of Col. James W. Forsyth.

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 359

First Lt. and Asst. Surg. R. R. Ball and Capt. and Asst.~Surg.
Richardo Barnett completed the medical staff of the hospital. Bar-
nett left for duty at Fort Lewis, Colorado, in August, 1888.

From July, 1889, until October, 1892, John Van Rennselaer Hoff
was post surgeon. Hoff was born at Mt. Morris, N. Y., on April
11, 1848, the son of Col. Alexander H. Hoff. He received his A. B.
degree in 1871 and the M. A. degree in 1874 from Union University,
and his M. D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1874.
From 1874 until 1879 he served at posts on the Western frontier in
Nebraska and Wyoming. In 1882 he was post surgeon at Alcatraz
Island, and then relieved Surg. George M. Sternberg at Fort Mason
in 1884. In 1886 Hoff took a year's leave abroad and studied at
the University of Vienna. On return to the United States, he
organized the first detachment of the newly-authorized hospital
corps at Fort Reno, Indian territory, and then became post surgeon
at Fort Riley. He organized the first company of instruction for
the hospital corps and wrote the first drill regulations for those
units while at Fort Riley.

In November, 1890, Hoff took the field with eight troops of the
Seventh cavalry and participated in the last battle of the Indian
wars. His gallantry was noted in Gen. Order No. 100: "Major
John Van R. Hoff, Surgeon, U. S. Army, for conspicuous bravery
and coolness under fire in caring for the wounded in action against
hostile Sioux Indians, at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota." As
evidence that service on the frontier at that time was not a sinecure,
it should be noted that immediately on his return to Fort Riley
from this battle he was ordered to proceed to Florence, Kan., to
care for troopers of the Seventh cavalry who had been injured in a
railroad accident at that point. On June 15, 1891, Hoff was
promoted to major and surgeon. In 1892 the cavalry and light
artillery school was officially established by War Department Gen.
Order No. 17, although academic work did not begin until 1893.
In that year Hoff was transferred, and subsequent tours included
the position of chief surgeon in Third Army Corps, Department of
Puerto Rico, U. S. Forces in China, Department of The Lakes,
Department of the Missouri, Department of the Philippines, and
Department of the East. In addition, Hoff found opportunity to
be an instructor in ophthalmology at the University of California,
a professor at the Army Medical School, Instructor at the General
Staff College, and professor of military sanitation at the University
of Nebraska.

360 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Hoff was an observer in the Russo-Japanese war. For several
years he was editor of The Military Surgeon and was the third pres-
ident of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States.
He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel of volunteers in May,
1898, and promoted to colonel and assistant surgeon general in
1905. He retired April 11, 1912, but was assigned to active duty
in the office of the surgeon general in 1916. Hoff was a recognized
pioneer in the military science of army field medicine. While at
Fort Riley, Hoff's medical and teaching staff included First Lts. and
Asst. Surgs. Benjamin Brooke, Joseph Taylor Clarke, Henry C.
Fisher, James Denver Glennan, Merritte Weber Ireland, Frank
Royer Keefer, and Francis Anderson Winter. Doctor Hoff died in
1920.

Merritte W. Ireland was born in Columbia City, Ind., May 31,
1867, the son of a country doctor. He graduated from the Detroit
College of Medicine in 1890 and entered the army in 1891. After
his tour of duty at Fort Riley, other early assignments included
tours in Cuba and the Philippines during the Spanish-American
war. In 1911 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was in
command of the hospital at Fort Sam Houston when Gen. Frederick
Funston suffered his fatal heart attack in San Antonio. General
Pershing requested Ireland as a member of his staff and he was
promoted to colonel on the eve of his departure for France. He
was promoted to major general in August, 1918, and served as
surgeon general of the army until May, 1931. Doctor Ireland was
a strong supporter of the ancillary corps within the Medical De-
partment, and recommended the establishment of the Medical
Service Corps 27 years before it was accomplished. He died in
1952. The recently completed 500-bed army hospital at Fort Knox,
Ky., is named in his honor.

There is a historical footnote in the fact that when John Van R.
Hoff was given a free chance to develop the hospital corps while
at Fort Riley, his superior medical officer and the chief surgeon of
the Department of the Misouri was the old Seventh cavalry surgeon,
Bernard John Dowling Irwin. Some three decades later, Army
Surgeon General Ireland's top staff included Brig. Gens. James D.
Glennan, Henry C. Fisher, and Francis A. Winter. It might have
been a coincidence that this group of general medical officers
served together at Fort Riley, and the influence of Col. John Van
R. Hoff may not be evident in their careers; but why was the re-

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 361

tired Doctor Hoff called to active duty in the office of the surgeon
general while this group headed the army medical corps?

From October, 1892, until December, 1896, Henry Stuart Turrill
was the post surgeon. While at Riley Doctor Turrill was promoted
to major in 1893 and then became a lieutenant colonel and chief
surgeon in 1898. He became interested in medical supply, and
the Reports of the Surgeon General for 1904 and 1905 list him as
the commander of the New York Medical Supply Depot, the pre-
cursor of the Armed Services Medical Procurement Agency.

On January 9, 1893, the cavalry and light artillery school was
formally opened with a lecture on hippology by Dr. Daniel LeMay,
veterinary surgeon, Seventh cavalry. The school commandant was
Col. James W. Forsyth, the school surgeon was Maj. Henry S.
Turrill, assisted by First Lts. and Asst. Surgs. Madison M. Brewer,
James M. Kennedy, and Paul F. Straub.

Six years later, on December 21, 1899, Paul F. Straub was surgeon
on Alos, Zambales, Luzon, Philippine Islands. On that date his
bravery resulted in the last Congressional Medal of Honor that
has been awarded to an army physician. "Surgeon Straub voluntarily
exposed himself to a hot fire from the enemy in repelling with
pistol fire an insurgent attack and at great risk of his own life went
under fire to the rescue of a wounded officer and carried him to a
place of safety/'

By 1896 the company of instruction of the hospital corps was
graduating two classes of enlisted men each year. School instruc-
tors and Assistant Surgeons Brewer, Kennedy, and Straub had been
replaced by Capt. and Asst. Surg. Jefferson Poindexter and First
Lts. and Asst. Surgs. William W. Quinton and Thomas U. Raymond.

VII. THE SPANISH WARS

From December, 1896, through 1898, the post surgeon was Capt.
and Asst. Surg. Junius L. Powell. Captain Powell was promoted
to major in 1897. The hospital steward was Oscar F. Temple while
Sarah Steward was the hospital matron.

Capt. and Asst. Surg. Ashton Bryant Heyl arrived in 1896. In
1897 the canteen had become the post exchange and was located in
Waters Hall. Capt. A. B. Heyl of the medical department was the
first officer in charge. Doctor Heyl left Fort Riley in April, 1898,
and was assigned to the First cavalry at Tampa, Fla. He partici-
pated in the Cuban battles, then resigned from the army in Feb-
ruary, 1900.

362 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Following Surgeon Heyl, a series of medical officers came to
Fort Riley for a few months, only to leave for Cuba. The hospital
corps school of instruction was an activity only on paper, since the
medical faculty were on detached service at Mobile, Tampa, or
Cuba. Acting Asst. Surg. Jose M. Delgado joined the First cavalry
and Henry A. Webber left for Fort Tampa, Fla. Capt. and Asst.
Surg. Benjamin L. Ten Eyck departed for Fort Tampa, Fla. Even
Maj. and Surg. J. L. Powell, the post surgeon, left Fort Riley in
June, 1898, for detached service at Mobile, Ala. W. F. Pride stated
in his history that in April, 1898, all the officers had left the post
except Chaplain Barry, who was in command, and a contract
surgeon named Powell. In August, 1898, Acting Asst. Surgs. R. M.
Geddings, Charles D. Camp, and F. A. E. Disney were at Fort
Riley, but all were in Cuba by October.

The hospital returned to normal when from September, 1899,
until September, 1901, Capt. and Asst. Surg. Charles Edward Wood-
ruff was post surgeon. Woodruff was born in Philadelphia on
October 2, 1860. He was graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy
in 1883 and received his M. D. from Jefferson Medical College in
1886. He was an assistant surgeon in the navy from 1886 to 1887,
then became an army surgeon. He was promoted to major when
he finished his tour of duty at Fort Riley, and became chief surgeon
of the Philippine Department. He was the author of the book:
The Effects of Tropical Light on White Men. He retired in 1913
and died in 1915.

In September, 1901, Maj. and Surg. Paul Shillock became post
surgeon. The hospital staff consisted of Assistant Surgeons Poey
and Winn, Hospital Steward August Nickel, and Caroline Neilson
as matron.

In 1902 the uniform of the hospital corps was changed. The
emerald green color prescribed for stripes and chevrons was changed
to maroon and white. The caduceus was substituted for the maltese
cross for cap and collar ornaments.

Also in 1902, the first maneuvers of any magnitude in the United
States were held from September 20 to October 8, at Fort Riley.
The troops were encamped on the site now occupied by the present
cantonment hospital. The area was named Camp Root for Elihu
Root, Secretary of War. The chief surgeon of the maneuver divi-
sion was Lt. Col. and Dep. Surg. Gen. John Van R. Hoff. General
Order No. 11 from Camp Root also list Maj. and Surg. Henry P.

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 363

Birmingham, Lt. and Asst. Surg. P. C. Field, and Contract Surg.
Joseph Pinquard. The equipment for a field hospital and ambu-
lance company was evaluated in great detail in 1902, and the third
field hospital and ambulance company No. 3 were the first modern
units so organized and utilized.

In 1903 Hoff again served as chief surgeon for similar maneuvers
at Camp Sanger at Fort Riley. He discussed supply, packing units,
and transportation problems in detail in his paper quoted in the
Annual Report of the Surgeon General in 1903. Doctor Hoff was
very critical of the existing policy of allowing the quartermaster
department to maintain transportation items such as ambulances
and mules. Army physicians mentioned in Hoff's report include:
H. L. Gilchrist, E. F, Gardner, E. B. Frick, F. P. Reynolds, and
F. A. Winter.

A medical board was called at Fort Riley in the fall of 1903
because of an outbreak of typhoid fever. The members were Lt.
Cols. J. V. R. Hoff and E. F. Gardner, with Majs. E. B. Frick and
Paul Shillock, the post surgeon. The findings were that typhoid
fever had been endemic in the Kaw valley since the June floods and
did not originate in the maneuver camp.

The year 1903 marked the end of the first 50 years of medical
service at Fort Riley. Three post hospitals had been occupied and
the reservation had been utilized for the first maneuver trial of a
modern field hospital and ambulance company. The first company
of instruction for the hospital corps had been organized and devel-
oped into an example for future army medical schools. But the
surgeons who served in the days of individual medicine provide
the most history-full accounts. Of the 22 post surgeons, seven be-
came general officers and three became army surgeon general. In
addition, two other medical officers who served at Fort Riley also
became surgeon general. Among these five surgeons general was
the first medical officer to receive the rank of brigadier general and
the first to obtain the present rank of major general.

Three physicians were awarded the Congressional Medal of
Honor, including the first one won in the entire army and the last
one that has been awarded to an army physician. Six general
hospitals in World War II were named in honor of doctors who had
served at Fort Riley. A graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy was
a post surgeon and one doctor deserted his hospital post during a
cholera epidemic with resulting courts-martial and dismissal from

364 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the service. The first president of the association of military sur-
geons of the United States was a Fort Riley post surgeon, who also
became president of the American Medical Association. Two sur-
geons resigned to join the Confederacy. Only one doctor died
during his tour of duty at Fort Riley. But most important, in that
varied group was a sprinkling of men with vision who developed
efficient techniques for field medicine and maintained superlative
curiosity for scientific investigation in the midst of mediocre stimu-
lation fostered by isolation, routine, and military apathy.

(Part Two, the Final Installment of This Hospital History,

"From Horses to Helicopters Fort Riley, 1904-1957,"

Will Appear in the Spring, 1958, Issue.)

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 365

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. THE TEMPORARY HOSPITAL

The Military Surgeon, v. 43 (1918), p. 247.

Margaret Whittemore, Historic Kansas (Lawrence, University of Kansas Press,

1954), pp. 51, 56, 155.
W. F. Pride, History of Fort Riley (Topeka, Capper Publications, 1926), pp.

45, 50, 100, 108.

Highway marker, Kansas State Historical Society, Fort Riley Reservation.
J. K. Herr, The Story of the U. S. Cavalry, (1775-1942) (Boston, Little, Brown,

and Company, 1953), p. 116.

R. E. Schmilski, "Fort Riley, 1852 to 1855" (A term paper, Kansas State Col-
lege, Manhattan).

Fort Riley, Its Historic Past, 1853-1953 (The Army General School), p. 12.
The Muster and Pay Roll of the Medical Department, Including Stewards,

Wardmasters, Cooks, Nurses, and Matrons (printed by C. Alexander), in

archives division of the Kansas State Historical Society.
"The National Library of Medicine," U. S. Armed Forces Medical Journal,

Washington, v. 7, No. 11 (November, 1956), p. 1692.
C. C. Howes, This Place Called Kansas (Norman, University of Oklahoma

Press, 1952), p. 189.
Margaret Leech, Reveille in Washington, 1860-1865 (New York, Harper and

Brothers, 1941), pp. 431, 442.
M. W. Ireland, "The Medical Corps of the Army and Scientific Medicine,"

U. S. Armed Forces Medical Journal, v. 5, No. 12 (December, 1954), pp.

1785-1801.

II. CHOLERA EPIDEMIC

Percival G. Lowe, Five Years a Dragoon, 1849-1854 (Kansas City, Mo., Frank-
lin Hudson Publishing Co., 1906), pp. 192, 212.
Pride, op. cit., pp. 66, 74, 75, 77, 78, 81, 83, 93, 103.
Fort Riley, Its Historic Past . . ., p. 13.
Schmilski, op. cit.

III. THE FIRST PERMANENT HOSPITAL

F. B. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army
(Washington, Government Printing Office, 1903).

The Muster and Pay Roll of the Medical Department . . ., loc. cit.

Asst. Surg. R. H. Coolidge, Reports on the Sickness and Mortality Among the
Troops in the Middle Division, June, 1857 (Army Medical Bulletin, Wash-
ington, v. unknown, pp. 96-98).

J. I. Lambert, One Hundred Years With the Second Cavalry (Topeka, Capper
Printing Co., 1939), p. 45.

J. P. Cooney, "Some Notes on the Historical Development of the Medical
Service Corps," U. S. Armed Forces Medical Journal, v. 8, No. 2 ( February,
1957), pp. 254-263.

Ireland, op. cit.

366 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The Army Almanac (Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1950),
p. 94.

C. E. Corey, "Slavery in Kansas," Kansas Historical Collections, Topeka, v.
7 (1901-1902), p. 241.

Pride, op. cit., pp. 89, 169.

Schmilski, op. cit.

W. A. Ganoe, The History of the United States Army (New York, D. Apple-
ton and Co., 1924), p. 496.

"Army Surgeon Generals," The Army Medical Bulletin, Washington, v. un-
known, pp. 42-46.

Leech, op. cit., p. 442.

IV. THE CIVIL WAR

The Junction City Republic, June 25, 1953 (centennial edition).

The Junction City Daily Union, June 24, 1953 (centennial edition).

The Muster and Pay Roll of the Medical Department . . ., loc. cit.

"Report of Sick and Wounded," February, 1864, Fred P. Drew.

Clifford Merrill Drury, "Marcus Whitman, M. D., Pioneer and Martyr," selec-
tions from personal correspondence from Walt Disney Productions, Janu-
ary 30, 1957.

"Report of Sick and Wounded," September, November, 1864, Jeremiah Sabin.

Ibid., January, 1866, W. C. Finlaw.

V. THE INDIAN-FIGHTING MEDICS

Lambert, op. cit., p. 94, and chapter on Fort Riley.

Fort Riley, Its Historic Past, 1853-1953, p. 4.

Fairfax Downey, Indian-Fighting Army (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons,

1941, p. 70.
Edward M. Coffman, "Army Life on the Frontier, 1865-1898," Military Affairs,

Washington, v. 20 (1956), pp. 193-202.
Herr, op. cit., pp. 89, 161.
The Medal of Honor (Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1948),

pp. 206, 375.
Martha L. Sternberg, George Miller Sternberg, a Biography ( Chicago, American

Medical Association, 1920), pp. 16-19.

Obituary of George M. Sternberg, Washington (D. C.) Evening Star, Novem-
ber 3, 1915.

Heitman, op. cit., v. 1, pp. 543, 642, 921, 962.
Thomas H. S. Hamersly, Complete Army and Navy Register of the United States

(New York, Thomas H. S. Hamersly, 1880), p. 639.
Who Was Who in America (Chicago, A. N. Marquis Co., 1943), v. 1 (1897-

1942), p. 1179.
William H. Powell, Records of Living Officers of the United States Army

(Philadelphia, L. R. Hamersly and Co., 1890).
"Report of Sick and Wounded," Army Medical Department: G. M. Sternberg,

November, 1867; W. C. Finlaw, 1866; W. H. Forwood, 1866; W. E. Waters,

1876; L. Hall, 1876; A. L. Fitch, 1876.
Wheeler Preston, American Biographies (New York, Harper's, 1940), p. 968.

ARMY HOSPITAL: DRAGOONS TO ROUGH RIDERS 367

Dictionary of American Biography, v. 17, p. 492.

Pride, op. cit., pp. 134, 146, 153, 156, 157, 164, 167, 168, 171-174, 177, 180,

185.

The Muster and Pay Roll of the Medical Department . . ., loc. cit.
The Army Almanac, p. 90.
Ganoe, op. cit., p. 496.
Junction City Republic, June 25, 1953.
Maj. Mark M. Boatner, III, Military Customs and Traditions ( New York, David

McKay Company, Inc., 1956), pp. 94, 95.
George Worthington Adams, Doctors in Blue (New York, Henry Schuman,

1952), pp. 34, 37, 42, 76, 82, 85, 105, 150, 152, 180.

VI. THE SECOND PERMANENT HOSPITAL,

James Robb Church, editorial, The Military Surgeon, Washington, v. 46 ( 1920),

pp. 204-207.

The Muster and Pay Roll of the Medical Department . . ., loc. cit.
Cooney, loc. cit., pp. 254-263.

Who Was Who in America, v. 1, pp. 400, 574, 1367.
National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, v. A, p. 220.
The Medal of Honor, pp. 107, 111, 116, 127, 145, 157, 191, 184, 206, 220, 223,

235, 246.

Heitman, op. cit., v. 1, pp. 534, 587.
Report of the Surgeon General, 1904, p. 29
Ibid., 1905, p. 148

Pride, op. cit., pp. 194, 196, 203, 205, 210, 211, 217, 218, 220, 223.
Dictionary of American Biography, v. 20, p. 492.

VII. THE SPANISH WARS

The Muster and Pay Roll of the Medical Department . . ., loc. cit.

Pride, op. cit., p. 233.

Report of the Surgeon General, 1904, pp. 42-48, 77.

Ibid., 1902, p. 40.

Who Was Who in America, v. 1, p. 1377.

C. D. Rhodes, ed., The Santiago Campaign (Richmond, Va., Williams Printing

Co., 1927), pp. 207-221; 226-245,
General Order 11, Headquarters Maneuver Division, October 4, 1902, Maj. Gen.

John C. Bates, commanding.

A Kansas Revival of 1872

WILLIAM E. BERGER

"TN all places of business yesterday, the only topic of conversation
-L was religion. To such an extent was the interest, that we ob-
tained local items with great difficulty." 1 The Topeka reporter
who wrote this could have written the same about Leavenworth,
Lawrence, Atchison, Fort Scott and a score of other Kansas com-
munities during the winter and spring of 1872. From January to
May a revival swept Kansas which competed successfully for space
in the newspapers with such items as the Grant scandals, the "lib-
eral Republican" movement, the meeting of the state legislature,
and the progress of railroad construction across the Plains. On sev-
eral occasions it made the front page, which, almost without excep-
tion in those days, was reserved for national and international news.
The central figure in the revival was the Rev. Edward Payson
Hammond, an internationally-known evangelist. Hammond was
born in Ellington, Conn., in 1831. He was graduated from Williams
College in 1858 and then studied for two years at Union Theologi-
cal Seminary in New York. This was followed by a year at the Free
Church Theological Seminary in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was during
the year in Scotland that his evangelistic abilities were first discov-
ered. He was ordained an evangelist by the Presbytery of New
York, Third, of the Presbyterian Church ( U. S. A. ) in January,
1863. Following his marriage in 1866, he and his bride spent nearly
two years abroad visiting and conducting meetings in Italy, Egypt,
Palestine, France, and England. From the time he returned to the
United States until he arrived in Kansas in January, 1872, he had
conducted meetings in many of the larger cities of the country.

Hammond was described by the editor of the Leavenworth
Times as being a "'Muscular Christian'; he is rather short, 'thick
set', and squarely built, has a very powerful voice, looks and talks
like a well-fed Englishman, and might very readily be taken for the
original of the wood-cut pictures in the illustrated papers of Jim
Fisk." 2 One of Hammond's admirers resented the comparison
of the beloved evangelist to Fisk. The editor was informed "that
such comparisons are not at all pleasant to the ears of the great

DR. WILLIAM E. BERGER is professor of history at the College of Emporia.

1. Kansas Daily Commonwealth, Topeka, March 21, 1872.

2. Leavenworth Daily Times, January 27, 1872.

(368)

KANSAS REVIVAL OF 1872 369

many admirers of Mr. Hammond in this city. We hope he will be
more choice in his comparisons hereafter." 3 To this chastisement
the editor's only comment was that Fisk's friends hadn't been heard
from yet. The same editor later confessed a liking for Hammond,
in spite of describing him as being "as full of life ... as George
Francis Train, as indomitable as Andy Johnson, and as persistent
as a insurance agent." 4

An account of the Lawrence revival contained several interesting
descriptive passages:

He is of a class of men who, while their labors relate almost exclusively to
another world, enjoy a hearty laugh and a good dinner in this. ... He
has a mobile and expressive countenance, capable of instantaneous changes
of expression, depicting all the varying emotions of the human soul, a bright
smile, and a wonderfully sympathetic voice. . . . One secret of Mr. Ham-
mond's power, we think, with the masses of men not allied to him in belief,
is the absence of anything like professional severity in his demeanor. He adopts
the clerical suit of black, and the white neckcloth, but further than that has
little to mark him for a clergyman. 5

Hammond spent more than three months in Kansas. He arrived
at Leavenworth on January 21, 1872, from Kansas City, Mo., where
he had been conducting meetings. He remained in Leavenworth
until February 16. Subsequent engagements took him to Lawrence
from February 16 to March 8; Topeka from March 8 to March 28;
Atchison from March 31 to April 12; and Fort Scott from April 13
to May 2. Following the Fort Scott meetings he spent less than
a week in Paola and Ottawa, after which he returned to the east.

Every evangelist has certain techniques which are used exten-
sively and Hammond was no exception. He began his work in each
city by holding several, usually three or four, children's meetings.
These sessions were designed especially for children and youth who
would be accompanied by their parents. At the first children's meet-
ing in Lawrence, there were "at least five hundred of the children,
and altogether, by actual count, there were 1,994 persons in at-
tendance." 6 This was probably typical of the ratio between chil-
dren and adults at most of the children's meetings.

At the first meeting Hammond would explain in simple terms the
plan of salvation and the necessity for everyone, including children,
to accept it. At the second and subsequent meetings, the children
were asked to repeat short sayings and prayers which were enter-

3. Ibid., January 30, 1872.

4. Ibid., February 15, 1872.

5. A Brief Account of ihe Great Revival in Lawrence, Kansas (Lawrence, 1872), p. 4.

6. Ibid., p. 5.

251378

370 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

taining as well as educational. At the second children's meeting
in Topeka "at the close of his sermon, he stationed several ministers
at the foot of the platform to examine the children who thought
they were converted, and then pass them up on the stage." 7

The validity of child conversions was questioned by some of the
adults. In an age when conversion was regarded as strictly an
adult concern, this is not surprising. Hammond, however, remained
firm in his belief in the value of work among young children and
was supported by the local ministers who worked with him in the
meetings. Six of the Lawrence clergymen testified at the morning
prayer meeting on February 21 that they were convinced that child
conversions were as genuine and lasting as those of adults. The
Reverend Mr. Cordley of the Congregational Church told of his
own experience in which he said that when "he was ten years old
he had just as clear an idea of sin and the necessity of repentance
as he had now." 8 Dr. F. S. McCabe, pastor of the Presbyterian
church in Topeka, who was visiting and observing the Lawrence
meetings in view of asking Hammond to come to Topeka, sup-
ported the statement of his fellow clergymen. He told the same
congregation that he had examined some of the children himself
and was perfectly satisfied. "Yesterday he asked a lad 'why he
loved Jesus?' 'Because/ said the boy, lie died to save me/ What
synod, association or conference could say more?" 9 At Fort Scott
two boys from Atchison and one from Topeka took the platform at
the first children's meeting to tell of their conversion during the
meetings held in their cities.

The task of convincing parents that the conversion of their chil-
dren was either desirable or conducive to good conduct was not
easy. The Reverend Mr. Cordley answered the objection of at
least one parent who said he would be convinced about the con-
version of children when his own began to show some religion
around home. "We do not expect children," Cordley replied, "to
become perfect, full-grown Christians at once. This is the work
of a lifetime. But their conversion affords a starting point, a basis
to build on." 10

The Leavenworth Times reported a rather far-fetched story which
was said to be only one of a dozen such being told in Leavenworth :

7. Spring Showers: A Brief Account of the Great Revival in Topeka, Kansas (Topeka,
1872), p. 14.

8. Brief Account, Lawrence, p. 8.

9. Ibid., pp. 8, 9.

10. Ibid., p. 11.

KANSAS REVIVAL OF 1872 371

It appears that people become sinners at a very early age in this part of the
country. We heard of one yesterday only two and a half years old, who be-
coming convinced that he was a great sinner, and had been all his life, con-
cluded to have prayers in the family thereafter. His father, being a very bigoted
and over bearing man objected and, told him that if he must have prayers it
could not be in that house; and so the brave little Christian went upstairs to
pack his trunk. 11

The most popular part of the meetings was the song service
which was a novel feature of revivals in 1872. The evening meet-
ings would open with hymn singing which might last as long as 30
minutes. Hymns would also be interspersed between prayers and
personal testimonies during the remainder of the service. Hammond
had compiled a hymn book called New Praises of Jesus which was
used at his meetings. It contained a large number of new hymns
with lively tunes. The favorite hymn was "J esus f Nazareth Pas-
seth By" which was sung to the tune of "Sweet Hour of Prayer."
The words of the first verse were

What means this eager, anxious throng,

Pressing our busy streets along?

Voices, in accents hushed, reply,

"Jesus of Nazareth passeth by."

The daily schedule of meetings began with a morning prayer
service at 9 o'clock. Weather permitting, a late morning street meet-
ing at one of the main intersections rounded out the morning activi-
ties. The evening service began at either 7 or 7:30 o'clock. On
Sunday an afternoon meeting was held.

In addition to a sermon, usually by Hammond, the time in the
meetings was given to testimonials by lay people who would relate
their experiences in finding Christ and urge others to follow their
example. Until such time as a corps of converts could be obtained
in a city, Hammond would utilize the converts from his previous
meetings. Thus, the congregations at the early meetings in Law-
rence heard the Leaven worth converts speak of their experiences.
At Topeka the Lawrence people were used until sufficient numbers
of local converts were obtained. For the benefit of those from
Lawrence who wished to attend the Topeka meetings, the Kansas
Pacific railroad offered three-day excursion tickets at two dollars.
In order to take advantage of the excursion rate, purchasers were
"provided with a certificate from Rev. Mr. Cordley in order to
show that the excursionist is activated by a religious motive." 12

11. Leavenworth Times, February 13, 1872.

12. Daily Kansas Tribune, Lawrence, March 17, 1872.

372 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The evening meetings had no formal closing. After the sermon
and speaking, the congregation would gather in small groups and
talk of things religious. This gave the converted an opportunity to
talk to the nonconverted personally and help them overcome their
fears and doubts about being forgiven for their past life and their
ability to lead a new one. This period, known as an "inquiry meet-
ing," would often last as long as an hour with people leaving the
church or hall as they desired.

There was more to the revival than holding meetings. Other work
needed to be done. Saloons and houses of prostitution were visited
by eager workers in hope of leading both the operators and
patrons from their life of sin. Although there is little evidence that
these labors produced the desired results, the operators, for the
most part, did not seem to mind the intrusion. Children were
organized into evangelistic teams in Atchison to sing in the saloons.
On the afternoon of April 6, the children, divided into two groups,
visited all the saloons on Commercial street. A few of the proprie-
tors refused them admission but most of them let them sing and
depart in peace. Not all of the work in the saloons was without
incident.

The Kansas Daily Commonwealth, Topeka, of March 23 gave
an account of a fight which took place in front of Mr. Pauley's saloon
at Kansas and Fifth the preceding afternoon. The Rev. E. O. Tay-
lor, with others, entered the saloon hoping to hold a meeting.
Pauley asked them to leave and the meeting was held in the street in
front. As Taylor was speaking, Jim Kelley, identified only as an
Irishman, shouted, "It is a d -d lie." At this point, Dick Brown,
an engineer for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad, chal-
lenged Kelley to a fight at the conclusion of the meeting. The
fight took place and the two, along with Jim's brother, Pat, were
hailed into court. They were found guilty by the judge with Jim
Kelley drawing a fine of ten dollars and costs, and the other two
five dollars and costs each. Taylors defender did not go unre-
warded. After the trial, Att. Gen. Archibald Williams, Jacob Smith,
and several other prominent citizens stepped forward and paid
Brown's fine.

Closely allied with the campaign against the saloons was the
anti-gambling crusade. One meeting in each town was devoted
to the gamblers. This was always announced several days in ad-
vance and proved to be a popular meeting. In Lawrence it drew
the largest audience of the revival. In Topeka the Christians were

KANSAS REVIVAL OF 1872 373

asked to leave Union Hall and go to the Presbyterian and Congre-
gational churches to make room for the unconverted. The text
of the sermon for the gamblers was Romans 6:23 "For the wages of
sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our
Lord."

Hammond also visited the jails and, while at Leavenworth, made
several visits to the state penitentiary in Lansing.

Hammond made the claim that he never came into a city except
by invitation from the local clergymen and churches. Such was
the case in Kansas. As a matter of fact, he had more invitations
than he was able to accept. In all cases he was fully backed and
supported by the pastors of the evangelical churches. They usually
held several meetings in the week preceding Hammond's arrival
and the meetings continued several weeks after his departure.
The meetings in Topeka lasted four weeks after Hammond left
and about the same length of time in Lawrence. In the other cities
the meetings were continued from two to three weeks.

As could be expected the revival drew opposition. Most of it
came from the groups which were theologically opposed to the
co-operating churches. Hammond often berated the Unitarians,
Universalists, and other groups known generally as "free thinkers."
As a result their spokesmen in the various cities held meetings of
their own and issued challenges to Hammond or a representative
of his to debate questions of religion.

The first challenge to Hammond came toward the close of his
Leavenworth meetings. The Times of Sunday, February 11, 1872,
carried a letter from I. J. Stine, a local book agent, in which he at-
tacked the revival as being bigoted and narrowminded and listed
a number of propositions which he would be willing to debate with
any representative of the revival group. This challenge was ignored
but Stine did not weary easily. He appeared later at Atchison and
Fort Scott while the revival was in full progress in those cities. Only
at Fort Scott did Stine appear before the final days of Hammond's
meetings. More will be said of the Fort Scott encounter later.

A vocal exchange was touched off in Lawrence during the last
week of Hammond's appearance when he delivered a sermon on the
Trinity aimed at the Unitarians and Universalists. The following
Sunday (March 3), the Rev. W. C. Brooks, pastor of the Universalist
church in Lawrence, devoted his sermon to a defense of the prin-
ciples espoused by the Universalists. A series of weekly meetings,
held on Friday evening, which lasted through March and April

374 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

followed. Brooks took a live-and-let-live attitude toward the re-
vival. At his meeting on April 5 he told the congregation that he
was immune to those who attacked his faith. Even if his faith was
not the best, he knew it was the best for him. He illustrated the
point by saying that an oak, even if transplanted in better soil, is
likely to die.

The Unitarians sponsored a series of lectures by Mrs. M. J. Wil-
coxson which began on April 7, 1872. This was a month after Ham-
mond had left Lawrence but the revival meetings were still being
carried on by the local pastors. In her first address, which was on
the subject "Religious Revivals," she gave her reasons for the en-
thusiasm shown by the revivalists.

[She] accounted for the remarkable enthusiasm of the revival by the fact that
some men have certain psychological powers by which they lead people away
from the calm use of their own reasoning and common sense. If each person
was educated in his religious principles so as to be well founded, such a man as
Hammond could not lead them into these excitements. 13

Opposition to the "excitements" as the basis of the revival was
echoed by every speaker who spoke against it. Hammond and the
revivalists, on the other hand, constantly denied this to be the case.
They maintained that excitement or emotionalism was not encour-
aged and had no place in the revival meetings. To them, the op-
ponents of the revival could not distinguish between emotionalism
and enthusiasm. Mrs. Wilcoxson continued her lectures through
April and the first two Sundays in May.

A different line of attack was taken by a person who wrote an
open letter to the Kansas Daily Tribune published on April 9, 1872,
and signed "Third Story Front." The revival was attacked on sev-
eral points. First, that it was like a pendulum. Morals, it was
stated, will swing as low in reaction as they go high in response
to religious fervor. Second, that the revival was more commercial
than religious. Some persons, it was charged, were converted be-
cause "it will help your business, you know." Hammond's own
commercial interest was questioned because he sold his books dur-
ing the revival meetings. Third, that the revival was divisive. It
tended to divide the community into two groups while religion
should be a uniting force. Fourth, the inquiry meetings only
served the purpose of bringing together young men and young
women for doubtful purposes. The revivalists countered by saying
that the assumptions of "Third Story Front" were totally false.

13. Ibid., April 9, 1872.

KANSAS REVIVAL OF 1872 375

It was in Topeka that the opposition was most active. Unlike the
other cities in which Hammond appeared, his adversaries did not
wait for his arrival or, as in some cases, his departure. By mid-
February a debate was in the offing between Elder D. P. Hall of
Olathe, a Christadelphian, and Dr. T. B. Taylor, the leader of the
Spiritualist Society of Topeka. The proposition to be debated was
"Resolved: That modern Spiritualism is taught in the Bible and,
as opposed to materialism, is true." The question was to be affirmed
by Taylor and negated by Hall. All arrangements for the debate
were completed by February 15 except for the time. For some un-
disclosed reason the debate did not begin for another two months.
The first discussion took place on April 15 with nightly meetings
held for a week following. During this two months interim Hall
dropped out of sight but Taylor and the spiritualists were active in
other areas.

The first encounter between the spiritualists and the revivalists
arose over a resolution adopted at a mass meeting on February 25
preparatory to Hammond's expected arrival in Topeka on March 1.
The meeting passed a resolution requesting the board of education
to dismiss the afternoon session of school on the days when Ham-
mond would hold children's meetings. The first written protests were
carried in the Commonwealth on February 28. On that day two
letters appeared, one of which was signed by "Philo," who iden-
tified himself only as a spiritualist, and the other by Theodore Mills,
a leader in the Topeka Spiritualist Society. "Philo's" protest was
brief. He wrote, in part, "I protest against the interruption of our
common schools for the furtherance, supposed or real, of any other
interest whatever." 14

Mills, who wrote several other protest letters in the days follow-
ing, was not quite as firm as "Philo." He did not approve of a gen-
eral dismissal but was willing to have those children dismissed who
brought requests from their parents that they be excused to attend
the revival. He opposed a general dismissal of school because a
large number of people had no confidence in this type of meeting
and did not want their children to miss a single recitation.

The day following Mills' first letter came the announcement that
Hammond would postpone his arrival in Topeka one week because
of physical exhaustion. Mills took this opportunity not only to
further his stand on the school problem but to question Hammond's
sincerity. He wrote:

14. Kansas Daily Commonwealth, February 28, 1872.

376 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The reason why Mr. H[ammond] does not visit Topeka now, is for the lack
of funds; for Mec [possibly the Reverend Mr. McCabe] and Samuel Dolman
. . . must remember that, so far as Mr. Hammond is concerned it is "purely
a matter of business." So if the brethren of Topeka don't lay down the "pew-
ter," the Rev. Mr. H. will not visit us and the poor little children will have to
go unconverted, and go to h 1 at last, and all this for the lack of a little of
that which Mr. H's bible calls "filthy lucre," the love of which is said to be "the
root of all evil," as to let the dear children of Topeka go to the bad place for
lack of "his revival?" 15

The board of education granted the request of the revivalists and
only a morning session of school was held for about two weeks.

It was T. B. Taylor, rather than Mills, who led the attack against
the revival. Taylor announced that on Sunday evening, March 3,
he would answer the Rev. D. P. Mitchell of the Methodist church
who had previously spoken against spiritualism. "The public/' the
announcement read, "that has been induced to believe that Spiritu-
alism is such a monstrosity, and Spiritualists such monsters, as Mr.
Mitchell has pronounced them, are cordially invited to attend. Mr.
Mitchell, in person or by proxy, is also invited/' 16

Taylor apparently had asked permission to speak at one of the
revival meetings and had been denied. Toward the end of Ham-
mond's stay in Topeka, Taylor wrote him an open letter. He began
by explaining that it was necessary to "take this method of speaking
to you and to others who are not permitted to hear me in the meet-
ings in consequence of this ostracism in consequence of this in-
fringement of one of the dearest of American human rights, the
liberty of speech." 17

He continued by relating briefly three conversion experiences of
his own. He had been a Methodist clergyman for nearly a quarter
of a century until he had been banned from the church a year pre-
viously for ideas expressed in lectures on the resurrection of the
dead. Taylor volunteered to be a guinea pig by attending the
meetings and following Hammond's instructions to see if he could be
forced to change his mind.

Taylor closed his letter by attacking three basic theological be-
liefs of the revivalists. He stated that he did not believe in a per-
sonal God but rather that "God is a spirit"; that Jesus was not God
but that he manifested the God-spirit in all of his deeds; and, that
the doctrine of vicarious atonement was a logical and theological

15. Ibid., March 1, 1872.

16. Ibid., March 3, 1872.

17. Ibid., March 21, 1872.

KANSAS REVIVAL OF 1872 377

paradox because no one can substitute or suffer for the sins of
another.

The testimony of R. N. Collingsworth at one of the revival meet-
ings in which he blamed all of his past sinful deeds on spiritualism
served as the occasion for another Taylor letter. He wrote:

If Mr. C., or anyone else, has ruined the character of an unsuspecting girl,
and had thus thrown her out of society as an outcast upon the heartless world,
then he must hunt up such and do all in his power, by his money and otherwise,
to bring her back to society and friends again; that if he has "taken anything
wrongfully he must restore it with interest." But no, no, that is too costly
. . . for Mr. C. and a great many others. They must seek to lay all these
shameful crimes on some one else, who is innocent. And this is the beautiful
theology that Mr. Hammond and all the rest of these zealous souls are teaching.

But rather let them "bring forth fruits meet for repentance" and think not
to say, "Jesus has died for my sins and I will go scott free."

They expect to live as they list, say a prayer, make a profession, say they
"love Jesus," and go into heaven on a white horse with a great flourish of
trumpets; but instead, they will hear, ringing in their ears, these awful words,
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall
he also reap." 18

The verbal blast by Taylor was not the end of this incident. The
day following the appearance of the letter, Collingsworth chanced
upon Taylor on Kansas avenue where he administered a beating,
by the use of his cane, which required Taylor to seek medical assist-
ance.

The practice of the revivalists in praying for the conversion of
specifically named persons brought forth at least one letter to the
editor in each city conducting revival meetings. E. E. Barnum of
Topeka wrote a letter to the Commonwealth which was typical.
Barnum attended the meeting in which he was the particular object
of prayer. "I was made the subject," he wrote, "of public exhibition
and scurrilous attack, which was utterly uncalled for, and without
justification." 19 In the same letter, he also wrote:

The spirit manifested by these revivalists in condemning as "heretics" and
"vile sinners" all those who chance to disagree with them in matters pertaining
to religion, is identical with that which in all ages of the world has pursued
and put to the tortures of the inquisition honest men and women who con-
scientiously differed from them in their interpretation of religious faith. 20

The revival meetings had competition from a phrenologist who
delivered a series of lectures at Costa's Opera House midway

18. Ibid., March 24, 1872.

19. Ibid., March 23, 1872.

20. Idem.

378 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

through Hammond's stay in Topeka. The lecturer, Prof. O. S.
Fowler, delivered a speech on "Love, Courtship and Matrimony"
on the evening of March 15. This was followed the next day by
an afternoon lecture to ladies only on "Female Health and Beauty
Restored" and an evening discussion to gentlemen only on "Man-
hood: Its Strength, Impairment, and Restoration." These lectures
had little effect, if any, on the attendance at the revival meetings.

The attacks on Hammond's character did not end with his de-
parture. At the revival meeting on Sunday evening, April 7, Mr.
Hunter, an employee in the AT&SF railroad shops, reported that
three men in the shops had accused Hammond of all sorts of crimes
and that they could prove their accusations by evidence from people
in Peoria, 111. Hunter had written Robert G. Ingersoll and received
a reply which probably was not satisfactory to either side. Inger-
soll wrote:

The Rev. Mr. Hammond conducted what is generally called a "revival" at
this place [Peoria] some two or three years ago. I know nothing for or against
his character. I have regarded him as a kind of fanatic whose intentions might
be good enough, but whose lack of real sound sense was fearful. I never saw
the man, and have never heard much about him one way or the other. From
what I have seen in the papers, I am satisfied the man is responsible for his
actions, but is entirely carried away by his unfortunate belief in the gospel.
He acts in my judgment as any real Christian ought to act. He is doing what
he can to help people out of hell. If there is danger of eternal punishment
being inflicted upon sinners, every honest Christian should give his whole life to
the business of rescuing souls from such terrible fate. Mr. Hammond acts out
his doctrine and of course acts like a crazy man. No man of decent heart can
believe in the doctrine of eternal punishment without becoming insane. 21

In comparison to his stay in Topeka, Hammond must have felt
that Atchison was rather dull. The opponents of the revival were
relatively inactive. It is difficult to ascertain whether there was no
active organized opposition or whether the community was indif-
ferent to the revival. The latter is probably nearer the truth since
in the cities, such as Lawrence and Topeka, where the revivals
were regarded as more successful, the opposition was more active.

Reference has been made to the children's groups organized in
Atchison for the purpose of singing in the saloons. William H.
Irwin, who reported the meetings for the papers in Atchison and
Fort Scott, reported the following incident which occurred on the
afternoon of April 6:

Several boys followed the little Christians, and abused them, hit them with
sticks, insulted them in many ways, but the little fellows can afford to be per-

21. Ibid., April 9, 1872.

KANSAS REVIVAL OF 1872 379

secuted for the sake of the dear Jesus, and can claim the promise: "blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom
of Heaven." 22

Toward the end of Hammond's stay in Atchison, Stine appeared
to deliver his series of lectures and issue his challenge to debate
as he had done in Leavenworth. This time the challenge was ac-
cepted by the Reverend Mr. Van Wagner of the Congregational
church. He attended Stine's lecture on April 12 prepared to present
the revival cause. Stine spoke for two hours and then refused to
give the platform to Van Wagner. The audience insisted that both
sides be heard. Stine not only gave up the platform but left the
hall without hearing Van Wagner's presentation. To the revivalists
it was a great triumph. Van Wagner wrote in the Champion:

It is well known that this man Stine was sent for to counteract the revival,
and that he is in the habit, wherever he goes, of challenging the clergy, par-
ticularly, and calling us a set of hypocrites, knaves and cowards, and declaring
that we dare not meet him, nor discuss the various questions of belief and dis-
belief. . . .

The arguments and positions are the same substantially, by all infidel lec-
turers. It is only Hume, Volney, Voltaire, Shaftsbury, Paine, and later still,
Strauss and Renan over again, all of whom have been met and vanquished from
the field. The latest foe of infidel thought is Darwinism, and Darwinism is
nothing but the old doctrine of Pythagorus . . ", pushed with scientific in-
vestigation. It is merely the development theory of Combe and modern
spiritualists. . . . And even if it were true that man is only an improved
monkey, it would not disprove the existence of God nor the sacred record. 23

Stine appeared in Fort Scott a few days after Hammond's arrival
having been requested by some of the citizens to give his lectures.
Upon his arrival the Monitor observed that "Tree Religion* and
Christianity are about to lock horns for a struggle in this city. We
opine that the meek and lowly Nazarine will come off victor." 24

"The Great Imposture; or, the True and Untrue in Christianity"
and "God and Man" were the titles of the two lectures Stine
delivered wherever he appeared. These were presented to crowded
audiences in McDonald Hall at Fort Scott on the evenings of April
19 and April 20. He delivered a third lecture on Sunday evening,
April 21, which was to be his last. His followers asked him to
remain a while longer which he consented to do. On the evening
of April 23 he preached from the text used by Hammond on the
previous day.

22. Atchison Daily Champion, April 7, 1872.

23. Ibid., April 19, 1872.

24. Fort Scott Daily Monitor, April 18, 1872.

380 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Following his usual course, Stine attempted to arrange a debate
with one of the local clergymen. He wrote the following note to
the Reverend Mr. McCarthy:

Yesterday morning [April 21], if I did not misunderstand you, you publicaly
announced your ability and readiness to defend and debate the general prin-
ciples of the Christian religion.

Was your language meant as a challenge to discussion? If so, will you be
kind enough to name a time and place, when and where, during the present
week, I can have the privilege of meeting you, in open and fair debate on the
general question, "Is Christianity true?" 2{S

McCarthy followed the Old Testament injunction and refused to
descend to the plains of Ono. V. W. Sunderlin, who delivered the
letter to McCarthy for Stine, reported that the "above letter was
presented by me to the gentleman addressed, with a request to
reply over his signature. As no such reply could be obtained, I
wish only to state that fact." 26

Stine made another attempt to stir a debate during a street
meeting in front of the Wilder House. The meeting was conducted
by the Reverend Mr. Paulson, a presiding elder of the Methodist
church. William H. Irwin reported the incident:

The remarks were good, instructive and kind, all was quiet until he [Paulson]
made some allusion to Tom. Paine, when a poor, lost, blind sinner, by the
name of Stine . . . openly and shamefully disturbed the religious meet-
ing by calling the Rev. Mr. Paulson a liar. This is in keeping with his
teaching. 27

Paulson, like McCarthy, wasn't interested in descending to the plains
from his well fortified heights.

The Fort Scott revival was held in a large tent. During the last
days of the meetings a nuisance was caused by "a large number of
obnoxious individuals who, it seems, take a great delight in ob-
structing the passage in and out of the tent by their persons and
whiskey fumes, mixed with tobacco smoke and other than gentle-
manly deportment." 2S It was hoped that the local police would
correct the situation.

It is difficult to evaluate the effect of a revival meeting. There
can be no doubt, while the revival was in progress, that most people
were amazed at its success. A report in the Atchison Daily Cham-
pion was typical:

25. Ibid., April 23, 1872.

26. Idem.

27. Ibid., April 24, 1872.

28. Ibid., May 8, 1872.

KANSAS REVIVAL OF 1872 381

The fruits of the revival were seen on the Sabbath, in the increased attend-
ance, at all the various churches and Sabbath Schools, notwithstanding the
inclemency of the weather. We can but believe that from this time the history
of Atchison, in this respect is to be changed, and that our churches, instead
of being thinly attended, and struggling for existence, are to become stronger,
and a power in our city that will be felt in all directions. 29

The revivalists worked with vigor and enthusiasm. From the
centers of the revival, clergymen and laymen traveled to the sur-
rounding towns and villages to spread the fruits of the revival as
widely as possible. It was not unusual for entire families to travel
as far as a hundred miles to attend the meetings for a day or two.
Statistically, the revival was a success. It is impossible to deter-
mine the exact number of conversions. In round numbers, the
following were generally accepted.

Leavenworth 500

Lawrence 1,000

Topeka 600

Atchison 300

Fort Scott 400 30

The number who joined the local churches during the revival was
only about half this number. Most of the newspapers carried a
statement attributed to Hammond that he regarded the Lawrence
revival as his most successful to that time except for the one held
in Dunfries, Scotland.

There were always those ready to scoff. A Lawrence convert was
jailed in Kansas City for drunkedness. "He told several persons
that his visit to Kansas City was to escape the importunity of the
revival people in Lawrence, and to enjoy a quiet drunk." 31

References to the revival were carried frequently in the papers
for several months. As for the long range effect of Hammond's
visit to Kansas, the following is probably a good summary:

In general it may be said that there has been no time of wide-spread
religious interest when the foundations of society were stirred to their depths,
such as has sometimes been seen in different ages and portions of the church.
But Kansas has by no means been left unblessed. 32

29. Atchison Daily Champion, April 16, 1872.

30. Fort Scott Monitor, May 18, 1872.

31. Kansas Daily Tribune, April 14, 1872.

32. The Rev. Timothy Hill, Historical Sketch of the Presbyterian Church in Kansas
(Topeka, 1877), pp. 22, 23.

The Kiowa and Comanche Campaign of 1860

as Recorded in the Personal Diary of

Lt. J. E. B. Stuart

Edited by W. STITT ROBINSON
I. INTRODUCTION

THE duties of the United States army on the frontier were many
and varied during the decade preceding the Civil War. There
were both military and nonmilitary services to perform. The mili-
tary involved primarily campaigns against hostile nomadic Indians,
campaigns which were on the whole limited to minor skirmishes
and which can hardly be classified as wars. Nonmilitary duties in-
volved the army as policeman rather than soldier and as the builder
of forts which ringed the frontier area. Both military and non-
military services were vital parts of the mission of the army on the
eve of the Civil War.

Greatest attention in the writing of American military history
has been devoted to the fighting role. 1 Even with this emphasis,
the story is not complete as evidenced by the lack of printed material
concerning some of the campaigns on the frontier. The diary repro-
duced here has only recently come to light and supplies new and
detailed information on the Kiowa and Comanche campaign of
I860. 2 The record was kept by Lt. James Ewell Brown Stuart who
is best known to history as "J eD >" the dashing cavalry leader of the
Southern Confederacy. The military units included Companies
F, G, H, and K of the First regiment of cavalry with some attention
to the two attached companies of the Second dragoons, Companies
C and K. As an appropriate background to the diary of the 1860
campaign, a brief resume will be given of Stuart's early military
career which involved mainly his service with the First cavalry.

DR. W. STITT ROBINSON, a graduate of the University of Virginia at Charlottes-
ville, is associate professor of history at the University of Kansas, Lawrence.

The author acknowledges the aid of a research grant from the General Research Fund
of the University of Kansas for investigation at the National Archives, Washington, D. C.,
of materials relating to this publication.

1. Francis Paul Prucha's Broadax and Bayonet: The Role of the United States Army in
the Development of the Northwest, 1815-1860 (Madison, Wis., 1953) is a recent study
that concentrates on the nonmilitary services of the army.

2. Brief accounts of the campaign are given in George A. Root, ed., "Extracts From
Diary of Captain Lambert Bowman Wolf," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 1 (May,
1932), pp. 206-210, and in Merrill J. Mattes, ed., "Patrolling the Santa Fe Trail:
Reminiscences of John S. Kirwan," ibid., v. 21 (Winter, 1955), pp. 585, 586.

(382)

KlOWA AND COMANCHE CAMPAIGN 383

A Virginian by birth, Stuart received an appointment to the
United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated in the
class of 1854. His first assignment as an officer was with the
regiment of mounted rifles under the command of Maj. J. S. Simon-
son, who was then carrying out orders for both military and non-
military services along the Texas frontier from Fort Mclntosh near
Laredo to Fort Davis and El Paso. 3 Federal troops were responsible
for protecting the area from Indian raids, securing the emigrant
routes, fortifying the Mexican border, supporting the enforcement
of revenue laws, and curbing the activity of bandits and murderers. 4
Stuart's service in Texas was cut short by his appointment to the
First regiment of cavalry which along with the Second cavalry was
organized in March, 1855, by act of congress to expand the number
of mounted troops in the army. Command of the First cavalry was
assigned to Col. Edwin V. Sumner and Lt. Col. Joseph E. Johnston.

Stuart reported in June, 1855, to Colonel Sumner at Jefferson
Barracks in Missouri where the regiment was being organized, and
before the end of the month the unit moved on to Fort Leaven-
worth in Kansas. Colonel Sumner assumed command of the post
and appointed Stuart to his staff as regimental quartermaster and
as assistant commissary of subsistence of the post. 5 While organi-
zation was still under way, orders were issued for the First cavalry
to participate in the campaign against the Sioux Indians in August
and September, 1855. The major skirmish of the expedition in-
volved Bvt. Brig. Gen. William S. Harney and Lt. Col. Philip St.
George Cooke of the Second dragoons in an attack on the Sioux
on Blue Water creek near Ash Hollow along the North Platte river
in Nebraska territory. 6 But for the First cavalry, the venture was
little more than an exercise in organization and an orientation to
the Plains, for on the march to Fort Kearny and beyond toward Fort
Laramie, no Sioux were encountered. 7

Upon return from the Sioux campaign, Lieutenant Stuart com-
pleted plans for his marriage to Flora Cooke, daughter of Lt. Col.
P. S. G. Cooke of Virginia, plans which had been tentatively made

3. "Regimental Returns," Regiment Mounted Rifles, February and March, 1855, Na-
tional Archives.

4. Averam B. Bender, The March of Empire: Frontier Defense in the Southwest,
1848-1860 (Lawrence, 1952), pp. 34-36.

5. "Post Returns," Fort Leavenworth, July, 1855; "Regimental Returns," First cavalry,
August, 1855. Both in National Archives.

6. "Report of the Secretary of War," Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 1, 34th Cong., 1st Sess. (1855-
1856), v. 2, pt. 2, pp. 49-51; ibid., Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 58, 34th Cong., 3d Sess. (1856-
1857).

7. "Regimental Returns," First cavalry, September and October, 1855, National Archives.

384 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

after a whirlwind courtship following their first meeting at Fort
Leavenworth. The event was solemnized on November 14 at Fort
Riley where Lieutenant Colonel Cooke was stationed with the
Second dragoons. 8

The increased tensions of the Kansas struggle in late 1855 and
1856 resulted in the call for military personnel for a wide variety
of assignments, more as policemen than as soldiers. Commanders
of federal troops were ordered by the Secretary of War to assist
the territorial governor in enforcing the law and maintaining the
peace. While many of the assignments were common for normal
frontier conditions, the number increased for such missions as the
following: preventing bloodshed between Proslavery and Free-
State factions; guarding the polls and land sale offices; stopping the
raids of freebooters and bandits; providing military escorts for the
mail, for Indian agents delivering annuities to the tribes, and for
visiting or local officials; and prohibiting white encroachment upon
the land reserves of friendly semisedentary Indians. Calls were
made upon the First cavalry for all these tasks. 9

Preoccupied during 1856 with these problems, the First cavalry
was not able until 1857 to undertake a campaign against the Chey-
enne Indians. Although signers of the treaty at Fort Laramie in
1851, 10 the Cheyenne had been guilty of raiding Western trails
and murdering whites. The purpose of the campaign, therefore,
was to punish the tribe for depredations and at the same time so
to overawe them by a show of force that peace would be main-
tained. Two moving columns led by Col. E. V. Sumner and Maj.
John Sedgwick were employed from May until August, the major
encounter with the Cheyenne occurring on July 29 on Solomon's
fork of the Smoky Hill river. 11 Lieutenant Stuart began the expedi-
tion as regimental quartermaster officer, but was relieved during
the campaign by Colonel Sumner because of a difference of opinion
over the question of signatures for responsibility of government
property. 12 Continuing as a company officer, Stuart was in the
thick of the fight with the Cheyenne on July 29; and while attempt-

8. Letter of J. E. B. Stuart, November 25, 1855, Confederate Museum, Richmond, Va.

9. Examples of these assignments are given in my essay on "The Role of the Military
in Territorial Kansas," Territorial Kansas: Studies Commemorating the Centennial (Univer-
sity of Kansas Social Science Studies, Lawrence, 1954), pp. 84-98.

10. Charles J. Kappler, ed., Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties (Sen. Doc. No. 452,
57th Cong., 1st Sess.), v. 2, pp. 440-442.

11. "Governor Walker's Administration," Collections of the Kansas State Historical
Society, Topeka, v. 5, pp. 299-301.

12. F. J. Porter to J. E. B. Stuart, August 11, 1857, "Letters Sent," Department of the
West, National Archives; "Regimental Returns," First cavalry, June, 1857, National Archives.

KlOWA AND COMANCHE CAMPAIGN 385

ing to save a fellow officer, he was wounded in the chest by a pistol
shot of an attacking Indian. 13

Further expeditions against the Cheyenne were prevented by the
order for federal troops to join the forces being organized in 1857
for the Utah campaign. The Mormons were reported to be in re-
bellion against the United States; and only two U. S. officials, both
being Indian agents, remained in Utah. Alfred Cumming was
appointed as new governor of Utah territory, and orders were issued
to organize some 2,500 troops at Fort Leavenworth to accompany
the governor and other new officials to the Mormon country. 14
Companies of the First cavalry were assigned to various columns
that were to march at designated intervals. Stuart was a member
of the column under Major Sedgwick and served as quartermaster
officer of the expedition. However, agreements worked out by
negotiators in the Mormon country ended the campaign without
fighting; and Stuart's column, not leaving Fort Riley until May 29,
1858, went beyond Fort Laramie only as far as the Valley of the
Sweetwater in present Wyoming before returning to Fort Riley
on August 29. 15

Following a winter in quarters at Fort Riley, the First cavalry
received assignments for field duty for the summer of 1859 to
protect the emigrant route along the Arkansas river. Stuart ob-
tained a six months' leave and returned to Virginia. While on leave
he completed his invention for a sabre attachment devised in
Kansas. By means of "a stout brass hook" Stuart made it possible
for the mounted soldier to leave his sabre on the pommel of the
saddle when dismounting to fight; when remounting, he could
easily return the sabre to his belt. Stuart patented the invention
(patent number 25684 dated October 4, 1859) 16 and he was suc-
cessful in selling to the United States government the right to use
the improvement for mounted troops. 17

While in Washington on October 17 waiting outside the office
of the Secretary of War for a conference about his invention, Stuart

13. H. B. McClellan, The Life and Campaigns of Major-General J. E. B. Stuart (Boston
and New York, 1885), pp. 20-22.

14. LeRoy R. Hafen and Francis Marion Young, Fort Laramie and the Paseant of the
West, 1834-1890 (Glendale, 1938), pp. 284-299?

15. Summary of the marches of the regiment, "Regimental Returns," First cavalry
1858, National Archives; "Muster Rolls," Company G, First cavalry, Tune-August 1858*
National Archives.

n. 1 * 6 -r^ he J P atent max be ^^d in "Records of the War Department," Office of the
Chief of Ordnance, Ordnance Special File, Inventions Section, National Archives.

eo 1 ^ R ?2 ei ?r f . r ^ 6 A Sa l e . fa "* s P ecial files of to* Ordnance Department, Record Group
loo, .box 4o, National Archives.

261378

386 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

was asked to deliver a message to Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee across
the Potomac at his Arlington home. Learning that the mission
involved quelling the uprising at Harpers Ferry, Stuart volunteered
his services and accompanied Lee as his aide to the scene where
John Brown was captured on October 18. Writing to his mother
on January 31, 1860, after returning to Fort Riley, Stuart stated
that one of his greatest services was the recognition from his experi-
ence in Kansas, that the insurgent leader Smith was actually "Old
Brown." ]8

Back in Fort Riley, Stuart rejoined the regiment and assumed
command of Company G on December 15, 1859, until Capt. Wil-
liam S. Walker returned from leave. 19 Orders from army head-
quarters were received in March to begin preparations for a
campaign against the Kiowa and Comanche Indians. These two
tribes along with the Apaches had signed the treaty in 1853 at
Fort Atkinson on the Arkansas river (near present Dodge City).
The agreement was made to maintain "Peace, friendship, and amity"
with the United States and to preserve peace among the signatory
Indian tribes. The right was provided for the United States to
build roads or highways and military or other posts in territories
occupied by the Indians. The three tribes also promised "to make
restitution or satisfaction for any injuries done by any band or any
individuals of their respective tribes to the people of the United
States" legally residing in or traveling through their territories, and
not to molest them in any way but rather to aid them if possible.
In return the United States was to pay $18,000 annually in annuities
for ten years and to protect the tribes from depredations by people
of the United States. Violation of the treaty, it was agreed, could
result in the withholding of annuities; and if at a later date it
seemed desirable to establish farms among the Indians, the United
States could use the annuities for that purpose. 20

By 1857 the Kiowas and Comanches were reported in large
numbers for extended periods of time on the Arkansas river, and
by 1859 were residing permanently in the area between the Cana-
dian and Arkansas rivers. 21 Indian Agent Robert Miller (or Millar)
met the Comanches, Kiowas, and other tribes on July 19, 1858, at

18. The original of this letter is owned by Stuart B. Campbell of Wythevffle, Va. Most
of it has been reproduced in substance in McClellan, op. cit., pp. 29, 30.

19. "Muster Rolls," Company G, First cavalry, October, 1859, to April, 1860, National
Archives.

20. Kappler, op. cit., v. 2, pp. 445-447.

21. "Report of the Secretary of the Interior," Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 2, 36th Cong., 1st
Sess. (1859-1860), v. 1, p. 506.

KlOWA AND COMANCHE CAMPAIGN 387

Pawnee Fork and found the Comanches unwilling to treat with
the United States, threatening to annul the treaty of 1853. The
Kiowas were more amenable, but parties from both tribes had been
guilty of attacking and robbing two Mexican trains in sight of the
agent's camp. Miller found both Kiowas and Comanches arrogant
and confident of their superiority over U. S. forces, an opinion held
by them, he thought, because of their lack of knowledge of the size
and resources of the United States. In his report to the Commis-
sioner of Indian Affairs, he concluded that "Nothing short of a
thorough chastisement, which they so richly deserve, will bring
these people to their proper senses." 22

A few weeks later Colonel Sumner en route from Fort Kearny
to the Arkansas river met a band of Kiowas under Little Mountain,
one of the leaders with whom Miller had conferred. Sumner found
the leaders of the Kiowas desirous of peace, although they indi-
cated great "difficulty in restraining their turbulent young men."
Pledges were made to Sumner to exert every effort to keep the young
braves off the warpath. 23

The Kiowas and Comanches were "encountered" the following
year on September 16, 1859, at the mouth of Walnut creek by Agent
W. W. Bent, who reported their number as 2,500 warriors. As to
conduct, they appeared peaceable in the presence of federal troops;
but when troops returned to Fort Riley, Agent Bent stated that
they "assumed a threatening attitude, which resembles the prelude
of predatory attacks upon the unprotected whites" along the Santa
Fe road. Bent was convinced that a "smothered passion for revenge
agitates these Indians"; and he recommended the establishment of
two additional military forts along the Arkansas river to provide the
"perpetual presence of a controlling military force." Because of the
pressure of white settlement, he foresaw a war of extinction unless
the federal government provided for the reduction of the nomadic
tribes to an agricultural and pastoral way of life. 24

Orders from army headquarters of March 10, 1860, ordered "active
operations" against the hostile Comanches and Kiowas with instruc-
tions to hold no intercourse with them until punishment had been
inflicted by military attack. Columns of troops, operating inde-
pendently, were organized to begin the march in May. Six com-

22. Ibid., Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 1, 35th Cong., 2d Sess. (1858-1859), v. 1, pt. 1, pp,
448-452.

23. "Report of the Secretary of War," House Ex. Doc. No. 2, 35th Cong., 2d Sess.
(1858-1859), v. 2, pt. 2, p. 425.

24. "Report of the Secretary of the Interior," Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 2, 36th Cong., 1st
Sess. (1859-1860), v. 1, pp. 506, 507.

388 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

panics of the First cavalry (A, B, C, D, E, and I) were dispatched
under Capt. S. D. Sturgis. The other four companies of the regi-
ment (F, G, H, and K) along with Companies C and K of the
Second dragoons were assigned to the column commanded by Maj.
John Sedgwick. 25 Writing to his sister in April about the command
appointment, Sedgwick stated that "I have no desire for it, but if
I have it I shall do my best to bring it to a successful issue." 2G

Special instructions of May 9 were forwarded to Major Sedgwick
from Colonel Sumner at headquarters of the Department of the
West in St. Louis. Drawing upon his varied experience as an Indian
fighter, Sumner advised that in order to be able to pursue, overtake,
and attack the enemy, it was necessary to leave the wagon train at
Pawnee Fork and to make the expedition from there with supplies
conveyed by pack mules and beef cattle on foot. In pursuing Indians
traveling with their families, a "steady determined march" would
overtake them and when closely pressed, the warriors would sepa-
rate themselves to protect the families. This, according to Sumner,
was an excellent time to strike them; and in case the Comanches
and Kiowas should unite to pose a strong threat, efforts should be
made to turn their flanks for "Indians can never stand that." One
further suggestion from Sumner reflected the problem of the
military in distinguishing friendly from hostile Indians and the
tendency of Federal troops to make little or no distinction within
one tribe when punitive expeditions were under way. When
"proffers of peace and disclaimers of all connection with the hostiles"
approach you, stated Sumner, it is impossible to make distinctions;
therefore, "whenever Comanches or Kiowas are found they must
give the character to the whole party." 27

Lieutenant Stuart accompanied Major Sedgwick's column as a
company officer in Company G, and he was appointed journalist
of the expedition. In addition to keeping an official record of
events, 28 he recorded a more informal and personal impression of
the expedition in a "Daily Miniature Diary for 1860" which had
been printed by the New York concern of Kiggins and Kellogg.
There are gaps in the personal diary, mainly in July. But it is

25. Sumner to Sedgwick, May 9, 1860, "Letters Sent," Department of the West, Na-
tional Archives; "Report of the Secretary of War," Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 1, 36th Cong., 2d
Sess. (1860-1861), v. 2, pp. 19-22.

26. John Sedgwick, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General (New York,
1903), v. 2, pp. 10, 11.

27. Sumner to Sedgwick, May 9, 1860, loc. eft.

28. A copy of the official journal kept by Lt. J. E. B. Stuart is in the Coe Collection,
Yale University library; microfilm copies are in the libraries of the University of Kansas and
the Kansas Historical Society.

KlOWA AND COMANCHE CAMPAIGN 389

valuable for giving new information of the 1860 expedition and the
terrain over which it was made, as well as affording some insight
to the personal reaction of Stuart and other military personnel to
the events of the campaign.

The Stuart diary presented here is a literal transcription from
photographic reproductions of the diary in the possession of the
Alderman Library of the University of Virginia and is reproduced
with the permission of that institution. Raised letters in the manu-
script have been uniformly lowered and deletions by the diarist
have been omitted. All other changes have been indicated by the
usual square brackets.

Stuart's references to the streams of western Kansas are of con-
siderable interest since history has recorded 1860 as a year of
Great Drought for Kansas and adjacent Plains area.

II. THE DIARY, MAY 15-AucusT 15, 1860

MAY, TUESDAY, 15, 1860. Left Fort Riley on Kiowa campaign,
take route up Smoky Hill for Pawnee Fork of Arkansas, camped
first night on chapman's creek, comd. composed of cos F G H & K
1st. cav. under Maj Sedgwick. 29 We expect a 5 mos arduous
campaign principally with packmules having our grand depot at
Pawnee Fork. Walker 30 & I mess together the 2d Lt absent I
like co duty far better than staff. Detailed in camp to get wagons
over chapman's creek. Hard work. Some ladies came to cr from
Fort R[iley] but could nt cross

MAY, WEDNESDAY, 16, 1860. I am the Journalist of the Expedi-
tion, continue up Smoky Hill 16. miles camp just beyond Sand
creek & spring, on bank of Smoky Hill. Water of this stream salt
banks boggy, passed settlements all the way farm houses with
wells and springs. Rock Sp and a cluster called 7 springs opposite
Kansas Falls. 31 Soil very rich in Smoky Hill bottom Miles 16

29. John Sedgwick, a graduate of the military academy at West Point in 1837, was
assigned to the First cavalry as a major in March, 1855. During the Civil War he remained
with the Union and attained the rank of major general before being killed on May 9, 1864,
at the battle of Spotsylvania, Va. George W. Cullum, Biographical Register of the Officers
and Graduates of the U. S. Military Academy (New York, 1879), v. 1, pp. 533, 534;
Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army (Wash-
ington, 1903), v. 1, p. 872.

30. William Stephen Walker served as a first lieutenant in the Mexican war and in
March, 1855, was assigned as captain to the First cavalry in command of Company G. He
resigned from the U. S. army in May, 1861, and served as brigadier general in the army
of the Southern Confederacy. Heitman, op. cit., v. 1, p. 997; Thomas H. S. Hamersly,
Complete Army and Navy Register of the United States of America (New York, 1888),
p. 837.

31. -Kansas Falls was located on the Smoky Hill river six miles west of Junction City.
It was organized in September, 1857, and incorporated by the territorial legislature in 1858.
George A. Root, "Ferries in Kansas," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 4 (February,
1935), p. 17. Its location was marked on "New Map of Kansas and the Gold Mines" by
O. B. Gunn (Wyandotte, K. T., 1859), and "Map of Kansas and the Gold Mines" by O. B.
Gunn and D. T. Mitchell (Lawrence, 1866).

390 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

MAY, THURSDAY, 17, 1860. Crossed Solomons Fork at Ferry
8 miles farther camped on Saline Fork days march. 13. miles
Smoky Hill Fork all day in sight to our left, solomons Fork has
good water st Cloud 32 on east bank thriving settlement caught
a fine cat in Saline water of saline salt

MAY, FRIDAY, 18, 1860. Passed up Saline to Ferry two miles above
During delay here I caught another fine cat. Advanced 4 miles
through town on Smoky Hill called Salina thriving place. Houses
weather boarded with clapboards belongs principally to one
Phillips 33 of Laurence [Lawrence] K. T. Much corn raised in
vicinity. This is the last settlement. 2 miles crossed Dry cr. with
water (?) in it. 1/2 miles pond to right. 2/2 miles to camp on
Spring creek

MAY, SATURDAY, 19, 1860. Country from here west barren &
unproductive, passed up Spring creek and its tributaries through
country broken & hilly camp on clear creek days march,
miles clear creek is tributary to Smoky Hill

MAY, SUNDAY, 20, 1860. Pass at 1/2 miles from camp fine Spring
in ravine to left of road, peculiar formation supposed to be a
buffalo lick, come in sight of Smoky Hill in front 5 miles from
camp cross Smoky Hill at Bryans bridge 34 of which only founda-
tion is left at rocky bottom ford, camp on south bank Jo. Taylor's 35
horse Roderick took French Leave of camp to day not recovered.

MAY, MONDAY, 21, 1860. Passed several creeks where water
was expected now all dry. passed in afternoon to our left immense
lake thought at first to be the Arkansas but found to be lake
of good water in centre of a very large basin of parched soil
passed through myriads of buffalo lassooed a calf at head of
column. & put it in wagon, at 42 miles strike Walnut creek, having
passed 3 tributaries of cow cr. all now dry.

MAY, TUESDAY, 22, 1860. spent to-day in camp resting after the

32. St. Cloud was a small settlement on the left bank of Solomon's fork. Its location
was also marked on the two maps listed in Footnote 31.

33. William Addison Phillips, a native of Scotland, emigrated to the United States
about 1838 and in 1855 came to Kansas as a correspondent of the New York Tribune.
Active as an antislavery journalist and politician, he also, along with four associates,
founded the town of Salina in 1858 and later served in the United States congress as a
representative from Kansas. Dictionary of American Biography, v. 14, pp. 548, 549.

34. Lt. Francis T. Bryan, Corps of Topographical Engineers, arranged in 1855 for the
construction of bridges along the Santa Fe trail at crossings of Solomon's fork, the Saline,
and Smoky Hill rivers. Contract for construction was awarded to J. O. Sawyer, and the
bridges were accepted by Bryan for the United States government. W. Turrentine Jackson,
"The Army Engineers as Road Surveyors and Builders in Kansas and Nebraska, 1854-1858,"
The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 17 (February, 1949), pp. 40-44.

35. Joseph Hancock Taylor was a graduate of West Point in 1856 and was assigned
to the First cavalry. He later reached the rank of colonel in the United States army.
Cullum, op. cit., v. 2, pp. 436, 437; Heitman, op. cit., p. 947.

KlOWA AND COMANCHE CAMPAIGN 391

long march yesterday caught a small cat. Thunder storm in after-
noon very refreshing shower.

MAY, WEDNESDAY, 23, 1860. At 12 miles march to-day strike
Santa Fe route at Pawnee rock. Many wagons on route to Santa Fe
& Pike's Peak 6 miles on Santa Fe road bring us to Ash creek
a ranch and here turning to right 7 miles farther reach Pawnee
Fork cross it at Bell's bridge. Substantial structure built by Bell D.
& mail agent. Camp Alert 36 on west bank and above. Called on
Maj Wessells. 37 comd. camped just below bridge.

MAY, THURSDAY, 24, 1860. Moved camp to-day 5 miles lower
down, to Arkansas for better grass. Went up to Camp Alert &
dined with Maj Wessells Lt W. F. Lee 38 & lady treated me with
marked kindness also Maj W & wife. I gave the calf to Maj W's
boys. Visited camp of 2d. Drags. Squadron under Capt Steele. 39
Cos C & K. Armstrong 40 & Sol Williams 41 with it. In afternoon
got odometer Lt Lee Mrs L & Mrs Wessells went down to camp
in Wing's ambulance. The young officers rather on frolic. Arm-
strongs horse in leaping pole in Newby's 42 hands shyed & knocked
N. senseless. I serenaded ladies at night.

MAY, FRIDAY, 25, 1860. Pack mules & saddles distributed this
morning generally gentle the day was consumed in adjusting
saddles & packing experimentally. Walker went to Camp Alert
to-day six miles off.

MAY, SATURDAY, 26, 1860. To-day Maj Sedgwick determined to
sent a party of 30 men, south of Arkansas to reconnoitre & if
expedient attack the enemy if there, a smoke having been seen

36. Camp Alert was established on the Santa Fe trail about six miles west of present
Larned. The camp was renamed Fort Lamed in honor of Col. B. F. Lamed.

37. Henry Walton Wessells was a graduate of the military academy at West Point in
1833 and was assigned to the Second infantry. He served in the Mexican war and in 1860
was still a member of the Second infantry with the rank of brevet major. He remained
with the Union and later attained the rank of brigadier general. Cullum, op. cit., v. 1,
p. 437; Heitman, op. cit., p. 1019.

38. William Fitzhugh Lee, of Virginia, was a lieutenant in the Second infantry. He
resigned from the U. S. army in April, 1861, and served as a captain in the Confederate
army before being fatally wounded at the first battle of Bull Run in July, 1861. Heitman,
op. cit., p. 626.

39. William Steele was a graduate of the U. S. Military Academy in 1840 and was
assigned to the Second dragoons in which he was serving as captain in 1860. He resigned
his commission in May, 1861, and served as brigadier general in the Confederate army.
Cullum, op. cit., v. 1, p. 613; Heitman, op. cit., p. 919.

40. Francis C. Armstrong was a first lieutenant of the Second dragoons in 1860. He
resigned from the Union army in August, 1861, and served as brigadier general in the
Confederacy. Heitman, op. cit., p. 169; Hamersly, op. cit., p. 265.

41. Solomon Williams was a graduate of West Point in 1858 and was assigned to the
Second dragoons. Having resigned his commission in May, 1861, he served as colonel in
the Confederate army before being killed in action at Beverly Ford, Va., in June, 1863.
Cullum, op. cit., v. 2, p. 472; Heitman, op. cit., p. 1042.

42. Edward W. B. Newby served in the Mexican war and in March, 1855, was
assigned to the First cavalry as captain. He retired from the U. S. army in September,
1863, with the rank of major. Heitman, op. cit., p. 744; Hamersly, op. cit. t p. 661.

392 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the night previous I go in command also Jo Taylor & Sol Wil-
liams, go S. E. 25 miles & arrive at Otter cr. 43 at 9 P. M. no
Indians, camp without cooking, having 2 days rations on our
horses suffered some from cold.

MAY, SUNDAY, 27, 1860. Continued at 4.30 AM up creek N. E.
for 32 miles halting 2 hours at noon to graze & rest then left
creek & went nearly due north reach 20 miles to the Arkansas
just before sun down. & camped. Having a fine roast of buffalo
on sticks Saw no trace to day of Indians. Otter creek has no
timber, good grass, thousands of buffalo Saw also antelope, duck,
curlew, plover, snipe, sand hill cranes otter & muskrat to say nothing
of prairie dogs. & such ilk.

MAY, MONDAY, 28, 1860. Proceeded at 4.30 AM up Arkansas-
south bank over waste of barren sand hills full of gofer holes &
recrossed river opposite camp days march 25. Whole march 102
miles in 48 hours. Men & horses in fine condition. Find letters
& package from wife. Bless her heart. Who with my experience
could live without a wife, heightening every joy, lightening every
sorrow. Mrs. Ruff 44 in camp near here visit her. She is en route
to M.

MAY, TUESDAY, 29, 1860. Camp at Pawnee Fork. Saw D W
Scott. Sent letter to wife by Mrs. Ruff. & list of Distances.

MAY, WEDNESDAY, 30, 1860. In camp reading "what will he do
with it" 45 Officer of the Day. Dine with Lee at Fort.
["]Be joyous at forebodings of evil but tremble at day-dream of
happiness/'

MAY, THURSDAY, 31, 1860. In camp preparing for departure to-
morrow on pack mules. Bayard 46 & Merrill 47 arrived about 11
at night in the outward bound mail.

JUNE, FRIDAY, 1, 1860. Marched about 8. o'clock up Arkansas.
Reed, letters of mail, 1 from wife no news Camp on Arkansas.

43. Present Rattlesnake creek in Stafford county.

44. Probably the wife of Charles F. Ruff, graduate of the U. S. Military Academy in
1838. Ruff was stationed in New Mexico in 1860 and participated in the Comanche expe-
dition as a major in the Mounted Rifles. Cullum, op. cit., v. 1, pp. 570, 571.

45. A novel by the English writer Edward George Earle Lytton, Bulwer-Lytton, 1st
Baron Lytton (1803-1873). The work was originally published in Blackwood's Edinburgh
(Scot.) Magazine in 1857 and 1858.

46. George Dashiell Bayard was a graduate of West Point in 1856 and was assigned
to the First cavaky. On the 1860 expedition against the Kiowas and Comanches, he re-
ceived a severe arrow wound in the face on July 11. During the Civil War he served
as brigadier general in the Union army before being fatally wounded at the battle of
Fredericksburg, Va., in December, 1862. Cullum, op. cit., v. 2, p. 425; Heitman, op. cit.,
p. 200.

47. Lewis Merrill was a graduate of the IT. S. Military Academy in 1855 and was
assigned to the Second dragoons. He served in the Kiowa and Comanche campaign in
1860 as a second lieutenant and later attained the rank of brevet brigadier general in the
United States army. Cullum, op. cit., v. 2, pp. 406, 407; Heitman, op. cit., p. 705.

KlOWA AND COMANCHE CAMPAIGN 393

[blank] miles beyond crossing of coon cr. several of the ladies
go out as far as coon creek in Capt Hayden's ambulance. I never
commenced a march with more buoyant feelings. Everything
smiles auspiciously notwithstanding Friday Scott came this far
with us & took back our last dispatches for home. I gave Gaffner
a strong recommendation for wagon mr at Pawnee, days march
15.33/100 miles

JUNE, SATURDAY, 2, 1860. Marched up Arkansas & camped on its
bank Bayard has dubbed Merrill "Gig Lamps/' a very appropriate
soubriquet, taken from Verdant green. 48 Merrill is mounted on a
mule wears spectacles & a citizen's dress! 20. 20/100 miles

JUNE, SUNDAY, 3, 1860. March up River along Santa Fe road.
Coon creek is very little to our north. Camp about 18 miles farther
5 [?] miles above Jackson's Island. Bright Sabbath day. A few
Arrappahoe lodges on river in sight. In afternoon their chief came
in bearing aloft on a pole the stars and stripes which he rightly
conjectured was the surest passport through our lines. He was
dressed in a dressing gown and wore a[n] Infantry Cap 18 43/100
miles

JUNE, MONDAY, 4, 1860. Forded the Arkansas & without difficulty
sending back all the wagons but a Light ammunition wagon &
sick ambulance 49 at 3/2 miles reach Mulberry cr. which empties
into Arkansas a few miles below our camp. % mile above cross
its dry bed. Cross near waters of Nuscatunga R 50 & camp, plenty
of timber & water grass in timber. S. 17 45/100 miles

JUNE, TUESDAY, 5, 1860. Travelled down the dry bed of stream,
15 miles & camped in wide valley groves of cottonwood. Last
year this valley must have been thronged with Indians Camped
at holes of water, grass tolerable, water unpleasant & boggy to
the taste. Citric acid corrects it sufficiently Bayard caught some
fine perch here. S. E. 15 miles

JUNE, WEDNESDAY, 6, 1860. March East 3 miles then S. E. at

48. The reference is to the writing of Cuthbert Bede, pseudonym for Edward Bradley
(1827-1889): The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman (1853); The
Further Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Under-Graduate . . . (1854);
and Mr. Verdant Green Married and Done /or ... (1857).

49. The ambulance as used by the army at this time was a four-wheeled vehicle
similar to a wagon. In the 1857 Cheyenne expedition after part of the ambulance had
broken down, J. E. B. Stuart was transported on the "sick wagon" which he described as
"the two hind wheels of the ambulance, with a tongue attached, the cushions being fastened
on the spring." McCleUan, op. cit., pp. 21, 22.

50. It is obvious that there was a lack of exact knowledge of streams on maps being
used by the military at this time. On the map of "Kansas, Texas, and Indian Territory,
With Parts of Colorado and New Mexico" issued by the Engineer Office of the U. S. army,
division of the Missouri, 1868, Crooked creek flows into the Nescutunga river which then
becomes the Little Arkansas river (present Salt fork of the Arkansas). Crooked creek,
as is now known, flows into the Cimarron river. A map containing the errors of the 1868
sketch was probably being used by the expedition of 1860.

394 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

5 miles from last camp a tributary running S W joins the one we
follow, & after junction their course is nearly South. 51 Camp on
it. water scarce wood plenty, grass sufficient for a squadron
only. E & S. E. 14 68/100

JUNE, THURSDAY, 7, 1860. Leaving valley of streams Cross
S W 8 miles to another which must be the main Nuscatonga now
dry pools deep & clear of fresh water full of fish in a beautiful
grove of timber. Quail & deer abound here, birds singing at
the greatest rate. Some horse shoes gems of Civilization found
here, fine grass. Then S for 12 miles then S. E to camp on small
tributary of Cimaron Cimarone is here dry water in tributary
stagnant grass very bad water & soil worse S W & S. & S. E.
25. 42/100

JUNE, FRIDAY, 8, 1860. Crossed dry bed of Cimaron & going
south 1/2 miles crossed distinct wagon trail, probably Col Johnstons
1857 outward route 52 days march over very rough & broken
country, find dry bed of stream with holes of water impregnated
with salts, incrustations on ground of Gypsum. Scarcely any grass.
Soil red & barren, this is probably the Red Fork of Cimaron. 53
S 10. 17/100 miles

JUNE, SATURDAY, 9, 1860. Cross directly South for 7 miles,
country intersected by deep & rugged ravines with a few clumps
of cedar & cottonwood. Two streams in full view, cross the first
above their junction. It is the north Fork of Canadian the other
Middle R. Both well-timbered. 4 bear & several deer & buffalo
killed, water slightly salt but clear Grass better than since left
Arkansas. Col J's return trail found near camp. S & S. E. 9. 91/100

JUNE, SUNDAY, 10, 1860. Ly by in camp on north Fork of
Canadian. 54 just above junction with it. majority of officers are
inclined to make scout towards Antelopes Hills on Main Canadian.
But Maj S. is going up the north Fork of Canadian but will take
Middle River as we afterwards ascertain

51. Probably Bluff (or Buff) creek and its tributaries in present Clark and Comanche
counties.

52. The reference is to the 1857 route of Lt. Col. Joseph E. Johnston in command
of the surveying party for marking the southern boundary of Kansas from May through
October. Johnston's private journal is in Nyle H. Miller, ed., "Surveying the Southern
Boundary Line of Kansas," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 1 (February, 1932), pp.
104-139. Other journals on the expedition may be found in ibid., v. 6 (November, 1937),

gp. 339-377, and in Ralph P. Bieber, ed., Frontier Life in the Army, 1854-1861, by
ugene Bandel (Glendale, 1932), pp. 121-211.

53. Probably Buffalo creek and its tributaries in present Harper county, Oklahoma.

54. The camp was on Middle river rather than the North fork of the Canadian. See
diary entry for June 13. Middle river is now identified as Wolf creek which flows from
Texas into Oklahoma and empties into the North Canadian river in Woodward county,
Oklahoma.

KlOWA AND COMANCHE CAMPAIGN 395

JUNE, MONDAY, 11, 1860. Marched up what we believed to be
north Fork of Canadian (Middle River) at 10 miles enter a very
extensive bottom of fine grass. Remains of Indian camps passed.
Timber & grass fine, water good. Camp on south bank S. S. W.
26. 81/100

JUNE, TUESDAY, 12, 1860. Continued the march. This stream
abounds in bear deer & turkey. Cross & recross several times
finally camp on north bank, after reaching camp we were so
fortunate & [as] to find a surveying party Boundary commission,
one of whom Mr Weyss 55 was with Col Johnston in 57. We get
a copy of Col J's map find that we are in Middle fork or River,
main Canadian dry. No Indians, our Long is 100. Lat 36. 16'
W S W 17. miles

JUNE, WEDNESDAY, 13, 1860. To-day we left the Boundary party
who follow up 100degree of Longitude, we continue up Middle
R. our camp on 10th. was on north Fork now about 30 miles
north of us. This stream gives indications of continuing very little
farther up. West 21. 70/100

JUNE, THURSDAY, 14, 1860. up Middle River. Timber scarcer.
Bluffs bolder & valley narrows. Passed remains of Indian camp
2 months old. abrupt cedar bluffs, water now in detached holes
banks very steep & high. Evidence of great freshet on the banks
early in spring. Camp the last time on Middle R. a very romantic
& picturesque camp, bird serenade at night also thunderstorm
West 13. 50/100

JUNE, FRIDAY, 15, 1860. Struck across from Middle River 5 [15?]
west of north to north Fork of Canadian. 34 miles about 10 AM
a large herd of mustangs to the N. W. are pronounced by the
Delawares 56 Kiowas. We make preparations for battle march-
ing by squadrons in two columns All are eager for the fray Dra-
goons too far behind to join us. But Armstrong co trotted up.
Steele was ordered to remain behind with the pack mules, we
were sadly fooled. This ended mustang battle, north 24 75/100

55. John E. Weyss was surveyor with the party for the southern boundary line of
Kansas in 1857 and was a member of the Texas and United States Boundary Commission
in 1860. For a map of the survey and a discussion of the Texas boundary, see Marcus
Baker, The Northwest Boundary of Texas (Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey,
No. 194, Washington, 1902).

56. Colonel Sumner requested permission for use of 12 Delaware Indians as guides
for Major Sedgwick's command, but Secretary of War J. B. Floyd approved the request
only for six. Sumner to Headquarters of the Army, April 16, 1860, "Letters Received,"
A. G. O., National Archives. Stuart's personal diary lists six Delawares by the following
names: Fall Leaf, Sarcoxie, John Williams, Bascom, Wilson, and Bullit.

396 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

JUNE, SATURDAY, 16, 1860. Went up north bank of stream Camp
on N. Fork Canadian 57 march 19. Finished the Disowned 58

JUNE, SUNDAY, 17, 1860. Camp on north Fork of Canadian,
march 14. miles.

JUNE, MONDAY, 18, 1860. Marched up N. F. Canadian 19. miles
& camped on good grass no fuel.

JUNE, TUESDAY, 19, 1860. Lay by to-day, took bath ponds full
of cat & sunfish. fish for every meal. Dr. Madison's mustang
potatoes [?]

JUNE, WEDNESDAY, 20, 1860. Lie [?] by to reconnoitre for water
volunteered to go on march with 2 men to see if water is 40 miles
ahead, start at 5 am. find water at 40 miles at 2/2 P. M. rest
1/2 hours & starting back reached camp at 1M at night, slept 1/2
hours and marched at 5 am back with command over the 40 miles.
Walker characterizes my reconnaisance as very successful & cred-
itable service.

JUNE, THURSDAY, 21, 1860. Arrived at camp 4.10 P M. I have
marched 120 miles in 35 hours during all which time I have slept
but 1/2 hours.

JUNE, FRIDAY, 22, 1860. March n. n. W. by compass cross
Santa Fe road about 20 miles, & reach Cimaron at Aubrey's cross-
ing. 59 Finish letter to wife, to send by Express to Pawnee Fork
tomorrow. Express sent for provisions.

JUNE, SATURDAY, 23, 1860. Went up stream 4 miles & camped
on better grass. Lay by remainder of day.

JUNE, SUNDAY, 24, 1860. Lay by till 4 P. M. March on Aubreys
trail N. E. till lOJI A M [P. M.] Halt picket out on prairie. Saddle
up & resume march early without breakfast on 25th. Reach
Bear river (two Butte) River, whole march 45 miles Last night
Walker at Sedgwick. Water of Bear river plenty & good in large
pools. Reuben killed 2 ducks at one shot.

57. The march of Major Sedgwick's column from Middle river to the North fork of
the Canadian is shown on the map of the Texas boundary in Baker, op. cit., facing p. 11,
and also on the map of "Kansas, Texas, and Indian Territory, With Parts of Colorado and
New Mexico" issued by the Engineer Office of the U. S. army, Military Division of the
Missouri, 1868.

58. Another novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton published in 1828-1829. As an explana-
tion of the Disowned, Bulwer-Lytton stated in 1832 that out of his study of metaphysics
and ethics "grew the character of Algernon Mordaunt ... as a type of the Heroism
of Christian Philosophy an union of love and knowledge placed in the midst of sorrow,
and laboring on through the pilgrimage of life, strong in the fortitude that comes from
belief in heaven." The Complete Works of Edward Bulwer-Lytton (New York, n. d.), v. 2.

59. Aubrey's crossing of the Cimarron river was in present Cimarron county, Oklahoma.
Aubrey's crossing and Aubrey's trail were named for Francis X. Aubrey (also spelled
Aubry), a Santa Fe trader. In an effort to shorten the Santa Fe trail, he selected a route
that left the trail near Cold Springs in Cimarron county, Oklahoma, and ran northeast
across the Cimarron river, along Bear creek, and then to the Arkansas river at Fort Aubrey
near the boundary line of present Hamilton and Kearny counties, Kansas.

KlOWA AND COMANCHE CAMPAIGN 397

JUNE, MONDAY, 25, 1860. See preceding page. Found Otis 60
here, who had been sent forward to reconnoitre for water.

JUNE, TUESDAY, 26, 1860. Fine antelope killed by Johnny Wil-
liams ( Delaware ) . I got the antlers a superb pair. to present to
P W H of N C. Lay by till about 4 P. M. when saddling up we
go down Bear river about 18 miles & find water & large cottonwoods.
about 10 P. M. camp by moonlight, take cold lunch & to-bed.

JUNE, WEDNESDAY, 27, 1860. Lay by till P. M. Loll in the shade
of the gigantic cottonwoods. all day. At 4 P. M. saddle up &
march on aubrey's trail 21 miles, picket out about 10 P M on
roadside, & with cold lunch to-bed. N E 21 miles

JUNE, THURSDAY, 28, 1860. At first dawn saddle up & continue
march warming some cold coffee we brought in a canteen, &
after 15 miles march N. E. reach the long wished for arkansas.
How comparative all our joys are. That stream upon which I have
heaped so much abuse, appears now lovely & most welcome to
view. Fall Leafs rifle burst today mangling his face a good deal.
I crossed with Mel. 61 & Lorn 62 to a train no news no nothing
N E 15 miles

JUNE, FRIDAY, 29, 1860. Yesterday the same Arrapahoe visited
us, now on his way to Bents Fort 63 with one of Bents trains on
the other side. Crossed to north bank of arkansas & camped,
aubreys crossing. 64 a very extensive bottom many islands with
brushwood in the river. And some large trees on an island above.

June, SATURDAY, 30, 1860. Muster at 8 A M Horses & mules
inspected. G has best horses but worst mules. Our ration period
expires to-day.

JULY, SUNDAY, 1, 1860. In camp. Col. St. Vrain 65 the old trader

60. Elmer Otis was a graduate of West Point in 1853 and was assigned to the First
cavalry in March, 1855. He later attained the rank of colonel in the U. S. army. -Cullum,
op. cit., v. 2, p. 358; Heitman, op. cit., p. 762.

61. Probably James B. Mclntyre, West Point graduate of 1853. Assigned to the First
cavalry in March, 1855, he was serving as regimental quartermaster officer in 1860 and
later served as brevet lieutenant colonel before his death at Fort Lamed in 1867. Cullum,
op. cit., v. 2, pp. 364, 365; Heitman, op. cit., p. 669.

62. Lunsford Lindsay Lomax was a graduate of the U. S. Military Academy in 1856
and was assigned to the First cavalry. He resigned his commission in April, 1861, and
served as a major general in the Confederate army. Cullum, op. cit., v. 2, pp. 430, 431;
Heitman, op. cit., p. 639.

63. The reference is to Bent's New Fort which was built on the north bank of the
Arkansas river in the area of the Big Timbers near present Prowers, Colo., in 1853 by Col.
William Bent. The New Fort was located about 38 miles downstream from Bent's Old
Fort. William Bent leased the New Fort to the War Department in 1859 and in the
following year additional fortifications were built and it was named Fort Wise (later Fort
Lyon). In 1860 William Bent was still active in the Indian trade. See George Bird
Grinnell, "Bent's Old Fort and Its Builders," in Collections of the Kansas State Historical
Society, v. 15 (1919-1922), pp. 28-91.

64. Aubrey's crossing of the Arkansas river was at Fort Aubrey. See Footnote 59.

65. The reference may be to Ceran St. Vrain who had been engaged in the Indian
trade with the Bents and was still active in 1860. Grinnell, loc. cit. t pp. 81 and passim.

398 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

passed in ambulance P. M. Says our supply train left Pawnee Fork
on 28th, & ought to be here tomorrow. Pegram 66 has passed en
route to New Mexico. Kiowas reported to be on cow creek &
south Platte Randall & Reuben kill six ducks.

JULY, MONDAY, 2, 1860. In camp

JULY, SATURDAY, 7, 1860. Marched up Arkansas & camped just
below Big Timbers. 20. 00/100 miles

JULY, SUNDAY, 8, 1860. Contind march up River passing Boon
of Mo & several other Pike's Peak trains. Scattered trees continua-
tion of Big Timbers, soil sandy & poor grass good in bottoms.
22. 40/100

AUGUST, WEDNESDAY, 1, 1860. Left at 6 A M on scout Merrill
& 36 men Fall Leaf Wms. & Wilson at 8& AM reached
tribfutary] to Smoky Hill. Signs halt half hour march at
9 AM 10 E of N, halt at dry bed half way to skin anteelope
pack it and at 11.20 reach another creek same signs, go down
it at 12.20

AUGUST, SUNDAY, 5, 1860. Crossed northward and taking ridge
several miles from river marched generally East parallel to gen'l
course of river. No grass buffalos have devoured all timber
at intervals water in bed in holes. Emigrant road coincides gen-
erally with our course no grass arr. 2.20 P. M. feed on
cottonwood 24/2 miles [profile sketch included]

AUGUST, MONDAY, 6, 1860. Gen course East coinciding with Emi-
grant road, crossed many ravines springs of del. water oozing
from banks & sinking immediately no grass. Camp on Smoky
Hill march 20.95 miles I killed fine antelope buck, at spring
named antelope spring, no grass fed horses on cottonwood &
elm & grape vine, ar 12.20 [profile sketch included]

AUGUST, FRIDAY, 10, 1860. Travelled S. W. from Sarcoxie spring
& after 12 miles came to walnut cr. halted & grazed, then crossed
S. W. the Santa Fe road and camped on arkansas. Here we met
Sedgwick's guides who informed us that Sedgwick had preceded
us several days at Fort Larned and that the Expedtn. was broken
up 4 cos of cav ordered to Bent's Fort to winter & build post.
Startling news. 2 cos 2d Drags to take post at Fort Larned. Wms

66. John Pegram was a graduate of West Point in 1854 and was assigned to the First
dragoons. In March, 1855, he became a member of the Second dragoons where he was
serving as first lieutenant in 1860. He resigned his commission in May, 1861, and became
a major general in the Confederate army. He was killed in February, 1865, at the battle
of Hatchers Run, Va. Cullum, op. cit., v. 2, p. 374; Heitman, op. cit., p. 780.

KlOWA AND COMANCHE CAMPAIGN 399

& I left camp about sundown & went up to Larned 18 miles that
night. Lee told me I had a fine son. 67

AUGUST, SATURDAY, 11, 1860. Steele's command came in about
11 a. m. Mclntyre is going in to Riley for co property. I apply
for 7 days leave to go with him. granted. We are to leave
tomorrow, with 6 wagons & 4 sergts. Every body is blue & dis-
gusted.

AUGUST, SUNDAY, 12, 1860. Start for Fort Riley. Go by Larned
take in my two mules. They follow. I ride my roan Kiowa, leaving
Beppo[?] with Lee at Larned. camp on Walnut creek.

AUGUST, MONDAY, 13, 1860. Travelled pretty briskly reaching
the Smoky Hill & camp.

AUGUST, TUESDAY, 14, 1860. Marched beyond crossing of Saline.
Left the train late in afternoon on our ponies to make Riley tomor-
row. About dark reach Solomon's Fork where Col Crittenden 68
with an encampment of 20 or 30 families & 700 [?] recruits horses
&c. for New Mexico. Spent the night there. Saw Dr. Webster,
Forney, McNally, Kelly, Moore [?], I. N. McRane [?], Wheeler of
N. Y. [?], Gibbs, Lane, Whitall.

AUGUST, WEDNESDAY, 15, 1860. Early this morning left Grit's
camp & after 40 miles jog arrived with joyous tramp at our own
doors at Fort Riley, taking our families completely by surprise.
This page need not be filled out.

III. EPILOGUE

Stuart's personal diary falls silent during most of July except for
the few entries printed here. During this time the command con-
tinued the march up the Arkansas river as indicated for July 8
and went a little beyond Bent's New Fort near present Prowers,
Colo. The return march was then made along the Arkansas to
the vicinity of present Garden City where a turn was made to
the northeast with three companies proceeding along the Smoky
Hill river, the other three along Walnut creek. Stuart marched
with the Smoky Hill group which continued to present Ellsworth

67. James Ewell Brown Stuart, Jr. There is some evidence that the son was originally
named for his grandfather, Col. Philip St. George Cooke, but the name was changed when
the grandfather did not resign from the U. S. army to join the Confederacy. John W.
Thomason, Jr., Jeb Stuart (New York, 1941); see, also, Bingham Duncan, ed., Letters of
General J. E. B. Stuart to His Wife, 1861 (Emory University Publications, Sources and
Reprints, Ser. 1, Atlanta, 1943), pp. 21, 23, 26, 27.

68. George Bibb Crittenden, a West Point graduate of 1832, was serving as lieu-
tenant colonel in the Mounted Rifles in 1860. He resigned from the U. S. army in June,
1861, and served as major general in the Confederacy. Cullum, op. cit., v. 1, pp. 409, 410;
Heitman, op. cit., p. 338.

400 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

county before turning back to the southwest to join the remainder
of the command about 18 miles south of Fort Larned. 69 From
there Stuart returned to Fort Riley.

By August 11 when orders were received to break up the expe-
dition, Sedgwick's column had marched 1,404 miles. The only
skirmish for the command involved Lieutenant Stuart and a detach-
ment of 20 men who pursued a small body of Kiowas near Bent's
New Fort on July 11 and combined with forces under Capt. William
Steele to kill two warriors and take prisoner 16 women and chil-
dren. 70

In the same campaign the column of six companies of the First
cavalry under Capt. S. D. Sturgis encountered a large group of
Kiowas and Comanches along the Republican fork on August 6.
Reporting on all of the summer's expedition, Sturgis claimed 29
of the enemy killed. 71

These skirmishes of 1860 along with the appearance in force
of U. S. troops on the Plains contributed to the restoration of peace
with the Kiowas and Comanches and to the security of the emi-
grant route. Indian Commissioner William P. Dole reported in
November, 1861, that recently the two tribes had "manifested a
disposition" to resume friendly relations with the U. S. government
and to be "restored to its confidence." 72

69. "Report of the Secretary of the Interior," Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 1, 36th Cong., 2d
Sess. (1860-1861), v. 2, p. 18.

70. Ibid., pp. 15-17.

71. Ibid., pp. 19-22.

72. Ibid., Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 1, 37th Cong., 2d Sess. (1861-1862), v. 1, pt. 1, p. 634.

Traveling Theatre in Kansas: The James A.

Lord Chicago Dramatic Company,

1869-1871 Concluded

JAMES C. MALIN

VI. BASES OF DRAMATIC CRITICISM, 1870-1871
LEAVENWORTH

LONG since it should have become apparent to the reader that
a critic's commentary upon theatre was a highly uncertain com-
modity. Always there is question about how much credence can
be given to the press notices. Custom provided general practices
about complimentary tickets for the press, and advertising, formal
and "puffs" in the locals, and so long as both parties played the
game, all went well. But, on occasion these relations became
snarled. Some theatre troupes did not place formal advertisements
in the papers, but depended primarily upon handbills and locals.
J. A. Lord was usually quite successful in his press relations, but
there were occasions when even his well managed system went
wrong. The Leavenworth Times revealed a rift in February, 1871,
in which Lord may not have been at fault.

Having opened on Monday night in "Ingomar," the Times critic
introduced himself on Tuesday morning, February 21, with the fol-
lowing:

We would like to have our readers understand, at the outset, that we shall
not enter into a criticism of the different plays presented by this company
during their engagement here. We know and can appreciate the difficulties
attendant upon the management of a troupe organized as this one is. In the
one fact of the organization not being permanently located, rests a great share
of the trouble of keeping it up to that point of excellence which we know is the
aim of that true knight of the buskin, Mr. J. A. Lord. . . . Mr. Lord we
have seen upon the opera stage in Chicago, the same careful and studious actor
as he appears to us here. In refusing to criticise the company, which is our
right, we do so, therefore, solely for the encouragement of what we deem an
excellent company. . . . the best troupe of theatrical performers which has
visited this place in a long time is the verdict of the public.

No clue has been found about what really was "biting" the boy,

DR. JAMES C. MALIN, associate editor of The Kansas Historical Quarterly, is professor
of history at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and is author of several books relating
to Kansas and the West.

(401)
271378

402 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

but something further and more intangible occurred Wednesday
night which was noticed in the criticism of the Times, February 24,
Friday:

Notwithstanding the discourtesy shown toward the employes of the TIMES
office on Wednesday evening, we have a kindly word to say to Mr. Lord,
. . , . [and his company]. We can hardly reconcile the discourtesy com-
plained of with the handsome acknowledgements made by the management
in the words of farewell spoken to the audience. . . . The forbearance of
the press of this city in noticing shortcomings and the hearty support extended
were acknowledged in pointed language. We hold that the least worthy of
the many good theatrical notices given, was worth more than all the paltry ad-
missions asked for. Having said this much we will now proceed to the more
cheerful task of saying the kindly word we had set out to say and which is
uppermost in our thoughts. . .

The first critique by the Times man was a peculiar, patronizing,
snob performance by which the scribe sought to impress his readers
and he did, but with his own bad taste. He revealed himself
also in his insistence that the weaknesses of the Lord company
stemmed from "not being permanently located," in other words
from being a traveling not a resident theatre. In this respect he
was out of touch with the times, or unrealistic about the world in
which he lived, and did not recognize that the choice was not be-
tween these two forms of organization, but between traveling
theatre or no theatre. Otherwise, as pertains to the merits of the
controversy, the data are too incomplete to permit a conclusion.

A second shortcoming in press reports of theatrical performance
was a too-great reliance of many editors upon news handouts from
the advance agent of the companies. A particularly effective phras-
ing or sentiment by some early critic might thus become the model
for other papers for weeks or months thereafter. By following the
itinerary of a traveling company these similarities or even identical
eulogies can be spotted, and recognized for what they were. Still,
although following precedent they might be sincere. More difficult
for the historian to deal with, however, was the possibility that the
theatrical criticism was written by the manager of the company.
Lord was charged with this practice, particularly during the winter
of 1877-1878, when difficulties between Seymour and Lord became
a matter of public record. But where a town had more than one
paper the individuality of the critics rounds out perspective, but
contributes problems of interpretation, their variety and often con-
tradiction adding zest to the task of the historian.

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 403

Ward Burlingame told one story on himself that may have had
more than one counterpart. He claimed that at Leavenworth he
attended a rehearsal of "Othello/* wrote his story of the evening's
performance, had it set in type, and went to bed. A sudden storm
caused the show to be cancelled, but his story appeared neverthe-
less in the morning paper. 1

The Leavenworth press of 1870 afforded some specific guidance
in matters of dramatic criticism for the season of 1870-1871, although
not always conclusively. The sober local of the Times, November
18, in announcing the opening of the theatrical season by the Lords,
was indicative of a predisposition favorable to any really acceptable
performance: "as we have had very little of the theatrical of late,
they will be likely to draw large audiences." Similarly, the report
after the second night was prefaced by the statement: "for the
first time in 'many moons' a Leavenworth audience has witnessed
talent worthy of their commendations."

During the spring of 1870 the Commercial, May 1, had been quite
candid in admitting limitations upon its qualifications to pronounce
judgment on the National Theatre: "Although in a business point
of view we are metropolitan, we must in all candor admit, that so
far as high order of art or superior culture is concerned, we are
only provincial, and especially in regard to the mimic art." Later,
during the Couldock week, June 20-25, the same paper was apolo-
getic, June 23, about the small audiences: "It reflects but little credit
upon the Dramatic taste of Leavenworth that acknowledged art is
so poorly patronized." The season being late June, ice cream socials
had been popular among the churches and at the moment attention
was being directed toward the success of the music festival of the
South Leavenworth Musical Association to be held at the Fifth
avenue chapel followed by fresh raspberries and ice cream. This
is the type of competition with theatre that inspired the next re-
marks, including the bad pun:

It is said that the cream of society in this city affect a different style, and that
the mode is to frequent assemblies where fruits in conjunction with cream, can
be discussed, much to the satisfaction of the consumers, who have also the
consolation of knowing that they thereby much advance the cause of religion, in
whose aid the feast is generally given.

Be that as it may, however, it is especially worthy of regard, that while
talent cannot "draw" on the stage, brass and extravagance does.

1. Atchison Daily Champion, February 20, 1879, reminiscences of "Early Kansas " by
Ward Burlingame, "Atchison County Clippings" (Kansas State Historical Society), v. 1,
p. 216.

404 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The counterfeit negroes' [burnt cork] grotesque and somewhat vulgar antics,
will always create a furor of enthusiasm and a corresponding influx to the ex-
chequer of the company, while real Dramatic talent plays to empty benches.
If you want a crowd bring along your Circus and "Numidian Lion." There
is no such place as Numidia and your lion may be a downcast beast, but he has
got a mane and can pass, as lions go. Let us all then give in our checks, and
be thankful that we have seen the lion.

But the press of Leavenworth was not unanimous in these evalua-
tions of Leaven worth's aesthetic standards. Lest the picture of that
city appear too negative, although in the minority of one against
two, the Bulletins view, December 2, is presented last because it is
positive. The occasion was the coming of Annie Tiffany who was
to appear December 6, 7, 1870, before Leavenworth's sophisticated
audiences:

The theatre-goers who compose the Leavenworth amusement loving public are
cold, critical and indifferent. It weighs nothing here for Fort Scott or Kansas
City to eulogize, and foreign reporters to exhaust rhetoric in describing the
charms of a particular "star." Leavenworth has been more highly favored with
the presence of prominent actors and actresses than neighboring cities on the
river. Our people have listened to Booth, Forrest, Jefferson, Owens, Mrs.
Hosmer, Lotta, Laura Keene, Siddons and many others. In truth, the best talent
of the country has appeared on the boards of the Opera House.

It would be difficult to document the whole of his list of stars,
and it is not worth the effort. The main point of his contention, how-
ever, was obviously in error; that Leavenworth occupied a favored
position on the river or was on such terms of familiarity with the
great as to be conditioned artistically to their excellence as a cri-
terion of taste in theatre.

LAWRENCE

At Lawrence the tone of dramatic criticism was in a markedly
different key. With some variation in wording, the Journal re-
peated its dictum of the previous year: "Lawrence people, as a gen-
eral rule, are more partial to the concert and lecture than the
drama. . . ." The paper avoided an expression of editorial
opinion, employing various circumlocutions: "Those who delight
in the drama and comedy will have a rare chance ..." or "The
audience being judges, the acting last night was a success," or
"Mr. Lord's troupe is certainly popular with the large class that
attends." Undoubtedly, the editor was not among those citizens of
Lawrence who delighted in or attended the theatre except as duty
required. These were Lawrence's revelations of herself, and ap-

TRAVELING THEATRE IN KANSAS 405

parently the box office confirmed the town's lukewarmness about
the drama. The Lord company limited Lawrence to two short visits
that winter, or a total of 11 nights compared with Topeka's 23,
Leaven worth's 21, and Atchison's 14.

TOPEKA

The Topeka Commonwealth, January 14, 1871, adopted an air of
humility, which might be described as that of a country boy who
was aware of his limitations within the sacred precincts of the
sophisticated city, but nevertheless held himself firmly to his own
ideals :

We have not traveled the continent, except in imagination, (like most of those
who boast of their travels), and, consequently, we must not be expected to
entertain strong disgust for every dramatic troupe which comes to Topeka.
We are unsophisticated enough to think that good acting consists in fidelity to
nature, and when a character is rendered in perfect accordance with nature,
it is as well rendered as it could be by one who has just returned from "a two
years tour in Europe." Hence, our more cultivated and more extensively trav-
eled readers will please excuse us if we say that Mr. Lord has placed before
our citizens some of the very best plays, and that all the characters have been
well rendered. One thing is noticeable about the troupe, and that is that
nothing unchaste has yet occurred upon the stage under Mr. Lord's manage-
ment.

ATCHISON

At Atchison the visit of the Lord Company of two weeks, De-
cember 12-24, 1870, was the occasion of the dedication of Corinthian
Hall, the city's new temple of entertainment. Louie Lord opened
Corinthian Hall in "Dora" and ten other major roles over the sea-
son, and thereby became a legend in Atchison, or it may have been
that Corinthian Hall became a legend, to which Eugene Field con-
tributed at a later date by his poem "Corinthian Hall." John A.
Martin's Champion & Press, the only surviving newspaper of that
date in Atchison, was peculiarly noncommunicative about the infor-
mation the historian would most desire concerning either Corinthian
Hall or the reception given the Lords upon that memorable occa-
sion which should have accounted adequately for the form in which
the legend developed.

EMPORIA: CHURCH VERSUS THEATRE

At Emporia the reaction toward theatre in general and the Lord
Dramatic Company in particular was the most remarkable of
any town during their first tours of the troupe in Kansas. The Lords

406 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

were advertised to open a week's engagement there on Monday,
January 23, with the dramatized version of Tennyson's "Dora." The
new public hall, on the third floor over a business establishment,
had been opened with a dance on Friday night, January 19. The
Topeka correspondent of the News wrote that: "The duett singing
by Mrs. Lord and [Miss Woltz] is as fine as I have heard in many
a day. The excellent manner in which they put upon the boards
several of the leading American plays is attracting large and intelli-
gent audiences nightly." All this was set forth before the Emporia
public in Friday's issue of the weekly News, January 20. The Rev.
Mr. Kelley, minister of the Methodist church, called a general meet-
ing at the church for Sunday afternoon at 3 P. M. "to listen to a
free discussion upon the subject of amusements." The exchange of
views on that memorable afternoon was reported in the News,
January 27, 1871, apparently quite fully and fairly. In view of the
fact that this is the only occasion found when such an examination
of current thought was made a matter of record, it has been repro-
duced almost complete, along with an editorial. The report read:
The intention of the pastor, Rev. Mr. Kelley, in appointing this meeting was
to obtain from the members of his church and such others as chose to par-
ticipate, an expression of sentiment as to what was the duty of Christians as
regards amusements, especially as to whether they ought to countenance those
popular ones, the dance and the drama.

Among the several speakers was a Mr. Detwiler, temperance lec-
turer:

As regards the dance it was his rule to explain to his children that, so far as the
act of dancing was concerned, which is nothing more than the regulation of
the movement of the body to music, there was nothing harmful in it, but that
the tendency of dancing, and the associations that are inseparable from, it, as
it is universally conducted are i