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THE
Kansas Historical
Quarterly
NYLE H. MILLER, Managing Editor
KIRKE MECHEM, Editor
JAMES C. MALIN, Associate Editor
Volume XXV
1959
(Kansas Historical Collections)
VOL. XLH
Published by
The Kansas State Historical Society
Topeka, Kansas
Contents of Volume XXV
Number 1— Spring, 1959
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY IN KANSAS,
Alan W. Farley, 1
With Alexander Gardner photographs of bridge building across the Kaw,
and office of the Union Pacific at Wyandotte, 1867, frontispiece, and
portrait of Samuel Hallet, facing p. 1.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND: The Role Played by the Southern
Kansas Towns in the Opening of the Cherokee Strip to Settlement,
Jean C. Lough, 17
With photographs of campers near Arkansas City preparing to make the
run, between pp. 16, 17.
TELEGRAPH BEGINNINGS IN KANSAS John E. Sunder, 32
THE LETTERS OF THE REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM, PIONEER KANSAS
MISSIONARY, 1854-1858: Part One, 1854-1855,
Edited by Emory Lindquist, 39
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, SWEDENBORGIAN PUBLICIST: Part Two, Kansas
Exemplar of the Philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg and Herbert
Spencer James C. Malin, 68
THE ANNUAL MEETING: Containing Reports of the Secretary, Treasurer,
Executive and Nominating Committees; Election of Officers; List of
Directors of the Society 104
BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 125
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 126
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES . 127
Number 2 — Summer, 1959
PAGE
U. S. ARMY AND AIR FORCE WINGS OVER KANSAS (In two installments,
Part One) : 129
With photographs of scenes and activities at Pratt Army Air Base, Great
Bend Army Air Field and Smoky Hill Army Air Force Base, Salina,
between pp. 144, 145.
THE PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH AND THE SMOKY HILL ROUTE, 1859-1860,
Calvin W. Gower, 158
Reprint of a "Table of Distances" from Atchison to the Gold Mines,
1859, between pp. 160, 161.
THE LETTERS OF THE REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM, PIONEER KANSAS
MISSIONARY, 1854-1858 — Concluded Edited by Emory Lindquist, 172
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, SWEDENBORGIAN PUBLICIST: Part Two, Kansas
Exemplar of the Philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg and Herbert
Spencer — Concluded James C. Malin, 197
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY,
Compiled by Alberta Pantle, Librarian, 229
BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 251
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 252
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 255
(iii)
Number 3 — Autumn, 1959
PACK
IRONQUELI/S "THE WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" James C. Malin, 257
With portrait of Eugene Fitch Ware, about 1881, facing p. 272.
A CHRONOLOGY OF KANSAS POLITICAL AND MILITARY EVENTS, 1859-1865, 283
MARK W. DELAHAY: PERIPATETIC POLITICIAN; A Historical Case Study,
John G. Clark, 301
With reproduction of painting of Mark W. Delahay, facing p. 304.
RELIGION IN KANSAS DURING THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR (In two install-
ments, Part One) Emory Lindquist, 313
With portraits of Lewis Bodwell, Pardee Butler, Richard Cordley, and Hugh
Dunn Fisher, facing p. 320, and Charles H. Lovej'oy, Samuel Young
Lum, Peter McVicar, and Roswell Davenport Parker, facing p. 321.
U. S. ARMY AND Am FORCE WINGS OVER KANSAS — Concluded 334
With photographs of Boeing B-29 gunners at Smoky Hill Army Air Field,
Salina, and Free French fliers at Dodge City Army Air Field, facing
p. 336, and air force planes on Kansas fields, facing p. 337.
BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 361
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 363
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES . . 366
Number 4— Winter, 1959
PAGE
THE PONY EXPRESS RIDES AGAIN 369
With photographs of altered Pony Express stations still standing in Seneca
and Marysville, and map of the Kansas portion of the Pony Express
route, frontispiece.
CRITIQUE OF CARRUTH'S ARTICLES ON FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS IN KANSAS,
/. Neale Carman, 386
THE FIRST KANSAS LEAD MINES Walter H. Schoewe, 391
With sketches and photographs of Linn county lead mine area, between
pp. 400, 401.
EUGENE WARE'S CONCERN ABOUT A WOMAN, A CHILD, AND GOD,
James C. Malin, 402
RELIGION IN KANSAS DURING THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR —
Concluded Emory Lindquist, 407
THE CENTENNIAL OF LINCOLN'S VISIT TO KANSAS 438
BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 444
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 445
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 450
ERRATA, VOLUME XXV 454
INDEX TO VOLUME XXV 455
(iv)
KANSAS HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Spring 1959
Published by
Kansas State Historical Society
Topeka
NYLE H. MILLER KIRKE MECHEM JAMES C. MALIN
Managing Editor Editor Associate Editor
CONTENTS
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY IN KANSAS,
Alan W. Farley, 1
With Alexander Gardner photographs of bridge building across the Kaw,
and office of the Union Pacific at Wyandotte, 1867, frontispiece, and
portrait of Samuel Hallett, facing p. 1.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND: The Role Played by the Southern
Kansas Towns in the Opening of the Cherokee Strip to Settlement,
Jean C. Lough, 17
With photographs of campers near Arkansas City preparing to make the
run, between pp. 16, 17.
TELEGRAPH BEGINNINGS IN KANSAS John E. Sunder, 32
THE LETTERS OF THE REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM, PIONEER KANSAS MIS-
SIONARY, 1854-1858: Part One, 1854-1855,
Edited by Emory Lindquist, 39
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, SWEDENBORGIAN PUBLICIST: Part Two, Kansas
Exemplar of the Philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg and Herbert
Spencer James C. Malin, 68
THE ANNUAL MEETING: Containing Reports of the Secretary, Treasurer,
Executive and Nominating Committees; Election of Officers; List of
Directors of the Society 104
BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 125
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 126
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 127
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.
Second-class postage has been paid at Topeka, Kan.
THE COVER
The Union Pacific railroad yard at Wyandotte in 1867,
photo by Alexander Gardner. This and the two which follow
are from a collection of 150 photographs which Gardner
took along the line of the Kansas Union Pacific to its end of
track, "20 miles west of Hays," in 1867.
*^QBjjl
• i <
OTHER GARDNER UNION PACIFIC PHOTOGRAPHS OF 1867
Upper: Building a bridge across the Kaw at Wyandotte.
Lower: Office, Union Pacific Railway Co., E. D., at Wyandotte.
Samuel Hallett
(18287-1864)
Hallett energetically proceeded with the building of the Union Pacific from
the Missouri-Kansas line in present Kansas City west through Kansas, until he
was fatally shot by a disgruntled former employee in 1864. Had it not been
for the early death of Hallett and subsequent delays in reorganization of the
company, the Kansas Union Pacific might have been the line which met the Cen-
tral Pacific in Utah in 1869, to form the first railroad link with the West Coast.
THE KANSAS
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Volume XXV Spring, 1959 Number 1
Samuel Hallett and the Union Pacific Railway
Company in Kansas
ALAN W. FARLEY
(Copyright, 1958, by ALAN W. FARLEY)
E honor of being first to suggest an overland railroad to the
-L Pacific seems to belong to Robert Mills, engineer and architect,
of Baltimore, who was later to design the Washington monument
and several pre-Civil War buildings at the national capitol. Writ-
ing in 1820 with extraordinary clarity of vision and at least nine
years before the first American railroad line on which a locomotive
was used, Mills noted that the voyage around Cape Horn to the
mouth of the Columbia river and return required about ten months
and that a
short direct and certain means of communication should be established over
the continent to the Pacific ocean. . . . When the Yellow Stone expedi-
tion has accomplished the object of forming a settlement at or near the junction
of this river with the Missouri, and an expedition is sent up the Columbia river
to form a settlement for the protection of trade in that country, we shall no
doubt find our government fully sensible of the importance of completing a
good rail or turnpike road, between the two points. ... To calculate on
the aid of steamboats upon these waters, and upon an application of the same
moving power to carriages upon railroads, across the mountains, we may esti-
mate an average progress of eighty miles per day on this rout, which would
enable us to accomplish the journey in little more than sixty five days from the
City of Washington to the Pacific ocean.1
It wasn't until the 1850's that Mills' prophetic dream became a
real possibility. The government then conducted surveys of several
alternate transcontinental routes but sectional rivalry and bitterness
in congress precluded the possibility of any compromise choice be-
tween several possible northern and southern roads.
ALAN W. FARLEY, president of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1957-1958, is an
attorney of Kansas City. He is an outstanding authority on Western Americana, and has
published several works on Kansas City and Western history. This article was Farley's
presidential address before the annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society on
October 21, 1958.
1. Robert Mills, A Treatise on Inland Navigation (Baltimore, 1820), pp. 53-59. The
Carbondale and Honesdale railroad was the first railroad in America on which a locomotive
was used. It opened in 1829. In 1852 an unknown writer in the Emigrant, a weekly
newspaper of Ann Arbor, Mich., suggested a plan for a railroad from New York to Oregon
by way of the Great Lakes and the Platte river valley. — Edwin L. Sabin, Building the
Pacific Railway (Philadelphia, 1919), p. 14.
2,: KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
When the Civil War commenced, the two railroads extending the
greatest distance west of the Mississippi were both in Missouri.
The Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad joined those towns over a dis-
tance of 206 miles and the Pacific railroad of Missouri was slowly
building west to connect St. Louis with Kansas City, helped by state
aid. This latter road reached Sedalia in 1861 when military activity
stopped railroad building. Both these routes were prime targets of
guerrilla raids and service on them was often disrupted during the
war.2
Of the more than eleven hundred railroads chartered by various
Kansas legislatures, several were lines to run in and along the Kansas
valley. The Kansas Central Railroad Company, one of the most im-
portant, had been surveyed and was designed to go west from
Wyandotte, cross the river at Lawrence and through Lecompton
and Topeka. Every town that hoped to grow and survive had to
have one or more railroad lines — at least on paper. The Leaven-
worth, Pawnee and Western Railroad Company was chartered by
the "bogus" Legislature of 1855 and had done some surveying on
its route from Leavenworth to Fort Riley. But this was just another
visionary railroad until it had acquired a fortune in Delaware Indian
land. On May 30, 1860, through a treaty at Sarcoxieville on the
Delaware reservation, the promoters of this road gained 223,966
acres of Kansas valley land for $1.25 an acre. The railroad had no
money so by another treaty made on July 2, 1861, it was agreed that
the company could give a mortgage to secure the entire purchase
price. By selling this land in parcels to settlers and influential spec-
ulators, its railroad stock became valuable, and important support
for congressional action in favor of the road was obtained.
When the Southern members of congress withdrew, several con-
troversial measures that they had formerly successfully resisted were
enacted into law. New states and territories were created, and the
homestead law and the Pacific railroad law were enacted. This
latter measure resulted from a compromise between the influences
of St. Louis and Chicago, and was justified as a war measure to pro-
tect the Western coast. At the time it was stated that the passage
of the Pacific railroad act was due to the efforts of California and
Kansas. At any rate, on July 1, 1862, the Union Pacific and the
Central Pacific railroads were created and the Leavenworth, Pawnee
& Western Railroad Company was authorized to construct a rail-
road and telegraph line from the state line of Missouri at the mouth
2. Walter Williams and Floyd Shoemaker, Missouri, Mother of the West (Chicago.
1930), v. 1, p. 561 et seq.
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 3
of the Kansas river (there to connect with the Pacific railroad of
Missouri on the south side of the Missouri river), thence westward
to the 100th meridian of longitude, there to unite with several rail-
roads from Missouri and Iowa. The route west of Fort Riley was
to be subject to the approval of the President, and each company
was required to complete 100 miles of road within two years after
filing their assent to the conditions of the act.
In order to help finance construction, it was provided that gov-
ernment bonds in the amount of $16,000 per mile would be issued
upon the completion of each 40-mile section of road after acceptance
of the section by government commissioners; these bonds to be a
first mortgage on all property of the railroad. A grant of alternate
sections of land within the limit of ten miles on each side of the
railroad was to be made upon the approval of each 40-mile section
built.
The Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad Company,
through its president, J. H. McDowell, accepted the provisions of
the act on November 15, 1862, although O. B. Gunn and Colonel
Medbury had commenced survey for the route several months
earlier. The Union Pacific Railroad Company delayed until the
following June to notify the government of its acceptance.3 At the
end of 1862 the press could report that only 30 men were employed
on the railroad at Leavenworth.4
Previous to May 28, 1863, a controlling portion of the capital stock
of the L. P. & W. was sold to Samuel Hallett and John C. Fremont.5
In the business world of that day these were magic names. Hallett
was a young investment banker with offices in New York City, who
had acted as financial agent of the Atlantic & Great Western rail-
way, one of the successful railroad enterprises in the East. He also
had extensive connections with capitalists in this country and
Europe. John C. Fremont had become wealthy through the sale
of his Rancho de los Mariposas in California and was the darling
of the radicals in Washington who opposed the Lincoln administra-
tion. He had been an authentic hero of Western exploration but
his military failure in the Civil War presaged the decline of his fame.
A few days later the stockholders elected General Fremont presi-
dent, and changed the name of the corporation to the Union Pacific
Railway Company, Eastern Division. ( In 1868 this name was again
changed to the Kansas Pacific Railway Company. ) Hallett became
3. James H. Simpson, Report on the Union Pacific Railroad and Branches (Washington,
November, 1865), pp. 2-88.
4. Wyandotte Commercial Gazette, January 10, 1863.
5. Ibid., June 13, 1863; Points of Law and Argument for Complainant . . ., Stevens
vs. Kansas Pacific Railway, U. S. circuit court, district of Kansas (1874), p. 5.
4 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
general superintendent of the railroad and sole contractor for its
construction.6
After making financial preparations and letting contracts for nec-
essary rails and other iron for the first 50 miles of road, Hallett
arrived at the offices of the company at Leavenworth on August 11,
1863. The following day he took possession of the railroad by the
simple expedient of driving the employees of Ross, Steel & Company,
contractors of Montreal, Canada, who had been employed by the
L. P. & W., away from their job of grading the right-of-way. One
account says that a company of cavalry from Fort Leavenworth was
obtained to back up Hallett's party. The victims retaliated by re-
sorting to sundry litigation but their suits were defeated in the
United States circuit court at Keokuk.7 At this time Hallett, who
understood the uses of propaganda, published a long letter officially
endorsing his project. John P. Usher, then Secretary of the In-
terior, with the approval of the President,8 declared that the govern-
ment favored the Kansas valley route for an overland railroad, an
action which must have made the Union Pacific investors and resi-
dents of Iowa and Nebraska unhappy.
At the time Leavenworth had become the largest city of Kansas
due to the many beneficial influences of the nearby fort and to the
steamboat traffic of the Missouri river. Other cities, St. Joseph and
Kansas City, coveted her trade and her metropolitan air as economic
adjustments due to the Civil War boomed Leavenworth and slowed
her rivals, notably Kansas City. But the location of the Union Pa-
cific, E. D., and other railroads, helped to turn away all this war-
time prosperity. Railroads were destined to supplant steamboats
and the trade of Fort Leavenworth was to decline after the war, due
to the economy of army activities.9
Warring political factions within the city of Leavenworth made
concerted municipal action well-nigh impossible and were a horrid
example of what can result from failure to exploit civic opportunity.
The community assumed that it was indispensable to the railroad.
The situation was clear to outsiders, for a Kansas City editor al-
luded to that attitude with some sarcasm:
The Leavenworth newspapers are perpetrating a huge joak [sic] about the
Great Pacific Railroad. The entire editorial force of the city have turned out
6. Ibid., pp. 5, 6.
7. Western Journal of Commerce, Kansas City, Mo., November 7, 1863; The Daily
Times, Leavenworth, August 12, 13, 1863; John D. Cruise, "Early Days on the Union
Pacific," Kansas Historical Collections, v. 11 (1909-1910), p. 535; C. A. Trowbridge to
James F. Joy, September 26 and October 1, 1863, in "Burton Historical Collections," Detroit
Public Library, Detroit, Mich.
8. Kansas City (Mo.) Daily Journal of Commerce, April 5, 1864; The Daily Times,
Leavenworth, August 20, 1863.
9. The prosperity of Leavenworth was further retarded by high railroad rates which
"broke" or dropped at Kansas City on shipments to the East.
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 5
with pick and shovel and gone to work on the road, and expect to have it
completed through to California in a couple of weeks. They are going to have
it run three times around Leavenworth, so as to be sure that it will stop there.
But the great difficulty for them to determine is whether they will build most
of it by telegraph, stage or newspaper puffs — probably the latter. They are
going to commence it to-morrow or yesterday — and they are also discussing
the propriety, after a few miles of it is built, of "breaking it off" and running
it into the ground for fear it may go to some other town besides Leavenworth.10
Late in August, Hallett proposed to the mayor and council of
Leavenworth that the city subscribe $100,000 for stock of the rail-
road.11 The people of that metropolis were nobly trying to relieve
the stricken inhabitants of Lawrence, who had been raided by the
Quantrill gang just a week earlier. A conference with the city
fathers about the subscription of stock was unsatisfactory, so Hallett
retaliated by moving the principal offices of the company to Wyan-
dotte.
It was then decided by the company that the main line would be
built directly west to Fort Riley, instead of detouring through
Leavenworth, then west from that place, as the Leavenworth in-
vestors desired. A branch line was designed to run from Lawrence
to Leavenworth, there to connect with the Hannibal & St. Joseph
railroad which had been extended south to Weston, Mo. To this
day a resident of Leavenworth has to travel through Kansas City
or St. Joseph going east by rail. The paved highways are similarly
routed.
The Congregational Record, Lawrence, for October, 1862, carried
a long account of Wyandotte and summarized its situation: "The
[Indian] Reserve on one side, and Rebeldom on the other, have pre-
vented Wyandot from reaching its early expectations. Loose clap-
boards, broken windows, and faded paint, indicate a place where
early growth surpassed its subsequent importance." To this scene
came Hallett & Co.
The railroad's eastern terminus was the Missouri line. It was to
cross the Kansas river near Splitlog's mill two miles south of Wyan-
dotte, and proceed up the north side of the Kansas valley. The
company advertised for a thousand laborers and offered $1.50 per
day, payable in cash every Saturday night.
On September 12, 1863, the Wyandotte Gazette recorded that
Last Monday at 10& o'clock A. M. work on the Union Pacific R. Road was
commenced. . . . Mr. Hallett . . . gave directions ... to clear
a space 50 feet on each side of the [state] line [for the eager spectators]. Mr.
Silas Armstrong [a leader among the Wyandotte Indians], and A. B. Bartlett
10. Daily Journal of Commerce, January 6, 1863.
11. The Daily Times, August 29, 1863.
6 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Esq., [attorney for the road], each claimed the privilege of cutting the first tree.
Each held his ax, standing by trees of about the same size. Mr. Hallett gave
the order to cut, and both trees fell about the same instant. A single cheer
resounded through the woods. . . .
Within two days two miles of right-of-way had been cleared.
Hallett caused a great post to be set at this initial point at the
state line; the side facing Missouri was inscribed "Slavery" and on
the side facing west toward Kansas the symbol was "Freedom/*
A week later the press exulted that the railroad had an excavating
machine that does the work of a hundred men, and that a telegraph
office was opened in Killings building at Third and Minnesota. By
September 26 nine miles of railroad had been located, half of that
cleared, and more than a third graded. The following week the
railroad office on Third street got an iron safe as large as a medium-
sized store room, and five miles of road bed had been graded. One
hundred Canadians arrived to work on the construction. The paper
chronicled that they were at work on a deep cut a few miles beyond
the Delaware Ferry on October 24 and were an honest and indus-
trious lot of men.
All this activity boomed Wyandotte but the railroad right-of-way
missed the town. Hallett's business acumen again came into play
as he secured more working capital for the road. After some nego-
tiation, the citizens by a margin of 286 to 3 voted that the county
issue $100,000 in bonds to be traded to Hallett for paid stock in the
railroad; and in return the railroad agreed to construct 1.77 miles of
spur track to the Wyandotte levee, erect freight and passenger de-
pots, and keep its turntables, machine shops, and engine houses
there. That same month (November) the railroad was being
graded at the rate of two miles a day, the graders reached the vicin-
ity of Lawrence and the first section of 40 miles, most of the route
through heavy timber, was ready for track. The city fathers were
advised to fix "our magnificent spring on the bank of the Kaw" for
the railroad spur had passed directly over it on a culvert.
In December ground was at last broken in Omaha for that
"branch" of the Pacific railroad, while iron rails had been brought
to Weston, Mo., by train, and shipped by steamer to Wyandotte.
The same month the Alexander Majors, loaded with railroad iron
got stuck on a bar 12 miles below Leavenworth and then became
ice-bound and didn't get to the levee at Wyandotte until February
7, 1864. People were so elated they saluted the steamer by firing
the local cannon. The following week more iron arrived and the
first locomotive, The Wyandotte, was set on the tracks that had been
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 7
quickly laid down on the spur at the levee. This locomotive had
been used on the Platte Valley railroad during the bad weather until
it could be brought here. V. J. Lane, who was at the Montana
mines at the time, writing much later says that John Hallett man-
aged to run the locomotive into the river, but the editor of the
Gazette simply says that two wheels got off the track on one of its
trips.
Much has been written about the route of the railroad at Law-
rence and Topeka, for these cities were on the south side of the
river. Originally it was designed that the railroad would pass both
towns by several miles on the most direct westerly line. On De-
cember 7, 1863, the Department of Interior received a petition from
Sen. James H. Lane and other citizens of Lawrence asking that
Hallett & Co. be required to run the road to the north bank of the
river opposite Lawrence and Topeka.12 By January, 1864, the road
was graded past Lawrence and the telegraph poles were set.13
Senator Lane is reputed to have used extraordinary pressure on
the railroad officials in favor of the route to Lawrence, causing the
abandonment of six miles of grading already completed, making
the line two and one-half miles longer and causing the extension
from Leavenworth which joined the road at that point to be two
miles longer, all at costs estimated to be $315,000. All factions in
the city joined in a resolution on January 6, 1864, that "the people
of Lawrence are ready and willing to secure necessary depot
grounds and remunerate the U. P. R. R. for all accommodations ex-
tended fo our city." 14
During March a second locomotive, The Delaware, was delivered
at the Wyandotte levee by the steamer Emilie-, six miles of track
had been laid, and the locomotive whistle resounded in the land.
On April 6 the directors of the railroad took a trip about ten miles
west on the new rails and afterward held a meeting in McAlpin's
Hall in Wyandotte where they heard that the first section of 40
miles was ready for rails, and that 84 bridges along the line, in-
cluding the bridge over the Kansas river, were all nearly completed.
Later that month an excursion party of ladies and gentlemen from
Wyandotte took a ride to Muncietown on the railroad and had a
picnic dinner in the woods.
12. National Archives, "Journal of Letters Received — Lands and Railroads," December
7, 1863.
13. Hallett characteristically announced a celebration feast for the employees upon the
completion of grading the first section of 40 miles. Among the delicacies to be consumed
on the occasion were 500 tins of oysters. — Western Journal of Commerce, November 21,
1863.
14. Daily Tribune, Lawrence, August 28, 1864.
8 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
At the annual meeting of the stockholders at the office of the
company in Leavenworth in April, John D. Perry, president of the
Exchange Bank, of St. Louis, was elected president of the railroad
in place of John C. Fremont, who was also dropped as a director.
The same day another set of directors met at Leavenworth and
elected its officers with General Fremont as president.
At the railroad meeting at McAlpin's Hall, Hallett discussed his
difficulty with General Fremont who headed this rival organization
of directors within the corporate structure. It seems that this crowd
based its claim on the possession of certain stocks subscribed by
J. C. Stone of Leavenworth, who was also a director of the Omaha
group. The previous December the company had assessed a pay-
ment of ten percent on all stock and neither Stone nor the holders
of this stock paid the assessment, and under the terms of the charter
such delinquents had no right to vote. It was also disclosed that
Hallett had since acquired the stock from Stone, had then paid the
assessment, the company had ratified the transfer, and he had be-
come the bona fide holder of the stock. Hallett said that the as-
sociates of Fremont had prevented an amicable settlement. By the
purchase of Stone's interest, Hallet became the owner of most of the
stock of the company.
The editor of the Kansas City (Mo.) Journal of Commerce was
vitally interested in progress of the railroad. On April 5, 1864, he
editorialized:
The inherent difficulties of the work itself are great. The country is denuded
of labor, so that the workmen have had to be brought mainly from Canada.
Wages are high; lumber, iron, locomotives, cars, etc., all cost more than ever
before. The road is unconnected with any other completed railroad, and is at
so great a distance from iron manufacturers that the transportation of rails is
not only a tedious but a costly job. . . . But in addition to all this they
[Hallett & Co.] have had the most vexatious and harassing opposition from
outside parties to contend with. Suit after suit has been brought against them —
their iron attached, their means locked up by injunctions, and every species of
legal persecution practiced against them. We have now before us the printed
briefs of a suit now pending in New York that reveal a species of opposition
which, we venture to say, railroad enterprises in this country have very rarely
encountered. So far, the parties prosecuting the work have triumphed over
every difficulty.
He then quoted a letter from Secretary Usher and Postmaster Gen-
eral Blair, to show that Hallett & Co. had the complete confidence
and support of the government.
Col. William C. McDowell also spoke at the railroad meeting, and
the same editor summarized his remarks. As president of the old
organization, the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western railroad, he told
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 9
of the failure of Ross, Steele & Co., the first contractors, to accom-
plish any results through lack of capital and initiative. McDowell
then went to New York to try to interest capitalists there in the
enterprise.
He met a number of them at Delmonicos, and laid the project before them,
but none of them would touch it. Kansas was too far away. It was a time of
war. The road was on the very border. There was too much risk in it. He
found no encouragement until he met Mr. [Samuel] Hallett. That gentleman
investigated the project, became satisfied of its feasibility, and at once em-
barked on it with all his might. He was the only man in New York who dared
to risk his name and his money in the enterprise. It was due to his boldness
and sagacity that we were indebted for the prospect now so fair of the suc-
cessful carrying through of this great work.15
On July 1, 1864, Hallett sent letters with a beautiful engraved
invitation to influential persons all over the country to attend the
opening of the first section of 40 miles on the following August 18.
Those who accepted were offered a free pass to Kansas and return,
and would be met by a reception committee at Weston, Mo. It was
evident that Hallett was intent on building on to meet the Cali-
fornia section, then being constructed eastward from Sacramento.
John Speer later remembered that Hallett had said, "I hope to live
to ride on this road to the Pacific but if my life should be lost, my
brothers will push the work as if I lived.16
The law under which the Pacific railroads were being built was
amended by congress on July 2, 1864, to increase the land granted
to 12,800 acres of land per each mile of right-of-way east of the
Rocky Mountains, double the amount of land granted by the original
act. The railroads were also allowed to issue first mortgage bonds
in amounts equal to the government bonds, the latter to be a second
lien on the railroad property. The act also required construction of
the branch line from Lawrence to Leavenworth and directed that
the right-of-way be built to the north bank of the river opposite
Lawrence and Topeka, and in effect, the first railroad to reach the
100th degree of longitude was given the right of way to build west-
ward to connect with the Central Pacific then building eastward
from California. Hallett & Co. was influential in securing this leg-
islation which made investment in the land-grant railroad much
more attractive to investors and the future growth of the railroad
seemed secure.
In Lawrence, where Hallett was advertising for more men to lay
rails, the Daily Tribune announced a railroad meeting the following
night to "give this Railroad King of the West a joyous greeting."
15. Kansas City Journal of Commerce, April 9, 1864.
16. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, July 28, 1864.
10 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The following evening Hallett discussed the great celebration of
August 18 and asked the city to furnish four committees to promote
the occasion: (1) To locate the depot; (2) To procure workmen
for the railroad; (3) To secure a large attendance from southern
Kansas; (4) Ladies to provide for the large number of expected
visitors. These plans were enthusiastically adopted, and a few days
later 150 men were laying rails near Sarcoxie.17 If this progress
seems modest, it must be remembered that the Civil War made such
material and labor hard to obtain.
At this point fate intervened. On July 27, Hallett was shot in the
back by an embittered former employee, Orlando Talcott, near the
company offices on Third street in Wyandotte. Talcott had been
sent to Wyandotte as chief engineer by Fremont, and at the down-
fall of the general, had been replaced by Hallett & Co. It appears
that Talcott retaliated by sending an unfavorable report of the
manner of constructing the road-bed by the Halletts to the govern-
ment, which was required to inspect and accept the road in 40-mile
sections, before the railroad could draw the government bonds of
$16,000 per mile allowed by law. All accounts agree that Samuel
Hallett left instructions to kick Talcott out of the company office if
he called there again. A few days later Thomas Hallett, a brother
and a burly fellow, spanked Talcott and literally threw him out of
the office, taking a pistol away from Talcott in the process.
Talcott brooded over his wrongs and planned to have revenge on
Hallett.18
John D. Cruise, a prominent figure in early Wyandotte, was an
eye witness to the murder, and pictures the tragic scene.
Samuel Hallett was sitting by me at the dinner table at the Garno House,
remarking as he rose to go, "I will leave a telegram at your office; do not hurry
your meal; it is not important." He crossed the street to write the message —
it was a very warm day, and he recrossed to get his umbrella, and started north
on Third Street toward the general offices, which were in what was known as
the Brick Block. ... He had gone half a block, spoke to persons sitting
in front of Holcomb's drug store, Talcott among the rest, for he was a very
affable, gentlemanly man. Talcott, after he had passed, raised the heavy
repeating rifle which he carried and shot him in the back. Talcott had been
in my office just before noon, and I had asked him to dine with me, but he
refused. Jack Beaton, John M. Funk, the mayor, and myself had just finished
our meal and saw the whole proceeding. We all ran to the scene, picked up
Hallett, and carried him back to the Garno House, but he expired before we
reached the hotel. The bullet cut the strap of his white duck trousers and
lodged in his abdomen near the navel, but did not pass through. He exclaimed,
"My God. My God!" Talcott instantly mounted his horse which he had
17. Ibid., July 19, 20, 22, 1864.
18. Cruise, loc. cit., p. 538; Wyandotte Gazette, July 30, 1864.
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 11
hitched conveniently, and rode off towards Quindaro, where he lived at the
time. Because of the enmity towards Hallett by many of the people living at
Quindaro, the hunt for Talcott was impeded and he was never apprehended.
He stopped for a few moments at his home [at Quindaro] and rode on into
oblivion, although a large reward had been offered for his arrest.19
Sabin quoted a government report which appraised Hallett as "a
man of genius, of boundless energy and enthusiasm, fertile in ex-
pedients, bold and prompt in action. Had he lived he would have
been a master spirit in the construction of the Union Pacific Rail-
way, and probably one of the leading railroad men of the coun-
try."20
To follow the history of the U. P. E. D. after Hallett's death re-
quires a look at the financing of the company so that the actions and
motives of various parties may be understood. After coming into
the railroad as financial agent of Fremont, Hallett had been em-
ployed on November 7, 1863, to construct the entire line of road
by the board of directors.
Later he acquired 99,800 more shares of the capital stock of the
Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western from James C. Stone and A. J.
Isaacs. This made him virtually owner of the corporation, leaving
only a few shares held by the other directors.21 Besides the pur-
chase of stock, he paid $625,000 into the railroad to create an op-
erating fund.22 In order to obtain more working capital, he went
to John D. Perry, president of the Exchange Bank of St. Louis. By
written agreements dated February 22, 1864, Perry agreed to loan
$750,000, of which $250,000 was to be advanced for the construction
of the first 40-mile section, this sum to be repaid when the govern-
ment accepted the section, the government bonds then to be avail-
able to cover the debt. To secure this fund, Hallett was required to
pledge one- third of all shares standing in his name (38,163 shares)
and Perry was to get one-fourth of two-thirds of all the profits of
Hallett's construction contract, but Perry was to have no control of
the building of the road.23
At Perry's suggestion, Hallett had secured $150,000 more from
John How, Adolphus Meier, and Giles F. Filley, three St. Louis
merchants who were eager to get into the enterprise, but Hallett
had to pledge 61,637 more shares of stock.24 Hallett was also forced
19. "Criminal Appearance Docket," case No. 104, district court of Wyandotte county,
Kansas.
20. Sabin, op. cit., pp. 88, 89.
21. Allegation in "Stevens vs. Kansas Pacific Railway," see Footnote 5.
22. Allegation in "Hallett's Heirs vs. Kansas Pacific Railway Company" in Supreme
Court of United States, 1879.
23. Hallet-Perry contracts, in "John Byers Anderson Papers," manuscript division, Kan-
sas State Historical Society.
24. Case No. 731, "Court Files," district court of Wyandotte county, Kansas.
12 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
to commission Thomas C. Durant, vice-president of the Union Pa-
cific Railroad Company, as financial agent of the U. P. E. D., for
which Durant was to take another one-fourth of two-thirds of Hal-
lett's construction profits.25
Hallett was just 36 years old when he was slain, and his wife, Ann
Eliza, with his children, were traveling in Europe.26 The day after
his death, John L. Hallett, a brother, told the press: "I shall push
the work with as much vigor as ever. Shall pay on Saturday night/'
A few days later a delegation from Lawrence went out to the end
of the road to confer with the surviving Hallett brothers, John L.
and Thomas, about the approaching celebration. They had to go
on to Wyandotte where after a consultation the festivity was post-
poned, due to the death of Samuel Hallett and the want of proper
coaches.27
Perry's agents met Mrs. Hallett when she disembarked at New
York and got her to renounce the right to finish her husband's con-
struction contract and to surrender it to the railroad.28 Thereupon
Perry, as president of the company, discharged the Hallett brothers,
who with the help of Durant, as a surviving partner, were trying to
lay rails on the last four miles of the first section. Immediately the
business of building the road ground to a halt. Workmen had to
sue to collect their wages. So many small suits were filed that at-
torneys had their pleadings printed with a few blank spaces only
needing to be filled in.
On August 21 Perry came out to Lawrence for another railroad
meeting. He reminded the citizens of the resolution of January 6
and read a letter of Senator Lane to Hallett that ended with: "The
City of Lawrence to pay the additional cost of that part of the grade
you are compelled to vacate, and the additional expense of the
grade per mile that the new route costs over and above the old
route." The inevitable committee was appointed to deal with this
matter.29
Perry wrote shortly afterward: "Mrs. Hallett will be here on Mon-
day or Tuesday with Geo. McDowell. I know not what I can do
with her. I have the road under my control, all the Hallett [s] left
[of] it."30
25. Contract in National Archives, Railroad Package No. 80.
26. Daily Tribune, Lawrence, July 30, 1864; allegation in "Hallett's Heirs vs. Kansas
Pacific," supra.
27. Daily Tribune, Lawrence, July 29, August 3, 1864.
28. Perry to Anderson, September 18, 1864, "Anderson Papers," loc. cit.; also allega-
tion in "Hallett's Heirs vs. Kansas Pacific," supra.
29. Daily Tribune, August 21, 1864.
30. See Footnote 28.
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 13
Perry's agents brought Mrs. Hallett to Wyandotte and had her
appointed administratrix of her husband's estate although neither
of the Halletts were residents of Kansas. They provided an attor-
ney, John K. Hale, who was a director of the railroad and a partner
of Allison B. Bartlett, who represented Perry in the ensuing litiga-
tion. Mrs. Hallett was induced to appoint Hale as her attorney-in-
fact and through him relinquished the valuable contract to construct
the railroad and, being persuaded that Hallett was bankrupt, filed
an inventory showing Hallett's estate to have assets of only $4,414.71,
listing only tools and cheap equipment of no use to anyone but the
railroad company.31
Perry sued Hallett's estate and Hale accepted service for Mrs.
Hallett who was "temporarily out of the state." How, Meier, and
Filley also sued under the same conditions. Perry got judgment for
$264,250 which included interest, then had the 38,163 shares he held
as security appraised for $290.85 and the shares were auctioned at
sheriff's sale to the railroad for $287.73 which sum was duly credited
in Hallett's estate against Perry's judgment. In the suit of John
How, et. al, $462.28 was bid for 61,637 shares. Judgment was taken
in both suits on April 11, 1865, and the sheriff's sale was held on
August 14. So the railroad took all of Hallett's pledged stock for
$740.01, or for about three-fourths of a cent per share. At the same
time John Byers Anderson was buying stock from the railroad com-
pany and paying its full par value of $50.00 a share.32
This legal chicanery was perpetrated at the expense of all the
urgency to build — to keep ahead of the Nebraska railroad so Perry
and the investors at St. Louis could make a killing. It wasn't until
April 25, 1865, that Perry could file an affidavit that the first section
of 40 miles had been completed.33 A few days later President John-
son appointed commissioners to examine the road, who made a
favorable report on May 5, 1865, although they noted certain de-
fects and that the railroad must count the 1.77 miles of the spur
track to Wyandotte in order to have a whole section of 40 miles.34
Fate again intervened. John P. Usher, who had been quite
friendly to the road and at one time expected to be its president,
had resigned from the cabinet several months earlier and left the
Department of the Interior on May 15. He was succeeded by Sen.
James Harlan, of Iowa, who naturally favored the company about
31. "Estate of Samuel Hallett," deceased, probate court of Wyandotte county, Kansas. —
See, also, Footnote 22.
32. Cases 731 and 732, "Court Files," district court of Wyandotte county, Kansas.
33. "Journal of Letters Received — Lands and Railroads," loc. cit.
34. Simpson, op. cit., p. 90.
14 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
to build the route through Nebraska,35 where the first 20 miles of
track was not reported laid until October 28, 1865. Perry and his
friends had to conduct U. P. E. D. business with a government
bureaucrat who had no desire to see them get ahead. Then, too,
Usher became general solicitor for U. P. E. D. and Harlan disliked
his cabinet predecessor intensely. So "red tape" in the current
Washington fashion became a critical problem.36
Secretary Harlan after approving the report of the government
commissioners reconsidered the matter and recommended that a
re-examination be made by a new commission, to consist of a com-
petent engineer to be selected by the Secretary of War, Harvey D.
Scott of Terre Haute, and Governor Crawford, of Kansas. General
McCallum, director and general manager of the military railroads,
considered additional proofs concluding with a recommendation
that the report of the former commissioners be accepted. This re-
port was then certified to the treasury with a presidential endorse-
ment.
In the meantime, the proponents of the Nebraska line were busy
trying to delay approval by the government. Next the rival or-
ganization in the U. P. E. D., headed by Edward Learned and E. R.
Meade, his attorney, addressed the secretary claiming that the group
represented by John D. Perry and John P. Usher were spurious di-
rectors, and not entitled to the government subsidy. The secretary,
taking heed of affairs in Kansas on September 7 asked that approval
of the road be rescinded and new commissioners be appointed, due
to the railroad bridge over the Kansas river near Wyandotte and
certain portions of track having been swept away by recent storms.
The President responded by appointing Lt. Col. James H. Simpson
to serve with Harvey D. Scott and Governor Crawford.37
This board made a minute examination and an extended report
unfavorable to the railroad, which was not signed by Governor
Crawford, who addressed President Andrew Johnson by letter dated
October 13, 1865. July, August, and September were
memorable for singular and disastrous succession of heavy rains, destructive
storms and fearful tornadoes. On the 21st of August last, one of the most
violent and destructive swept over an immense range. . . .
In the City of Leavenworth on one occasion many houses were swept into
the Missouri river, carrying with them men, women and children, a number of
whom were drowned.
35. Harlan as senator and member of a select committee had effectively promoted the
interests of the main line through Iowa and Nebraska in the acts of 1862 and 1864. — See
John P. Davis, The Union Pacific Railway (Chicago, 1894), pp. 102, 119.
36. Harlan to Perry, ibid., p. 105.
37. Ibid., p. 93.
SAMUEL HALLETT AND THE UNION PACIFIC RY. 15
In consequence . . . the Union Pacific Railroad suffered greatly. Por-
tions of the track were temporarily damaged, bridges, ties and other property
carried away and destroyed, all of which have been repaired except the bridge
over the Kansas River near its mouth, and upon this work is going on and will
be completed before the Missouri Pacific road is extended to the State line
which is necessary to form the junction.38
About this time the Daily Tribune of Lawrence reported that
there were good omens for the future of the railroad for it had pur-
chased two passenger coaches and another engine and that there
was a large shipment of rails at Weston. This may have helped
satisfy one of the objections by the government.39
Perry was authorized by the board of directors to use the expected
government subsidy to deal with the dissident directors led by Fre-
mont and Learned.
On November 6 William J. Palmer, secretary and treasurer of the
railroad, reported that he had assigned $200,000 in bonds to Fre-
mont's agent, that he had disposed of Learned at Washington and
that Durant's resistance had been ineffectual.40 Perry felt that the
settlement was a master-stroke, for the assignment of bonds when
received by the company, would bind the Fremont group to support
the future interests of the railroad.
Also, the company employed the Robert M. Shoemaker Company
to build the rest of the road. This group agreed to build the
branch line from Leavenworth to Lawrence for $600,000 in first
mortgage bonds, plus $250,000 in Leavenworth county bonds, plus
$22,000 per mile in full paid capital stock.41
At a conference with the President and Harlan in October, Perry
and his associates consented to make whatever changes and im-
provements in the right-of-way and equipment required by the
government. The first section was then finally accepted. An addi-
tional section of 20 miles was certified to be ready on November 11,
1865, and was officially approved a month later, but the delay of
16 months had allowed the Union Pacific in Nebraska to catch up,
and the U. P. E. D. had lost the commanding lead over its rival,
which had been secured by Hallett's enterprise.42
Mrs. Hallett delayed until 1873 to file suit against the Kansas
Pacific railroad, successor of the U. P. E. D., in the circuit court of
the United States at Leavenworth. By that time it was too late to
38. Crawford to Andrew Johnson, October 13, 1865, in National Archives, Railroad
Package Nos. 345, 346. Also contains original report of Scott and Simpson.
39. Daily Tribune, October 29, 1864.
40. Palmer to Anderson, November 6, 1865, "Anderson Papers," loc. cit.
41. Union Pacific Railroad Co., E. D. — Robert M. Shoemaker, et al., agreement, July
1, 1865, ibid.
42. A. T. Andreas and W. G. Cutler, History of the State of Kansas (Chicago, 1883),
p. 246.
16 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
complain of fraudulent actions that had been a matter of record
nine years earlier. She itemized the value of her husband's estate
to the aggregate of 15 million dollars, all of which the railroad had
fraudulently taken from her. The allegations of the suit are quite
interesting, but many details not mentioned herein are not suscep-
tible to verification now. The Union Pacific Railroad Company
simply does not now permit research in its archives and I do not
know what careful inquiry there would disclose, if anything at all.
Mrs. Hallett's suit was lost by demurrer at Leavenworth and the
supreme court affirmed this judgment in 1879.
It is always great fun to speculate on what might have been — had
Hallett survived. Of course, such a presumption is productive of
nothing, but it certainly requires no great stretch of imagination to
visualize Hallett, with his great energy and resources driving the
road out to the one hundredth meridian before his rivals in Ne-
braska, and then forging on with friendly government help to join
with the Central Pacific of California; for the Nebraska road did not
reach the 100th meridian until more than two years after Hallett's
death.
John J. Ingalls might well have had this Kansas railroad in mind
when he wrote the immortal sonnet on lost "Opportunity ."
Gateways to the Promised Land
THE ROLE PLAYED BY THE SOUTHERN KANSAS TOWNS IN THE
OPENING OF THE CHEROKEE STRIP TO SETTLEMENT
JEAN C. LOUGH
FOR a brief while, in 1893, southern Kansas was the focus of
attention throughout the United States. Thousands of people
flocked to the area. Correspondents for the great Eastern news-
papers were present, sending out dozens of dispatches daily. The
cause of this tremendous interest was the opening of the Cherokee
strip, Indian territory, to settlement.
Elsewhere in the United States lay millions of uninhabited acres,
but the interest was in this strip of land — roughly 58 by 150 miles
— where the very atmosphere was reputed to be "electric and
full of life-giving properties." 1
There were many reasons for this interest in the Cherokee out-
let, or "strip," as it was called. Perhaps the greatest was that the
land was forbidden. It had been supposed it would be the home
of the Indian forever. Three railroads crossed it, but no settle-
ment was permitted within it. The areas to the north and south
were well populated. The homesteader wished to save the strip
for civilization; he wished to break the power of the great cattle-
men's combine, which, until 1890, had been using it. The railroads
wished to see it settled, in order to increase their own profit.
The southern border towns of Kansas of course saw possibilities
for great financial gain. They saw the strip as a vast new trade
territory which would necessarily be dependent upon them for
goods and services of all types. They also, expected the advent
of many new residents — preferably "capitalists."
When the Indian appropriation bill of March 3, 1893, was
finally approved by congress, it contained the legislation necessary
to carry out the cession of the Cherokee outlet from the Cherokee
nation to the federal government, to pay the Cherokee nation the
sum agreed upon, $8,595,736.12 and to open the lands to public
settlement. Specifically, the outlet was a strip of land directly
south of and parallel to the southern Kansas border, bounded on
MRS. JEAN C. LOUGH, who received an M. A. degree in history at Colorado University,
Boulder, in 1958, is a resident of Arkansas City.
1. W. S. Prettyman, Indian Territory: A Frontier Photographic Record, selected and
edited by Robert E. Cunningham (Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1957), p. 120.
(17)
2—6551
18 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the east by the Arkansas river and on the west by Beaver county
and Texas. To the south were the Cheyenne and Arapaho reserva-
tions, the Creek nation, and the territory of Oklahoma — or "old
Oklahoma."
"Old Oklahoma" had been settled in 1889, ten years after the
first boomers came to sit upon the Kansas border and gaze at Indian
territory with longing eyes. David L. Payne, the boomer's most
militant leader, had been fond of quoting — "The Lord commandeth
unto Moses: Go forth and possess the Promised Land," and it
became the watchword of the boomer campaign.2 Naturally, the
presence of an area of land in the middle of Indian territory,
unassigned to any one tribe, had invited the greed of the land-
hungry. Once this land was opened, most of the rest of the
Indian's "permanent" home quickly went, piece by piece. Two
years later the boomers were again camped on the Kansas border,
looking southward, and the congress of the United States was in
the process of negotiating for the cession of the Cherokee outlet.
The outlet was not actually occupied by Cherokee Indians. It
had been Comanche and Kiowa territory,3 which had been taken
from them by the government and given to the Cherokees, in
exchange for lands taken from the Cherokees in Georgia. The
Cherokee nation resided upon a rectangular tract to the east of the
outlet. The outlet gave them access to the hunting grounds to
the west. For several years it had been leased by cattlemen for
the grazing of their herds. These cattlemen, united in the Cherokee
Strip Livestock Association, as well as the railroads, had tried
unsuccessfully to buy the strip. The federal government had pro-
hibited it.
Public opinion had become so strong, however, for the opening
of the strip to settlement that the government eventually renounced
its treaties with the Indians, and virtually forced them to sell.
The official position was that the support which the Five Civilized
Tribes (erstwhile owners of Negro slaves) had given the Con-
federate cause during the Civil War had automatically abrogated
the treaties made with the tribes.
When the news reached Kansas that settlement had finally been
arranged with the Indians for the cession of the outlet, the Weekly
Republican Traveler, of Arkansas City, said:
2. Ibid., p. 10
3. Marquis James, The Cherokee Strip: A Tale of an Oklahoma Boyhood (New York,
Viking Press, 1945), p. 10.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 19
For years a little band of faithful men in this city have worked in season
and out of season for the consummation of the end which we are celebrating
today. Money has been expended in large sums in a legitimate way and
the rewards of these sacrificing men have too often been curses and mis-
representation. . . .4
Now there was hope of more substantial rewards.
The little town of Hunnewell was already receiving benefits.
During the early 1890's, after the government had ordered all
cattle removed from the strip, thousands of head of cattle were
driven to the stockyards at Hunnewell for shipment to market or
to other grazing grounds. There was a Santa Fe branch line
terminus at Hunnewell, and the Frisco built an extension down
from South Haven, three miles to the north.5 The population of
the town multiplied. It was a roaring cowtown in the tradition
of the earlier shipping centers.
The nation of course expected an immediate Presidential procla-
mation setting the time of the opening of the strip, but it was slow
in coming. Details needed to be taken care of, and an attempt was
made to find a more satisfactory method of settlement than the
"run" system used in the three previous openings.
While the government was studying, railroads and southern
Kansas towns were acting. Promotion went into high gear.
Boomer literature was printed and widely distributed. Business-
men's clubs and committees raised funds for advertising, and
solicited names of people to whom they could send literature.
Maps of the strip sold for 15 cents apiece. The homesteaders
began arriving in increasing numbers.
Part of the influx was due to the Panic of 1893. Money was
scarce. Banks were closing. Farm prices were dwindling steadily.
The farmers of Kansas were in revolt, and were upsetting Kansas'
political traditions by voting for Populist candidates instead of
Republicans. The great boom of the 1880*8 had burst, and con-
tinued drought, small crops, and low prices, coupled with mortgage
foreclosures, caused many to seek cheap land and a new start.
The boomers were sometimes able to earn a little money by work-
ing for the farmers in the region, but more often they had to rely
upon hunting and fishing to sustain them while they waited.
The Kansas towns which were closest to the border and the
most likely to be the nucleus for would-be-settlers were Arkansas
4. Weekly Republican Traveler, Arkansas City, March 9, 1893.
5. Homer S. Chambers, The Enduring Rock (Blackwell, Okla., Blackwell Publications
Inc., 1954), p. 12.
20 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
City, Gale, Hunnewell, South Haven, Kiowa, Anthony, and Ash-
land. Of these, Arkansas City and Caldwell had by far the greatest
attraction. The two main-line railroads which crossed the strip
were the Santa Fe at Arkansas City, and the Rock Island at Cald-
well. The best land was at the eastern end of the strip, priced
at $2.50 an acre. West of the meridian of 97° 30' it sold for $1.50
an acre, and west of 98° 30' at $1.00 an acre— the latter figure
25 cents an acre less than the government paid the Indians for it.
Arkansas City had a population in 1893 of 9,264 people, an in-
crease of almost 1,000 since 1892. Caldwell had 2,138 residents
in 1893, an increase of around 140 persons. Doubtless these in-
creases were attributable to the arrival of the earliest boomers,
who found jobs and settled into the community, and the arrival
of new businesses, preparing to take advantage of the great crowds
expected and the anticipated business.
It was on August 19, 1893, that Cleveland finally issued the
long-awaited Presidential proclamation. The strip was to be
opened to settlement at 12 noon, September 16, 1893. The "run"
system was to be used. At a given signal all participants would
rush forward, and the first person to arrive at a location could
drive a stake bearing his flag and lay claim to that homestead.
In an effort to prevent fraud, especially by people crossing the
line sooner than the legal opening time, nine booths were to be
erected — five on the Kansas border and four on the border of
Old Oklahoma — where people were to register and receive certifi-
cates. These certificates were to be shown before legal entry could
be made to the strip on opening day, and they must also be shown
when filing claims. The booths were to open on September 11,
remain open ten hours a day, and continue until closed by order
of the secretary of the Department of the Interior. Three officers
were to work in each booth.
In order to be eligible for a homestead, a person must be 21
years of age or the head of a family: this caused a few hasty
marriages. He (or she) must be a citizen of the United States,
or have declared his intention of becoming one, must not have
exhausted his homestead right, and must not be a "sooner" —
one who crossed the line too soon.6 A married woman could not
take her land if her husband did. No restrictions were put on
registrants because of race.
6. James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents,
1789-1902 (Washington, Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1905), v. 9, p. 417.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 21
Certain areas were withheld from the public settlement. A
maximum of 70 allotments were open to members of the Cherokee
nation — 68 being finally approved. Land was set aside for the
Camp Supply military reservation, for the Chilocco Indian Indus-
trial School, for four government land offices, and for county
courthouses, schools, parks, universities, agricultural colleges, and
other public purposes.7
The area had already been divided into counties, given tempo-
rary alphabetical designations (K through Q), and county-seat
locations had been established. A strip of land 100 feet wide
around and immediately within the outer boundaries of the entire
Cherokee strip was set apart for opening purposes, to allow the
people to assemble without impediment just before the run.
Soldiers were patrolling the borders as well as the interior of
the strip, looking for sooners. The railroads were also guarded,
but the number of soldiers available was totally inadequate for
the magnitude of the job at hand. Many, many sooners slipped
through. Those who were caught were escorted out of the territory,
sometimes held in custody until after the run, and they lost their
right to homestead upon the strip. A few sooners were killed
by the soldiers. Some of the soldiers could be bribed, however.
One man paid a soldier $25 to hide him in a hole on a claim the
Friday night before the opening. He emerged at 12 noon, Saturday,
and found four other men had already staked on the claim.8
After the Presidential proclamation setting the date for the
opening of the strip, migration increased tremendously. The
New York Times carried an article from Topeka, on September
5, saying that the "movement toward the Cherokee Strip is in-
creasing all the time. There has been a daily average of 100 teams
passing through this city, with from two to six men to the team.
This has lasted now two weeks, and it is yet nearly two weeks
until the opening." It added that the first newspaper in the strip
would be a daily at Perry, to be published by a John W. Jacks
of Missouri, "who has his presses and materials already there."
At least 60 newspaper plants in Kansas were reported to be boxed
up and ready for shipment to the newly-settled territory. Twenty
of these were said to be headed for Perry, which was believed
by many to be "the coming city."
Along the border, stores were selling out their stocks and re-
ordering almost daily. Prices were not higher in Kansas, but
7. Ibid., pp. 409-411.
8. Weekly Republican Traveler, October 26, 1893.
22 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Guthrie, Indian territory, reported shortages of supplies and prices
rising.9 Milk sold regularly for five cents a quart, bread for five
cents a loaf, eggs for five or ten cents a dozen, and coffee from 25
to 30 cents a pound.10
The Weekly Republican Traveler of Arkansas City increased in
size from four to eight pages. The Caldwell News said bluntly on
September 7: "We are too full of strip business to pay much
attention to politics till the gates swing open to the promised land/'
The post office at Arkansas City had to put on three extra men
to handle and distribute the mail.11 Bakers at Wichita were work-
ing overtime to furnish bread to Caldwell, Kiowa, and Hunnewell,
where the great number of boomers was causing a shortage.12
Warnings were issued to watch out for pickpockets and thugs
of all kinds, as the towns were full of them. Many and bitter were
the protests of having been taken at the old shell game.
Horses were put into training, and there were some complaints
about racing through and near the towns. Harness was tested
and strengthened, and wagons were gone over and repaired. An
enterprising man from Wichita brought down a carload of horses
to sell.13
Farmers received many requests from homesteaders wishing
to camp upon their lands. One man built a temporary house with
its door on the state line, so that he would be ready to go at a
moment's notice.14 The campers were so thick along the border,
and the weather so dry, that the soil was eventually churned to
dust. Water was soon very scarce; wells were pumped dry, and
streams and water holes dried up. Washing was almost an im-
possibility. Water sold for a dime a cup.
Once the registration was begun, hardships multiplied. The
booths opened only five days before the run was to be made.
Thousands of people stood in line before each booth, day and
night, awaiting their turns. The heat was intense, and numerous
cases of heat prostration and sunstroke, with some deaths, were
reported. Those who had families could rely on them to bring
food and water, which was often shared with others in the line.
9. New York Times, September 14, 1893.
10. Chambers, op. cit.
11. Arkansas Valley Democrat, Arkansas City, September 1, 1893.
12. Jennie Small Owen, annalist, The Annals of Kansas 1886-1925 (Topeka, Kansas
State Historical Society, 1954), v. 1, p. 156.
13. Martha Jefferson Boyce, History in the Making: A Story of the Cherokee Strip
(Beatrice, Neb., Franklin Press, 1948), p. 6.
14. Weekly Republican Traveler, March 16, 1893.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 23
Women were usually ushered to the head of the line, the last piece
of chivalry most of them were to see for some time.
In spite of all precautions, fraud was still possible at the booths.
People joined the registrations lines, only to sell their places for
from five to 25 dollars. Many certificates were sold or obtained
in other illegal manners. Some of the soldiers guarding the booths
were bribed to take registrants in the back door; booth officials
sometimes obliged acquaintances by selling them certificates after
hours, in the hotels. At Orlando, Oklahoma territory, the registration
booths were robbed of certificates and the official stamp, and by
the next morning thousands of forged certificates were on the
market.15
The cattlemen had a meeting in Arkansas City on September 14,
and sent a wire to President Cleveland protesting the booth system
of registration as carried on at Booth No. 9, south of Arkansas
City. The wire said, in part: "7,000 people are now in line and
thousands more arrive on each train. A conflict between parties
that are not registered and the troops is imminent unless the system
is abandoned. . . . The conduct of the soldiers at Booth # 9
is despicable. . . ." 16
That same day between 4,000 and 5,000 persons were in line
before the booth at Caldwell. Hunnewell reported being "over-
pressed," also. Orlando, Indian territory, had around 22,000
boomers, and the intense heat and bad water caused an epidemic
of dysentery there.17 Many people had shipped their horses,
bedding, and camping equipment by railroad from Kansas, across
the strip, in hopes of finding less crowded conditions and having
a better chance in the run from there.
The Cherokees sent a telegram to Secretary of the Interior Hoke
Smith requesting permission to put well diggers to work on the
Indian allotments "that water may be in readiness for the crowds
that will run into the new country on Saturday, and who will
certainly suffer intensely from thirst." 18 The request was denied.
The appeal for help on the registration problem was heeded,
however. Extra booths were opened and many new clerks were
added, in a last minute attempt to alleviate the hardships of
registration.
Among the hundreds of people arriving daily were several special
15. New York Times, September 17, 1893.
16. Ibid., September 15, 1893.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
24 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
groups with plans for establishing colonies of their own. One
such group was comprised of 500 Presbyterians, reportedly on its
way from Colorado.
Two hundred Scandinavians arrived in Arkansas City under the
management of one Oscar Johnson of McPherson county. Their
colony was chartered by the state of Kansas.19
Annette Daisy was also on hand. She had taken an active part
in the three former openings. This time she organized a colony
of single women, widows, and spinsters, dedicated to the purpose
of building a community "across the sacred borders of which no
man shall pass/'20 Thirty-four women had signed up by open-
ing time.
In Guthrie, a colony of several hundred Negroes arrived. Each
one of them had a printed certificate granting him a farm upon
his arrival. These certificates had been bought in Louisiana for
ten dollars apiece, and were obviously worthless.21
Other people had bought tickets entitling them to draw for the
land, paying several dollars for that privilege — which was not to
be granted.
Many of the people who traveled to the Kansas border before
the opening day became disgusted with the crowds, the registration
procedure, the dust and hot winds, and returned to their former
homes. Their places were quickly filled by new arrivals. For-
tunately, although the settlers had come from almost every part
of the United States and from abroad, the great majority of them
were from the Middle West, particularly Kansas, where climatic
and drought conditions were not too different from those of the
"promised land." These people were better able to endure the
hardships prior to the opening.
On September 14, 1893, a Rock Island train crossing the strip
was attacked, and despite desperate resistance from the trainmen,
the Pullman cars were robbed of all their ice and water. The train
crew was reported to bear the marks of fierce fighting.22
Thirsty sooners were not the only desperadoes loose in the strip.
The Dalton and Starr gangs were making their headquarters there —
as well as many less well-known train and bank robbers. Trains
were frequently held up, and the gunmen appeared in Kansas
boldly and apparently at will.
19. Ibid., September 15, 1893.
20. Ibid., September 17, 1893.
21. Ibid., September 15, 1893.
22. Ibid., September 15, 1893.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 25
On the day before the run a scout appeared in Arkansas City,
having just come from the Osage country, and notified all the banks
that the remnants of the Dalton-Starr gang were camped about
30 miles south of the town. They were planning to rob the banks
once the people had left town for the opening. A strong posse
was organized to protect the banks, as almost the entire police
force was going to make the run. The raid never actually took
place.23
Hunnewell was having troubles of its own. A town of approxi-
mately 250 people, it was greatly overrun. Waiting lines were
everywhere, at the hotels, restaurants, stores, post office. Feeling
ran very high when it was discovered that four race horses had
been killed and seven others had been hamstrung.24 There was
strong suspicion that someone planning to make the race afoot was
responsible.
Violence and death were not unusual during these days. Men
were killed for their money, or for their certificates. More often,
they fought, and killed, over gambling, women, and even attempts
to crash the waiting line at the registration booths. By far the vast
majority of the boomers, however, were honest, hard-working
people who behaved in an orderly manner — until the run started.
In Arkansas City the press seized its opportunity to extol the
virtues of the town before a captive audience. Articles were printed
enumerating the economic possibilities of the area, the water supply
from two rivers, the three railroads, three newspapers, three mills,
four banks, stockyards, streetcar lines, electric lights, and telephone
exchange. The industries included a reclining chair factory, a can-
ning factory, and makers of bricks, carriages, mattresses, and
wind machines, as well as a wholesale grocery.25
As the Canal City Dispatch, of Arkansas City, said: "We have
the location, the water power and everything else necessary to
make a city. . . . people . . . will return . . . buy
property. . . . Inside of the next year Arkansas City's popula-
tion will be three times what it is at present. It will be the supply
point for the south."26 Fifty thousand people were in or near
Arkansas City before the run was made.
At Caldwell the press was also busy promoting the town. There
was one gloomy note. The Caldwell Journal kept printing a notice
saying: "We have on our books the names of a great many who
23. Ibid., September 16, 1893.
24. Caldwell News, September 14, 1893.
25. Weekly Republican Traveler, May 11, 1893.
26. Canal City Dispatch, Arkansas City, September 15, 1893.
26 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
owe us from one or two dollars on subscription. In all it reaches
several hundred dollars. Many of these men will go into the strip
without thinking of paying us. We can't afford to lose this money
and ask all to call at once and settle." 27 The editor finally solved
his problem by selling the paper and going into the strip himself
to live.
For the last few days before the opening, prairie fires raged
across the strip. Several sooners were believed to have burned
to death. It was said that "If a crow attempted to fly the Cherokee
Strip he'd have to take his own grub along." 28 A song was sung to
the tune of "After the Ball Is Over":
After the strip is opened,
After the run is made,
After the horses are buried
After the debts are paid;
Many a sucker'll be kicking,
Many will have lost their grip,
Many will wish they'd been hung,
Ere going to the strip.29
At last the great day arrived. Well over 100,000 people were
assembled on the northern and southern boundaries. For hours
they waited; gambling, singing, praying — even preaching. Finally,
at 12 noon (five minutes earlier on the Hennessey stretch of line)
a shot rang out and was relayed along the line from soldier to
soldier. The eager settlers, straining their eyes, could see the puff
of smoke from the distant rifle before they could hear the sound
of the shot. All along the line the horses leaped forward, and the
great race was on. The horsemen and bicyclists were easily in the
lead, followed by the heavier carriages and wagons. In the rear
were those who were going in afoot. In one place, at the first steep
ravine — an 18-foot embankment — the bicyclists were forced to quit.
The horsemen, unwilling to lose time by looking for a more favor-
able spot to cross, in many cases leaped their horses down the
embankment, often crippling them so that they had to be aban-
doned. Clouds of dust obscured the vision of the strippers, and
one heavy wagon, loaded with six men, was accidentally driven
over the same embankment. One man on the wagon suffered a
broken leg.30
27. Caldwell Journal, August 24, 1893.
28. Chambers, op. cit., p. 22.
29. Ibid., p. 23.
30. New York Times, September 17, 1893.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 27
There were many accidents. People fell off horses and were in
danger of being trampled in the rush. A Mrs. Charles Barnes of
El Dorado was killed under a falling horse.31 Several other women,
some of whom rode "clothes-pin fashion" were also injured.
Broken arms, legs, and necks were not uncommon. Some who
didn't fall from horses or wagons, or drive off cliffs, managed to
fall off the overloaded trains which made the run, or be accidentally
shot in the uproar. Sooners were shot by soldiers, and at least one
soldier was shot by a sooner.32
As the horsemen established a good lead over the rest of
the boomers, some of them dismounted and set fire to the prairie, so
that those behind them could not advance. Other fires were set
by claimants trying to burn off the grass and uncover their
boundary markers. A number of people were burned to death,
including a colored man named Tom Jameson33 and a Mrs.
Elizabeth Osborne of Newton, Mo.34 Some of those burned to
death could not be identified.
The fine race horses imported for the occasion did not hold
up too well. They made good starts, but couldn't stand the distance
or the terrain. Many dead horses littered the prairie the next day.
One man had a most uncomfortable ride when his thoroughbred
race horse became excited in all the turmoil and ran uncontrollably
for 24 miles before dropping dead.35
The trains which made the run were jammed to the roof. At
Caldwell, although very crowded, the business of loading the
Rock Island trains proceeded in a fairly orderly manner.
As tickets were procured, the purchaser passed on from the east to the west
side of the tracks, 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 hundred marshals and others, and officers of the road.38
In Arkansas City things did not go quite so well. The trains
didn't pull out of the Santa Fe yards until long after 12 o'clock,
and the jam then was terrible. "At least 15,000 people, including
most of the population of Arkansas City, were there to board the
trains. Special trains from Wichita, Winfield and other points came
31. Weekly Republican Traveler, September 21, 1893.
32. New York Times, September 17, 1893.
33. Ibid.
34. Canal City Dispatch, September 22, 1893.
35. Weekly Republican Traveler, September 21, 1893.
36. L. R. Elliott, as quoted in "The Greatest Race of the Century," The Kansas His-
torical Quarterly, v. 23 (Summer, 1957), p. 207.
28 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
in loaded with sightseers. . . . Engineers were instructed to run
carefully, for it had been said attempts would be made to tamper
with the trains/' 37 Already spikes and straps had been removed
from the rails and bridges, but were fortunately discovered before
any accidents resulted. Trains also made the run from the south.
The trains had to stop at every station, and slow down or stop
every five miles. They were forbidden to travel faster than 15 miles
per hour. As a result, the men on horses arrived before the trains.
Many of those who made the run by train were town lot seekers,
or investors in town lot companies, such as the Ponca Town
Company and the Cherokee Town Site Trust Company.
At Orlando, Oklahoma territory, between 20,000 and 25,000
people were gathered for the race to the town site of Perry — a
distance of ten miles. It took 45 minutes for the trains to get to
Perry, and by that time there were approximately 1,000 horsemen
there. By two in the afternoon there were 20,000 people in Perry,
many of them without food or water.38
Some enterprising people made the run with improvised "water-
wagons" and sold water for a dollar a bucket. Fortunately the
weather was not as hot as earlier in the week.
Besides the difficulties of the run itself, there were the sooners
and the claim jumpers to deal with. The leaders of the race fre-
quently arrived, on sweaty horses, at a likely spot, only to find
someone already there, with an unmarked horse, sometimes plow-
ing a field near a partially-erected house. A whole town was
reported stolen by sooners. Men made the run from the east
side, contrary to instructions. Many cases were later taken to court,
but it was difficult to prove a man a sooner. Nearly every sooner
had two friends to swear that his claim was legitimate and his
certificate legal.
In many cases men dropped out of the run and staked land
unaware of the fact that someone else had already done so, or was
doing so at that very moment. Some of these cases were settled on
the spot, with a gun. Other claims were deliberately jumped.
Alexander Gillespie was staking a claim near Arkansas City
when another boomer with a Winchester rode up and dismounted
upon the same claim. "We will play a game of checkers for it," said
he. "I've jumped and it's your move." When he raised his Win-
chester, Gillespie moved! 39
37. Denver Republican, September 17, 1893.
38. New York Times, September 17, 1893.
39. Canal City Dispatch, September 22, 1893.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 29
An estimated 30,000 people made the run from Arkansas City,
and 10,000 from Caldwell, with a number going in from other
Kansas border towns and the Oklahoma territory.40 By nightfall
many of them were on their way out again. Some merely went in
to see the show. Others were too late to stake a claim.
While the excitement was going on in the Cherokee strip, the
surrounding towns were practically deserted. The banks were
closed and business was at a standstill. Everyone who possibly
could had gone to see the run. However, within four hours of
the start of the race, orders began to roll into Arkansas City for
lumber and supplies. The eagerly awaited market had been opened.
One of the most successful profiteers from the opening of the
Cherokee strip was a lawyer who went into the strip several hours
before the opening, but without attempting to get land. Instead,
he collected evidence against some 200 or more sooners and had no
trouble in getting "an army of clients." 41
The local press was shocked at the depopulation created by
the opening of the Cherokee strip to settlement, but was pleased
that it had "at last been wrested from the powerful cattle syndicate
which for many years held dominion over it and would permit
no home-seekers." 42
Throughout the nation, though, criticism was rising over the
manner in which the run had been conducted, and over the idea
of having a horse race with the stakes a part of the public domain.
The New York Times editorialized on September 17:
The whole trouble has arisen from the fact that our homestead laws have
been bequeathed to us from a period when the Government and the Nation
were greatly interested in making sure that the public domain was occupied and
utib'zed. That period is past. What there is left of the public domain is a na-
tional possession of great and increasing value that should be made to yield to
the Public Treasury all that it is fairly worth.
A homestead of 160 acres of the best land, which sold for $2.50
an acre, would cost the settler around $516, including his fees and
four percent interest for five years.43
The New York Times editorial expressed the current but curious
view towards the Cherokee strip and public lands:
The Cherokee Strip may be called the last remnant of the public domain.
The United States of America do still own some land in various outlying
40. New York Times, September 17, 1893. These figures coincide with those given in
the local papers at the time. Recent figures are much greater, giving Arkansas City
70,000 boomers.
41. Canal City Dispatch, September 22, 1893.
42. Arkansas Valley Democrat, September 22, 1893.
43. Ibid, September 8, 1893.
30 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
parts, but this is the last great tract that is thrown open to settlement. It
is upon that count the more disgraceful and calamitous that the settlement
of it should be attended by the outrageous scenes that have been witnessed
during the last few days, and that are likely to be followed by scenes more
disgraceful still.
To back up this prophecy, the Times carried a front page story
on September 19, with numerous titles and subtitles as follows:
Baptism of Blood and Fire.
Flaming Passions and Prairies
in Cherokee Strip.
Homemakers Abandoning their Outfits and Fleeing for Their Lives — Thou-
sands of Them Hastening Back from What a Few Days Ago Was the
Promised Land — Tent Towns Demolished by a Fierce Gale — A Harvest
of Corpses — Quarrels of Racers and "Sooners."
Conditions were bad, but it is doubtful if they were that bad!
Many boomers did leave the strip very quickly. The weather, the
burned-over earth, and the apparently endless winds encouraged
the less resolute to leave. Some managed to sell their claims
before filing, and turn a quick profit. Others were not so fortunate.
Claims were advertised for sale in the local newspapers.
Perhaps the most frustrating experience was that of Jacob Loren-
son. An article in the Canal City Dispatch on September 22 said:
Jacob Lorenson is the name of the young man who cut his throat at Perry
yesterday. He came here from Saginaw, Mich., and bought a lot for $500,
which proved to be on the public square. He staked another lot for which
he was offered $250 but refused the offer. It turned out that the lot was
in the alley. Moneyless and discouraged, he cut his throat but was alive
this morning, according to the report.
One group of unsuccessful homesteaders — a would-be colony
from Illinois, which made the run on foot and secured nothing —
had this to say: "We are glad to get back. . . . We honestly
would not take a claim in the new country as a gift now, after
what we saw of the country and its people/' 44
The trains running north out of the strip were overloaded. The
railroads were doing exceedingly well, and continued to do so, for
over their lines rolled the goods to build and stock not only stores
but cities. Passenger trade was heavy, but as it slackened the
freight trade increased.
Arkansas City was doing well economically. The orders rolled
in, and Arkansas City boasted that it was supplying every city in
the strip located on the Santa Fe line. In addition, an estimated
$250,000 had been left there by the boomers. The city did suffer
44. Denver Republican, September 18, 1893.
GATEWAYS TO THE PROMISED LAND 31
a marked loss in population to the strip, but held firmly to the
belief that the people would come back, and that others, be-
coming disenchanted with the strip, would settle there.
Caldwell did not fare as well as Arkansas City. It, too, was a
supply center, but it was so seriously depopulated that it was
necessary to hold a special election. The councilmen for the first,
second, and third wards had left the state of Kansas.45
The population of Arkansas City fell from 9,264 in 1893 to
7,120 in 1894. Caldwell went from 2,138 to 1,386 in the same years.
Kiowa fell from 1,358 people to 504. There were similar losses all
along the border. These losses cannot be attributed entirely to the
opening of the Cherokee strip, as the current depression undoubt-
edly contributed. It was estimated, however, that the opening of
the Cherokee strip cost Kansas some 50,000 populist votes.
The opening of the Cherokee strip to settlement was an event
for which the adjacent towns had long worked, propagandized, and
invested. In return they expected substantial city growth and
economic prosperity. Their goals were only partially attained.
Temporary economic gains there were, but also the loss of residents.
The losses were not quite as severe as they seemed, when it is
realized that boomers were gathering for the expected opening
as early as 1891, and those who got jobs locally were accepted and
counted as part of the resident population, when in fact and inten-
tion they were not.
Those towns which were basically sound, with sufficient water,
good railroad connections, and some local industry, survived the
Cherokee strip opening and experienced a slow but steady recovery
and growth. Others, which had had several rewarding years be-
cause of the strip boom, but which had no firm economic basis, never
recovered. The hotel at Hunnewell has been torn down and most
of the business houses have disappeared. On the site of Gale stands
a lone grain elevator.
The people had exercised their traditional American prerogative,
and moved on into the new frontier — looking, as always, for the
"promised land" beyond.
45. Caldwell News, November 2, 1893.
Telegraph Beginnings in Kansas
JOHN E. SUNDER
KANSAS' great question — slavery — was settled. After five years
of bloodshed, delegates to a new constitutional convention
met July 5, 1859, at Wyandotte (now part of Kansas City), to
draw up an antislavery document. Throughout the meeting a
young man by the name of Philo H. Clarke sat at a telegraph key
near convention hall, clicking stories to Eastern correspondents.
His news brought fresh hope to the advocates of human freedom.1
Clarke's office was connected with the East by way of Missouri.
His telegraph line also went through Quindaro, along the Missouri
river to Leavenworth. And, during that summer of 1859, while
the delegates threshed out their constitution, construction crews
were stretching wires between Leavenworth and Atchison.
Telegraph lines, by 1859, already crisscrossed Missouri. For
12 years there had been a struggle for control of the state's
expanding system. One casualty of the conflict was an early Mis-
souri river line, completed in 1851. From St. Louis west its wires
paralleled the south bank to Kansas City, then ran north along
the east bank to St. Joseph. The line had fallen into disrepair,
and when rebuilt in 1859 by Charles M. Stebbins, an independent
operator, the link above Kansas City had been discarded.2
Western Union, in a series of corporate agreements, culminating
in Missouri between 1857-1859, had won control of Stebbins' lines
(and Stebbins' dreams of a transcontinental network) and en-
couraged its Western subsidiaries to expand into Kansas and Ar-
kansas. Stebbins received $12,000 in cash from Western Union in
return for a majority of stock in his Missouri river line, but theo-
retically he remained in control and was retained as general line-
superintendent. He had no choice; the giant threatened to build
a line, parallel to his, west from St. Louis to Kansas City. Capitu-
lation, with the superintendency, was better than financial ruin.3
The plans for Kansas' first line were made by Stebbins and his
agents before the Western Union victory. In 1855 the Kansas ter-
DR. JOHN E. SUNDER, native of St. Louis who received his doctor's degree from Wash-
ington University, is a member of the history department of the University of Texas, Austin.
1. Frank W. Blackmar, Kansas . . . (Chicago, 1912), v. 2, pp. 50, 51; Noble
L. Prentis, A History of Kansas (Topeka, 1904), pp. 77-79; Topeka Daily Capital, January
16, 1955.
2. John E. Sunder, "The Early Telegraph in Rural Missouri, 1847-1859," Missouri
Historical Review, Columbia, v. 51, No. 1 (October, 1956), pp. 42-53.
3. Charles M. Stebbins, The New and True Religion (New York, 1898), pp. 367, 368.
(32)
TELEGRAPH BEGINNINGS IN KANSAS 33
ritorial assembly incorporated two telegraph companies: the "Kaw
River" and the "Occidental." Stebbins' "friends among the mem-
bers (all Missourians)" sponsored the acts. He, his close friend
Isaac M. Veitch, and several associates, were to construct the Kaw
river line from a junction point on their Missouri river system
near the mouth of the Kaw (Kansas) river "through such points
on or near the Kansas river as the corporators may elect, thence
westward to the western boundary of Kansas territory."4 They
were to build the Occidental from a similar junction point to Leav-
enworth and the northern boundary of the territory. Disruption
within the Missouri system in the mid-1850's, however, prevented
construction of the two lines, although Stebbins remained inter-
ested and optimistic.
While Stebbins was rebuilding the old Missouri river telegraph
line, his agents were active in eastern Kansas. Though building
plans beyond Kansas City were a bit indefinite, the Kansas Weekly
Herald at Leavenworth was enthusiastic, and on February 6, 1858,
called for an early public meeting to secure a link to Stebbins' line
"for economic and military reasons." The response was hearten-
ing to agents S. A. Drake and Captain Scudder, and, by August,
Leavenworth had subscribed $5,000. Russell, Majors & Waddell,
together with Smoot, Russell & Company, put up better than one
fourth of the total.5
In September the last poles on the new Missouri river line were
going up on the prairies between Boonville and Lexington; Kan-
sas City anticipated connection to the system by Christmas; and
Drake was again on his way into eastern Kansas to rally more sup-
port for the line to and beyond Leavenworth. He passed through
Kansas City in mid-October and reported that Stebbins was build-
ing at the rate of three miles per day. All outward signs pointed
to success, including St. Joseph's demand to be part of the system.6
The St. Joseph Gazette remarked: "This will always be our most
important connection, for by it we will not only communicate with
the Capitol . . . but with all the important points on the
river . . ."7
The optimistic outlook, however, had to be qualified during the
4. The Statutes of the Territory of Kansas; Passed at the First Session of the Legislative
Assembly, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-Five (Shawnee M. L. School, 1855),
pp. 856-858.
5. The Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, February 6, August 21, 1858; Western
Journal of Commerce, Kansas City, Mo., August 21, 1858.
6. Leavenworth Times, October 9, 1858; St. Joseph (Mo.) Gazette, September 28,
1858; St. Louis Daily Morning Herald, October 16, 1858; Western Journal of Commerce,
September 4, October 16, 1858.
7. St. Joseph Gazette, September 28, 1858.
3—6551
34 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
autumn. Stebbins was nearly out of funds by early October; in-
cessant rain pelted the construction crews in western Missouri; and
a few Leavenworth subscribers failed to meet their payments.
Time was at a premium, since navigation during the winter would
close on the lower Missouri, and telegraph equipment, especially
instruments and batteries in sufficient quantity, had to be delivered
in Kansas City before that time if any new stations were to be
opened before the following spring. Stebbins believed he could
overcome all obstacles, given some co-operation, but admitted that
he had been behind schedule for weeks.8
Workmen had poles set into Kansas City by early December —
but no wire. Stebbins explained the difficulty as a simple matter of
supply and demand. The wire producers were slow in forwarding
his orders, yet he intimated that even orders depended upon stock
subscriptions and many in the Kansas City area had not met their
pledges. Nevertheless, he was certain he could build the line
cheaper than anyone else and remained confident that it would
reach St. Joseph in a "very short time" and, perhaps, go on to
Council Bluffs.9
Early in December, 1858, digging crews and hoisting-men
reached the banks of the Kaw, crossed the stream near its junction
with the Missouri, and commenced setting poles in Kansas terri-
tory through Wyandotte, Quindaro, and the Delaware Indian
lands to Leavenworth. They followed the river bottoms, since the
next best route was along Stranger creek five to ten miles inland
across the bluffs; too far to serve as a direct route to the river
towns. Stebbins' timetable, which called for wire in Kansas City
by Christmas and to Leavenworth by the New Year, fell far be-
hind schedule — partially due to the Delaware Indians who "had
taken umbrage at the construction of a telegraph line through their
domain, and threatened to impede or prevent its progress." Rep-
resentatives of the telegraph line, and also, it seems, of the town
of Leavenworth, met with a council of Delaware chiefs on De-
cember 10, and reached an agreement whereby Stebbins was au-
thorized to obtain poles from the Indian lands upon his promise
to respect the reservation's character.10
8. Letter, Charles M. Stebbins to Alfred Gray, September 18, 1858, "Alfred Gray
Papers," in Mss. division, Kansas State Historical Society; Leavenworth Times, October 16,
23, November 6, 1858.
9. St. Louis Daily Morning Herald, December 8, 1858; Marshall (Mo.) Democrat,
December 10, 1858; Western Journal of Commerce, November 20, 1858.
10. Leavenworth Weekly Times, December 11, 1858; Marshall Democrat, December
10, 1858; "Kansas Base Map (1921)," U. S. Department of the Interior Geological Survey;
World Geographic Atlas (Chicago, 1953), pp. 136, 137.
TELEGRAPH BEGINNINGS IN KANSAS 35
At last, shortly before Christmas, Kansas City sent and received
its first messages on the new line, and a temporary downtown
office was opened. The wires were strung across the Kaw on tall
supporting masts — later to be replaced by cables. An office was
opened in Wyandotte, and the local Weekly Western Argus initi-
ated a column of "Telegraphic Items." In Wyandotte and other
localities Stebbins was accused of favoritism in the use of his
line and had to exercise great tact to retain the support of both
proslavery and antislavery factions. Another office was opened at
Quindaro, although Stebbins at first considered by-passing the
town. Between Quindaro and Leavenworth, however, it is unlikely
that any office was opened at that time.11
Poles were up in Leavenworth before the wire was up in Kan-
sas City, and on New Year's Day, 1859, it was announced that
"in the course of a fortnight, the line will be completed." An
office under the management of Agent Drake was located at the
corner of Main and Delaware near the levee. The wire came
through in January and on the 25th of the month was connected
to the Leavenworth office.12 A few days later, on the evening
of Saturday, February 5, Drake sent his first long-distance message
to New York City. The circuit was so constructed that the prin-
cipal cities in between received the message simultaneously and
joined in the celebration of Kansas' formal telegraphic birth.13
The military authorities at Ft. Leavenworth realized immediately
the line's strategic value. The actual order issued by the com-
mander of the Department of the West, permitting the line to be
built north from Leavenworth proper across the reservation to
Atchison, is missing, but it is known that the fort used the line
to send and receive messages and that other similar utilities were in
time allowed to enter the reservation. Lacking information to the
contrary, we may conclude that Stebbins pushed his line through
the fort along the riverbank right-of-way later used by the Leaven-
worth, Atchison & Northwestern and Missouri Pacific railroads.14
Between the northern edge of the fort and Atchison only Kicka-
11. Kansas City Daily Western Journal of Commerce, December 19, 21, 1858; Weekly
Western Argus, Wyandotte, January 15, 1859; Stebbins to Gray, loc. cit.; Otis B. Gunn,
New Map and Hand-Book of Kansas <Lr the Gold Mines (Pittsburgh, 1859), p. 23.
12. Leavenworth Weekly Times, January 1, 1859; Martha B. Caldwell, compiler,
Annals of Shawnee Methodist Mission and Indian Manual Labor School (Topeka, 1939),
p. 105; W. M. Paxton. Annals of Platte County, Missouri . . . to 1897 . . .
(Kansas City, 1897), p. 274; Daniel W. Wilder, The Annals of Kansas (Topeka, 1875),
p. 198.
13. Daily Missouri Democrat, St. Louis, February 10, 1859; Kansas City Daily Western
Journal of Commerce, February 9, 1859; St. Louis Daily Morning Herald, February 8, 1859.
14. Elvid Hunt, History of Fort Leavenworth 1827-1927 (Fort Leavenworth, 1926),
pp. 130, 160, 252, 253; U. S. Military Reservations, National Cemeteries and Military Parks
(Washington, D. C., 1916), p. 135.
36 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
poo was large enough to warrant a telegraph office, and it does not
appear that the town either was offered or accepted one. The
people of Atchison, however, heard directly from Stebbins. He
wrote to John F. Tracy in April, 1859, requesting that Atchison
subscribe $1,500 in stock to guarantee an office on the line. Steb-
bins estimated that he could complete the Atchison-Leavenworth
connection in six weeks — the towns were only 21 miles apart —
and stated that his line was already paying eight to ten per cent
dividends. Robert C. Clowry, recently promoted to the Leaven-
worth superintendency, was to handle subscriptions.15
Subscribers in Atchison knew that the line through Leavenworth
was a success and that Stebbins not only intended to build to
St. Joseph, but contemplated sending a branch line from Leaven-
worth to Ft. Riley. They subscribed the $1,500 in stock requested
and he pushed ahead with the line, so that by July 30 he had
poles standing in the streets of Atchison. Tracy opened an office
on the south side of Commercial street, between Levee and Sec-
ond, and was ready for business by mid-August. The wire was
connected on Monday August 8, and the first message, sent by the
mayor to Leavenworth and St. Louis, went over the wires one week
later. The editor of the Atchison Union telegraphed St. Louis:
"We are indebted to the triple alliance of labor, capital and science
for the final success of this great enterprise. We will now hand
to you important news from Salt Lake one day earlier than hereto-
fore, via Leavenworth." Atchison took pride in the fact it was
then 14 miles farther west than any telegraph station east of the
Rockies.16
North of Atchison there were two possible routes to St. Joseph.
The line could cross the Missouri river to the east bank and proceed
overland along the right-of-way of the Atchison-St. Joseph railroad,
or it could be built along the west bank to Elwood opposite St.
Joseph. Stebbins decided to follow the west bank through Doni-
phan to Elwood, and immediately set crews to work to complete
the connection.17
15. Daily Missouri Republican, St. Louis, March 8, 1859; Freedom's Champion,
Atchison, May 14, 1859.
16. Daily Missouri Democrat, February 10, 1859; Freedom's Champion, July 30,
August 13, 20, 1859; Sutherland & McEvoy's Atchison City Directory . . ., 1859-60
(St. Louis, n. d.), p. 77; A. T. Andreas and W. G. Cutler, History of the State of Kansas
(Chicago, 1883), p. 377. Atchison, however, was not farther west than any other station
east of the Rockies. In 1858 a telegraph line was completed between Houston and Gal-
veston, Tex., and Houston is slightly west of Atchison. — See Frank W. Johnson, A History
of Texas and Texans (Chicago and New York, 1914), v. 1. For the quote see Daily Mis-
souri Republican, St. Louis, August 16, 1859.
17. The Kansas Weekly Press, Elwood, October 23, 1858; The Weekly West, St.
Joseph, January 14, 21, 1860.
TELEGRAPH BEGINNINGS IN KANSAS 37
In St. Joseph, Edward Creighton, Stebbins* agent, and J. B. Jen-
nings pushed the project; secured enough stock subscriptions to
guarantee completion of the link; and arranged for an upstairs
office on the corner of Jule and Second. The city council, at least
two years earlier, had provided ordinance protection for telegraph
poles and wires in St. Joseph. Everything was ready for the ar-
rival of the wires, but how would they cross the Missouri at El-
wood? By masts or by underwater cable? In 1858 soundings had
been made in the river immediately below Elwood and a "tele-
graphic plateau" located suitable to an underwater cable. They
decided, however, to use masts, at least temporarily, and the cross-
ing was made by mid-March, 1860. The line had been built across
85 miles of countryside since leaving Kansas City, at a cost of about
65 dollars per mile.18
Meanwhile, St. Joseph was being connected by another telegraph
line across northern Missouri to Hannibal and the extensive Il-
linois network. On July 4, 1859, that line, built along the right-of-
way of the new Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, was completed
and congratulatory messages were exchanged between the two
towns. An office was opened under C. H. Spillman in the St.
Joseph railroad depot, from which, as one commentator remarked,
"the giant young city of the border will be able to throw out West-
ern Lightning and border ruffian news to the whole world."19
The major problem of a transcontinental line, however, was not
entirely settled. The issue was confused by building projects, some
of a fly-by-night nature, projecting a vast trans-Kansas telegraph
network, especially into the newly opened Colorado gold country.20
Nevertheless, out of the confusion — the babble of projects — two
possibilities emerged: the line Stebbins was building in 1859 to
Fort Smith, Ark., or the one he was building through eastern Kan-
sas territory. Land surveys made by Edward Creighton predis-
posed Western Union to favor the Kansas route, and by early 1860
it was clear that the transcontinental line would be built by extend-
18. The Revised Ordinances of the City of Saint Joseph Passed by the City Council,
in the Years 1857-58 (St. Joseph, 1858), p. 154; Robert H. Thurston, ed., Reports of the
Commissioners of the United States to the International Exhibition Held at Vienna, 1873
(Washington, D. C., 1876), v. 2, p. 78; Telegraph Age, New York, May 16, 1907; Wilder,
op. cit., p. 240.
19. Daily Missouri Republican, July 8, 1859; Hannibal (Mo.) Messenger, June 23,
1859; Liberty (Mo.) Weekly Tribune, July 15, 1859. For the quote see The Central City
Brunswicker, Brunswick, Mo., July 20, 1859. See, also, Ben Hur Wilson, "From Coast to
Coast," The Palimpsest, Iowa City, v. 7 (August, 1926), p. 235.
20. For examples of the acts of incorporation granted in Kansas see: Private Laws of
the Territory of Kansas, Passed at the Fifth Session of the Legislative Assembly . . .
1859 . . . (Lawrence, 1859), pp. 77-80, and Private Laws of the Territory of Kan-
sas, Passed at the Special Session of the Legislative Assembly . . . 1860 . . .
(n. p., n. d.), pp. 428-432.
38 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ing the Kansas City-St. Joseph section.21 To further facilitate con-
struction, Western Union, on January 7, 1860, secured from the
Missouri legislature the incorporation of the Missouri and Western
Telegraph Company — Stebbins was one incorporator — consolidat-
ing Western Union's control of the lower Missouri valley.22
Stebbins and Clowry extended their line from St. Joseph through
Brownville and Nebraska City to Omaha. The connection was
completed by September 5, 1860. The builders then pushed west,
while, within Kansas, 42 operators kept the circuits open and the
wires humming with news.23 Messages to points east cost at least
60 cents from Leavenworth; at least one dollar from St. Joseph.24
A few customers complained that the charges were exorbitant, and
at times the lines were down from wind or ice, but the construc-
tion crews on the plains beyond Omaha were confident they could
tie the nation together by a thin wire thread.
Another year, and enough thread would be unwound. Another
year, 1861, and the transcontinental line would be finished.
21. John E. Sunder, "Arkansas' First 'Wonder Working Wire/" The Arkansas His-
torical Quarterly, Van Buren, v. 16, No. 3 (Autumn, 1957), pp. 231-242.
22. J. Thomas Scharf, History of Saint Louis City and County, From the Earliest
Periods to the Present Day . . . (Philadelphia, 1883), v. 2, p. 1429; Laws of the
State of Missouri . . . 1859-1860 (Jefferson City, 1860), pp. 189, 190.
23. John W. Clampitt, Echoes From the Rocky Mountains . . . (Chicago, New
York, San Francisco, 1889), p. 63; Henry M. Porter, Pencilings of an Early Western
Pioneer (Denver, 1929), pp. 10-15; Joseph C. G. Kennedy, compiler, Population of the
United States in 1860 . . . (Washington, D. C., 1864), p. 187.
24. Tal. P. Shaffner, The Telegraph Manual . . . (New York, London, Berlin,
Paris, 1859), p. 759; Congressional Globe, 36 Cong., 1 Sess. (1859-1860), pt. 3, p. 2252.
The Letters of the Rev. Samuel Young Lum,
Pioneer Kansas Missionary, 1854-1858
Edited by EMORY LINDQUIST
I. INTRODUCTION
WHEN the Rev. Samuel Young Lum arrived in Kansas in Sep-
tember, 1854, he initiated a career of genuine dedication to his
calling and the welfare of Kansas. He was born in New Providence,
N. J., on May 6, 1821. In 1842 he entered the preparatory depart-
ment of Oberlin College and was enrolled in the regular college
course during the next two academic years, but did not complete
the degree. He was a student at Union Theological Seminary,
New York, 1845 to 1848. He went to California in 1849 and spent
somewhat more than a year traveling in that area and in Mexico.
Upon returning from the Far West, Lum was ordained as pastor
of the Congregational church in Middleton, N. Y., on November 19,
1851. He served that church until 1854. On April 21, 1852, he
married Caroline Keep of Madison, N. J. In 1854 the 33-year-old
clergyman was commissioned for service in Kansas by the Ameri-
can Home Missionary Society. The Lums arrived in Kansas about
the same time as the second party which was sent out under the
auspices of the New England Emigrant Aid Company. This group
reached Kansas City, Mo., on September 6. Lum became closely
identified with the party and was a member of the "Lawrence
Association."
Lum conducted the first service in Lawrence on October 1, 1854.
On October 15 the Plymouth Congregational Church of Lawrence
was organized. The first services were held in the famous Pioneer
Boarding House, or "hay tent," which was owned by the Emigrant
Aid Company. He entered into his field of service with energy
and enthusiasm. Lum preached his first sermon in Topeka in De-
cember, 1854; he was largely responsible for organizing the Free
Congregational Church of Topeka in Constitution Hall in July, 1856.
In June, 1857, when the First Church of Christ in Wabaunsee
was organized, Lum preached the sermon. He was active in the
DR. EMORY KEMPTON LINDQUIST, Rhodes scholar and former president of Bethany
College, is dean of the faculties of the University of Wichita. He is author of Smoky
Valley People: A History of Lindsborg, Kansas (1953), and numerous magazine articles
relating to the history of this region.
(39)
40 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
organization of the General Association of Congregational Ministers
and Churches of Kansas in April, 1857, although it is possible that
an earlier meeting was held in his house in August, 1855. He re-
signed as pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church of Law-
rence in 1857 and was appointed the first Kansas superintendent
of the American Home Missionary Society. He held this position
until 1861, when he became pastor of the Congregational church at
Rehobeth, Mass.
Lum returned to Kansas in 1869 as agent for the American Bible
Society, a position he held until 1874, when he became pastor of a
church at Mannsville, N. Y. He subsequently held pastorates in
other places in New York and Connecticut. His last residence was
at Rutherford, N. J., where he died on October 1, 1895, as a result
of an accident at a railroad crossing near his home.1
Lum's letters in this collection were addressed, with but one
exception, to the American Home Missionary Society, which was
founded on May 10, 1826, in New York. The Congregationalists
and the Presbyterians were the principal supporters of the society.2
The Rev. Milton Badger was the senior secretary of the society.
He was assisted by the Rev. David B. Coe and the Rev. Daniel P.
Noyes. The offices of the society were at Bible House, As tor Place,
New York City.
Lum was a keen observer of men and events in Kansas. Although
he served principally at Lawrence, he traveled widely in Kansas,
transmitting detailed letters and reports to the officials of the
American Home Missionary Society.
II. THE LETTERS,3 OCTOBER, 1854-DECEMBER, 1855
LAWRENCE, K. T.
October, 1854
To THE EDITORS, The Home Missionary 4
When I arrived in Kansas, I found myself with little more than
enough to support my family for a week, after all the expenses of
getting here had been met. I knew not what to do. In this
emergency, Mr. Pomeroy, Agent of the Emigrant Aid Company,
1. A sketch of the life of the Rev. S. Y. Lum by the Rev. Richard Cordley, Lum's
successor as pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church of Lawrence, is found in the
Minutes of the General Association of Congregational Ministers and Churches of Kansas,
Forty-Second Annual Session, Lawrence, Kansas, May 7-11, 1896, pp. 33, 34. Martha
Oseniak, Union Theological Seminary, New York, and Donald M. Love, Oberlin College,
Oberlin, Ohio, supplied helpful biographical information.
2. The United Domestic Missionary Society of New York, founded in May, 1822,
merged with the American Home Missionary Society on May 10, 1826. The Presby-
terian, Dutch Reformed, and Associate Reformed Churches were the leaders in the United
Missionary Society. — Colin Brummitt Goodykoontz, Home Missions on the American Frontier
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 41
took me by the hand, as a true brother, and from his own pocket
lent me the means of defraying expenses — in fact, did all for me
that a man in his situation could do.5
As you supposed, I have been most busily engaged since my
arrival in the Territory. There was no other course left me but with
my own hands to prepare a place for my family before winter set in.
Of course, none could be rented, for there was little else than the
smooth prairie; and as most were engaged in building for them-
selves, I must do the same for myself.
At this place, which is, no doubt, as yet, the most important in
the Territory, there are the most encouraging signs of progress in
every direction. Many from the various companies that come on,
either locate within the city limits, or secure farms in the imme-
diate vicinity. Until now, within a circuit of five or ten miles
there are not far from seven hundred persons, mostly heads of
families, the representatives, in all, of little less than three thousand
souls, most of whom will be here as early in the spring as possible.
The site selected for a city, has many natural and local advantages.
It is laid out on an extended scale, embracing about two miles
square, and yet, from the rapidity with which lots are being taken
for actual improvement, it will soon have few important lots un-
occupied.6 Many are pledged by the terms on which they accept
lots, to place improvements on them to the value of $2,000 to $3,000
each, within one year. If what is now promised be but partially
(Caldwell, Idaho, 1939), pp. 173-178. The late Professor Goodykoontz made a thorough
and scholarly study of home missions with special reference to the American Home Mis-
sionary Society in the volume referred to above.
3. The original letters are in the splendid American Home Missionary Society collec-
tion of Hammond library, Chicago Theological Seminary, unless identified differently and
are presented with the kind permission of Harvey Arnold, librarian. All the letters printed
below are manuscript items except two which were printed in The Home Missionary, New
York, in October, 1854, and December, 1855, and one published in The Independent, New
York, December 7, 1854.
4. While this letter appeared in The Home Missionary for January, 1855, its contents
indicate conclusively that it was written in October, 1854. A letter to The Independent,
New York, under date of October 12, 1854, and published on October 26, 1854, contains
much of the same infonnation. The Lum family arrived in Kansas about the same time
as the second party of the New England Emigrant Aid Company. This group reached
Kansas City, Mo., on September 6, en route to the Wakarusa settlement. — Louise Barry,
"The Emigrant Aid Company Parties in 1854," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka,
v. 12 (May, 1943), pp. 129-131. Lum conducted the first service in Lawrence on
October 1, 1854, according to a correspondent of the Puritan Recorder. — A. T. Andreas
and W. G. Cutler, History of the State of Kansas (Chicago, 1883), p. 314. Lum's letter
reproduced here was printed in The Home Missionary, New York, v. 27 (January, 1855),
pp. 216-218.
5. S. C. Pomeroy, an agent of the New England Emigrant Aid Company and later
a prominent Kansas figure, came to Kansas with Charles Robinson and the second party
of emigrants sponsored by the company. See, supra, Footnote 4. The arrival of Pomeroy
and his associates at Lawrence is described in Edgar Langsdorf, "S. C. Pomeroy and the
New England Emigrant Aid Company, 1854-1858," The Kansas Historical Quarterly,
Topeka, v. 7 (August, 1938), p. 231.
6. The organization of "The Lawrence Association" and general background factors
dealing with this development are described in James C. Malin, "Emergency Housing in
Lawrence, 1854," ibid., v. 21 (Spring, 1954), pp. 36-41.
42 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
fulfilled, we shall present city of as rapid growth as, I had almost
said, any in California; and I can see no reason why it may
not be so.
Of one thing we are certain, that the population, if what is al-
ready here be a fair criterion of the whole, will compare favorably
with that of any State or Territory in the Union. For firmness of
purpose, indomitable courage, and executive talent, they will
equal the emigration to California; while in intelligence and moral
worth, they will be surpassed by none. A holy purpose has called
them to this western world, and they come with all the elements
necessary, with God's blessing, for the accomplishment of that pur-
pose. And yet this is at present no easy field for missionary labor.
We have, however, succeeded in forming a church of about twenty
members, and as soon as eastern certificates are received, it will
number at least, thirty; and this again will be doubled, we hope,
when all the families come on, since most of our present members
are male heads of families.
Those who have as yet united in our church movement, are, for
the most part, prominent members of New England churches, men
who have been influenced to come here, not mainly from a desire
for wealth, but to plant the standard of the cross in this fair land,
and to secure all its attendant blessings. It is for this that they
have left homes of comfort and posts of honor and usefulness in
the East. They are not men of wealth, but they are such as can
be relied upon in any emergency that requires wisdom in plan, or
firmness of purpose in execution. They are not satisfied with the
Sabbath worship simply, but engage with delight and eagerness in
all the social duties of religion.
Our ordinary congregation numbers about one hundred. It has
been over this at times, and were it not that we have no convenient
place for public worship, our numbers, I think, would be con-
siderably increased. For the present, we are compelled to meet
in the general sleeping apartment of the Company, a room about
50 by 20 feet, made of poles and thatched with prairie grass.7
Up to this time the weather has been so pleasant and mild as to
render such a place comfortable, so far as temperature is con-
cerned; yet, filled as it is with the baggage of the lodgers, it has little
of the sacredness that attaches to the house dedicated especially
to the worship of God. Those who come are led, we trust, by a
7. An interesting description of the "Pioneer Boarding House" is found in Richard
Cordley, Pioneer Days in Kansas (New York, 1903), pp. 68, 69.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 43
desire to worship God. In this place we have usually two services
on the Sabbath; and, as there are already so many from other
societies on the ground, I feel it but courteous to share the services
with them. I speak thus, because the colony, in mass meeting,
invited me to supply their pulpit for a year, and they feel as though
I was "their minister/'
In connection with our public worship, there has been a very
interesting Bible class formed, of about twenty-five members,
many of whom have been actively engaged in the Sabbath schools
in the East. From these we expect the material for Sabbath school
teachers; and we have taken steps for the organization of a Sabbath
school as soon as a sufficient number of children can be collected.
How the house we are using will do for worship when the weather
becomes colder, we cannot as yet tell; but the proper authorities
are making preparations for building a large house for school pur-
poses. In this there will be a lecture room, 55 by 40 feet, which
will be used as soon as opened, for church purposes. There will
also be a smaller room for prayer and conference meetings.8
From this you will see that already a permanent commencement
has been effected here; and I doubt not there are other places
which, this fall or early in the spring, will afford equal facilities.
The great point should be, to be on the ground at the start. And
then, the minister, in all such movements, must be one of the
people, capable and willing to bear his full share in all the toil,
labor, and privation, necessary in first settlements. The estimation
in which he is held with the settlers will vary, as he is thus one of
them, or otherwise. I believe that there is more than one settlement
now forming, where the right kind of a man would be able imme-
diately to find all that his hands could do. Many parties are still
to come; and if of sufficient size, they will form separate settlements
and will desire a preacher sympathizing with your Society. Rev.
C. E. Blood, of Illinois, is already here, and situated about sixty
five miles above here, on the Big Blue.9 I should be glad to see
one or two men here, either this fall, or early in the spring.
Yours truly,
S. Y. LUM.
8. This building had dimensions 20 by 48 feet. — Malin, "Emergency Housing in
Lawrence, 1854," loc. cit., p. 42.
9. The Rev. Charles Blood settled at the Juniata crossing, four miles above the junc-
tion of the Blue and Kansas rivers in the autumn of 1854. In April, 1855, he preached
the first sermon in what is now Manhattan. — Charles M. Correll, A Century of Congre-
gationalism in Kansas (Topeka, 1953), pp. 20, 21.
44 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE, K. T. Dec 6th. 1854
REV. MILTON BADGER D. D.
DEAR BROTHER
When last I wrote I promised another communication soon in
reference to other positions in the Territory. Since then I have been
some considerable distance further up than before & am thus
better prepared to write from actual observation. From what I
saw, I am disposed to think that there are perhaps two locations,
now being made, that will soon prove worthy of the notice of your
Society, in fact one of them may need a man immediately. This
place is about 25 miles up the Kansas River from Lawrence, is
just beginning to be settled by Eastern men.10 A town is con-
templated & soon to be laid out & judging from the manner in
which Lawrence has progressed must as it is in similar hands,
have just as rapid development. Before a man could be on the
field if appointed immediately it will in all probability be in a
more advanced state than this place when I came here & I have good
reason to suppose I was none too early.
The truth is where eastern men take up a location & give evidence
of will and ability to build a town, multitudes from all other sec-
tions of the country crowd rapidly on their footsteps, & in most
cases, it is but a short time before the whole region, is set off into
claims & cabins are rising on every side. From present appearances,
the location of which I am now speaking is destined to be the second
city in this part of [the Territory] for becoming this it has some
decided advantages. I intend to visit there as soon as possible &
if I can make the arrangements will preach there on next Sabbath.
I am not yet certain that there is a building at all suitable for wor-
ship but no doubt one of the same kind as that which we occupy
will be soon erected.
I think it highly important that such points as these should be
early [entered on] by men from your society. Unless they are
thus — they will not long remain unoccupied & perhaps & not al-
ways with those who hold the truth as it is in Jesus. I know that
we have had various preachers here who have striven at all times
10. Lum refers here to the founding of Topeka. The Topeka Association was organ-
ized on December 5, 1854, with Cyrus K. Holliday as president. Holliday wrote a letter
on December 3 from Lawrence in which he stated that he was "going about 40 miles up
the Kansas River to assist in laying out a new town." On December 17 Holliday used
Topeka, K. T., as the heading for a letter to his wife. Lum is often associated with the
naming of Topeka. — Lela Barnes, ed., "Letters of Cyrus Kurtz Holliday, 1854-1859,"
The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 6 (August, 1937), pp. 245-247; Fry W. Giles,
Thirty Years in Topeka (Topeka, 1886), pp. 20-22. The relationship of Holliday to
establishing Topeka is discussed in Wallace S. Baldinger, "The Amateur Plans a City,"
The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 12 (February, 1943), pp. 3-13.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 45
to force themselves upon the people & setting forth the wildest
heresies as the truth of God. Unitarians, Christians, Swedenbor-
gians, Universalists have not been idle; their men are already on
the ground & openly declare that they will make it "too hot for the
orthodoxy." From this it will be seen, that all who have the
cardinal truth of the Cross should be most watchful & diligent.
About 55 miles still farther up the Kansas is another settlement, or
rather a number of settlements, another town is laid out & there
are quite a number of settlers within the area of a few miles &
who have the services of Rev. Mr. Blood, from near Springfield,
Illinois; he seems a man well adapted to pioneer life & a good man
to do the work of a missionary, he told me he had corresponded
with some one of the Secretaries. The field which he ocupies
must be an important field though not perhaps, destined to as
rapid growth as some others in the Territory. There are two or
three other points on the river of some importance though not
sufficient to merit particular attention as yet. They will be rather
a outpost between the leading points. I did not reach Fort Riley
but from reports, it is only a military post & it can be reached from
the Big Blue where Mr. Blood resides.
From enquiries made in reference to the city of Leavenworth for
as yet I have not been able to see it I should think it already quite an
important place & not supplied with any one who cooperates with
your society. They have occasional services by a Presbyterian
Minister from Missouri & at other times by a Methodist local
preacher but I cannot speak positively of its necessities.
On the South side of the Wakarusa, the settlers are rapidly filling
up the country. At Ureka, the point selected by the New York
Emigration [company] there will probably be little done this
Winter; — but it would be well to watch the movement early in the
Spring, as they intend large things. Still farther south, in the
Osage country, many are coming in, & little communities are rising
on every side. I shall endeavor to visit that part of the country
early in the Spring if Providence permit.
In reference to the character of the emigration as a whole I
hardly know what to think — many there are who come here with a
noble purpose. They are willing to be martyrs in the cause of
Religion & Liberty & yet I am compelled to think that the number
of such is small in comparison to those who have some selfish or
mercinary end to gain. I must confess that my mind has changed
on this subject & I do not think so highly of the aggregate emigra-
46 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
tion as at first.11 I find many, perhaps a majority, without any
settled moral principles as a basis of action & when once outside
the restraints of eastern society, they act out the native depravity of
the human heart — profanity & Sabbath desecration are beginning
to be fearfully rife & scarcely a Sabbath passes but our ears are
compelled to hear the sound of the rifle & axe. . . .
In reference to our own "City" there has [been little change]
since I wrote. Our public worship is much interrupted by the
cold weather as we have no place much better than the open air.
We find our thatch houses but poorly fitted for withstanding the
piercing wind that sweeps over these boundless prairies. Our
weather is not excessively cold, but the wind is so piercing & the
coldest & most windy days of the season have been the Sabbaths.
It is designed to construct a suitable building ... as soon as
possible but the first necessity is to provide for the suffering fam-
ilies. A weekly prayer meeting is sustained & considering the
circumstances, well sustained. I give up my little room, a little
more than 12 feet square for this purpose. There seems in a few
at least, an earnest desire to enjoy the social prayer meeting &
when we get together, though crowded into a small room & often
interrupted by sickly children still we do enjoy the Savior's pres-
ence, & from this little circle I trust will go out an influence upon
the surrounding elements. May it be as salt to save from moral
putrification.
Perhaps you may feel an interest in knowing how many comforts
we enjoy here. My own house, which is said to be as comfortable
as any — is entirely without a floor or walls, nothing but bare "sid-
ing" & that so open as to give us views of the country, almost in any
direction.12 The winds of course take every occasion to visit.
. . . One small room we store some things in another in which
to perform all the duties attendant upon living & here too bed
room, kitchen, sitting room & study etc all at hand. & even this
is thought here as doing very well. In most countries the process
of settlement has advanced further before the Missionary finds his
way there, but here the development will be so rapid that it is
necessary they should lead the van & in doing so they must be
subjected to all the inconveniences attendant upon settlement.
You desired to know definitely the current expenses of a Mis-
11. In October, Lum had written with enthusiasm about the fine qualities of the
settlers in Kansas. Supra, p. 42.
12. The first frame house erected in Lawrence was owned by Lum. — Malin, "Emer-
gency Housing in Lawrence, 1854," loc. cit., p. 43.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 47
sionary here. These for the present must be rather large. There
is but one article of food that is at all reasonable meat is certainly
low, ranging from 5 to 10 cents per pound. Everything else is at
exaggerated prices flour at 11 to $12 per barrel, corn-meal, $6.50
per barrel, potatoes $2.50 per bushel, apples, in the vicinity of $2.00
per bushel; butter, 35 cents per pound; molasses from 60 to 75 cents
a gallon; all other things at this ratio. With almost a certainty of
still further advances you can readily understand from this what
must be the expenses if it is necessary for me to travel this will
greatly increase the expense as at most stopping places, exhorbitant
rates are demanded, often as high as at the St. Nicholas in New
York, & then horse hire is set at $1.50 a day! When I first arrived
in the Territory, I was compelled to pay at the rate of $25. a week
for the board of my family. This was of short duration in my case,
as I soon secured before one week had transpired a place at the
Baptist Mission for about what it would have cost me to keep
house myself.
I had intended to tell you something of the manner of putting
up at night, when we found no stopping place, — how in travelling
about the Territory we are often compelled to take the open air,
the bare earth with nothing but the "broad blue" above, but I have
not time at present. Will you not send me all the back numbers
of the Home Missionary from the date of my commission? Written
of necessity in haste & confusion.
Yours fraternally
S. Y. LUM
LAWRENCE, K. T.
Dec. 7th. 1854
To THE EDITORS OF The Independent:13
I am sorry that the impression has been received (in various
quarters ) that you have a regular correspondent in Kanzas, because
I begin to feel already the inconvenience of numerous letters of in-
quiry, questions to be answered through The Independent, etc., etc.,
all of which I could not possibly attend to, and still reserved time
and energy for the arduous work that my connection with the Home
Missionary Society lays upon me. Your valued correspondent from
Iowa, I trust will continue his vigilant watch over this part of his
former field. An occasional sheet at irregular intervals is all that
can be expected from me.
13. This letter was printed in The Independent, New York, January 5, 1855.
48 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Since I wrote, we have been surrounded by scenes of stirring
interest.14 Almost immediately, the sympathizers with slavery, made
a bold push to dislodge us from our position here, and openly
avowed their determination to drive us from the Territory. As the
history of this affair has reached the public through other papers,
it is needless to enter into details; sufficient to know that finding a
sterness of purpose in Eastern men that they were unaccustomed
to meet in such quiet people, they wisely concluded to let us take
our time to withdraw — while they, in the meantime kept at a re-
spectable distance. This decided course settled apparently all
future contests of this nature, and I think the danger of violence
is every day decreasing. Certainly we are on more intimate terms
with the opposite party; they holding most of the wooded land, had
refused to let the "Yankees" cut timber on any terms, but now they
are glad of the privilege of bringing it to the mill on any terms. The
advantages which they derive from a settlement of this character,
begins to be apparent; and they no longer desire to rob themselves
of these advantages.
After so long time, and in the face of so many discouragements,
we have commenced to make lumber in good earnest. Day and
night the music of the first steam engine ever set up in Kanzas
Territory, is heard by willing ears, for upon its operations depend
many of our comforts for the winter now upon us.15 Lawrence
and the country around it, will soon wear a new aspect, and com-
fortable dwellings will take the place of the cheerless hovels hereto-
fore erected.
But this is not the only place about to assume importance in this
part of the Territory; another location has been selected about
twenty-five miles farther up the river, at a most beautiful point,
possessing many natural advantages.16 Eastern men are the pro-
jectors, and the country around is fast filling up with such. One
object of the location at this particular point, is to check-mate the
14. Lum wrote to the editors of The Independent on October 12, 1854, and his letter
was printed in the issue for October 26, 1854. Since this letter was of a general charac-
ter and of only casual interest, it has not been included in this collection.
15. This sawmill was moved to Lawrence from Westport. The New England
Emigrant Aid Company had purchased a sawmill at Rochester, N. Y., as early as Septem-
ber 1, 1854, but this project was abandoned as far as Lawrence was concerned because
of a series of delays. The Rochester sawmill was operating in Topeka in May, 1855. The
company sawmill was operating at Lawrence by about December 1, 1854. — Andreas-Cutler,
op. cit., p. 314; Giles, op. cit., pp. 34, 35. The first pamphlet of the Emigrant Aid
Company entitled "Organization, Objects and Plans of Operations . . .," stated that
the company would provide a sawmill and other equipment. — Samuel A. Johnson, The
Battle Cry of Freedom; The New England Emigrant Aid Company in the Kansas Crusade
(Lawrence, 1954), p. 61. Prof. James C. Malin discusses housing, materials available,
skills of mechanics, etc., in the interesting article "Housing Experiments in the Lawrence
Community, 1854," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 21 (Summer, 1954), pp. 95-121.
16. Lum refers to the founding of Topeka. See Footnote 10.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 49
operations of a few Southerners, who are attempting to draw around
them a community of propagandists, five miles lower down on the
river; and the indications are that the Eastern men will be suc-
cessful.17
The company from New York were rather late in their arrival
to accomplish much this fall, though they hope for great things
next year.18 It is much to be regretted that a more substantial
commencement could not have been effected this season — as the
delay gives courage to those waiting and anxious to bring in their
slaves. But I trust that New York capitalists will not be behind in
furnishing what is necessary for the complete triumph of their under-
taking. Certainly if the New England enterprise may be taken as
a criterion, they need not fear in reference to the safety of the
investment.
Since I have been in this country I have often wished that Eastern
men could see the necessity of sacrificing (no, I don't mean sacri-
ficing for it would be returned in large dividends, but lending)
money as well as men in the great and momentous work of making
Kansas a free State. In the North and East it is not looked upon
as the test question in reference to slavery extension, or, if thus
looked upon, it is not regarded as so soon to be decided. With all
thinking men here, it is seen in a far diff erent light.
All interested parties in Missouri look upon this struggle as the
life or death struggle of their "peculiar institution." In accordance
with this view, they are organizing secret societies to resist the
dreaded issue; such societies, headed by men in high places, and
reaching far into other Southern States, speak volumes in reference
to the deep feeling that exists; they are pulses that tell of the feverish
excitement within. True, it has often been said that the slave-
holders of Missouri are but a small part of the aggregate number
of inhabitants, and little to be feared; yet, generally, they are men
of property and influence, and seem to be able to lead the poor
and ignorant class directly in opposition to their own interests. It
is astonishing what deep-seated hatred they have succeeded in
infusing into the latter class, against all whom they can brand with
the name "Yankee."
17. Tecumseh was located as a townsite during the spring and summer of 1854. When
the first session of the territorial legislature met at Shawnee in July, 1855, Tecumseh was
designated as a permanent county seat of Shawnee county. Tecumseh lost the territorial
capitol to Lecompton. — Andreas-Cutler, op. cit., p. 533.
18. A party from New York under the auspices of the New York League arrived in
Kansas City, Mo., on October 15, 1854, en route to Kansas. One group settled at Osa-
watomie. — Johnson, op. cit., p. 82; D. W. Wilder, The Annals of Kansas (Topeka, 1886),
p. oO.
4—6551
50 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
My mind has been led in this direction by the results of the
recent election. Nothing has been more common in Eastern papers
of a certain class, than the declaration that "Kanzas was safe, it
was not adapted by soil, climate, etc., for slave-labor;" and others
who have been earnest to secure the result, have allowed themselves
to be deceived with the idea that it has already been attained.
Many even of the most enthusiastic advocates of the recent move-
ment from the North, begin to feel as though having fought through
the battle, they might sit down and exult over the victory; but so
do not we feel who are still in the midst of the struggle; and we
think, when the fact that 2,200 Pro-slavery votes were polled against
less than 600 for Freedom, comes to be generally known, it will
go far to set the true state of things before the country.
It is true that Gen. Whitefield, representing the ultra South move-
ment, has been elected to a seat at Washington, as delegate from
Kansas. Whether he will retain that seat uncontested, is doubtful.
There is evidence the most conclusive, that multitudes voting for
him had no more right to vote than citizens now resident in New
York had for his opponent, and there can be little doubt but that
the election been confined to legal voters simply, the Free-Soil vote
would have been the heaviest. But it could not be thus confined;
the safeguards thrown around the ballot-box were not sufficient,
and then force was at hand to control all efforts to sustain right.19
In a little settlement, about 7 miles from this place, where, it was
a well-known fact, that there were only 60 voters, 260 votes were
cast. In another, 700 illegal votes were known to be cast. They
came upon the weakest points, in such numbers as to overbear all
opposition. For days before the election they crowded by hundreds
the roads leading to the various districts, always carrying with
them a liberal supply of bad whiskey. Maddened by its influence,
they were ready for any dishonorable or violent course. In the
smaller districts, they could carry it all as they pleased, and they
were even known to compel suspected persons to open their votes
before casting them; and if not what they considered right, they
were thrown out and the offerer threatened with violence. Acts
similar to this, and even more atrocious, were the order of the day
in most districts; and as might have been expected, two men were
shot within a short distance from here. I do not think the annals
of our country will furnish another instance of such high-minded
mockery of the right of suffrage.
19. The first election for a delegate to congress from the Kansas territory was held
on November 29, 1854. J. W. Whitfield, the Proslavery candidate, was elected, polling
2,258 votes out of a total of 2,833. — Wilder, op. cit., pp. 52, 53.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 51
One more fact has just at this moment come to hand; in one of
the more important districts, a ring of armed men was formed
around the ballot-box, and every man was compelled to pass their
ordeal before voting. It would seem that when such things could
be proved, it were sufficient evidence to warrant the order for a
new election, but the Governor thought differently. . . .
But I would say a word of our church prospects. We have formed
a church, now composed of about twenty male heads of families.
When the families arrive they will add greatly to our numbers, so
that we hope soon to have an efficient church. At least we greatly
need the influence of such a church in holding in check the passions
of men. The sooner we can surround ourselves with the safe-
guards that the youth among us have left behind, the sooner shall
we present a society similar to that at the East. A few of our num-
ber spend an hour on Wednesday evening of each week, in a social
prayer-meeting; and of all our meetings, this is the one most rich
in blessing; we not only get nearer to our common Father, but we
get nearer to each other's hearts, and feel an interest in each other
that nothing else can awaken. After being deprived so long of this
high privilege, it is deeply felt as the richest of all blessings.
Our public worship is somewhat interrupted by the cold weather;
not that we have much severe cold; yet we have no way of defend-
ing ourselves from it. Our church, made of thatch, will do very
well in mild weather, but when the winds sweep in from the prairies
in all their violence, it is far different. On such occasions our
audience is rather thin. . . .
In reference to reception-houses, we are not provided as well as
an eastern city would be, yet all who are reasonable can be tolerably
accomodated until they can supply themselves. The day of suffer-
ing is, we trust, mostly past.
Yours, etc.,
S. Y. LUM.
LAWRENCE, K. T. DEC. 23, 1854
SECRETARIES H. M. SOCIETY
DEAR BRETHREN
In making out the report of my first quarter's labor in this Terri-
tory, I feel that I have but little in addition to what I have already
communicated. My time has of necessity been so much occupied
with the preparation for the comfort of my family that I feel little
comparatively has been accomplished; and yet, in the light of
eternity — I trust, it will appear, that my first three months in the
52 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
service of your Society, has not been altogether fruitless of good.
Few of those who are not on the ground can appreciate the dis-
advantages in the midst of which we have been compelled to
labor. In most respects it is hardly likely that any which follow
will be like the past.
It is but a little more than four months since the first wave of
emigration began to swell along the border of this then unknown
Territory. Since then, wave has followed wave, with increasing
rapidity & volume, until the desolate has become inhabited, & the
unknown has become pretty thoroughly discovered. Late as was
the season when the majority reached here, & actually destitute,
as we then were of anything like protection from the approaching
winter, there was apparently but one thought prevalent in all
minds & all our energies were taxed in giving a physical form
to that one thought — . We must have buildings or perish & build-
ings have arisen one after another until at this one point they
number over eighty & accomodate a population of about 500.20
Scarcely another example of such rapid growth can be found, even
in California — . & though here it is undoubtedly the most rapid, yet
all over the Territory is to be found abundant proofs of the interest
which is taken in the settlement of Kansas.
In the midst of the excitement which such a state of things
naturally produces, it is not wonderful that the majority should
feel little interest in spiritual things, time & thought were wholly
absorbed in what appeared an immediate & absolute necessity. —
Considering these circumstances, I have been most pleased to find
so large a number actuated by unwavering principles, so many
ready to cooperate in every work likely to advance the interests of
truth & righteousness. Yet that number is not yet by far so large
as I at first supposed. The large majority of all who come to the
Territory, so far as I have the means of judging, are actuated solely
by selfish or mercenary motives. Many such are the open enemies
of the dearest doctrines of the Cross, & declare themselves deter-
mined to wage war against the introduction of "Orthodox senti-
ments."
In my intercourse with this community, I have been pained to
find not a few who have been professors of religion in Eastern
Churches, openly avow themselves the enemies of the truths they
20. A contemporary, John Doy, wrote on December 1, 1854, that on that date 33
houses had been built in Lawrence. — Malin, "Emergency Housing in Lawrence, 1854,"
loc. cit., p. 45. The Herald of Freedom, as cited by Professor Malin, reported on January
13, 1855, that "three months ago there were no residences here other than tents; now
there are over ninety in the city limits, and new ones added daily." — Malin, "Housing
Experiments in the Lawrence Community, 1855," loc. cit., p. 107.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 53
once espoused, trampling on the Sabbath, & ridiculing sacred
things. On the other hand, I find a goodly number of true spirits,
who have joyfully sacrificed the comforts of eastern homes, & the
communion of eastern Christians, for the rescue & salvation of
Kansas & here they maintain a character such as might be expected
from such principles. They are truly sources of encouragement to
which the missionary can go when depressed in view of temporal
difficulty, or discouraged at the manyfold trials his field present.
The weekly prayer meetings & we have two are made doubly
precious from the presence & earnest prayers of such spirits. It is
in these praying circles, & the dear Savior whom we are sure to
meet there, that we place our hope in reference to a favorable issue
in the times of conflict that now surround us.
As I stated in a former letter there is already a liberal supply of
missionaries from the various societies at this point, but two that
I know of have gone to another part of the Territory — one of
these a Baptist Missionary & the other Rev. Mr. Blood, while no less
than five Missionaries besides myself remain at this point. These
are from the Baptist Home M. So. (they have two in the Terri-
tory) the American M. Ass. — the United Brethren M. Ass. &
the Methodist Episcopal — beside these, though not openly "mis-
sionaries" there are two from the Christian denomination, one from
the Swedenborgian, & one or two more of the Methodist etc. While
this is so, yet I do not feel called to give up this important point &
seek another. I was first on the ground & was unanimously chosen
to supply the place for a year. Some of these whom I have noticed
are excellent brethren & such as I would feel confidence in as fellow
laborers; yet I think the Committee would justify me in not yielding
the field, however much it might be desired by others especially as
my people desire I should stay.
This is one reason why I have as yet devoted nearly all my time
to this point. As it becomes necessary from the urgency of certain
parties, that something should be done, & as I desired an op-
portunity to enter another very important opening, about 25 miles
above here, I have given up to the others, every alternate Sabbath,
— that is for the present.21 I find in my new field a few professing
Christians, mostly connected with the New England Cong. Chs.
If the place has the rapid growth that is expected in the Spring
it will not be many months ere it will be expedient to form another
21. Lum makes reference here to his ministry at Topeka. See his letter of December
6, 1854, supra, p. 44. Lum conducted services ferquently in Topeka. On December 31,
1854, Cyrus K. Holliday described a visit by Lum. — Barnes, loc. cit., pp. 249, 250.
54 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
church at that point; but these points are so far distant from each
other that it will be a difficult matter for one man fully to attend
to the duties thus devolving upon him; especially will this be true
when the tide of emigration opens next season. This point will
alone demand the entire energies of one and I have some hope that
it will be able to do something for the support of a Mission —
though much cannot be expected, until we begin to be producers
instead of consumers.
I preached at this new point last Sabbath to about 25 as attentive
listeners as I ever addressed, & was happy in being the first to
declare the truth as it was in Jesus, upon a spot where thousands
will yet congregate in the worship of God. . . . Our sanctuary
was a small log house of Indian construction, formerly used for a
dance house, but now as a store room. It is entirely without win-
dows or means of light except the crevices left when building.
Yet even here, in a room scarcely tententable by our poorer fam-
ilies, East, & in almost total darkness, we had a most delightful
season of communion with each other, & with our Heavenly Father;
& I had the satisfaction of feeling that a good impression had been
made upon some careless minds. I find that external circumstances
have little to do with our real enjoyment. If the heart only be
right, it is possible to put up with privations & that without feeling
discomfort which would be thought in our former homes. . . .
It is my opinion that there are few countries more healthy than
this. Compared with the exposure there is little sickness but this
is admitted on all hands to be a very favorable season. Were it
not so, there must be much suffering. . . .
Yours fraternally,
SAMUEL Y. LUM.
LAWRENCE, KANSAS TERRITORY Feby 28th 1855
REV. DAVID B. COE
DEAR BROTHER
Not being acquainted with the usual form of filling out a report
such as is expected from me at the present time, I have adopted
the following:
1. The Church is called the Plymouth Congregational Church
of Lawrence, K. T.22 We are not yet divided into counties.
2. During that part of the year, over which my commission ex-
tends, I have had but two regular preaching places, one at Law-
22. The Plymouth Congregational Church of Lawrence was organized on October
15, 1854, under the leadership of Lum. — Richard Cordley, A History of Lawrence, Kansas
(Lawrence, 1895), p. 17.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 55
rence & the other at Topeka, 25 miles further up the river. The
last has been a regular point for a little less than three months.
I have preached at one other place, but only occasionally.
3. The Church is composed of 14 members, 9 male and 5 female.
Besides these there is an equal number whom we confidently ex-
pect, at as early a day as possible, as soon, as they can get their
letters from the East. Communication with the East is so much
interrupted, from some cause, that letters of all kinds are often
detained for more than a month on passage. Some are waiting
for their friends to bring on their letters in the Spring.
4. The attendance during the past winter has been very much
under the control of the weather. Our house of worship has not
been such as to protect us from the inclemency of the weather,
when the cold was most severe; & from this cause at times we
have been compelled, to suspend public worship, & meet in smaller
circles in private rooms. This has been a serious drawback upon
our little Society. When the weather has been at all fitting, there
has been an average attendance of about 60 at Lawrence, though
it has often doubled that number. At Topeka we have had an
average of 20 in attendance, with a continual increase, and pros-
pects of a rapid increase in the Spring. As these stations are so
far a part & as there is every prospect of a rapid growth, it seems
mighty important that another man should be on the ground as early
as possible in the Spring. Either one of these [posts] must re-
quire the full energies of a missionary and unless thus occupied,
there is reason to fear that they will be taken up by those whose
object is to destroy the truth as it is in Jesus. In view of these
facts the inhabitants are very anxious that the right kind of a man
should be sent out by your society.
5. As yet, it is not my privilege to report any cases of conver-
sion. The mind of the community has been kept in a continual
state of intense excitement on subjects connected with land claims,
the election, & slavery, that there seemed little room for subjects
not so immediately connected with these temporal interests. At
times, I have almost thought that the church was about to be en-
gulfed in the wild vortex of excitement. It has proved a severe
test of Christian Character. In the midst of such circumstances
I have been pleased to find so many, not included in the church,
who were thoughtful in reference to a future state. Never have
I, in the East, preached to congregations more deeply interested,
so far as appearances are an indication. I have found also, in my
56 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
private intercourse with the people, a feeling of inquiry, & a tender-
ness in reference to the subject of heartfelt religion, that has led
me to hope that the truth is having its purifying effect.
6. We have had no additions by Profession.
7. The number who have handed in their letters, is 15; of this
number, one has already left us, to join, as we confidently hope, the
"Church triumphant." Mr. Lewis L. Litchfield, after a protracted
and painful illness, which he bore with true Christian resignation,
died two weeks since, triumphing in God. ... To die battling
for the truth in Kansas, seemed a short way to the crown; & as
we reviewed the scene, we felt new courage for the conflict before
us, wishing only to fall in complete armor.
8. Our Sabbath school numbers 32, & the Bible Class 25. The
former includes nearly all the children of the proper age in the
vicinity. . . .
9. But one church has as yet been organized, that is the one at
this place. Another will soon be demanded at Topeka, where there
are a number of families who sympathize with evangelical truth,
& much desire a church & a preacher. ... I have also received
an invitation from persons at Osawattomie, a town at the junction
of the Osage and Potawatomie rivers, to come & organize them
into a church. There are 12 families all of whom desire a Cong.
Chh. formed among them. This is about 50 miles south of this
point.
10. Our contributions have, of course, been small. Most of
our members are of the poorer class, & find all they can do to meet
current expenses. Yet they intend commencing in the spring to
do what they are able for my support. The amount depends en-
tirely upon the character of the Spring emigration — I hope it will
be conciderable. At the Monthly Concert which was instituted at
as early a day as possible the contributions have amount to $2.53 —
so small that no disposition has as yet been made of it. The sum
would have been much larger were it not that most of our prom-
inent men have been absent during the Winter. Some of them
have returned to the states for their families, others have been
absent on business. Thus the responsibility has devolved upon
the young men of the Church & in many ways have I found them
of valuable service.
During most of the Winter we have not been at all protected
in our Public Worship but about 2 weeks since a hall 20 by 30
feet was completed, & placed at our disposal. This though rough
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 57
in appearance is so much in advance of what we had occupied up
to that time, that we feel quite satisfied for the present though it
will barely hold all who sometimes turn out. We hope that some-
thing will be done soon at the East to aid us in the erection of a
church edifice. No doubt this would aid materially in attracting
here the right kind of persons & thus the more surely & speedily
build up a self-sustaining & efficient church.
I find that when I wrote last I had not become fully acquainted
with all classes of men I had to come in contact with out here &
the more of experience [?] I have on this subject, the more am I
led to believe that, in many respects, there are few fields of labor
more difficult of cultivation than this. All kinds of radical ideas
are pretty fully represented here, and I have almost thought, at
times, that all this class of persons from the entire Union, are flow-
ing in, in hopes of realizing their wildest schemes. Time after
time, they have made their boast that they would crowd orthodoxy
out of Kansas. Yet I trust, in this they will be disappointed; there
is no kind of misrepresentation or misstatement, to which they have
not already resorted, to shake, if possible, the confidence of the
community in those who adhere to the truth. Their influence with
candid men is constantly decreasing.
I trust that there will be soon large numbers of true men join
us who will help to stay the flood of iniquity & infidelity that is
threatening. Especially is it important that the churches, who feel
any interest in the development of the truth in Kansas, should mani-
fest that interest in nobly sustaining those Societies that are to be
the instruments, under God, of making this new & beautiful terri-
tory all that our hearts could desire. I do most sincerely hope that
the church, North and East, will speedily furnish your Society
with the means of sending a large reinforcement to this field at the
earliest possible moment. Would that they could see, as we on the
ground see, the important issues that are pending & so soon to
be settled for the truth or otherwise. If the advocates of a free
Gospel, do not occupy the position it will not therefore, be left un-
occupied, as is already clearly indicated. . . .
Respectfully yours
S. Y. LUM
58 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE KANSAS TERRITORY
April, 1855
DEAR BROTHER COE
My report for the quarter ending March 23 is as you see, some
days behind its proper time, circumstances beyond my control
have delayed my writing until the present time & until within the
last few days but little has occurred to give interest to my cor-
respondence. All has been excitement with reference to our com-
ing election.23 This one subject seemed to assume in most minds
more importance than all others. In this district, we were par-
ticularly interested, from the fact that we were expecting a large
delegation from Mo. to assist us in choosing a legislature.
The excitement pervaded all minds, & could be seen nowhere
more clearly than in the lessened number at our religious meetings.
Almost every thought was concentrated on the issue just before
us & every effort put forth to meet that issue. If such times of
trial lead the church to God as their only resource, they will tend
to a rapid Christian growth; but if, as was too much the case here,
they seek aid from human wisdom alone, they are the most dis-
astrous occurrences that can befall any Christian community. Thus
I do not feel that the few weeks past have secured much in a right
direction.
The election has passed & passed in such a manner as to render
it almost certain that it will be declared void, & another one or-
dered, which will in all probability, be more exciting & violent than
the last. It has been estimated from the best information that can
be gathered, that there was not less than 5000 persons, from Mis-
souri & other Southern States in the Territory on the day of election
& here for the sole purpose of voting after which they would return
to their homes, until another similar case should call them here.
The polls at Lawrence were surrounded at an early hour by about
700 of these visitors, prepared to carry every thing before them
for the legal voters in the district do not amount to 400. in other
districts near, the proportion of transient voters was even much
greater; & there is no kind of abuse or violence which they are
not ready to offer to all promiscuously, who come from the North
or East.
23. The election, which resulted in the "Bogus" legislature, was held on March 30,
1855. The election returns by districts are listed in Wilder, op. cit., pp. 59-61. Prof.
James C. Malin points out that "according to the census taken preceding the election,
settlers of slave state origin were present in a clear majority. Although the facts are not
available to provide proof one way or another, the reasonable presumption is that the so-
called Proslavery party could have carried the election decisively. Upon that basis, the
action of Missourians in invading Kansas and voting illegally, was an inexcusable blunder."—
James C. Malin, "Judge Lecompte and the 'Sack of Lawrence,' May 21, 1856," The
Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 20 (August, 1953), p. 466.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 59
What is to be the result of these things if they continue, is more
than human eye can foresee. One thing is certain, they check
very much the progress of true Christianity. Should the emigra-
tion of the present season be large, it will do much to controll these
things; especially, will it be so, if it be exactly the right kind. Oh
that the churches East, would send us hosts of their tried & faithful
men, men who would stand firm trusting in the Lord of hosts even
amid the wildest waves of excitement. Such are the men for Kan-
sas! those whom neither fear nor a bribe can move from their
steadfastness! There is sterling work to be done, not the least of
which is to controll the outbreaking passions of men, on both sides
of the great question that so deeply agitates us. But there are other
dangers that await the comers to this new Territory, than those
which grow out of the political agitation. Every month's residence
here develops this fact more fully.
The circumstances under which mind is thrown in this wild
frontier life, for it can be called nothing else as yet, engenders a
recklessness, & freedom from restraint, that too often, prove fatal
to the principles, as well as the practices of a home society & it is
not too much to say, that we have the material, for either the worst,
or the best, state of society in our country. There are surely enough
influences at work, unless counteracted by the Infinite One through
the efforts of His church to overthrow any society.
The first waves of eastern emigration begin to be felt here, &
they bear to us some choice spirits.24 From present appearances,
I think we may hope for a higher state of character in some re-
spects, than that which came last Fall. A greater proportion seem
earnest Christians & from the interest, with which they enter into
our social gatherings for prayer, they encourage the hope of eminent
usefulness in our midst. As the families move in the Sabbath school
is rapidly increasing, & the Bible Class receives new accessions
& awakens a deeper interest.
But the emigration brings with it some disadvantages. We have
been compelled to give up our comfortable place of worship to be
fitted up as a boarding house & we are again driven to the thatch
house, which will soon also be filled with the coming. Would that
some liberal hands might be opened to give us a permanent place
of worship! Nothing could do more to aid the missionary in his
work for while thus driven from place to place it is very difficult
to secure a permanent audience. g y LUM.
24. Three parties left for Kansas during March, 1855, under the auspices of the New
England Emigrant Aid Company. — Louise Barry, "The New England Emigrant Aid Com-
pany Parties of 1855," ibid., v. 12 (August, 1943), pp. 227-248.
60 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE, K. T. JUNE 23rd/55
DEAR BRO. COE.
During the quarter that has just passed, I had intended to have
written another communication but we have been thrown into such
circumstances as to render it impossible. My labors have never
been more excessive & burdensome than for a few months past,
while at the same time I have not had the same amount of physical
energy as heretofore to bring to the issue.
We have been realizing some of the effects of the exposure to
which most of us were subjected last Winter: & considering
the circumstances, it would have been wonderful had there been no
more than an ordinary amount of disease. Exposure & bad diet
had prepared the way for disease & death; & yet they have not been
as prevalent as would have been expected, in any ordinary climate.
My own family have not been exempt from suffering. Early in
the spring, we were called to part with one of our dear children.
The anxiety & watching necessary, added to the causes already
noticed, prostrated nearly every member of my family. I began
to fear I should be left alone & we began to fear that there was
little romance in pioneer life, as we were experiencing it. It re-
quired not a little faith to toil on, under such circumstances, with bad
health & in many ways destitute of the common comforts of life.
Yet it was a position of usefulness & promise, & trusting in God,
we were determined to go forward, leaving health, & life even,
in his hands.
God has been better to us than our fears, & in love has kept us
while in the midst of sickness & danger. But not a few have died
around us, & I have been called to attend from 3 to 4 funerals a
week. Almost all of this kind of work devolved upon me, adding
quite materially to my other labors, & often preventing me from
fulfilling my regular appointments.
Thus it is true that during the past three months my station at
Topeka has been left almost entirely to other hands. I had hoped,
that before I was compelled to give it up, a man would have been
designated for that field by your Soc, but as most of my time is de-
manded here, & as there are several places where congregations
could be collected near at hand & where they are very desirous to
have preaching, I have thought best to withdraw from that field,
& I have done so with not a little reluctance. Could I have spent
my whole time there, or could some one from your Society have
gone in early Spring, there might now have been a strong organiza-
tion— strong for this Territory. I hope yet someone may arrive in
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 61
time to gather the scattering elements, before they are all absorbed
by denominations teaching few if any of the essential doctrines
of the Cross.25 A strong effort has been made there, as well as
here, to produce an union of all denominations upon a basis having
no creed & no discipline. By such means, those who ignore Christ's
divinity, the need of regeneration, &c. &c., hoped to get a con-
troling influence. But thus far the plan has not succeeded. The
true children of God stand aloof from such schemes, & are anxious
to have the lines between the church & the world distinctly drawn
& the character of Christianity elevated rather than lowered.
Since my last report 3 more Sabbath schools have been formed
in connection with the society with which I labor. In these schools,
there are about 80 children regularly collected to learn the way
of life. Nothing gives more hope in reference to the future of
Kansas, than the fact that many of the children are learning the
truths of God's Word in the Sabbath school. Many of these chil-
dren too are from parts of the Western states where they never
heard of the Sabbath School & were in darkness almost heathenish.
The spring emigration has brought with it some valuable ac-
cessions to our little society, & we feel that we have a steady though
not as rapid a growth as we expected.26 There is also a deeper
interest manifested among those who have been here during the
Winter, & who have scarcely attended divine worship so that on
every hand there is ground for encouragement.
There is nothing we want next to the blessing of God more than
a place of worship that we can have the control of & call our own.
The hall where we meet is not uncomfortable, but it is subject to
the direction of others for much of the time. There will probably
be two churches erected during the present season, one by the
Methodist Soc. & the other by the Unitarian Soc. Rev. Mr. Nute
has brought on $5000, so it is understood, for the purpose of erecting
a Unitarian church though there is no Society formed here as yet.27
The very fact of having a comfortable church edifice will give
to any Soc. or preacher an influence under the circumstances in
25. The organization of the "Free Congregational Church of Topeka" was completed
at Constitution Hall on July 14, 1856. The Rev. Lewis Bodwell, well-known frontier
minister, preached his initial sermon in Topeka as the first regularly appointed pastor on
October 26, 1856. — Russell K. Hickman, "Lewis Bodwell, Frontier Preacher; The Early
Years," ibid., v. 12 (August, 1943), pp. 271, 279.
26. Nine parties had arrived in Kansas under the auspices of the New England Emi-
grant Aid Company by the time that Lum wrote this letter. — Louise Barry, "The New
England Emigrant Aid Company Parties of 1855," loc. cit., pp. 227-268.
27. On May 27, 1855, Mrs. Sara Robinson described the arrival in Lawrence of the
Rev. Ephraim Nute, a clergyman sent to Kansas by the Unitarian Association, as follows:
"We are glad he has come among us with his genial sympathies, his heart warmth, his
earnest ways, his outspoken words for truth, and his abiding love for freedom and right." —
Sara T. L. Robinson, Kansas; Its Interior and Exterior Life (Boston, 1857), pp. 59, 60.
62 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
which we are placed that will be important. In no way could the
work be more advanced than by the churches of the East, who
are looking with such interest to Kansas, than by sending the
means for such a building in every important town. We feel that
this is an important matter. We are willing to do all in our power,
but we are too weak to accomplish what is necessary.
Would that I could reach the ears of the Church at the East!
I would say There is no way in which you can accomplish what
you desire for Kansas, no way in which you can secure the insti-
tutions which you desire to establish there, so certainly, as by
furnishing her with faithful heralds of the Cross, & then by giving
them the means of accomplishing the work which a man might
almost as well not enter a field, as to be left, when there, unfur-
nished for his work. There is much responsibility resting upon
the churches of our land, in reference to the Home Missionary
work. They have, as yet, only begun to see it in its true light.
The quarter closes June 23rd. The amount due me from the
Society is $125 as I have received nothing from any quarter during
the past 3 months.
Yours truly,
S. Y. LUM.
LAWRENCE K. T. Aug 6th 1855
DEAR BRO. COE
Your letter accompanying a draft for $125. arrived a few days
since. You say it completes my salary for the year, & wonder that
I "insinuated" otherwise. I thought I had good reason to suppose
that the first remittance was a donation — at least Mr. S. C. Pom-
eroy stated that he had received a letter in answer to one he had
written in which it was declared thus to be but not feeling sure
from the language of the letter which contained it I wrote once
& again specifically to know, whether it were thus or not, whether
I should consider it a part of my stipulated sum. To those en-
quiries I received no direct answer — but in the note from the
clerk, accompanying the draft of Apr 21st it was stated that the
enclosed was for the quarter ending March 25th. Of course that
is the way I supposed my account stood for the books, & was not
a little surprised to find it otherwise.
As the misunderstanding has caused some little embarrassment
I hope there will be no cause for it in the future. I have been
endeavoring to make arrangements for a more comfortable house
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 63
for the coming winter but have concluded to suspend in part my
preparations. The year has been one of very high prices in nearly
every direction — flour has been until very recently as high as
$14.50 a barrel, corn meal $8. — molasses from 75 cents to $1 a
gall cheese 20 to 25 cts a Ib. This is of course very destructive
to a persons funds, (& all that has kept us along, is the means
secured by Mrs. Lum's keeping boarders.)
When I came to Lawrence I did hope that long ere this my
people would feel able to contribute something toward my support
& have endeavored to bring their mind to this point but as yet
no one from any of the Missionary associations have been assisted
by the people here & then under the expenses of the high living
& starting anew in every direction feel at liberty to hold back in
this direction thinking that the East should supply their spiritual
wants. I do intend that it shall be materially otherwise at the
commencement of a new year & shall do all in my power to make
it so. . . .
There have been times during the month or two past when I
have thought it impossible to remain here with my family — We
have been called to part with one of our dear little ones & Mrs.
Lum by constant labor, above her strength & the excessive excite-
ment that surrounds us has for weeks been laid upon a bed of
sickness which we feared would prove fatal. She was taken with
Nervous Typhoid fever in the midst of the hot weather but by the
blessing of a kind Providence she is slowly recovering. Church
matters are in about the same condition they were when I wrote
last but not so encouraging as we could desire.
Yours truly
S. Y. LUM.
P. S. If any part of this are made public please withhold that
enclosed in brackets.
LAWRENCE, K. T. Sept 23rd 1855
DEAR BROTHER COE
Another quarter of my missionary labor has passed & this com-
pletes the first year of my connection with the A. H. M. Soc.
Though in some respects my hopes have not been realized, yet
there has been steady & encouraging progress made — so much so
that the time has come when the erection of some kind of a com-
fortable house of worship is a necessity. Where, but one year
ago I found but little over a hundred persons — just arrived in this
64 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
unknown country, without shelter from sun or storm, I now find
near 1000 inhabitants with first class buildings of stone in every
direction, either erected, or in process of erection. Business men —
with all the caution that characterizes that class in reference to new
settlements have invested largely in what they feel, is to be the
1st. or one of the 1st cities of Kansas, & already, 6 large stores are
in successful operation, some of them in buildings that would be
no discredit to Eastern business places.
This seems also to be the center of religious influence in the
Territory — at least all denominations deem it highly important
to have a foothold here. 4 churches have been formed & another
is in immediate prospect — these are, — the Congregational, Meth-
odist, Baptist, United Brethren & Unitarian. These divisions of
evangelical Christians seems most unfortunate, where the whole
united are so weak, & will remove, much further off the time, when
the gospel can be sustained independent of foreign help, but it was
impossible to avoid it. Two of the churches named above intend
to erect suitable houses of worship this fall or rather I should say,
commence them this fall, the others — would they keep pace with
the rapid movement around us, must not hold back in this respect.
During the three months just closed I have found the interest
in our prayer meetings constantly increasing & this too in the
midst of the excitement, which the doings of our Missouri legisla-
ture, have produced.28 God's children have felt that in Him was
their only resource from legislative tyranny, & appealing to Him
for wisdom & guidance, they are resolved to follow the path of
right & duty at whatever hazzard. But we do not anticipate any
violent enforcement of those iniquitous acts, the authors know
too well, that the result would be anything but healthful to them-
selves, or advantageous to their cause. Infinite Wisdom will turn
the wrath of man to the furtherance of its own purposes. . . .
It should be borne in mind by those who contribute to the sup-
port of missions in Kansas, that our circumstances are peculiar,
unlike those of any other Territory, no emigration had preceded us,
& we had — (the first year) no means of support within ourselves —
it has been one continual drain upon our pockets, which in most
cases has taxed all our energies to supply, prices of the com-
monest necessities of life have been what our neighbours of Mo have
28. The "Bogus" legislature elected on March 30, 1855, assembled at Pawnee, near
Fort Riley, on July 2, 1855, and adjourned on July 6, to meet at Shawnee on July 16.
The legislature passed many laws which are found in the volume of 1,058 pages entitled
The Statutes of the Territory of Kansas. Included was a strong statement of the Proslavery
position in an "Act to punish offenses against slave property." — Wilder, op. cit., pp. 73, 74.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 65
seen fit to ask — in most cases very exorbitant. The coming year
in this respect will be very different as we now begin to have a
supply of many things within ourselves. . . .
Yours truly,
S. Y. LUM
LAWRENCE, K. T. December, 1855
EDITOR, The Home Missionary29
In some respects, our prospects as a church were never brighter
than at present. We have frequent accessions, and of a character
that will be permanent and valuable; and we certainly need all of
the right stamp that can be induced to come here, for we have much
work for Christians to do. Sin and error of every kind grow with
vigorous and rapid strides in a soil such as is afforded in a new and
forming community like this; and while the church has advanced
slowly, evil, in some directions has made fearful headway.
A few months since, public sentiment was such, that not a drop
of liquor could be publicly obtained in the vicinity; and it was
necessary to secure the certificate of a physician, before it could
be obtained for medicinal purposes. Now, there are grog-shops on
every hand, and the majority of young men are frequenters of
such places.30 This is naturally attendant upon the wild excite-
ments in which we are compelled to live. For months past, our
young men have been in constant drill for war-, and such associa-
tions stir up the worst passions of our nature. We hope that the
worst excitement has passed; but we have thought so before, and
have been disappointed; and it may be thus in the present case.
There never has been such danger of actual hostilities — a civil
war — as that which we have just passed through, and which you
no doubt, have received full reports ere this. But as reports are
29. The contents of this letter indicate conclusively that it was written in December,
1855. The letter was printed in The Home Missionary, New York, v. 28 (March, 1856),
pp. 364, 365. The Herald of Freedom, December 29, 1855, reported that the thermome-
ter had reached 22 degrees below zero during the week, in keeping with Lum's descrip-
tion in the last paragraph. The issue of the paper could not be printed on schedule because
it was impossible to thaw out the paper stock.
30. The response to grog shops in Lawrence in January, 1857, has been described
as follows: "Action was forthcoming on Saturday, January 24, 1857, [when] at half past
ten in the morning about forty women of Lawrence, who had carefully worked out their
plans at previous meetings, set out on a tour of inspection of reputed groggeries. Instead
of two they found no less than seven in full operation. This was a discouraging situation
in a town of a thousand inhabitants, which prided itself on being a temperance community,
but the women were equal to the task they had set for themselves. With true frontier
simplicity they resorted to the one remedy that they had effective and with little waste
of time they went from liquor shop to liquor shop and in each case speedily wrought the
destruction of all the intoxicants that could be located. No determined resistance was
offered by the liquor dealers, probably because of a strong body of men who had come
prepared to protect the women against molestation." — Otto F. Frederickson, "The Liquor
Question in Kansas Before Constitutional Prohibition" (Ph.D. thesis, University of Kansas,
1931), pp. 159, 160.
5—6551
66 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
very conflicting, it may be satisfactory to hear the facts from a
known source.31 Early in November, a peaceable and unoffending
citizen, a Free-State man, was brutally murdered in cold blood by
a Pro-Slavery man, a few miles from Lawrence. The settlers in
the vicinity, having no hope from the mock-law of the Territory,
which was not made for such men, designed administering justice
in defiance of law. The culprit, shielded by Pro-Slavery men, es-
caped into Missouri; and, as he left, set fire to his own house, and
also to one or two others of his associates, thus giving the impres-
sion that the Free-State men had commenced the work of extermi-
nating their opposers. This report flew on the wings of lightning
through all parts of Missouri; and the Governor, to give it counte-
nance (without investigation), issued his proclamation.
In these ways, in the course of two weeks, there were collected
near Lawrence, at three points, somewhere near two thousand
armed men, who openly avowed their intention of burning the
town, and entirely exterminating the whole Free-State party; and
I have but little doubt that they fully intended to put in execution
their fell purpose. Matters began truly to assume a warlike at-
titude. The Free-State men came pouring in from all quarters, in
order that they might repulse the enemy at the first attack, and
thus prevent a general devastation. Mud forts were thrown up
in several parts of the town, sentinels were constantly on duty,
and scouting parties, day and night, were watching the movements
of the enemy. All the public buildings were turned into barracks —
the preaching hall with the rest; and nothing was thought of but
the best means of defense.
The members of my little church, though deprived of their
place for public worship, met in the private circle for prayer, and
with deep earnestness and holy confidence in God, sought wisdom
as well as strength from on high. They felt much like the fathers
31. Lum describes the events associated with the Wakarusa War. Franklin Coleman,
a Pro-slavery settler, killed C. W. Dow, a Free-State man, at Hickory Point, 12 miles south
of Lawrence. The cabins of some Proslavery settlers in the community were burned by
Free-State sympathizers. Jacob Branson, a friend of Dow, was arrested by Sheriff Samuel
J. Jones on November 27, 1855. The prisoner was rescued by a Free-State party under
the leadership of S. N. Wood. The events developed as described by Lum. Wilson Shannon
was the governor. The spokesman for the Free-State group at Lawrence was Dr. Charles
Robinson. The agreement signed at Lawrence on December 9 by Shannon, Robinson, and
Lane is often referred to as the "Treaty of Lawrence." It is in this period that John Brown
became active in Kansas developments.
Lum's statement in this letter that the cabins of Proslavery settlers were set on fire by
Coleman as a ruse to blame the Free-State men is not in accord with the version generally
cited. — Johnson, op. cit., pp. 138-144; Wilder, op. cU., p. 90. However, The Herald of
Freedom, December 29, 1855, stated: "It is the opinion of every person well-informed
on the subject in Kansas, that the Coleman and Buckley houses at Hickory Point were
burned by pro-slavery persons, for the purpose of stimulating outrages upon the Free-State
men." A contemporary account of these developments is found in Sara Robinson, op. cit.,
p. 128-159. The agreement between Shannon, Robinson, and Lane is found in The Herald
of Freedom, January 12, 1856.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 67
of the Revolution, determined to die; if necessary, in the cause of
God and the right. After two weeks of such excitement, a deputa-
tion from the enemy's camp came into town, in company with the
governor, to see if anything could be done to prevent a general
slaughter. They began to wish for some honorable way out of their
bad position. The settlers were too well prepared for defense, to
permit them to hope for an easy victory; and they did not like to
look at the certain death which would undoubtedly have been the
fate of most of their number in case of an attack. So they con-
cluded to try diplomacy. The delegation were treated respectfully,
were told our position, and our determination either to live or die
by them.
The consultation was continued for two days; when the Gov-
ernor professed himself satisfied, and gave orders to the army of
invasion to beat a retreat, which they were not slow to do. As
has been since said by those interested on their side, they did not
expect such stern resistance; and though they brought several
batteries of canon, yet they were only for use in case there was no
fighting on our side!
We are now experiencing most severe weather; the thermometer
has been within a week as low as 24° below zero; and it is about
impossible to keep warm enough to write.
S. Y. LUM
(The Concluding Installment, Containing the Lum Letters of
1856-1858, Will Appear in the Summer, 1959, Issue.)
William Sutton White, Swedenborgian Publicist
JAMES C. MALIN
PART Two — KANSAS EXEMPLAR OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG AND HERBERT SPENCER
I. INTRODUCTION
/1pHE question of the influence of ideas is often beset with diffi-
•*• culties, but in the case of William Sutton White, editor of the
Wichita Beacon, 1876-1887, the major influences upon his thought
are clear; the principal one, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), and
less explicitly, Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), Swede and English-
man respectively. For present purposes only the briefest indica-
tion of their systems of thought can be given, and of White's use
of them. Any really adequate presentation of White's dozen years
as publicist would require a full-length book.
II. EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was a scientist, technologist,
philosopher, and theologian; unquestionably one of the significant
savants of the 18th century; the second son of Jesper Swedberg,
bishop of Skara, and earlier a professor at the University of Upp-
sala, where in 1709, ES completed his formal university training.
In 1719 the family was ennobled by Queen Ulrica Eleanora, the
name then changing to Swedenborg. ES's first tour of foreign
study began in 1710; two and one half years in London and Ox-
ford, where his principal interests were mathematics and astron-
omy. He continued his studies on the continent, in the Nether-
lands, and in Paris, 1713-1715, returning to Sweden to devote him-
self to natural science, engineering, and invention, interrupted only
by successive extended periods of foreign travel and study. In
1716 King Charles XII appointed him extraordinary assessor of
mines. Swedenborg distinguished himself in the several major
branches of science: anatomy, astronomy, chemistry, geology, math-
ematics, mineralogy, physics, physiology, and psychology.
Until 1734 Swedenborg's career is usually viewed as strictly
DR. JAMES C. MALIN, associate editor of The Kansas Historical Quarterly and author
of several books relating to Kansas and the West, is professor of history at the University
of Kansas, Lawrence.
(68)
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 69
that of scholar, scientist, and engineer; an investigator of nature,
especially in its physical aspects. The second period of his life,
1734-1745, focused upon biology, in which he is said to have made
important scientific contributions to anatomy, physiology, and
psychology. In the interpretative sense, this second period has
been designated as the search for the soul in nature. His third
period, 1745-1772, was devoted to theological studies, or to "The
Kingdom of God/' subsequent to his "Illumination," when he in-
sisted that he had been admitted to the world of spirits and there-
after considered himself as merely the instrument of the Lord
to explain the internal meaning of the "Word," the Scriptures.
Although some anticipation of this new departure appeared earlier,
the transition period proper extended over the years 1743-1747,
when, in 1747, he resigned from the board of mines to devote his
entire time to this new mission.1
THE SWEDENBORG THEOLOGY
The Swedenborg theology as summarized for present purposes
is treated under four heads: Jehovah Creator, The Word (Scrip-
tures), the succession of churches, and the Lord as Redeemer and
Divine Activity. Jehovah God is infinite and eternal. The uni-
verse and man are created, therefore, finite and exist in space and
time as emanations from the Eternal. As all this is beyond the
comprehension of finite man, by analogy the Sun metaphor is used
as the nearest, although inadequate mode of conveying the mean-
ing. The Sun as the center of the solar system radiates light and
heat into outer darkness.
Matter is that which is more remote from the central source of
force and motion; the material and the immaterial both being force
and motion, only differently organized. Swedenborg conceived of
the universe as being formed by an evolutionary process, a spiral
1. The best single biography of Swedenborg, is Cyriel Odhner Sigstedt, The Swedenborg
Epic; The Life and Works of Emanuel Swedenborg (New York; The Book Associates, 1952).
See, also, George Trowbridge, Swedenborg: Life and Teaching, fourth edition of 1934 (New
York; The Swedenborg Foundation, 1955); Signe Toksvig, Emanuel Swedenborg: Scientist
and Mystic (New Haven; Yale University Press, 1948). All of these biographical studies
are from the Swedenborg point of view. No competent independent biography has appeared.
Brief biographical sketches of Swedenborg appear in the encyclopedias, the more signifi-
cant being L. B. DeBeaumont, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, edited by James Hast-
ings, 12 volumes (New York; Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951), v. 12, pp. 129-132; Alexander
James Grieve, Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition (1910), v. 26, pp. 221-223; ibid.,
1957 edition, abbreviated and revised by "X," v. 21, pp. 653-654; Frank Sewall, The New
Schaff-Hertzog Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by Samuel Macauley Jackson (New York;
Funk and Wagnalls Co., 1911), v. 11, pp. 183-189; N. A. Weber, The Catholic Encyclo-
pedia, edited by Charles H. Hebermann, 15 volumes (New York; Robert Appleton Company,
1912).
On the New Church, or the Church of the New Jerusalem, the best, and almost the
only work, except encyclopedia articles, is Marguerite Beck Black (1889- ), The New
Church in the New World (New York, Henry Holt, 1932).
In American perspective, a particularly interesting book is Helen Keller, My Religion
(New York; The Swedenborg Foundation, Inc., 1956 edition).
70 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
nebular hypothesis. The smallest unit in his conception of physics
is a mathematical point, which, if extended traces a line, a line
extended becomes a plane, and a plane extended encloses a solid;
thus space is accounted for by means of mathematical physics.
Matter is organized in space into vortical atoms; particles at the
core with other particles rotating around them. Each atom sets
up a magnetic field. Solar systems are formed out of atoms; the
galaxies are composed of solar systems; and the whole universe
is a system of galaxies, with its magnetic field of force. Here, in
his mathematical-physical system by which Swedenborg accounted
for creation according to his version of the nebular hypothesis, he
set up his model of a macrocosm-microcosm relationship which
prevailed as between each order of magnitude from the smallest
atom to the whole universe. By analogy, God had a similar re-
lationship, so far as infinite and finite could be compared.
Man is created in the image of God. The individuation of man
was accounted for by conceiving of his material body as a tempo-
rary receptacle for the soul, and the soul in turn received life by
influx from God. As God is order, all creation is according to
order. In other words, all created things are governed by Divine
law, without exceptions — not even God can suspend Divine law
as the expression of Divine wisdom. This point must never be lost
sight of if Swedenborg's concept of evil, of salvation, and of re-
generation are to be understood. Man is created with complete
freedom of will, and out of love of self and of the world, is free
to choose evil, and by doing so sins against God and withdraws
himself from the love of God. Thus by his free choices, man is
good or evil, and creates his own heaven or hell, which are not
places, but states of being.
The Word of God is recorded in the Scriptures allegorically in
three degrees of correspondences; the literal, the spiritual, and
the celestial, and is understood according to the capacities of men.
By being admitted to the world of spirits, Swedenborg was con-
vinced he became the servant of the Lord to reveal the highest
form of truth as it was clothed in allegorical form in the Scriptures.
Just as men created their own heaven or hell, so each man be-
came a church: "The church is within man and not outside of him;
and that every man is a church in whom the Lord is present in the
good of love and of faith." In another context, the exposition as-
serted that "the right understanding" of the Word, "constituted the
church." Prior to the Lord's First Advent, the churches were repre-
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 71
sentative. This requires some explanation because Swedenborg
held that there had been four churches or dispensations prior to the
Second Coming of the Lord in 1757 which ushered in the New
Church, or the Church of the New Jerusalem. The four were the
Adamic, the Noahtic, the Israelitish ( or Jewish ) , and the Christian.
At the beginning of the Adamic or Most Ancient Church (Adam
was an era, not a man), men conversed with Angels, knew truth
from falsehood intuitively, and thus received the doctrine in a
spiritual sense. But man being free to choose, closed his mind to
the Lord and the heavenly love with its truth. Step by step the
Adamic mind withdrew further until the Lord intervened to restore
equilibrium, and conditions requisite for the exercise of a true
freedom of choice. The second, the Noahtic, or Ancient Church,
appeared after the flood — not of water, but of evils and falsities — by
which a new start was made by some people called Noah, whose
nature underwent a change whereby they survived, were given a
faculty called conscience or reason, to replace intuition, and they
developed writing by the use of symbols; the records of Moses were
in symbolic language, and not meant to be historical. True his-
torical writing began with Abraham. This church degenerated and
was succeeded by the third, the Israelitish, which in turn de-
generated, and was replaced by the Christian church. The advent
of the Lord through His Divine Humanity was to battle against
accumulated evil and to redeem mankind. Thus Jehovah God,
Creator, became also Redeemer, and Divine Activity — the Trinity of
Person with which the Christian dispensation opened.
In this capacity of God, as Creator, Redeemer, and Divine
Activity, Swedenborg differed from the orthodox Christian interpre-
tation of the Trinity — the Nicene creed, endorsed by the Council
of Nicaea in A. D. 325, which, according to his interpretation, in-
troduced a polytheism in the Trinity of Persons. In the Sweden-
borgian theology, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, were three mani-
festations of one and the same Being.
Swedenborg repudiated also that version of the traditional plan
of salvation which represented God as angry, whose Son was cruci-
fied to propitiate Him, and to cancel "the sentence of damnation,
yet only in behalf of those for whom the Son should intercede, and
that so He becomes a Mediator in the presence of the Father
forever." Swedenborg could not accept any representation of God
except in terms of Divine love, who could not logically operate
upon any plan involving anger, vengeance, or punishment from
72 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the Lord. Man brought upon himself by his free choice the punish-
ments of sin. According to order, the consequences of sin could
not be remitted. By the Passion on the Cross, the Lord, in his
Divine humanity underwent temptation as man, but in overcoming
temptation restored the equilibrium in the spiritual world under
which the free choice of man between good and evil was effective.
Correcting further what Swedenborg considered the prevailing
errors of the orthodox church, he emphasized that, as effects from
cause, the penalties of sin were not remitted, removed or shifted.
By being saved from sin was meant, saved from sinning that he
might undergo regeneration, the regeneration being effected through
the Holy Spirit, the Divine Activity, the third aspect of the Trinity
of Person. The process of regeneration begins in this world by the
free choice of man in accepting the plan of reconciliation with the
Lord, and is continued in the next world to eternity — the man
chooses good instead of evil, hates evil as a sin, and does good to
the neighbor according to the Divine order; not as a reward — it
is his life.
For the Swedenborgian, death of the natural body is viewed as
a continuation of life of the soul in a substantial spiritual body.
The soul is eternal. In Heaven every man's life passes in review
from his memories, and upon this inescapable record, he is his own
prosecuting attorney, witness, and judge. He seals his own fate
for eternity; he is not judged by law and sentenced or sent to heaven
or hell. Whatever his life was on earth, in the natural body, his
change of state is only a continuation of that life to eternity. His
choice of a good life and the regeneration begun in the natural
body continues to eternity.
To the question, who can be saved? Swedenborg replied: "the
Lord's church is universal, and is with all who acknowledge the
Divine and live in Charity" ( Heaven and Hell, n. 308 ) . He warned:
"Everyone knows that the heathen as well as Christians live a
moral life, and many of them a better life than Christians . . .
and a moral life that is lived out of regard to the Divine is a
spiritual life." For Swedenborg, the universality of the church
extended to the inhabitants of other worlds in the universe. And
to a Christian world which was not clear on infant damnation,
ES comforted: "every child, wherever he is born ... is re-
ceived when he dies by the Lord and trained up in heaven. . . ."
Every man is born with three universal loves, the love of heaven,
of the world, and of self. The first is necessarily spiritual; the other
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 73
two are natural, but man may through them make his own heaven
and hell: 'What a man loves supremely is the main end and object
of his life. . . . it is the motive power of his life. ... A
man's entire character is that of his ruling love. ... It cannot
be changed after death, because it is the man himself." Neces-
sarily, the natural loves, in particular, are related to the doctrine
of uses. Led by the Lord, the three loves may be co-ordinated
and make man perfect. Riches and honors of public service, sub-
ordinated to spiritual love, are not to be condemned, but public
service should be rewarded commensurately.
As a biologist who had specialized in human anatomy, physi-
ology, and psychology, Swedenborg looked with wonder upon the
body as an organism. He rejected the widely held Christian at-
titude toward the flesh as necessarily associated with evil, and
something of which to be ashamed:
Every man ought to have a sound mind in a sound body; he must therefore
provide the proper food and clothing for his body; and also the intellectual
and critical matters which are the proper food of the mind; he will then be
in a condition to serve his fellow-citizens, his country, the church, and the
Lord. He who does this provides for himself to eternity.
To each individual in society, ES assigned a responsibility or duty:
Charity is to act justly and faithfully in one's office, business, or employment,
because everything so done is of use to society, and use is good, and abstract
good is the neighbor. . . . For example: Some kings. ... A [faith-
ful] clergyman. ... A just judge. ... An honest merchant. . . .
The same is true of every workman, sailor, farmer, servant, indeed, of every-
body who does his work honestly and faithfully.
This is charity, because charity may be defined as daily and continuously
doing good to the neighbor, individually and collectively. This means doing
good work in one's daily employment; and even when a man is not engaged
in good work; it may be the frequent subject of his thought and intention.
He who thus practices charity, becomes more and more an embodiment of
charity; for justice and fidelity form his mind, and their exercise form his
body; so that in process of time, from the form thus acquired, he intends and
thinks nothing but what is charitable. Of such men it is said in the Word,
that they have the law inscribed on their hearts. They attach no merit to
their works, for they never think of merit but only of duty, which is a good
citizen is bound to perform.
At another place, Swedenborg emphasized that admission to
heaven is not to be looked upon as a reward or as a merit for
works: "The joy of doing good to the neighbor is their reward,
and this is the joy of the angels in heaven; for it is spiritual and
eternal, and infinitely surpasses every natural delight."
74 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Swedenborg warned against charity in the sense of indiscrim-
inate giving of alms or relief to the poor — "this must be done pru-
dently" or "these benefactors are ultimately the cause of mischief
to the good." Charity includes public, domestic, and private duties;
compulsory public duties like paying of rates and taxes; domestic
duties like the reciprocal relations of husband and wife, parents
and children, and master and servants; and private duties like pay-
ment of wages and interest, fulfillment of contracts whether based
upon statute, civil, or moral law — "Those who have charity per-
form them justly and faithfully; for the law of charity requires
that a man should act justly and faithfully in all his dealings.
. . ." ES covered also under the rule of charity, recreational
activities, whether of the church, or strictly social intercourse.
Swedenborg carried the doctrine of uses to an extreme: "every-
thing good is good in the measure of its use. . . ." The knowl-
edge which men acquired through the exercise of intellectual pow-
ers was viewed by Swedenborg as an instrument, and as a trust
from the Lord, which man in his freedom might use for good or
evil. In this context he stated his motives in undertaking to ex-
plain the internal sense of the Word:
Now because it has been granted me to be in the spiritual world and in the
natural world at the same time, and thus to see each world and each sun, I am
obliged by my conscience to manifest these things; for what is the use of
knowing, unless what is known to one be also known to others? Without
this, what is knowing but collecting and storing up riches in a casket, and
only looking at them occasionally and counting them over, without any thought
of use from them? Spiritual avarice is nothing else. . . .
This insistence upon use of knowledge in contrast with hoarding
was according to order and correspondence with other things, like
wealth and power, entrusted by the Lord to the free choices of
men for good or evil.
Living in an age of monarchy, Swedenborg emphasized that
superiority in government, according to his standards of divine
justice, was to be found where the principle of popular responsi-
bility prevailed. Although not rated as a social reformer in the
fashion of the highly publicized philosophers and philosophies in
18th century France, who were his contemporaries, the social im-
plications of his theological system were highly explosive socially
in their potentialities.
Had Swedenborg been a crusader, who stopped at nothing to im-
pose his system of social revolution upon his generation, or had he
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 75
established a sect comparable to those of Luther and Calvin, or
had he undertaken a political career comparable to Cromwell or
Napoleon, the consequences might have been portentous. Instead,
his methods were essentially passive; man must not in any manner
be coerced into doing good, not even by the Lord, or by His ser-
vant, Swedenborg. Such restraint is rare indeed among men pos-
sessed of a sense of mission. His faith that right, as he saw the
right, would prevail eventually, seemed to be without limit. He
would not organize a church as an institution to propagate his doc-
trines; the church is in the hearts of men and would prevail. In
an age in which natural rationalism, materialism, and cynicism
were so strongly emphasized, both his spiritual interpretation of
history and his manner of implementing it were not of his 18th
century, when the most conspicuous characteristic was the intol-
erance manifested by the advocates of tolerance.
ANTECEDENTS OF ES IDEAS
A perspective upon Swedenborg is impossible to attain except
at an inordinate expenditure of time and effort. The scholarly
world which prides itself in being "enlightened" and "scientific" has
been inclined to ignore, or to ridicule the Great Swede because of
his claim of "Illumination." The orthodox religious groups tend to
dismiss him as a heretic. Swedenborgians generally refuse to ac-
cept as valid any discussion of him that does not recognize the
"Illumination" and all of its implications as the point of departure,
thus dissociating him from the main stream of the history of thought
— his theological ideas are derived from the Lord, not from the his-
torical ancestry of all modern human thought.
The uncommitted historian is not obliged to pass judgment upon
matters of theological faith, as such, but is deeply concerned about
any body of thought that has impact upon men, and thus upon the
course of human history. The influence of a body of thought so
comprehensive as that under consideration extended far beyond
the confines of what is conventionally accepted as the province of
religion. A decision on the question of originality of Swedenborg's
work is not necessary for present purposes, but essential to any
real understanding of his place in history is the determination in
general terms of the sources or antecedents of the ideas found in
his works. This means that investigation is necessary of his techno-
logical, scientific, philosophical, and theological works in their en-
tirety, both for themselves and in their setting of the mid-18th
76 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
century.2 And furthermore, the independent historian is interested
in the manner in which, and the extent to which, Swedenborg's
thought was integrated into later history as a culture-forming
factor. Whether or not original or valid, Swedenborgian thought
dominated the Wichita Beacon during the period 1876-1887. The
2. Note on the Emanuel Swedenborg Theological Works, the editions used and the
method of citation. The individual books bear long titles but are usually known by short
titles. For citation purposes abbreviations are used. Quotations are from the Standard
edition published by the Swedenborg Foundation, New York (English translation from the
original Latin), for the most part, and references are not to page numbers unless so indicated,
but are to numbered articles in the respective works, as these are common to all editions.
Arcana Coeslestia: The Heavenly Arcana Contained in the Holy Scriptures or Word of
the Lord Unfolded, Beginning With the Book of Genesis, Together With the Wonderful
Things Seen in the World of Spirits and in the Heaven of Angels (12 volumes), translated by
the Rev. John Faulkner Potts (New York, 1949-1951), (short title, Arcana); Heaven and
Its Wonders, and Hell; from Things Heard and Seen, (short title, Heaven and Hell); Angelic
Wisdom Concerning the Divine Providence (short title, The Divine Providence)-, The Four
Doctrines, four short treatises originally published separately; I. The Doctrine of the New
Jerusalem Concerning the Lord; II. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the
Holy Scripture; III. The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem from the Ten Command-
ments; IV. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning Faith; The True Christian Re-
ligion (Everyman's Library edition, No. 893); Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love
and the Divine Wisdom (short title, Divine Love and Wisdom); The Apocalypse Revealed,
Wherein Are Disclosed the Arcana There Foretold Which Have Heretofore Remained Con-
cealed (2 volumes), (short title, Apocalypse); Miscellaneous Theological Works. (Of the
eight short treatises in this collection, two are used: "The Intercourse Between the Soul
and the Body"; and "The Earths in the Universe.") Posthumous Theological Works (2
volumes ) .
Of importance for an orientation on the chronology of Swedenborg's works, the times
of their actual composition, and of their first publication, is "A Brief Bibliography of Swe-
denborg's Works" included at the end of volume 2. Among Swedenborg's miscellaneous
writings are some autobiographical letters and extracts from other correspondence, and The
Coronis, an appendix to The True Christian Religion which is published with the latter book
in some editions.
Note on Swedenborg's Scientific Works. No standard edition, in English translation, of
the scientific works of Swedenborg is available. Some of the volumes that have been
published are now "out of print." For present purposes the works examined are listed here
in chronological order of composition:
Some Specimens of a Work on the Principles of Chemistry, With Other Treatises, trans-
lated from the Latin by Charles Edward Strutt [with an "Introduction" by the translator]
(London and Boston, 1847). The Principles of Chemistry (these parts only had been
printed) had been published in 1721, and some of the other treatises reprinted in 1847
were of the same date. The Principia or the First Principles of Natural Things to Which
Are Added the Minor Principia and Summary of the Principia, translated from the Latin by
James R. Rendell and Isaiah Tansley, with an "Introduction by Isaiah Tansley . . .," 2
volumes (London, The Swedenborg Society, 1912). The Principia, as printed here with
the additional materials, 1,214 pages, was part one of a three-part work Opera Philosophica
et Mineralia, published in 1734.
The Infinite and the Final Cause of Creation, Also the Intercourse Between the Soul
and the Body: Outlines of a Philosophical Argument, translated from the Latin by Jarnes
John Garth Wilkinson, with a new introduction by Lewis Field Kite (London, The Swe-
denborg Society, 1902, reprinted 1915). Wilkinson's original translation was in fact pub-
lished first in 1847. The Economy of the Animal Kingdom, Considered Anatomically,
Physically, and Philosophically, translated from the Latin by the Rev. Augustus Clissold, 2
volumes (Bryn Athyn, Penn., The Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1955 reprint). Pub-
lished originally in 1740, 1741, and part three posthumously published.
The Medullary Fibre of the Brain . . . and Diseases of the Fibre; Rational Psy-
chology, translated from the Latin by Norbert H. Rogers and Alfred Action (Bryn Athyn,
Penn., The Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1950). This work was written in 1742. The
Animal Kingdom, three parts were published by ES in 1744-1745. Other parts have been
posthumously published in Latin and in translation. Only the "Prologue" in a reprint form,
has been used for the present study.
Ontology; or The Signification of Philosophical Terms, translated from the Latin by
Alfred Acton (Boston, Massachusetts New-church Union, 1901). This short treatise, never
completed, was composed in 1742. The Worship and Love of God, translated from the
Latin by Alfred H. Stroh and Frank Sewall (Boston, Massachusetts New-church Union,
1856). Parts one and two were published by Swedenborg in 1745, but part three was
published for the first time in this book. This work is an allegory of creation, not a scientific
work, and represents conspicuously the transition into Swedenborg's theological period, but
nevertheless his science affords the background.
The Letters and Memorials of Emanuel Swedenborg, translated and edited by Alfred
Acton, 2 volumes (Bryn Athyn, Penn., The Swedenborg Scientific Association, [1948] 1955).
Psychological Transactions, translated and edited by Alfred Acton (Bryn Athyn, Penn., The
Swedenborg Scientific Association [1920], 1955). The several short works included in this
volume were written at various times and none were published by Swedenborg. Some are
published in this book for the first time.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 77
writing of local history is not a simple operation. That fact should
not require further elaboration.
Ignoring the controversies that have so largely controlled the
writing about ES, the contention of the present study is that, so
far as history of thought is concerned, continuity in Swedenborg's
intellectual development is the conspicuous fact. There is no more
reason to fragment his thought at the shift, 1843-1845, of the center
of his interest from biological science to theology, than at the shift
in 1834 from physical science to biological science. The same
philosophical tradition was employed from the beginning in organiz-
ing and interpreting, in sequence, physical science, then biology,
then theology and ethics.
Such difference as is apparent is only such as might be expected
with maturity, depth and scope of knowledge, along with the suc-
cessive shifts in subject matter. Necessarily the shift in subject-
matter of investigation from the theoretical bases of mathematical
physics and chemistry to the subject-matter of life in organisms
meant the acquisition of assumptions not formerly applicable.
Again, in the shift from biological material to spiritual subject-
matter further assumptions were required. These successive addi-
tions did not mean necessarily the abandonment or repudiation of
what was valid and usable from the prior stage in the development
of the later stages.
When men fail to find satisfactory answers to ultimate questions
in the so-called material world, physical and biological, through
reason applied to evidence of the fine senses, they appeal to the
supranatural, to the mystical in some form; that is to reasoning be-
yond the tangible evidence.3 One extreme version of appeal beyond
the evidence of the five senses is absolute scepticism — nothing is
certain, not even uncertainty or existence, a materialistic paradox
of negative mysticism.
The alternate extreme, and the one that Swedenborg adopted
eventually was a theological mysticism, a conviction of unition
with the infinite. Some of his highly publicized 18th century
contemporaries, especially in France, Voltaire, etc., made a show,
at least, of taking positions near the materialistic extreme; accord-
ing to conventional classifications, enlightened liberals. Measured
by such classifications, because of theological commitments, Swed-
enborg was a conservative or even a reactionary. But compared
with orthodox Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists, Swedenborg was
3. For want of a precise word, the term mystical is used there in spite of the multiple
meanings it has already acquired.
78 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
a heretic, or radical. Under inspection, the conventional classifica-
tions became nonsense. Each individual emerges with unique
properties in his own right, which give his life significance and
meaning as a living, unclassifiable personality.
One of the first characteristics to be recognized in Swedenborg's
philosophy, which provided the theoretical framework for the or-
ganization and interpretation of his science, is the eclecticism under
which he exercised the widest freedom of choice in the selection
of features from the several sytems available. From the Greeks,
for example, among others, he drew from Empedocles, Leucippus,
Pythagoras, Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. Several
Romans were used. From the writers of the early Christian era —
Hebrews, Arabians, and non-Christian Neoplatonists — Philo, Plo-
tinus, Avicenna (Ibn Sina), and even lamblichus are represented.
The last named was a later Neoplatonist whom late 19th century
scholarship considered an exponent of the decayed period of that
movement, although in the 20th century his standing seems to have
improved.
In his first major biological works, Swedenborg cited the early
church fathers, especially those prior to A. D. 325, the Council of
Nicaea which adopted the Nicene creed, or "Trinity of Persons"
as ES called it.4 This was the period prior to the establishment
of orthodoxy, when conflicting versions of Christian doctrine, drawn
from several sources, were competing for recognition. Further-
more, the long tradition of Christian Mysticism was in evidence
in the writings of Swedenborg's scientific period as early as 1719.5
All this should be clear from his explicit citations of authority.
To the student of the history of philosophy and theology, the evi-
dence is inescapable that the origins of Swedenborg's thought have
much deeper roots than superficially these citations would seem
to indicate.
In Swedenborg's theological works, as differentiated from his
scientific works, with only slight exception, he cited nothing but the
Bible. That fact of citation did not change, however, his basic think-
ing. All the main outlines of his philosophy had been well estab-
lished prior to 1745 when the theological phase of his life supposedly
began. In fact, some of his theology was a matter of record prior
4. See the lists compiled in The Economy of the Animal Kingdom, v. 2, pp. 41, 349.
5. Letter, ES to his brother-in-law, November 25, 1719, The Letters and Memorials of
Emanuel Swedenborg, 2 volumes, translated and edited by Alfred Acton, (Bryn Athyn, Pa.,
The Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1948), v. 1, pp. 220-221. ". . . God nas his
seat in the Sun. . . ." Also: "That the most eminent light and glory is in the sun,
while far away therefrom is darkness. . . ." This was further developed in Neoplatonic
metaphor in The Economy of the Animal Kingdom (1740-1741), article 251.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 79
to that date. To be sure, the shift in the center of gravity in sub-
ject-matter from science to theology and ethics resulted in a de-
velopment of a theological system, as in his prior period he had
formulated a biological system, and still earlier a mathematical-
physical system. Furthermore, the fact should not be overlooked
that in his theological system the scientific subject-matter of physics
and biology was integrated into the theological subject-matter and
argument. One Swedenborgian interpreter has admitted cate-
gorically that unless the claim of "Illumination" is insisted upon no
obstacles stand in the way of interpreting the thought of ES as
representing historical continuity.6
A survey of Greek thought and of its contacts with other systems
usually called Eastern, and the intermingling with the Judaeo-
Christian-Islamic tradition would be revealing, but space does not
permit.
A survey of the history of Christian mysticism and of Neoplato-
nism makes clear the extent to which Swedenborg partakes of that
tradition.7 Typologically, religions may be divided into two
groups on the basis of their treatment of the relation between
God and man. One group emphasized the difference between
God and man, God's transcendence: Zoroastrianism, Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam. The other group emphasized the identity
of God and man and the immanence of God; and the desire on the
part of the soul as an emanation from God to be purified and to
return to the One. Christian Mysticism undertook, with varying
degrees of success, to combine these quite different points of view,
and so did Swedenborg.
The speculative Christian Mysticism emphasized the unity, or
wholeness, of life, which meant devotion to the business of the
world as well as to that of the spirit. Thus John Tauler (ca. 1300-
1361) declared "One can spin, another can make shoes; and all
these are gifts of the Holy Ghost. I tell you, if I were not a priest, I
should esteem it a great gift that I was able to make shoes, and
would try to make them so well as to be a pattern to all/* Jacob
Boehme (1575-1624) was a shoemaker who became also a mystic.
Aristotle had said that everything has a function; the good is to per-
6. The Rev. Lewis Field Kite, "Introduction" to ES, The Infinite and the Final Cause
of Creation. . . . (1915), pp. xx-xxi. Kite's claim, in this introduction, that Sweden-
borg pioneered in the explicit analysis of the infinite and the finite, cannot be accepted.
That distinction belonged clearly to Nicolaus Cusanus (1401-1464). See Wilhelm \Vindel-
band, A History of Philosophy . . ., translated by James H. Tufts (New York, 1895),
pp. 344, 345. This book is available in paperback, Harper Torchbooks, TB 38/39.
7. William Ralph Inge, Christian Mysticism [1899]. Paperback reprint (New York,
Meridian Books, 1956), Living Age Books, LA 3; Evelyn Underbill, Mysticism [1910], pa-
perback reprint (New York, Meridian Books, 1956), MG 1.
80 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
form that function well; the highest good is to perform it in the
highest and most complete manner; a harpist plays a harp, but a
good harpist plays the harp well. In this respect, speculative
Christian Mysticism was also in the tradition of Aristotle. Plotinus
emphasized the beautiful things of this world, and that this world is
not evil because it is the image of the Divine Mind: "What more
beautiful image of the Divine could there be than this world, except
the world yonder?" This macrocosm-microcosm metaphor of Greek
philosophy was conspicuous also in Christian Mysticism in the
view that man is made in the image of God. But the distinction
made by Origen (ca. 185-254) was generally accepted; that the
likeness exists in man only potentially, subject to development.
The role of mysticism in the history of human culture has had
varied verdicts. Inge said: "Asiatic Mysticism is the natural refuge
of men who have lost their faith in civilization, but will not give up
faith in God" (p. 115). Also, it is a revival of spirituality in the
midst of opposites: formalism, which is emptiness; and scepticism,
cynicism, and relativism, in which there is no certainty — Mysti-
cism is an adventure into the unknown. An unregenerated his-
torian may add that this is a good definition also of science — an ad-
venture into the unknown.
Returning again to the main line of philosophical development,
the modern beginnings that lead to Swedenborg are seen in Nicolaus
Cusanus (1401-1464) who undertook the first systematic analysis
of the infinite and the finite, developing the macrocosm-microcosm
metaphor, and with the aid of the atomic concept of Democritus
(460-360 B. C.), and the mathematics of the Greek Pythagoreans
concluded that in individuation each thing is different and that
place and motion are relative. The philosophical succession from
this beginning down to Liebniz and Christian Wolff in the 18th
century worked out the main lines of thought from which Sweden-
borg made his choices.
Critical, however, to such promise of originality as was in evi-
dence in Swedenborg's earlier scientific work was his assumption
of the role of reformer and his growing obsession with functional-
ism, a trait which he shared with other social reformers — the
Locke tradition in England, the "Enlighteners" in France, and
Christian Wolff and his disciples in Germany. In ES functionalism
was expressed in the exaggerated doctrine of use, and the doing of
good to the neighbor as of the Lord as the ultimate measure of the
value of all things. The partial, but not a sufficient saving feature
for Swedenborg, however, was his even more stubborn insistence
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 81
upon free will — no act performed under coercion of any sort has
moral value, not even an acceptance of Swedenborg's own system
of thought. This was evidenced also in his objection to the in-
stitutionalization of his "Church" — that is, forming a cult. But
nevertheless, functionalism is always fatal to content, to substance,
and cumulatively to creative thought. This was Swedenborg's
tragedy.
III. HERBERT SPENCER
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), English philosopher and pioneer
in sociology, came from a family rooted for seven centuries in Dar-
byshire, England. His father, a Quaker, and an uncle, who were
most influential in his education, were both committed to educa-
tional careers. Herbert received little formal training, terminating
what little he did have by the age of 17. The major ideas which
were to characterize his career took shape early. In 1842 he formu-
lated his theory of the functions of the state; maintenance of order
and protection of life and property — that and no more. In 1851
came his first book, Social Statics, in which he elaborated upon the
general statements of 1842. The following year he published an ar-
ticle which expounded "the development hypothesis"; a generalized
statement of the concept of evolution, physical as well as biological.
This was six years prior to Charles Darwin's first public formula-
tion of organic evolution under the name "natural selection."
In 1855 Spencer's book The Principles of Psychology, for the first
time, applied the development idea to that subject. By 1858 he
formulated a plan for his major life work, The System of Synthetic
Philosophy, to be issued in parts on subscription, an enterprise
that was not completed until 1896. His book on Education came in
1860. The First Principles of his philosophical system in 1862, The
Principles of Biology in 1864 and 1867, The Principles of Sociology,
volume I, in 1877, Data of Ethics in 1879, The Man Against the
State in 1884, and Justice in 1892. These titles, some of them not
being a part of his formal series, were the ones available to W. S.
White, except the last named. As D. Appleton and Company, of
New York, became Spencer's publisher in the United States, the
American editions of his books, especially the Social Statics, are
pertinent for the present study.8
8. The data are not available to determine which of these books White used, or when
he made his acquaintance with Spencer. One historical evaluation of Spencer's philosophy
as a whole, stated that "the metaphysical top-dressing with which Spencer decorated his
system is in all essentials lifted from [Sir William] Hamilton." Another writer stated that
Spencer is due for a revival: "If his own age overrated him, ours has underrated his merits."
— Anthony Quinton, "The Neglect of Victorian Philosophy," Victorian Studies, v. 1 (Maich,
1958), p. 253.
6—6551
82 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Spencer denied the existence of God in any orthodox religious
sense, thinking of himself as a scientist, he sought to eliminate the
supernatural, or the supranatural, from his system. In his Social
Statics, he used the term "Divine Idea," but in his book The First
Principles, this gave way to "The Unknowable." In any case
"creative purpose" was recognized, and the supernatural was ad-
mitted into his universe in spite of himself, depriving him of any
true claim to the designation of materialist. His Christian critics,
however, were not usually disposed to accept such differentiations.
Spencer believed that man's guide to action lay in absolute prin-
ciples that could be discovered by scientific investigation. Such
principles were valid, he admitted only in a perfect world for
perfect men. His term Social Statics referred to this ideal, under
which men exercised full self-control, which was a badge of their
freedom, and government was unnecessary. Under these condi-
tions the greatest happiness to all would be achieved through the
"exercise of all the faculties." Spencer's first principle of freedom
was, therefore, that: "Every man has the freedom to do all that he
wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other
man." Under this freedom, he was entitled "to get drunk or to
commit suicide." Evil, in Spencer's system, meant non-adaptation
of society and individual men to the perfect law of existence.
As society is the product of development, government is a growth
and a necessary evil in the process by which savage men become
civilized on their way to an eventual perfection when government
should atrophy. Thus expansion of the functions of government
and coercion was an evidence of moving in the wrong direction.
In an imperfect world among imperfect men, choices of alterna-
tives of conduct are relative; one finds himself in a position where
no course of good action is offered, only choices of the least wrong
from several possibilities, all of which are wrong. This is what
makes an understanding of absolute principles so important as
standards of measurement. As government can rightfully do noth-
ing more than protect life and property, Spencer opposed state
control of church and education. These were the responsibility
of the family and the individual, even to the extent of the right to
be ignorant. Most anything is preferable to compulsory indoctrina-
tion (education) at the hands of the state. No action can posess
moral quality if it is performed under coercion. The reformer's
demand for legislation to coerce men to be good, only created
worse evils and demand for further legislation to enforce the former
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 83
laws. According to the principles of development, man had come
a long way already on the road toward civilization, but had a
long way yet to travel. In the meantime, Spencer insisted, the
best mode of facilitating the achievement of the final goal was
patience, and the relatively best choices of modes of conduct —
which necessarily excluded all laws extending the powers of the
state.
IV. WHITE'S SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY
SYNTHESIS OF SWEDENBORG AND SPENCER
The foregoing review of the thought of Swedenborg and Spencer
reveals so clearly some of the similarities and contrasts as to make
any extended comparison unnecessary. At no time did White hold
up Spencer as his model social philosopher. Quite the contrary.
The first explicit reference to him by name was in February, 1880,
when Spencer's materialism was emphatically condemned.9 In
White's synthesis of systems, the fact that Spencer had no positive
formulation about God meant that, unopposed, the Swedenborg
version of the Neoplatonic theology occupied the central position.
As in all cases where Spencer's lack of religious sanctions was in-
volved in the fusion, the positive character of the Swedenborgian
system was unopposed. The effects of this fact might suggest
that, instead of fusion of the thought of Swedenborg and Spencer,
White's philosophy might be described more accurately as essen-
tially Swedenborgian, influenced by Spencer, or with an admixture
of Spencer. Like so many people of the late 19th century, much of
White's debt to Spencer was by way of reaction against certain of
his teachings. But there were areas of agreement, most strikingly
in social policy. Although a century later, and by a different line
of reasoning, on so many things Spencer had arrived at much the
same conclusions as Swedenborg. The coincidences are so striking
that they cannot be casually dismissed.
THE "NEW CHURCH" ACTIVITIES IN WICHITA
The "New Church" was represented in Kansas as early as ter-
ritorial days, but did not achieve a self-sustaining status. During
the latter half of the 1870's, the Rev. Adams Peabody was mission-
ary to Kansas, visiting Wichita on the average of once a year from
1876 to 1882 inclusive.10 Others appeared later. One attempt
9. Wichita Weekly Beacon, February 18, 1880, report on the Paige lectures.
10. Ibid., February 9, 1876; March 21, 1877; September 11, 25, 1878; December 3,
1879; March 3, 1880; May 11, August 10, 1881; January 11, 1882.
84 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
at organization of a local society at Wichita has been recorded.11
In 1877 the convention of the Missouri-Kansas association of the
New Church met at Osage City, Editor White attending. In 1881
the Kansas Association met in Wichita. The Wichita Library As-
sociation received a gift from the Swedenborg Foundation, in
January, 1878, of 20 volumes of Swedenborg's Theological Works,
and in November, 1886, 20 volumes of collateral works.12
By his editorial policy, White kept the Swedenborg philosophy
before the readers of the Beacon in several forms, much of it not
identified by name. White's devotion to Swedenborg was un-
qualified: "The greatest, most rational and philosophical theologian
of his, or any other age." 13 A characterization of White was in-
spired by the completion of the new Beacon building in 1885, when
a former associate wrote that he had always entertained a
"kinder hankerin feelin" towards the sheet ever since we were devil in that
office, years ago, when its present editor used to hoof it in from his claim, clad
in an army overcoat, and Swedenborgen ideas, to stick type, when the grass-
hopper was in the land, and the typos played "devil among the tailors" for
the beer.14
"Clad in an army overcoat, and Swedenborgen ideas/' indeed!
Symbols of a profound philosophy of clothes — expressed succintly
and picturesquely! Regardless of sharp differences among sol-
diers of the American Civil War about its issues and consequences,
there was agreement in an uncompromising patriotism. The old
army overcoat was a visible symbol. But White possessed what
many others lacked, an implicit faith in an invisible symbol, one
that he applied rationally and systematically to life.
In a long commentary on Swedenborg, upon the occasion of the
first gift of his books to the library, among other things White
wrote:
They are the ripe thought of the grandest man of all the centuries . . .;
whose vast, varied and comprehensive learning in all the domains of thought
is the wonder of the world and whose moral and spiritual excellence and
emanations fix him as the central human figure of all the ages. . . . His
theology is the philosophy of being and existence, and yet to the earnest
student and disciple his figure dwarfs out of the range of the intellectual
organs of vision and his personality is swallowed up in the depths of the
truths he declared. He bases his science of religion on the Bible, the mother
of all science and the inexhaustible reservoir of truth and life. . . .
11. Ibid., August 10, 1881.
12. Ibid., January 23, 1878; Wichita Daily Beacon, December 1, 1886.
13. Weekly Beacon, November 14, 1877.
14. Daily Beacon, October 27, 1885.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 85
White's meaning here is to be explained by the allegorical inter-
pretation of the Word:
His profundity is so simple, that the little child may comprehend its essen-
tials and his simplicity so profound that the succeeding ages will not exhaust
the particulars of it. It is the philosophy of life. . . .
On matters other than theology, White emphasized that:
he is not to be measured by whole colleges of ordinary scholars. No one man
is able to judge of the merits of his works on so many subjects. He anticipated
much of the science of the 19th century — in astronomy, in magnetism, in anat-
omy, in chemistry, and first demonstrated the office of the lungs. His literary
value has never been rightly estimated.
White closed with citations of appreciation by other writers of
Swedenborg's importance.15
Misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Swedenborg appeared
in several forms, one of which was confusion with modern or scien-
tific Spiritualism. Taking advantage of a discourse in Chicago by
the Rev. L. P. Mercer, on the subject of Spiritualism, White re-
printed the full text and wrote an approving editorial. Mercer
pointed out that orthodox Christian churches and materialists both
repudiate Spiritualism, but for different reasons. The more "scien-
tific" the world became the more insistent the demand for evidence
of immortality at the materialistic level of the senses with which
science deals — a contradiction of concepts. The New Church is
the only system of faith resting upon Divine revelation that "admits
of the possibility" of spirits returning, and offers an explanation.
For that reason it is confused with Spiritualism. In fact, the New
Church denounced Spiritualism or more properly "Spiritism"; "in-
tercourse with the departed is possible in two ways, one orderly
and the other disorderly." Although possible to invite the spirit
to invade the consciousness, it is "expressly forbidden, always dan-
gerous, and at the best, only negative in its results." Swedenborg
recognized this and warned against it. The spiritual and the ma-
terial are not opposites, but different by discrete degrees. For the
spiritual to invade the natural consciousness was to degrade it.
The orderly mode of intercourse occurs only to those in a state to
receive "the opening of the spiritual senses of man." This means
"the seer's temporary elevation from this world to that." 16 The
knowledge derived during such states of elevation, was what
Swedenborg had written into his Theological Works — this was
the New Church view and was in no sense comparable with modern
spiritism.
15. Weekly Beacon, January 23, 1878.
16. Ibid., September 17, 1879.
86 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
WHITE'S UNDERSTANDING OF NEW CHURCH DOCTRINE
APPLIED TO LIFE
White's understanding of New Church doctrine as applied to the
late 19th century world was stated in numerous forms as called forth
by specific events. Some of these are much more generalized and
comprehensive than others, but none of them singly or in series ap-
proached a systematic treatise on religion and life. Possibly such
an undertaking is what White had in mind when he retired from the
editorship of the Beacon. His views on the "continuation of life"
have been presented at sufficient length already. Among the doc-
trinal problems that agitated the minds of his generation, disturbed
as they were by the challenge of science and by the "higher criti-
cism" a few may be summarized from three quite substantial edi-
torial articles.
The religious significance of Christmas and Easter observances
occasioned many expositions of the Christian plan of salvation.
The ascension of Jesus on the 40th day after the resurrection, cele-
brated by the ritualistic churches, was the occasion for an article:
"A Spiritual Ascension." The Biblical text is: "And when he had
spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a
cloud received him out of their sight." (Acts, 1:9.)17 In White's
exposition he reminded his readers that space and "place cannot
be predicated of heaven"; "By going up it is not meant that He went
up through space, but up in quality, up beyond the intellectual eye-
sight of the Apostles." The language, he asserted, was allegorical:
"The Scriptures are not the word of God or truth, but only its
manifestations. They are the ultimate and lowest expression of the
truth or word, as literally understood, but as ultimates they contain
as a vessel, the fullness of God." The revelation to man depended,
therefore, upon man: "The Lord comes to all men in all ages
through His divine truth and his manifestations depend at all times,
upon the state or condition of man's spiritual nature." The conclu-
sion about the Twelve was that: "If the Apostles could have fol-
lowed him, in thought and affection, He never would have disap-
peared from their sight, but would have been a constant presence to
them." In this sense the literal ascension "symbolized the perfect
unition of the humanity with the divinity within it. ... It
completes the cycle or plan of salvation: "The incarnation or the
material manifestation of the truth in the person of Christ . . .
was rendered necessary by ... the perverted state of the
17. The Douay (confraternity) edition reads: "And when he had said this, he was
lifted up before their eyes, and a cloud took him out of their sight."
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 87
human understanding, and will be forever unnecessary again/'
Thus the second coming of the Lord was not a material manifesta-
tion. Such a view "brings God down to our level, instead of raising
us towards Him." "The Lord never ascends nor descends. As to
the disciples at the Ascension, so with us, it is an appearance de-
pendent upon our changing spiritual states. . . ." 18
Integral with this was the theological meaning of the crucifixion
of Jesus, discussed under the title: "Substitution — Sacrifice." Ac-
cording to the doctrine of the atonement attributed to the orthodox
Christian churches, Christ became a vicarious sacrifice to save man
from the penalty of his sins. The penalty for sin was eternal
punishment in hell. Under this theory Christ as the substitute for
man assumed these punishments, which logically could mean only
one thing; that instead of being at the right hand of God, he would
be spending eternity in hell suffering the penalties of the sins of the
world. Furthermore, White argued, if Christ was an infinite sub-
stitute, and there was so much as one soul in hell, then the devine
plan was a partial failure, and if partial an infinite failure. White's
conclusion was that:
The church, as surely as it lives, will ultimately sooner or later, utterly
reject the awful dogma of the vicarious atonement, or the sacrifice of the
second person of its trinity, to appease the wrath of the first person, and it
will accept the true at-one-ment, or the reconciliation of man to God, and
will worship one God, in the sole person of the Lord Jesus Christ. . . .
The sacrifice aspect, in contrast with the substitution aspect, was
then analyzed to clarify the nature of sacrifice as a religious rite,
and then to apply it to the crucifixion of the Lord:
To sacrifice does not mean to kill, much less to kill with vindictiveness.
It means in its high and primary significance, to make holy, to consecrate.
The rite of sacrifice was preceded by purification by the priests,
by consecration, and was performed with reverence in order that
the offering might be acceptable to God. Then, referring to the
crucifixion, White declared:
We cannot understand how an infamous act can be a holy sacrifice — a
propitiatory offering. ... If there is any parallel between the murder of
the just Man, on Calvary, by a howling, cursing mob of sectarians permitted
and assisted by the indifferent and scoffing Roman soldiers . . . and
the holy sacrifices of the tribes of Israel . . . we fail altogether to
recognize it.
And then referring to the pending Methodist church heresy trial,
he concluded: "No wonder that the Rev. Doctor H. W. Thomas,
18. Weekly Beacon, May 28, 1879.
88 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
quoting another eminent divine, denounced the vicarious theory,
as the 'Butcher Theory'." 19
In a third article, "A change of Base Necessary," White drew a
comparison between Copernicus and Swedenborg, the latter doing
for the spiritual and moral what the former had done for the
planetary system. Physically, Copernicus showed how the earth
revolved around the sun, instead of the reverse, and had made
astronomy the most exact of the sciences. Instead of the body
being the central part of man, "the soul was the man" and "the body
was the mere clothing of the soul of the real man." The result is
"a rational theology that is scientific and philosophical. A true
theology is the most comprehensive of all sciences. . . ." But
that was only a part of White's argument. The concentration upon
the body had produced only a false theology and metaphysics, but
he insisted that it had resulted in "a perverted system of law and an
empirical medical practice." Thus Swedenborg "made the most
momentous discovery of all the ages," in demonstrating the truth
about the relation of the soul and body of man.
The consequences of this change of base were then described as
applied to man and government: "the nations begin to realize
that the law is a yoke and a curse, as was the laws of the Jews.
. . . The law has taken society as the unit to measure the man,
instead of taking the man ["the soul was the man"] as the unit to
measure society."
The Government is everything, the individual nothing — only so far as he
adds to the power and strength of the government; while the truth is that the
individual is everything, and the government nothing, only so far as it secures
the welfare of the man. The man is not made for the government, but the
government was made for the man, to add to his freedom, to secure him in
the possession of every right God has conferred upon him. Man is the
master, the government is the servant; man is internal, the government is
external, and must be auxilliary and subordinate to the highest welfare of the
individual. Man lives forever; governments change, and rise and fall upon
the ebb and flow of the passions and the thoughts of men. Both church
and state must change their base of operation.20
19. Ibid., December 14, 1881. The second part of this two part editorial was mostly
a reprint, without reference, from the Beacon of March 13, 1878.
20. Ibid., August 31, 1881. Not all Swedenborgians viewed the laissez faire role of
government as White did. Without going into detail, the Rev. W. M. Gpodner, minister of
the New Church at Lamed, wrote, July 14, 1881, making general reservations about White's
editorial position on "politics, temperance, and other questions," and by inference on public
education. Goodner was greatly agitated about the shooting of President Garfield and "the
vast number of foreigners," but more important, as he saw the general social crises, were
the great monied corporations, "the general war upon the interests of the laboring masses,"
and professional politicians. He thought the schools should aid in the matter. — Ibid., July
27, 1881.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 89
ROLE OF THEOLOGICAL CRITIC TO WICHITA MINISTERS
Introduction and Personnel
The failure on the part of the Swedenborgians to organize a
congregation of the New Church in Wichita, left White free on
Sundays. Whether or not from a sense of editorial obligation or
from a conviction of religious need, White was a remarkably reg-
ular attendant upon church services, both morning and evening,
even of services during the week, especially during religious re-
vival meetings. Either he carried his reportorial pencil with him,
or he had cultivated a remarkable facility to reproduce from mem-
ory the substance of the sermons, and to differentiate the salient
points of doctrine and their application.
During the 1870's the leading churches were the Methodist,
Baptist, and Presbyterian. About 1880 the Protestant Episcopal
and Christian churches supported regular pastors of ability, and
by 1885 the Congregational organization was represented.21 Other
ministers were the subject of White's searching criticism from time
to time, depending primarily upon whether or not they had some-
thing to say that seemed significant. The word criticism is used
here in its strict sense, as analysis and evaluation, which might be
favorable or adverse or both. As White put it himself: "The Bea-
con representative in his notices from time to time of sermons from
our city ministers, trusts he has been as far from flattering as he
has endeavored to be from irreverence or carping criticism/'22 A
partiality for ministers was one of the charges sometimes leveled
against White. Heartily, he pleaded guilty: "Jesus went about
doing good, and verily he has some followers in this town." 23
On the whole the ministers accepted White's criticisms with
good grace. Sometimes they corrected him from the pulpit or
replied through the Beacons columns. On a few occasions they
quarreled openly and violently, but usually that was not about
theology proper, but about moral issues in politics. In January,
1880, a substitute editor pretended (possibly he was serious) to
find himself in an embarrassing dilemma:
Capt. White is absent on a short tour, and as it is usual to comment on
Sunday sermons, we are at a loss to know just how to fill this part of the
bill. We are informed by reliable outside parties that several of the Ministers
have taken advantage of Capt. White's absence to preach on the absolute
21. The Catholic church activities were seldom the subject of White's commentary,
usually being handled strictly as news items. A lecture series was reported in the Beacon,
February 25, March 10, 1880.
22. Daily Beacon, February 8, 1886.
23. Ibid., January 13, 1886.
90 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
certainty of a personal devil. We know that this does not accord with his
views, but we don't know just why, nor where, we simply enter protest by
stating very frankly that, it won't do! it won't do! — vide Capt. White's re-
turn.24
Contemporaries had their fun about White and 24 volumes of
Swedenborg versus the preachers. The Leader evaluated the rela-
tive sophistication and religious status of the four Wichita news-
papers as of 1882:
The Wichita editors are all bad men. Marsh Murdock is as guileless as a
child when the preachers are around, but at other times he is a backslider,
as it were, and seems to have no respect for divine truth; the old sinners
who conduct the Times need no comment; [R. E. Field] the editor of the
Leader don't believe in certain little sundries which constitute a good share of
the orthodox faith, and he will probably be lost. Then there's Capt. White.
Ge whillikins! What a terror he is. Every little while some unsophisticated
gospel pedler winks at the burly old fellow, just for fun, and then this border
ruffian sallies out of his den with the Bible and twenty-four volumes of Sweden-
borg under his arm and proceeds to wipe up the floor with the preacher.
Jerusalem! how the preacher does pant to get away, but White is like a
magnetic battery; when you take hold of him you can't let go. And when
he has made an end of terrifying the preacher, he pulls his head into his shell
and waits for his next victim. Golly! We's an awful wicked crowd! 25
During his first year as editor of the Beacon, White was kept
busy apparently just in orienting himself in his new profession and
in producing a Democratic county newspaper that would compare
favorably with Murdock's Republican Eagle. Not until he had
been at his post for about a year did he strike out aggressively on
the several new lines which were to make his Beacon the dis-
tinctive and unique factor of Kansas journalism. So far as his posi-
tive approach applied to religious exposition, his editorial course
must have kept the Wichita ministers on the alert. Every minister
knew from experience that White's presence in his congregation
meant that some critical comment, favorable or otherwise, would
appear in the next issue of the Beacon. Not one of them was im-
mune to his adverse criticism if White thought it deserving, and
every one received his frank commendation for a logically con-
structed sermon even though the editor disagreed with his premises.
Frequently White gave scant attention to the discourse as a whole,
but used some point made by the preacher, either in approval or
disagreement, as a text for his own sermon for the day. Thus
Swedenborgian doctrine reached more people numerically and
directed attention to a wider range of thought than if the New
24. Weekly Beacon, January 28, 1880.
25. Ibid., January 4, 1882.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 91
Church as an institution had existed in the community. Each
denomination found its own distinctive doctrines, as voiced by its
minister, analyzed and inspected publicly in cold print. Like
Murdock of the Eagle in the field of journalism, the ministers
needed the "old self-abnegator" as a challenge and a stimulus, and
apparently some of them appreciated his independent criticism.
Certainly the church-going and the newspaper-reading public
benefited regardless of whether or not as individuals they agreed
with either of the participants in these good tempered but earnest
intellectual exchanges.26
Pulpit and Secular Press
The minister's concern about the everyday life of his church
members was commended in the case of the Rev. J. T. Hanna,
Methodist. White was of the opinion that: "The public common
sense will sustain any preacher who fulfills the duties of his office
fearlessly, honestly and kindly ." 27 The same view was expressed
a year later with reference to the Rev. John Kirby's ( Hanna's suc-
cessor) discourse on the relations of church and state: "The true
end of religious teaching is to teach us how to live here, that we
may live hereafter/*28
The following week, Kirby discussed the dangers threatening the
church. Possibly with White's comment in mind he emphasized
"that safety lay in increased devotion to the church, to her prayer
meetings, and her love feasts." White may have worded his com-
ment in such a manner as to give Kirby's remarks a Swedenborgian
slant that went beyond the minister's intent. If so, the emphasis
this time would tend to redress the balance in his own favor.
White also maneuvered for position and on his own part also avoid-
ing overt disagreement echoed yes, "to an extent": "But we believe
26. The ministers most conspicuous during the decade of White's tenure as theological
critic in Wichita are listed, together with their terms of tenure. For the First Presbyterian
church, the Rev. J. P. Harsen served from December, 1871, to April, 1879. His successor
was the Rev. J. D. Hewitt (sometimes spelled Hewett), June, 1879, through the remainder
of White's editorship. At the First Methodist church the rotation system operated to per-
mit each man during this period, with one exception, to serve three years: the Revs. ]. T.
Hanna, 1874-1877; John Kirby, 1877-1880; R. H. Sparks, 1880-1881; Barney Kelly
(Kelley), 1881-1884; T. S. Hodgson, 1884-1887. The Baptist tenure was not continuous:
the Revs. J. C. Post, 1873-1875; I. F. Davis, August, 1877-1878; A. L. Vail, January,
1879-March, 1881; and W. F. Harper, April, 1882- At St. John's Protestant Episcopal
church, three of the succession of rectors figured largely in Wichita life: the Rev. Dr. L.
DeLew, July, 1880, to September, 1881; the Revs. E. H. Edson, 1885, to March, 1886;
Charles J. Adams, June, 1886- At the Christian church, the first tryout proved unfor-
tunate. The Rev. T. J. Shelton arrived in June, 1880, dissention followed, the congregation
split, and Shelton attempted to establish an independent congregation. Eventually becoming
involved in several controversies, he turned to prohibition journalism, editing the Republican-
Times, June, 1881, to November, 1881 when the paper changed hands and editors. Later
ministers at the Christian church only occasionally received attention in the Beacon.
27. Weekly Beacon, June 14, 1876. The minister's name was sometimes spelled
Hannah.
28. Ibid., July 11, 1877.
92 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the true strength of a church lies in the daily business. . . . We
judge of a man, not from his life in but out of the church. . . ."
At the close White added that he had expected Kirby to include
this: "it would have been characteristic of the man."29
The Presbyterian minister (1871-1879) J. P. Harsen made a
practice of devoting his sermon on the first Sunday of each year
to a discussion of the practical duties of life. He asserted that
more was expected of Christians than of others because, among
other things, the Lord did more for them. To this White objected,
insisting that: "He does all He can for every creature of His born
into the world. . . . [any difference lies in] the subject's will-
ingness to receive. . . ." 30 Thus Harsen's faulty logic was
corrected by consistent New Church doctrine.
In a private conversation a minister told White that the secular
press had "no right to criticize the church or discuss its doctrines
or dogmas/' and that by so doing the "people would stop their
subscriptions. . . ." White admitted that he had forgotten to
ask if the minister had ever advised such a procedure. Accord-
ing to his code: "No province of ethics is exempt from honest
discussion in the secular press, which is the avenue used by the
leading divines all over the world to reach the masses." Nearly
six weeks later, the young Baptist minister, I. F. Davis, advised
the temperance people to transfer their patronage from the Beacon
and the Eagle to the Herald. Later he denied it. At issue was the
liquor question, not theology.31
The district conference of the Methodist church met at Wichita,
May 15, 1878, where 15 essays on various subjects were read.
White was distressed by the procedure. All debate on substance
was cut off, he charged, discussion being limited to "criticism of
style, grammar and diction, after the fashion of the school boy
literary club. . . ." White suggested that next time, the limi-
tation be placed upon the number of topics to allow time "for a
good discussion of the subject." He passed up the opportunity to
elaborate upon what he evidently had in mind — the sterility of a
society so dominated by a false sense of sophistication as to sub-
ordinate substance to mere technicalities of form. Or to put it in
the converse, original and vital societies place the focus upon sub-
stance, form being only incidental.
29. Ibid., July 18, 1877.
30. Ibid., January 9, 1878.
31. Ibid., February 6, March 20, 27, April 3, 1878. Although trying to conciliate,
Harsen appears to have admitted the substantial truth of the Beacon story. Also, Bobbins,
editor of the Herald confirmed the charges.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 93
In 1880 the Beacon, January 21, commended the Rev. John Kirby,
Methodist, for carrying his precepts into the market place, but more
particularly the sermon of October 31 by the Rev. A. L. Vail,
Baptist, and the Rev. J. D. Hewitt, Presbyterian, elicited extended
comment under the heading: "Politics in the Pulpit":
The sooner the pulpit comes to recognize the great and awful truth that the
church is primarily . . . responsible for the moral condition of the people
in every relation of life — further, that the church is the spiritual mother of
every social evil cursing humanity to-day, the sooner the pulpit will preach a
religion that has relation to life in politics, in trade, in society, in the family
as much as in the church and around the sanctuary. The church should
preach the politics of the people, and not the politics of a party.32
Likewise the Beacon commended the sermon of the Rev. Barney
Kelly, Kirby's successor: "He had no mercy on our corns/' While
not agreeing with him in all particulars: "We believe a preacher
has a right to discuss any question under the sun that is of practical
importance to the people. The pulpit is the place to utter the
truth as God gives the power to see it. . . ." But, "A preacher
has no business to be a policeman. The church has no business to
appeal to the penal compelative law to enforce morals. The
churches should unite in demanding the repeal of the prohibitory
law"; also all laws against Sabbath desecration, blasphemy, and all
penal laws that invade man's moral freedom to do right or do
wrong. "All appeals to the penal power, by the churches, is
blasphemy against God, and is an open confession of spiritual im-
potency."
The differentiation made by White in the foregoing declaration
of rights was peculiarly appropriate to a complex, explosive situa-
tion that was developing. One aspect of it was a series of meetings
to support the enforcement of the liquor prohibitory law, including
a visit by Gov. John P. St. John, July 21, who spoke at the Presby-
terian church in the afternoon, and at the Methodist church in the
evening. At an earlier meeting, on Sunday, July 10, after Hewitt
had spoken, Kelly demanded a show of hands to test enforcement
sentiment. White had protested, and called this procedure cowardly
and bulldozing.
At one or both of the meetings of July 21, a standing vote was
proposed, but before it was taken, Kelly demanded that White
leave the meeting. The Beacon for July 27 was largely devoted
to the several aspects of the episode in which White denounced
in bitter personalities the ministers involved. No one realized more
32. Weekly Beacon, November 3, 1880.
94 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
keenly than the editor of the Beacon the betrayal by all parties of
basic principles of moral conduct. He differed from his opponents,
however, in admitting wherein he had failed, his editorial apology
being headed: "If We Were a Christian." The opening sentence
was confession: "Nothing could show more conclusively that we
are a sinner, than this issue of the BEACON. It is full of derision,
scorn and contempt, of hatred and all uncharitableness. We are
not proud of the issue. . . ." The manner of the presentation
he admitted, would "prevent its reception by those who need it the
most. . . . You can't make a man receive the truth by striking
him with a club." The second paragraph opened: "If we had been
a Christian we would not have published this issue. When smitten,
we would have 'turned the other cheek. . . .' " And the closing
sentence read: "If we were a Christian, we would be awful lone-
some."
The following week, a long editorial, "The Church Is Responsi-
ble," dealing with the Atonement, was introduced by a sequel in
which White insisted that he had never intentionally misrepresented
any man: — "A man's honest opinions are as dear to him as his
reputation and character. . . . Since our connection . . .
with the BEACON, our relationship with the ministry has always been
cordial. ..." A differentiation was then made between a man's
private and his public status. The former was not a proper subject
of public commentary, but the latter, being of concern to society,
must submit to public scrutiny:
Until last week we have never uttered a word or written a line that
would reflect upon the private character or professional integrity of any min-
ister. Last week we reflected upon the public action and methods of public
men. . . .
In the public category also were public institutions: "The creeds
— the doctrines of the churches, are proper subjects for fair and
free criticisms. We propose freely to exercise our right. . . .
We court criticism. We do not deprecate the condemnation of
our opinions or principles."33 He then proceeded to discuss the
doctrine of the Atonement in blunt Swedenborgian terms, con-
cluding that the doctrine of the "vicarious Atonement is . , .
the prime cause of social evils and disorders of the world. It
amounts to a license to sin. . . . The only danger he runs
is sudden death, giving him no time to utter the cabalistic words —
'Open Sesame/"
33. Ibid., June 22, 29, July 13, 20, 27, August 3, 1881.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 95
Relations between White and Kelly did not improve. In De-
cember, 1881, Kelly, with the aid of a visiting minister, was hold-
ing his annual winter revival. Under the title "False Doctrines,
the Cause of Evil," White disagreed with the preacher's presenta-
tion of the plan of salvation, including again the doctrine of the
vicarious Atonement:
Our readers may ask: "What right has the BEACON, a secular, political
newspaper, to discuss theological questions?" We answer: Just because the
BEACON is a secular and political newspaper. All truth has relation to life,
and secular and political matters include about the most of our life's affections,
thoughts and actions.
In other words, the secular and the political reflected the "char-
acter and quality of the theology of the day. There is no possible
hope of a radical regeneration in politics and in society until there
is a radical revolution in our theological ethics. The Beacon deals
in practical questions of every day life, for they make and form
the man." 34
On the evening of the day the Beacon appeared with the above
editorial, "after the religious exercises were over/' Kelly
gave the press a swinger, applying his remarks especially to the Wichita papers.
We were present, and enjoyed it. We know of no institution among men,
save, perhaps, the church, that is more open to and needs more honest and un-
sparing criticism than the press. There is no institution save the church, that
can be more productive of good than the press. We do not say that Brother
Kelly's criticisms were judicious, or were given in the right spirit, but we hope
he will keep giving them, for peradventure he may sound the key note of true
reform in the press.
The liberty of the press is worth all protection. The license of the press
should be boldly condemned and even punished. The press has the right to
its opinions. It has the right to express in proper phrase, its opinion of any
man's opinion, whether he be a preacher or a proletariat. Brother Kelly, we
think, is as free with his criticism and censure of men and things, as the press
can possibly be. We don't object, we glory in his freedom of speech. To
prevent him we would not close his mouth, nor his pulpit. There is nothing on
earth too sacred for the freedom of thought. Brother Kelly sets himself up as
a censor of the press, and if his censorship is not duly respected, he threatens
to break down the business of the papers. We believe in the censorship of
public opinion, and when the press violates the decencies of life, deals in
slander, is obscene and filthy, public opinion should voice itself, and the court
should lay its hands upon the offender, but it won't do for public opinion, the
courts or the preachers to attempt to obstruct nor throttle the freedom of
opinion or its expression properly couched. Ecclesiastical organizations are
human institutions, preachers are human teachers, and are not always inspired,
and never infallible, and we shall always freely, and will try to decently, ex-
34. Ibid., December 7, 1881.
96 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
press our opinion of the so-called church and its preachers. We say this with
all due respect for our Brother.
In 1882 a new Baptist minister, the Rev. W. F. Harper, began his
pastorate in Wichita. He preached his first regular sermon April 9,
and his second, "Relation Between Pastor and People/' April 16, in
which "he advanced, on the whole, very sound and practical views.
He thinks ... a pastor . . . should not cease to be a citi-
zen. . . . We think this is sound." But, the Beacon insisted
upon differentiation between the priest and the citizen. When act-
ing in the latter capacity "he should leave his gown and cassock in
the pulpit. The church and its priests have no official business out-
side of the spiritual and moral sphere." For example, the priest
must differentiate between the moral and police phases of tem-
perance;
the church, as a church, has no right to demand the passage of a penal law.
The church should be a leader, a teacher, an example and a life, but
it seems to be ambitious to be only a driver, and we do not want to see him
[Harper] become a driver. The measure of the immorality and degradation of
a people is the number of its courts, its prohibitive, restrictive, directive penal
statutes. Every increase of power in Topeka or in Washington City is an
incontrovertible proof of the intellectual and moral deterioration of the people,
an evidence of lawlessness and crime. If the church were virile, Washington
would annually become more insignificant; the center of the nation would not
be a geographical location but it would be in the heart and soul of every
man. . . . The church is primarily and in the highest degree responsible
for the present moral condition of the people, and it must acknowledge this
responsibility.35
During the campaign of 1882, Governor St. John ran for re-elec-
tion to a third term using prohibition as his principal issue. A large
part of the evangelical church membership was mobilized in his
support, resulting in one of the most vicious and vindictive of Kan-
sas political experiences. Pressure was put on Harper, and during
midsummer he appeared to be committed, but late in August he de-
clared "the emancipation of his church from all connection with
politics and police law. The church was a teacher and preacher of
the Man Christ Jesus. It deals with the spirit and conscience of
man, and not with rituals and laws. . . ." The Beacon appealed
to the public to "Hold Up His Hands." 36
During such a political campaign the Beacon also felt the pres-
sure and abuse of the self-styled reform element:
The pulpit is continually whacking us over the head, because it asserts we
want to limit its functions. It does this in the face of the fact that lately, and
35. Ibid., AprU 19, 1882.
36. Ibid., August 30, 1882.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 97
many times in the past, we have asserted the fullest right, liberty and duty of
the pulpit to discuss every question that affects the moral, social and political
welfare of the people. We republished an article, written nearly two years
ago, to show that we have not been backward in demanding for the pulpit
the fullest liberty to teach. We believe the church is a great teacher. We
believe that all the blessings of God come through the church. The form of
the church is divine truth; . . . the sects — so-called churches — are instru-
mentalities of the church of God, and they are members of the church so far
as they teach what is true and do what is good. All the good and truth in
those sects comes from God; all the evil and falsity have been injected by man.
And White was insistent upon this last point — evil in the church
— and pointed to church history, Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant.
He objected to ministerial brag and bluster about what good had
been done for the world; and ministers reminded him of the un-
profitable servant. The ministers wanted to convert the non-
Christian peoples first, the heathen — "but don't! Go among the
Christian nations, beginning with this one"; then England and Eu-
rope. As for the non-Christian peoples :
Don't call on the heathen until you have gone through your own households,
visited your relatives and dwelt among your wife's relations, and after you have
got all through, stand up in your pulpits and brag, if you dare; but you won't
brag if you have any sense left. The churches will say, Lord, we have been
unprofitable servants. . . . 37
Inter and Intra-cultural Relations: Incompatibility,
Rivalry, and Conflict
To an uncommon degree, White was able to view his own time
and culture as though he was an outsider. Whatever the origin of
his manner of viewing cultural relations, this trait was encouraged
by familiarity with Swedenborg's example in having the inhabitants
of the several planets describe their own customs and contrast them,
especially with those of the earth, to the latter's disadvantage or
advantage, as the case might be. Problems agitating White's gen-
eration were presented by conflicts within the culture of the United
States in relations with the American Indian "savages," and with
"immoral" polygamous Mormons; and outside the United States
with the so-called Christian nations in Europe, and in Asia, Africa,
and elsewhere with the allegedly "heathen" people. What, indeed,
were the distinguishing characteristics that were assigned to the
people that labeled them as savage, immoral, Christian, or heathen?
In the Swedenborgian sense, that true religion had relation to the
37. Ibid., June 21, 1882. The article referred to, "Politics and the Pulpit," and re-
printed in this issue, had been published first in the Beacon, November 3, 1880, instead of
September, 1880, the reference given by the editor.
7—6551
98 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
life people led, were not all these terms no more than exhibitions
of prejudices damaging only to the user by revealing his own sin
of self-love? White thought so, and said so in terms so blunt and
uncompromising as sometimes to infuriate even his friends.
The Sioux Indians were described by Joe Haskins, a mixed-blood
member of the Indian police, as controlled by their religion; they
respected the rights of both person and property within the tribe,
reverenced the Great Spirit, had no belief in an evil one (White
interjected, "unhappy wretches, with no devil"), had no profanity
comparable to that of white men, their respect for the marriage
relation was noteworthy, although wives were bought. "Here is
a great field for missionary labor," jeered White,
We are in doubt whether to send them a delegation from the churches, of
the class connected with the Indian bureau; or a corps of scientific evolutionists,
athiests, and materialists. A people who act upon principle of right as they see
it, and not from rapacity, greed, lust of power and dominion; who know
nothing of the political doctrine of a "Scientific Frontier;" who are not
skilled in the "art diplomatic," which is the high art of lying and deception,
are a dangerous people to have hanging on our frontiers. Their example is
corrupting.
White suggested probable explanations of the condition of these
Indians: "their degraded religious principles," lack of "a civilized
political system," and of "a free educational system." "How desti-
tute they must be," he explained, " — no houses of prostitution, no
assignation houses, no Dago dens, no foundling hospitals, no Mag-
dalen hospitals, no adultery, no rapes and seductions, no divorce
courts. ... In the name of God had we better not don the
breech clout and the blanket? . . ." In connection with a press
report of an annual Baptist convention in New York, White con-
cluded that "They [the Indians] do not yet know that the grandest
result of all church work is a law and a penitentiary. . . . We
very much doubt that if the savages had a clear and an intelligent
understanding of these things, they would not run to escape our
culture." 38
Using as a text ex-Vice-President Colfax's proposal to suppress
Mormonism by law, White pointed out that "Mormonism really
seems to thrive the more the effort is made to suppress it. It is
a great evil, but the law is powerless to eradicate it." He then
proceeded to differentiate between what he called social and non-
social evils. The element of collusion was the key to his classifi-
cation. A social evil involved collusion; polygamy, adultery, prosti-
38. Ibid., March 16, 1881; Daily Beacon, November 19, 1885.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 99
tution, liquor traffic, were named. Nonsocial evils did not involve
collusion; slavery "lacked the element of agreement or assent/'
likewise, murder, theft, embezzlement, arson; and because of the
absence of this collusive or social element, "society is easily ar-
rayed against them, and all the moral and intellectual forces aid
the police element," — also, the police element can punish when a
crime is committed by one person against another, but all prohibi-
tion by law is useless in a matter of collusion between parties. In
order to drive home his point about the extent of evil, the variety
of its forms and the large proportion of the population who are
themselves guilty of some variety of sin, and the confusion in-
volved in groups of sinners joining forces against other particular
groups of sinners, White resorted to what might be termed the
shock technique to jar his readers loose from the smugness of their
conventional modes of thinking, or more properly feeling, about the
sins of others, especially those geographically remote whom they
never met face to face:
Polygamy is a hard nut to crack; so is adultery; so is prostitution. Suppose
all the prostitutes, male and female, and all the adulterers, in this Christian
land whose holy horror is excited against polygamy, were gathered into one
community; does anyone doubt that they would be numerous enough to go
out and lick the Mormons any day in the week before breakfast. Now, this
fact makes the nut a great deal harder to crack. On account of the irritating
beams in our own eyes, we can't hit hard nor straight. It strikes us as a
little funny, that people as full of the devil as we are should get so out-
rageously mad with a people as full of the devil as the Mormons are.
Next, in order to prepare his sequence of argument, White re-
turned to the policeman:
He can abate a nuisance, when that nuisance affects directly society or an
individual. He can arrest a man when he is drunk; not for getting drunk,
for the law has no business with what a man does. A man has an immoral
right — if that is not too great a paradox — to get drunk, and it's none of the
policeman's business. The law has only the right to abate him as a public
nuisance; and so with every other social evil.
Open adultery is a nuisance, and the policeman ought to abate it. He
has no right to punish the parties for the evil of adultery, nor for the sin of
the act. . . . His right attaches only when and only because it becomes
a public nuisance and infringes upon the public decency and peace. And
so with polygamy. It's none of the government's — the policeman's — business
whether polygamy is moral or immoral. . . . The government has a right
to attack Mormonism, on the ground that it is a nuisance, destructive of the
safety, peace and good order of society.
Having made these distinctions in order to focus his main point,
White resorted once more to his shock example:
100 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Our plan would be, if we were the policeman, to declare polygamous
Mormonism a nuisance and then arm our adulterers and prostitutes and send
them out to suppress this nuisance. The greater would absorb the lesser
evil. The attacking forces could be walled in and left to devour each other.
White recognized that this procedure would have momentous con-
sequences, but would accomplish one objective so much desired by
the reform forces:
This would, no doubt, largely diminish our population and belittle our great-
ness, for this is measured by the vastness of our population, by overshadowing
monopolies, by the number and magnificence of our police palaces — state
capitols, penitentiaries and lunatic asylums.
"Selfishness is a moral evil and disease/' the editor insisted,
infinitely worse than polygamy, adultery or murder. But what moral, ra-
tional right would the government — the police element — have to suppress,
limit, restrict or prohibit selfishness? It has only the right to take cognizance
of the ultimate effects of selfishness so far as they directly and injuriously
affect some factor or community of factors. Its action must not be based
upon the immorality of the act, but upon its outward and injurious effects upon
the individual safety and property.
This essay on the basic principles of jurisprudence stirred up
Beacon readers, and made further explanations necessary. The
difficulty in mobilizing the punitive forces, White insisted, could
be met by declaring the Mormons outlaws, their property confis-
cated, and by granting to the members of the expedition a fee
simple title to all property they could lay hands on. Mormonism
would be cleaned out of Utah, but would not be suppressed — only
driven elsewhere. White accused Switzerland of solving its criminal
pauperism problem, not by overcoming criminal pauperism, but by
shifting its geographical location to the United States.39
The Mormon question persisted and somewhat later, in referring
to the symbolic personality of the United States as Old Samuel,
White alluded derisively to his activities in the field of morals:
Polygamy is a great moral evil, and if Samuel is anything he is a moral re-
former and his great mission is to conserve, preserve and pickle morals, so
they will keep. Why do not Mormons drop polygamy and adopt polly-
wogamy, prostitution, and free (love) divorce, and become decent and self-
esteemed people? 40
At the Baptist convention previously mentioned, among the di-
versities of opinion expressed on American Indian and Mormon
cultural patterns, one MacKinney struck what White approved as
a true note on the Mormon question: "The Mormons support many
39. Weekly Beacon, December 28, 1881, January 4, 1882.
40. Daily Beacon, May 6, 1885.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 101
wives at once, but how many Americans support a number of wives
one after another?"41
In editorializing on enforcement of the Edmunds anti-polygamy
law, White related a news story datelined Bridgeport, 111., reporting
the abuse and egging of Mormon converts at that place. This was
an example, he pointed out, of how Illinois was willing to supple-
ment the Edmunds act by mob violence, and thus the problem
was solved. Or was it —
There is nothing like a bill for a social evil. Salvation by faith alone in a
bill is becoming universal faith, taught in all our churches and formulated
in codes and statutory creeds. It used to be a general faith that the Son of.
God came to save the world, but that was before the birth of Edmunds. The
coming was an unnecessary work.42
The non-Christian heathen became the subject of a number of
Beacon articles in which inter-cultural relations received equally
candid treatment. The first occasion was the visit of a woman
missionary who had been active in India in a campaign to elevate
the status of women and to terminate infanticide, especially of
girl babies. White raised the question of hypocracy in the United
States — contraception and foeticide compared with infanticide. Do
American women kill their infant daughters? —
Oh, no, no, God forbid! We are a free, enlightened Jesus loving, God fearing
nation. . . . this is wrong — we don't wait till they are born. We kill
them — both male and female, before they are born. We have numerous
medical schools, where eminently scientific men are educated to teach us how
to destroy life. . . .
We would like to know a crime of heathendom, that we can't discount.
We said last week that we were a nation of infernal pharisees and hypo-
crites. . . . The heathen might justly say to all propagandists, "We don't
see difference enough to warrant us in making a change."
Foeticide is a thousand times worse than intemperance.43
Shortly afterward, White drew another type of paradoxical
parallel:
The Christian nations under the divine ministrations of the Churches, are
beacon lights to the rest of the world. . . . The heathen are sending
their brightest youths to study the art of war in our military and naval
academies.
Referring specifically to England and the United States, the Beacon
declared: "Both nations occasionally bombard their seaports to
compel them to receive their goods and their gospel/' 44
41. Ibid., November 19, 1885.
42. Ibid., October 17, 1885.
43. Weekly Beacon, March 9, 1881.
44. Ibid., July 13, 1881.
102 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
In another instance a lecturer on Japan told about "the cleanliness,
orderliness, industry, ingenuity, skill, and above all, their wonderful
honesty" (with concrete examples as illustrations). White made
his point clear by the headline given to report: "Heathendom,
Where Is It?"45
But the more usual report on conditions among the "heathen"
were those typical of returned missionaries: "It is the invariable
rule among Christian nations to hold the church in China and all
other so-called benighted heathen lands altogether and wholly re-
sponsible for all kinds of evils." The mode of procedure on the part
of Christian nations for putting an end to the evils of which they
disapprove is to attack religion — to change their religion is to
change their way of life. The Beacon agreed that this reasoning
was logical. But the same formula is equally applicable to the re-
ligion and evils in the United States. But here the unanimous
explanation of evil is not the religion, but "the Devil." To this
White replied, of course, according to his "New Church" doctrine,
that denied the existence of the Devil; each man is his own devil:
It seems to us that the missionary who goes abroad to save the souls of
the heathen with his creeds and rituals, has a cheek of brass and an impudence
that would shame his devil.46
Taking as a text the address, in the old stereotype, of a woman
missionary returned from Siam, White protested as unjust the re-
flection upon the Christian God implied in assuming that he had
done nothing to save these heathen people. Swedenborg had in-
sisted upon the universality of the true religion, comprehending
within the love of God, not only the so-called Christian nations, but
the so-called heathen of this earth, and of all possible earths in the
universe:
It seems not to have occurred to the benighted missionaries that God was
as much with the Siamese, overshadowing them with his love and solicitude,
all these centuries, as he has been with the so-called Christians; that he gave
them all the light and Me they could receive, and that they were saved
just so far as they were obedient to the light received. It is horrible to think
that these untold millions are and have been trooping to hell simply because
they have not known what Calvin thought of God.
White insisted that if the missionaries would but list all the crimes
of Christian civilization, they would not dare tell them to any in-
telligent heathen as evidence that missionaries had anything to offer
them: "What we need is missionaries ... to ... save
45. Ibid., March 12, 1884.
46. Daily Beacon, April 9, 1885.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 103
us from a so-called civilization that makes us frauds, dead beats,
robbers, and oppressors on the earth. . . ." 47
White commended President Arthur's veto of the Chinese ex-
clusion bill in 1882. Later he denounced the policy adopted in the
territory of Washington which paraphrased Gen. Phil Sheridan's
Indian maxim: "The good Chinaman is a dead Chinaman." Later,
he praised President Cleveland for stopping the massacre and
robbery of the Chinese in the Far West. And at home, mirabile
dictu, the Wichita local of the Knights of Labor published in the
Beacon, December 26, 1885, in a peculiar perversion of Christmas
spirit, an appeal to the citizens of the city and county to boycott
Chinese laundries and "to prevent Chinese labor in any shape what-
ever from gaining a foothold in our fair city."48 White did not
protest! And neither did Murdock! What an opportunity to make
political capital out of the democratic paper's inconsistency! But
the Bird in his aerie on Douglas avenue tucked his head under his
wing and did not see.
47. Ibid., May 20, 1885.
48. Weekly Beacon, April 12, 1882; Daily Beacon, November 12, 13, December 26,
1885.
(To Be Concluded in the Summer, 1959, Issue.)
The Annual Meeting
THE 83d annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society
and board of directors was held in Topeka on October 21, 1958.
Subject for the special public meeting in the G. A. R. auditorium
at 10 A. M. was "Techniques for the Small Historical Museum."
Edgar Langsdorf, assistant secretary of the State Historical Society,
presided. Feature of the program was a slide talk by Stanley Sohl,
the Society's museum director.
The meeting of the Society's board of directors was held con-
currently in the newspaper reading room. Called to order by
President Alan W. Farley, the first business was the annual report
by the secretary:
SECRETARY'S REPORT, YEAR ENDING OCTOBER 21, 1958
At the conclusion of last year's meeting the newly elected president, Alan
W. Farley, reappointed Charles M. Correll and Frank Haucke to the executive
committee. Members holding over were Will T. Beck, John S. Dawson, and
T. M. Lillard.
Four members of the Society's board of directors have died since the last
report. R. F. Brock of Goodland, banker and stockman, and member of the
Society since 1918, died November 11, 1957. History was Mr. Brock's
hobby; he was a collector of firearms, maps, documents, and rare coins and
currency. He served on the Society's board of directors from 1938 and was
president in 1948-1949. Mr. Brock's interest was genuine and unfailing
through the years, and he was a friend who was always ready to give of himself
and his means.
Mrs. Lalla Maloy Brigham, a member since 1931, died December 26, 1957,
at the age of 90. Mrs. Brigham was known as the unofficial historian of
Council Grove, having lived there almost all her life. She was the author of
a book, The Story of Council Grove on the Santa Fe Trail, in addition to
many historical articles. She also took a leading part in the promotion of
centennial celebrations in 1921 and 1925, the first to commemorate William
Becknell's successful pack trip over what came to be the Santa Fe trail and
the second to commemorate the birth of the trail.
Lynn R. Brodrick, for many years publisher of the Marysville Advocate-
Democrat and widely known as a leader of the Democratic party in Kansas,
died January 29, 1958. Mr. Brodrick had served from 1942 to 1955 as the
U. S. internal revenue director for Kansas and at the time of his death was
state highway director. Earlier he had been a member of the bipartisan
committee that drafted the first Kansas highway law during the administration
of Governor Paulen, and he had served as a member of the Highway Com-
mission under Governors Woodring and Landon.
Frank Motz, founder and editor of the Hays Daily News, died August 15,
1958. The son of pioneer residents of Hays, he spent his life in the news-
paper field. After graduation from the University of Kansas school of
(104)
THE ANNUAL MEETING 105
journalism he worked as a reporter on the Kansas City (Mo.) Star and then
on various Kansas newspapers until 1929, when he established the Daily
News. The loss of these friends is noted with sincere regret.
APPROPRIATIONS AND BUDGET REQUESTS
The Society this year was fortunate in receiving legislative appropriations
for several important projects which had been rejected in previous sessions.
Funds were allocated for laying an asphalt tile floor in the museum, for re-
placement of the exterior doors and installation of steel shelving in the base-
ment vault, and for several other long-needed improvements. Appropriations
for normal operating expenses were approved. Requests for air-conditioning,
and steel flooring for the main stack area, however, were again denied.
Budget requests for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1960, were filed with
the state budget director in September. Appropriations requested for salaries
and operating expenses are about the same as for the current year. New
capital improvement requests include sand-blasting to clean up the exterior
of the building and construction of a suspended ceiling on the fourth floor to
conceal the unsightly steel beams which detract from what is otherwise one
of the finest and most attractive museums in the Middle West. A new
elevator, to be installed in an existing but unused shaft, has also been re-
quested.
By far the largest single request in the budget is for remodeling of the
G. A. R. hall on the second and third floors. The 1958 legislature provided
$7,500 for architect's fees, and planning has progressed to the point where
realistic cost estimates have been made. These requests are aimed at making
the building as attractive and functional as possible for the approaching
centennial in 1961. An auditorium of proper size, with good acoustics is
essential to take care of school and other groups which visit the Society, and
where meetings — including our own — can be held. More museum space,
both for displays and storage, and a larger microfilm reading room are also
needed. All these are provided for in the proposed remodeling.
Appropriations for the various historical properties out of Topeka remain
at about the same level as before. The only capital improvement requests
approved for the current year were $150 for trimming trees at the Kaw Mission
and the Funston Home. Requests for next year generally are limited to the
same improvements which have been budgeted unsuccessfully for the past
several years.
PUBLICATIONS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS
Featured in the four issues of The Kansas Historical Quarterly for 1958
are the letters of Daniel R. Anthony, edited by Edgar Langsdorf and R. W.
Richmond. Colonel Anthony was an early resident of Leavenworth, founder
of the Anthony dynasty now in its fourth generation as publishers of the
Leavenworth Times, and a vigorous and colorful personality who played a
significant role in Kansas history. A new series by Dr. James C. Malin on early
Kansas philosophers began in the Summer issue. Other articles scheduled
for publication this year include letters written by members of the First U. S.
cavalry while in the Indian country in 1859-1861, edited by Louise Barry,
and a story of the Mudge ranch near Jetmore by Margaret Evans Caldwell.
Increased printing appropriations have made it possible to enlarge the
Quarterly to 128 pages, 16 more than formerly. Many articles of substantial
106 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
worth have been submitted to the editorial board and readers may look
forward to entertaining and meaty fare in the issues just ahead.
The Mirror, sent every two months to members to give them current news
of the Society's work, has been well received since its inception four years
ago. It has proved especially helpful in calling attention to materials needed
in the museum, and many valuable items have been donated as a direct
result of requests made in its columns.
Items from the Kansas press of 100 years ago continue to be sent to Kansas
editors in the form of monthly news releases. This program was begun over four
years ago as part of the territorial centennial observance, and has proved so
popular that it has been continued.
The work of indexing the 17 volumes of the Kansas Historical Collections,
the Biennial Reports for 1877-1930, and the three small volumes of special
publications has been completed and the index entries are now being alpha-
betized and assembled. The 1958 legislature appropriated $5,000 for publi-
cation of this index, which it is hoped will be finished by the fall of 1959.
Upon its completion work will begin on a general index of the Quarterly, to
be published as a companion volume.
Texts for two more historical markers were written and sent to the State
Highway department. One marker, located at Baldwin, tells something of
the early history of that community, and the other, at Beeler, reviews the
career of George Washington Carver, who homesteaded in Ness county in 1886.
Within a month the Society will publish a new list of Kansas imprints
prior to 1877. Alan W. Farley, the Society's president, and Lorene Anderson
Hawley of the library staff have been working on this compilation for several
years. Titled Kansas Imprints, 1854-1876, the new publication will be issued
as a supplement to the original Check List of Kansas Imprints, 1854-1876,
which was published in 1939 by the American Imprints Inventory of the
Historical Records Survey. The new book, containing 405 entries and eight
pages of illustrations, is now on the press. Considering the nature of the
work, the printing has been limited, and the volume will be offered for sale.
The Kansas Centennial Commission and its committees have held several
meetings during the year. Preliminary arrangements were made for the de-
signing and issuance of a commemorative stamp in 1961 by the Post Office
Department and numerous ideas and suggestions have been received. An
appropriation of $25,000 was made by the 1958 legislature for the work of the
commission during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1959, the fund to be ad-
ministered through the Historical Society.
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, 1951 1,727 vols.
Auditor's Office Plats and Surveys: Sur-
veyor General for Kan-
sas and Nebraska 1854-1875 9 portfolio
vols.
Engineering Examiners,
Board of Engineer License Applica-
tion Folders 1951-1956 17 reels mi-
crofilm
THE ANNUAL MEETING 107
Source Title Dates Quantity
Insurance Department . . Annual Statements 1949-1951 1,792 vols.
Workmen's Compensa-
tion Commissioner . . Awards and Orders in
Docketed cases, Nos.
14,000-18,279 1945-1949 8 boxes
Annual reports were received from the Director of Alcoholic Beverage
Control, Registration and Examining Board of Architects, Auditor of State
and Department of Post-Audit, Crippled Children Commission, Larned State
Hospital, State Library, Board of Medical Registration and Examination, Board
of Podiatry Examiners, Real Estate Commission, School for the Blind, Soldiers'
Home and Mother Bickerdyke Annex, Traveling Libraries Commission, State
Treasurer, Veterans' Commission, Water Resources Board and Workmen's
Compensation Commissioner for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1957, and
from the Anti-Discrimination Commission for the fiscal year ending June 30,
1958.
The original enrolled laws of Kansas territory, 1855-1860, contained in nine
large volumes, have been microfilmed. Most of the volumes were of a size
difficult to shelve and they were also so badly deteriorated that they were
virtually unusable in their original form. However, the three volumes for
1855, the famous "Bogus Laws," were reasonably well preserved and even
though they are now on film, the originals will be kept permanently on file in
the archives.
LlBRABY
The number of library patrons increased substantially again this year. The
total was 4,602, of whom 1,905 were interested in Kansas subjects, 1,741 in
genealogy, and 956 in general subjects. The largest percentage of increase
has been in requests for Kansas material. Many researchers have indicated
that the Kansas section is one of the finest local history collections in this
country. The completeness of the Kansas material is due largely to the fore-
sight of the first administrators in obtaining early books and pamphlets while
they were yet available, and to the generosity of individuals and organizations
in donating their own publications and other items which pertain to Kansas.
Locally printed books are often difficult to collect because the supply is so
soon exhausted. Thanks are due to many patrons and friends who send in
copies or furnish information on these local items.
During the year letters were sent to all county superintendents of schools
requesting copies of county school directories which are issued each year in
compliance with a law passed by the 1955 legislature. As a result directories
have been received from 80 counties and, in some cases, files for previous
years as well. These directories, if received regularly, should be of immense
value for reference through the years.
In addition to the seven daily newspapers read regularly by the clipping
department, 13 other dailies and ten weeklies, plus a number of miscellaneous
papers — a total of 7,276 separate issues — were searched for local items. Special
editions of 11 newspapers were also read and clipped. The department
mounted 5,474 new clippings and remounted 1,325 older ones. In addition,
the difficult and painstaking task of remounting the "Webb Scrapbooks" is
nearly completed. This 17-volume collection of clippings from Eastern news-
papers for the period 1854-1860 has been used by hundreds of students since
it was acquired by the Society in 1877.
108 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
New material on microfilm added during the year included: "A De-
scriptive Roll of Kansas Volunteers, 1861-1865," loaned by the Adjutant
General of Kansas; general, special and court-martial orders and circulars,
with indexes covering the period, 1868-1875, issued by the Department of the
Missouri, U. S. Army; and minutes of various Baptist association meetings in
Kansas from 1858 to 1876. Two theses, "Corporation Farming in Kansas," by
Emy K. Miller, and "Dr. John R. Brinkley, Candidate for Governor," by
Francis W. Schruben, were lent for microfilming. Seven volumes of Perrin's
histories of Kentucky counties were purchased on microfilm. These histories,
published between 1884 and 1888, are long out-of-print and cannot now be
purchased in book form.
A number of Kansas and genealogical books were donated by their authors,
and collections of older books were given by Mary Smith of New York City,
Mrs. Alice Gordon Wilson of Topeka, and Mrs. Clif Stratton of Topeka. An
unusual gift, a scrapbook of theater programs largely from Topeka theaters,
was received from Mrs. Roy Crawford, Topeka. Typed copies of the fol-
lowing theses were donated by the authors: "A Study of the Use of Editorial
Expression in the Weekly Newspapers of Kansas for the Years 1925, 1940,
and 1955," by Maurice C. Lungren; "The Revolt of Little Wolfs Northern
Cheyennes," by William D. Mather; "The Lecompton Conspiracy: the History
of the Lecompton Constitution Movement in Kansas and the Nation, 1857
and 1858," by Clifford Wayne Trow; and " Tm Not Selling Anything'— Some
Folklore From Kansas," by P. J. Wyatt.
Typed records, printed books and pamphlets were given by the Kansas
Societies of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of
American Colonists. The National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of
Kansas, the Wichita Town Committee of the same organization, and the
Elizabeth Knapp chapter, Daughters of American Colonists, Manhattan, made
gifts of money for the purchase of local histories and the 1850 federal census
on microfilm.
Very little Kansas history has appeared in book or pamphlet form this
year. Centennial booklets were published at Eudora, Gardner, and Salina,
and Alfred B. Bradshaw of Turon wrote a book of reminiscences entitled
When the Prairies Were New. Homer E. Socolofsky, of Kansas State College,
edited A Bibliography of Theses and Dissertations Pertaining to Kansas His-
tory, a project of the Kansas Association of Teachers of History.
Library accessions, October 1, 1957-September 30, 1958, were:
Bound volumes
Books
Kansas 183
General 618
Genealogy and local history 135
Indians and the West 58
Kansas state publications 58
Total 1,052
Clippings 17
Periodicals 236
Total, bound volumes 1,305
Microfilm (reels) 18
THE ANNUAL MEETING 109
Pamphlets
Kansas 1,103
General 468
Genealogy and local history 48
Indians and the West 17
Kansas state publications 224
Total 1,860
MANUSCRIPT DIVISION
The papers of Alfred M. Landon, received during the year, constitute a
large and important addition to the holdings of the Society. Besides more
than 90 file drawers of correspondence, the collection includes photographs
and scrapbooks, and should prove a rich source of information for researchers
in the field of political history. Much of the material pertains to the presi-
dential campaign of 1936. The collection has not been cataloged and at this
time may be used only with the permission of Mr. Landon.
A large body of papers was received from the estate of the late Cora Dolbee,
for many years a member of the faculty of the University of Kansas. There
are more than 800 letters in the collection, which was originally held by the
family of the Rev. John S. Brown, a pioneer Unitarian minister of Lawrence.
It was lent to Miss Dolbee for research purposes with the understanding that
it would be deposited in the Society. The letters fall within the period
1818-1906 and were written by friends and members of the Brown family
in Kansas and the East. Included are 15 letters by Charles A. Dana, 1842-1861.
The manuscripts were accompanied by an extensive collection of anti-slavery
poems taken from newspapers and magazines, 1854-1861. These have been
placed in the library.
Seventeen pages from the day book of the Western Bakery, Lawrence,
dated 1861, were received from Mrs. Thomas T. Parker, Phoenix, Ariz. Mrs.
Parker is the granddaughter of Louis A. Wise, operator of the bakery, which
was burned during the Quantrill raid. The pages were found in the ruins.
Among the patrons were John Speer, Lyman Eldridge, Dr. S. B. Prentiss,
A. D. Searl, S. W. Eldridge, the Home Guards, and the Eldridge House.
Mrs. Homer Wark, Topeka, gave three diaries kept by her husband, the
Rev. Homer Wark, 1917-1919. Dr. Wark was a chaplain in the A. E. F. and
served with the 137th U. S. infantry from May until September, 1918, when
he was assigned to the base hospital at Rimaucourt, France.
Two ledgers from the grocery firm of C. W. Myers & Co., Topeka, 1903,
1904-1908, were given by Fritz Leuenberger, Jr., Topeka.
Mrs. Harry Dobson, Wichita, gave a diary kept by her father, John Hannibal
Trautwine, September 3-December 23, 1873, in which he gives an account
of a buffalo hunt.
Three somewhat unusual letters by John James Ingalls, written in 1855,
1859 and 1862, were received from the estate of the late Ann Downs Ingalls
of Shokan, N. Y.
A small group of papers of H. C. Harrison, Brandon, Vt., 1880-1892, were
received from his daughter, Mrs. George C. Cobb, Rutland, Vt. They relate
mainly to the Barton County Bank, Great Bend, of which Harrison was presi-
dent although he never maintained residence in Kansas.
110 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Papers of Dr. Franklin Loomis Crane and members of his family were
received from a great granddaughter, Mrs. Carl F. Trace, Topeka. Included
are 192 manuscripts, mainly family and Civil War letters, and two manuscript
volumes: a record of the Topeka Town Association's account with F. L. Crane;
and a diary with scattered entries from 1853 to 1869. Dr. Crane first came to
Kansas in 1854 and settled permanently in Topeka the following year. He
was one of the builders of the city. A portion of his diary for 1856-1857,
was received from Caroline K. Wallbridge, Topeka.
An unpublished book length manuscript, "Citizenship and Essential Liber-
ties and Rights," by the late Parley Paul Womer, was given by his wife. Dr.
Womer was a leader in the development of Washburn University. He served
as president for 16 years, 1915-1931, and later as professor of American
citizenship and public affairs.
A typescript of portions of the diary of Anne Jones Davies was given by
her daughter, Priscilla Davies, Denver, Colo. Both Mrs. Davies and her
husband, John Davies, came to America from Wales and after their marriage
in the 1870's settled in Arvonia township, Osage county. John Davies was a
stone mason, and during his absences on construction work Anne managed
their farm. The years of the diary are 1882-1884, 1886-1888.
Correspondence relating to floods in Kansas, their prevention and control,
was received from the estate of Snowden Dwight Flora, author and government
meteorologist at Topeka. There are 81 items.
Microfilm copies of the following have been acquired:
Twelve reels of letters and reports from Congregational missionaries and
church groups in Kansas to the American Home Missionary Society, New York,
1854-1877, 1892, and 1893. The letters are not limited to church matters and
contain many references to conditions in Kansas. The film was obtained from
the University of Chicago; originals are held by the Chicago Theological
Seminary.
Reminiscences of the early West and experiences of the Bowlby family.
Original manuscript lent by Mrs. E. B. Brown, Denison.
The original records of the Manhattan Town association, seven manuscript
volumes covering the period 1855-1877. Included are the constitution and
bylaws of the association, lists of town lots, town shares, and stockholders.
The first volume contains records of the Boston association. The originals are
in the possession of Sam C. Charlson, Manhattan, who lent them for copying.
Papers of Elizabeth Ann Berryman Eddy, Topeka, consisting of miscel-
laneous documents, talks and letters. Originals were lent by her grandson,
Leo B. Dixon of Hanston.
Letters, 1862-1864, and diary, 1861-1862, of Alva Curtis Trueblood. True-
blood served with the 13th regiment Indiana Volunteers and his letters were
written from the field. In 1880 he came to Atchison where he engaged in
business and served as city clerk. The papers were lent by Mr. and Mrs.
R. A. Goodhue, San Gabriel, Calif.
Records of the Secretary of the Interior: Journals and field books relating
to the Eastern and Central division of the Fort Kearny, South Pass and
Honey Lake wagon road, 1857-1859. Included are rough notes of travel of
the advance party under W. H. Wagner, chief engineer, from Belmont, Kansas
territory, to OronviUe, Calif., 1859.
THE ANNUAL MEETING 111
Other donors were: Mrs. C. T. Barker, Liberal; E. A. Benson, Kansas
City; Edward E. Bill, Garden City; Mrs. Henry Blake, Sr., Topeka; Mrs.
Frank W. Boyd, Mankato; Berlin B. Chapman, Stillwater, Okla.; Charles
Darnell, Wamego; Mrs. Lavilla Eastham, McPherson; Mrs. Ella Funston Eck-
dall, Emporia; Mary and A. Blanche Edwards, Abilene; Alan W. Farley,
Kansas City; Mrs. Philip Fox, Evanston, 111.; Mrs. Edna P. Gilpin, Phoenix;
the Haise family, Russell; Mrs. Ralph W. Heflin, Pearland, Tex.; Henry
Gaffney, Jr., Irvington, N. J.; Mrs. Meta Howard Geary, Wichita; Walter A.
Huxman, Topeka; H. R. Landes, Topeka; Mrs. O. H. Landrith, Enid, Okla.;
Laura Loughmiller, Topeka; Pearl Maus, Topeka; Henry A. Meyer, Evansville,
Ind.; Ottawa County Historical Society; Jennie Small Owen, Topeka; Lyle
Owen, Tulsa, Okla.; Elmo Richardson, Lawrence; Joseph G. Rosa, Ruislip,
Middlesex, England; Mrs. William E. Stanley, Wichita; Mrs. E. E. Swanzey,
Abilene; Ailine Thomas, Merriam; Mrs. J. R. Throckmorton, Hays; Mrs. W. V.
Turner and sons, Las Vegas, Nev.; Mrs. Charles H. Watson, Evanston, 111.;
Mrs. Alice Wilson, Topeka; Mrs. Blodwen Williams Zeitler, Ft. Madison, Iowa.
MlCBOFDLM DIVISION
As of September 30, 1958, the microfilm division has made 4,896,000
photographs since it began operation in 1946, 349,000 of them in the past
12 months. Nearly 278,000 were of newspapers, 64,000 of archival records,
4,000 of library materials, and 1,500 of manuscripts. The balance were nega-
tives produced for private purchasers.
The largest newspaper project of the year was the filming of the Topeka
State Journal for January 1, 1943-June 29, 1946, and April 6, 1949-December
31, 1957. The Wichita Eagle, both morning and evening editions, was filmed
for the period September 1, 1953-February 28, 1957; the Kinsley Mercury
for August 18, 1899-December 27, 1956; the Cheney Sentinel for March 1,
1894-December 26, 1940; the Osage City Free Press for July 10, 1875-De-
cember 28, 1916; and the Johnson County Herald, Overland Park, for Janu-
ary 1, 1942-December 27, 1956. Other newspapers microfilmed included the
Topeka Commonwealth, May 20, 1869-November 1, 1888; the Kansas City
Labor Bulletin, February 23, 1940-December 27, 1957; Lucifer, the Light-
Bearer, Chicago, 111., January 6, 1897-June 6, 1907; Marion Record, July 23,
1875-December 28, 1900; Oskaloosa Independent, August 27, 1870-December
28, 1900; and 18 other newspapers and periodicals requiring less than two
rolls of film each.
Microfilming of archives was concentrated primarily on the state census
of 1895. Approximately half has been completed and work is continuing on
this project.
MUSEUM
The museum has completed another highly successful year. The number
of visitors was 58,494, breaking last year's all-time record by more than
6,000. The total was swelled by 375 school and scout groups which took
advantage of the guided tours conducted as part of the museum's educational
program, and a new monthly record of 9,564 was established in May.
Twenty new display cases were received and exhibits installed in them
during the year. This completes, for the time being, the case displays planned
for the fourth floor. Replicas of a doctor's office, a dentist's office, and an
112 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
old-time general store, all of which were mentioned in last year's report, were
completed in the east gallery, and have attracted much favorable comment.
The appearance of the museum has also been greatly improved by the installa-
tion of an asphalt tile floor.
The Society appeared in a new field last month by setting up a display
at the Kansas Free Fair at Topeka. Space was made available through the
courtesy of Maurice E. Fager, manager of the fair, and 11,695 persons visited
the exhibit during the week. Many learned for the first time about the So-
ciety and its work, and the display was so well received that a request has
already been made for the use of the same space next year.
During the spring and summer the assistant museum director, Roscoe
Wilmeth, conducted an archaeological survey in the Pomona and Melvern
reservoir areas in Osage county. The work was done under an agreement with
the National Park Service. The 1958 legislature appropriated funds for the
purchase of basic archaeological field equipment, including instruments for
surveying and mapping. Plans are being made to conduct a survey of the John
Redmond reservoir area and to send a field party to make excavations in the
Pomona reservoir area next summer under new contracts with the National
Park Service.
There were 227 accessions comprising 897 objects during the year. Dona-
tions included clothing and accessories from Mrs. Roy Crawford and her
grandson, Berry, of Topeka; Spanish- American War souvenirs from Adna G.
Clarke, Jr., of Honolulu, Hawaii; items for the general store from Mr. and
Mrs. Charles Darnell of Wamego, Mrs. Fred W. Gauch of Kansas City, and
Mrs. Duane McQueen Ward of Peabody. Wayne Herneison of Wamego
donated a blacksmith forge and many tools; other blacksmith equipment was
received from E. W. Jaeger of Hope.
Oil portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin L. Crane, Topeka pioneers, were
given by Mr. and Mrs. Erwin Keller, Topeka. Dental equipment for the 1900
dental office period room was donated by Dr. William Mclnerney of Abilene,
and clothing and accessories belonging to Mrs. Eliza Abbott Root were received
from Mrs. Louise S. Woodward of Eskridge.
Other donors included: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad; Wallace
Baker, Protection; Mrs. Ethel Ballinger, Ozawkie; Mrs. Olive Bell, Topeka;
Roderick Bentley, Shields; Mrs. Henry Blake, Sr., Topeka; Mrs. Eugene L.
Bowers, Topeka; Mrs. Claude Brey, Ozawkie; Mrs. D. J. Brown, Rochester,
N. Y.; Mrs. Maclure Butcher, Neodesha; W. C. Byington, Winchester; Mrs.
Minnie Campbell, Topeka; E. C. Cannon, Phillipsburg; estate of Arthur
Capper, Topeka; Mr. and Mrs. Eldon W. Cessna, El Segundo, Calif.; Mrs.
Charles F. Chrisman, Jackson Heights, N. Y.; Dr. Orville R. Clark, Topeka;
Mrs. Martina Clarkson, Harper; Mrs. W. B. Collinson, Topeka; Mrs. Gerald J.
Courtney, Topeka; Mrs. Warren M. Crosby, Jr., Topeka; Mrs. Edwin W. Davis,
Topeka; Mrs. Flora E. Davison, Kansas City, Mo.; Mrs. Lyndon Day, Topeka;
Esther Delker, Chapman; Vern Donge and sons, Larry and Ronnie, Soldier;
Lupe Duran, Teseque Pueblo, N. M.; Arrold R. Earhart, Topeka; Dr. E. W.
Eustace, Lebanon; D. S. Farman, Manhattan; Mrs. Earl Ferguson, Valley Falls;
Mrs. Phillip Fox, Evanston, 111.; Barbara Funston, Mill Valley, Calif.; Mrs. Meta
Howard Geary, Wichita; Mrs. Edna Piazzek Gilpin, Phoenix, Ariz.; Governor's
office, Topeka; Harold C. Grinnell, Cedar Point; Mrs. Asa Hagans, Melvern;
THE ANNUAL MEETING 113
Harold L. Hale, Topeka; Dale W. Hall, Topeka; Mrs. R. C. Harding, Wamego;
Mrs. Frank Haucke, Council Grove; Grace Haven, Council Grove; Mrs. Ralph
W. Heflin, Pearland, Tex.; Chester Heizer, Caldwell; Mrs. Bessie Hereford,
Topeka; Wesley R. Hurt, Vermillion, S. D.; Mrs. Minnie Jacobs, Council Grove;
A. M. Jarboe, Topeka; Mrs. Virginia A. Johnson, Gardner; Mrs. Carl Jones,
Topeka; Dean L. Jordan, Sr., Abilene; Kansas State Printing Plant, Topeka;
Mrs. B. Gage Kenny, Lincoln; Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Kingman, Topeka; W. A.
Kingman, Springfield, Mo.; C. L. Kinley, Augusta; Mrs. Lucy M. Large,
Lecompton; Mrs. Laura Loughmiller, Topeka; Mrs. P. A. Lovewell, Topeka;
Mrs. V. E. McArthur, Hutchinson; Florence McCall, Salina; Dr. Duncan C.
McKeever, Houston, Tex.; Mrs. F. M. Manshardt, Topeka; Marquart Music
Co., Topeka; Lakin Meade, Topeka; Roy Mendez, Topeka; Mrs. Grace Men-
ninger, Topeka; B. F. Messick, Topeka; Mrs. Esther Pennock Miller, Topeka;
Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Miller, Delavan; Carl Mullendore, Howard; Mrs.
Pearl Nellans, Portland, Ore.; Mrs. Myra Perrings, Topeka; Mrs. A. G. Pickett,
Topeka; estate of Mrs. George W. Porter, Topeka; Ray B. Ramsey, Topeka;
estate of Cora E. Ream, Kansas City, Mo.; Mrs. C. H. Reser, Hamilton; Charles
R. Richards, Detroit, Mich.; Ned Richardson, Topeka; John Ripley, Topeka;
Mrs. J. C. Ruppenthal, Russell; Mrs. R. A. Schwegler, Lawrence; Sears Roe-
buck & Co., Topeka; Mary Alice Smith, Abilene; Mr. and Mrs. W. V. Snyder,
Berryton; Stanley Sohl, Topeka; Mr. and Mrs. Albert Speer, Topeka; Mrs. W. E.
Stanley, Wichita; Mrs. Fred Straley, Topeka; Annie B. Sweet, Topeka; Capt.
Dorr Thomson, Hutchinson; Mrs. Elsa M. Tindell, Burlingame; Mr. and Mrs.
Chester Trower, Topeka; Jim Wahwasseck, Topeka; Louis Walddy, Americus;
Washburn University, Topeka; Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Weidman, Topeka; Walter
W. Wendell, Topeka; Mr. and Mrs. Ben E. White, Bonner Springs; R. D.
Wiley, Melvern; Mary Willbrandt, Washington; Mrs. Alice Wilson, Topeka;
Mr. and Mrs. William J. Zeidler, Topeka; and Mrs. J. F. Zimmerman, Valley
Falls.
NEWSPAPER AND CENSUS DIVISION
Over 4,800 patrons were served in person by the newspaper and census
division, and more than that number were given assistance by mail.
Use of the Society's newspapers increased considerably this year. Single
issues used totaled 6,911, bound volumes 7,898, and microfilm reels 2,498.
This was the first full year during which a charge of $1.00 each was made
for certified copies of the Society's records. The result has been a substantial
decrease in the number of census and newspaper certifications requested.
A total of 4,876 certificates were furnished, less than 40 percent of last year's
figure. However, the number of census volumes searched was 23,164, as
compared with 36,134 reported a year ago.
Nearly all Kansas publishers continue to contribute their newspapers to
the Society for filing. Fifty-four dailies, 12 semiweeklies, and 291 regular
community weeklies are now being received. Also, 143 newspapers published
by Kansas schools, labor unions, churches and other institutions are donated by
their publishers for the Society's files. Nine out-of-state newspapers are
received.
During the year the Society added 438 reels to its collection of newspapers
on microfilm. Thirteen Kansas publishers donate microfilm copies of their
current issues to the Society.
8—6551
114 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Older Kansas newspapers added to the files included: Nemaha Courier,
Seneca, 20 issues scattered from November 28, 1863, to November 16, 1865,
donated by the New York State Historical Society; Southern Kansan, Lawrence,
May 1, 1886, donated by the Illinois State Historical Library; Howard County
Ledger, Longton, February 23, 1871, donated by Mrs. Richard W. Leach,
Evanston, 111.; and Once A Week, Lawrence, July 14, 1883, donated by Gorton
V. Carruth, Pleasantville, N. Y.
Other donors of newspapers were: Mrs. Henry Blake, Sr., Topeka; Mrs.
Dale Brown, Delphos; Mrs. Maurene Buckmaster, Topeka; Adna G. Clarke, Jr.,
Honolulu, Hawaii; Bob Ellis, Topeka; Mrs. C. H. Engle, Topeka; Alan W.
Farley, Kansas City, Kan.; Mrs. Ralph W. Heflin, Pearland, Tex.; Mrs. Charles
McGill, Paola; B. F. Messick, Topeka; Norman Niccum, Tecumseh; Lena M.
Smith, Princeton, Ind.; Mary Smith, New York City; Etta Templeton, Topeka;
Mrs. Carl F. Trace, Topeka; Mrs. Alice Wilson, Topeka; and B. W. Zeitler,
Ft. Madison, Iowa.
PHOTOGRAPHS AND MAPS
During the year 1,994 photographs have been added to the Society's col-
lection. Of these, 1,135 were gifts, 482 were lent for copying and 301 were
taken by the Society staff. Seventy-six color slides have been accessioned.
Several large groups of photographs were given to the Society. Among
the more important were over 400 glass negatives of Russell county scenes,
obtained through J. C. Ruppenthal of Russell and Elmo Mahoney of Dor-
ranee; 23 views of Osborne and vicinity in the 1890's from Mrs. Nellie Baldwin,
Osborne; 13 Ottawa county scenes from Don D. Ballou, Kansas City; 56 glass
negatives of Lawrence and Topeka views from J. Leland Benson, Topeka;
59 pictures of the 20th Kansas regiment in the Philippines from Adna G.
Clarke, Jr., Honolulu, Hawaii; 22 post card views of Kansas at the turn of the
century from Dr. Duncan C. McKeever, Houston, Tex.; and 67 pictures of
Fort Riley hospitals and officers, from Maj. George Omer, Jr., Fort Riley.
Excellent collections of early Kansas pictures were lent for copying by
C. M. Correll, Manhattan; Jess Denious, Jr., Dodge City; the Dickinson County
Historical Museum, Abilene; the Eisenhower Museum, Abilene; the College
of Emporia; St. Benedict's College, Atchison; George Eastman House, Roch-
ester, N. Y.; Paul Gibler, Claflin; Mrs. Frank Motz, Hays; the Riley County
Historical Society, Manhattan; Mrs. Paul Shahan, Marion; the Smith County
Pioneer, Smith Center; Homer Socolofsky, Manhattan; Floyd Souders, Cheney;
C. C. Tinkham, Topeka; and Mr. and Mrs. J. I. Ziebolz, Ness City.
The Society has furnished photographs during the year to such publica-
tions as Holiday, American Heritage and Life, to several of the nation's
leading book publishers, and to the National Broadcasting Company. In
addition, many authors, newspapers and other historical institutions have ob-
tained prints from the Society's collection. The current interest in the old
West has brought requests for photographs of cowtowns and peace officers
from all parts of the United States and from Holland, England and Italy.
Ninety new maps have been accessioned this year, 45 of which are recent
issues of the United States Geological Survey. Photostats of 25 maps of
Kansas military posts were obtained from the National Park Service, Omaha.
Other recently received maps include a plat of Pleasant Hill, 1855, and a
THE ANNUAL MEETING 115
map of the Missouri river, 1878-1881, from the State Auditor's office; a plat of
Colby, 1887, from August Lauterbach, Colby; an ownership map of Miami
county, 1958, from Harry Hemphill, Paola; Woodson county, about 1910,
from H. R. Landes, Topeka; and Riley county pioneer roads and trails from
Morris Werner, Manhattan.
G. L. Chadborn of Kansas City, through Alan Farley of Kansas City, pre-
sented the Society with a photographic copy of an 1869 lithograph of the
town of Wyandotte.
SUBJECTS FOR RESEARCH
Subjects for extended research during the year included: Protestant mis-
sionaries to the Indians; early transportation in Kansas; '89ers; Kansas songs,
Civil War songs; Otoe Indians; overland journals; early mail systems in Kansas;
farmers' diaries; Sharps rifles; Cherokee Strip and Kansas border towns; the
town of Rolla; motion picture censorship in Kansas; public utilities; the Kansas
Power and Light Co.; Emporia Gazette; German language publications; west-
ern Kansas cattle trails; mental hospitals; Kansas Turnvereins; history of Fort
Scott, 1842-1872; Fort Scott Baptist Association; Kansas, 1930-1935; Kansas
governors' wives; sunflowers; Indian medicine; John R. Brinkley; Luke Short;
James B. Hickok; Wyatt Earp; William Barclay Masterson; Vernon L. Par-
rington; James A. McGonigle; "Doc" Holliday; Albert H. Horton; Elam Bar-
tholomew; Edmund G. Ross, Arthur Capper, and Alfred M. Landon.
SOCIETY HOLDINGS, SEPTEMBER 30, 1958
Bound Volumes
Books
Kansas 9,969
General 56,937
Genealogy and local history 10,099
Indians and the West 1,523
Kansas state publi cations 3,201
Total 81,729
Clippings 1,284
Periodicals 17,294
Total, bound volumes 100,307
Manuscripts ( archives and private papers,
cubic feet) 5,750
Maps and atlases 5,366
Microfilm (reels)
Books and other library materials 244
Public archives and private papers 1,392
Newspapers 7,089
Total 8,725
Newspapers (bound volumes)
Kansas 57,551
Out-of-state 11,983
Total 69,534
Paintings and drawings 421
116 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Pamphlets
Kansas 92,830
General 38,464
Genealogy and local history 3,762
Indians and the West 1,071
Kansas state publications 5,732
Total 141,859
Photographs 33,037
THE FIRST CAPITOL
Registration of visitors at the First Territorial Capitol, on the Fort Riley
reservation, totaled 6,906, an increase of 324 over last year. Although it was
expected that the by-passing of the fort by the new U. S. 40 highway would
result in fewer visitors, the contrary, so far at least, has proved to be the case.
The efforts of the Junction City Chamber of Commerce in promoting tours to
Fort Riley and the old Capitol, and the new directional markers which were
placed on U. S. 40 at the request of John Montgomery, second district highway
commissioner, have resulted in substantial increases during the past two years.
Visitors registered from all states except Nevada. Alaska, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii were also represented as were the Philip-
pine Islands, Canada, Panama and 14 other foreign countries.
THE FUNSTON HOME
This property, located in a less heavily traveled area than the Society's
other historic sites, was visited by 955 people, about 50 less than last year.
Twenty states were represented in addition to Kansas, but "home folks" pro-
vided most of the visitors, 820.
The Funston home has continued to develop as an interesting attraction.
Barbara Funston of Mill Valley, Calif., a daughter of Gen. Frederick Funston,
presented articles belonging to her father, including a pair of snowshoes and
two Eskimo fishing spears from his Alaskan trip, a plumed military dress hat,
and a pair of shoes which he wore during the Aguinaldo expedition. Also,
through the courtesy of Maj. Gen. Joe Nick ell, the adjutant general, the So-
ciety received from the Department of Defense replicas of four medals
awarded to General Funston, among them the Medal of Honor.
THE KAW MISSION
Kaw Mission, at Council Grove, enjoyed another successful year. At-
tendance totaled 5,732, about 200 more than last year. Visitors came from
43 states in addition to Kansas, and from two territories and 17 foreign
countries.
The Council Grove Republican continued its weekly publication of a
"Museum Scoreboard" and the information booth operated by the Junior
Chamber of Commerce directed many tourists to the Mission. Two more rose
bushes were presented by the Nautilus Club.
A number of interesting accessions were received for the museum. Donors
included Frank Allen, Mrs. Norma Comer Bates, Mrs. Floyd Bramick, Mrs.
Eugene Chase, V. S. Coltrane, Russell Dodderidge, the Dwight Library, Ivy
Foster, Mrs. Minnie Jacobs, Oscar Larson, Clarence Reveal, Leslie Ruttledge,
Ocie Shemwell, and Neil L. Tweedman.
THE ANNUAL MEETING 117
OLD SHAWNEE MISSION
Registration at Old Shawnee Mission was 6,182, of whom 1,301 lived
outside of Kansas. Visitors came from 39 states, the District of Columbia,
and 14 foreign countries.
They included Edna Williams, related to Charles Bluejacket, a Shawnee
Indian chief; Robert Russell, Joe Russell, and Jerome Berryman, II, great
grandsons of the Rev. Jerome C. Berryman who was superintendent of the
mission at the time the North building was built; and Fred Chouteau, grand-
son of Cyprian Chouteau.
Several rooms in the East building were painted, the floors of three were
sanded and varnished, and the exterior of the building was waterproofed. An
asphalt parking strip also has been constructed for the convenience of visitors.
The Society is indebted to the Daughters of the American Revolution, the
Daughters of 1812, the Daughters of American Colonists, the Colonial Dames,
and the Shawnee Mission Indian Historical Society for their continued as-
sistance at the mission.
THE STAFF OF THE SOCIETY
Acknowledgement is due the Society's staff for the accomplishments noted
in this report. They have worked faithfully and conscientiously to make the
Society truly a service institution. It is not possible to mention here all the
individuals whose efforts have contributed to the total result, but each has my
sincere thanks. Special attention should be called to the work of Edgar
Langsdorf, assistant secretary, and the department heads: Mrs. Lela Barnes of
the manuscript division, who is also treasurer of the Society; Robert W. Rich-
mond, archivist; Alberta Pantle, librarian; Stanley D. Sohl, museum director;
and Forrest R. Blackburn of the newspaper division.
Appreciation is also due the custodians of the historic sites administered
by the Society: Mr. and Mrs. Harry A. Hardy at Shawnee Mission, Mr. and
Mrs. Elwood Jones at Kaw Mission, Mr. and Mrs. V. E. Berglund at the
Funston Memorial Home, and Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Brownback at the First
Territorial Capitol.
Respectfully submitted,
NYLE H. MILLER, Secretary.
At the conclusion of the reading of the secretary's report, Robert
Aitchison moved that it be accepted. Motion was seconded by
Kirke Mechem and the report was adopted.
President Farley 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 9, 1957, to August 4, 1958.
MEMBERSHIP FEE FUND
Balance, August 9, 1957:
Cash $3,479.24
U. S. bonds, Series K 5,000.00
$8,479.24
118 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Receipts:
Membership fees $1,129.94
Gifts 136.60
Interest on bonds 138.00
Interest, Bowlus gift 27.60
Interest, savings 28.12
1,460.26
$9,939.50
Disbursements $1,067.72
Balance, August 4, 1958:
Cash $3,871.78
U. S. bonds, Series K 5,000.00
8,871.78
$9,939.50
JONATHAN PECKER BEQUEST
Balance, August 9, 1957:
Cash $50.64
U. S. bonds, Series K 1,000.00
$1,050.64
Receipts:
Interest on bond $27.60
Interest on savings account 3.34
30.94
$1,081.58
Balance, August 4, 1958:
Cash $81.58
U. S. bond, Series K 1,000.00
$1,081.58
JOHN BOOTH BEQUEST
Balance, August 9, 1957:
Cash $132.13
U. S. bond, Series K 500.00
$632.13
Receipts:
Interest on bond $13.80
Interest on savings account 1.69
15.49
$647.62
Balance, August 4, 1958:
Cash $147.62
U. S. bond, Series K 500.00
$647.62
THE ANNUAL MEETING 119
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 9, 1957:
Cash (deposited in membership fee fund) $595.19
U. S. bonds, Series K 5,500.00
$6,095.19
Receipts:
Bond interest (deposited in membership fee fund) . . 151.80
$6,246.99
Disbursements: books, prints, mss $284.35
Balance, August 4, 1958:
Cash (deposited in membership fee fund) $462.64
U. S. bonds, Series K 5,500.00
$5,962.64
$6,246.99
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, 1958, these appropriations were: Kansas State Historical Society, including
the Memorial building, $240,593.61; First Capitol of Kansas, $6,432; Kaw
Mission, $4,198; Funston Home $3,780; Old Shawnee Mission, $16,131.
Respectfuly submitted,
MRS. LELA BARNES, Treasurer.
Kirke Mechem moved that the report be adopted. Frank Haucke
seconded the motion and the report was accepted.
In the absence of Will T. Beck, chairman, T. M. Lillard presented
the report of the executive committee on the post-audit of the So-
ciety's funds by the State Division of Auditing and Accounting:
REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
October 17, 1958.
To the Board of Directors, Kansas State Historical Society:
The executive committee being directed under the bylaws 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 9, 1957, to August 4, 1958, and
that they are hereby approved. WILL T. BECK, Chairman,
CHARLES M. CORRELL,
FRANK HAUCKE,
T. M. LILLARD.
120 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
On a motion by James E. Taylor, seconded by E. A. Thomas, the
report was accepted.
President Farley then presented a recommendation by the execu-
tive committee that the election of officers be regularly scheduled
for the morning meeting of the board instead of for a meeting fol-
lowing the afternoon session. It was felt by the committee that
under the proposed plan more appropriate recognition could be
given the President-elect, also that it was desirable to omit the late
afternoon board meeting. There was no objection and the report
of the nominating committee was presented by T. M. Lillard:
NOMINATING COMMITTEE'S REPORT
October 17, 1958.
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: Richard M. Long, Wichita, president; E. R. Sloan,
Topeka, first vice-president; and Jerome C. Berryman, Ashland, second vice-
president.
For a two-year term: Mrs. Lela Barnes, Topeka, treasurer.
Respectfully submitted,
WILL T. BECK, Chairman,
CHARLES M. CORRELL,
FRANK HAUCKE,
T. M. LILLARD.
James E. Taylor moved that the secretary cast a unanimous bal-
lot for the officers named in the report. E. A. Thomas seconded the
motion and the officers were declared elected.
Following the election of officers, the secretary outlined plans
for the proposed remodeling of the G. A. R. hall area. He stated
that the legislature of 1958, in response to a resolution in 1957 by
the Society's board of directors, had appropriated $7,500 for archi-
tects' fees; that plans provided for a small auditorium, badly needed
display and storage space and another reading room; and that the
entire cost might be as much as $280,000. Several expressed the
hope that the 1959 legislature would appropriate the required
amount and that the work could be completed by early 1961 when
centennial celebrations of both statehood and the Civil war will
commence.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.
THE ANNUAL MEETING 121
Annual Meeting of the Society
The annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society opened
with a luncheon at noon in the roof garden of the Jayhawk hotel.
About 175 members and guests attended.
The invocation was given by William E. Berger, head of the
history department of the College of Emporia.
Following the luncheon President Farley introduced guests at
the speakers' table. These included Governor and Mrs. Docking
and officers of the Society and their wives. President Farley de-
livered his address, "Samuel Hallett and the Union Pacific Railway
Company in Kansas," which appears elsewhere in this issue.
Following the address, President Farley presented a small plaque
to each of the following past presidents of the Society and to Kirke
Mechem, former secretary, all of whom had received a special
invitation to attend the meeting: Thomas M. Lillard, James C.
Malin, Fred W. Brinkerhoff, Robert T. Aitchison, Charles M. Correll,
Frank Haucke, F. D. Farrell, Wilford Riegle, and Rolla Clymer.
Three past presidents were unable to attend: John S. Dawson, Will
T. Beck, and Angelo Scott. Mr. Farley was given a plaque by the
newly elected president, Richard M. Long.
John Ripley, Topeka, was introduced and spoke briefly of his
work in collecting old lantern slides. He then presented his talk,
"Take Me Out for a Joy Ride," which was illustrated with slides
of many early views of Topeka.
The following memorial to the late R. F. Brock of Goodland,
former president, was read by the secretary who was instructed to
send a copy to Mrs. Brock:
The death of Roland F. Brock on November 11, 1957, meant the loss of
an old and cherished friend. Mr. Brock was a banker and stockman by voca-
tion, a historian and collector by avocation. He was born in Kentucky in
1887, came to Kansas in 1910, and from that time until his retirement on
January 1, 1957, was a prominent business man of western Kansas.
His banking career took him from Yoder, Kan., to Hutchinson, McCracken,
Greensburg, Sharon Springs, and finally to Goodland. For four years in the
early 1920's he served as a national bank examiner, and after that for another
five years he was a farmer and rancher before turning again to banking. He
served on the loan committee of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and
as a member and secretary of the Kansas Livestock Commission.
Mr. Brock's fondness for history was sincere and of long standing. His
hobbies included the collecting of rare coins and currency, Indian relics, fire-
arms, documents, maps, and newspapers. His study of the Civil War led him
to visit many battlefields, his last trip being made during the spring of 1957.
122 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
He contributed scores of articles to museums at Wallace, Goodland, Fort Hays
State College, and the State Historical Society. One of his last projects was
the erection and dedication of a monument to the memory of members of the
German family, who were massacred by Indians in present Logan county.
Mr. Brock joined the State Historical Society in 1918, and took an active
and continued interest in its work. He served on the board of directors for
nearly 20 years, from 1938 until his death, and was president in 1948-1949.
His warm spirit and friendly understanding will be missed by his many friends.
Mention was made by the secretary of the attendance at the
meeting of Donald F. Martin of Los Angeles. Mr. Martin is a
grandson of George W. Martin, secretary of the Society from 1899
to 1914.
The report of the committee on nominations for directors was
called for and read by Charles M. Correll:
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS FOR DIRECTORS
October 17, 1958.
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, 1961:
Barr, Frank, Wichita. Montgomery, John D., Junction City.
Berryman, Jerome C., Ashland. Owen, Arthur K., Topeka.
Charlson, Sam C., Manhattan. Owen, Mrs. E. M., Lawrence.
Correll, Charles M., Manhattan. Payne, Mrs. L. F., Manhattan.
Davis, W. W., Lawrence. Reser, Mrs. C. H., Hamilton.
Denious, Jess C., Jr., Dodge City. Richards, Walter M., Emporia.
Hall, Standish, Wichita. Riegle, Wilford, Emporia.
Hegler, Ben F., Wichita. Robbins, Richard W., Pratt.
Jones, Horace, Lyons. Rupp, Mrs. Jane C., Lincolnville.
Kampschroeder, Mrs. Jean Norris, Scott, Angelo, lola.
Garden City. Sloan, E. R., Topeka.
Kaul, Robert H., Wamego. Smelser, Mary M., Lawrence.
Lauterbach, August W., Colby. Stewart, Mrs. James G., Topeka.
Lillard, T. M., Topeka. Taylor, James E., Sharon Springs.
Lindquist, Emory K., Wichita. Van De Mark, M. V. B., Concordia.
Maranville, Lea, Ness City. Wark, George H., Caney.
Means, Hugh, Lawrence. Williams, Charles A., Bentley.
Respectfully submitted,
WILL T. BECK, Chairman,
CHARLES M. CORRELL,
FRANK HAUCKE,
T. M. LILLARD.
Mr. Correll moved that the report be accepted. Fred W. Brinker-
hoff seconded the motion and directors for the term ending in
October, 1961, were elected.
THE ANNUAL MEETING
123
Reports of local societies were called for and given as follows:
Mrs. H. M. Trowbridge for the Wyandotte County Historical So-
ciety; Mrs. Eugene Kotterman for the Shawnee Mission Indian
Historical Society; and William E. Koch for the Riley County His-
torical Society. Reports from several other societies were also
received in writing. President Farley introduced a group from
the Kansas City Posse of the Westerners.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
All members and guests were invited to attend an open house at
the Memorial building where special displays had been arranged.
DIRECTORS OF THE KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL
SOCIETY AS OF OCTOBER, 1958
DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR ENDING OCTOBER, 1959
Aitchison, R. T., Wichita.
Anderson, George L., Lawrence.
Anthony, D. R., Leavenworth.
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.
Gard, Spencer A., lola.
Knapp, Dallas W., Coffeyville.
Lilleston, W. F., Wichita.
Lose, Harry F., Topeka.
Malin, James C., Lawrence.
Mayhew, Mrs. Patricia Solander,
Wichita.
Menninger, Karl, Topeka.
Miller, Karl, Dodge City.
Moore, Russell, Wichita.
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.
DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR ENDING OCTOBER, 1960
Bailey, Roy F., Salina.
Baughman, Robert W., Liberal.
Beezley, George F., Girard.
Beougher, Edward M., Grinnell.
Bowlus, Thomas H., lola.
Brinkerhoff, Fred W., Pittsburg.
Cron, F. H., El Dorado.
Docking, George, Lawrence.
Ebright, Homer K., Baldwin.
Farrell, F. D., Manhattan.
Hall, Fred, Topeka.
Hamilton, R. L., Beloit.
Harper, Mrs. Jesse C., Ashland.
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.
Templar, George, Arkansas City.
Townsley, Will, Great Bend.
Woodring, Harry H., Topeka.
124
KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR ENDING OCTOBER, 1961
Barr, Frank, Wichita.
Berryman, Jerome C., Ashland.
Charlson, Sam C., Manhattan.
Correll, Charles M., Manhattan.
Davis, W. W., Lawrence.
Denious, Jess C., Jr., Dodge City.
Hall, Standish, Wichita.
Hegler, Ben F., Wichita.
Jones, Horace, Lyons.
Kampschroeder, Mrs. Jean Nonis,
Garden City.
Kaul, Robert H., Wamego.
Lauterbach, August W., Colby.
Lillard, T. M., Topeka.
Lindquist, Emory K., Wichita.
Maranville, Lea, Ness City.
Means, Hugh, Lawrence.
Montgomery, John D., Junction City.
Owen, Arthur K., Topeka.
Owen, Mrs. E. M., Lawrence.
Payne, Mrs. L. F., Manhattan.
Reser, Mrs. C. H., Hamilton.
Richards, Walter M., Emporia.
Riegle, Wilford, Emporia.
Robbins, Richard W., Pratt.
Rupp, Mrs. Jane C., Lincolnville.
Scott, Angelo, lola.
Sloan, E. R., Topeka.
Smelser, Mary M., Lawrence.
Stewart, Mrs. James G., Topeka.
Taylor, James E., Sharon Springs.
Van De Mark, M. V. B., Conccrdia.
Wark, George H., Caney.
Williams, Charles A., Bentley.
Bypaths of Kansas History
THE ICE WOMAN GOETH
From the Marysville Locomotive, July 16, 1870.
The Otoe Injuns have lately had some pay from the Government, and they
are now visiting our town in large numbers, purchasing a supply of fine combs,
soap and scrubbing brushes, preparatory to taking an annual clean-up. An
injun with two dollars and a half is the happiest mortal in existence. They
squander it vigorously for any and everything that the eye may feast on until
it is all gone. One squaw was induced to buy a piece of our clear, sparkling
Big Blue river ice, and, having wrapped it in a greasy piece of calico, deposited
it in her bosom and started for her wigwam. A few moments after she was
seen tearing down the street, strewing her garments as she went, and giving
vent to the most unearthly gibberings, among which were audible only the
words, "Ugh, d — n white man; wetem squaw all over. Ugh!"
WHEN EARLY-DAY DODGE CITY HAD A SNIFF AT "CULTURE"
From the Dodge City Times, November 24, 1877.
A Row AMONG THE BELL RINGERS. — The Alleghanian bell ringers were here
last Thursday, and aside from a few other catch-penny hum bugs they were
the snidest outfit we ever saw. The performance opened with a row between
the manager, who had managed to get outside of about a barrel of Dodge City
whiskey, and the ticket seller; and the only reason we blame the ticket seller
is because he did not put a head on the manager. The passage way to the
floor was crowded with people trying to get in, and the old drunken manager
got on his ear and refused to let them come in, and kept them standing there
while he and the ticket seller quarreled and made donkeys of themselves.
Finally some of the other members of the troupe got them quieted, and after
waiting an hour and a half the performance commenced inside.
There was nothing good in the whole performance except when some one
in the audience made a remark, which was not in itself very lucid, but at which
one of the exquisitely charming performers laughed, exhibiting forty or fifty
clay teeth, and a pair of ruby lips at sight of which pumpkin pies would
shudder. The brightest star in the constellation, Madame Nani Bach was clad
in a garment cut low necked in the back, and when she sang the very timbers
of the building cracked. A young light haired professor with a long nose would
run out on the stage occasionally and toot on a tin instrument for about two
minutes and three quarters, then smile like a pile of grave stones and trot back.
Another fellow beat on a lot of beer glasses with a wire, the sight and sound
of which caused groans. The performance closed by the ringing of cow bells,
and the tooting of fog horns.
(125)
Kansas History as Published in the Press
Publication of Orville W. Mosher's column, "Museum Notes/' in
the Emporia Gazette has continued in recent months. Mosher is
president of the Lyon County Historical Society and curator of the
society's museum in Emporia. The column largely features Em-
poria and Lyon county history.
"Early-Day Events in Shaping an Empire," Simon E. Matson's
series on the history of the St. Francis area, first printed June 14,
1956, continues regularly in the St. Francis Herald.
St. Boniface Catholic church at Scipio reached its 100th year in
1958. A history of the church was published in the Anderson Coun-
tian, Garnett, August 28, 1958.
Historical articles on the Trinity Lutheran church, Great Bend,
were published in the Great Bend Tribune, September 2, 1958, and
the Great Bend Herald-Press, September 6. The church was organ-
ized August 30, 1908.
An article by Ruby Basye on Old Fort Hays and the Fort Hays
museum was published in the Hutchinson News, September 3, 1958.
Biographical information on Boston Corbett, who shot John
Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, appeared in the Concordia Kan-
san, September 4, 1958, and in the Concordia Blade-Empire, October
23. Corbett homesteaded in Cloud county in 1878. A marker was
recently placed at the homestead site.
Among recent articles in the Ellis County Fanner, Hays, were:
"History of Catholic Church in Hays Shows Catholics First to Erect
Building," September 11, 1958, and "Pioneer Moore Family of Ellis
County Endured the Direst of Hardships Here," by Mrs. Mabel
Moore Raupp, November 13.
Barbara and John Adam Warneke settled near present White City
in 1857. An account of their descendants appeared in the Herington
Advertiser-Times, September 11, 1958.
A history of the Santa Fe trail, printed in a recent issue of the
Panhandle Lines, publication of the Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line
Co., was reprinted in the Southwest Daily Times, Liberal, Septem-
ber 16, 1958.
(126)
Kansas Historical Notes
Current officers of the Riley County Historical Society include:
William E. Koch, president; John Holmstrom, vice-president; Homer
Socolofsky, recording secretary; Mrs. C. M. Correll, membership
secretary; Sen. Sam C. Charlson, treasurer; and Joe D. Haines, Bruce
Wilson, Mrs. C. B. Knox, James C. Carey, Ward C. Griffing, Mrs.
Paul G. Brown, George A. Filinger, Earl Ray, and Holmstrom, di-
rectors.
Kingman observed its 75th anniversary with a four-day celebra-
tion October 3-6, 1958. A historical production called "Prairi-
drama" was presented each evening. The final day was old settlers'
day.
Dr. J. E. Turner was elected president of the Border Queen Mu-
seum Association at a meeting of the organization in Caldwell, No-
vember 28, 1958. Other officers chosen were: Doyle Stiles, first
vice-president; Walker Young, second vice-president; Frederick
Thompson, Jr., secretary; and Harry Jenista, treasurer. Young was
the retiring president.
Members of the Shawnee County Historical Society gathered in
Topeka for their annual dinner December 4, 1958. The program
featured the histories of Auburn, Dover, and Wakarusa. Bessie
Moore, of Auburn, was the principal speaker. Re-elected to the
board of directors for three-year terms were: Annie B. Sweet, Mrs.
Wilber Galloway, Robert H. Kingman, Louis R. Smith, Otis Allen,
Euphemia Page, Nyle Miller, R. C. Obrecht, Milton Tabor, and
Erwin Keller.
Plans for publication of a Kearny county history were recently
announced by the Kearny County Historical Society. Committees
have been appointed to compile material for the project. C. A.
Loucks is president of the society.
Nyle Miller, secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, was
the principal speaker at a December 11, 1958, gathering of the
Ottawa County Historical Society in Minneapolis. The January 10,
1959, meeting of the society, in Minneapolis, featured the histories
of the Hall and Lamar churches, given by Mrs. Jessie Adee Dayhoff.
Officers of the Augusta Historical Society for 1959 are: Stella B.
Haines, president; Mrs. Ralph Ralston, vice-president; Florence
Hudson, secretary; and Mrs. Ethel Shriver, treasurer.
(127)
128 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Harry E. Hanson was elected president of the Wyandotte County
Historical Society at the society's annual meeting, January 8, 1959,
in Kansas City. Ralph Clark was elected vice-president; Hazel Zel-
ler, secretary; Raymond Lees, treasurer; Mrs. Harry Trowbridge,
historian; and Harry Trowbridge, curator. New trustees are Alan
Farley and Mrs. Clyde Glandon. Mrs. Trowbridge was the retiring
president.
Rolla A. Clymer was named president of the Butler County His-
torical Society at a meeting of the trustees in El Dorado, January
19, 1959. Charles E. Heilmann was chosen vice-president; Joy Wig-
ginton, secretary; and Clifford W. Stone, treasurer.
Wayne Randall, Osage City, was elected president of the Native
Sons, and Evelyn Ford, Topeka, president of the Native Daughters,
at the annual meeting of the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas
in Topeka, January 28, 1959. Other officers chosen by the Native
Sons include: Dean Yingling, Topeka, vice-president; Floyd
Souders, Cheney, secretary; and Emory Fager, Overbrook, treasurer.
The Native Daughters elected Mrs. J. C. Tillotson, Norton, vice-
president; Mrs. Chester Dunn, Oxford, secretary; and Lela Hough,
Topeka, treasurer. Roy Bulkley, Topeka, and Mrs. Hobart Hoyt,
Lyons, were the retiring presidents. Mrs. Bea Johnson, Kansas City,
Kan., was the principal speaker. "Kansan of the Year" award went
to Mrs. Frank W. Boyd, Mankato.
"First Ladies of Kansas" was the theme of the annual meeting of
the Woman's Kansas Day Club in Topeka, January 29, 1959. Dolls
representing the first ladies, dressed in replicas of the inaugural
gowns, decorated the luncheon tables. Brief biographies of the first
ladies were given as part of the program. At the close of the meet-
ing the dolls were donated to the Kansas State Historical Society.
The president, Mrs. Lucile Rust, Manhattan, presided at the meet-
ing. Mrs. Harry Chaff ee, Topeka, was chosen president for the
coming year. Other officers elected include: Mrs. McDill Boyd,
Phillipsburg, first vice-president; Mrs. Marion Beatty, Topeka, sec-
ond vice-president; Mrs. Claude R. Stutzman, Kansas City, recording
secretary; Mrs. Roy Gibson, Chanute, treasurer; Mrs. Frank Huff-
man, Topeka, historian; Mrs. Larry E. VinZant, Wichita, auditor;
Mrs. R. T. Unruh, Kinsley, registrar. The following district direc-
tors were elected: Mrs. James V. Blue, Topeka; Mrs. George Wid-
der, Kansas City; Mrs. Harold Medill, Independence; Mrs. J. P.
Fallin, Wichita; Mrs. J, O. Carter, Garden City; and Mrs. Lillie
Washabaugh, Natoma.
n
THE
KANSAS HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Summer 1959
Published by
Kansas State Historical Society
Topeka
NYLE H. MILLER KIRKE MECHEM JAMES C. MALIN
Managing Editor Editor Associate Editor
CONTENTS
U. S. ARMY AND Am FORCE WINGS OVER KANSAS (In two install-
ments, Part One) : 129
With photographs of scenes and activities at Pratt Army Air Base, Great
Bend Army Air Field and Smoky Hill Army Air Force Base, Salina,
between pp. 144, 145.
THE PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH AND THE SMOKY HILL ROUTE,
1859-1860 Calvin W. Gower, 158
Reprint of a "Table of Distances" from Atchison to the Gold Mines,
1859, between pp. 160, 161.
THE LETTERS OF THE REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM, PIONEER KANSAS
MISSIONARY, 1854-1858 — Concluded .... Edited by Emory Lindquist, 172
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, SWEDENBORGIAN PUBLICIST: Part Two,
Kansas Exemplar of the Philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg
and Herbert Spencer — Concluded James C. Malin, 197
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY,
Compiled by Alberta Pantle, Librarian, 229
RYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 251
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 252
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 255
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. Annual membership dues are $3; annual sustaining, $10;
life membership, $20. Membership applications and dues should be ad-
dressed to Mrs. Lela Barnes, treasurer.
Correspondence concerning articles for the Quarterly should be sent to
the managing editor. The Society assumes no responsibility for statements
made by contributors.
Second-class postage has been paid at Topeka, Kan.
THE COVER
B-29 Super Fortresses at the Smoky Hill Army Air
Force Base, Salina. Official -photo U. S. Army Air
Forces.
THE KANSAS
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Volume XXV Summer, 1959 Number 2
U.S. Army and Air Force Wings
Over Kansas
INTRODUCTION
MONTGOMERY county, Kansas, was named for Maj. Gen.
Richard Montgomery, of Revolutionary War fame.
That historical fact at the moment seems to have no connection
with this story on air force wings over Kansas. Yet it was most
important, for quite likely this article would never have materialized
had the county been named for Joe Doakes — or perhaps for anyone
else. It came about as follows:
The secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society attended a
luncheon and dedication ceremony sponsored by the Esther Lowrey
chapter of the Kansas D. A. R. in Independence June 14, 1957, at
which a plaque honoring the Revolutionary War general was placed
in the county courthouse.
Important among the guests was Maj. Gen. Richard M. Mont-
gomery, deputy commander of the Second Air Force, Barksdale Air
Force Base, Louisiana. This General Montgomery, native of Penn-
sylvania and no relation to the Revolutionary War general, had
come to Montgomery county as a lieutenant colonel in 1942 to
activate the Independence Army Air Field. He immediately gained
the respect and co-operation of the local community, and the feel-
ing quickly became mutual. Thus it seemed appropriate to plan
the dedication of the plaque to the Revolutionary War General
Montgomery at a time when the Air Force General Montgomery
could be the honored guest.
During the luncheon the Historical Society secretary mentioned to
General Montgomery the Society's interest in obtaining historical
sketches and pictures of some of the activity at the several air
force bases in Kansas during World War II. It was explained that
the Society had been trying over a period of years to obtain these
records without success. Many of these bases had been built,
had been used with spectacular success, and had been abandoned,
(129)
130 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
but the Historical Society had been able to obtain only scraps of
information about them.
General Montgomery listened attentively, and replied that he
would see if anything could be done — and it was! So, the State
Historical Society now finds itself happily indebted to Mrs. R. R.
Bittmann, the arranger of the D. A. R. meeting in Independence, to
Gen. Richard M. Montgomery, presently of Guam, and, finally, to
the chief of the historical division of the United States Air Force
at Barksdale Air Force Base, Joseph P. McGinley, and his associates
at Barksdale and Maxwell bases, who prepared the following
factual — but interesting — sketches of 16 army and air force bases
in Kansas. Except for minor changes, and the addition of several
footnotes, the histories are published here as written.
Unfortunately, even with air force help, only a few photographs
of these bases have been located. The State Historical Society will
appreciate receiving copies of others, or information as to where
such photographs can be obtained. Understandably, unofficial
picture taking in bases during war time was prohibited. However,
photographs may have been snapped, and the Society would like
to know their whereabouts — whether official or unofficial — before
they are lost to the Kansas archives.
When air power began its development, with stove pipes the
nearest thing to bombsights, as at Fort Riley about 1912, the army's
air activities were conducted by the signal corps. By July 10,
1941, the army air arm had become sufficiently important to be
designated the Army Air Forces. Finally, under the Armed Services
Unification Act of July 26, 1947, the Army Air Forces became the
United States Air Force when the new Department of Defense
became operative the following September 18. The air force now
operates as one of the Defense Department's three main divisions —
air, army, and navy. Although practically all army air activity
has been transferred to the air force, Kansas' two forts, Leaven-
worth and Riley, continue to maintain army air fields. But their
use is limited to the immediate servicing of regular post activities.
COFFEYVILLE ARMY Am FlELD
(1942-1946)
/COFFEYVILLE Army Air Field was located seven miles north-
^•/ east of Coffeyville, on a 1,456-acre tract of land which had been
purchased by the United States government. Construction, which
was accomplished by contract under the supervision of the U. S.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 131
District Engineers, Tulsa, Okla., commenced on 1 June 1942, and
continued over a period of eight months. Actually, however, the
field was activated on 17 June 1942, with Col. Carlisle I. Ferris as
the commanding officer. Construction work was sufficiently ad-
vanced by 16 September following to accommodate the head-
quarters staff which had been located temporarily in the city of
Coffeyville. Meanwhile, on 3 August the Army Air Forces Gulf
Coast Training Center had assumed jurisdiction over the in-
stallation.
Despite the generally level nature of the site selected for the
Coffeyville Army Air Field some grading was necessary. Other
construction work of a general nature included a water storage and
distribution system; a sewage system and disposal plant; electric
transmission and distribution lines; a railway spur line; access roads
to nearby highways; paved streets on the site; and gasoline and
oil storage systems.
The remaining major installations and structures at the field may
be noted conveniently under the following headings: airfield;
cantonment; training; recreation and welfare; and hospital. Unless
otherwise indicated, all the buildings listed were the theater-of-
operation type structures.
Airfield.
a) 4 runways, 4,100, 5,700, 5,871, and 5,872 feet long, and
each 150 feet wide.
b) 5 taxiways, 400, 400, 1,200, 1,800, and 2,400 feet long, and
each 50 feet wide.
c) 3 hangars (semipermanent construction).
d) parking apron, 5,200 feet long and 450 feet wide.
e) control tower.
Cantonment.
a) 67 enlisted men's barracks.
b ) 25 cadet barracks.
c) 3 WACs' barracks.
d) 18 officers' quarters.
e) 8 mess halls.
f ) 1 guard house.
g) 1 commissary,
h) 13 warehouses.
i) 11 administration buildings.
j) 12 supply rooms.
k ) 1 post headquarters building.
1) 1 finance building.
m) 1 post engineer building.
n) 6 operations buildings.
132 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
o) 1 fire station,
p) 1 telephone building.
q) 1 signal office building (semipermanent construction).
Training.
a) 1 ground school building (semipermanent construction).
b) 2 miscellaneous buildings.
c) 6 link trainer buildings (semipermanent construction).
d) 1 chemical warfare building.
Recreation and Welfare.
a) 17 general recreation buildings.
b) 1 chapel (semipermanent construction).
c) 1 theater (semipermanent construction).
d) 1 post office.
e) 1 post exchange.
Hospital.
a) 1 administration building (semipermanent construction).
b) 5 wards (semipermanent construction).
c) infirmary (semipermanent construction).
d) 1 dental clinic (semipermanent construction).
e) 1 nurses' quarters.
f ) 1 nurses' recreation building.
Coffeyville Army Air Field had four auxiliary airfields. Indicated
by numerals, their size and location with reference to the base
field may be indicated as follows: No. 1, comprising 206 acres, ap-
proximately 6.2 air miles to the southeast; No. 2, with 241 acres,
about 14.25 air miles almost due east; No. 3, with 633 acres, 12.5
air miles to the northeast; and No. 4, comprising 241 acres, just over
nine miles slightly east of north. Auxiliary No. 3 was the only one
with a regular concrete runway system.
During July 1942 detachments of the following units were organ-
ized at Coffeyville: the 908th Quartermaster Company, Aviation
(Service); the 852d Ordnance Company, Aviation (Service); the
778th Chemical Service Company (Aviation); and a Finance De-
partment. Early in September following detachments of two other
units, the 1038th Guard Squadron and the 857th Signal Service
Company, Aviation, were organized. These were followed before
the end of the year by medical and veterinary detachments and
by the 23d Airways Communications Squadron.
Coming for the most part from Enid Army Air Field, Enid, Okla.,
the bulk of the original military personnel arrived at Coffeyville
during October and November 1942. They included troops of the
366th Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron, the 317th Army
Air Forces Band, and the 820th, 821st, 822d, and 823d School
WINGS OVER KANSAS 133
Squadrons. From a total of 63 officers and 190 enlisted men on
1 October 1942 the permanent party strength increased to 283 of-
ficers and 2,369 enlisted men by 1 February 1943.
The mission originally assigned to the CoflFeyville Army Air Field
was the basic, or second-stage, training of aviation cadets. Hence
the designation, Army Air Forces Basic Flying School, when it was
activated on 17 June 1942. As of 1 January 1943 it was redesignated
the CoflFeyville Army Air Field, although the mission was un-
changed. From 6 August 1943 until 31 May 1944 the flying training
unit at the field was known as Army Air Forces Pilot School ( Basic ) .
On 1 June the CoflFeyville installation was transferred from the
Army Air Forces Central Flying Training Command (successor
to the Army Air Forces Gulf Coast Training Center) to the Third
Air Force. Thereafter basic flying training was no longer con-
ducted there.
The training of cadets at CoflFeyville actually began on 14 No-
vember 1942 with Class 43-C. Of the 137 in that group, 116
graduated at the end of the course on 13 January 1943. Meanwhile,
the second class, 43-D, with 156 cadets had begun training on De-
cember 1942. It completed the course, with 129 individuals grad-
uating on 15 February 1943. From beginning to end, approxi-
mately 4,840 cadets and aviation students began the basic flying
course, in 16 separate classes, at CoflFeyville. Incompletions, how-
ever, because of physical and flying deficiencies, serious accidents,
and resignations were fairly numerous. As a result, only 3,881
successfully completed the course.
Col. Carlisle I. Ferris remained as commanding officer at CoflFey-
ville Army Air Field from its activation until 3 June 1943. He was
replaced by Lt. Col. Charles B. Harvin who served in that capacity
until the end of April 1944. Then Col. Nicholas T. Perkins assumed
command.
When it took over the field on 1 June 1944, the Third Air Force
organized there the CoflFeyville Replacement Training Unit (Photo
Reconnaissance) which was assigned to Headquarters Recon-
naissance Training Wing (Provisional). Colonel Perkins remained
as commanding officer of the field, while Lt. Col. Frank E. Dunn
was named commanding officer of the training unit. The primary
mission of the latter was to train pilots for combat photo recon-
naissance. Three months later the unit was redesignated the
CoflFeyville Combat Crew Training Station (Photo Reconnaissance),
with some emphasis being placed upon the preparation of photo
134 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
reconnaissance pilots for overseas movement. In mid-September it
was assigned to the III Tactical Air Command. On 1 October 1944
this training unit and the base administrative unit were integrated
under the command of Colonel Perkins.
The first group of photo reconnaissance pilots reported to Coffey-
ville for training on 12 June 1944. Other groups followed in rapid
succession. Operating at first on a 10-weeks' schedule, the students
divided their time, roughly in the ratio of one to four, between
ground school studies and flying training. In the beginning there
were some B-25 pilots, but during the latter part of the period the
aircraft used generally for this part of the work was the P-38. Com-
mencing in January 1945 the students were required to complete
four weeks of special instrument training before taking up their
photo reconnaissance work. Because of limited facilities during
the summer of 1945, some classes which had completed the instru-
ment training course at Coffeyville were shipped to Will Rogers
Army Air Field, Oklahoma City, Okla., for the photo reconnaissance
work. During the latter part of July, however, the instrument
training program was transferred from Coffeyville to Will Rogers
Army Air Field, while the photo reconnaissance section at Will
Rogers was transferred to Coffeyville Army Air Field.
During the 12-months' period ending on 4 June 1945 over 460
photo reconnaissance pilots completed all their training require-
ments at Coffeyville, and were shipped to staging areas for
processing and assignment to overseas shipments. In addition,
more than 200 pilots received their instrument flying training at
Coffeyville, and were shipped to Will Rogers for training as photo
reconnaissance pilots. There was no diminution in this indicated
rate of training during the few remaining weeks of World War II.
Colonel Perkins continued to serve as commanding officer of
Coffeyville Army Air Field until 9 November 1944. His successor
was Lt. Col. Paul A. Zartman who remained in that post until
just a few days before the surrender of the Japanese the following
August. The next commanding officer was Col. James M. Smelley.
Early in the post-war period Coffeyville Army Air Field was
earmarked for eventual inactivation. In a temporary inactive status
it was transferred to the Tactical Air Command on 21 March 1946.
As soon thereafter as the necessary arrangements could be effected
the Tactical Air Command transferred it to the U. S. District Engi-
neers, Omaha, Neb., who assumed jurisdiction over the field on
26 August 1946.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 135
DODGE CITY ARMY Am FIELD
(1942-1945)
THE Chamber of Commerce, through its president, Jess C.
Denious, was active during early 1942 in encouraging the gov-
ernment to locate an airfield in Dodge City. Mr. Denious, editor
of the Dodge City Daily Globe, and lieutenant governor of Kansas,
1943-1947, made several trips to Washington to interview the
appropriate authorities. In order to demonstrate the advantages
of the locality, Denious had compiled considerable information on
such things as weather, terrain, and utilities.
The first public announcement of the government's intention to
construct an airfield at Dodge City was made on 10 June 1942 by
Capt. R. E. DeBolt of the Division Engineers Office, Albuquerque,
N. M. The purpose of the field, as stated at the time, was to pro-
vide bomber training for the Royal Air Force. However, nothing
further was heard of this, and the base was scheduled to be an
advanced flying school, so that its original designation was "Army
Air Forces Advanced Flying School/' This remained the field's
intended function until February 1943, when, three or four months
before operations would begin, the mission was changed to B-26
transition training.
Although the United States Engineers had surveyed the land
desired for the field, bids for construction were let before the land
was acquired. When the bids were opened it was discovered that
only one bid had been submitted. A group of contractors, known
as the Liston-Clarke, San-Ore, D. H. Hardman group, had joined to
make the bid. The contract was awarded this group and the first
truck load of building materials was unloaded on 6 August 1942.
Pending final settlement of the purchase, possession was obtained
by Rights of Entry granted by the owners. On 15 August 1942 the
Office of Chief of Army Engineers issued a directive authorizing the
acquisition of approximately 2,520 acres at an estimated cost of
$191,353.
Since the Division Engineers Real Estate Branch was unable
to come to an agreement with the eight landowners involved, it
was necessary to proceed by condemnation. A Declaration of
Taking was consequently filed in the District Court of the United
States at Topeka. This action of course vested title in the United
States. At the same time the sum estimated by the War De-
partment to be fair compensation was deposited with the District
136 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Court. During the summer of 1943 final settlements were made
between the government and the owners. Additional land was
acquired during 1943. In January 1943 authorization was issued
for purchase of over 16 acres for the construction of a railroad spur.
Part of this property was obtained by direct purchase, and part by
condemnation. In this same general period, that is from No-
vember 1942 to April 1943, an additional 1,180 acres, for the
construction of an auxiliary airfield, were purchased at a total cost
of $45,610. The only other land acquired was the lease of some-
thing over 11 acres as a site for a radio beam station. Total
expenditures for the purchase of land came to approximately
$116,135.
Located close to Dodge City, a city of about 14,000 population
in 1942, the main establishment of Dodge City Army Air Field was
contained within the following boundaries, beginning at the
north quarter corner of Section 11, Township 26 South, Range 26 West,
thence south 2 miles to the south quarter corner of Section 14, Township 26
South, Range 26 West, thence east 2 miles to the south quarter corner of
Section 18, Township 26 South, Range 25 West, thence north 2 miles to the
north quarter of Section 7, Township 26 South, Range 25 West, thence west
2 miles to the point of beginning.
The principal construction job consisted of building a canton-
ment, airdrome, roads, and facilities. The arrangement was stand-
ard rectangular, with building exteriors consisting of wood sheeting
covered with 15-pound felt and asbestos-siding shingles. Housing
was prepared for close to 4,000 men, while the hospital had a ca-
pacity of 177 beds. Warehousing was built to provide 71,186
square feet of space, and the airdrome could accommodate 165
aircraft. Four runways (150 feet wide and 6,500 feet in length)
were constructed, while six 75-foot taxiways connected the parking
apron (600 x 5,300 feet) with the runway system.
Work on the main construction job, begun on 5 August 1942, was
completed by 31 December. Three or four days prior to com-
pletion of the main job, work was begun on the second most im-
portant project (principally concerned with completion of the
runway system), which was finished by 31 March 1943. Total
construction expenditures (as of 1 March 1944) were $7,409,551,
thus exceeding the original total allocation by $347,370.
The first soldiers assigned to the base consisted of a detachment of
27 enlisted men of the Quartermaster Corps, under Capt. J. M.
Cooper, who arrived on 1 November 1942. Somewhat over a
month later, on 11 December, the base was formally activated with
WINGS OVER KANSAS 137
the official designation "Army Air Forces Advanced Flying School,
Dodge City, Kansas." As a result of a change of mission for the
base, it was redesignated, 27 May 1943, "Army Air Forces Pilot
School (Specialized 2-Engine), Dodge City Army Air Field, Dodge
City, Kansas." Lt. Col. Charles B. Root assumed command on
11 December 1942 and served as commanding officer until 17
February 1943, when he was succeeded by Col. Charles B. Oldfield.
Colonel Oldfield remained commanding officer until 27 January
1944, when Colonel Root reassumed command. After official activa-
tion of the base there was a rapid build-up of personnel strength, so
much so that the local paper could observe on 2 February 1943:
"Enlisted men are pouring into the new field by the hundreds."
Training at the base was under the immediate supervision of the
director of training. The training function was broken up under the
director into flying training under a director of flying, and ground
school instruction under a director of technical training. The first
planes to be used for instruction, a dozen B-26's, were delivered to
Dodge City Army Air Field on 26 April 1943. On the same day,
the first group of officer students, 36 in all, reported for B-26 transi-
tion training. No time was lost, for on 28 April the first training
flights began. In addition to the regular category of officer students
in training, several of the classes included French nationals, as
well as contingents of Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASP's).
The women pilots compared favorably with the men in all phases
of the training, which was the same for both sexes. During the
active training period at the base, that is from 28 April 1943 to
June 1945, an estimated 2,215 student officers, French nationals,
and WASP's received B-26 transition training.
The school made a genuine contribution to the war effort in its
training program. The B-26 "Marauder" was looked on askance by
Air Force personnel and by the general public as a dangerous and
unstable aircraft. It was the task of the school, while teaching
proficiency in operation of the aircraft, to break through the nega-
tive "mystique" which had been built up around the B-26, and to
instill in the students a confidence in the aircraft as an efficient
fighting instrument. This was achieved to a remarkable degree,
with earned recognition coming from Maj. Gen. G. C. Brant of the
Central Flying Training Command in the form of a letter to
Colonel Root:
It is noted that the B-26 has finally come into its own and is recognized
by the public at large as being a most valuable implement of effective war-
138 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
fare against our enemy. — In my mind, it is a much belated acknowledgment
that is made possible only by the thousands of successful hours which you,
your staff and your mechanics have been able to secure on this airplane at
an operational rate which compares favorably with all other aircraft of our
Command. It is my pleasure therefore to express to you and the members
of your field my pleasure and satisfaction at seeing your successful efforts
recognized by your fellow countrymen and I wish to add my personal con-
gratulations to each of you on the spirit and enterprise which brought about
this transformed thinking on the part of the American public. You and your
men undertook this task when everyone said it could not be done and in so
doing, you brought credit to yourself and the service.
The relations between the base and Dodge City were uniformly
good. The limited size of the town created problems of housing for
married officers and enlisted men, but this was the universal and
normal wartime condition. The people of Dodge City showed
themselves most co-operative in welcoming a large number of troops
into their community. For example, during February 1943, various
civic organizations co-operated in furnishing day rooms for the
squadrons on the base. In March, the local Rotary, Kiwanis, and
Lions Clubs presented a minstrel show which netted about $1,200
to aid in furnishing the day rooms. Friendly co-operation was by
no means a one-way street. During the Boot Hill Fair and Rodeo
in September 1943, the Technical Training Department exhibited
various types of equipment and instructional aids in a booth on
the fair grounds. Outstanding for its co-operation was the Dodge
City Daily Globe, which was consistently generous with publicity
releases.
As the war in Europe ground to a halt the need for B-26 transition
training was sharply curtailed. Consequently, all training activities
ceased with the class which graduated on 28 June 1945. Two days
later the official inactivation announcement was made, whereupon
the officer in charge began the inactivation process. By 9 July all
property had been turned in. Inactivation was officially completed
on 12 July 1945 and all personnel had been transferred as of that
date. Whereupon, Dodge City Army Air Field was placed on the
inactive list.
FAIRFAX FIELD
(1942-1950)
PRIOR to World War II Fairfax Field, located about three miles
•*• north of the center of Kansas City, Kan., was a municipal air-
port, apparently without military installations. It acquired import-
ance to the Air Corps as the site of a factory set up on the edge of
WINGS OVER KANSAS 139
the field by the North American Aviation Company to manufacture
the B-25, Mitchell, medium bomber. A modification center for
B-25's was established there later. Production began at the factory
in December 1941, and planes began moving through the modifica-
tion center in May 1942. Primarily for the testing and flying of these
planes the four rather short runways at Fairfax were expanded to
150 feet in width and respectively to 6,500, 6,100, 5,800, and 4,500
feet in length, all of stout concrete, and 185,000 square yards of
parking apron was laid out.
At first pilots were brought in from elsewhere to fly out the B-25's,
but, as production increased, the Ferrying Division of Air Transport
Command concluded that it should have a unit at Fairfax to do the
job. Accordingly, on 15 April 1943 the Second Ferrying Squadron
of the 5th Ferrying Group was moved from Love Field at Dallas,
Tex., to Fairfax. The squadron set promptly to work and ferried
out 157 B-25's during May.
Maj. William J. Fry was squadron commander from before the
move until 12 October 1943 when he was succeeded by Maj. Harry
E. Watson. To expedite its administration the squadron was made
independent of the 5th Group on 1 January 1944, and on 1 April, in
recognition of its growing size and importance, it became the 33d
Ferrying Group. Major Watson continued as commander until 4
September 1944 when he gave way to Maj. Charles E. Hanst, an
Air Service pilot in World War I, and a past president of the Ameri-
can Association of Airline Executives. A detachment of Women's
Air Force Service Pilots (WASP's) was organized at Fairfax on 1
May 1944 to assist in the ferrying and did excellent service before
being disbanded in September. Its head, Miss Helen Richie, held
the woman's record for endurance flying, was the only woman to
have served as co-pilot on a commercial airline, and had been in
charge of a detachment of American women transport pilots in Eng-
land.
The 33d Group continued to grow until at the end of 1944 it had
393 officers and 578 enlisted men. However, early in 1945 North
American reduced its B-25 output, so the Ferrying Division in an
effort to consolidate its activities arranged to close out Fairfax as a
ferrying base and have pilots from Rosecrans Field at St. Joseph,
Mo., do what ferrying still had to be done at Kansas City. The 33d
Group was discontinued, and on 15 April 1945 Fairfax, losing its
status as a base, became merely an operating location of Rosecrans.
While based at Fairfax the 33d Group delivered 6,202 aircraft to
destinations within the United States and 251 abroad. Of 1,881
140 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
deliveries in 1943 by the Ground Ferrying Squadron all but 129
were B-25's, but at the end of that year pilots from Fairfax began
ferrying B-26's from a modification center at Omaha and B-24's from
a center at St. Paul. Thereafter activities expanded until early in
1945 the 33d Group controlled ten operating locations and was flying
a wide variety of planes, including as many as 60 B-29's a month.
Capt. Robert V. Barlow of the group was given the Air Medal in
November 1944 for piloting the first P-38 flight over ATC's South
Pacific route. Another remarkable flight or pair of flights was Capt.
Robert P. Pendleton's delivery of a B-29 to Twentieth Air Force in
the Marianas Islands and return of a war-weary B-29 to the United
States within a period of 140 hours in December 1944. On 9 Novem-
ber 1944 the 33d Group furnished plane and crew to fly Sen. Harry
S. Truman from Fairfax to Washington for ceremonies following his
election as Vice-President.
On 22 September 1944 the 33d Group began daily scheduled
Military Air Transport flights to Minneapolis and Omaha to move
military cargo and passengers. These flights proved so useful that
two more were soon added. When the ferrying group at Fairfax
was eliminated the Ferrying Division contemplated making that
airfield the mid-continental focus of its MAT operations. With this
in mind it moved to Fairfax on 2 March 1945 to an air freight ter-
minal which had previously been in Kansas City, Mo. In June
Fairfax with 362 personnel, commanded by Maj. Alfred Oberg, was
much the largest operating location in the division. During July,
1,044 military transports used the field. Among the passengers
who landed there that summer was President Truman, who was
en route to his home in Independence, Mo. However, in August
plans to concentrate operations at Fairfax were shelved, and by
November Topeka had been chosen instead. As of 6 December
1945 the operating location at Fairfax was discontinued. Moved
from there to Topeka were personnel and equipment including nine
C-47's and 80 pilots and co-pilots. Henceforth the regular and
special MAT flights which had been used Fairfax would take off
or land at Topeka.
Between February and October 1943 two technical training de-
tachments operated at Fairfax. One, activated on 4 February and
designated on 5 October as the 76th AAF Technical Training De-
tachment, administered a six-weeks' course to train AAF mechanics
under the direction of the Aircraft Accessories Corporation in the
repair and maintenance of hydraulic systems. About 300 students
were admitted before the school was prematurely closed in Oc-
WINGS OVER KANSAS 141
tober. It had done a good job but had duplicated a course given at
Chanute and, perhaps for that reason, classes had been too small to
pay the contractor or justify the use of skilled men as instructors.
The other training unit, activated on 22 February and designated,
effective 30 August, as the 81st AAF Technical Training Detach-
ment, was treated to supervise apprentice crew chiefs at the North
American B-25 Modification Center. An AAF policy adopted in
January provided that mechanics selected to be crew chiefs be each
assigned an aircraft as it left the factory, follow it through the modi-
fication center to see what was done to it, then go with it to be its
crew chief in an operating unit. For a couple of months after the
program began modification of B-25's took only a week, and the
future crew chiefs did little but stand and watch. Then on intro-
duction of the B-25G, modification time lengthened to two or three
months. The detachment used the additional time for refresher
training in mechanics and instruction in the duties of crew chiefs.
It also tactfully won permission for the men to participate in air-
craft maintenance and even in some modification and to gain flying
experience by going on test hops. Peak enrollment came on 27
June when 296 mechanics were present. Abandonment of the ap-
prenticeship program led to inactivation of the detachment on 31
October 1943.
After December 1945 the Air Force used Fairfax almost ex-
clusively for reserve training. The 4101st AAF Base Unit ( Res Tng)
was activated there on 12 July 1946 to handle training responsibili-
ties, and on 6 January 1947 a reserve unit, the 564th Bombardment
Squadron, was activated there. This unit was vigorous enough to
send 127 pilots to summer camp in 1948. In October that year
Fairfax had 37 planes in which the reservists flew 1,844 hours. The
4401st Unit was redesignated, effective 28 August 1948, as the 2472d
AF Reserve Training Center. A general shift of the reserve pro-
gram from combat to troop carrier units in 1949 caused the replace-
ment of the 564th Bombardment Squadron at Fairfax by the 442d
Troop Carrier Wing, which was activated there on 27 June.
The reserve center at Fairfax was badly cramped for lack of space
and facilities. This could have been remedied by taking all or part
of the old modification center when a lease that Trans-World Air-
lines had on it expired in 1950. However, public reaction to the idea
of moving the TWA shops from Kansas City was so unfavorable
that it was decided to move the reserve center instead. Thus on
22 May 1950 the 2472d Center and the 442d Wing were moved to
the Olathe Naval Air Station, about 25 miles from Kansas City.
142 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
FORBES Am FORCE BASE
(1942-1954+)
/T\HE history of Forbes Air Force Base begins in the early days
•*• of World War II, when work was started on an Army Air
Field at Topeka. The installation was assigned to the Second Air
Force in June and was accepted by the Army Air Forces on
15 August 1942. When the first troops began arriving that month,
housing facilities had not been completed; consequently, the per-
sonnel were quartered temporarily in the Agriculture building at
the Topeka Fair Grounds. But construction progressed rapidly,
and by September 1942 Topeka Army Air Field was in use for
heavy bombardment training.
From 24 August 1942 until February 1943 the 333d Bombardment
Group was stationed at Topeka to give heavy bombardment crews
30 days of final training prior to their movement overseas. Those
crews were trained in both B-17's and B-24's. In February 1943
the 333d Bombardment Group was replaced by the 2d Heavy
Bombardment Processing Headquarters. At that time the base
came under the jurisdiction of the 21st Bombardment Wing, which
established its headquarters at Topeka in June 1943. Instead of
training, the main function of the base became that of processing
and equipping heavy bombardment crews for shipment overseas
and preparing B-17's and B-24's for combat. Early in 1945 the
base began processing B-29's and B-29 crews, and by March 1945
fighter pilots and tow target personnel also were being processed.
Among the B-29 crews which passed through Topeka was one
headed by Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., who later piloted the B-29
that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan.
In August 1945 command of the base shifted from the 21st
Bombardment Wing to the 1st Staging Command. No change of
personnel was involved, and the base continued to stage and
process heavy bombardment crews and aircraft. By October 1945,
however, emphasis was placed on shipping ground personnel over-
seas, and approximately 2,000 men were sent to the base to be
staged for duty as overseas replacements. This project was com-
pleted in February 1946 by the Air Transport Command (ATC),
which assumed jurisdiction of the base on 28 November 1945.
The Air Transport Command used the field at Topeka in perform-
ing its regular missions of transporting cargo and personnel. Later
WINGS OVER KANSAS 143
the base housed an operational training unit for pilots newly as-
signed to the command. In December 1945 the base became the
only mid-continent stop for ATC's "Statesman," a daily trans-
continental flight carrying key military and diplomatic travelers
between Washington, D. C., and Hamilton Field, California. Dur-
ing December the base also became a stop for the "Globester,"
which provided daily shuttle service between Washington, D. C.,
and San Francisco. And in May 1946 the base took over operation
of the daily "Alamo" flight between San Antonio, Tex., and Wash-
ington, D. C. Thus the field at Topeka became a major air
terminal.
At various times the field acquired additional functions and
projects. In January 1946, for example, it became a refueling point
for jet aircraft. The following June ferrying operations were added
to its mission. The base figured largely in a program of ferrying
1,300 aircraft to 40 fields in the United States and in a project for
delivering 2,600 planes to reserve units throughout the country.
In addition, pilots from Topeka and four other stations ferried
surplus training planes and combat fighters from depots in the
United States to various countries in South America. To add to
the ever-increasing activity at Topeka, the Northwestern Sector,
which supervised and coordinated ATC's operations at 14 stations,
established its headquarters at the base in August 1946.
Because of a cut in Congressional appropriations, a drastic cur-
tailment of activities at the base went into effect after 1 October
1946. Both military and civilian strength were greatly reduced.
The field still served as an air terminal and as an operating base
of the Air Transport Command, but the majority of the transport
crews were transferred to other stations and several flights were
discontinued. Only two nights were scheduled to come into the
base daily. The "Statesman" flight was cut to every other day.
The base, however, was involved in a number of special projects.
During October 1946 the Air Transport Command began trans-
ferring excess C-54's to Topeka Army Air Field to be placed in
storage. One month later the base was designated a separation
center for officers and enlisted men. In November 1946 air re-
serve training was started at the base, but that activity was dis-
continued in March 1947. During December 1946 the base par-
ticipated in "Operation Santa Glaus," a project in which hundreds
of amputees and litter cases were evacuated from Army hospitals
144 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
to their homes for Christmas. From December 1946 to February
1947 the base trained 26 members of the Portuguese Air Force in
air-sea rescue operations in B-17's and C-54's.
Removal of the Northwestern Sector Headquarters during
March 1947 left the base with no regular mission other than servic-
ing transient aircraft and maintaining the surplus aircraft in storage
on the field. Those activities continued until the base was in-
activated on 31 October 1947.
Topeka Army Air Field was reactivated on 1 July 1948 as an
installation of the Strategic Air Command. It housed the 311th
Air Division, Reconnaissance and the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance
Wing until 14 October 1949, when the base was inactivated again.
During that time it had been redesignated Forbes Air Force Base in
honor of Maj. Daniel H. Forbes, Jr., a native of the Topeka area,
who was killed while testing the XB-49 "Flying Wing." l
On 1 February 1951, during the Korean conflict, Forbes Air Force
Base was reopened and assigned to the Strategic Air Command.
The 21st Air Division was activated there on 16 February 1951, and
the Division's 90th Bombardment Wing moved to the base during
February and March 1951.
Forbes developed into a highly important training station as the
90th Wing trained newly activated units, the 376th, 308th, and
310th Bombardment Wings, of the Strategic Air Command. From
June 1951 to August 1953 the 90th Wing also trained B-29 replace-
ment crews for combat. About ten crews were trained each month
until August 1952, when the bombardment wing training program
was discontinued and the number of crews was increased to twenty
per month.
On 16 June 1952 the 90th Bombardment Wing was redesignated
90th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, Medium, and in November
the wing commenced training reconnaissance crews as replacements
for the Far East Air Forces.
The 90th Wing terminated its training mission in August 1953,
but prior to that date it had begun to develop its own capability for
reconnaissance operations. During the remainder of 1953 the
Wing trained its crews in refueling operations required for strategic
reconnaissance. The 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, which
1. Maf. Daniel H. Forbes, Jr., was killed June 5, 1948, near Muroc, Calif., on the
seventh anniversary of his entry into service. He was not yet 28 years old. His career
included service with Elliott Roosevelt's photographic squadron in Tunisia, Algiers, India,
and Egypt during World War II. He also took the first U. S. aerial reconnaissance
photos of Japan. After the war he was assistant operations officer at the Bikini atomic
bomb tests and his films of those tests were the first to be shown to officials at Washington.
— Topeka Daily Capital, June 6, 1948; Topeka State Journal, June 10, July 13, 1949.
Processing at Pratt Army Air Base.
Operations tower, Smoky Hill Army Air Force Base, Salina.
Official photo U. S. Army Air Forces.
GREAT BEND ARMY AIR FIELD
Upper: Part of the 8,000-foot ramp as seen from the west. This photograph
was taken on January 1, 19457 when all aircraft were either on flight or in
the hangars.
Cenfer: Bomb Group area. May 28, 1943.
Lower: Crash station on the air field.
Official photos U. S. Army Air Corps.
Armory, Smoky Hill Army Air Force Base, Salina.
Courfesy Norbert Skelley.
Radio training, Pratt Army Air Base.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 145
had moved to Forbes in October 1952, continued its program of
photography, photomapping, and electronic reconnaissance.
During February 1954 action was taken to procure an additional
528 acres of land for Forbes. At the same time the United States
Congress approved the construction of a 12,000 foot runway to
accommodate RB-47's. The 90th Wing began converting to RB-47's
in March 1954 and the 55th Wing in June 1954. Thereafter, both
Wings trained at Forbes to attain combat readiness in RB-47's.
After the Wings were declared combat ready they began temporary
duty tours at overseas stations, but they returned to Forbes and
continued training in order to maintain their effectiveness as com-
bat units.
GARDEN CITY ARMY AIR FIELD
(1942-1947)
THE Garden City Chamber of Commerce, under the leadership
of Ben Grimsley, did most effective work in getting an air field
established in this area. At first all energies were concentrated on
acquiring one of the British training fields which were to be estab-
lished in the United States during 1941-1942. R. H. Rhoads, Kansas
Industrial Development Commission representative in Washington,
having obtained the RAF requirements, which included a large
bombing range, began to push western Kansas as a logical area. In
June 1941, Grimsley sent an elaborate booklet to Rhoads, setting
forth the advantages of locating a flying school in Finney county,
buttressed by photographs of the area, and containing information
on water and natural gas resources, and weather conditions.
Perhaps the major obstacle to locating a training base in Kansas
was the decision of the AAF Gulf Coast Training Center not to lo-
cate primary or basic training bases north of the Kansas-Oklahoma
border because of poor flying weather compared to Oklahoma and
Texas. To combat this decision, the Kansas delegation prepared
detailed weather statistics which showed that the south portion of
Kansas has as many clear and partly cloudy days as San Antonio,
Tex. Over a period of 18 months a great amount of data was filed
with the War Department. The cumulative effect of this informa-
tion, plus the later government surveys which were largely in agree-
ment, was in large part responsible for a reversal by the War De-
partment of the decision of the Gulf Coast Training Command.
The first knowledge of a firm intention to construct a base in the
Garden City area came to the local civic leaders by telegram, 8 April
10—8804
146 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
1942, from Washington announcing the imminent arrival of a board
of officers to choose a site for the base. Three days later the board
of officers arrived and, under the guidance of the aviation committee
of the Garden City Chamber of Commerce, a site was chosen 12/2
miles east of Garden City on US Highway 50 South. On 16 June
1942 surveying crews began work at the site outlining runways
and staking buildings.
When the crews arrived, the area of the projected base was a ripe
wheat field. Consequently, the first days were a sort of combined
operation, which began by the farmers threshing a strip down the
proposed runways to enable surveyors to start. Farming and survey-
ing proceeded simultaneously.
The construction program at Garden City was cut off before it
really got under way by the orders of Headquarters, Army Air
Forces, in June 1942, stopping work on nine of the 14 proposed
British Operational Training Units. This change wiped out the en-
tire western Kansas project of British bases, including Garden City,
Dodge City, Pratt, and Liberal. From the middle of June until the
latter part of July 1942 the Garden City officials did not know what
kind of installation would be located in their community, if any at
all. But by 27 July it was definitely understood that Garden City
was to have a basic flying training school.
By the middle of July the Division Engineers had received a set
of plans for the construction of the new type of base. The engineers
were forced to remove every stake that had been driven for the
former project and start anew. Contracts were let for construction
before all the new stakes had been set out.
The Garden City Daily Telegram, of 6 August 1942, announced
the start of actual construction the following day. It reported that
holders of the contract for runways, roads and drainage will "begin
clearing the site and start moving dirt. Wheat stubble which re-
mained on the air base site east of Garden City after the crop was
removed, will be burned to make way for grading operations/'
The main base of the Garden City Army Air Field consisted of
1,584.66 acres, lying in Sections 27, 28, 29, 33, and 34, Township 24
South, Range 31 West, approximately 489 acres of which was re-
served for the building area. The base was located on an irregular
plot of high ground adjacent to the Arkansas river. The field ex-
tended one and one-half miles north and south and one and eight-
tenths miles east and west along US Highway 50 South in Finney
county, about 11 miles southeast of Garden City and 42 miles
WINGS OVER KANSAS 147
southwest of Dodge City. The land was acquired by judgments
of Declaration of Taking in the Kansas District Court of the United
States, Second Division.
Some 66 barracks, with a total capacity of 2,224 persons, were
built for enlisted personnel, while 520 cadets could be accommo-
dated in 26 barracks. Officers' quarters consisted of 17 buildings,
with a total capacity of 272. Two buildings were provided for
nurses' living quarters and mess hall. Total housing capacity for
all personnel was 3,219. The base hospital was constructed with
five wards, with 151 beds.
Five runways were built, four with a dimension of 150 x 6500 feet,
and one 150 x 4,960 feet, with a gross load capacity of 74,000
pounds, wheel load of 37,000 pounds. Runways and apron (500 x
4,750 feet) were constructed with a ten-inch gravel base placed in
layers on a six-inch compacted earth subbase, and surfaced with
one and one-half-inch asphalt cement; the service strip (80 feet
wide) was a six-inch concrete slab, thickened to nine inches at the
expansion and construction joints. Five taxiways, 50 feet wide,
completed the runway system. Fronting on the field, three
squadron hangars, 120 by 80 feet, were built.
Four auxiliary fields were planned, but only three were con-
structed. Runways on Auxiliary Field No. 1 were of concrete,
while those of Nos. 2 and 4 were of the bituminous mat type. The
runway area was the same on all three auxiliary fields — 4,950 square
feet. None of the auxiliary fields were completed when training
began, and, as a result, the Garden City Municipal Airport served
as an auxiliary field in the interim.
Construction was officially completed on 25 May 1943 when the
Project Completion Report was signed by the Area Engineer. As
of 23 March 1943, funds apportioned for construction reached a
total of $9,224,432.16.
But long before actual completion of construction the base was
in operation. The field was officially activated on 21 December
1942, with Col. Jergan B. Olson assuming command at that time.
Colonel Olson remained as commanding officer until succeeded on
26 August 1944 by Col. John W. Egan, who retained command of
the base and school until the inactivation of the latter. Official
designation of the school at the time of activation was Army Air
Forces Basic Flying School, Garden City Army Air Field. On 30
April 1944, this school organization was replaced, without transfer
of personnel, by the 2521st AAF Base Unit (Pilot School, Basic).
148 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The assigned mission of Garden City Army Air Field was pilot
training for basic students. As originally planned, the first class
was to arrive on 15 March 1943, but this schedule was moved up to
15 January 1943. The class began training on 16 January. From
then on the base was the scene of feverish and effective training
activity. Until September 1943 BT-13 aircraft was used exclusively
for flying training, but after that date twin-engine training was
introduced. For a time during 1944 a few Women's Air Force Serv-
ice Pilots ( WASP's ) were stationed at the field, serving as engineer-
ing test flight pilots.
The field did not go without official recognition of its contribution
to the AAF training program, as witnessed by a letter, dated 9 Sep-
tember 1943, from Brig. Gen. A. Hornsby, Commanding General
of the 32d Flying Training Wing (Basic), Perrin Field, Texas, to
Colonel Olson:
The excellent appearance of your post, and the morale and loyalty of those
under you as well as the training results achieved, reflect the superior manner
in which you have exercised your command. It is a pleasure to write this
commendation to you and make it a matter of record.
Much in the same vein was the indorsement of the basic letter,
dated 13 September 1943, from Headquarters, AAF Central Flying
Training Command:
The Commanding General, AAFCFTC, desires to add his personal commen-
dation and appreciation for your superior performance of duty. This communi-
cation has been made a part of your official record. It is further desired that
this communication be called to the attention of all members of your command.
The need for basic flying training schools having considerably
lessened by the latter part of 1944, the basic flying school at Garden
City Army Air Field was discontinued by Headquarters, Central
Flying Training Command, effective 23 November 1944. Since
training was somewhat ahead of schedule, 18 November became
the final training date. Immediately thereafter both instructors
and students were transferred. The upper class of cadets were
transferred to advanced training, while students of the lower class
were dispersed among other schools in order to complete the basic
course.
Garden City Army Air Field was transferred to the jurisdiction
of the Oklahoma City Air Technical Service Command on 15 De-
cember 1944 and placed on a standby status. On 27 February 1945
authority was granted to place the base on an active status as a
storage depot for strategic aircraft of Class I. The 4132d AAF Base
Unit ( Air Base ) was organized on 16 December 1944 to man what
WINGS OVER KANSAS 149
was now an aircraft storage depot. The peak of the storage mission
was reached by July 1945, when 1,456 aircraft were stored on the
base. After July 1945 the primary mission was reversed — that is, the
major activity became the preparation of aircraft to be flown away
from the base. By autumn of 1946 this phase of the mission was
completed. On 29 October 1946, in anticipation of deactivation of
Garden City Army Air Field, the base was declared excess to the
Army Air Force, and on 15 March 1947, the 4132d AAF Base Unit
was discontinued. The physical plant was officially transferred to
the jurisdiction of the Corps of Engineers on 18 May 1947.
GREAT BEND ARMY Am FIELD
(1942-1945)
'TVHE first public announcement of intentions to build an airfield
•*• at Great Bend, on the Arkansas river in Barton county, came in
the form of a telegram from Sen. Arthur Capper of Kansas to the
secretary of the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce on 30 Sep-
tember 1942. But, of course, by then all the preliminary work had
been done. In July of that year the site at Great Bend had been
chosen. Nor was all the initiative left to the Army. A committee
of leading citizens from Great Bend and Hoisington had made the
original proposal. Originally, plans called for the Civil Aeronautics
Administration to supply the funds, and, with war's end, Barton
county and Great Bend would acquire ownership. However, this
tentative arrangement was subsequently changed so that the field
was built under the auspices of the Air Force.
Originally intended to serve merely as a satellite base of Smoky
Hill Army Air Field at Salina, the physical plant at Great Bend
was initially decidedly limited in its functional utility and in size.
Most of the construction work was done by Patti-McDonald Con-
struction Company of Kansas City, but the concrete work on run-
ways and taxiways was undertaken by the W. L. Johnson Construc-
tion Company. Essentials were completed first. These were fol-
lowed in time by facilities for recreation and services. During the
summer and fall of 1943 a service club, theater, and bowling alley
were completed.
Capt. Theodore C. Reid, post engineer, was the first officer to
report for duty on the base. He arrived on 18 January 1943. The
first enlisted men to arrive, detachments of the 501st Base Head-
quarters and Air Base Squadron, the 1159th Guard Squadron, and
the 902d Quartermaster Company, were necessarily housed in
150 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Great Bend for a time, there being no facilities on the base. On
13 February 1943 the 501st was transferred to Great Bend to be-
come the headquarters squadron of the new field. Capping the
inchoate organizational structure, Lt. Col. Glenn M. Pike assumed
command of the field on 26 February. The first recorded Morn-
ing Report, dated 5 March 1943, lists 13 officers and 182 enlisted
men. From these modest beginnings, which was, of course, a
skeleton force even for the limited role the field was originally de-
signed to play, Great Bend was to grow impressively, both as to
mission and physical plant. By 31 January 1945 a total of 6,409
personnel would be stationed there.
In keeping with its scheduled function of processing heavy bom-
bardment groups, Great Bend Army Air Field was assigned to the
21st Bombardment Wing on 16 January 1943. It was the function
of the 21st to operate processing bases, but, besides processing it
did some training also. For instance, it provided certain types of
navigational flights in those instances in which these had not been
accomplished in third-phase training of the group. In addition,
the wing provided training in "Prisoner of War Behavior and Es-
cape/'
As early as March 1943 it was known that the Second Air Force
was to be charged with the responsibility of training personnel for
the new B-29 very heavy bomber. And the first tangible step
toward executing this mission was the activation of the 58th Bom-
bardment Operational Training Wing at Smoky Hill Army Air Field
at Salina, on 1 May 1943. But before much in the way of imple-
mentation could be done, the 58th was withdrawn from Second
Air Force jurisdiction on 8 June 1943.
Knowing this delay to be purely a temporary one, on 1 July 1943
Second Air Force chose as the instrument to achieve this objective
the 5th Heavy Bombardment Processing Unit, stationed at Salina.
Since Great Bend Army Air Field had been designated as one of
the bases to participate in the B-29 program, it was transferred to
the 5th Heavy Bombardment Processing Unit on the same day.
If Great Bend was to assume a different and greatly enlarged
mission, physical expansion of necessity became the order of the
day. Original plans were altered, providing for considerable ad-
ditions to the runway and taxiway systems. Additional troop hous-
ing was built, and new hangars were constructed especially de-
signed to accommodate the B-29.
To bring its nomenclature more into harmony with its function,
WINGS OVER KANSAS 151
the 5th Heavy Bombardment Processing Unit was redesignated the
73d Bombardment Operational Training Wing on 17 August 1943.
But the new organization endured for scarcely four months before
it was disbanded on 22 October 1943, subsequent to the reassign-
ment of the 58th Bombardment Operational Training Wing to the
Second Air Force on 15 October. Both the personnel and the sev-
eral bases of the 73d, among which figured Great Bend Army Air
Field, were relinquished to the 58th.
Fortunately, despite the somewhat impermanent organizational
picture at higher levels, the B-29 training program did get under
way at the bases which were assigned the task. Great Bend re-
ceived the 444th Bombardment Group (VH) and by April 1944,
its training completed, the 444th departed for overseas service.
During the remainder of its career, Great Bend was destined to
train three more very heavy bombardment groups, the 498th, the
19th, and the 333d, and in addition, it retrained the ground echelon
of the 489th back from Europe for redeployment to the Pacific. The
extreme dearth of B-29 aircraft, however, hampered the training
efforts for some time. Consequently, for several months the group
in training at Great Bend perforce used B-17's and B-26's for the
most part, with a sprinkling of B-29's to leaven the loaf.
Great Bend Army Air Field was fortunate in the calibre of co-
operation received from surrounding communities. The neighbor-
ing municipalities, such as Great Bend and Hoisington, were par-
ticularly active in promoting recreational opportunities for the
troops.
On 25 March 1944 the units permanently assigned to Great Bend
Army Air Field were reorganized in the 243d AAF Base Unit (OTU)
(VH). Thereafter, Great Bend was organized under the standard
plan for OTU (Operational Training Unit) bases. This plan con-
sisted of three major sections: administrative and services section,
supply and maintenance section, and the training section. In addi-
tion, the air inspector and the hospital were referred to as sections.
The office of the director of training was set up in April 1944, with
the responsibility of providing flying and ground school training to
all flying personnel of the very heavy bombardment groups suc-
cessively stationed at Great Bend. In addition, the directorate was
charged with the training of ground crew personnel. However,
since the new directorate was not prepared immediately to take up
its burden, the group in training at that time, the 498th, continued
to train itself as the 444th had done before it. Consequently, it was
152 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
only with the 19th Bombardment Group (VH), which began train-
ing in September 1944, that the training directorate took over the
training responsibilities. Thereafter, the tactical units stationed at
Great Bend were trained by the base directorate of training, al-
though they maintained their individual organizations and operated
independently of the base unit insofar as administration was
concerned.
It came to be common procedure for the maintenance echelon of
a group to move to Great Bend while another group was being
trained there. This was done in order that these men could receive
"on-the-job" training which would enable them to maintain the
aircraft of their own group when it arrived. For instance, an ad-
vanced detachment of the 19th Bombardment Group (VH) were
given jobs alongside the men of the 498th.
Beginning with the winter of 1945, part of the flying training was
conducted at Borinquen Army Air Field, Puerto Rico. The primary
purpose of this program, termed the "Gypsy Task Force," was to
take advantage of the good flying weather in Puerto Rico during
the winter months, enabling the crews to complete their training
much quicker than would otherwise have been the case. With this
phase of training over, the crews would return to Great Bend to
prepare for departure to a staging area. The program was discon-
tinued in April 1945, after only one season.
If the operations of the base were not crippled, they were cer-
tainly impeded by the critical manpower shortage resulting pri-
marily from heavy transfers to the Army Ground Forces during the
autumn and winter of 1944-1945.2 By 31 January 1945, Great Bend
had furnished the Army Ground Forces with 244 enlisted men. The
reciprocal arrangement with the Ground Forces did not solve the
problem, since by 31 January 1945, the field had received only 90 en-
listed men replacements from the Ground Forces.
With the arrival of the ground echelon of the 489th Bombardment
Group in February 1945 from the European theater, Great Bend
became one of the first redeployment installations in the country.
At that time the 333d Bombardment Group (VH) was receiving
its regular training, but the ground echelon of the 489th was trained
on B-29 maintenance alongside the men of the 333d. After a
relatively short transition course in the B-29 (they were already
experienced maintenance men) the 489th left in March to join the
2. These transfers were occasioned by the all out Allied ground push in Europe in
which the Battle of the Bulge was a factor. Obviously, the transfers were part of an
attempt to get every immediately available man on the line.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 153
air echelon of the group, which had received transition training at
several different bases.
Victory over Japan had a direct effect on the mission and activity
of the base. The 333d Bombardment Group (VH), having com-
pleted its training, left Great Bend during July and August 1945.
No other groups were assigned for a full schedule of training, but
the 44th Bombardment Group (VH) and the 405th Service Group
used Great Bend as an assembly point. Indeed, in this period the
primary mission of the base became that of discharging qualified
men — or rather of transferring them to separation centers.
On 25 October 1945 the base was officially informed by Second
Air Force that the installation would be put on a standby basis on
31 December 1945. Following this announcement, activities on the
base ( except that of shipping men to separation centers ) slowed up
considerably. During December the 44th Bombardment Group
(VH) and the 405th Air Service Group were transferred to Salina.
Second Air Force had placed Great Bend in the category of those
fields whose retention was desirable for standby, with a possibility
of being reopened on 30 days' notice. Consequently, one of the
principal activities of December consisted of inactivating buildings.
Sources are lacking by which to trace the subsequent steps lead-
ing to complete inactivation and transfer to the District Engineers.
As late as March 1946 Great Bend was still in the category of
temporarily inactive or standby under the Second Air Force. How-
ever, the field was never subsequently activated. For a short time,
during 1950 (and possibly 1949), the field was host to an Air Force
reserve unit. However, by March 1951 no unit was stationed there,
nor has the Air Force made use of the field since.
HERINGTON ARMY AIR FIELD
(1942-1947)
TTERINGTON Army Air Field was located eight miles from Her-
«n» ington, on a 1,700-acre tract of land which had been purchased
by the United States government. It was planned as a satellite of
Topeka Army Air Field, a Second Air Force installation which was
situated some 70 miles to the northeast and which served as the
headquarters for the 21st Bombardment Wing. Construction of
Herington Army Air Field, accomplished by contract under super-
vision of the Air Service Command, commenced in September 1942,
and continued over a period of 14 months. On 1 November 1942,
however, Maj. Harold Painter, who was slated to become the first
commanding officer, arrived to take over the field.
154 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Construction work of a general nature relative to the site chosen
for the army air field near Herington, included a water storage and
distribution system; a sewage collection and disposal plant; an
electric distribution system; two gasoline storage and distribution
systems; 128,000 square yards of paved roads and streets; 14,000
square yards of paved walks; and a swimming pool.
The remaining major installations and structures at Herington
Army Air Field may be listed conveniently under the following
headings: airfield; temporary cantonment type buildings; temporary
theater of operations type buildings; and auxiliaries.
Airfield.
a) 3 concrete runways, 6,884, 6,793, and 6,780 feet long and
each 150 feet wide.
b) 4 taxiways, 4,431, 5,919, 1,208, and 425 feet long and each
100 feet wide.
c) 3 small hangars.
d) control tower.
e) 1 concrete apron 3,384 feet long and 400 feet wide, with
access aprons to the hangars.
f) 4 hardstandings, three 100 feet in diameter and the other
one 50 feet.
Temporary Cantonment Type Buildings.
a) 1 mess hall.
b) 15 storage houses.
c) 4 administration buildings.
d) 3 quarters.
e) 1 barracks.
f ) 9 technical maintenance shops.
g) 7 hospital buildings.
h) 19 miscellaneous structures.
Temporary Theater of Operations Type Buildings.
a ) 6 mess halls.
b) 45 storage houses.
c) 25 administration buildings.
d ) 17 quarters.
e) 56 barracks and dormitories.
f ) 8 technical maintenance shops.
g) 97 miscellaneous structures.
Auxiliaries ( off base ) .
a) gasoline and oil storage area.
b ) radio homing station.
c) rifle and pistol range.
d) asphalt storage area.
On 26 January 1943 Major Painter formally assumed command of
Herington Army Air Field and appointed an adjutant, a provost
marshal, a post engineer, a quartermaster, and a medical officer.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 155
On the same day also the following units were activated: the 503d
Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron; the 1161st Guard
Squadron; and the 399th Army Air Forces Band. In the ensuing
weeks a Base Signal Office was created, a Base Operations Section
organized, a Finance Department set up, and a Base Chemical
Service inaugurated. Commencing with only one officer on 1 No-
vember 1942, the number of military personnel on the field grew
to 12 officers and 145 enlisted men by 1 March 1943 and to 103
officers and 1,768 enlisted men at the end of the following June.
The first contingent of WAC's, consisting of one officer and ten
enlisted women, arrived one year later. The peak in the strength
of the permanent party military personnel was reached in August
1944, with totals of 113 officers and 2,123 enlisted men and women.
Major Painter served as commanding officer of the field until 6 No-
vember 1943 when he was succeeded by Lt. Col. Charles B. Stead.
The 21st Bombardment Wing was charged with the responsibility
of the final processing of heavy bombardment crews and equipment
just prior to their leaving for overseas assignments. To carry out
that program the wing utilized Topeka Army Air Field, and three
satellite fields (Herington, Bruning, and Fairmont) in Kansas and
Nebraska. This processing of heavy bombardment crews and equip-
ment, sometimes called staging and also preparation for overseas
movements, proved to be the principal function of Herington Army
Air Field. A preliminary step leading to the development of the
program there was the assignment on 25 January 1943 of the 47th,
the 48th, the 49th, and the 50th Airdrome Squadrons. On 17 Feb-
ruary following the 6th Heavy Bombardment Processing Head-
quarters was activated at Herington. The dominant role played by
the processing function is indicated by the fact that in January 1944
the commanding officer of the 6th Heavy Bombardment Processing
Headquarters, in the person of Lt. Col. Henry Dittman, assumed
command over the entire field. That move in effect consolidated
three units which existed there: the Processing Headquarters itself;
the 503d Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron; and the 406th
Sub-Depot, jurisdiction over which the Second Air Force but re-
cently had taken over from the Air Service Command. Two months
later, incidentally, the whole was organized as the 274th Army Air
Forces Base Unit.
The first combat crews and aircraft arrived at Herington for
processing during the latter part of June 1943; and the program im-
mediately got under way. Spread out over a period of approxi-
mately five days, the schedule involved the performance of the
156 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
following functions on all such crews and aircraft which were
temporarily assigned to the field: 1) auditing and processing of
personnel records, orders, and allied papers of each person, and
bringing payments up to date; 2) a physical fitness examination;
3) a clothing and equipment inspection; 4) the issue of certain
critical items of equipment; 5) the assignment of the final type air-
craft, and the conduct of specified vital inspection tests thereon;
6) a prisoner of war lecture; 7) communications instructions; 8) the
assignment of crews and aircraft to scheduled overseas projects;
9) briefings on routes to be traveled; and, finally, 10) arranging the
schedule for departure to the port of embarkation.
For the first 11 months of the active program Herington was pri-
marily a B-24 staging field, with a few B-17 crews and aircraft being
assigned there for processing. During the months of June, July, and
August 1944, however, it was converted into a B-29 staging field.
That meant, of course, the processing of very heavy bombardment
crews and aircraft just prior to their departure for overseas assign-
ments. Personnel who were routed to Herington for processing,
incidentally, included such well-known officers as Maj. Gen. Curtis
LeMay of the XX Bomber Command; Brig. Gen. Emmett O'Donnell
of the 73d Bombardment Wing; and Brig. Gen. Roger M. Handy of
the XXI Bomber Command.
By working around the clock during rush periods the 274th AAF
Base Unit at Herington was able to process an average of nine
combat crews a day. Normally, however, the rate of processing was
much more moderate. Figures for the year ending 30 June 1944
may be regarded as typical. They reveal that during that interval an
average of just over 86 crews and 76 aircraft were processed each
month. With some slight diminution this rate was maintained until
the end of World War II. On the whole most of the crews involved
left Herington with their own aircraft. Some of the others traveled
by train to the ports of embarkation. The remainder, along with
some few aircraft, were transported to ports of embarkation by the
Air Transport Command.
In May 1945 the Continental Air Forces assumed jurisdiction over
the Second Air Force. On 18 July following Herington Army Air
Field and the entire 21st Bombardment Wing were placed under
the direct supervision of Headquarters, Continental Air Forces. In
September 1945 Herington became an installation of the I Staging
Command, with the change in the name of the 21st Wing to that
designation. Soon thereafter Headquarters I Staging Command
WINGS OVER KANSAS 157
was moved from Topeka Army Air Field to Merced Army Air Field
in California. There was no further change in the status of Hering-
ton, however, until its inactivation on 14 November 1945.
Col. Henry Dittman remained as commanding officer of Herington
Army Air Field from 25 January 1944 until after the close of the
war. Lt. Col. Maurice Horgas was serving in that capacity at the
time the field was inactivated. Thereafter jurisdiction over it
formally passed from the Continental Air Forces to the Oklahoma
City Air Service Technical Command. The installation then was
placed on an inactive status, and a declaration of surplus was pre-
pared. On 18 October 1946 the War Department listed the field
as surplus to its needs. After disposal had been made of all remain-
ing property and a final audit had been made, jurisdiction over
Herington Army Air Field was transferred to the Division Engineers,
Kansas City, Mo., on 19 March 1947.
(To Be Concluded in the Autumn, 1959, Issue.)
The Pike's Peak Gold Rush and the
Smoky Hill Route, 1859-1860
CALVIN W. GOWER
KANSAS territory, 1854-1861, extended from the western border
of Missouri to the crest of the Rocky Mountains and included
much of present-day eastern Colorado. When hordes of gold seek-
ers participated in the Pike's Peak gold rush in 1859 and 1860, they
not only passed through eastern Kansas territory in many instances,
but they also did most of their prospecting in far western Kansas.
Eastern Kansas towns seemed to be in an ideal position to bene-
fit from the rush. Undoubtedly many people went overland
through Iowa and Nebraska, but the easiest approach was to go
up the Missouri river to one of the Kansas, Missouri, or Nebraska
river towns. By the early part of 1859 those who could afford it
were crossing Missouri via the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad.
Kansas City and St. Joseph in Missouri and Omaha in Nebraska
were good outfitting points, but the Kansas river towns claimed
certain advantages. Kansas City and St. Joseph were said to be on
the wrong side of the river, and the Nebraska town was too far up
and too small.
Which route gold seekers might select was of much importance
to river towns. Three main routes were used in 1859 and 1860.
The southern followed the old Santa Fe trail for a large part of the
way. Much of this traffic eventually started from Kansas City, Mo.
None of the larger Kansas towns were on this trail. It attracted
quite a few emigrants in 1859, not as many in 1860. The northern
route followed the old Oregon trail in part, via the Platte river.
Some extreme northeastern Kansas towns benefited, but few
others. Atchison, Kan., and St. Joseph, Mo., were the chief start-
ing points, with the latter gaining much of the trade. Several "cen-
tral" routes supposedly existed, but by the early spring of 1859 the
most popular was the Smoky Hill. This was by way of the Kansas
river and its southern fork, the Smoky Hill, with Leavenworth as
its principal starting point.
Of all the routes, the Smoky Hill was the most direct.1 As early
as September, 1858, Kansas newspapers were printing statements to
DR. CALVIN W. GOWER, Colorado born, recently received his Ph. D. from the University
of Kansas, Lawrence. He is currently an instructor in history at St. Cloud State College,
St. Cloud, Minn.
1. See William Crane Johnston, Jr., "The Smoky Hill Trail" (master's thesis, Univer-
sity of Denver, 1927). This work is incomplete, but it gives an outline of the history of
the trail. The events covered in this article are not touched on to any great extent by
Johnston.
(158)
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH — SMOKY HILL ROUTE 159
this effect. One account asserted that the distance from Wyandotte
by the Smoky might be only 500 miles.2 Another newspaper esti-
mated that the air line distance from Leavenworth was only 555
miles and said there were settlements to within 250 miles of the
mines.3
Citizens of Wyandotte held a meeting in September, 1858, to
push it as an outfitting point. It was argued "that the true route
is directly up the Kansas river and Smoky Hill fork." 4 The Law-
rence Republican noted on October 7, 1858, that Leavenworth and
Kansas City were in contention, with Leavenworth defending the
Smoky and Kansas City the Santa Fe. The Republican claimed
that the Smoky passed through settled areas farther. A letter to
the Junction City Sentinel stated that a man who had returned
by way of the Smoky said the distance was shorter, the roads better,
the wood, water, and game plentiful, and the settlements farther
out.5
Besides these newspaper stories, three guide books published
early in 1859 stressed the advantages of the Smoky Hill route. The
author of one said it was the shortest but cautioned that until it
was definitely opened up emigrants should take one of the better
established routes. But he stated, "A central route will be opened
the coming season," undoubtedly the Smoky Hill route.6 A second
guide book recommended the Smoky, stating that it followed the
banks of streams except for about 130 miles. It advised striking
south to meet the Arkansas river in the extreme western portion of
the route.7 A third guide book supported the Smoky for the same
reasons.8
Praise of the Smoky continued into 1859. The Leavenworth
Weekly Times reported on February 12 that the Junction City
Sentinel advised emigrants to travel via Leavenworth. This fact
was significant, said the Times, because Junction City was in the
western portion of the settled part of Kansas and had no interests
to serve but the good of the emigrant. What it neglected to men-
tion was that these travelers were also expected to pass through
2. Leavenworth Ledger and Wyandotte Commercial Gazette, quoted in the Herald
of Freedom, Lawrence, September 18, 1858,
3. White Cloud Kansas Chief, September 23, 1858.
4. Western Weekly Argus, Wyandotte, September 30, 1858.
5. James S. Graham to the editor of the Sentinel, no date. — Junction City Sentinel,
quoted in the Lawrence Republican, October 7, 1858.
6. O. B. Gunn, New Map and Hand-Book of Kansas <b- the Gold Mines . . .
(Pittsburgh, 1859), pp. 40, 42.
7. William B. Parsons, The New Gold Mines of Western Kansas . . . (Cincin-
nati, 1859), pp. 40, 42.
8. The Illustrated Miners' Hand-Book and Guide to Pike's Peak . . . (St. Louis,
1859), p. 66.
160 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Junction City. In March a letter in the Times from William Lari-
mer, a correspondent in Denver, stated that four men had recently
arrived by way of the Smoky. He reported that they had been very
well satisfied with the route.9 One account noted that in 1843 John
C. Fremont had explored the country between the Missouri river
and the Rocky Mountains and in his narrative had recommended
the Smoky route to the area. "Subsequent explorations have cor-
roborated the view taken by the Great Explorer, and the bulk of
the spring emigration will, undoubtedly, select this as their main
road." 10
In Lawrence the Republican printed a letter March 24, 1859, ad-
vising emigrants to go directly up the Smoky Hill to its head and
then west.11 The Herald of Freedom agreed, and said Lawrence
was the best outfitting point.12 A letter from the gold fields to the
Wyandotte Commercial Gazette stated that several parties had come
through by the Smoky Hill. "They report a good supply of wood,
water and grass." 13 The Junction City Sentinel even became poetic,
"Let Hercules do what he may, The Smoky Hill Route MUST have
its day."14
Within months it was clear that the ideas expressed by these
newspapers were incorrect in most instances. As one historian
pointed out, in 1858 and 1859 "there was no discernable trail at all
after one left Fort Riley. . . . Added to this lack of knowledge
of the route to be taken, those who recommended the Smoky Hill
trail had little knowledge of distance." 15 Another writer has com-
mented, "Although it was the most direct, the Smoky was, due to
scarcity of water, the hardest and most dangerous of the three
great prairie roads from the Big Muddy to the Pike's Peak Gold
Region." 16
The Kansas City ( Mo. ) Western Journal of Commerce stated on
April 9, 1859, that it had heard that suffering was occurring on the
Smoky Hill route. Said the Journal, "How often will it be neces-
sary to tell the public that there is no road up the Smoky Hill."
The Cherry Creek Pioneer, which appeared only once and then dis-
9. William Larimer, Jr., to the editor of the Times, February 2, 1859. — Leavenworth
Weekly Times, March 5, 1859.
10. Ibid., March 19, 1859.
11. A. Cutler to the editors of the Republican, March 10, 1859. — Lawrence Repub-
lican, March 24, 1859.
12. Herald of Freedom, Lawrence, March 26, 1859.
13. D. C. Collier to the editor of the Wyandotte Commercial Gazette, February 12,
1859, quoted in the Lawrence Republican, April 14, 1859.
14. Junction City Sentinel, quoted in the Freedom's Champion, Atchison, March 26,
1859.
15. Johnston, op. cit., p. 14.
16. Margaret Long, The Smoky Hill Trail, Following the Old Historic Pioneer Trail*
on the Modern Highways (Denver, 1953), p. 20.
TABJJG OF DISTANCES
FROM
to
VIA THE
First Wunilawl P&rall&'-S&itfoto the Itepublican Fork of the Kansas
.nfcir, thence following the trail of CoL Fremont o^hiseJS"
plowxtions ht L843, ft> Cheny Creek andfh&3tin0$*
piled fforn CoL Fremont's 8?mTy% »«d l!ia mo&t reliabls mformtloa derived from the
tradersWrosH the Great. Phuti*.
~ ^..VY^KI-NT- > - ».j «™
K $-,
iA'iuw.
U»!C**ter, I <l ! 1?
^<*t 1 1 tviaf»iitj prt>v Jsiopt
tnH f?ra*s.
Musedbab, on Grasshopper, ; 11 • "~^ *
v»t Hi-: n's^ni , provinions
uid ^rass,
Surekst : 11 :" •
»"«.* 1-Mn^nt, ptWtSJonS
t:»d jrrass.
Datario, on Elk Cre«k, : 10 . 41 p
, -ut, provision4?
aid grass*
A m^rtra^ o« Soldiers Creek, • 9 .'^s ^
Hjttlosucrst , proviaioun
us*! ifrasis.
V*< Ilia • ' • • , S| s 75 «»
**»ltloia<'?it , enterteiumt
nt aoil p?o visions.
!»?3.vy timh«r &nd uii*>
s«
j n i.i 1;
/•ujber a«d jjrass,
: d • Uo. 1 23 ; IIS ;'
Vyod, water atu! n'SSS.
't:M. Fn'mn;
this section as <*3lTaf4Io|f
!>:nne!i of Soiom<>u"s Furkj
l^av^f da *l« do
Hr^neh of R^tibliritn Fo
the Ma
*n*.'raily ov^r high and
•'icryn;*, which are well
ii very heavy oak,
ROUTE FROM ATCKLSON
•*& ^?f F*al:?« an
iil^ in 1811.
the ishiuf Ilie route is
JROCIE rliOM ATCHISON,
VIA THK
Road.
•• ii.-ae*.
»V M il •••• •; rrats.
.! arras*,
A SAMPLE OF TRAVEL INFORMATION AVAILABLE
IN KANSAS 100 YEARS AGO
Kansas towns vied for "tourist" traffic in 1859 as now. These travel directions,
covering three main routes west from Atchison, contain several place names
familiar to today's travelers. The tables were published in 1859 issues of an
Atchison newspaper, Freedom's Champion.
Since the return of the buffalo (on scattered reservations, of course) today's
traveler might even be able to locate buffalo chips for fuel if he looks closely
enough. But beware of the buffalo.
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH — SMOKY HILL ROUTE 161
continued operation, reported from Denver on April 23 that several
men who had recently arrived via the Smoky Hill route had be-
come lost because of the absence of markers on it. Stated the
Pioneer, "Any other route is better than the smoky Hill road/' 17 A
man from Council Grove brought a report to Kansas City of a
company of 100 men who had come down from the Smoky Hill
route, lost and without provisions. He said they robbed the trad-
ing post at Cottonwood crossing, beat up the keeper, took 80 to
100 sacks of corn and all the flour, provisions, and groceries on
hand, and headed for the mines.18 The Rocky Mountain News as-
serted, "Every day we meet men arriving from the States by the
above route — most of them in an almost famishing condition." This
newspaper reported that three men had died from starvation.
Other stories of deaths and disappearance appeared. One emigrant
related a tale of 17 men who had died or disappeared, and another
claimed the remains of one hundred men could be seen along the
trail. The News bitterly condemned the people who had induced
emigrants to start over the route with a short supply of provisions
expecting to find a good road with good camps; a road 250 miles
shorter than any other route. Instead, said the News, the emi-
grants found no road at all, very little wood or water, and a dis-
tance to travel of 800 instead of 600 miles.19
These stories of suffering on the Smoky Hill route continued
until the most dreadful of all appeared. It was related in a pub-
lished pamphlet by one of the survivors.
Daniel Blue, his two brothers, Alexander and Charles, and two
other men left their homes in Illinois in February, 1859, to seek
gold in the Pike's Peak gold region. They proceeded to Lawrence,
purchased a pony, put their luggage on the animal, and started
walking to the mining area. In Topeka they bought 200 pounds of
flour. At Manhattan they joined a party of nine other Pike's Peakers
and proceeded on to Fort Riley. By the time they reached that
place the party had swelled to 16. The group decided to take the
Smoky Hill route on the recommendation of one of their number
who claimed to have traveled that trail before. Nine of the men
stopped to hunt buffalo, but the rest pushed ahead. These seven be-
came lost west of Fort Riley, their pony wandered away, and they
were left with practically no provisions.
17. Cherry Creek Pioneer, Denver, April 23, 1859.
18. Western Journal of Commerce, Kansas City, Mo., May 7, 1859.
19. Rocky Mountain News, Denver, May 7, 1859.
11_>8804
162 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
About March 17 they reached the head of the Smoky Hill fork
and believed themselves to be only about 55 miles from Denver.
Actually, said Daniel Blue, they were about 170 miles away. They
had no course to follow and used the sun for a guide. They were
lost and had virtually no food left. To add to their troubles a se-
vere snowstorm occurred. Soon the party of seven split up, three
of the men pushing ahead, leaving behind a group of four, the
three Blue brothers and a man named Soley. Before long two of
them were too weak to walk. The four ran out of provisions and
subsisted upon boiled roots, grass, and snow for eight days.
In their desperate situation, realizing that they faced death from
starvation, the men determined to resort to cannibalism. They
agreed that if one of them died the others should eat his flesh in
an attempt to regain their strength and permit them to push on to
some settlement. Soley died, and after lying beside him for three
days the Blue brothers ate his flesh. Then Alexander Blue ex-
pired and the other brothers partook of his flesh. Finally, Charles
Blue perished and Daniel Blue devoured some of his flesh. A short
time later some Arapaho Indians found Daniel and saved him.
They contacted the express company which took Daniel to Denver
where he arrived on May 11. He found that only five of the 16
who had left Fort Riley had reached the gold fields.20
These tales of suffering brought forth bitter attacks on Leaven-
worth by the Kansas City Western Journal of Commerce. Said
the Journal, "We are informed that they have a couple of bottles,
filled with brass filings at a banking house in Leavenworth, which
they place in the window, labeled Tike's Peak Gold/ It is this
sort of stuff, together with 'painted wagons,' 'ten days Expresses,'
that never run at all, that has killed so many on the Smoky Hill." 21
The Leavenworth Weekly Herald replied that in carping Kansas
City all the bottles were filled with "instanter whiskey" and that
was the way the people wanted them to continue.22
A short time later two journalists explained why suffering had
occurred on the Smoky Hill. One of them stated, "That route will
doubtless turn out as good in the end as either the Northern or
Southern. But at the time of the beginning of the Pike's Peak emi-
20. Daniel Blue, Thrilling Narrative of the Adventures, Sufferings and Starvation of
Pike's Peak Gold Seekers . . . (Chicago, I860), pp. 6-8, 10-17. See, also, Henry
Villard, "To the Pike's Peak Country in 1859 and Cannibalism on the Smoky Hill Route,
The Colorado Magazine, Denver, v. 8 (November, 1931), pp. 225-236.
21. Western Journal of Commerce, May 28, 1859. Somehow the impression was gained
in some quarters that the Jones and Russell express was using the Smoky Hill route. This
was not true, but the express company was blamed for some of the emphasis which was
placed on the Smoky Hill route.
22. Weekly Leavenworth Herald, June 4, 1859.
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH — SMOKY HILL ROUTE 163
gration it was but partially explored. . . ." 2S The other asserted,
"Thousands took an unexplored route, up the Smoky Hill river,
where grass and water proved woefully scarce and fearful suffering
prevailed/' 24
The unfortunate results of the 1859 spring emigration struck a
deathblow to the Smoky Hill route. Very few items appeared in
the papers concerning it during the summer and fall of 1859. How-
ever, in late September a meeting was held in Manhattan to con-
sider the possibility of surveying and constructing a road from
Leavenworth to Denver via Manhattan, Fort Riley, and the Solo-
mon fork. The group appointed a committee to talk to the people of
Leavenworth and other towns along the route.25 This movement
never developed further but a similar one concerning the Smoky
Hill route did.
In the early part of 1860 discussion of the Smoky Hill route oc-
curred in the Kansas legislature and in some newspapers. Two
bills were introduced in the territorial council to establish roads up
the Smoky Hill river to some point at the base of the Rocky Moun-
tains.26 In February the Rocky Mountain News printed a letter
from someone in Denver who said the Platte route was the best,
but that most of the people from the South and Southwest would
select the Arkansas (the Santa Fe) route. Only the "fool-hardy
and insane" would come up the Smoky Hill, this writer declared.27
The Kansas Press of Council Grove, located on the Santa Fe route,
said of the Smoky Hill route in late February, "we trust no one will
be so foolish as to attempt to travel it." 28
In spite of this attitude and in spite of the failures of the preced-
ing year, Leavenworth still contained supporters of the Smoky Hill
route in the spring of 1860. One of these sent a letter to the editor
of the Times of that town late in February. Leavenworth must do
something, this correspondent wrote, to offset the advantage ob-
tained by St. Joseph through the establishment of the Hannibal
and St. Joseph railroad. He suggested "that a Committee of ar-
rangements . . . organize and equip as soon as possible, a
23. Henry Villard, The Past and Present of the Pike's Peak Gold Regions, reprinted
from the edition of 1860, with introduction and notes by LeRoy R. Hafen (Princeton, 1932),
p. 25.
24. Albert D. Richardson, Beyond the Mississippi . . . (Hartford, Conn., 1875),
pp. 157, 158.
25. Manhattan Express, October 1, 1859.
26. Council Journal of the Legislative Assembly of Kansas Territory . 1860,
pp. 34, 67.
27. "D." to the editor of the Netos, January 27, 1860. — Rocky Mountain News, Feb-
ruary 1, 1860.
28. The Kansas Press, Council Grove, February 20, 1860.
164 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
party, who are to proceed and examine the region between Fort
Riley and the Gold Region of Western Kansas — the route to follow
the Smoky Hill fork to its source. . . ." This party should con-
sist of not less than 18 well-equipped men, under the direction of an
engineer, and should make a thorough survey of the route and
construct good crossings over all the streams. The motive of the
letter writer appeared in his last sentence: "By thus securing a
short, commodious and direct route to the mines, Leavenworth can
yet secure this season, the greatest part of the trade and travel to
and from the Gold region, as their nearest river route."29 The
Smoky Hill route boom which subsequently developed in Leaven-
worth was clearly linked to efforts to secure more outfitting trade
for that town and to combat the efforts of St. Joseph and other rivals.
Another letter writer shortly thereafter asserted, "At present, the
great struggle is for the Lion's share of the Pike's Peak trade."
Leavenworth could secure this by obtaining machinery for the
quartz interests to purchase and by establishing a central route to
the gold fields up the Smoky Hill fork. This correspondent sug-
gested that the people in the towns from Leavenworth to Junction
City collect funds toward constructing the road. He maintained
that "every town, and every farmer on the route is interested, and
can be induced to contribute in some way to the result/' 30
The Times supported this movement. It maintained that the
best and shortest route to the gold fields lay from Leavenworth,
but that the people interested in the route must improve it. Thirty
to thirty-five thousand dollars would suffice to cover the expense of
the necessary improvements, the newspaper declared. This sum
would permit the employment of 100 to 150 men on the road who
could complete the work in a short time. Adherents must act upon
the plan quickly though, the Times concluded.81
As a result of this publicity, some Leavenworth residents held
several road meetings in March. Those attending decided the prin-
cipal stumbling block for road planners was financial. How much
money would road construction require, and where would this
money come from? The number of people at these meetings was
not large. A committee was appointed at one meeting to collect
subscriptions and information on the subject and to report at a
later meeting.82
29. "Wid* Awake" to the editor of the Times, February 29, I860.— Leavenworth
Daily Times, March 1, 1880.
30. "Progress" to the editor of the Times, no date. — Ibid., March 2, 1860.
31. Ibid., March 12, 1860.
32. Ibid., March 15, 17, 1860; Weekly Leavenworth Herald, March 24, 1860.
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH — SMOKY HILL ROUTE 165
Other towns supported this move. The Lawrence Republican
defended the Smoky Hill route with the explanation:
Some parties who started out on that route last season took an insufficiency of
provisions, and therefore incurred great suffering. But that was no fault
of the route. Large numbers of persons returned from the mines by that
route last season, and all spoke of it as the shortest and best.33
Later this paper reported,
The citizens of Leavenworth are moving in the matter of a road to the gold
mines, up the Smoky Hill river. This is a sensible movement, and should
have been made long ago. It will not be possible for Leavenworth long to
retain the Pike's Peak trade, if the present northern route is maintained. The
people of our own locality are also interested in this route, and will gladly
second the efforts of our Leavenworth neighbors.34
The State Record of Topeka stated that the Smoky Hill route was
doubtless the shortest and best.35
The Rocky Mountain News, on the other hand, protested against
attempts to build up the Smoky Hill route again as a fine usable
route. Inducing emigrants to use the route "for the benefit of
speculators and lot owners, in prospective towns along the line of
travel, has been tried once over this fated Smoky Hell route with
only too lamentable success, and its instigators stand to-day, in the
sight of Heaven, guilty of manslaughter, to say the least/' The
News suggested that the promoters of the Smoky Hill route try it
themselves and "if they get through without eating each other up,
some adventurous individuals may be induced to follow."36
Such an attitude did not deter Leavenworth promoters. The
general meetings did not seem to be making much progress, so the
Leavenworth city council accepted the proposition of an experi-
enced mountaineer to open up the route. This move prompted the
first of the two Leavenworth-sponsored expeditions sent to locate
a road over the Smoky Hill in 1860.
Late in March Green Russell, one of the pioneer prospectors in
the Pike's Peak region, appeared in Leavenworth on his way to the
gold fields. He went before the city council and offered to locate
a road over the Smoky Hill route for $3,500. He promised to pro-
vide a guide for this road giving the distances between camping
grounds and information on the supply of wood, grass, and water,
and he agreed to send a report of his findings to the mayor and the
council of Leavenworth. If he passed over the route in 40 days,
33. Lawrence Republican, March 8, 1860.
34. Ibid., March 29, 1860.
35. State Record, Topeka, March 31, 1860.
36. Rocky Mountain News, March 21, 1860.
168 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
he promised to deduct one third of the sum charged. The council
unanimously accepted the proposition. Commented the Times
concerning the report Russell would send back, "If favorable, that
report will influence one half the return travel in the fall, and
control a large portion of the outgoing emigration in the summer." 37
"Other towns in Kansas approved the Green Russell expedition.
A Lawrence paper asserted,
The citizens of Leavenworth are at last awaking to the necessity of opening
a road from that city direct to the mines, via the Smoky Hill Fork. It is the
only method by which Leavenworth can hope to retain her Pike's Peak trade, or
maintain her position as the outfitting emporium for the gold regions. For
the northern route, Atchison and St. Joseph are two powerful competitors.
The newspaper added that if the Smoky Hill route were not opened,
the Pacific railroad would go by the Platte route.38 The Topeka
State Record commented, "The entire Kansas Valley is deeply in-
terested in this project, and should co-operate with Leavenworth
to the extent of their ability in securing the opening of the route." 3J)
An editor in Manhattan declared, "This is a sensible movement,
and should have been made long ago. . . . The people of our
own locality are also interested in this route, and will gladly second
the efforts of our Leavenworth neighbors." 40 A letter to a Leaven-
worth paper from a man in Junction City stated that Junction City
favored Leavenworth's attentions to the Smoky Hill route.41 Even
the Rockij Mountain News approved the plan to send Green Russell
out to explore and to mark the route. However, the editor of the
gold fields paper did not think anyone could construct a good road
via the Smoky Hill, and, therefore, he declared he would not rec-
ommend any travel over that route until the road had been definitely
established.42
In early May Green Russell's party arrived in the gold fields.43
On May 15 the mayor of Leavenworth received Russell's report.
The Times reported that this account was very favorable. Now,
counseled the Times, Leavenworth should immediately call a con-
vention of representatives from all the cities and towns interested
in the route and should ask the national government to send over the
route a survey team of 60 men or so accompanied by an engineer.44
37. Leavenworth Dotty Times, March 30, 1860.
38. Lawrence Republican, April 5, 1860.
39. State Record, April 7, 1860.
40. Manhattan Express, April 7, 1860.
41. "Keystone" to the editor of the Herald, April 14, 1860. — Weekly Leavenworth
Herald, April 21, 1860.
42. Rocky Mountain News, April 25, 1860.
43. Rocky Mountain Herald, Denver, May 5, 1860.
44. Leavenworth Daily Times, May 16, 1860.
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH — SMOKY HILL ROUTE 167
Even before Green Russell had completed his journey and sent back
his report, the Leavenworth Weekly Herald had opined that the
towns along the Kansas river and Leavenworth must set up a fund
of $30,000 to $50,000 for a complete exploration of the Smoky Hill
route and the opening up of a government wagon road over the
route. For, even if Green Russell did a good surveying job, "neither
his say so, nor any other private person's say so will secure popular
faith in a route which once proved so disastrous to those who
tried it." Also, the editor of the Herald believed that Russell's party
was too small to do a thorough job of exploring. He suggested a
convention of representatives from Leavenworth, Atchison, Kansas
City, and all Kansas river towns to set up a comprehensive plan of
survey, because the Smoky Hill route was important to the economy
of all these towns.45
Thus, although the Green Russell expedition evoked an abun-
dance of enthusiasm when it began and even later when its re-
port came back, some observers had seen at an early date that it
would have only limited value. Earlier complaints that the ex-
pedition was almost worthless seemed to be confirmed by subse-
quent events. Just a few weeks after the completion of Russell's
trip another exploration was on its way to open up the Smoky Hill
route.
When Russell's report arrived in Leavenworth, interested citi-
zens of that town held a public meeting to consider their next step.46
The Times declared, "No citizen having any interest in Leaven-
worth should forget or overlook the meeting to-night at the City
Hall." 47 A report which appeared in the Rocky Mountain News
late in May explained the urgency of this meeting. This report
came from an anonymous Eastern correspondent of the News who
wrote from St. Louis May 6. He stated that many emigrants were
going to the Rocky Mountains at this time:
St. Joseph particularly furnishes ample evidence of the numerical strength of
this spring's emigration. . . . The emigration from Atchison, Leavenworth
and Kansas City, is not very heavy this spring. More freight trains, it is true,
are started from these three towns than from those farther north, but the bulk
of the emigration itself seems to avoid them. Leavenworth, especially, ap-
pears to be much less attractive as an outfitting point than last year.48
At the meeting held to consider Russell's report in mid-May in
Leavenworth the assembly set up a committee to devise a plan
45. Weekly Leavenworth Herald, April 21, 1860.
46. Leavenworth Daily Times, May 19, 1860.
47. Ibid., May 18, 1860.
48. Letter to the editor of the Netvs, May 6, 1860. — Rocky Mountain News, May
23, 1860.
168 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
concerning the Smoky Hill road. The committee suggested the
following program: "First, to raise means in the city. Second, to
secure, forthwith, the co-operation of cities and counties along the
line. Third, to start a party, headed by practical and thorough men,
upon the road, to build and establish it." 49 A few days earlier the
city council of Leavenworth had appointed the mayor and two other
citizens to constitute a committee to correspond with other towns
interested in opening a wagon road from Leavenworth to Denver
over the Smoky Hill.50
Conferences between the interested towns occupied the next
few days. Newspapers in the Kansas river towns responded
favorably to Leavenworth's overtures. The Manhattan Express
urged both Manhattan and Junction City to foster the movement.51
The Topeka State Record stated, "Measures should now be taken
immediately for opening this route, and turning to practical account
the important facts developed." 52
The Times noted on May 23 that "delegates have been sent to
Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan and Junction [City], and ere a fort-
night passes a company will be out to build the road." 53 Leaven-
worth's plan was to send out a construction train to make bridges,
fix crossings, and dig wells. The train should consist of 35 men and
a competent superintendent sent out to work for 65 days. The
estimated cost of this operation was $7,500, and Leavenworth re-
portedly had already raised $2,000. The town would raise most of
the remainder of the sum, but it expected the Kansas valley towns
who were interested to contribute something also. Lawrence
planned a meeting to decide what its participation in the activity
would be, and a local paper urged the importance of the movement
upon the merchants of that town.54 Topeka residents held a public
meeting May 23 to confer with the Leavenworth Smoky Hill route
committee to discuss plans.55 Manhattan citizens held a conference
about the same time and discussed various means to finance the
endeavor.56
Money was scarce in Kansas at this time, but Topeka offered to
furnish five yoke of cattle and whatever amount of money it could
49. Leavenworth Daily Times, May 21, 1860.
50. Ibid., May 19, 1860.
51. Manhattan Express, May 19, 1860.
52. State Record, May 19, I860.
53. Leavenworth Daily Times, May 23, 1860.
54. Lawrence Republican, May 24, 1860.
55. State Record, May 26. 1860.
56. Manhattan Express, May 26, 1860.
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH — SMOKY HILL ROUTE 169
raise, probably between three and five hundred dollars.57 Junction
City appropriated $500 in bonds and declared it would double that
amount if necessary. Ogden offered a yoke of oxen, and Manhattan
promised $500 in bonds. Vermillion offered a mare, Auburn
promised three yoke of cattle, and Lawrence raised $155 in cash.
The total cash value of subscriptions from the Kansas valley towns
by June 2 was $2,165. The Leavenworth city council authorized
the issuance of $3,000 in bonds.58
The financial arrangements were thus fairly well underway by
the time authorities in Leavenworth completed the organization of
the expedition. Superintendent of the party was Henry T. Green,
a 34-year-old attorney from Virginia, who had lived in Leaven-
worth since 1854.59 Green, who was not an experienced prairie
traveler, led a party which included a guide, an engineer, and a
practical surveyor.60 The expedition consisted of about 40 other
persons, five wagons, 60 days' provisions, and plenty of firearms
and ammunition. The group left Leavenworth about June 18.61
The Green expedition reached Topeka on June 22 and Manhattan
four days later. Green visited the office of the Manhattan Express
and told some of his plans. He intended to halt at the extreme
headwaters of the Smoky Hill and make a thorough investigation
of the country between that point and Cherry Creek. Also, the ex-
pedition planned to bridge all streams which travelers had difficul-
ties crossing, smooth out abrupt declivities, fill all steep hollows,
remove bad rocks, try to make as direct a route as possible, and set
up suitable gtiideboards and other markers. The Express stressed
the long-range importance of the expedition by emphasizing that
the road which the expedition opened would be the forerunner of
a railroad "which will soon be demanded by the importance which
the Gold Mines on our Western border are beginning to assume." °2
Green and his men were in Salina on July 4 and that town pre-
pared a Fourth of July picnic for them.63 A Leavenworth paper
reported July 23,
The last heard from the Smoky Hill Expedition, was when at a point fifty
miles beyond Salina. As far as the work had progressed, the route was ex-
cellent, and no difficulty of any kind had been experienced. The road was
57. Leavenworth Daily Times, May 29, 1860.
58. Ibid., June 2, 1860.
59. "United States Census, 1860," v. 10, p. 222. — Archives division, Kansas State His-
torical Society, Topeka; A. T. Andreas and W. G. Cutler, History of the State of Kansas
(Chicago, 1883), p. 444.
60. Leavenworth Daily Times, June 6, 1860.
61. Ibid., June 16, 1860.
62. Topeka Tribune, June 23, 1860; Manhattan Express, June 30, 1860.
63. "J. R. F." to the editor of the Times, July 4, 1860. — Leavenworth Daily Times,
July 11, 1860.
170 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
marked by mounds, about a mile apart, so that there could be no trouble in
finding it hereafter.64
About a month later the Times received a letter from its special
correspondent who was traveling with the expedition. He an-
nounced that the party had reached the gold fields after 57 days on
the trail; the expedition, he wrote, had made a good road to both
Denver and Colorado City. The Times greeted this announcement
with the statement, "Leavenworth City will soon recover her former
vitality. . . /'65
Green sent a letter from Denver shortly after his party reached
that place. He wrote that wood was scarce on the Smoky Hill route
in many places but plenty of buffalo chips were available. Up to
Big Grove an abundance of water existed, and beyond Big Grove
the longest stretch without water was only 22 miles. "All through
the route we have mounds and sign boards so that no man can lose
it." Green intended to start back to Leavenworth soon and prom-
ised that upon his arrival he would "furnish a report of our financial
condition, which is quite low, also a diary of our travel, water,
grass, wood, buffalo chips, and the face of the country." 66
Green and others arrived back in Leavenworth on October 6.
Several Leavenworth citizens visited him on his first evening in
town, organizing into a meeting to decide what steps should be
taken to present Green's report to the people of Leavenworth. They
decided to have Green and other officers of the expedition report
to the city council on October 9 and then later relate their experi-
ences at a meeting of all the citizens of Leavenworth. The Times
commented that the opening of the route was of great significance
to Leavenworth. Expectations were that a large emigration would
roll to the gold fields in 1861.67
Green reported before a general meeting of the people of Leaven-
worth on October 16.68 Three days before this meeting, authori-
ties auctioned off all of the equipment used by the Green expedi-
tion and a large crowd collected to bid on the various items.69 In
March, 1861, the report was distributed in pamphlet form.70 This
pamphlet also contained an explanatory preface by the publish-
ing committee of the Leavenworth city council and a table of dis-
64. Ibid., July 23, 1860.
65. James Brown to the editor of the Times, August 16, 1860. — Ibid., August 28, 1860.
66. H. T. Green to the editor of the Times, August 29, 1860. — Ibid., September 10,
1860.
67. Ibid., October 8, 1860.
68. Ibid., October 17, 1860.
69. Ibid., October 15, 1860.
70. Ibid., March 23, 1861.
PIKE'S PEAK GOLD RUSH — SMOKY HILL ROUTE 171
tances between Leavenworth and Denver.71 With this publication
the Green expedition completed its activities.
Some Kansas newspapers greeted the work of the Green expedi-
tion with enthusiasm. The Lawrence Republican stated, "We shall
soon have the immense trade and travel of the entire gold regions
directed through our city. . . ." 72 The Topeka State Record
commented that the Smoky Hill route had innumerable advantages,
and the Manhattan Express asserted that the Smoky Hill would
"positively be the great thoroughfare to the gold regions." 73
People from the gold fields who traveled back over that route
sustained the enthusiasm for the Smoky Hill road. A man who had
recently returned over the route declared in October, 1860, that
he believed it was shorter and better than the Platte or Arkansas.74
Four men who came over the route to Leavenworth from Denver
asserted that it was the best road from the mines, over one hun-
dred miles shorter than any other.75 Another returned Pike's Peaker
praised the road, but noted one drawback. His complaint was:
". . . the landmarks erected by the surveying expedition, are
being demolished by the herds of buffalo on the plains, and . . .
unless measures are speedily taken to restore them, an entire new
survey, much of the distance, will have to be made." 76
Actually the destruction of the landmarks made little difference in
the history of the route. The desperate endeavor by Leavenworth
and the Kansas river towns to construct a route which would gain
a place beside the Platte route came two years too late. The peak of
the rush to the gold fields had occurred in 1859. The traffic in 1860
was still of sizeable proportions, but the Smoky Hill road was con-
structed too late in that year to benefit from it. In 1861 the rush was
over. The improved route did not help the Kansas valley towns gain
much of the gold seekers' trade, but it did serve a useful purpose
later as the road for the Butterfield stage line and even later for the
Kansas Pacific railroad.77 The route proved its usefulness, but only
at a later date and under different circumstances than those which
prevailed in 1859 and 1860.
71. H. T. Green and O. M. Tennison, Report and Map of the Superintendent and
Engineer of the Smoky Hill Expedition . . . (Leavenworth, 1861).
72. Lawrence Republican, August 30, 1860.
73. State Record, October 13, 1860; Manhattan Express, September 29, 1860.
74. S. J. Willes to the editor of the Republican, October 8, 1860. — Lawrence Repub-
lican, October 11, 1860.
75. Leavenworth Daily Times, October 30, 1860.
76. State Record, November 17, 1860.
77. Johnston, op. cit., pp. 49, 62, 66.
The Letters of the Rev. Samuel Young Lum, Pioneer
Kansas Missionary, 1854-1858 — Concluded
Edited by EMORY LINDQUIST
III. THE LETTERS, MARCH, 1856 — MARCH, 1858
Lawrence, K. T. March 10th, 1856.
R
EV. MILTON BADGER, D. D.
DEAR BROTHER
My report for the year is necessarily detained chiefly on account
of ill health & at present I do not feel competent to the task of a
lengthened report but shall endeavor to supply what is now deficient
in the next quarterly, which will follow this in little over a week.
I cannot report the realization of what we so earnestly hoped at
the commencement of the year. Circumstances new & trying in the
extreme, have arisen to retard the progress of truth; & there have
been times when a full confidence in the overruling hand of an all
wise Father has been all that could keep our little band of praying
ones, from utter despair, so far as our prospects here were concerned.
All has for a great part of the time been wild excitement.32 Our
place of worship has been taken for soldiers barracks, & our meet-
ings, when we could have any, were held in little private rooms,
where but very few could be assembled. In such a state of things
all has looked dark. A few of the brethren & sisters have been
drawn nearer to God, & have felt their entire & absolute dependence
upon him in every trial, but the great majority even of the church
have been influenced in a contrary direction. Excitement seemed
to dissipate serious reflection, & the mind lost its delight in the wor-
ship & service of God. I hardly think it possible for the interests of
truth to be advanced, even with ordinary rapidity, under such cir-
DR. EMORY KEMPTON LINDQUIST, Rhodes scholar and former president of Bethany
College, is dean of the faculties of the University of Wichita. He is author of Smoky
Valley People: A History of Lindsborg, Kansas (1953), and numerous magazine articles
relating to the history of this region.
32. There was much agitation and conflict in Kansas associated with the Topeka con-
stitutional movement. Officials were elected under the constitution on January 15, 1856.
On February 11 President Franklin Pierce issued a proclamation commanding "all persons
engaged in unlawful combinations against the constituted authority of the Territory of
Kansas, or of the United States, to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective
abodes." — Daniel W. Wilder, Annals of Kansas (1886), pp. 106, 109. The text of the
Topeka constitution is found in ibid,, pp. 91-106. Various factors in the Topeka movement
are described in an interesting manner by James C. Malin, "The Topeka Statehood Move-
ment Reconsidered: Origins," in Territorial Kansas; Studies Commemorating the Centennial
(Lawrence, 1954), pp. 33-69.
(172)
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 173
cumstances; & for this reason mainly I shall have but little progress
to report. We think that a permanent peace has at last been secured;
not but that we shall have excitement still, but I do not think they
will be of the bloody character they have heretofore been; & I trust
will in their influence be less hostile to truth.
The name of our Church is Plymouth Cong. Chh. of Lawrence,
Kanzas. During most of the year I have had 2 stations 25 miles
apart. Since Sept. I have entirely withdrawn from Topeka, &
have taken a station within the bounds of my Lawrence congrega-
tion. Thus I have still 2 & soon as practicable expect to take another.
The church is composed of ten male & eight female members.
Beside these, three have left us for the church triumphant, & one
has taken his letter to another church.
It is difficult to state what is the average attendance. When we
have the hall, which we resumed last Sabbath, there are about 100
in attendance, & probably, if our circumstances were at all favorable,
the average attendance would be twice that number.
It is not yet my pleasure to report any hopeful conversions though
there are a few who manifest much interest in their future welfare.
No additions by profession. There have been (8) eight additions
by letter though it is probable that some of these may be noticed in
my last report. Some of our most promising, prospective members
have been induced, from one cause & another, to either return East,
or to seek some other location, not so exactly in the focus of danger.
The Sabbath school has been much interrupted as also the Bible
class; & there is a less attendance than one year ago. The neighbor-
hood schools have been omitted during the vigor of the winter; &
the school in Lawrence numbers but about 30 with about 20 in
the Bible class.
The contributions at the monthly concert amount to $20.00 most
(if not all of which) will be for Home Missions.
The steps taken last fall for the erection of a church edifice, are
likely to be crowned with success. We hope before the close of the
year to see our hopes in this direction fully realized; steps have been
taken for the formation of Bible & Tract Societies.33
Yours in the Gospel
S. Y. LUM.
33. The church building was started in the autumn of 1855. While the church was
used before it was fully completed, it was not dedicated until November 16, 1862. — Richard
Cordley, Pioneer Days in Kansas (1903), pp. 82, 83.
174 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE, March 22, 1856.
REV. MELTON BADGER, D. D.
DEAR BROTHER
When I wrote my yearly report, I promised to be more full in my
next quarterly report & intended to make my promise good, but I
fear I shall be compelled to be a delinquent as I am now writing
under anything but favorable circumstances, watching day after
day, & I may say, night after night at the bed of sickness & death.
I find but little time, and feel but little disposition, to perform mental
labor. One of the members of my church, a young man & full of
promise, both for the church & the world, lies by my side, just on
the verge of eternity. ... I feel that I am ministering to my
dear Savior, in the person of his loved disciple, & it is a pleasure,
though a wearisome one to the flesh. . . .
We begin to hope that the hostile demonstrations of our Missouri
neighbors are over. This is desirable not only for the temporal
advancement of the Territory, but more especially for its growth in
spiritual things. Those who have not seen, cannot feel as we do,
what an awful influence the wild excitements of the past year have
had on the morals & virtue of this community. All the effects of
the Missionary are more than overbalanced by the agencies for
evil; & the character of the place, as a whole, has been sinking in-
stead of rising. It is with pain that we are compelled to admit such
a state of things; yet we do not give up our hope in reference to the
future. Should the peaceful state of things which now exist, con-
tinue, the mind of men will be better prepared to receive the truth,
& much more likely to give thought to the subject of Eternity, sal-
vation.
The legislature that met under the Constitution for the "State of
Kanzas," has just adjourned, & without any difficulties.34 Gov.
Shannon threatened to arrest them, but they preceded with such
caution, & yet with so much firmness, that he seemed to think it
wisest not to interfere. Whether their doings will amount to any-
thing depends upon the action of our National Government, of
which there is but little hope.
I have written this in the sick room in the midst of constant inter-
ruptions, the natural result of which appear throughout it.
Please send the amount for the past quarter as heretofore ($100)
one hundred dollars.
Yours respectfully,
S. Y. LUM.
34. The Topeka legislature adjourned on March 8, 1856, to reassemble on July 4,
1856.— Wilder, op. cit., p. 114.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 175
LAWRENCE, KANSAS,
June/1856
REV. MILTON BADGER, D. D.
DEAR BROTHER
Another year of my labor in this field has expired; & in looking
over it I find little to report, calculated to gladden the hearts of
those who feel an interest in the religious development of Kansas.
The whole time of my labor has been filled with excitements & com-
motion, of such a character as to retard, if not entirely destroy the
influence of truth; but the past three months more than any other
time, seems worse than lost, in a moral point of view.
My ministrations have been regular, & at times well attended —
our little hall being frequently so thronged as to compel many to
leave, — & while there, the audiences have appeared attentive &
serious, but at the threshold, as they left the house of prayer, the
ever present subject would meet the mind in some new form, &
crowd out all serious thought of the future. It has seemed as though
the Sabbath was selected as the day for special excitements; & not
infrequently have the members of my congregation & even mem-
bers of my church, left the morning service to be called upon to go
to the rescue of their brethren attacked by the banditti who sur-
round us. Without a knowledge derived from seeing & feeling,
one cannot estimate the fearful influence that such a state of things
has upon the character of even the professed children of God.
Those who love God here earnestly pray, for a season of rest &
quiet, a time when the soul can hold communion with itself, & dis-
cover its true position & prospects. We hope too that we shall not
be forgotten by our Eastern brethren. While they pray for our
temporal relief, let them not forget that we are in even greater
danger as a community of spiritual death than temporal. . . .
Since writing my last, I have been compelled to confine myself
almost entirely to this immediate vicinity. One cannot feel safe,
no matter what his position or what his business, in going in any
direction through the territory. Bands of armed men have been, &
are still arresting travellers, all about us, taking whatever they find
upon them of value. . . . Every day accounts are brought of
persons robbed & murdered & for no offense except, of holding
opinions not corresponding with those of the ruling powers. We
are truly experiencing a reign of terror. A few sabbaths since, when
going to an evening prayer meeting about a mile & a half distant,
I was twice pursued by two suspicious persons on horses, but fail-
176 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ing to overtake me they turned back. Thus you see that it is not
safe to travel at all.
You doubtless have received full accounts of the destruction of
property and of the robberies that have taken place. These will be
seriously felt by our church, some having lost nearly their all, & all
being sufferers to a greater or less extent. The salary which was
pledged here will be almost entirely lost. The brethren had hoped
that the Spring would enable them to make up for the deficiency of
last Fall; but now they are much worse off than then. They are
placed in a position where they cannot redeem their pledges.
I have myself been a sufferer to the amount of not less than three
hundred dollars. When I first came to the Territory, I had a val-
uable horse given to me by a member of my church, one deeply
interested in the cause of the truth here. Last Winter he became
temporarily disabled; & I procured another — also a gift. They were
both taken the same day with the burning of the hotel, & I have
not seen them since.35
On the morning after the destruction of Lawrence, I visited the
camp of the Marshal's posse, & made an effort to recover my prop-
erty; but succeeded only so far as to get thoroughly abused. They
threatened to hang me; & I barely escaped with my life. Kanzas
is now passing through the furnace. Her character is being formed
under a welding heat. What type it will assume depends much
upon what material the churches of our land shall throw into the
crucible. We hope it may emerge from the fire bearing the same
impress that New England received from her early trials.
As to the issue between Freedom & Slavery, it cannot be decided
wrong if the Free States do what they now seem determined upon.
This is however, the darkest hour that Freedom has ever seen in
Kanzas; the entire force of the Government is brought to bear
against it, & there is no indignity, no outrage which is not practiced
upon the Free-State settlers. The scenes that followed the "coup
de tat" of Louis Napoleon are reenacted here under our free gov-
35. Lum describes the "sack of Lawrence." On May 21, 1856, the posse assembled
by United States Marshal Israel B. Donalson, when disbanded, was used by Sheriff Samuel
J. Jones of Douglas county, contending that it was needed to make some arrests and to
abolish some nuisances as ordered by the grand jury. Earlier, on April 23, 1856, when
Jones came to Lawrence to make some arrests, he was shot in a leg while asleep in a tent.
On May 21, 1856, the group under Jones destroyed the presses and equipment of the
Lawrence Herald of Freedom and the Kansas Free Press. The New England Emigrant
Company hotel, the home of Charles Robinson were burned and other property was
destroyed. — Richard Cordley, A History of Lawrence, Kansas (1895), pp. 87-89; 99-103.
The grand jury indictment which Sheriff Jones carried with him is printed in Frank W.
Blackmar, The Life of Charles Robinson (Topeka, 1902), pp. 196, 197. Prof. James C.
Malin describes the background factors in the interesting article "Judge Lecompte and
the 'Sack of Lawrence,' May 21, 1856," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 20
(August, 1953), pp. 553-597.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 177
eminent with additional violence.36 Men are arrested without legal
process, & when arrested are driven off before the pretended offi-
cers like cattle. I can but feel that these things are developing
clearly the true nature of our national foe & preparing the true men
in all parts of the country to resist successfully its grasping demands.
We are all ready to commence the work of church building; &
were it not for the peculiar state of things, the work would have
been in quite an advanced state. As it is, it is difficult to get any-
one to run the risk of so large a contract, as it may be arrested at
any moment. We shall commence, however, as soon as possible.
Our desire will not be to secure the most costly edifice. One is now
building that will cost not less than twelve thousand dollars. We
shall be confined to the neighborhood of $5,000. For this, we can
get a comfortable though not large a building. We fear we shall
have to dispense with the tower & bell; though to us they seem
almost essential.
I have just returned from a visit to the camp where the prisoners
of State are held; but was not permitted to see them.37 No one but
their counsel are at present allowed even to speak to the prisoners.
Every thing is rendered as uncomfortable as possible. They were
cheerfull & confident of the final success of the cause for which they
suffer; so we learned from the Governor's wife, Mrs. Robinson.
You will please remit the quarter's salary as heretofore & I much
fear I shall be compelled to ask for a further remittance [because]
every thing has gone contrary to our expectations. I should be [by]
this [time] have preached a sermon in behalf of the A.H.M.S. but
circumstances have prevented. The pecuniary result would be in-
considerable yet its influence on the future might be important
could I find a time when thought could be secured to the object. I
have not received the Home Missionary for the past year. Will you
not have it sent with the past numbers from April last?
Yours truly
S. Y. LUM.
36. On December 2, 1851, Louis Napoleon gained complete mastery of France as a
result of a coup d'etat planned largely by his half brother, the Due de Morny.
37. Charles Robinson, who had been elected governor of Kansas in January, 1856,
under the Topeka constitution, was one of several Free-State prisoners at Lecompton. They
were held on an indictment for treason on the basis of the action by the grand jury of
Douglas county. — Cordley, A History of Lawrence, Kansas, pp. 88-92; Blackmar, op. cit.,
pp. 190-205.
12—8804
178 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE, K. T. Dec 24th 1856
SECRETARIES A. H. M. Soc.
DEAR BRETHREN.
It is just one month since my return to my field of labor yet I
have been back long enough to see, — or at least to think I see, —
brightening prospects for Kansas.38 We are enjoying, & with fair
prospects of continuance, a state of peace & quiet unlike anything
I have witnessed, during the two years of my residence here. We
do not even hear the distant role of the thunder that has heretofore
preceded the storm. This may result from an entire confidence —
on the part of the enemies of Freedom — that the powers that be
will more perfectly accomplish the work they desire than they can
do by pursuing their former course of action.
Some think they have given up the field. I cannot believe that
they have done anything more than change their tactics, while the
purpose remains the same. Important changes in this respect have
taken place; firstly withdrawing from the field their most unscrupu-
lous & daring leader — Col. Titus with his band of outlaws; next by
superseding the most pliant tools of the slave power in office.39
There is also a manifest desire on the part of the southern faction
to cultivate feelings of friendship, where before every effort was
made to stir up the bitterest feelings of depraved nature. From
whatever cause this state of things may proceed, I can but rejoice
in it, as it opens a prospect for the advancement of that pure &
peaceable Gospel upon which the institutions of Liberty must rest
as a permanent base. Long & earnest must the disciples of Jesus
labor, before they can hope to see the difficulties which strife & war
have engendered removed. Yet it is no small ground of encourage-
ment, that the causes of evil are not as actively at work as formerly.
I am now enabled to hold regular public worship, & I have two
prayer meetings during the week. The attendance on each of these
occasions is somewhat increased; yet nothing is more apparent than
that habits of inattention & carelessness, in reference to the Sabbath
& sacred worship, have taken deep hold of — I might almost say —
the entire community. I suppose in reference to no other part of
the Territory is this state of things so prevalent as here. We feel
38. Lum had returned East with his family. He cited as the reason "the health of
my family seemed to render it necessary that they should have a release from the excite-
ments and exposures of our unhappy Territory during the coming Winter." — The Home
Missionary, New York, v. 29 (December, 1856), p. 192.
39. Charles B. Lines, writing from Lawrence on August 24, 1856, described Col.
Henry T. Titus as follows: "This, Titus, by the way, is one of the most blood thirsty men
in the whole country. He has been a fillibuster and sort of land pirate during much of his
life, and is now the terror of all peaceable citizens in the territory. We know him well." —
Alberta Pantle, ed., "The Connecticut Kansas Colony; Letters of Charles B. Lines to the
New Haven (Conn.) Daily Palladium," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 22
(Summer, 1956), p. 176.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 179
deeply the need of the presence & power of the Divine Spirit in our
midst to break up this fatal carelessness; & we must earnestly crave
to this end, the prayers of all who sympathize with us in these mat-
ters.
The churches have a responsibility beyond that of praying for
the success of the truth in Kansas — from present indications there
is to be a large addition to the hosts of Freedom in the Territory
early in the Spring. There should — there must be at least, an equal
increase among the soldiers of the Cross. It is not enough that Kan-
sas should be made free from the curse of Slavery; it must be rescued
from the curse of sin; & there are weighty reasons why this is not an
ordinary case in this respect. Never in the history of this country,
has a Territory been settled in the midst of so many influences calcu-
lated to counteract the spread of truth, & to foster the growth of
sin; & unless the tendency of these influences be arrested, we have
no reason to expect that they will fail to work out their legitimate
results. Those who have young friends in Kansas should weigh
well these facts.
I have subscribed for a number of the "Herald of Freedom" which
will doubtless reach you with this. I have not yet written to Bro.
Noyes in reference to the wants of the settlers as I have had more
than I could do — my health not being very good. There will be
constant need of assistance in the shape of money, as nothing else
could reach us, navigation being closed. I could mention cases
where I have been compelled to give away some of my own chil-
dren^ clothing — they being now at the East — to the little sufferers
about me.
Since I arrived from the East I have received 2 boxes & 1 barrel
of clothing — from those who sympathize with the cause of Christ
& the suffering children — one box from Dedham, Mass, valued
at near 200 dolls., another from Bro. Jones society — Worcester, Mass.,
a valuable box — also in connection with this a barrel from the
Ladies of Boylston, Mass., for general distribution. A large part
of these I have distributed to the actually suffering. The box from
Dedham contained several vols of very valuable works, just what
my scanty library needed.
We are having very variable climate this Winter thus far — 2
days ago the mercury stood at sun-rise at 8° below zero — today the
air is balmy as the breath of Spring — for the sake of the exposed
& they are legion, it would seem desirable that it might continue
so but "He doeth all things well." Yours truly,
S. Y. LUM
180 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS Jan 15th 1857
REV. DR. BADGER
DEAR BROTHER
Your letter containing a draft for Forty Six (46) dollars arrived
a few days since & would have been acknowledged before this were
it not that I have been in such a state of health as scarcely to be
able to attend to my duties at all. The disease — which I left the
East to escape, & which I began to hope had entirely disappeared,
is returning upon me. I am often seriously afflicted with vertigo.40
Excitement & application which I have attempted somewhat this
winter, produce the same results here as at the East, & I fear will
bring me to the same condition in which I was, one year before
accepting your commission. What is to be the result, a few months
will determine. This field demands the energies of a whole man.
With the present prospect of Kansas, & the position in it that Law-
rence occupies, it would be difficult to find a more important field.
Oh, how I dread, in one view, what I fear. Yet God will provide
for his church here.
Every day, I feel more & more the baneful effects of Unitarianism
here. This is its central, & at present, only point; but here it has
already secured an influence, more potent than of any other society
& the condition of our community is such, that it is likely to continue
& increase that influence. A reckless & daring spirit, created by the
scenes of the past two years, predisposes the mind to doubt those
truths that would hold it in check. Excitements 1st of war, & now
of speculation, bear the mind irresistably away from the peaceful
& quiet influences of the Gospel. Where no doctrines taught, but
those of the truth as it is in Jesus, there would be strong hope then
of overcoming these influences — but when the truth — as it is called
— is so presented as to fall in with all the natural inclinations of the
sinful heart, it fortifies the way against that which is distasteful.
Thus I find, that Unitarianism is more in the way of the progress
of saving truth, than any or all other influences combined.
It has also an advantage in having its church nearly completed,
with funds to finish it.41 Our building is far advanced; but the funds
are expended, & how we are to go on with it in the Spring, is yet
unknown. It cannot be done among ourselves. We are compelled
40. Vertigo is characterized by "dizziness, giddiness, a sensation of irregular or whirl-
ing motion, either of oneself or of external objects." — Norman Burke Taylor, ed., Stedman's
Medical Dictionary (Baltimore, 1953), p. 1493.
41. The construction of the Unitarian church at Lawrence started in the spring of
1856 under the leadership of the Rev. Ephraim Nute. Although it was occupied in the
spring and summer of 1857, it was not completed until the autumn of that year. — A. T.
Andreas and W. G. Cutler, History of the State of Kansas (Chicago, 1883), p. 327.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 181
to look somewhere else, for from one to two thousand dollars. I do
trust that with all the sympathy that is felt for Kansas at the East,
this work will be completed there for us.
You will doubtless have heard ere this of the purchase of a town-
site near the mouth of the Kansas river, on the Mo. I have not been
there but from what I can learn, from reliable sources, it bids fair
to be the entrepot of the Territory. It is wholly "Free State;" & has
large amount of capital interested in its increase.42 Should it grow,
as is desirable, & as is expected, they will need a Missionary there
quite early in the Spring. Yet that cannot be decided upon at this
early date.
Since I have been writing this, I have had two calls from distressed
families for relief. The cold is vigorous; & must be to the destitute
a cause of great suffering. Both of these families were sick; one of
them, nearly every member — sickness induced by exposure. It
afforded me the pleasure, the more so from the fact that they were
followers of Jesus, to be able through your remittance to be able to
furnish them their immediate necessities. I have constant calls on
such business; & esteem it a privilege thus to recommend the truth
to those who might thus be led to receive it but there are numerous
cases that the small amount at my disposal will not reach; & some
cases of destitute families, whose modesty & diffidence will not per-
mit them to make application to public distributors. . . .
Yours truly
S. Y. LUM.
LAWRENCE KANSAS Mar. 24th/57
REV. DR. BADGER.
DEAR BROTHER.
Another quarter of my labor in the service of the Soc. has expired
& at its close I am compelled to resign my position as a home mis-
sionary not I trust from a want of love for the work, but from an
entire inability to perform it, from what I said in a former letter it
cannot be unexpected by the Soc. though perhaps it may have been
sooner than was anticipated. I had hoped to be able to continue
until my successor could have been procured but from recent violent
attacks of vertigo I am compelled to avoid all severe mental labor.
On last Sabbath I was obliged to dismiss the congregation when
42. Lum refers here to the founding of Quindaro. It was surveyed as a townsite in
December, 1856, by O. A. Bassett. Building was started January 1, 1857, two weeks prior
to Lum's letter. — Alan W. Farley, "Annals of Quindaro: A Kansas Ghost Town," The
Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 22 (Winter, 1856), pp. 306, 307. Congregational
work was started at Quindaro by the Rev. Sylvester D. Storrs, a member of the famous
Andover Band, in 1857. — Charles M. Correll, A Century of Congregationalism in Kansas
(1953), p. 25.
182 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
half through the services. My physician advises me not to attempt
again as it is a disease whose attack is so sudden as to give but little
warning of its approach.
Our prospects are continually brightening as a church & Soc. &
should the Lord in his goodness send us just such a man as we need
— our temporal affairs would advance rapidly. I trust we shall not
long be left long destitute — it is important that we should not be
at all so.
As I intimated in my last [letter] we have to secure the money
(by loan) with which to complete our edifice & we hope it will be
open for worship before the Spring is past. How we shall be able
to pay the loan is the question. We think there are some friends
in the East for us yet. The matter of raising our future preachers
salary is more doubtful — we ought to have a first class-man &
we may not be able to support him.
I do not know what is the rule in such cases. Could we look to
the A. H. M. S. for any part? say something like the amount we
have been receiving during the past? This I ask by the desire of
the Com.
I should have been glad to have written a lengthy report as it
is the last, but my head is not in a condition to allow it.
I have received in Home Missionary money during the half year
Six dollars & seventy cts. ($6.70) which is to be deducted from my
quarters salary leaving One hundred forty three 30/100 (143.30)
which you may send as heretofore by draft.
Yours truly,
S. Y. LUM.
LAWRENCE KANSAS June 10th/57
MILTON BADGER D. D.
DEAR BROTHER.
Your letter of May 23 reached me a few days ago, & finds me
still engaged in the labor of my position here. When I prepared
my last quarterly report I thought it an absolute necessity that I
should stop & that immediately, all close mental application, & wrote
accordingly, but how to avoid labor was the question. My people
felt as well as myself that at all events our regular worship should
be kept up & this was particularly so as Mr. Nute the Unitarian
minister was making special efforts to draw off the young to their
eternal destruction. I have thus felt myself compelled to keep right
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 183
on & as long as I could get to the church or until my successor ar-
rived.
When Mr. Woodford came I felt more at liberty, & hoped he
might be the man. He has preached three times, & preaches again
next Sabbath which will I fear will be the last with us as he is quite
desirous to be permanently located & our people think he is not
the man for them.43 We have just gone into our own building,
though it is simply enclosed & now feel at home.44 Oh that I had a
head fit to labor, but I must rest for a while perhaps forever, just as
soon as possible.
I have no idea that we will be able to support our own minister
as soon as I thought we should when I last wrote. We have been
compelled to do so much in raising funds for completing our church.
Several of the prominent men have given as high as $500, a piece
for this project & feel it is all they can do at present.
But in reference to the business of which you spoke. I have
visited several places in the immediate neighborhood that is within
12 or 15 miles. One of these is Lecompton which I think would
afford labor enough for one man if he was of the judicious kind. It
is the present capitol & rather proslavery though there is quite a
large minority of good free state men. There is at present no preach-
ing there & some of the leading men ride 12 miles to attend church
at Lawrence. Near Lecompton are several out posts that could be
collected. These if filled at all are filled by very illiterate Methodist
preachers part of the time.
I propose to start tomorrow to visit as soon as possible all the
principal points in the Territory & shall report as soon & as fully
as possible. From what I know of the wants of the Territory I feel
that we shall surely need at least the "half dozen" you speak of but
I shall feel more competent to speak confidently after I have been
over the field again for this special object. . . .
Truly your brother,
S. Y. LUM.
43. The Rev. O. L. Woodford settled in Grasshopper Falls (now Valley Falls) in
1857.— Ibid., 202.
44. The construction of Plymouth Congregational Church at Lawrence was started in
the spring of 1856. It was partially completed and services were held in it at the time
of Lum's letter, June 10, 1857. The building was dedicated on November 16, 1862. It
was built of limestone with dimensions 40 x 65 feet. — Cordley, Pioneer Days in Kansas,
pp. 82, 83; Andreas-Cutler, op. cit., p. 327.
184 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE KANSAS
June 24th 1857
MILTON BADGER D. D.
DEAR BROTHER.
Since writing two weeks since I have visited that part of the
Territory bordering on the Mo. river; most of this ground was new to
me. As you know, it was the stronghold of the Border Ruffianism,
& could not be visited during times of excitement, — without pe-
culiar danger to a "marked man" & as my duty never led me in that
direction — I have been satisfied without seeking more stirring ad-
venture than could be found near home. Now however there is
little danger to a traveller in Kansas whatever may be his opinions
touching "peculiar institutions" — as in any new country. In this
respect the change is wonderful to those who have had experience
in the past here, & those just entering Kansas are naturally inclined
from present quiet to believe but a small part of what is true of the
past. — We begin to confidently hope, that so far as sanguinary
conflicts are concerned they "are among the things that were," that
what remains to be done is to avoid the dangers of political trickery,
on the one hand, & the quicksands of speculation on the other.
This state of things, though perhaps not less dangerous to the
morals of a community, does not so completely interfere with the
efforts of the Christian ministry, & therefore Kansas presents today,
one of the most important — perhaps one of the most promising fields
for missionary labor, & to a great extent it is unoccupied — not one
of the river towns have a preacher connected in any way with the
churches that sustain the A. H. M. Soc. — This is true of the most
important towns on the river — even Leavenworth is now desti-
tute— with a population of over four thousand — mostly free state
men, — it has but one educated preacher, & he is so connected with
the South & its peculiar institution as to be not very acceptable to
the mass about him — so I hear, I am not acquainted with him.
Leavenworth needs a good man, & right away, but whoever comes
there must expect to find a community not in the habit of sympa-
thizing with truth & its claims — it will be a difficult but very
important field — no man with ordinary prudence need fear from
violence as all parties desire peace.
Below Leavenworth about 8 to 10 miles is Delaware, a point until
the present season wholly under proslavery influences it is now
changing hands & would be a good spot for an out post from
Leavenworth. It has about 500 inhabitants. Below this near 30
miles is Quindaro a town started entirely under free state influences
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 185
during the past Winter, it contains several hundred inhabitants has
a Cong. Soc organized & contemplate securing a preacher as soon
as one is found as they think just adapted. They hope from the
start to be free from the necessity of foreign help in this I think
they will be disappointed. Wyandot is just below at the confluence
of the Mo. & Kansas rivers started about the same time as the last
& a rival to it, with about the same number of inhabitants. — should
either become a large place, it would eventually absorb the other.
From Leavenworth going up the river the first place of sufficient
importance to require the attention of the Soc. is Atchison — named
after the great Senator; it was started as an ultra pro slavery town,
& has been the most rabid & dangerous town in Kansas, it is the
home of one of the Stringfellows & has been notorious as the place
where the "Squatter Sovereign" is published & where Rev. Pardee
Butler was tarred & feathered then tied to a log, & sent down the
Mo. river.45
Now, it is earning for itself quite a different character. Gen.
Pomeroy & others, thinking it was one of the best points on the river
have bought out a large part of the property, set up a good hotel,
put a first rate free state editor at the head of the "Sovereign" & are
introducing the best class of eastern emigrants who are quite anxious
to have someone sent from your Soc. to "open to them the Scrip-
tures/'46 About 5 miles above this is another town just emerging
from its bondage to slavery. — Gen Lane is at the head of affairs here
& has associated with him quite a number of the "old free settlers"
from other points.47
The land office is located here which with its enterprising citizens
renders it quite a formidable rival to Atchison. These two points
need at once a missionary. The people are anxious, & there would
be no opposition from any quarter, together with the neighbor-
hoods in the vicinity several thousand settlers could be reached
in some way by a faithful missionary, & part of his support could
be secured. Rev. Mr. Woodford is thinking of this field & probably
45. David Rice Atchison served as a United States senator from Missouri from 1843
to 1855. The principal phases of his career are described in the Dictionary of American
Biography (New York), v. 1, pp. 402, 403. John H. Stringfellow and Robert S. Kelley
started the Squatter Sovereign at Atchison on February 3, 1855. — Wilder, op. cit., p 56.
The trying experience of Butler is described in Personal Reminiscences of Pardee Butler
(Cincinnati, 1889), pp. 106-109.
46. The executive committee of the New England Emigrant Aid Company authorized
S. C. Pomeroy on March 9, 1857, to develop a town on the Missouri river. Pomeroy
believed that the Proslavery town of Atchison would be most desirable. In arrangements
worked out with Robert McBratney, the agent of the Cincinnati emigration society, and
others, Pomeroy secured the controlling interest in the town and ownership of the Squatter
Sovereign. — Edgar Langsdorf, "S. C. Pomeroy and the New England Emigrant Aid Com-
pany, 1854-1858," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 7 (November, 1938), pp. 394, 395.
47. The reference here is to Doniphan. Lane became a part owner of the Crusader of
Freedom, founded by James Redpath, which was as strong for the Free-State cause as the
Doniphan Constitutionalist had been for the Proslavery cause. — Andreas-Cutler, op. cit.,
p. 475.
186 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
would have visited there, were it not that he has been sick for a
few days.
Above these points, there is none quite so promising, — there
are however, — about 50 or 60 miles above Doniphan, 2 points near
together named Iowa Point & White Cloud where the labors of a
man could be profitably employed — though not destined to be
large places yet the country about them is full of actual settlers &
in four or five different localities not 10 miles apart a congregation
of about 50 could be collected.
I was surprised to find the settlers, in the north eastern portion
of Kansas, such as they are, they are mostly from the north intelli-
gent, thrifty, enterprising men & they possess a country that will
richly reward their energies, & from the indications, everywhere we
must now have a population of more than 100,000, & nearly the
entire number are unsupplied with ministers sympathizing with
your Soc. —
I hope to start tomorrow for the western part of the Territory,
& from the enormous expense of travelling etc. I shall get over the
ground as soon as possible.
Yours truly
S. Y. LUM.
LAWRENCE KANSAS July 10, 1857
REV. MILTON BADGER D. D.
DEAR BROTHER.
A longer time has elapsed since writing my last than I intended
but circumstances have been such as to render the delay necessary.
My last trip was one of great fatigue, owing to the extreme heat &
drouth, which now prevail through the Territory — We have had
no rain of any importance since early spring, & every thing is parch-
ing up — the thermometer too is standing daily in the shade from
90° to 98° — Thus you can imagine the circumstances of one travelling
on horse-back, or in an open conveyance over these shadeless prai-
ries. Were it not that I feel the work imperatively important I
should remain in the most quiet & cool situation attainable. Last
week I started to visit the Kansas valley, westward.
The first town west of this is Lecompton, 12 miles distant. I
should rather say the 1st town of any importance for there are 3
projected towns, which we pass through on the valley road. I men-
tioned Lecompton, on a previous occasion, though as a pro-slavery
town at first, it is now mostly occupied by Free State men to the
number of some 500. They are without preaching ( almost entirely, )
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 187
but the place would not be an enviable one in any point of view
though perhaps it is none the less important to be filled — About
4 miles south, there is already organized a Congl. Chh under the
care of a Missionary from the American Miss. Association.48
About 5 miles west, & about an equal distance from the river, is
Big Spring not much of a town, but filled with settlers, — all the
"claims" having families upon them. This is one of the points at
which Rev. Mr. Shepperd, your missionary, is preaching.49 From
this point it is 5 miles to Tecumseh on the Kansas River. This is
getting to be quite a town; & as the river is now being bridged at
that point, so that trade & travell will be attracted to it, it will furnish
a good field for the labor of Mr. Shepperd.
Five miles further west is Topeka, the "Free State Capitol" —
where Mr. Bodwell is located. His people are anxiously looking
for his return, to minister both, to their spiritual & temporal wants.50
From present appearances, this is the most promising church in the
Territory, though not in as important a position as the one at Law-
rence.— West of Topeka for 30 miles is the Reserve of the Potta-
watomie & of course unsettled by white men. 2/2 miles about this
Reserve, we come to Wabaunsa, settled by the colony from Conn.
Here I spent the last Sabbath of June & assisted in the organization
of a Congl. Chh.51
They have no house in which to worship, but are preparing a
temporary one, & the trustees of the church have in their hands a
sufficient fund to secure the erection of a good substantial edifice —
The church was formed in a grove, near what now constitutes the
village, & to all present it seemed an occasion of the deepest interest.
The church, at its formation numbers near 30, & contains more
men of education than any other in the Territory. At present they
are supplied by a Missionary of the A. M. Assn. who preaches also
at another little church at Queendale 5 or 6 miles distant. . . .
48. The American Missionary Association was organized on "Bible principles" in New
York City in 1846 by individuals who felt that the American Home Missionary Society
was not taking a strong enough stand on the antislavery question. The association was
nonsectarian although the support came primarily from Congregationalists. — Colin Brum-
mitt Goodykoontz, Home Missions on the American Frontier (Caldwell, Idaho, 1939), pp.
292-294.
49. The Rev. Paul Shepherd started his work in Kansas in 1856. — Correll, op. ctt.f
p. 199.
50. The Rev. Lewis Bodwell preached his first sermon in Topeka as the regularly
appointed minister of the Congregational church on October 26, 1856. The career of
Bodwell, based on correspondence with the American Home Missionary Society, is de-
scribed in detail in Russell K. Hickman, "Lewis Bodwell, Frontier Preacher; the Early
Years," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 12 (August, November, 1943), pp. 269-299;
349-365.
51. The Connecticut Kansas Colony, known as the "Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony,"
was established at "Waubonsa" in April, 1856, according to a letter of Charles B. Lines
to the New Haven (Conn.) Daily Palladium. Lum preached the sermon on that occasion.
Interesting letters from Lines are found in Pantle, loc. cit., pp. 1-50; 138-188.
188 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Some 8 miles further up the river is the settlement of Ashland, first
settled by Free State men from Ky. It is mostly under the influence
of the Campbelites.52 Bro. Blood of Manhattan has a station here,
& preaches once in 3 weeks.
Still west of this there are no villages of sufficient importance to
call for a stated ministry. There are a number of small communi-
ties up the Smoky Hill & Republican forks, where a man, not con-
fined by family to any one locality might travel & preach as oc-
casion offered. One of these stations, on Republican fork about
20 miles from Manhattan, is occupied by Bro. Blood of Manhattan
once in three weeks.
Descending the river, on the North side, from Fort Riley — which
is only a Military station & supplied by a chaplain — we first find
the town of Ogden, just out side of the Military reserve. Here is
located the land office for the Western division of the Territory.
. . . Rev. Mr. Parsons formerly of Cape Cod, Mass is preaching
at this place, though not any connection with any Miss Society.53
Twelve miles below this is Manhattan, where Rev. Mr. Blood resides
with his family. ...
Thus you will perceive that I have visited all the important points
of the Kansas valley, & north of it. Next week I intend starting for
the south of the Territory; & from what I learn I shall find more
destitution than I have in the north — I have felt compelled to lay
by for a week, the heat has been so excessive.
Yours truly,
S. Y. LUM
LAWRENCE KANSAS
July 25, 1857
REV. MILTON BADGER, D. D.
When I wrote you a little more than a week ago I expected to
be ( at this time ) in the South part of the Territory, & I did start, as
I contemplated, but was unable to travel but two days, the reason
is the excessive heat we are now experiencing, — for about 10 days
past our weather, has been the most oppressive I ever knew, the heat
soon after sun rise indicating 90° & upwards — & during the day,
rising as high as 102° to 107° & continuing up to 96 & 98 until near
sun down. I travelled 2 such days laying up during the middle of
52. The Campbellites are known as the Disciples of Christ or members of the Christian
Church. They trace their origin to Thomas and Alexander Campbell. The first congre-
gation was established at Brush Creek, Penn., in 1811. — William Warren Sweet, The
Story of Religions in America (New York, 1930), pp. 340-344.
53. The Rev. J. U. Parsons came to Ogden in 1855. — Correll, op. cit., p. 197.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 189
the day, & I found it producing such an effect on my head as to
render it extremely unsafe to continue. I have therefore felt it my
duty to suspend my investigations until I can travel more safely, &
if it be the wish of the Soc. I shall commence against just as soon
as possible.
During the 2 days I mentioned, I visited 2 places about 20 miles
south of Lawrence, the one Prairies City is almost entirely in the
hands of the Methodists, — they have established a College there,
& will bring it mostly under their influence — 54 at the other, Cen-
tropolis I found a few Congregational brethren, who were anxious
to have a man from your Soc. The town itself is but small, but the
country around is filled with settlers, there being but few claims un-
taken, & they will need a business centre.
From what I learn — from reliable sources, I am led to believe
that there is need of more men in the south part of the Territory
than in the North, but I shall know more definitely when I visit
there as it is, — according to my judgment the following places
need preachers immediately: Leavenworth, Doniphan, Quindaro
if they have made no arrangements for themselves & Centropolis.
Grasshopper Falls is already supplied by Bro. Woodford.55 I
think I shall not fail to find an equal number in the South — At
Indianola & Kansapolis, if Bro. Bodwell finds his hands full on the
south side of the river. There must also be a man; — Indianola is
growing rapidly. And perhaps a man could be found who could
make his mark upon Lecompton. it would be a difficult work, &
a hard field & I would not advise its occupancy while other im-
portant points are destitute. Unless we succeed in getting a man
adapted for this field, — Lawrence — before the arrival of your Mis-
sionaries I do hope there will be one of their number, just the man.
We are suffering not a little already shall suffer in important
respects unless we are supplied before long, & we are not able as
we hoped to support him ourselves. Some of the Soc. are anxious
to know whether it would be possible to receive help from the
A. H. M. Soc. in giving more than your accustomed salary. I can-
not answer them.
Yours truly,
S. Y. LUM
54. A charter was granted by the territorial legislature to the Kansas Educational
Association of the Methodist Episcopal Church on February 3, 1858, for establishing an
institution of learning which is known as Baker University, Baldwin City. — Andreas-Cutler,
op. cit., p. 355. The background factors in the founding of Baker University are de-
scribed in Homer Kingsley Ebright, The History of Baker University (Baldwin, 1951),
pp. 37-54.
55. See Footnote 43.
190 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS. Oct 5th 1857
REV. MILTON BADGER, D. D.
DEAR BROTHER.
I have just completed a tour of exploration, through the South
part of the Territory; & I find it everywhere filling up with the
enterprising & intelligent free state settler [s]. I was hardly pre-
pared to find so many centers, where should be immediately set
up the standard of the Cross. Two thirds of the entire territory
lies south of the Kansas river & yet — except at Lawrence & To-
peka — upon that river — there has never been a missionary in con-
nection with your Soc. permanently located. It is now assuming
an importance that demands attention —
In a former letter I spoke of Centropolis, & in passing through
it again, I found several families that greatly desire the labors of a
missionary — they have only occasional preaching — from a Meth-
odist brother but as I found afterward other places of more im-
portance— this must give place to them for the present. In a south
east direction — about 25 miles distant is Ohio City, a thriving
town, of but few months growth, giving promise of a prosperous
future The country about it is all settled up so that it is the center
of a population of several hundreds, & from present appearances
the village population will rapidly increase. . . .
From this point it is about 30 miles S.E. to Moneka — on Sugar
Creek — about 12 miles from the Mo. line — but little has been
done on the town site, & yet amoung the first things, they have
commenced the erection of a building 25 by 40 feet for school
purposes, the 2nd story to be used for a preaching hall. I was
told that at any time a congregation could be secured, of at least
100, some of the leading men are desirous to be supplied from
your Soc. though in the vecinity there are quite a number of
"spiritualists" who of course would not look with favor upon such a
movement. They intend starting a "manual labor school" It seems
important that truth should enter the field, at the very onset if it
would contend successfully with such dangerous error. Moneka
derives some prospective importance — from the fact that as the
Pacific R. R. looks for a passage away from the Mo River & less
expensive — Southern Kansas presents itself fertile & fast filling
with a dense population — & it is upon the most direct rout. This
matter has been already under discussion by the director [s] of
P. R. R.
But a short distance from Moneka there are several points that
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 191
would occupy part of the time of a Missionary. — Paris 6 miles
distant & Mapleton 15. — Nearly west, 30 miles distant, on the
head waters of the Pottowatomie I found Hyatville, but little de-
veloped as yet, & perhaps sufficiently supplied, as I learned they
have frequent, if not regular preaching, orthodox in its character.
Travelling S.W. for 25 miles I reached the Neosho river, it is next
in size to the Kansas, & it is dotted with little towns all struggling
for the supremacy. I intended to strike the river at Neosho City,
but as I was travelling without guide, compass or trail, over an
entirely new country, I fell below about 8 miles at LeRoy much
larger than Neosho, though of but little importance. (Should the
enthusiastic proprietors of these numerous towns become ac-
quainted with my appreciation of their "important locations" they
would pay but little honor to my judgment I fear, as each seem to
think that just upon their spot is concentrated all the peculiar ad-
vantages of the entire region.)
The entire Neosho valley is settled, where any timber can be
secured, & often, all that is in the vicinity of timber. As we travel
up it, we are continually passing improvements that remind us of
the older States. The first town that seems to demand immediate
attention from the Soc. is Burlington — on the south side of the
river — opposite Hampden — this last mentioned place you will
remember as the place where the colony from Mass with Rev. Mr.
Knight located more than 2 years ago, — in building a town they
have done nothing as yet, though they begin to give signs of life,
in this vicinity.56 There are ten individuals desirous of forming
themselves into a church to be under the care of your Soc.
At Burlington there is already quite a town with as I think a good
prospect. Between the two a missionary could be most profitably
employed while within 15 miles there are 3 other little centers.
Rev. Rodney Payne has gone down there but whether he will locate
or not I cannot tell.57 I had thought of sending one of the four
to this field. But if Mr. Payne is the man, there will be room enough
left.
Up the valley of the Neosho, there are several smaller towns.
N. W. of Hampden & 30 miles distant between the Neosho & Cot-
tonwood is Emporia, this seems a natural point & has already a
numerous population depending upon it, several towns (as is usu-
ally the case at a good point) have been laid out near by — but
56. The Rev. Richard Knight organized the Congregational church at Hampden in
1856.— Correll, op. cit., p. 195.
57. The Rev. Rodney Paine settled as a Congregational missionary at Burlington in
1857.— Ibid., p. 197.
192 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
this, seems to lead in the race, & must be supplied this fall.58 One
fact renders this more important. There is an effort to establish a
Unitarian Soc. there, which perhaps would not be attempted should
there be a preacher of Jesus on the field. South of this on the
Verdigris crowds of settlers are pushing in & taking possession of
the best locations — Here will soon be new fields for operations.
On the return from Emporia I passed over the high prairie, called
the divide between the Kansas & the Neosho, it is beautiful & fertile,
but will not be settled until the timbered land is all taken.
From this survey I have become fully impressed with the absolute
need that there should be more laborers in the field — The country
is rapidly filling up with men who need, more than ordinary emi-
grants, the restraining influences of the Gospel. Kansas is develop-
ing as no new state — except perhaps California — has done, & de-
veloping with all the elements of permanence. The question of its
being free, is settled; though the will of the people may be de-
feated for a little while longer, the end is certain, humanly speak-
ing. Your Soc. in company with kindred societies, has done much
to secure this result. The temporal as well as spiritual interests
of the people, are advanced most under an efficient ministry. Those
towns give most evidence of permanent prosperity, where the
earnest faithful preacher, was on the ground at the very beginning
& in view of this I hope that the Society will feel it within the
limits of their ability, to send 2 or 3 more here this fall. They can
be employed to good advantage. Mr. Morse has just arrived; &
starts, if it is pleasant, tomorrow, for the Southern part of the
Territory — He was ordained previous to starting.
The long talked of election has passed — so far as we have heard —
without excitement. In this Co. the entire free state ticket is
elected; & we can be free of local Border-ruffian rules. I very much
fear, the general result will be against us; as in some districts heard
from, large numbers of imported votes were poled.59 If we are de-
feated, it will be with much caution that we take the next
step. . . .
Yours etc.
S. Y. LUM.
58. The Rev. Grosvernor Morse, a member of the Andover band, began his work at
Emporia shortly after Lum's visit there. A description of Morse's career is found in
Cordley, Pioneer Days in Kansas, pp. 14-18.
59. Lum was mistaken as to the results of this election because the Free-State party
controlled both the council and the house. An analysis of the election is found in Wilder,
op. cit., pp. 192-194.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 193
LAWRENCE KANSAS, Nov. 16th 1857
REV. MILTON BADGER D. D.
DEAR BROTHER.
I suppose that my labor for the Soc. is (for the present) ac-
complished. Three of the brethren from Andover have arrived &
entered their fields of labor.60 Of the two first Mr. Stors & Morse
I hear encouraging reports & the prospect is that they are just the
men, for the places to which they are assigned. Mr. Parker has just
entered his field at Leavenworth, the most important & perhaps
the most difficult missionary field in the Territory, he has not been
on the field sufficiently long, to know what can be accomplished.
. . . Bro Cordley has not appeared yet on the ground ill health
detained him in Michigan. We are now looking for him every
day, & expect him to take up his possition at Lawrence. . . .61
The members of churches East are not the only individuals, who
should feel deeply interested in sending the right kind of mission-
aries to Kansas — true the work of saving men is their first work
& the influence of the truth they preach will be mainly to free from
the slavery to sin, — but apart from this they are doing another
work of no small value. They are exerting an influence more
mighty than any other, to overthrow that great American Curse,
slavery. In my exploration of the Territory I have found — that
those places more than any others — where a pure gospel was
preached — have been centers of a mighty influence for Freedom.
Such communities are always more reliable in any emergency.
All your Missionaries in Kansas are men of this stamp, & the
lovers of Freedom — even though not lovers of God — have a deep
interest in sustaining an agency that sends forth such an influence.
I trust that until Kansas is free from all kinds of slavery, it will not
be compelled to abate one iota of all that it desires to do for God &
Humanity.
The Constitutional Convention that has been sitting at Lecomp-
ton, has accomplished its work & adjourned, a constitution is
framed not to be submitted to the people, though one of its pro-
visions is to be voted upon, a provisional government is appointed
to go in operation previous to the sitting of the Territorial Legis-
lature to prevent that body from doing anything to inturrupt the
60. Lum refers to the famous Andover band, Richard Cordley, Roswell D. Parker,
Sylvester D. Storrs, and Grosvernor C. Morse. Cordley settled at Lawrence, Parker at
Leavenworth, Storrs at Quindaro, and Morse at Emporia. The Andover band is described
in Cordley, Pioneer Days in Kansas, pp. 7-30.
61. Cordley arrived in Lawrence on December 2, 1857. He presents an interesting
description of his trip to Kansas. — Ibid., pp. 31-54.
13_8804
194 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
operation of the plan marked out by the Convention.62 Thus our
Free State triumph is a nullity — a Pro Slavery Constitution is to
be fastened upon us "nolentes volentes" & even before it has been
passed upon by Congress. Perhaps such a course will succede; We
shall see. It looks as though there might be some spice ahead,
though we are getting pretty well used to that sort of thing. While
such despots plan & rave, it is a pleasant peaceful thought to the
Christian that "The Lord reigneth." . . .
Your brother
S. Y. LUM.
LAWRENCE Dec. 30th 1857
REV. D. P. NOYES
DEAR BROTHER.
Your letter came to hand by last mail, & I shall try to take an
early opportunity to comply with your request To day I write
on business. My last letter containing the statement of expenses
incurred for the Soc. last Summer may not have reached you as I
have not heard from it though I have been waiting several weeks
in expectation.
As it may be some fault of the mails I send it herewith. I am
truly sorry to learn of the state of the Soc. finances for I am satisfied
that to Kansas it will be most unwelcome news. Your Missionaries
here are all of them in a situation where they must suffer absolutely
without their accustomed remittance. The hard times falls most
heavily upon them because in addition to the absence of money,
every thing is at enormously high prices. Think of $13. — thirteen
dollars a barrel for flour 6 to 8 for corn meal — molasses from
$1.15 to $1.50 per gallon potatoes $1.25 bush. 6- every thing in
proportion. With a prospect of much higher rates before Spring,
& you can imagine our situation. I know of some of your Mission-
aries who are without a dollar & some who are even worse than
that. A family cannot live with comfort on $600, (for to begin
with, the rent of two rooms will cost near % of it). What can they
do if the supply is withheld.
One of your Missionaries (Rev. Mr. Morse) in order to avoid
the expense of rent, hired money to put up a little home, for which
62. The delegates to the Lecompton constitutional convention assembled on September
7, 1857. The convention adjourned on September 11, to meet on October 19. It finally
adjourned on November 3. The one provision to be voted upon, as described by Lum,
is found in section 7 of the "Schedule," namely, the "Constitution with slavery" or the
"Constitution with no slavery." The Lecompton constitution is printed in Wilder, op. cit.,
pp. 177-191. An interesting study of the background of the delegates is found in Robert
W. Johannsen, "The Lecompton Constitutional Convention: An Analysis of Its Member-
ship," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 23 (Autumn, 1957), pp. 225-243.
LETTERS OF REV. SAMUEL YOUNG LUM 195
agreeing to pay an enormous rate of interest (which was better
than to pay rent) confidentally expecting the next quarters remit-
tance would give him the ability to meet his engagements. (I
signed on the note ) & in a few days it must be paid. — but how. I
fear by sacrificing his home or by my sacrificing for him. I do not
think that the churches have a right to permit their servants to be
thrown into such positions of distress. Let them think of our possi-
tion, — first — in a new country like this, money is of necessity
much more scarce than in an older one. Next all the necessities of
life, are three or four times as high in price, with no resource to
which we can turn for relief.
I do not write this to urge that I be treated better than my com-
panions in arms, but through fear that the account, — or the remit-
tance might have miscarried. It is true, I am in more straightened
circumstances than I have ever been before. In making the tour
of the Territory I left my crops upon which I was depending for the
support of my family — much to my pecuniary disadvantage & am
by that cause several hundred dollars behind, but if any good has
been done I am satisfied. . . .
Yours truly
S. Y. LUM.
LAWRENCE KANSAS March 8th, 1858
REV MILTON BADGER D. D.
DEAR BRO.
Your letter making a call upon me for a March report has re-
mained for a few days unattended to while I have been busily en-
gaged, watching with a sick wife. Now I feel it cannot be put off
longer & attend to it, though not as fully as I could wish. Would
that you & the churches & the "y°ung ministers" of the East could
get a view of this most important field such as only a residence with
us could give. Its demands would then be more promptly met, &
the numbers of laborers sustained by your Soc. would be greatly
increased. In no respect is Kansas an ordinary field, & it cannot
be made to conform to ordinary rules, it must be furnished with the
living preachers in numbers to keep pace with the influx of popula-
tion, & that tide rolls in upon us by thousands. In little over three
years, the wild unbroken prairie is teeming with life crowded with
busy intelligent farmers, & the towns are springing up as if by
magic are crowded by thousands of earnest business men & me-
chanics.
196 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Today we have a population sufficient to claim admittance as one
of the "sovreign" states of the Union. The A. H. M. Soc. has done
for these communities what it could, during the past year six have
been sent out & are now all of them I think wielding a mighty in-
fluence for good in large & rapidly growing communities, this
swells the number — under the direction of the Soc — to (10) ten,
ministering to over twenty congregations. Dividing the popula-
tion equally amoung them each man would have the care of 10,000
souls, scattered over a country of some 50 miles square & embrac-
ing several centers of influence. . . .
The importance of placing the communities, that are springing
up all over the Territory, under the influence of Gospel institutions
cannot be over estimated no one who has not had an experience
formed on the ground can appreciate the strength of the current,
setting against truth & duty, nothing but the presence of the man
of God, nothing but the force of truth, as it flows from his lips &
life & shines in his life, can oppose even a partial barrier to its
impetuous tide, as it bears the great majority on to ruin. It is
heart rendering to witness the defection of many who were con-
cidered lights in the churches from which they came. All former
associations are broken up, all former barriers removed, the nar-
row way in which it seemed easy to walk, while it was walled on
either side, now that those walls are broken down, becomes less &
less defined, until it is well nigh lost amoung the thousand bye paths
that digress from it. Many a professed child of God gets bewildered
& lost in one or another of these digressions.
For these reasons it seems that the work in which the A. H. M.
Soc. is engaged is of all others the most important. Churches at
the East would suffer less by the absence of the ministry, for they
have more colateral influences to confine & control the passions of
men. They are surrounded by temptations less in number & in-
fluence.
The work is a promising one. The fruit of his labor, may not be
always so immediately apparent numbers may not be seen flock-
ing into the Kingdom of God under his efforts. Yet the preparation
that will ultimate in such results is being secured, the ground is be-
ing broken, the tough roots of a rank vegetation, are thrown up to
the action of light & heat, & a rich, mellow, & fruitful field will ere
long be the consequence. God grant that many laborers may
speedily enter this great garden of the West. . . .
Yours truly.
S. Y. LUM.
William Sutton White, Swedenborgian Publicist
JAMES C. MALIN
PART Two — KANSAS EXEMPLAR OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG AND HERBERT SPENCER
— Concluded
Theology and Science
IF broadly interpreted, the factor most disturbing to the theology
of the decade of the 1870's, was the scientific mode of verifica-
tion of everything that had been held to be knowledge. Such a
statement of the question is so comprehensive as to cover more
than the formal sciences. To do justice to the situation and all
points of view, nothing less will meet the requirements of fair and
equitable intellectual operations. More rigidly rational methods
were being employed by many within the traditional scope of theol-
ogy. At some points a substantial recognition was in evidence of
social responsibilities of religion implicit in the rapid mechanization
and urbanization of society. In that context, the emergence of more
systematic, if not altogether scientific, methods for organizing and
interpreting social data exerted important influences even among
those who were not yet self-conscious about Comte, Spencer, Marx,
and Darwin. The controversies about the interpretation of the
statistical data of the federal census of 1870 and the deficiencies
of its method and execution, and the near-revolutionary methods
employed in the enumeration of 1880 left their mark. Among the
formal sciences, the impact of geology and its allied disciplines had
exerted a longer-term influence than the biological theories asso-
ciated with Darwin. But the new impetus given to linguistic study
and the criticism of written documents, supplemented by archeo-
logical discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean area, associated
with the history of Judaeo-Christian religion, and the crude begin-
nings of the anthropology all entered sooner or later into most any
extended consideration of theology.
Wichita was no exception. During the latter part of 1877,
Harsen, the Presbyterian minister since 1871, reviewed from a lib-
eral point of view the doctrines of the "Westminster Confession of
Faith," the seventh and last of his series of sermons dealing with
DR. JAMES C. MALIN, associate editor of The Kansas Historical Quarterly and author of
several books relating to Kansas and the West, is professor of history at the University of
Kansas, Lawrence.
(197)
198 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the creation. Incidentally, this is the series that opened the rift
between him and the more literally orthodox members of his con-
gregation, and led to his resignation in April, 1879. In his discourse
on the "Creation*' he dismissed the literal interpretation of the Bib-
lical account because it was intenable in the light of geology. At
the same time he examined the scientific theories and dismissed
them also. Other theories that made allowances for greater duration
of time than "six days" — six revolutions of the earth around the
sun — while not completely satisfying, he tentatively accepted them
because there were no better ones.
Editor White, after reporting the substance of Harsen's survey,
pointed out that the best authorities rejected the theories that the
minister thought the more tenable, citing his authorities by author
and title. Among other scientific procedures, he cited philology, the
linguistic approach, as one form of authoritative evidence.1 White
was unhappy about one aspect of Harsen's performance. Although
he had reason to believe that the speaker was acquainted with "an
interpretation which is rational, scientific, and scriptural," he made
no reference to it. By this White meant Swedenborg's account of
creation, but the name was not specified and the matter was not
pushed. Indeed, the course of a minister was not easy. A few
weeks later, Bishop Bowman, of the Methodist church, delivered a
similar sermon, apparently taking comparable ground on the so-
called "long day" theory. Again Wliite disagreed. But one point
more is worthy of mention as evidence about how seriously this
generation took the subject. For two hours the bishop "riveted the
attention of the entire audience" — except a heavy weight of the
Wichita bar "who slept the sleep of the innocent" during the whole
time.2
The Methodist church sponsored a lecture series during three
winters, the early months of 1879, 1880, and 1881. Conspicuous
among the speakers were men who, at the time, were making sci-
ence and religion a lecture specialty. George E. Wendling, sched-
uled for January, 1879, cancelled his engagement on account of
illness but appeared in 1880 to deliver his reply to Ingersoll. Paige
appeared for three lectures, February 9-11, 1880; "The Origin and
Growth of the Worlds," "The Evolution of Life," and "Life." White
1. The books specifically cited were Eleazar Lord, The Epoch of Creation, Edward
Hitchcock, Religion of Geology, John Anderson, The Course of Creation. He referred also
to the Rev. Dr. Dickinson's introduction to Lord's book, and referred to the work of Dr.
Chalmers, of Scotland, without citing the title. — Wichita Weekly Beacon, November 21,
1877.
2. Ibid., January 30, 1878.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 199
was convinced only that the speaker was a materialist, who betrayed
religion in his own house. If White's reports were accurate, Paige's
information and logic were both quite faulty.3 The Wendling lec-
ture of 1880 drew the fire of the Rev. A. L. Vail, Baptist minister,
who pointed out, among other things, how in one form or another
William Paley's old argument was only given a new dress. Vail
insisted the finite mind could not prove God, the infinite: "The Bible
does not prove God, it announces him." White added that
Wendling's lecture contributed nothing new; that he was merely an
elocutionist.4 It was when Wendling came in 1881 that White
branded him as a Sartor Resartus — a mere mender of old clothes.5
Vail presented his own views on "Creation" during the summer of
1880, and in announcing the presentation White defined the situa-
tion in his characteristic fashion:
A subject of great interest to the scientific and theological mind. From
his stand point, that of literal record and not a divine allegory, Mr. Vail wall
handle it with ability, and he will interest his hearers even though they differ
from him.
Possibly it is not necessary to record White's view, that of divine
allegory according to Swedenborg, and that the minds of both Vail
and White were each equally firmly fixed.6
White's views on science and religion were manifested in several
ways, but some of them are appropriately entered into the record
here. Darwinism had not reached the point of extensive contro-
versy in this area and thus was given only brief attention. White
pointed out that — "Free determination was not a factor in Darwin's
doctrine of the 'Survival of the Fittest.'" Again "it cannot apply
to individuals who are supposed to live forever." Starting with man,
freedom of choice is basic fact, a man's future is "not settled by an
immutable law of the survival of the fittest." If it were, there would
be no alternative to the "Presbyterian doctrine of predestination and
foreordination." 7 "A true science is the essential basis of a true
religion. . . ." was one of White's assumptions, and "man must
reach God by the inductive process and must come back to himself
by the deductive process." Not by external force nor by acts of
legislation, does a man grow, only "by orderly development from
within. All development is according to use."
3. Ibid., January 15, 22, February 5, 1879; January 14, 21, February 11, 18, March 3,
1880.
4. Ibid., March 24, 1880.
5. Ibid., March 23, 1881. A Hatfield lecture was scheduled in 1881, ibid., AprU 6,
1881, but was not adequately reported.
6. Ibid., July 7, 1880.
7. Ibid., May 10, 1882.
200 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
White was convinced that "every mistake is an incentive and a
basis for correction," and that eventually:
He [man] will see clearly the effect in the cause, rather than, as now, the
cause in the effect. . . . Knowing causes he will have much more patience
in working out effects. ... He will know that the evil is in the cause,
and not in the effect. ... He will see that causes are essentially internal
and spiritual, and cannot be reached by any external remedy.
For White, "God is the causative cause, . . . the central life
of all life."8
At a session of the Allen Drug Store symposium, the principals
were two physicians, one of the soul, and one of the body, and the
subject was their respective public responsibilities. The physician
of the body argued that his private and his public life were separate,
his public responsibility attaching only to his professional character,
while his opponent was bound equally in both aspects of life. But
the physician of the soul concluded that "After all you are bound to
be as good a man as I am," and after the laugh, added, "As good
as I am, bound to be." The editor's verdict, when appealed to by
the soul doctor, was that every man was obliged to be right as far
as he had the light — but the external social effects were different
as among men. Significantly, the article was captioned: "Being
and Seeming."9
During 1885 Henry Ward Beecher was delivering in New York
a series of eight sermons on Evolution and Religion, later to be pub-
lished in book form. The sixth of these was on "The Bible and Evo-
lution," the purpose being a reconciliation of the two. White
thought that Beecher and many others were assuming that evolu-
tion was the standard of truth by which the Bible was to be
measured, and according to that standard the fate of the Bible as
true or false was to be determined. In other words, the Bible was
true only to the extent that it agreed with and anticipated modern
revelation by science. White stated his own position: "As a scien-
tific theory it [evolution] relates to what we call nature, and to
man as an animal, while the bible ... is a revelation of
man's spiritual birth and regeneration." Under the circumstances
White did not expect Beecher to remove any of the difficulties:
"evolution is yet a mere theory, and in fact will always remain a
hypothesis, more or less strongly buttressed by phenomena." 10
During the same year a group of young men organized the
Wichita Secular Union, or Liberal League and brought to the city a
8. Ibid., September 20, 1882.
9. Ibid., November 8, 1882.
10. Wichita Daily Beacon, July 2, 1885.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 201
so-called liberal, A. O. Phelps, for a series of lectures. Exercising
the prerogative of youth, who considered themselves intellectually
emancipated and quite sophisticated, they framed the announce-
ment of their enterprise in the following provocative language:
"These are liberal lectures — the kind that the 'truly good* call 'in-
fidel/ All are invited. Lectures free. . . ." n
After the first lecture, White reported that "in many respects Mr.
Phelps impresses us very favorably," but "Mr. Phelps is as extrava-
gant in his claims for Infidelity as the preachers are for so-called
Christianity, as to what each has done for civilization/' He was
given to exaggeration, to slovenly expression of thought, and as an
advocate, was lop-sided, but for perspective, White turned to
some general observations:
The world has moved forward or backward by two great systems — forward
by truths, backward by falsities. Freedom of thought has been the prime mover
in both, for there is freedom to think falsely as well as to think truly. The man
of the church has been as much in freedom of thought as the man not in the
church. Science has been as dogmatic as religion has been; and the man of the
church of to-day is as fully in the freedom of thought as the so-called scientific
thinker. The leaders of both find many servile followers.
Hahnemann and Harvey were persecuted as bitterly by the scientifics of the
past as the dissenters of the church were in their day. Gallileo, Bruno, Coper-
nicus, Tycho Brhae were sneered at, persecuted and maligned by the scientists
of their day fully as much as they were by the church. In fact, it is true that
the [scientific] fraternity largely instigated the church to persecute them. In
later days we sneered at Fulton, heaped ridicule on Morse, and called Darwin
a fool. Free thought in the church, as in the scientific school has eliminated
many errors. Truth in its entirety is the property of no man nor of any school.
With these preliminaries disposed of, White took up some of
Phelps' main points. First, the problem of infinite and finite. The
lecturer had challenged Christianity on the ground that finite man
can not comprehend any part of an infinite God such as the system
presumed. In spite of this indictment of religious thought, the
Phelps school of materialists posited eternal matter and infinite force.
White pointed out the paradox, and spelled out the conclusion that
if finite man could not comprehend an infinite God neither could he
comprehend an infinite force: "Mr. Phelps said he was talking phil-
osophically. Well, a good many philosophers have talked nonsensi-
cally and irrationally. We insist on holding Mr. Phelps down to the
full application of his doctrine of the unknowableness by the finite
mind of the infinite subject/' Although Herbert Spencer was not
named, the terminology of matter, force, and the unknowable sug-
gest that Phelps was a disciple.
11. Ibid., September 28, 1885.
202 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
"Mr. Phelps said that religion was a matter of geography and
brain boundary." — that is an environmental determinist. White took
the opposite extreme of heredity as a determinist, or at this point
appeared to do so. But in the following paragraph he reasserted his
usual contention. To Phelps' contention that if religion was true, it
should produce the same results in Mexico as in Massachusetts,
White countered that science should do likewise. But White insisted
that in both cases: "Each receives according to his genius, accord-
ing to his heredity, and variously according to his receptivity."
Prayer was an object of Phelps' ridicule and White reminded him:
"That was not scientific. A careful teacher will distinguish between
form and essence — between use and abuse. Prayer, in its essence,
is the innermost desire of the soul, and all men not only receive but
act from this principle/' Although objecting to the illustration of the
mother-child relationship used, the old bachelor "self-abnegator," at
any rate, revealed himself in the correction offered: "Every act of
the mother is in answer to the prayer of the child. The child is a
bundle of prayer appealing to the mother." It might reach for a
flame or for the moon. So man might "ask for the impossible or the
hurtful." Apparently the statement had been made that, although
there was no proof of God, yet, should there be one, Phelps could
trust him without knowing anything about him and need not pray
to him. White interjected: "Nothing could be more unscientific."
The editor's view was that trust is in relation to knowledge. He sug-
gested that Phelps "resurrected some old dogmas and then reburied
them." Phelps claimed "that if a [theological] dogma was true four
or five centuries ago, it ought to be true now." If so, White insisted
that the same principle would apply to scientific dogmas. He re-
minded Phelps that "a dogma is not the truth, but our apprehension
of the truth . . ." and was subject to reappraisal.12
In WTiite's remarks introductory to his report on the next lecture,
he conceded that from Phelps' standpoint the lecture was an able
presentation: "But we object to his standpoint. We do not think
it a central one." Two themes received attention in the report: a
further comparative discussion of theological and scientific hypothe-
ses, and a refutation of Phelps' evaluation of doubt.
On the first of these subjects White stated his own view:
Theology, so far as it is hypothetical, is scientific just as much as evolution is.
Both are erected upon the experiences and observations of men, and science may
be rational or irrational. The Ptolemaic system was scientific, but it was irra-
12. Ibid., September 29, 1885.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 203
tional. Scientific theology has its free thinkers as well as Scientific Evolution,
Conservation of Energy, the molecular or the atomic theories of scientists.
Theology has its hypotheses and science so-called, has, if anything, more.
Even the most exact sciences must start from axiomatic, self-evident truths,
which the mind accepts, almost intuitively. Theology has its enlightened doubt-
ers who have faith in better things, and more rational theories and systems of
truth. It is in the loud-mouthed whoopers-up on the outskirts of thought who
hold to the irrational dogmas so well, so soundly and so effectively denounced
by Mr. Phelps.
Two points may be placed in sharper focus at this stage of the
presentation: first, systems of thought are frequently brought into
a disrepute by irresponsible controversalists who confuse the essen-
tial issues by injecting elements that are not central, secondly, nega-
tive and destructive criticism is easy, offers opportunity for notoriety,
but is not necessarily an evidence of any capacity for constructive
or original thought.
Phelps had opened his second lecture with a glorification of
doubt; all advancement was "ascribed to doubt and the doubters."
White condemned this extreme position as unphilosophical and un-
scientific; 'It was a one-sided statement of the case, and that the
unconsequential side — the negative side. The truth is that doubt
never accomplished anything/* Possibly he had forgotten the second
and third of his own "Sartor Resartus" contributions to the Beacon
of February and March, 1875, when he had taken the same ex-
treme application of the Descartian principle of doubt. At any
rate, a decade had intervened and now he replied to Phelps that:
"It is the affirmative state of the mind that enables it to perform
every act which is its own act. . . . The thinker constructs his
philosophy not on doubt, but on faith. The doubting architect
would never build a magnificent temple. The man who denies
does not doubt or he would not deny. He denies because he sees
intellectually and rationally, and then he constructs by rational
faith/' In other words, denial is not rationally possible except the
denier has faith, positive conviction about constructive thought.
But lest he had been too negative in his criticisms, White con-
cluded his remarks by asserting: "We like any man who can stir
the people to think/* 13
Phelps delivered four lectures in his series, the first three, Sep-
tember 28-30, financed by the Secular Union, the fourth, October
1, was a test of local interest, which was negative, the voluntary
collection yielded only four dollars. This final lecture had ridiculed
13. Ibid., September 30, 1885.
204 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the Christian plan of salvation. Whether or not he approved the
method of argument is not clear, but White made his position un-
equivocally clear that no literalist could answer Phelps or Inger-
soll.14
The Secular Union's lecture series had focused attention
upon two points of view; those of the materialist, Phelps, and the
Swedenborgian theologian — Editor White. So far as the orthodox
Christian ministry was concerned both were heretics. The cham-
pion of orthodoxy who entered the lists was the Rev. E. H. Edson,
the rector of St. Johns Protestant Episcopal Church, a relative new-
comer to Wichita. A young man himself, he issued an invitation
directed "especially to the young men of the city," the formal
published "card" being headlined: "To the Liberal League," and
dated October 23, 1885. On successive Sunday evenings, a series of
three lectures would be given on the general theme, "Evidences of
Christianity." Evidently Edson intended to be tactful and correct
in his approach, explaining carefully that:
These lectures are not intended to be an answer to any man, nor a challenge
to any. I respect the individual rights of all men, and no individual or class of
individuals will be assailed. . . . From the title of your society and its
work in the past I infer that you desire to receive light upon the subject of my
lectures. . . .
In response to the first lecture "One of the Liberals," or so he
signed himself, reported "What they think of it," — "dogmatic and
pedagogical," and
Mr. Edson quite mistakes the character, intelligence and experience of the
members of the Secular Union, if he expects to effect any change of their
views by the stale sylogistic sophisms and theological dogmas. The story of
the watch found in the desert, etc.
Every portion of matter exhibits phenomena, but no one can hence reason
that these phenomena are the result of intelligent design. They are the
product of the properties of matter.
Of course, the young liberal was too immature philosophically
to realize that he had given no answer to the question; he had only
restated it in a different form which required him to explain how
matter had acquired the identifiable properties which he assigned
to it.
"Another Liberal" criticized adversely Edson's title "The Evi-
dences of Christianity" and demanded definitions of God, of Christi-
anity, proof of the existence of God, or of the Christian conception
of God. He insisted there are many Gods. He asked whether the
14. Ibid., October 5, 1885.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 205
Edson God meant "an aggregate of natural forces," or "a person of
parts and passions, a material substance, a something separate and
apart from nature, or natural forces." Edson said that no one had
proved there was no God, but the "Liberal" countered that Edson
not only assumed a God, but requires "us to believe or be damned,"
and excluded all other Gods. In general terms the "Liberal" in-
sisted that all people believed in Gods, and used the same argu-
ment Edson used; even Thomas Paine would have accepted it.
Furthermore "Liberal" pointed out that evidence of general truths
did not prove that they were the exclusive property of Christianity.
Also, even if the idea of God was accepted, that did not prove that
the earth was made in six days, and "that he made man, and did
such a bad job of it that it was necessary to murder a part of himself
to correct the blunder, and that even this is only a partial correc-
tion." In closing, the "Liberal" reminded Edson that he had
promised information: "We hope he will define his terms and get
down to business. . . . We want evidence, if he has it. Nothing
but facts will do us. Let Mr. Edson try again." 15
The second Edson lecture afforded no more satisfaction to the
young men of the Secular Union than the first. The liberal who
commented in a letter to the Beacon explained that he had not
considered it "advisable to offer any criticisms on the stale absurdi-
ties advanced . . ." and then continued sententiously:
for it did not appear that those who had listened to such dogmas for many
years, and who still hold allegiance to them, would patiently consider anything
presented in opposition to them; and unprejudiced investigators in search of
naked truth readily discovered that the lecture was but a series of postulates —
empty shells, pericarps of a past age, shed from an old theological tree that
grew from the soil of ignorance in an atmosphere of superstition and dread.
With reluctance, however, this "Liberal" yielded to the insistence
of his associates. He conceded, in a qualified form, Edson's propo-
sition that things are believed that are not known — yes, tentatively,
when not contrary to known facts. He rejected Edson's comparison
of the morals of heathendom and Christianity by contrasting
ancient Rome with modern England and America, challenging as
a matter of method, the contrast of civilizations from different time
periods. Lastly, "Liberal" rejected Edson's definition of God —
according to Edson, God "amounted to a nothing-something," and a
miracle was a war against nature by this "nothing-something" in
which nature is defeated for a time.16 Without Edson's own lan-
15. Ibid., October 24, 28, 30, 1885.
18. Ibid., November 7, 1885.
206 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
guage, or a more objective summary of it as a guide, it is impossi-
ble to conclude with certainty what Edson had said. The wording
reported implies that Edson's definition of God was in the tradi-
tion of mystical Christianity under the influence of Neoplatonism.
The miracle reference implies that "Liberal" was thinking in the
mechanistic tradition of Greek philosophy which posited the prin-
ciple that every effect must have a cause. The Swedenborg theol-
ogy had followed the Neoplatonic version that made no exception
even in the case of "miracles."
The Beacon did not print any criticism of the third of Edson's
lectures, from the liberal point of view, but White himself took
over the task of summing up. The situation had become most
complex and reflected much more than what appeared on the sur-
face. The evidence is not available from which to make a satis-
fying analysis, but some of the more obvious elements may be
specified. Edson's tenure as rector had been brief, but the attend-
ance had grown beyond the capacity of the church; the building
was remodeled and enlarged, being completed in September, and
officially recognized in the visit of Bishop Vail in mid-October.
At that time Bishop Vail had been most tactful in complimenting
the congregation and the rector, including a rather insistent ad-
monition urged upon all, "the duty of ... tolerance in their
dealings with one another. . . . The motto of the Church is
'Unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials and charity in all
things/" As already noted, in another context, Edson preached
his farewell sermon in March, 1886, explaining how he had been
compelled to resign because of the issue of freedom of opinion.
The Secular Union lectures had come immediately after Bishop
Vail's visit. Here is a case where there was more fire than visible
smoke.
As commentator on the lectures, White was speaking as an out-
sider as respects both the church and the union. Speaking of Ed-
son's series: "The effort was certainly deserving of a larger hear-
ing ... his style and matter indicate maturity of intellect."
White made no attempt to summarize the doctrinal arguments,
pointing out that as was necessary in order to convince others, Ed-
son had first convinced himself of their validity: "He has dis-
ciplined his intellect to implicit belief; after all, probably the most
enviable state of mind." In conclusion White insisted that: "In
these lectures, Mr. Edson has acquitted himself with much credit.
They have been scholarly, earnest and eloquent and would make
a good showing in printed form." One victory on White's part
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 207
should not be passed over without recognition. By heroic effort
he had refrained from disagreeing with anything said by either
Edson or the liberal letter writers, or from using their remarks as a
peg upon which to hang a Swedenborgian lecture. He had a more
immediate and delicate office to perform.
Edson did not get off unscathed. White wrote in much the
same spirit which he had noted about four weeks earlier in re-
porting Vail's visit: "The venerable Bishop Vail preached an af-
fectionate discourse ... in which the advice of a father was
mingled with the dignity of the sage." This is all the more note-
worthy for White because Edson had taken exception to one of
White's extended editorial essays on the theory of government and
had persisted in having his say through several sharp exchanges.
But returning to the Secular Union lectures question, White com-
mented:
Mr. Edson is yet a young man. . . . Of course, as a young champion, he
feels it incumbent on himself to make formal battle with the foes of Christianity,
still the reporter doubts the efficacy of any set argument on this subject. If
at this day Christianity is not a proved and substantiated fact, it can never be
made so by discussion.
The next step in the task of orienting the unfortunate controversy
in the perspective of history demonstrated White's role as sage:
It has been fifteen centuries now since Celsus [c. 180] made his celebrated
argument against the religion of Christ. This covered every objection that
has ever been urged, and is the quiver from which Voltaire, Payne, and In-
gersoll and the whole crowd of infidels have drawn their keenest shafts. At
the time this argument of Celsus was made Christianity was yet struggling for
existence, and every point he made met with instant and hearty approval in
both the literary and scientific circles of the [Roman] empire. The claims of
Christianity were certainly effectually answered and refuted, so far as human
reason could do it. But strange as it may seem, the Christians not only sur-
vived this tremendous shock, but it seemed to inspire them. . . . [soon]
pagan Rome bowed to the supremacy of the cross.17
Revivalist Methods
Well established in the traditions of many of the Protestant re-
ligious denominations was the annual revival meeting, or protracted
meeting. Because services were held at least once a day over a
period of some weeks, the regular pastor was assisted by other
ministers of the community in some form of joint or co-operative
effort, or a preacher and/or a singer was brought in — often people
who were more or less professional exhorters. When the Metho-
dist revival was scheduled for February, 1877, Editor White agreed
17. Ibid., November 9, 1885. The account of Vail's visit is in ibid., October 19, 1885.
208 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
that "a revival of true religion is one of the great needs of the day."
He objected however to emotionalism and excitement of fear as
the basis of decision:
Let us have a new departure in the methods and aims of this revival. Arouse
and convince the rational faculties rather than appeal to the fear of punish-
ment or the hope of reward, both of which are based upon pure selfishness
which is the essence of hell.
Again, placing the negative and the positive in contrast, and im-
plying the term conversion as distinct from regeneration, he ad-
monished: "Tell us that regeneration is not the operation of a mo-
ment, nor of the duration of a revival . . . ; that it is the work
of a lifetime, however lengthened. . . . Religion teaches men, not
how to die, but how to live here, in order to live hereafter." Further-
more, in emphasizing that conversion actuated by fear of punish-
ment or hope of reward was "pure selfishness/' self-love, the source
of evil and "the essence of hell," he emphasized in the positive
sense that "true religion" includes not only the individual, but so-
ciety, government, justice, equity, "that it is the very breath of the
physical, moral and spiritual life of every man." All this was "New
Church" doctrine, but without the label, and White was urging this
doctrine in true Swedenborgian tradition; not as that of a compet-
ing denomination or sect, but as a religion of life adapted into the
existing churches, until unity of doctrine would ultimate in unity
in one church: "Orderly, gradual and continuous growth is the law
of the spiritual as well as the physical man." 18
The following year White challenged the sermon of the Rev. J. P.
Harsen, Presbyterian minister, on the conversion of Zacheus, insist-
ing that it cannot be synonymous with regeneration. By conversion,
White insisted, a man "has simply ceased to do evil; and then he
must learn, gradually, to do well. He can, and will have to, learn
while life lasts." Furthermore, he can never attain "the humanly
possible state of regeneration." White persisted in urging the prac-
tical importance of the distinction by arguing that the doctrine of
instantaneous conversion and regeneration was not only untrue, but
hurtful — there were innumerable causes that have led up to a con-
version. Harsen replied to the Beacon, defining his view of con-
version and of sanctification, equating the latter term with White's
term regeneration, not warranted by the Bible. In Harsen's lan-
guage, regeneration is an act, not a process: "Regeneration is the
work of God; conversion is the work of man." Evidently, the two
18. Weekly Beacon, February 14, 1877.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 209
men were not using the same language, although they were using
the same English words.19
Only a few selected examples can be used here, chosen to illus-
trate so wide a variety of implications of revival practice as they
stimulated White into action. One of these instances occurred in
November-December, 1881, when the Rev. John Kelly was being
assisted by a Mr. Gibler. The latter organized his sermon on re-
demption under three heads: Who came? for what? and the
scope of His work? The answer to the first question was that
Christ came as the "representative man/' The second question was
answered: "He came, only and solely, to die! ! ! That is so-called
orthodoxy boiled down." White argued that if Christ came as a
representative, a vicarious Savior, to assume the penalty for the
sins of the world and expiate them on the Cross — that and nothing
else — then he was totally distinct from God. That was inconsistent
with his Godhead.
Conventionally, the Cross was associated with death; but White
insisted there is no death, not even of the natural body which never
lived, only transformations of the material into successive recep-
tacles of life in innumerable forms since Adam. In this context,
Christ's material body did not die. In such a universe the only kind
of death is of the soul, and this is not annihilation — the soul is eternal
— but also mere change of form. The death from which Christ
came to save men was the substantial death of the soul — the kind
of death that came into the world with the fall of Adam. God did
not create death, "He is life. . . ." Spiritual death for man in
this sense is suffering the torments of hell to eternity. If Christ was
a substitute, a representative man, according to this reasoning he
would be suffering the torments of hell to eternity. Actually, Christ's
so-called death on the Cross was not redemption, it was a crime,
murder, not a holy sacrifice, but incidental to redemption: "The
real sacrifice He made, was in the consecration of His assumed hu-
manity to the work of redemption. He came ... to point out
the path of life and to remove ... the hellish obstacles that
prevented man's from walking there in." The death of Christ on the
Cross, at the hands of the Jews, White insisted, represented the con-
summation of the Jewish church, done by the will and acts of de-
praved men. Christ came to re-establish the Kingdom of God on
earth and in heaven — the Christian church to replace the Israelitish
church.
19. Ibid., February 20, 27, 1878.
14—8804
210 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
White was certain that the preacher was equally in error about
the scope of Christ's works: "The Lord came, and comes contin-
ually, not to save men from the penalty of their sins," but "to give us
the truth, that it might persuade . . . us" and thus "save us
from" further sinning. According to Swedenborg's rationalism,
every sin had its penalty; for sins already committed the penalties
followed as cause and effect, and according to order no penalty
could be remitted or transferred — not even the Lord could inter-
vene contrary to order.20
At the revival meetings one type of religious doctrine was being
expounded and the success of the effort in terms of conversions de-
pended upon the ability of the exhorters to convince their hearers of
the exclusive truth of their plan of salvation. On the other hand,
White's unrelenting attack was devastating; his adverse criticisms of
the validity of their doctrine, and his presentation of his own, argued
with incisive logic, was directed to appeal to the rational faculty in
contrast with emotion and fear. In addition to the issue of validity
of religious doctrine in itself, he was repeatedly going further and
was declaring unequivocally that the revivalist doctrines were not
only false, but they were positively vicious, sinful, and that these
"false doctrines" were "the cause of evil." That was his headline,
and a few months earlier, he had declared with brutal directness that
the doctrine of the "vicarious Atonement is ... the prime
cause of social evils and disorders of the world. It amounts to a
license to sin . . .," and under the delusion of escaping the pen-
alties by a last minute "conversion." The plain implication was that
this doctrine upon which the revival was based was a fraud perpe-
trated by the church upon a gullible public — that the "license to
sin" had no efficacy.21 In addition, the questions of religion and the
liquor traffic, in its prohibition phase, had become entangled and the
revivalists tended to make liquor and its associations the chief source
of evil in Kansas. The fury of Kelly's blasts at the Wichita press and
especially at the Beacon are thus easily understandable.22
Revival efforts continued through January, 1882, attention being
focused for most of the month upon the efforts of a woman evange-
list, a Mrs. Rogers. Evidently, White was much impressed by her
personality and ability. At the close of her series of meetings he
conceded the great interest she had aroused, but only time would
20. Ibid., December 7, 1881.
21. Ibid., August 3, 1881.
22. Ibid., December 7, 14, 1881. This one, and later conflicts, have been presented in
the section on "The Pulpit and the Press."
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 211
tell, he warned, about the lasting results. Any failure, he reminded
his readers, was not her fault, but her honesty, warmth of heart, and
other qualities could prevent the evil results of false principles and
irrational methods:
A falsity in the church (a spiritual sphere) flows down with a demoralizing
and degrading effect into all the so-called practical spheres. We term them
"so-called practical" spheres for we profoundly believe that the spiritual sphere
of all spheres is the most practical, for in that sphere is built up and culminates
all the activities of life on all planes of thought and action. The spiritual
sphere, represented by the church, is the character sphere, and character is
the only treasure that any man can lay up against the day of wrath — the only
treasure that moth and rust will not corrupt. Every rational man must hope
that her labors were full of substantial meat and drink which will strengthen
and vitalize the moral tone of this city.23
On Sunday morning, January 29, the Rev. J. D. Hewitt, Presby-
terian, asked the general question why the world had not been
converted, and answered: "Because their deeds are evil, therefore
they love darkness rather than light." White reported this much
of the preacher's idea with qualified approval resorting to his
characteristic "but" technique: "That is the truth, but it is not all
of the truth. May not the quality of the light be some to blame?
Evidently the Lord thought so, for He came to bring light to the
world. Is it not possible that the light He brought has been ob-
scured or falsified?" The editor reminded his readers that Protes-
tants accused the Catholics of having obscured the light: "Let
the [Protestant] church examine the quality of the light it calls
divine light."
Regardless of Hewitt's possible response to this admonition, White
pretended to do some examining on his own account. The Rev.
John Kelly was the recipient of the honor of the Beacons presence
at the evening service of the same Sunday where the minister
proposed to follow up the revival series by Wednesday evening
cottage prayer meetings. The city was divided for this purpose
into four sections, and the homes of as many members of the con-
gregation were designated as meeting places, a general service to
follow at the church on Thursday evening. Kelly announced that
these exercises were to be continued until Wichita was saved.
White pointed out that this procedure was not in the Apostolic
tradition: "they were sent out to teach the truth" and the people
convinced rationally of the truth accepted it and were saved by
His loving mercy. On the contrary, "the tenor of Brother Kelly's
prayer, Sunday night, was an appeal to God to have mercy and
23. Ibid., January 25, 1882.
212 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
save the people. That was a waste of breath." It was worse:
"every appeal for mercy is a charge that He is not a merciful and
saving God. . . . Praying won't save the people. The idea
that God will save men because of somebody else's prayer, is a
monstrous heresy." White admonished them: "If these prayer
meetings are to bring a pressure on God to save Wichita, they will
be a failure. God will come to Wichita as fast as Wichita will re-
ceive Him, and if Wichita won't receive Him, He can't come. The
people are not to be converted by this beseiging throne of grace."
White had referred them to the Apostolic method, the teaching of
the truth to the people; the decision to accept it was theirs not
God's: "He has mercy, infinite mercy, all the time" if only man
will receive — "Wichita is to be saved [if she is saved] by a knowl-
edge of God's truth, and an obedience to His commands. . . ." 24
In the same issue of the Beacon and in the same context, White
wrote another editorial, not captioned, but later referred to as
"Prayer and the Mercy of God." The inspiration for the article
reached back by a chain of circumstances to the German philoso-
pher-scientist and poet, Goethe. As attributed to him, at second
hand, he had admitted "that he never read of a murder or any other
horrid crime that he did not fear that under certain conditions he
might be capable of perpetrating the same." A distinguished Ameri-
can minister had confessed that the identical sentiment, applied to
himself, but drew his own conclusion: "Brethern, if we are not
murderers, burglars and incendiaries, it is due to the mercy of God
which has prevented us from the commission of these crimes."
This rationalization infuriated White — a selective mercy of God!
Such "mercy" is not mercy, and such a God who could but would
not prevent murder and thus save both murderer and victim
"is no God worthy of the name. . . . The spirit of murder leads to the
act, and there is no power in Heaven or on Earth to prevent a man having the
spirit or cultivating the spirit of murder, save the man himself, and man can
prevent himself only so far as he receives into his mind and heart those
principles of mercy, of love to God and the neighbor, which our Father is
continually offering to each of us."
In White's opinion the key to the whole problem was self-love:
"The love of self has in it the possibility of every crime. The sup-
pression of this love of self is man's duty and not God's. Man
must have the desire to suppress it, or God can give him no power to
do it."
In undertaking to answer one minister, White succeeded only in
24. Ibid., February 1, 1882.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 213
arousing another. Elder Poole, of the Christian church read the
above editorial in the pulpit and commented upon it the following
Sunday, branding it "poor logic and poor theology. . . . God
never comes to any man. Man must go to God/' White repeated
substantially his previous central points. Although not so prevalent
as formerly, he pointed out that the opinion still prevailed "to an
alarming extent, that the will and purposes of God are to be
changed by prayer. . . . that God is not always merciful, but
is made merciful by the prayer . . ." of man. "If a man knew
what he was doing it would be blasphemous." In his closing
sentence, White stated his own doctrine by a definition: "Prayer
is an outward expression of an inward desire, and it works a change
in the suppliant and not in God."25
When a minister provided an opportunity White praised him, al-
though, as in the case of Hewitt, on occasion he had disagreed with
him on doctrine, and waged open warfare on him on account of his
participation in prohibition politics. Hewitt's sermon of April 2,
1882, was reported under the caption, "The Dawn" when White pro-
nounced the message as "correct doctrine." In this Hewitt had
controverted the common idea of conversion, and compared the
spiritual growth to the natural growth of the animal and vegetable
kingdoms. "Conversion was just the beginning of the new life.
. . . All truth . . . must be received by the individual in
freedom. No force or compulsion must be used to compel him to
receive it in his understanding and affections. . . ." 26
Three years later a review of the revival issue called attention to
two in progress in Wichita proper, and one in West Wichita, all
crowded. According to the conventional language on such occa-
sions, many souls were being saved, but — that ubiquitous but — "If
these revivals are of any spiritual value to the man and to the com-
munity, we will see the effects in our social and business life." Since
the revivals had been in progress two suicides and two attempts at
murder had occurred. Although there was no necessary connection,,
self-love drove to crime and to the mourners' bench. The fear upon
which the revival thrived was the same as the fear of the peniten-
tiary. And then White inquired whether schools and colleges could
teach their subject by emotion and fear? — "Next to the character
25. Ibid., February 8, 1882. Men had become so accustomed to pressure, organized1
to persuade; propaganda had become so prevalent in man's thought; and principle of right
and wrong so hazy, that the assumption was tacitly made that all that was ever necessary,
even at the spiritual level, was to organize and apply pressure to God, and he would yield
as group conditioned men yield under the "group struggle" principle of operations.
26. Ibid., April 5, 1882.
214 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of the truths taught, comes, in importance, the methods of teach-
ing." Nearly two years later, and shortly before leaving his editorial
chair, White was still teaching his own doctrine, and was objecting
to teaching religion by emotion: "Religion is not something for a
man to get. It is something for the man to be. It is a life, and
not a mere faith or belief. . . ." 27
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; MAN, FREEDOM, AND USE
The effect upon society of science and technology through
mechanical powered machines had been a matter of increasing
concern with the passing of the 19th century. Particularly dis-
turbed were those who were anxious about the fate of human
freedom. Central to White's philosophy was freedom — not "Lib-
erty, Equality, and Fraternity." Two very different philosophies.
In watching railroad consolidation, the growth of other industrial
monopolies, the concentration of capital in corporations, the arbi-
trary conduct of organized labor, White asserted that:
Every new invention, ever[y] fresh discovery of science seems to increase the
wealth in the hands of the few. . . .
Machinery in the hands of selfish capital, is not only not emancipating,
but enslaving, the masses, and by the division, subdivision and unlimited
specialization of skilled labor, the class of artisans is becoming degraded into
mere factory hands, hardly one of whom can make a shoe, a coat, a piano
or an engine. The number is constantly decreasing, of those who can take
their kit of tools and start out to do for themselves. In the first place they
are not educated as artisans, but are skilled only in the manufacture of parts,
and in the second place they cannot compete against capital. They are as
much tied down to the factories of their masters as the serfs of Russia were
to the soil. Every incorporated company for any purpose, is a blow at the
individual independence of the man.28
White was most accurate in analysis of what was taking place;
the passing of the skilled artisan and the deprivation of the worker
of even the opportunity to feel pride in the thing he made and the
skill with which he wrought a completed product. With this loss
of pride in his trade and in himself as an artisan, the worker was
without incentive. White was himself an artisan, a printer by the
apprentice route. The artisan's trade was a way of life as well
as employment by which to earn a living. Although White's pri-
mary concern in this editorial was the artisan, small business and
the farmer were involved. The corporation was the nemesis of
small business. The farmer, under the impact of the horse-power
27. Daily Beacon, January 31, 1885; November 15, 1888.
28. Weekly Beacon, June 29, 1881.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 215
revolution in agriculture and the mechanization of other segments
of society, was experiencing a different but a comparable displace-
ment. White had been a farmer and still owned a farm, and was
a partner in a newspaper plant faced with the hazards of bigness.
As individual enterprises, owners of farms and small businesses
had had pride in their personal independence and accomplishment.
But all three, artisan, farmer, and small business man, found them-
selves threatened or deprived of their traditional position and
function in this flux induced by mechanization of society and had
not succeeded in a new orientation and adjustment. As were
some others, White was analyzing with keen perception what was
taking place, but without finding in positive terms the means of
adjustment to the new conditions of life that would afford incentive
to effort, pride in work, and safeguards to freedom. The old had
slipped away without the new being created, and the result was
frustration and blind revolt. And the end was not yet. Was a
reconciliation possible, not of freedom to mechanization, but of
mechanization to freedom?
The subject could be discussed at length in this strictly presentist
context, but something would still be wanting. Man's primitive past
arises yet to haunt him. Through the process by which he is said
to have been civilized from a state of savagery, he learned the
ideal of combining his contriving brain and his skillful hand in
conceiving an idea and actualizing it out of raw or unformed ma-
terial. Aristotle called this entelechy — potentiality actualized.
God is pure Act. Man, the microcosm, expresses his innermost
self and comes nearest to his realization of God in exercising this
freedom to convert his potentiality into Act. Being finite, not in-
finite, he falls short of pure Act, but his ideal is not satisfied unless
he has done the best his talents and circumstances permit.
Aristotle defined virtue in these terms, "if everything is success-
fully performed when it it performed in accordance with its proper
excellence, it follows that the good of man is an activity of soul
in accordance with virtue. . . ." The Christian mystics had
emphasized this practical aspect as integral also with the complete
life. John Tauler, the German mystic, has expressed this ideal —
to make shoes so as "to be a pattern to all/' Dr. Carl Jung, psychia-
trist, insists that mankind has acquired a "collective unconscious,"
but whether or not this is valid, human culture has developed an
archetype of cultural behavior that is more deeply embedded in
his individuality than man is aware — as economics, as ethics, as
216 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
aesthetics, as unity of personality, and as unity in God. Mechaniza-
tion had made the worker "skilled only in the manufacture of
parts" — neither his life nor the thing made was an expression
of completion, self-realization.
Referring some months later to the game of shinny, White titled
an editorial: "Every Fellow Shinnies On His Own Side" — his goal
is victory for himself: "Self-love is the deadly virus in religion,
in politics, in society, in the family and in the individual," and
breeds war, not peace. He then paraphrased Swedenborg: "self-
love and love of the world are the ruling loves of the hells; they
make hell. . . . the love of God and the neighbor are the
ruling loves of the heavens — they make heaven." Likewise, follow-
ing Swedenborg, knowledge in and for itself is not virtue. Its
instruments are subject to use for either good or for evil:
Every discovery of science, every victory over the silent and imponderable
agencies of nature only place new instruments of torture and death in the hands
of self-love. Every school, college and seminary of learning, every advance and
development of the intellect of the age, is but increasing the power of evil.
Society is engaged in a desperate struggle against the evils that infest it, and
the warfare is in vain, because society manufactures them faster than it eradi-
cates. . . .
White saw the fatal error inherent in this system, motivated by the
evil of self-love, embodied in the penal or police state as the ex-
ponent of a blind faith in regeneration of man by the enactment of a
law and coercion in its enforcement. His argument was that the in-
tervention of the police state deprived man of freedom of choice,
thus also of the personal responsibility for his acts that is essential to
ethical conduct. Incidentally, the statement of this basic ethical
principle occurred at least as far back in time as Aristotle. The faith
in the efficacy of a law in the hands of the police state was a major
delusion of the late 19th century:
The ingenuity of the evil forces of society surpass the ingenuity of the law
makers, and no law can be made that self-love cannot drive through it with a
coach and four. And yet the moral and religious elements of society have be-
come so depraved and impotent that, for every form of evil, internal and ex-
ternal, they seek an external application of force.
But basic to White's contention was the insistence that the origin
of evil is internal, whether corruption in office, the ruthless exactions
of monopolies, the abuses of labor unions, the liquor traffic, murder,
sex crimes, or theft. "Penal statutes and policemen" applied ex-
ternally to the outward manifestations of evil are worse than futile.
They aggravate the evil by requiring more statutes and policemen,
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 217
an endless cumulative spiral. Evil, being internal, requires an in-
ternal remedy, "The Golden Rule of God," and, "The remedy will
have to be worked out through the slow procession of the centuries.
... In the meantime there will be revolution in the religious,
civil and social ethics of to-day." 29
The ice and snow storm of February 21, 1882, snapped off tele-
phone poles, snarled the wires, and disrupted communications.
Telephone service was quite new, but already it was a necessity.
The storm was more than local, paralyzing New York City's com-
munications and causing losses or even disaster over a large part of
the world already dependent upon machines:
This slight interruption showed us how convenient and necessary this latest
scientific appliance has become. Science is ameliorating the condition of the
people, facilitating exchanges, increasing the supplies, multiplying our pro-
ductive facilities, and in many ways, revolutionizing the industries and thought
of the world, and while we seem to be growing more independent, richer and
more prosperous, yet we are becoming more dependent upon these external
mechanical appliances. If they work well it is all right. If they work badly, it's
all wrong.
White questioned whether the individual was "deriving substan-
tial benefit" from the machinery and labor saving devices. Although
"in the aggregate we seem to be growing stronger, it is a growing at
the expense of the individual and the growth is only seeming. If all
. . . labor . . . could be performed by machinery, would
the world be strong or weak?" There would be production, but no
one with the means to buy. If supply doubles and wants increase
at the same ratio is a man any richer? If a machine makes possible
the discharge of 75 percent of the workers and no one else is in a
position to employ them, "has it added anything to the sum of human
happiness?" Labor saving machines require long readjustment pe-
riods:
In every new discovery and application of mechanical energy, there is loss
and destruction to some vested interest, and adaptation to the changed condi-
tion is accomplished with loss, distress and sore suffering. Substitution of one
thing requires the death of the other thing, and what is one man's gain is an-
other man's loss. The human family seems to be preying on itself, as well as on
all below it. Is this its normal condition? ... If the genius of one man
discovers a new and useful application of the forces of nature, he has to seek
the protection of the law against those who would rob him of the reward and
the profits of his discovery, and he in turn becomes a robber in levying an ex-
cessive royalty on all the public.
29. Ibid., December 7, 1881, supplementing especially the preceding citation. The
major arguments about the interrelations among the three types of institutions, church
school, and state — are too numerous to make any complete citation practicable.
218 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
In every invention of machines, there is a surrender of individual power and
independence to the machine. If a man owns a horse, he surrenders a part of
his vitality to the horse, and finally the horse becomes a necessity. . . . The
question is how long can we stand the surrender of vital force to machinery?
Isn't our servant, science, becoming our master?
The world rides to-day, whereas yesterday it walked, and its "calves" are
dwindling in size and strength, and if tomorrow it was deprived of its vehicles
it couldn't walk because it has no "calves."
There is a quick adaptation to the luxury of scientific supports, to mechanical
aids and whatever strength the machine gets the body loses. The man and the
machine are strong combined, but divide them by natural or artificial causes
and both are impotent.30
In all this apparently pessimistic analysis of science, invention, and
machines, White wrote in Swedenborgian perspective. Conspicu-
ously applicable to the problem in hand was the doctrine of uses.
Knowledges, sciences, learning, skills, — by whatever name they were
instruments which man in freedom might use for good or for evil.
Pointedly, and with a certain partisan zest, sharpened by many en-
counters, White took the Topeka Commonwealth to task on the sub-
ject of science in the schools — "Tell us, 'What For?" The Common-
wealth had said that: "it cannot be considered true that the world
was made for man, but it is certainly true that if there exists a science
that cannot be shown to be useful to man, that science is unworthy
of human study." White asked two questions. First, if the world
was not made for man, "what was it made for?" Second, what is
use? The second proposition:
strikes us as supremely nonsensical. "Science" is a comprehensive term. It
means, to know. Knowledge is the fundamental basis or foundation for all the
rational, moral and spiritual faculties, without which the latter could not cohere
or even exist, not even in the divine mind. All that a man knows relates to him-
self; all that he is capable of knowing, and we know of no limit to his capacity,
relates to him. The very knowledge of himself depends upon his knowledge of
his environments, and the conception of the existence of a science that has no
use is impossible or unthinkable. Even though such a science existed and man
were conscious of the fact, the knowledge of the fact would broaden the man's
intellectual vision and therefore the nonuseful science would have its use. The
writer evidently has a narrow and sensuous conception of the "useful" — it, to
him, means bread and butter.31
The theme of "Cure vs Quackery" afforded White the opportunity
to castigate comparatively some "sacred cows"; the medical pro-
fession, the church, and the law. His contention was that a remedy
always aggravates the disease:
30. Ibid., February 22, 1882.
31. Ibid., February 6, 1884. Among other articles touching on the general theme was
one in the Daily Beacon, May 5, 1885, commenting that instead of swords being beaten
into plowshares, the reverse was taking place on a grand scale. Another discussed the
Mason cotton picker, which was to be placed on the market. — Ibid., June 26, 1885.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 219
The remedy is not a cure, it is the effect of the disease. If there were no
disease there would be no remedy. . . . The quacks of the physical
sphere are called doctors: the quacks of the social sphere are called lawyers
and statesmen.
The so-called church is the prolific mother of quackery. Its scheme of
salvation — the vicarious atonement, and all the correlatives, and the conse-
quential dogmatics flowing from it, is a scheme of quackery. . . . It is
to save a man from the penalties of his sins. Just as the purgative and the
emetic are used to save a man from the penalties of his violation of physical
laws. . . . Some medical and legal doses are taken to relieve a pain,
others are taken to prevent pain, but neither relate to the causes, nor remove
them. The spiritual quack dose is not to remove the cause in character, but
to cheat the cause of its effects.
One example of attacking the cause rather than providing reme-
dies was cited in the case of New Orleans. Doctors had sought
specifics for cholera and yellow fever, but without effect. Ben
Butler solved the problem by installing sanitary facilities. Also, if
a specific was found for dyspepsia, a new remedy would immedi-
ately become necessary to save the victim from the effects of glut-
tony. Again, if a specific for syphilis were found, "the remedy
would add intensity to lust. . . /'
White insisted upon giving attention to cause, rather than to
effect:
If it were not for the discovery and obedience to the laws of health our
multiplying remedies would depopulate the earth. The laws of hygiene are
waging a war with diseases and their specifics. The enlightened members of
the medical profession, those who love their neighbor better than they do
their fees, are beginning to see the truth. . . .
Likewise, White declared: "The penal law system of remedies is
unmitigated quackery ," and instead the statesmen should discover
the principles of "political and social hygiene." And then, bringing
all three types of quacks into one generalization:
We close by repeating that the church, of all quacks, is the most dangerous
and deadly. Its very gods are quacks, that provide such a miserable and
God-condemned scheme of patent medicine salvation. The drench bottle in
medicine, law and gospels is filled with a deadlier poison than ever chemist
discovered.32
A year and a half later, and from his theological premises, White
again challenged the medical doctors on the ground that they mis-
conceived the nature of their profession: they should approach
it as the science of health, not the science of medicine; they mis-
took causes and effects, and consequently, remedies. In 1885 he
32. Weekly Beacon, December 26, 1883.
220 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
was irritated by Louisa Alcott's article in the Woman's Journal, in
which she declared that mind cure was a failure:
As the genesis of all diseases is in the spiritual (the moral and mental) world,
it seems to us a significant, if not hopeful, sign to see any effort, however
empirical and tentative, directed in what we think is surely the right direction.
Getting down to first principles, and viewing the subject philosophically,
we do not hesitate to think and say that the body has no disease of its own.
All diseases are primarily and essentially, in their generative or first principles,
mental or moral, or mental and moral, and the body is only the sphere of
their manifestations and ultimations. . . .
Of necessity, he reasoned, causes must "be found in the sphere
of causes — the soul — the mind — rather than in the body, the sphere
of effects. The soul is the sphere of the active principle, the body
of the reactive/' To answer objections that his views did not ac-
count for hereditary diseases, or predisposition to disease, he con-
ceded that point "if the principle was confined to the life of one
man. . . . But "heredity is not a material law; it is a law of
life — a spiritual law, belonging primarily to the soul and made
manifest in the body."
The mode of thought to which White was committed was so
different to that which prevailed that he found explanations neces-
sary that made his arguments appear more involved than they
might otherwise have been. Thus, at this point, in discussing his
theory of hereditary disease, he was diverted into an explanation
of natural law: "In fact, there is no such thing as a natural law.
Nature has no laws. Nature is a subject and not a law maker.
Law has nature for its sphere of manifestation and operation, and
law creates nature."
In this context, then, the cause of nature is spiritual law, and
the cause of disease is spiritual. The cure of disease, therefore, is
spiritual. On the negative side: "The world, physically, is never
to be saved by medicine." Historically, drugs administered to
cure disease, have done great harm in doing the opposite. "The
doctor, as a mere patcher up of broken constitutions, as the stim-
ulator and galvanizer of decrepit frames, is of no permanent value
to the world." The man with a cure-all remedy is a quack.
On the positive side, White pointed out that:
So far as medical science sets itself to the discovery of the laws which control
health, so far has it been, and so far will it become, a useful science, and as
it discovers true law the drug and the patent medicine will disappear. . . .
and renaming it the science of health, it
is still in the beginning of the inductive period. It has very closely explored
the body. If it stops there it stops almost at the beginning. Above, within,
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 221
and anterior to the body, is the real man, where the productive cause, the
spiritual germs, are to be found; and the permanent cure is to be reached
in the mind, and thence in the body.
The divine physician did not administer a pill. He gave truth, and it was
by the truth he gave that he promised to save the world morally, mentally,
physically. . . ,33
RESTATEMENT OF WHITE'S THOUGHT AS A
SOCIAL PHILOSOPHER
Thus far White's philosophical and theological views have been
discussed in the setting in which he stated them, and as applica-
tions to particular issues. If the readers of the Beacon articulated
them into a system, each one must do it for himself. The readers
of this study have some advantage perhaps over the Beacons sub-
scribers in so far as a certain selection and classification has been
applied for purposes of a more orderly presentation and continuity.
White wrote several extended theological editorials, but none of
them singly or together undertook a formulation of systematic
theology. Although hazardous, a brief exposition of his philosophy
and theology and its implications for the immediate social scene
seems now to be in order. Because White was a newspaper editor,
and supposedly the major spokesman for the Democratic party in
southwestern Kansas, and the time was the late 19th century, his
Swedenborgian inheritance necessarily had undergone a substan-
tial modification. Certainly, it became more realistic when applied
to southwestern Kansas than the original, however insistent Sweden-
borg had been in identifying religion and life.
Although the starting point of White's theology must necessarily
be God as creator, he was more intimately concerned with man,
the created. The Wichita of 1870-1887 was in need of such con-
cern.34 There was more truth than exaggeration in his confession
after the quarrel with Preacher Kelly, "If we were a Christian, we
would be awful lonesome." Yet, he still insisted, as the central
fact of theology, that man was created in freedom — freedom to
choose good or evil. Events do not happen by mere chance, but
are effects of causes, yet a man can be held ethically responsible
for his conduct only on the assumption of freedom of the will.
Aristotle had stated the principle, but had not solved the conflict
of cause-effect order and freedom of choice. Philosophers and
33. Daily Beacon, May 1, 1885.
34. The subject of White's political philosophy; the role of government separated from
church and education, both in theory and in practice in Kansas, 1876-1887, requires a fuller
treatment than is possible here. This section, with but few specific citations, undertakes only
to restate briefly what has already been written, and to survey in very general terms as one
whole, an outline of what must yet be done.
222 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
theologians had failed to solve the dilemma conclusively, and St.
Augustine and John Calvin in particular, had added new confusion
by the doctrine of predestination.
The Swedenborg- White doctrine of the origin of evil did not
recognize that God could be held responsible as creator, and re-
pudiated a personal devil. The origin of evil was self-love; to do
evil is sin. In freedom, man had the right to choose evil, but in
doing so he alienated himself from God. The emphasis is upon the
word himself; he alone is responsible for his condition — God did
not punish; God is love.
In view of the fact that man has withdrawn himself from the love
of the Lord, can be he convinced of his error, return, and be recon-
ciled? The plan of salvation offered that opportunity by the Atone-
ment, "At-one-ment," to all who would repent and become willing to
return to the love of God and of the neighbor by loving and doing
good. The path of regeneration was not a sudden endowment of
perfection as a free gift, but is a way of life through self-discipline,
by the help and love of the Lord. Self-discipline grows through
the exercise of the will and understanding by uses. Thus man is
saved from sin — from sinning, or committing sin — not from the pen-
alties therefor, but only if he continues through free choice to pursue
his life of regeneration. Any form of compulsion operates against
the will and freedom of choice and cannot effect regeneration. The
doctrine of salvation by faith, or by grace, or merits of others, in a
different manner, but as effectively, would deprive the man of his
freedom of choice, self-responsibility, through which alone lies the
path of regeneration. To do evil is sin, and under the cause-effect
principle, sin has consequences, penalties. He is the cause of his
own punishment. According to order, effects, penalties, cannot be
escaped, shifted, or remitted.
White emphasized monotheism for much the same reason that
ES did, but with White the peculiar late 19th century emphasis on
the Trinity lent it a special coloring that was not present in the 18th
century. The "higher criticism" and the challenge of evolutionary
science placed the orthodox version derived from the Council of
Nicaea under added strain, even within the ranks of orthodox de-
nominationalism. The Thomas heresy trial was only an indicator
that ideas similar to the New Church interpretation had permeated
the Trinitarian churches. As White lost no opportunity to point out,
the abandonment of the Trinity of Persons doctrine would change
the whole theology of the Christian plan of salvation.
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 223
Monotheism held other significances which were more conspic-
uous in White's writing as local editor than in Swedenborg's books.
The macrocosm-microcosm analogy was emphasized in man as the
image of God; complete within the concepts of the finite as He was
complete. Life is religion and religion is life, was not a mere aphor-
ism to be repeated on convenient occasions just for effect. The
monotheism of God, by analogy, meant the wholeness of man in his
daily life at Wichita. Monogamy and the paternal unity of the fam-
ily as microcosm were, for him, derivatives of monotheism. The
family is the minimum social unit in the divine plan. Philosophic
love — a disinterested love, without self interest — is the ruling prin-
ciple in the universe; love of God for man, parent for child, man for
the neighbor. In living according to this principle of disinterested
love, man exercises self-restraint — he is self-governing.
The state, whatever its form, is an artificial instrument formed by
men. The occasion for the state is man's sinfulness. Out of self-
love he encroaches upon his neighbor and his neighbor's property.
If only man would return voluntarily to the love of the Lord all oc-
casion for the state would disappear. But a man cannot be com-
pelled; no act committed under duress, or from an appeal to self-
love ( advantage or reward ) can be a moral act. The state is to be
tolerated only to the extent to which it is necessary. But what is the
nature of the necessity? Only such functions are necessary or to be
tolerated as protect or extend man's freedom of individual decision
and action, and thereby strengthen his exercise of self -responsibility
and self-discipline, and self-government. Although not stated in the
form of the Swedenborgian doctrine of equilibrium, the role of gov-
ernment appeared to serve only as the instrument by which social
equilibrium might be maintained, that man might be free to exercise
his true freedom and responsible choice of action.
Any free gift, regardless of source is a detriment to the man, what
White branded as the pauper principle, whether applied to salvation
in what is conventionally called theology, excessive parental solici-
tude for the child, or at the hands of government, poor relief, free
medicine, free public schools, free libraries, free passes on railroads
for clergy, editors, politicians, or public officials — even free Sweden-
borgian lectures, as in 1877; "The lecture being free a large number
felt under no obligations to attend, and so the audience was small."35
Such applications of the doctrine of free gifts (without price) may
appear, under superficial examination as frustrating, even ridiculous.
But, at any rate, they call attention to the logical inconsistencies in
35. Weekly Beacon, March 21, 1877.
224 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
prevailing human institutions, which is embarrassing, even irritating,
because they expose the contradictory rationalizations by which ex-
isting institutions and practices are justified. They give a certain
point to the cynical doctrine, conspicuously held in modern society,
that virtue lies in the action itself, and justification of the accom-
plished fact is only incidental.
Within the overall framework of this Swedenborgian-White phil-
osophy and theology, the role of government is to protect persons
and property but not to educate or reform the man. When the gov-
ernment intervenes to protect, it does so solely for the maintenance
of public order and peace, not on the grounds of morals — morals are
not a concern of police power. The punishment inflicted is for
breech of peace, not to reform the offender's morals. Whenever
government goes beyond its legitimate police powers, it makes a
political issue of any and all questions that come up for action by the
legislature. Thereby they become a part of the policy of the state.
Nevertheless, White denied that popular demand for such action
legitimized the extension of the penal power into such areas. Man
cannot dispossess himself of a natural right. When the liquor ques-
tion came up in form of the prohibitory amendment and subsequent
enforcement legislation, White opposed such assumption of state
power on the basis of principle. Mistakenly, the political opponents
of liquor restriction and other sumptuary legislation, who acted upon
traditional grounds, hailed him as a hero. They were due for a
shock. As a Democratic party editor, he was expected to justify,
from the traditional point of view, the party stand against prohibi-
tion.
The logical and consistent application of White's theory of gov-
ernment, however, did not limit his opposition to governmental in-
tervention to that one area. As government had no jurisdiction
over morals, he opposed that aspect of Indian and Morman policy,
and foreign policy, corrupt practices acts, public schools, public
libraries, public parks, regulation of railroads, monopolies, banking
practices, and labor legislation. He denounced the railroad regula-
tion act passed by the legislature in 1883, insisting that it would
fail and its failure to reform men would lead to a demand, and
the legislature would yield to the demand, for amendatory laws,
and that cycle would go on indefinitely just as had occurred in
connection with prohibition of the liquor traffic by passing a law.
As an individualist, White was a firm believer in popular gov-
ernment, even though he astonished his community by certain
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 225
aspects of his theory. The individual possesses absolute rights de-
rived from his spiritual origin. Society being an artificial body is
entitled only to relative rights. Participation in the government
of society, therefore, is not a right — society can not confer rights,
something that it does not itself possess. Society confers duties
upon individuals. Not only is office holding a duty, but in the
same sense, voting is a duty conferable only upon the individual,
not upon classes, races, or sexes as such. Voting is neither a right
nor a privilege. White's inability to become a partisan was re-
vealed conspicuously and disconcertingly by his insistence that
permanent political parties should not be permitted to exist. "After
every election electors should resolve themselves into parties of
one man, who should think and act for himself." After each elec-
tion— and he was writing about political parties, plural, not about
the Republican party — their "corrupt machinery should go into the
hands of a receiver, and . . . [those] who fatten on party cor-
ruption should be driven out into the wilderness to work or
starve." 36
In view of his political theory, the events of his generation were
peculiarly distressing as they had to do with government. The
first responsibility of the individual was for self-government; to
overcome his self-love; to love the neighbor and the Lord, and do
good. The first failure of government was with the man himself.
All other failures in government followed in sequence, because
if each man could succeed in governing himself, no other govern-
ment was needed. Even the minimum protective functions of
government resulted from failure at this initial point — the man.
Consequently, all reforms must begin at this point — moral regenera-
tion of the man.
But the trend toward the expansion of the scope of political
power, and toward centralization was conspicuous and growing
under late 19th century conditions. Man's failure at personal self-
government had been used as an excuse for expansion of the scope
of political government; local government failing called upon county
government, and county government called upon state government,
and state called upon the national government — centralization by
chain reaction. As mechanization of society encouraged centraliza-
tion of economic power, so the cumulative effect of failure of each
man to govern himself as an individual, and of failure of govern-
36. Ibid., July 13, 1881.
15—8804
226 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ment at the lower levels geographically, tended to centralize all
power at Washington. In consequence, the more remote the seat
of governmental power from its theoretical source, the individual
man, the less power the man possessed to control it, and the more
irresponsible and arbitrary the exercise of that power.
In 1887, when White abandoned the editorial chair in the Beacon
office, the climax of this phase of the process was being completed
in the enactment of the Interstate Commerce Act. Prior to about
1887 the question had been, will the federal government enter the
broad field of economic, social, and moral regulation? That ques-
tion was answered in the affirmative by the Interstate Commerce
Act and assorted legislation; big business, food and drugs, immi-
gration restriction on the ground of morals and dangerous political
theories, contagious and infectious diseases, polygamy, obscene
literature, etc.
The role of the church is to teach spiritual and moral truth. The
extent of the demand, therefore, for the government to act in the
moral department was an index of the failure of the spiritual and
educational forces to function effectively. When ministers and
churches entered politics by asking a legislature to enact legislation
on public morals, or to enforce such legislation when passed, to
that extent there was no longer a separation of church and state.
The role of the schools also was to teach knowledge and morals.
The church taught all the people, the schools traditionally taught
the children. Education was a responsibility of parents — the fam-
ily— not of the public generally. White found himself in deeper
trouble over his opposition to the free public schools than most any
other of his unpopular policies. One ground for his opposition to
the pauper free public schools was the argument that the govern-
ment had no right to tax the property of one man for the benefit of
another. Recipients of free education were taught that they had a
right to something for nothing, both free without price and a free-
dom without responsibility. If free education was justified, then
he extended the principle logically to the bitter end; why not free
clothes, food; or even why not freedom from work? White insisted
that the individual, not property, should be held responsible. Free-
dom meant the right to be ignorant, just as it meant the right to get
drunk. So long as a man did not disturb the public peace and order,
this theory denied the right of government to intervene.
Among White's arguments against the public schools was their
failure at moral education — this charge was leveled at both major
WILLIAM SUTTON WHITE, PUBLICIST 227
educative forces in society, the church and the schools. He insisted
that the Kansas penitentiary population has "a higher average of wit,
shrewdness, cleverness, sharpness and intelligence . . . than
can be found in any other section of the state, if you gather up a
crowd promiscuously/' Without moral responsibility, White
warned that the educated were the state's most dangerous classes.37
White vigorously warned against the "itching for more power" by
the state teachers' association, their lobbying for appropriation of
other people's money, and for a situation where the parents had
less power over their own children's education than over the elec-
tion of the President: "The parents — the community — are now
nearly powerless in the clutches of this police system/'38 The
Massachusetts and the New England free public school system had
been held up as models for the other states, yet, as White pointed
out, those states led the country in divorces and courts for punish-
ment of law breakers.39 Edmunds, the author of the Anti-Polygamy
act of 1882, was from New England, where polygamy was practiced
in the form of multiple wives in succession, rather than simultane-
ously, and without safeguarding the children of the divorce type of
polygamy.
Libraries as well as schools and churches, White insisted, should
be supported by private associations of their patrons. Wichita Li-
brary Association operated from February, 1876- late 1885, before
it was taken over by the city — "pauperized." The same principle,
private association, applied to music, literature, and art. White
played the violin — according to his own testimony, very badly.
Furthermore, White advocated fighting the saloon, gambling insti-
tutions, etc., by providing, on principles similar to support of
churches, schools, and libraries, places of entertainment and recre-
ation— something positive, not negative. Freedom of the mind and
of the soul ( religion ) White insisted, could not be a reality without
complete separation of the educative forces, all of them, from the
state. White made no concessions — to admit the right of the state
in any area of religion, morals, or education, meant to place in the
power of the state the dictation of what constitutes religion, morals,
or education, and the manner in which they are taught; self-per-
petuation being the core of motive: "The true church is the still,
37. Ibid., March 12, November 26, 1884.
38. DaUy Beacon, January 4, 1886.
39. Weekly Beacon, March 12, 1884.
228 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
small, pleading voice, that awaits the invitation to enter. The
police state is the devil that will enter in at all hazards." *°
In conclusion, regardless of the validity of his theology, there
was no question about the fact that White's religion did have rela-
tion to life, and his life was a virile expression of his religion. To
review his journalistic career is to be compelled to re-examine the
whole of society, its ideals and procedures, in fresh perspectives.
40. A selection from extended editorials illustrative of the major propositions in the
final summary section: Weekly Beacon, July 6, August 10, 1881; May 3, August 9, No-
vember 8, 29, 1882; Daily Beacon, December 18, 1884; October 16, 1885.
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, 1957, through September 30, 1958. 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 in the Spring, 1959, issue of
The Kansas Historical Quarterly.
KANSAS
ADRIAN, ARTHUR A., Georgina Hogarth and the Dickens Circle. London, Ox-
ford University Press, 1957. 320p.
ALLIS, MARGUERITE, Free Soil New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons [c!958]. 288p.
APPELL, GEORGE C., The Man Who Shot Quantrill Garden City, N. Y.,
Doubleday & Company, 1957. 189p.
BEELER, MAXWELL N., The Garden of Babies, an Answer to Children's Queries
About Their Origin. New York, Exposition Press [c!958]. 122p.
BESSEY, AMOS J., Diary; Copied From Notes Made During Service in the Civil
War ... No impr. Typed. Unpaged.
BLAIR, WILLIAM NEWTON, Gold in Korea. Topeka, H. M. Ives & Sons, 1957.
140p.
BRADSHAW, ALFRED B., When the Prairies Were New. Turon, Kan., Arthur J.
Allen, 1957. 96p.
BURGESS, JACKSON, Pillar of Cloud. New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons [c!957].
254p.
BURTON, THOMAS E., and GRACE D. BURTON, Clwmade. [Topeka] Privately
Printed, 1954. 68p.
(229)
230 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
CAMPBELL, VIRGINIA, Unexpected Verdict. New York, Dodd, Mead & Com-
pany, 1958. 210p.
CAREZ, HENRY SUMNER, Poems. No impr. 27p.
CARTER, E. RUSSELL, The Gift Is Rich. New York, Friendship Press [c!955].
117p.
CASEMENT, DAN DILLON, Random Recollections; the Life and Times — and
Something of the Personal Philosophy — of a 20th Century Cowman. Kan-
sas City, Mo., Walker Publications, 1955. lllp.
CHILDS, MARQUIS, Eisenhower: Captive Hero . . . New York, Harcourt,
Brace and Company [c!958]. 310p.
CLAFLIN Clarion, City Directory, Claflin, Kansas, Sept. 1, 1958. Claflin, Claflin
Clarion, 1958. [28]p.
CROOKS, RUTH (WILLIAMS), The Signature of God. Kansas City, Mo., Beacon
Hill Press [c!957]. 64p.
Cross Reference Directory, Topeka, September, 1957. Independence, Kan.,
City Publishing Company, c!957. Unpaged.
[DANNER, SCIOTO (IMHOFF)], Mrs. Danners Fourth Quilt Book. [El Dorado]
n. p. [c!958]. 23p.
, Mrs. Danners Third Quilt Book. [El Dorado] Privately Printed
[c!954]. 26p.
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, COFACHIQUE CHAPTER, IOLA,
Lineages and Bible Records [Copied by Kate B. Shields]. No impr. Typed.
[45]p.
, EUNICE STERLING CHAPTER, WICHITA, William 6- Mary Parke of
Hunterdon County, New Jersey, With Descendants 6- In-Laws . . .
[Copied by Mrs. Hal M. Black]. Wichita, n. p., 1957. Typed. 170p.
, FLORES DEL SOL CHAPTER, WICHITA, Tombstone Inscriptions From
Afton Cemetery in Afton Township, Located One Mile South and Two Miles
West of Goddard, Sedgwick County, Kansas . . . 1874-1956. Wichita
n. p., 1958. Typed. 15p.
, ISABELLA WELDIN CHAPTER, AUGUSTA, Tombstone Inscriptions of Sut-
ton Cemetery, Northeast of Augusta, Kansas. Dates From 1798 to 1945.
No impr. Typed. lOp.
, KANSAS SOCIETY, The Kansas Centennial of Statehood, 1861-1961.
No impr. Folder.
, KANSAS SOCIETY, Proceedings of the Sixtieth Annual State Conference,
March 13, 14, 15, 1958, Topeka, Kansas. No impr. 235p.
DAVIS, CLYDE L., A Kansan at Large. Forest Hills, N. Y., Bernice Carter Davis,
1924. 143p.
DELAWARE SQUATTER ASSOCIATION, Constitution of the Delaware Squatter As-
sociation Embracing All the Laws Passed by the Different Squatter Meet-
ings From June 10, to Dec. 2, 1854. Leavenworth, K. T., Eastin & Adams,
1855. Photostat Copy. 8p.
DERBY, FLORENCE, Rocks and Roses. Grand Rapids, Mich., William B. Eerd-
mans Publishing Company [c!957]. 187p.
DE VRIES, PETER, The Mackerel Plaza. Boston, Little, Brown and Company
[c!958]. 260p.
DOBBS, MARY E., Kansas Voters' Manual, Third Edition, Revised July, 1920.
[Wichita, Author, c!920.] 83p.
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 231
EATON, QUAINTANCE, Opera Caravan, Adventures of the Metropolitan on Tour,
1883-1956. New York, Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1957. 400p.
EHRLICH, ELIZABETH, All Things Lovely, and Other Verses. Berkeley, Gal.,
Privately Printed, 1957. 18p.
ENGLISH, E. Lois, Of Course I've Faith; Verses of Affirmation. New York, Ex-
position Press [c!958]. 119p.
, On Wings of Faith, Stones of Kansas Pioneers and Other Tales. New
York, Exposition Press [c!956]. 166p.
EUDORA, LION'S CLUB, Eudora Centennial Magazine, 1957. N. p., 1957. 52p.
FELTON, RALPH A., Hope Rises From the Land. New York, Friendship Press
[c!955]. 135p.
FITZGERALD, EARL ARCHIBALD, Heart's Desire. N. p., 1956. Unpaged.
, Voices in the Night. Bellingham, Wash., Pioneer Printing Company
[c!948]. 203p.
FLEMING, ROSCOE, The Man Who Reached the Moon, and Other Poems, In-
cluding "Kansas' . . . [Denver, Golden Bell Press, c!957.] 125p.
FLORIAN, SISTER MARY, Chamber Music. New York, Pageant Press [c!957].
142p.
FLOYD, WILLIAM H., 3rd, Phantom Riders of the Pony Express. Philadelphia,
Dorrance & Company [c!958]. 142p.
Fort Riley, Its Historic Past, 1853-1953. [Fort Riley, U. S. Army] n. d. Un-
paged.
FORT SCOTT, FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, History of the First Presbyterian
Church of Fort Scott, Kansas . . . Fort Scott, Monitor Binding and
Printing Company, 1909. 79p.
FRANCIS, MRS. HELEN D., Double Reverse. New York, Doubleday & Company,
1958. 214p.
FRANKLIN, FRIEDA K., None but the Brave. New York, Crown Publishers
[c!958]. 278p.
FRANKLIN, MIRIAM, Rehearsal, the Principles and Practice for the Stage. Engle-
wood Cliffs, N. J., Prentice-Hall [c!950]. 327p.
FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF, Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Argonia Friends Meeting, Sept.
29, 1957. N. p. [1957]. Unpaged.
CARD, ROBERT E., Run to Kansas. New York, Duell, Sloan and Pearce [c!958].
143p.
GIBSON, WILLIAM, The Miracle Worker. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1957.
131p.
GILBAUGH, JOHN W., The Bull With the Golden Horns. San Jose, Cal., Modern
Education Publishers [c!958]. 246p.
Golden Anniversary of the Ordination of The Reverend Timothy J. O'Sullivan,
Pastor of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, June 12, 1955, Wichita,
Kansas. Wichita, n. p., 1955. Unpaged.
HADLEY, JOHN M., Clinical and Counseling Psychology. New York, Alfred A.
Knopf, 1958. [702]p.
HARLAN, HARRY V., One Man's Life With Barley . . . New York, Ex-
position Press [c!957]. 223p.
HARRINGTON, HORACIO J., and ARMANDO F. LEANZA, Ordovician Trilobites of
Argentina, Lawrence, University of Kansas Press, 1957. 276p.
HENRY, IONA, with FRANK S. MEAD, Triumph Over Tragedy. [Westwood,
N. J.] Fleming H. Revell Company [c!957]. 125p.
232 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
HEWITT, ALBA ASHBY, Riding the Rockies. New York, Vantage Press [c!957].
231p.
History of the Original Company "A" 110th Engineers, 35th Division, A. E. F.,
From June 21, 1917 to May 3, 1919. No impr. Unpaged.
HOLLISTER, OVANDO J., Boldly They Rode, a History of the First Colorado
Regiment of Volunteers. Lakewood, Colo., Golden Press, 1949. 190p.
HORTON, SCOTT, Even the Leaves. Dallas, Triangle Publishing Company
[c!957]. 60p.
HUBER, FLORENCE M., In a Village Garden. Columbus, Trowbridge Printing
Company, c!956. 14p.
HUNT, ELSIE DENEAN, The Ship of Peace. New York, Pageant Press [c!957].
178p.
INGE, WILLIAM, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. New York, Random House
[c!958]. 108p.
ISELY, FLORA KUNIGUNDE (DUNCAN), Lincoln's Teacher. Great Barrington,
Mass., Advance Publishing Company [c!958]. 177p.
JACKSON, MARY VIOLET, Spiritual Truths, Spiritual Law. New York, Vantage
Press [c!956]. 176p.
JAMES, JESSE, JR., The Facsimile Edition of Jesse James, My Father, the First
and Only True Story of His Adventures Ever Written. New York, Frederick
Fell, Publishers [c!957]. 198p.
JOHNS, GLOVER S., JR., The Clay Pigeons of St. Lo. Harrisburg, Pa., Military
Service Publishing Company [c!958]. 257p.
JOHNSON, VIRGINIA ARMSTRONG, Gardner, Where the Trails Divide. Gardner,
Gardner Centennial Committee, 1957. 73p.
JONAS, CARL, Our Revels Now Are Ended. New York, W. W. Norton & Com-
pany [c!957]. 343p.
JONES, SCHUYLER, Under the African Sun. London, Hurst & Blackett [1956].
256p.
KANSAS AUTHORS CLUB, 1958 Yearbook. No impr. 109p.
_, 1957 Yearbook. No impr. 96p.
KANSAS CITY, FIRST PILGRIM CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, Pilgrim Heritage,
1858-1958 [by Don D. Ballou], N. p. [1958?]. Unpaged.
KARSON, MARC, American Labor Unions and Politics. Carbondale, Southern
Illinois University Press, 1958. 358p.
KEITH, HAROLD, Rifles for Watte. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell [c!957].
332p.
KELLER, ALLAN, Thunder at Harpers Ferry. Englewood Cliffs, N. J., Prentice-
Hall [c!958]. 282p.
KERSEY, RALPH T., Buffalo Jones (a True Biography). [Garden City, Elliott
Printers, c!958.] 184p.
KICK, LENI PELLEGRINI, The House on Walnut Grove, the Gibbons Children in
Winter. New York, Vantage Press [c!958]. 139p.
KIRKS, M. M., He Called and I Answered. No impr. 84p.
KIRTLAND, ELIZABETH, Buttons in the Back. New York, Vanguard Press
[c!958]. [160]p.
KLINK, THOMAS W., Clergyman s Guide to Recognizing Serious Mental Illness.
New York, National Association for Mental Health, n. d. [12]p.
LEACH, GABRIELLE (HINMAN), Congregationalism and Fairmount Church.
Wichita, Fairmount Community Church, Congregational, 1958. Unpaged.
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 233
LEAVENWORTH, PILGRIM UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, A Short Historical Sketch
of Pilgrim Church (United Church of Christ), Leavenworth, Kansas . . .
N. p., 1958. Unpaged.
, SALEM CHURCH, Salem Church (Evangelical and Reformed), 1887-
1937 . . . Fiftieth Anniversary Memento. St. Louis, Eden Publishing
House, n. d. 25p.
LEWIS, GEORGE, and JOAN LEWIS, Rolling in the Isles. Lawrence, Allen Press
[c!957]. 135p.
LOVEWELL DAM DEDICATION COMMITTEE, Lovewell Dam Dedication Brochure.
Belleville, Telescope Publishing Company [1958?]. Unpaged.
LUNGREN, MAURICE C., A Study of the Use of Editorial Expression in the
Weekly Newspapers of Kansas for the Years 1925, 1940, and 1955. A
Thesis Submitted to the William Allen White School of Journalism and
Public Information and the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University
of Kansas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master
of Science. N. p., 1957. Typed. 88p.
[LYMAN, EUNICE], In Memoriam of Professor Linnaeus A. Thomas, Born
October 8, 1845, Died November 11, 1881. [Topeka, Kansas State Teachers
Association, 1882.] [7]p.
[McCLouo, MRS. MARGARET], Collection of Original Poems Used on "Gocf*
Half Hour." No impr. Unpaged.
McCRACKEN, HAROLD, The Charles M. Russell Book, the Life and Work of the
Cowboy Artist. Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday & Company, 1957. 236p.
MALLORY, AILEEN, Paying Projects for Clubs. Minneapolis, T. S. Denison &
Company [c!957]. 186p.
MATHER, WILLIAM D., The Revolt of Little Wolf's Northern Cheyennes. A
Thesis Submitted to the Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Re-
quirements for the Degree of Master of Arts, Department of History, the
University of Wichita. Wichita, University of Wichita, 1958. Typed. 127p.
MENNINGER, WILLIAM C., How You Grow Up. New York, Sterling Publishing
Company [c!957]. 187p.
, and HARRY LEVTNSON, Human Understanding in Industry, a Guide
for Supervisors. Chicago, Science Research Associates, c!956. 104p.
MIDDLETON, HARRY, and WARREN KIEFER, Pax. New York, Random House
[c!958]. [280]p.
MILTONVALE, FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of First
Presbyterian Church, Miltonvale, Kansas, 1882-1957 [by Fannie Palmer].
No impr. Unpaged.
MONTGOMERY, SAPHRONIA G., The Christian Woman, a Religious Miscellany.
New York, Exposition Press [c!954]. 58p.
NEMER, ALYCE E., Cooks and Capitols, a Book of Foods and Facts for Folk.
Wichita, n. p., c!958. 56p.
NORTON, IMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH, Fiftieth Anniversary . . . 1908-
1958. N. p. [1958?]. 15p.
[OMER, GEORGE E., JR.], An Army Hospital From Horses to Helicopters. [Fort
Riley, U. S. Army] n. d. [106]p.
OSAWATOMIE, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, John Brown Memorial State Park and
Other Historic Spots in and Around Osawatomie. No impr. Folder.
PAXTON, JUNE LEMERT, My Life on the Mojave. New York, Vantage Press
[c!957]. 168p.
234 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
PERRINGS, MYRA, The Circle Is Forever. Dallas, Triangle Publishing Company
[c!957]. 40p.
PETERSON, ELLEN (WELANDER), A Kansans Enterprise (the Story of Enterprise,
Kansas). Enterprise, Enterprise Baptist Church [c!957]. 260p.
PHILIPS, EULA MARK, Chuco, the Boy With the Good "Name. Chicago, Follett
Publishing Company [c!957]. 141p.
Folk's Topeka (Shawnee County, Kansas) City Directory, 1958, Including
Shawnee County Taxpayers . . . Kansas City, Mo., R. L. Polk and
Company, c!958. [1604]p.
ROBINSON, ALICE M., The Unbelonging. New York, Macmillan Company, 1958.
165p.
RULEY, A. N., comp., Buleys Directory, Hiawatha City, the Business Man's
Guide, July, 1915 . . . [Hiawatha] Compiler, 1915. Unpaged.
RUSSELL, ETHEL GREEN, Deep Bayou. Lowell, Mass., Alentour House, 1941.
63p.
, Land of Evangeline. Cincinnati, Talaria, 1950. 78p.
SCHADT, RODNEY MARVIN, The Independent Rural High School District in
Kansas. A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School [of] Northwest-
ern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Education. N. p., c!957. Typed. 326p. Microfilm. 1 Vol. on
1 Reel.
SCHAEFERS, WILLIAM, Catholic Highlights of Europe (Kansans Abroad). Bos-
ton, Christopher Publishing House [c!956]. 205p.
SCHUMACHER, ALVIN J., What Will I Be? Milwaukee, Bruce Publishing Com-
pany [c!957]. Unpaged.
SEIFERT, WILLIAM E., JR., Tempest Tossed. New York, Vantage Press [c!958].
113p.
SHARP, W. A. SEWARD, History of Kansas Baptists. [Kansas City, Kan., Kansas
City Seminary Press] 1939. 259p.
SHIRLEY, GLENN, Pawnee Bill, a Biography of Major Gordon W. Lillie. Albu-
querque, University of New Mexico, 1958. 256p.
SHOEMAKER, RALPH J., The Presidents Words, an Index. Vol. 3, Eisenhower,
1956. Vol. 4, Eisenhower, 1957. Louisville [Elsie DeGrafI Shoemaker
and Ralph J. Shoemaker, c!957, 1958.] 2 Vols.
SOCOLOFSKY, HOMER E., ed., Bibliography of Theses and Dissertations Pertain-
ing to Kansas History . . . Manhattan, Kansas State College, 1958.
74p.
SPENCER, CHARLES, ed., Atchisons Storm Disaster, Friday, July 11 and
Wednesday, July 30, 1958, Photographed by Jess Torbett. Revised Edition.
Atchison, Sutherland Printing Company [1958?]. Unpaged.
STATE CONVENTION OF THE COLORED PEOPLE OF KANSAS, Proceedings of a
Convention of Colored Citizens, Held in the City of Lawrence, October
17, 1866. Leavenworth, Evening Bulletin Steam Power Printing House, 1866.
Photostat Copy. 8p.
STOUT, RUTH, Company Coming, Six Decades of Hospitality, Do-It-"Yourself
and Otherwise. New York, Exposition Press [c!958]. 155p.
STRONKS, JAMES B., William Dean Howells, Ed Howe, and The Story of a
Country Town. (Reprinted from American Literature, Vol. 29, No. 4,
January, 1958.) [6]p.
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 235
STUMBO, CHARLES WILLIAM, Clouds Over Destiny. New York, Vantage Press
[c!957]. 241p.
THOLEN, HERMAN J., History of St. Joseph's Council No. 1325, Hays, Kansas,
Knights of Columbus, Commemorating the Golden Jubilee of Its Founding,
May 17, 1908. N. p. [1958?]. 35p.
TOPEKA, HIGH SCHOOL, Topeka High School, 1955-1956, General Information
and Curriculum Handbook. [Topeka] n. p., n. d. Mimeographed. [200]p.
, ORDINANCES, 1957, The Topeka Code of Revised Ordinances, 1957
. . . Prepared by the League of Kansas Municipalities Under the Super-
vision of the City Attorney . . . Topeka, Hall Lithographing Company,
n. d. Unpaged.
TROW, CLIFFORD WAYNE, The Lecompton Conspiracy; a History of the Le-
compton Constitution Movement in Kansas and the Nation, 1857 and 1858.
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University
of Colorado in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master
of Arts. N. p., 1958. Typed. 181p.
TUCKER, SAMUEL, Price Raid Through Linn County, Kansas, October 24-25,
1864. N. p. [c!958]. 17p.
Union Cemetery, Winfield, Kansas. No impr. Typed. [3]p.
VAIL, JANE, Becky's Little World. New York, Exposition Press [c!957]. 48p.
VAIL, THOMAS HUBBARD, Annual Address . . . Before the Diocesan Con-
vention at Fort Scott, May 10, 1871. Lawrence, Journal Book and Job
Printing House, 1871. 21p.
VAN NES, MARY F., Into the Wind. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Company
[c!957]. 224p.
WALTON, WILLIAM M., Life and Adventures of Ben Thompson, the Famous
Texan . . . Houston, Frontier Press of Texas, 1954. 232p.
WARK, HOMER E., The Religion of a Soldier. No impr. 23p.
WELLMAN, MANLY WADE, Fastest on the River, the Great Race Between the
"Natchez" and the "Robert E. Lee." New York, Henry Holt and Company
[c!957]. 234p.
WELLMAN, PAUL ISELIN, Ride the Red Earth. Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday
and Company, 1958. 448p.
WOOLF, MAURICE D., and JEANNE A. WOOLF, Remedial Reading, Teaching and
Treatment. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1957. 424p.
WYATT, P. J., "I'm Not Selling Anything" — Some Folklore From Kansas. A
Thesis Submitted to the Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Re-
quirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. Bloomington, Indiana Uni-
versity, 1956. Typed. 178p.
AMERICAN INDIANS AND THE WEST
ADAMS, RAMON F., comp. and ed., The Best of the American Cowboy. Norman,
University of Oklahoma Press [c!957]. 289p.
ALEXANDER, LLOYD, Border Hawk, August Bondi. N. p., Farrar, Straus and
Cudahy [c!958]. 182p.
BARTHOLOMEW, ED., Biographical Album of Western Gunflghters . . .
Houston, Frontier Press of Texas, 1958. Unpaged.
BLASINGAME, IKE, Dakota Cowboy, My Life in the Old Days. New York, G. P.
Putnam's Sons [c!958]. 317p.
236 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
BROWN, DEE, The Gentle Tamers, Women of the Old Wild West. New York,
G. P. Putnam's Sons [c!958]. 317p.
CARPENTER, WILL TOM, Lucky 7, a Cowman's Autobiography, Edited . . .
by Elton Miles. Austin, University of Texas Press [c!957]. 119p.
CARTER, KATE B., Riders of the Pony Express, Special Edition. N. p., Pony
Express Mid-Century Memorial Commission of Utah [1952]. 54p.
CROGHAN, GEORGE, Army Life on the Western Frontier, Selections From the
Official Reports Made Between 1826 and 1845, Edited by Francis Paul
Prucha. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press [c!958]. 187p.
CROY, HOMER, Trigger Marshal, the Story of Chris Madsen. New York, Duell,
Sloan and Pearce [c!958]. 267p.
DAVIS, BURKE, Jeb Stuart, the Last Cavalier. New York, Rinehart & Company
[c!957]. 462p.
DEBARTHE, JOE, Life and Adventures of Frank Grouard. Norman, University
of Oklahoma Press [c!958]. 268p.
EWERS, JOHN C., The Blackfeet, Raiders on the Northwestern Plains. Norman,
University of Oklahoma Press [c!958]. 348p.
FIELD, MATTHEW C., Prairie and Mountain Sketches, Collected by Clyde and
Mae Reed Porter . . . Norman, University of Oklahoma Press [c!957].
239p.
GARNSEY, MORRIS E., America's New Frontier, the Mountain West. New York,
Alfred A. Knopf, 1950. [323]p.
GOTTFREDSON, PETER, comp. and ed., History of Indian Depredations in Utah.
[Salt Lake City, Skelton Publishing Company, c!919.] [369]p.
HAFEN, LEROY R., and ANN W. HAFEN, eds., The Utah Expedition, 1857-1858;
a Documentary Account of the United States Military Movement Under
Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston . . . Glendale, Cal., Arthur H. Clark
Company, 1958. 375p. (The Far West and the Rockies Historical Series,
1820-1875, Vol. 8.)
HAGAN, WILLIAM T., The Sac and Fox Indians. Norman, University of Okla-
homa Press [c!958]. 287p.
HANSEN, MARCUS L., Old Fort Snelling, 1819-1858. Minneapolis, Ross &
Haines, 1958. 270p.
HARDIN, JOHN WESLEY, The Life of John Wesley Hardin, From the Original
Manuscript as Written by Himself. Seguin, Tex., Smith & Moore, 1896.
144p.
HARPENDING, ASBURY, The Great Diamond Hoax and Other Stirring Incidents
-:•>':• . Edited by James H. Wilkins. Norman, University of Oklahoma
Press [c!958]. 211p.
HEAP, GWTNN HARRIS, Central Route to the Pacific . . . Edited by LeRoy
R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen. Glendale, Cal., Arthur H. Clark Company,
1957. 346p.
HOIG, STAN, The Humor of the American Cowboy. Caldwell, Idaho, Caxton
Printers, 1958. 193p.
HOWARD, ROBERT WEST, ed., This is the West. New York, Rand McNally &
Company [c!957]. 248p.
HUNT, AURORA, Major General James Henry Carleton, 1814-1873, Western
Frontier Dragoon. Glendale, Cal., Arthur H. Clark Company, 1958. 390p.
HUNTER, JOHN D., Manners and Customs of Several Indian Tribes Located
West of the Mississippi . . . Minneapolis, Ross & Haines, 1957. 402p.
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 237
JACKSON, WILLIAM HENRY, Pageant of Pioneers . . . by Clarence S. Jack-
son. Minden, Neb., The Harold Warp Pioneer Village [c!958]. 89p.
JAHNS, PAT, The Frontier World of Doc Holliday, Faro Dealer, From Dallas to
Deadwood. New York, Hastings House [c!957]. 305p.
KEITH, ELMER, Sixguns by Keith, the Standard Reference Work. Harrisburg,
Pa., Stackpole Company [c!955]. 308p.
KUHLMAN, CHARLES, Did Custer Disobey Orders at the Battle of the Little Big
Horn? Harrisburg, Pa., Stackpole Company [c!957]. 56p.
LEE, NELSON, Three Years Among the Comanches, the Narrative of Nelson Lee,
the Texas Ranger. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press [c!957]. 179p.
McREYNOLDS, EDWIN C., The Seminoles. Norman, University of Oklahoma
Press [c!957]. 397p.
MALONE, HENRY THOMPSON, Cherokees of the Old South, a People in Transi-
tion. Athens, University of Georgia Press [c!9561. 238p.
MARQUIS, THOMAS BAILEY, Rain-in-the-Face and Curly, the Crow. N. p.,
c!934. [81p.
, She Watched Custer s Last Battle . . . N. p., c!933. [8]p.
, Sitting Bull and Gall, the Warrior. N. p., c!934. [8]p.
, Sketch Story of the Custer Battle . . . N. p., c!933. [8]p.
, Two Days After the Custer Battle . . . N. p., c!935. [8]p.
, Which Indian Killed Custer? Custer Soldiers Not Buried. N. p.,
c!933. lOp.
MARRIOTT, ALICE, Maria: the Potter on San Ildefonso. Norman, University
of Oklahoma Press [c!948]. 294p.
MASTERSON, WILLIAM BARCLAY, Famous Gunfighters of the Western Frontier
. . . Houston, Frontier Press of Texas, 1957. 112p.
MILLER, DAVID HUMPHREYS, Custer s Fall, the Indian Side of the Story. New
York, Duell, Sloan and Pearce [c!957]. 271p.
MOORHEAD, MAX L., New Mexico's Royal Road, Trade and Travel on the Chi-
huahua Trail. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press [c!958]. 234p.
MUMEY, NOLIE, James Pierson Beckwourth, 1856-1866 . . . a History of
the Latter Years of His Life. Denver, Old West Publishing Company, 1957.
188p.
, March of the First Dragoons to the Rocky Mountains in 1835, the
Diaries and Maps of Lemuel Ford . . . Denver, Eames Brothers Press,
1957. [116]p.
MURRAY, JOHN J., The Heritage of the Middle West. Norman, University of
Oklahoma Press [c!958]. 303p.
NEIDER, CHARLES, ed., The Great West. New York, Coward-McCann [c!958].
457p.
PEYTON, JOHN ROWZEE, 3 Letters From St. Louis. Denver, Libros Escogidos,
1958. 45p.
POWELL, LAWRENCE CLARK, Books, West Southwest; Essays on Writers, Their
Books and Their Land. Los Angeles, Ward Ritchie Press [c!957]. 157p.
, A Southwestern Century, a Bibliography of One Hundred Books of
Non Fiction About the Southwest . . . Van Nuys, Cal., J. E. Reynolds
[c!958]. 29p.
PRATT, FLETCHER, Civil War on Western Waters. New York, Henry Holt and
Company [c!956]. 255p.
238 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
PRETTYMAN, W. S., Indian Territory, a Frontier Photographic Record, Selected
and Edited by Robert E. Cunningham. Norman, University of Oklahoma
Press [c!957]. 174p.
PREUSS, CHARLES, Exploring With Fremont . . . Translated and Edited
by Erwin G. and Elizabeth K. Gudde. Norman, University of Oklahoma
Press [c!958]. 162p.
REMINGTON, FREDERIC, 'Buckskins,' Portraits of the Old West; the Original Folio
of Eight Color Prints Superbly Reproduced. [New York, Penn Prints, c!956.]
8 Broadsides.
REYNOLDS, J. E., History of the Westerners. [Los Angeles] Los Angeles Corral
of the Westerners [1957]. Unpaged.
RICKEY, DON, War in the West — the Indian Campaigns. Crow Agency, Mont.,
Custer Battlefield Historical Museum Association [c!956]. 37p.
RISTER, CARL COKE, Comanche Bondage; Dr. John Charles Beale's Settlement
. . . in Southern Texas of the 1830' s With an Annotated Reprint of
Sarah Ann Horns Narrative . . . Glendale, Cal., Arthur H. Clark Com-
pany, 1955. 210p.
SANDOZ, MARI, The Cattlemen, From the Rio Grande Across the Far Marias.
New York, Hastings House [c!958]. 527p.
SHIRLEY, GLENN, Buckskin and Spurs, a Gallery of Frontier Rogues and Heroes.
New York, Hastings House [c!958]. 191p.
SOLLID, ROBERTA BEED, Calamity Jane, a Study in Historical Criticism. [Helena,
Mont.] Western Press, c!958. 147p.
TANNER, CLARA LEE, Southwest Indian Painting. Tucson, University of Arizona
Press [c!957]. 157p.
TAYLOR, Ross McLAURY, We Were There on the Chisholm Trail. Historical
Consultant, Stanley Vestal New York, Grosset & Dunlap [1957]. 176p.
TEMPLE, WAYNE C., Indian Villages of the Illinois Country; Historic Tribes.
Springfield, Printed by Authority of the State of Illinois, 1958. 218p.
THORP, RAYMOND W., and ROBERT BUNKER, Crow Killer, the Saga of Liver-
Eating Johnson. [Bloomington] Indiana University Press [c!958]. 190p.
WALTON, WILLIAM M., Life and Adventures of Ben Thompson, the Famous
Texan. Houston, Frontier Press of Texas, 1954. 232p.
WATERS, FRANK, Masked Gods, Navaho and Pueblo Ceremonialism. [Albu-
querque] University of New Mexico Press [c!950]. 438p.
WEBB, WILLIAM S., and RAYMOND S. BABY, The Adena People, No. 2. N. p.,
Ohio Historical Society [c!957]. 123p.
WESTERMEIER, CLIFFORD P., Who Rush to Glory, the Cmuboy Volunteers of
1898 . . . Caldwell, Idaho, Caxton Printers, 1958. 272p.
WESTERNERS, DENVER, 1956 Brand Book of the Denver Westerners. Denver,
The Westerners, 1957. 383p.
, Los ANGELES, Brand Book, Book Number 7. [Los Angeles, The Los
Angeles Westerners, c!957.] 293p.
WHEAT, CARL I., Mapping the Transmississippi West, 1540-1861, Vol. I,
Spanish Entrada to the Louisiana Purchase, 1540-1804. San Francisco,
Institute of Historical Cartography, 1957. 264p.
WISTER, OWEN, Owen Wister Out West; His Journals and Letters, Edited by
Fanny Wister. [Chicago] University of Chicago Press [c!958]. 269p.
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 239
GENEALOGY AND LOCAL HISTORY
ALVORD, SAMUEL MORGAN, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Alexander
Alvord . . . Webster, N. Y., A. D. Andrew, 1908. 823p.
BEIRNE, FRANCIS F., Baltimore, a Picture Story, 1858-1958 . . . Compiled
Under the Auspices of the Maryland Historical Society . . . New York,
Hastings House [c!957]. 153p.
BELL, RAYMOND MARTIN, Heads of Families in Mifflin County, Pa., 1790
(Including Present Mifflin, Juniata, and Part of Centre County) . . .
Lewistown, Pa., n. p., 1958. Mimeographed. 30p.
, Supplement to the Baskins-Baskin Family . . . Washington, Pa.,
n. p., 1958. 102p.
BOWEN, RICHARD LEBARON, Massachusetts Records, a Handbook for Genealo-
gists, Historians, Lawyers, and Other Researchers. Rehoboth, Privately
Printed, 1957. 66p.
BRAND, DONALD D., History of Scotts Bluffs, Nebraska. Berkeley, Cal., De-
partment of the Interior, National Park Service, Field Division of Education,
1934. 83p.
BRIMLOW, GEORGE FRANCIS, Harney County, Oregon, and Its Range Land.
Portland, Binfords & Mort [c!951]. 316p.
BRINK, BENJAMIN MYER, The Early History of Saugerties, 1660-1825. Kings-
ton, N. Y., R. W. Anderson & Son, 1902. 365p.
BROWER, BLANCHE FRENCH, comp., French Genealogy, 1798-1957. [Scott
City, Kan., News Chronicle Printing Company] 1957. 20p.
BROWN, MARGUERITE, and VERNON BROWN, Ewing — McCulloch — Buchanan
Genealogy. Dallas, Royal Publishing Company [c!957]. HOp.
BUNCE, JULIA LOCKE FRAME, Some of the Descendants of David Frame-Fraim
and His Wife, Catherine Miller. [Ann Arbor, Mich., Edwards Brothers,
c!953.] 238p.
CARR, NANON LUCILE, comp., Marriage Records of Clay County, Missouri,
1822-1852. N. p., Compiler, c!957. Mimeographed. 78p.
, comp., Marriage Records of Clinton County, Missouri, 1833-1870.
N. p., Compiler, c!955. Mimeographed. 89p.
_, comp., Wills and Administrations of Clinton County, Missouri, 1833-
1870. N. p., Compiler, c 1954. Mimeographed. 54p.
CHARLESTON, FREE LIBRARY, Index to Wills of Charleston County, South Caro-
lina, 1671-1868. Charleston, Charleston Free Library, 1950. 324p.
CHILDS, JAMES RIVES, Reliques of the Rives (Ryves) . . . Lynchburg,
Va., J. P. Bell Company, 1929. 750p.
CLIFT, G. GLENN, The "'Corn Stalk" Militia of Kentucky, 1792-1811 . . .
Frankfort, Kentucky Historical Society, 1957. 265p.
Cody Family in America, 1698; Descendants of Philip and Martha, Massa-
chusetts. N. p., Lydia S. Cody, 1954. 257p.
Commemorative Biographical Record of Northeastern Pennsylvania Including
Counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe . . . Chicago,
J. H. Beers & Company, 1900. 1852p.
COMSTOCK, JOHN MOORE, Chelsea, the Origin of Chelsea, Vermont, and a
Record of Its Institutions and Individuals. N. p., 1944. 62p.
240 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
CONDIT, JOTHAM H., and EBEN CONDIT, Genealogical Record of the Condit
Family, Descendants of John Cunditt . . . N. p., Privately Printed,
n. d. 470p.
COPE, GILBERT, comp., Genealogy of the Smedley Family, Descended From
George and Sarah Smedley, Settlers in Chester County, Pennsijlvania . .
Lancaster, Pa., Wickersham Printing Company, 1901. lOOOp.
COPPER, WALTER G., Official History of Fulton County [Georgia]. N. p., His-
tory Commission, c!934. 912p.
Cox, STANLEY M., comp., Joseph Cox, Ancestors and Descendants. N. p., 1955.
144p.
CRIDER, MRS. GUSSIE WAYMIRE, and EDWARD C. CRIDER, eds., Four Genera-
tions of the Family of Strangeman Hutchins and His Wife Elizabeth Cox,
as Known January 10, 1935 . . . [Kokomo, Ind.] Privately Printed,
n. d. 20p.
DARDEN, NEWTON JASPER, comp., Darden Family History With Notes on
Ancestry of Allied Families ... No impr. 190p.
DARTER, OSCAR H., Colonial Fredericksburg and Neighborhood in Perspective.
New York, Twayne Publishers [c!957], 333p.
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, ILLINOIS SOCIETY, Illinois State
Directory of Members and Ancestors . . . N. p., Society, 1957. 556p.
DAVIS, BAILEY FULTON, Index to Sixth Edition of History of Kentucky, by
Perrin, Battle, and Kniffin, Published in 1887 . . . N. p., c!956. Mime-
ographed. 67p.
DAVIS, EARL H., comp., Hobson, Descendants of George and Elizabeth Hobson
. . . Long Beach, Cal., n. p., 1957. 323p.
DAYTON, ALTA ALLDREDGE, Record of the Posterity of Samuel Harrison Smith
and Caroline Mooney Smith and Mary Ellen Batman Smith . . . N. p.,
1957. [193]p.
Descendants of Nicholas Perkins of Virginia. [Ann Arbor, Mich., Edwards
Brothers, c!957.] 700p.
DE WOLFE, EDITH, ed., History of Putney, Vermont, 1753-1953. Putney, The
Fortnightly Club, 1953. 221p.
DILLS, R. S., History of Greene County . . . and the State of Ohio
. . . Dayton, Odell & Mayer, 1881. 1018p.
DORMAN, JOHN FREDERICK, Orange County, Virginia, Will Book 1, 1735-1743.
Washington, D. C., n. p., 1958. Mimeographed. 72p.
DOUGHTIE, BEATRICE MACKEY, The Mackeys (Variously Spelled) and Allied
Families. N. p., Privately Printed [c!957]. 1002p.
DUTCH SETTLERS SOCIETY OF ALBANY, Yearbook, Vols. 32 and 33, 1956-1958.
Albany, N. Y., [Society, 1958]. 57p.
DUTCHESS COUNTY [NEW YORK] HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Year Book, Vol. 41,
1956. N. p. [c!958]. 73p.
EAST TENNESSEE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Publications, No. 29, 1957. Knoxville,
Society, 1957. 202p.
EISENHART, WILLIS W., Abbott-Adlum-Green Families. N. p., 1957. 78p.
, Ancestry of the John Franklin Eisenhart Family. Abbottstown, Pa.,
n. p., 1951. 150p.
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 241
ELLIOTT, LOUISE GERVAISE, and MAREE STARKEY (GUSHING) DURAN, Geneal-
ogy of Alexander Elliott 6- Delayede Belisle 6- Mose Gervaise 6- Marie Ve~
giard-Labonte . . . N. p., 1958. 63p.
Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography, Vol. 30. New York, Lewis Historical
Publishing Company, 1957. 297p.
ESSEX INSTITUTE, The Essex Institute Historical Collections Name, Place and
Subject Index of Volumes 23 to 43, 1886 to 1907. N. p., Printed for the
Essex Institute, 1958. 624p.
EVANS, MABLE E. ADAMS, Kimble and Elvina (Smith) Adams. Manhattan,
Kan., Author, 1859. [17]p.
EVERTON, GEORGE B., and GUNNAR RASMUSON, Handy Book for Genealogists,
Third Edition . . . Logan, Utah, Everton Publishers [c!957]. 205p.
FLETCHER, ROBERT HOWE, JR., comp., Genealogical Sketch of Certain of the
American Descendants of Mathew Talbot, Gentleman. N. p., Privately
Printed, 1956. 70p.
FORTSON, JOHN, Pott Country and What Has Become of It, a History of Potta-
watomie County [Oklahoma]. N. p., Pottawatomie County Historical
Society, 1936. 90p.
GAINES, B. O., History of Scott County [Kentucky]. Georgetown, Ky., Frye
Printing Company, 1957. 120p.
GENEALOGICAL FORUM OF PORTLAND, OREGON, Genealogical Material in Oregon
Donation Land Claims, Vol. 1. Portland, Genealogical Forum, 1957. 152p.
GERBERICH, ALBERT H., The Brenneman History. Scottdale, Pa., Mennonite
Publishing House, 1938. 1217p.
GREGG, JACOB RAY, Pioneer Days in Malheur County [Oregon] . . . Los
Angeles, Privately Printed, 1950. 442p.
GROVES, JOSEPH A., Alstons and Allstons of North and South Carolina . . .
Atlanta, Ga., Franklin Printing and Publishing Company, 1901. 367p.
HAMILTON, JAMES MCCLELLAN, From Wilderness to Statehood, a History of
Montana, 1805-1900. Portland, Ore., Binfords & Mort [c!957]. 620p.
History of Marion County, Iowa . . . Des Moines, Union Historical Com-
pany, 1881. 807p.
History of Marion County, Ohio. Chicago, Leggett, Conway & Company, 1883.
1031p.
History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania . . . Also a Condensed History
of Pennsylvania. Chicago, Brown, Runk & Company, 1888. 1210p.
History of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, With Illustrations and Biographical
Sketches . . . New York, W. W. Munsell & Company, 1881. [450]p.
History of Southern Oregon, Comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry
and Coos Counties . . . Portland, A. G. Walling, 1884. 545p.
History of Steele and Waseca Counties, Minnesota . . . Chicago, Union
Publishing Company, 1887. 756p.
HODGES, FRANCES BEAL SMITH, Gordons of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, With
Notes on Gordons of Scotland. Wichita Falls, Tex., Wichita Multigraphing
Company, c!934. 35p.
HOOK, JAMES W., comp., George Michael Eller and His Descendants in Amer-
ica . . . New Haven, Conn., Compiler [1957?]. 485p.
16—8804
242 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
[HOWELL, MRS. CLARENCE S.], The Howell Genealogy. No impr. Typed. 7p.
, The Pettibone Genealogy. No impr. Typed, lip.
, The Roe Genealogy. No impr. Typed. 5p.
HUGUENOT SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, Transactions, No. 62. Charleston,
Society, 1957. 52p.
[HYNES, LEE POWERS], Our Heritage; a Record of Information About the Hynes,
Wait, Powers, Chenault, Maxey, Brewster, Starr and Mclntosh Families
. . . [Haddonfield, N. J.] n. p. [1957]. 90p.
KENNEDY, ROBERT P., Historical Review of Logan County, Ohio, Together With
Biographical Sketches. Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1903.
823p.
KENTUCKY, ADJUTANT GENERAL, . . . Soldiers of the War of 1812.
Frankfort, Printed by Authority of the Legislature of Kentucky, 1891. 370p.
KINSEY, FRANK STEWART, comp., Stewarts, Dressers, Tafts, Cones. Los Angeles,
American Offset Printers, 1956. 388p.
KNORR, CATHERINE LINDSAY, comp., Marriage Bonds and Ministers' Returns of
Brunswick County, Virginia, 1750-1810. N. p., Compiler, 1953. Mimeo-
graphed. 138p.
, comp., Marriage Bonds and Ministers' Returns of Halifax County,
Virginia, 1753-1800. N. p., Compiler [c!957]. Mimeographed. 134p.
, comp., Marriage Bonds and Ministers' Returns of Pittsylvania County,
Virginia, 1767-1805. N. p., Compiler, 1956. Mimeographed. 127p.
, comp., Marriage Bonds and Ministers' Returns of Powhatan County,
Virginia, 1777-1830. N. p., Compiler, 1957. Mimeographed. lOlp.
, comp., Marriages of Culpeper County, Virginia, 1781-1815. N. p.,
Compiler, 1954. Mimeographed. 127p.
KOZEE, WILLIAM C., Pioneer Families of Eastern and Southeastern Kentucky.
Huntington, W. Va., Standard Printing and Publishing Company [c!957],
272p.
LAMBETH, MARY WEEKS, Memories and Records of Eastern North Carolina.
N. p., Privately Printed [c!957]. 252p.
LATTA, F. F., The Lord's Vineyard, Including the Life of E. C. Latta, 1831-
1909. Shafter, Cal., Author, 1940. 91p.
[LEDLEY, W. VAN D.], Index to the First Book of Records of the Dutch Re-
formed Church of Brooklyn, New York. [New York] n. p. [1957]. Typed.
45p.
LONDON, HOYT H., A Genealogical History of One Branch of the London
Family in America . . . Columbia, University of Missouri, 1957. 52p.
LOOMIS, NOEL M., The Texan-Santa Fe Pioneers. Norman, University of
Oklahoma [c!958]. 329p.
MCCULLOUGH, ROSE CHAMBERS GOODE, Yesterday When It Is Past. Richmond,
Va., William Byrd Press, 1957. 403p.
MACLYSAGHT, EDWARD, Irish Families, Their Names, Arms and Origins. Dub-
lin, Hodges Figgis & Company, 1957. 366p.
MACMILLAN, SOMERLED, Emigration of Lochaber MacMillans to Canada in
1802. [Ipswich, Mass., Privately Printed] c!958. [15]p.
MCPHERSON, LEWIN DWINELL, comp., Calhoun, Hamilton, Baskin and Related
Families. N. p. [c!957]. 447p.
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 243
MCREYNOLDS, EDWIN C., Oklahoma, a History of the Sooner State. Norman,
University of Oklahoma Press [c!954]. 461p.
MARSHALL, HARRY A., Our Children, 1818-1954. N. p., 1954. Chart.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Proceedings, Vol. 70, October, 1950 —
May, 1953. Boston, Society, 1957. 418p.
METCALF, JOHN G., comp., Annals of the Town of Mendon [Massachusetts]
From 1659 to 1880. Providence, R. I., E. L. Freeman & Company, 1880.
723p.
MISSISSIPPI GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, Cemetery and Bible Records. Jackson,
Miss., Society, 1957. 233p.
, comp., Survey of Records in Mississippi Court Houses. Jackson, Miss.,
Society, 1957. 180p.
NATIONAL SOCIETY OF DAUGHTERS OF FOUNDERS AND PATRIOTS OF AMERICA,
Lineage Book, Vol. 31. N. p., 1958. 432p.
NATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN COLONISTS, Lineage
Book, Book 2, Supplemental, 1945-1949. N. p., 1957. [159]p.
, Lineage Book, Vol. 11, 10001-11000, 1957. Annandale, Va., Society,
1957. [420]p.
NYE, MARY GREEN, Early History of Berlin, Vermont, 1763-1820. N. p.,
Norbert J. Towne and H. J. Dodge [c!954]. 98p.
Our Quaker Friends of Ye Olden Time . . . Hanover County and . . .
Campbell County, Va. Lynchburg, Va., J. P. Bell Company, 1905. 287p.
Panhandle-Plains Historical Review, Vol. 30. Canyon, Tex., Panhandle-Plains
Historical Society, 1957. 132p.
Past and Present of Eaton County, Michigan . . . With Biographical
Sketches . . . Lansing, Michigan Historical Publishing Association,
n. d. 663p.
Past and Present of Kane County, Illinois . . . Chicago, William Le Baron,
Jr., & Company, 1878. [826]p.
PENNYPACKER, SAMUEL WHITAKER, Annals of Phoenixville [Pennsylvania] and
Its Vicinity: From the Settlement to the Year 1871 . . . Philadelphia,
Bavis & Pennypacker, 1872. 295p.
PERRIN, WILLIAM HENRY, ed., [Kentucky History.} [Chicago, F. A. Battey,
1884-1888.] Microfilm. 7 Vols. on 3 Reels.
PETERSON, EMIL R., and ALFRED POWERS, A Century of Coos and Curry; His-
tory of Southwest Oregon. Coquille, Coos-Curry Pioneer and Historical
Association, 1952. 599p.
PHILLIPS, HARRY A., History of Glover and Runaway Pond, a Poem in Two
Cantos. [Lyndonville, Vt., Northeastern Vermont Development Association]
n. d. 50p.
POLLARD, ANNIE M., History of the Town of Baltimore, Vermont. Montpelier,
Vermont Historical Society [c!954]. 208p.
POWELL, WILLIAM S., North Carolina Histories, a Bibliography. Chapel Hill,
University of North Carolina Library, 1958. 27p. (University of North
Carolina Library Studies, No. 1.)
PRESTON, RICHARD A., trans., and LEOPOLD LAMONTAGNE, ed., Royal Fort
Frontenac. Toronto, Champlain Society, 1958. 503p. (Publications of
the Champlain Society, Ontario Series, Vol. 2.)
244 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
PRITCHARD, RUTH MITCHELL, comp., The Genealogical Record of the Ancestors
and Descendants of Perley and Phebe (Lewis) Mitchell of Parke County,
Indiana. N. p., 1958. Mimeographed. 28p.
PUGH, JESSE FORBES, Three Hundred Y 'ears Along the Pasquotank, a Biographi-
cal History of Camden County. Old Trapp, N. C., n. p. [c!957]. 249p.
PUTNEY, VT., FORTNIGHTLY CLUB, comp., People of Putney , 1 753-1 953.
[Putney, Fortnightly Club] 1953. 86p.
RANDOLPH, WASSELL, Pedigree of the Descendants of Henry Randolph I
(1623-1673) of Henrico County, Virginia. Memphis, n. p., 1957. 277p.
REYNOLDS, ELON G., ed., Compendium of History and Biography of Hillsdale
County, Michigan. Chicago, A. W. Bowen & Company [1903]. 460p.
RICKS, JOEL E., and EVERETT L. COOLEY, eds., The History of a Valley, Cache
Valley, Utah-Idaho. Logan, Utah, Cache Valley Centennial Commission,
1956. 504p.
ROYSE, MINTIE ALLEN, The Rennet Family. Indianapolis, Indiana Historical
Society, 1958. 98p. (Indiana Historical Society Publications, Vol. 20, No.
1.)
SAN JOAQUIN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, comp., Gold Rush Days; Vital Statistics
Copied From Early Newspapers of Stockton, California, 1850-1855. Stock-
ton, Society, 1958. Mimeographed. 103p.
SCARBOROUGH, JEWEL DAVIS, Southern Kith and Kin. Volume 3, Major James
Scarborough, His Ancestors and Descendants. Abilene, Tex., Abilene Print-
ing Company [c!957]. 218p.
SHEEHAN, BEATRICE LINSKILL, comp., Descendants of William Lain and Keziah
Mather With Her Lineage From Reverend Richard Mather. Brooklyn,
N. Y., Theo. Gaus' Sons, 1957. 310p.
SHIELDS, JOHN A., The Bennett Rook, a Family History . . . [Seymour,
Ind., Author, 1956.] Mimeographed. 112p.
SIMS, EDGAR B., Making a State; Formation of West Virginia . . . N. p.,
State of West Virginia [c!956]. 213p.
, Sims Index to Land Grants in West Virginia. N. p. [State of West
Virginia, c!952]. 866p.
SMITH, CHARLES A., The Family of William Collins. N. p., 1951? Chart.
SMITH, FRANK, Genealogical History of Dover, Massachusetts . . . Dover,
Historical and Natural History Society, 1917. 268p.
SMITH, MELLCENE (THURMAN), Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith . * .
No impr. [1035]p.
SOCIETY OF INDIANA PIONEERS, Year Rook, 1957. Published by Order of the
Board of Governors, 1957. 137p.
SOCIETY OF MAYFLOWER DESCENDANTS, Meetings, Officers and Members Ar-
ranged in State Societies, Ancestors and Their Descendants. N. p., General
Congress, 1901. 447p.
SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, OHIO, CINCINNATI CHAPTER, 1958 Line-
age Rook, Compiled by Charles Hughes Hamlin. [Cincinnati] Cincinnati
Chapter, Ohio Society Sons of the American Revolution, c!958. 540p.
SOUTH DAKOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Collections and Report, Vol. 27, 1954.
Pierre, South Dakota Historical Society, c!954. 582p.
, Report and Historical Collections, Vol. 28, 1956. Pierre, South Dakota
Historical Society, c!957. 573p.
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 245
SPENCER, RICHARD HENRY, Genealogical and Memorial Encyclopedia of the
State of Maryland . . . New York, American Historical Society, 1919,
2 Vols.
STARK, JAMES H., Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the Amer-
ican Revolution. Boston, James H. Stark, 1910. 509p.
STILES, JESSIE VERNAN, The Family of Jonathan Stiles of Guernsey County,
Ohio . . . N. p., Privately Printed, 1957. 398p.
STUCKER, ESSIE, comp., Michael Stucker of 1759 and His Kinsmen .
N. p. [c!957]. 218p.
SZARKOWSKI, JOHN, The Face of Minnesota. Minneapolis, University of Minne-
sota Press [c!958]. 302p.
TERRILL, HELEN ELIZA, and SARA ROBERTSON DIXON, History of Stewart
County, Georgia . . . Columbus, Ga., Columbus Office Supply Com-
pany, 1958. 804p.
THURSTON, GEORGE H., Allegheny County's Hundred Years. Pittsburgh, A. A.
Anderson & Son, 1888. 312p.
TOPPING, CHARLES E., comp., Topping. N. p., 1958. Typed. 50p.
TOTTEN, JOHN R., Thacher-Thatcher Genealogy. N. p., New York Genealogi-
cal and Biographical Society, 1910-1915. 842p.
TREAT, JOHN HARVEY, The Treat Family, a Genealogy of Trott, Tratt, and
Treat . . . Salem, Mass., Salem Press Publishing & Printing Company,
1893. 637p.
WAHL, DORIS (SEYMOUR), and CYNTHIA WALKER RUMMEL, comps., The
Skinner Kinsmen. Volume 1, The Descendants of Richard Skinner of North
Carolina. N. p., 1958. 78p.
WAYLAND, JOHN W., Twenty-Five Chapters on the Shenandoah Valley to
Which is Appended a Concise History of the Civil War in the Valley.
Strasburg, Va., Shenandoah Publishing House, 1957. 434p.
WEANER, ARTHUR, and WILLIAM F. SHULL, SR., History and Genealogy of the
German Emigrant Johan Christian Kirschenmann, Anglicized Cashman
. . . Volume 1. [Gettysburg, Pa., Privately Printed] 1957. Various
paging.
WEIS, FREDERICK LEWIS, Colonial Churches and the Colonial Clergy of the
Middle and Southern Colonies, 1607-1776. Lancaster, Mass., Society of the
Descendants of the Colonial Clergy, 1938. 140p.
, Colonial Clergy of Maryland, Delaware and Georgia. Lancaster, Mass.,
Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy, 1950. 104p.
, Colonial Clergy of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Bos-
ton, Society of the Descendants of Colonial Clergy, 1955. lOOp.
WHEELER, Lois, History of Cavendish, Vermont. Proctorsville, Vt., Author^
1952. 70p.
WILEY, SAMUEL T., Rio graphical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth
Congressional District, Pennsylvania . . . Philadelphia, C. A. Ruoff
Company, 1897. 578p.
WISE, JENNINGS CROPPER, Col. John Wise of England and Virginia (1617-
1695) . . . [Richmond, Bell Book and Stationery Company, c!918.]
352p.
246 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
WOMER, LESLYE HARDMAN, Willford-Hardman Ancestorlore. N. p. [1957].
[52]p.
WRIGHT, ESTHER CLARK, Loyalists of New Brunswick. Fredericton, New
Brunswick, Privately Printed [c!955]. 365p.
GENERAL
ALDEN, JOHN RICHARD, The South in the Revolution, 1763-1789. [Baton
Rouge] Louisiana State University Press, 1957. 442p. (History of the
South, Vol. 3.)
AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, Memoirs, Nos. 86-87. [Menasha,
Wis.] Association, 1958. 2 Vols.
AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, Proceedings at the Annual Meeting Held in
Worcester, October 16, 1957. Worcester, Mass., Society, 1958. [215]p.
, Proceedings at the Semi-Annual Meeting Held in Boston, April 17,
1957. Worcester, Mass., Society, 1957. 76p.
AUMANN, FRANCIS R., The Changing American Legal System: Some Selected
Phases. Columbus [Ohio State University] 1940. 231p. (Contributions
in History and Political Science, No. 16. )
, Instrumentalities of Justice: Their Forms, Functions, and Limitations.
Columbus, Ohio State University Press, 1956. 137p. (Contributions in
History and Political Science, No. 18. )
AYER, N. W., and SON'S, Directory of Newspapers and Periodicals, 1958. Phila-
delphia, N. W. Ayer & Son [c!958]. 1554p.
BARRET, RICHARD CARTER, Bennington Pottery and Porcelain, a Guide to
Identification. New York, Crown Publishers [c!958]. [348]p.
BEEBE, Lucius, and CHARLES CLEGG, The Age of Steam, a Classic Album of
American Railroading. New York, Rinehart & Company [1957?]. Unpaged.
BEERS, HENRY PUTNEY, French in North America, a Bibliographical Guide to
French Archives, Reproductions, and Research Missions. Baton Rouge,
Louisiana State University Press [c!957]. 413p.
BLIVEN, BRUCE, JR., The Wonderful Writing Machine. New York, Random
House [c!954]. 236p.
BLOYD, LEVI, Campbell Brothers Great Consolidated Shows . . . the
Story of the Second Largest Circus in the World. [Fairbury, Neb., Holloway
Publishing Company, c!957.] Unpaged.
BRISTOL, LEE HASTINGS, JR., Seed for a Song. Boston, Little, Brown and Com-
pany [c!958]. 244p.
BROWN, TRUESDELL S., Timaeus of Tauromenium. Berkeley, University of
California Press, 1958. 165p. (University of California Publications in
History, Vol. 55.)
CLARK, IRA G., Then Came the Railroads, the Century From Steam to Diesel
in the Southwest. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press [c!958]. 336p.
COHN, DAVID L., The Good Old Days; a History of American Morals and
Manners as Seen Through the Sears, Roebuck Catalogs, 1905 to the Present.
New York, Simon and Schuster, 1940. 597p.
COLONY, HORATIO, Yowng Malatesta. Rindge, N. H., Richard R. Smith Pub-
lisher, 1957. 55p.
THE CONNOISSEUR, Concise Encyclopedia of Antiques, Vol. 2. New York, Haw-
thorn Books, n. d. 279p.
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 247
CRISWELL, GROVER C., and CLARENCE L. CRISWELL, Criswell's Currency Series.
Pass-A-Grille Beach, Fla. [Criswell's Publications], 1957. 277p.
, Price List and Supplement to Volume 1 of Criswell's Currency Series.
[Pass-A-Grille, Fla.] Criswell's Publications, 1957. 16p.
CUNLIFFE, MARCUS, George Washington, Man and Monument. Boston, Little,
Brown and Company [c!958]. 234p.
CUNNINGHAM, H. H., Doctors in Gray, the Confederate Medical Service. Baton
Rouge, Louisiana State University Press [c!958]. [339]i
DENISON, CAROL, Animal Stories. New York, Simon and Schuster [c!957].
127p.
Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. 22, Supplement Two (to December
31, 1940). New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1958. 745p.
Di PESO, CHARLES C., The Reeve Ruin and Southeastern Arizona . . .
Dragoon, Ariz., Amerind Foundation, 1958. 189p.
DRAPER, THEODORE, Roots of American Communism. New York, Viking Press,
1957. 498p.
DUFFY, JOHN ED., Parson Clapp of the Stranger's Church of New Orleans.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press [c!957]. 191p. (Louisiana
State University Studies. Social Science Series, No. 7.)
DURANT, JOHN, and ALICE DURANT, Pictorial History of the American Circus.
New York, A. S. Barnes and Company [c!957]. 328p.
Encyclopedia of American Biography. New Series, Vol. 27. New York, Amer-
ican Historical Company, 1957. 460p.
ERDMAN, LOULA GRACE, The Short Summer. New York, Dodd, Mead & Com-
pany [c!958]. 304p.
FRANCHERE, RUTH, Willa. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell [c!958]. 169p.
FULLER, J. F. C., Grant b Lee, a Study in Personality and Generalship.
Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1957. 323p.
GEIGER, Louis G., University of the Northern Plains, a History of the University
of North Dakota, 1883-1958. Grand Forks, University of North Dakota
Press, 1958. 491p.
GIBSON, JOHN M., Soldier in White, the Life of General George Miller Stern-
berg. Durham, N. C., Duke University Press, 1958. 277p.
GIMBUTAS, MARIJA, Ancient Symbolism in Lithuanian Folk Art. Philadelphia,
American Folklore Society, 1958. 148p. (Memoirs of the American Folk-
lore Society, Vol. 49.)
GORDON, B. LsRoY, Human Geography and Ecology in the Sinu Country of
Colombia. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1957. 117p. (Ibero-
Americana: 39. )
HARPER, HOWARD V., Days and Customs of All Faiths. New York, Fleet Pub-
lishing Corporation [c!957]. 399p.
HARRISON, HARRY P., Culture Under Canvas, the Story of Tent Chautauqua
. . . as Told to Karl Detzer. New York, Hastings House [c!958]. 287p.
HARWELL, RICHARD B., ed., The Confederate Reader. New York, Longmans,
Green and Company, 1957. 389p.
HELD, ROBERT, The Age of Firearms, a Pictorial History. New York, Harper
& Brothers [c!957]. 192p.
HESSELTINE, WILLIAM B., and DONALD R. McNEiL, eds., In Support of Clio;
Essays in Memory of Herbert A. Kellar. Madison, State Historical Society
of Wisconsin, 1958. 214p.
248 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
HIGBEE, EDWARD, The American Oasis, the Land and Its Uses. New York,
Alfred A. Knopf, 1957. [266]p.
HILL, FOREST G., Roads, Rails 6- Waterways; the Army Engineers and Early
Transportation. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press [c!957]. 248p.
HODGES, FLETCHER, JR., Swanee Ribber and a Biographical Sketch of Stephen
Collins Foster. White Springs, Fla., Stephen Foster Memorial Association,
c!958. Unpaged.
HOLBROOK, STEWART H., Dreamers of the American Dream. Garden City,
N. Y., Doubleday & Company, 1957. 369p.
HOOVER, J. EDGAR, Masters of Deceit, the Story of Communism in America
and How To Fight It. New York, Henry Holt and Company [c!958]. 374p,
HOTCHKISS SCHOOL, LAKEVILLE, CONNECTICUT, CLASS OF 1910. The Mischi-
anza. Lakeville, Hotchkiss School, 1910. [179]p.
JEFFERSON, THOMAS, Papers. Vol. 14, 8 October 1788 to 26 March 1789.
Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1958. 708p.
JOHNSON, WILLIAM, Papers of Sir William Johnson, Vol. 12. Albany, University
of the State of New York, 1957. 1124p.
KELLAR, JAMES H., An Archaeological Survey of Perry County. Indianapolis,
Indiana Historical Bureau, 1958. 40p.
KELLEY, STANLEY, Professional Public Relations and Political Power. Balti-
more, Johns Hopkins Press, 1956. 247p.
KENT, WILLIAM WINTHROP, Rare Hooked Rugs . . . Springfield, Mass.,
Pond-Ekberg Company [c!941]. 223p.
KEY, WILLIAM, The Battle of Atlanta and the Georgia Campaign. New York,
Twayne Publishers [c!958]. 92p.
KIMMEL, STANLEY, Mr. Lincoln's Washington. New York, Coward-McCann
[c!957]. 224p.
KOVEL, RALPH M., and TERRY H. KOVEL, Dictionary of Marks — Pottery and
Porcelain. New York, Crown Publishers [c!953]. 278p.
LAWSON, EVALD BENJAMIN, Two Primary Sources for a Study of the Life of
Jonas Swensson. Rock Island, 111., Augustana Historical Society, 1957. 39p.
(Augustana Historical Society Publications, Vol. 17.)
LEE, ROBERT E., Dispatches; Unpublished Letters of General Robert E. Lee,
C. S. A., to Jefferson Davis and the War Department of the Confederate
States of America, 1862-65 . . . Edited by Douglas Southall Freeman.
New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons [c!957]. 416p.
LIFE MAGAZINE, America's Arts and Skills. New York, E. P. Button & Company
[c!957]. 172p.
LORANT, STEFAN, Lincoln, a Picture Story of His Life. Revised and Enlarged
Edition. New York, Harper & Brothers [c!957]. 304p.
McKEARiN, HELEN, and GEORGE S. MCKEARIN, Two Hundred Years of Ameri-
can Blown Glass. New York, Crown Publishers [c!950]. 382p.
MANKOWTTZ, WOLF, and REGINALD G. HAGGAR, Concise Encyclopedia of Eng-
lish Pottery and Porcelain. New York, Hawthorn Books [1957?]. 312p.
MARCOSSON, ISAAC, Anaconda. New York, Dodd, Mead & Company [c!957].
370p.
MASON, J. ALDEN, George G. Heye, 1874-1957. New York, Museum of the
American Indian Heye Foundation, 1958. 31p.
Mennonite Encyclopedia, a Comprehensive Reference Work on the Anabaptist-
Mennonite Movement, Vols. 1-3, A-N. Scottdale, Pa., Mennonite Publishing
House, 1955. 3 Vols.
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 249
MULDER, WILLIAM, and A. RUSSELL MORTENSEN, eds., Among the Mormons,
Historic Accounts by Contemporary Observers. New York, Alfred A. Knopf,
1958. [496]p.
National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. 41. New York, James T.
White & Company, 1956. 61 Ip.
NATIONAL HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS COMMISSION, Writings on American His-
tory, 1952, James R. Masterson, Editor. [Washington, D. C., U. S. Govern-
ment Printing Office, 1958.] 573p.
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Dictionary of Artists in America, 1564-1860,
by George C. Groce and David H. Wallace. New Haven, Yale University
Press, 1957. 759p.
[NEWHALL, JOHN B.], A Glimpse of Iowa in 1846. Iowa City, State Historical
Society of Iowa, 1957. 106p.
ORNDUFF, DONALD R., The Hereford in America, a Compilation of Historic
Facts About the Breed's Background and Bloodlines. Kansas City, Mo.,
Privately Printed [c!957]. 500p.
OSTRANDER, OILMAN M., The Prohibition Movement in California, 1848-1933.
Berkeley, University of California Press, 1957. 241p. ( University of Cali-
fornia Publications in History, Vol. 57.)
PARSONS, JOHN E., Smith 6- Wesson Revolvers, the Pioneer Single Action Models.
New York, William Morrow & Company, 1957. 242p.
PEARSON, LESTER B., The Free Press, a Reflection of Democracy, an Address
... May 15, 1958. Williamsburg, Va., Colonial Williamsburg [1958?].
16p.
PERRY, JOHN, American Ferryboats. New York, Wilfred Funk [c!957]. 175p.
PETERSON, THEODORE, Magazines in the Twentieth Century. Urbana, University
of Illinois Press, 1956. 457p.
Philadelphia Bibliographical Center and Union Library Catalogue, Union List
of Microfilms, Revised, Enlarged and Cumulative Edition, Supplement,
1952-1955. Ann Arbor, Mich., J. W. Edwards, 1957. 1019p.
PHILLIPS, JOSEPH D., Little Business in the American Economy. Urbana, Uni-
versity of Illinois Press, 1958. 135p. (Illinois Studies in the Social Sciences,
Vol. 42.)
[PHILLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY], Pasture and Range Plants, Vols. 1-4. N. p.
[Phillips Petroleum Company, 1955-1957]. 4 Vols.
Pius II, POPE, Commentaries, Books 10-13, Translation by Florence Alden Gragg.
Northampton, Mass., Department of History of Smith College, 1957. [300]p.
POSEY, WALTER BROWNLOW, The Baptist Church in the Lower Mississippi
Valley, 1776-1845. [Lexington] University of Kentucky Press [c!957],
166p.
PUTNAM, CARLETON, Theodore Roosevelt, Vol. 1, The Formative Years. New
York, Charles Scribner's Sons [c!958]. 626p.
HADDOCK, MAXWELL C., Portrait of an American Labor Leader, William L.
Hutcheson. New York, American Institute of Social Science [c!955]. 43p.
REDDING, SAUNDERS, The Lonesome Road, the Story of the Negro's Part in
America. New York, Doubleday & Company, 1958. 355p.
RESOURCES FOR THE FUTURE, The Federal Lands, Their Use and Management,
by Marion Clawson. Baltimore, Published for Resources for the Future by
Johns Hopkins Press [c!957]. 501p.
RIDDLE, DONALD W., Congressman Abraham Lincoln. Urbana, University of
Illinois Press, 1957. 280p.
250 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
RIGGS, ROBERT E., Politics in the United Nations, a Study of United States
Influence in the General Assembly. Urbana, University of Illinois Press,
1958. 208p. (Illinois Studies in the Social Sciences, Vol. 41.)
RIGHTMIRE, GEORGE W., Federal Aid and Regulation of Agriculture and Private
Industrial Enterprise in the United States, a Survey. Columbus, Ohio State
University Press, 1943. 126p. (Contributions in History and Political
Science, No. 17.)
ROBERT, JOSEPH C., The Story of Tobacco in America. New York, Alfred A.
Knopf, 1952. [320]p.
ROSEBOOM, EUGENE H., A History of Presidential Elections. New York, Mac-
millan Company, 1957. 568p.
SCAMEHORN, HOWARD L., Balloons to Jets. Chicago, Henry Regnery Company,
1957. 271p.
SIMONHOFF, HARRY, Jewish Notables in America, 1776-1865, Links of an
Endless Chain. New York, Greenberg Publisher [c!956]. 402p.
SOUTH CAROLINA (COLONY), ASSEMBLY, Journal of the Commons House of
Assembly, September 10, 1745 — June 17, 1746, Edited by J. H. Easterby.
Columbia, South Carolina Archives Department, 1956. 29 Ip.
Story of the Midwest Synod, U. L. C. A., 1890-1950. No impr. [392]p.
THORNBROUGH, EMMA Lou, The Negro in Indiana, a Study of a Minority.
N. p., Indiana Historical Bureau, 1957. 412p. (Indiana Historical Collec-
tions, Vol. 37.)
THORNBROUGH, GAYLE, ed., Outpost on the W abash, 1787-1791. Indianapolis,
Indiana Historical Society, 1957. 305p. (Indiana Historical Society Publi-
cations, Vol. 19.)
TILDEN, FREEMAN, Interpreting Our Heritage, Principles and Practices for
Visitor Services in Parks, Museums and Historic Places. Chapel Hill, Uni-
versity of North Carolina Press [c!957]. HOp.
VANDIVER, FRANK E., Mighty Stonewall. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Com-
pany [c!957]. 547p.
VINCENT, JOHN H., The Chautauqua Movement. Boston, Chautauqua Press,
1886. 308p.
WEST, RICHARD S., Mr. Lincoln's Navy. New York, Longmans, Green and
Company, 1957. 328p.
WEST, ROBERT C., Pacific Lowlands of Colombia, a Negroid Area of the Amer-
ican Tropics. Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press [c!957]. 278p.
(Louisiana State University Studies. Social Science Series, No. 8.)
WHITE, PATRICK C. T., Lord Selkirk's Diary, 1803-1804; a Journal of His Travels
in British North America . . . Toronto, Champlain Society, 1958.
359p. ( Publications of the Champlain Society, Vol. 35. )
Who's Who in America, Vol. 30, 1958-1959. Chicago, Marquis— Who's Who
[c!958]. 3388p.
WILLIAMSON, HAROLD F., and ORANGE A. SMALLEY, Northwestern Mutual Life,
a Century of Trusteeship. Evanston, 111., Northwestern University Press,
1957. 368p.
WILSON, ROBERT A., Genesis of the Meiji Government in Japan, 1868-1871.
Berkeley, University of California Press, 1957. 149p. (University of Cali-
fornia Publications in History, Vol. 56.)
WRITERS' PROGRAM, UTAH, Utah, a Guide to the State. New York, Hastings
House, 1945. 595p.
Bypaths of Kansas History
GAME FOR ALL TASTES AT WELLINGTON
From The Sumner County Press, Wellington, November 20, 1873.
Game is abundant in this market. At the City hotel, last Sunday, the
boarders were treated to bear meat. Buffalo and venison, Euchre, antelope,
seven-up, prairie chicken, Poker, Jack rabbits, California Jack, and other game
abound.
FIGHTING IT OUT ON THE DODGE CITY FRONT
From the Ford County Globe, Dodge City, January 21, 1879.
"SCARLET SLUGGERS." — A desperate fight occurred at the boarding house
of Mrs. W., on "Tin Pot Alley/' last Tuesday evening, between two of the
most fascinating doves of the roost. When we heard the noise and looked out
the front window, which commanded a view of the situation, it was a mag-
nificent sight to see. Tufts of hair, calico, snuff and gravel flew like fur in a
cat fight, and before we could distinguish how the battle waned a chunk of
dislocated leg grazed our ear and a cheer from the small boys announced that
a battle was lost and won. The crowd separated as the vanquished virgin
was carried to her parlors by two "soups." A disjointed nose, two or three
internal bruises, a chawed ear and a missing eye were the only scars we could
see.
YOU'VE HEARD IT! — "THE SHORT GRASS VOICE"
From the Sabetha Herald, June 25, 1908.
Did you ever hear the short grass voice? If you have ever been within
forty rods of it, you have undoubtedly heard it. Away out in western Kansas
the wind is always blowing. It roars through the com fields, it screeches in
the windmills, it moans in the eaves of the houses, it thrums on the barbed
wire fences, and it hisses through the cottonwoods, and as it swings past it
hammers and bangs at everything that is lose or can be worked loose. Once
in awhile out there in western Kansas, when the sun sinks out of sight in the
west, the wind will drop to a whisper, but far in the night perhaps it will
suddenly awaken and lash itself into a fury, and roar past again.
People who live out there, and become accustomed to talking in the wind,
acquire the short grass voice. And in passing we might say that in time a
short grass character goes with the voice. For the past fifteen or sixteen
years we have known William Wells, formerly of Hamlin, east of Sabetha.
Wells now lives near Hill City, out in western Kansas. Before he went to
Hill City his voice was notable for its quiet, retiring disposition. But when he
visited us a year or so ago, his voice came in the fortissimo of the western
Kansas wind; it was no longer the tame, docile creature it had been in the
former environment.
(251)
Kansas History as Published in the Press
"What's the Matter With Kansas?"— today, was the subject of
a Wichita Beacon editorial by Ralph S. Hinman, Jr., published
June 4, 1958. Mr. Hinman concluded: "There's nothing the mat-
ter with Kansas — nothing a healthy dose of pride and affection in
the hearts and minds of her people wouldn't cure — fast!" On
March 1, 1959, the Beacon published an article by Hinman en-
titled "Buffalo Bill Legend Grows Out of [Cowley County] Kansas
Ranch Home."
A profusely-illustrated series of articles on the history of Maple
Hill began appearing in the Alma Signal-Enterprise, September 18,
1958.
On September 24, 1958, the Dodge City Daily Globe published
an eight-page "Back to Santa Fe Trail" section. Featured were ex-
cerpts from Four Centuries in Kansas, by Bliss Isely and W. M.
Richards, relative to the trail and cowboy days in Kansas.
"Historic Johnson County," Elizabeth Barnes' column in the John-
son County Herald, Overland Park, has continued to appear reg-
ularly. Among recent features were: a history of the Shawnee
State Savings Bank, September 25, 1958; reminiscences of Herman
J. Voigts, 82-year-old Mission township resident, November 6; a
history of the Linwood church and cemetery in northeast Johnson
county, January 15, 1959; a history of the Johnson County Herald
by Mrs. Elizabeth Barr Arthur, a former publisher of the Herald,
January 22; and the story of the Shawnee lodge of the Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons, January 29.
The Barnes Chief, September 25, 1958, published a history of St.
Peter Lutheran church, near Barnes, in observance of the church's
75th anniversary.
A history of the Mariadahl Lutheran church, near Cleburne, by
Ruby Johnson, appeared in the Clay Center Dispatch, September
29, 1958. Said to be the oldest Augustana Lutheran church west of
the Missouri river, the Mariadahl congregation observed its 95th
anniversary in October. The church is not expected to reach its
centennial due to the building of the Tuttle creek dam.
The Lawrence P. T. A. Council sponsored a series of articles on
the activities, personalities, and history of the Lawrence public
(252)
KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 253
schools, beginning in the Lawrence Journal-World, September 30,
1958.
A history of the Evangelical Mission Covenant church at Savon-
burg appeared in the Chanute Tribune, October 8, 1958, and in the
Humboldt Union, October 9. Although formally organized in 1898,
the history of the church goes back to 1883 when meetings were first
held.
The Herington Advertiser-Times printed a history of the St. Paul
Lutheran church, Herington, in the issue of October 16, 1958. Or-
ganization of the church was in 1908 under the guidance of the Rev.
Martin Senne.
Lily B. Rozar is the author of a sketch of the Shawnee Methodist
Mission in Johnson county, printed in the Independence Reporter,
October 19, 1958. The mission was established in 1830.
In 1885 the James K. Pugh family settled in Lane county. The
story of the family's early years in the county was told by a daugh-
ter, Mrs. Myrtle Bradstreet, in the Dighton Herald, October 22,
1958.
St. Rose of Lima Catholic church, Council Grove, is the subject
of an article in the Council Grove Republican, October 24, 1958.
The history of the church is traced from 1883.
In 1858 G. W. Hutchinson started the Centropolis Christian
church, according to a brief history by Lloyd Ballhagen in the
Ottawa Herald, October 24, 1958. The church was reorganized in
1881 and chartered in 1883.
On November 6, 1958, the News Chronicle, Scott City, printed a
full-page history of the last major Indian battle in Kansas. A group
of Cheyenne Indians, escaping north from Indian territory, was
attacked in present Scott county by federal troops, September 27,
1878. The site was recently acquired by Scott county and is now a
county park operated by the Scott County Historical Society.
Histories of the Haven Congregational church were printed in the
Haven Journal, November 13, 1958, and in the Hutchinson News,
November 15. The church was organized in November, 1883.
The first Presbyterian church of Natoma was organized June 11,
1898. Historical sketches were published in the Natoma-Luray
Independent, November 13, 1958, and the Osborne County Farmer,
Osborne, November 20.
254 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
A brief history of the Immaculate Conception Catholic church,
Danville, was printed in the Harper Advocate, November 13, 1958.
The church was started in 1883 under the direction of Father Greg-
ory Kelly.
On November 13, 1958, the Russell Rec'ord published a history
of Fairport, a Russell county community, by Laura Knight Napper.
Mrs. Napper's father, William Knight, built a mill on the townsite
and was one of the town's founders. The mill began operating in
1880. On November 27 the Record printed a letter from Royal S.
Kellogg, recalling more history of Fairport and Russell county.
A biographical sketch of Emma Grant, 1872-1958, by J. S. Jent,
was published in the Cedar Vale Messenger, November 20 and 27,
1958. Miss Grant was a native and long-time resident of the Cedar
Vale community.
Burchfiel Methodist church, near Anthony, now beginning its 76th
year, was the subject of a history by Mrs. Myrtle Moore, published
in the Anthony Republican, December 4, 1958. The Rev. J. R.
Burchfiel served as the first pastor.
Broughton, Clay county, has had four names: Rosevale, Morena,
Springfield, and Broughton, according to an article on the town's
history by L. F. Valentine, printed in the Clay Center Dispatch,
December 6, 1958.
Damar, Rooks county, is the subject of a history by Theresa and
Armond Benoit, published in the Hays Daily News, December 7,
1958, and the Rooks County Record, Stockton, December 18. The
community was settled by French Canadians of Catholic faith.
Alfaretta Courtright is the author of an article on the Indian raid
of 1878, printed in the Atwood Citizen-Patriot, December 18, 1958.
A history of the John McBee family, by Mrs. Lillian McBee Myers,
a granddaughter, was printed in the Howard Courier-Citizen, De-
cember 18, 1958. The McBees left Alabama in 1867, settling near
present Howard in 1868.
"Yuletide Was Quiet Here 100 Years Ago for Frank Marshalls,
Others," was the title of an article by Frances R. Williams, in the
Marysville Advocate, December 25, 1958.
Kansas Historical Notes
Martin Van De Mark, Concordia, was elected president of the
newly-organized Cloud County Historical Society at a meeting in
Concordia, January 30, 1959. Robert H. Hanson, Jamestown, was
elected vice-president; Mrs. Raymond A. Hanson, Jamestown, re-
cording secretary; Mrs. Sidney Knapp, Concordia, membership sec-
retary; Ernest Swanson, treasurer; and Fred Ansdell, Jamestown,
Leo Paulsen, Concordia, Dr. Leo Haughey, Concordia, Robert B.
Wilson, Concordia, Mrs. George Palmer, Miltonvale, and Clark
Christian, Clyde, directors. Nyle Miller, secretary of the State His-
torical Society, spoke to the group.
The Smith County Historical Society met January SO, 1959, in
Smith Center, and was addressed by Nyle Miller, secretary of the
State Historical Society. Membership in the new Smith county
organization was reported to be around 450.
All officers of the Lyon County Historical Society were re-elected
at the annual meeting, January 30, 1959, in Emporia. They include:
Dr. O. W. Mosher, president; Dr. Thomas P. Butcher, first vice-
president; John G. Atherton, second vice-president; Myrtle Buck,
secretary; Warren Morris, treasurer; and Mrs. F. L. Gilson, Mabel
Edwards, and Lucina Jones, historians. The Cottrell flat-bed print-
ing press purchased by William Allen White in 1895 and used for
printing the Emporia Gazette until 1906 has been donated to the
society by the William Allen White Foundation. In more recent
years the press was used for printing the Hope Dispatch.
Dr. Leroy Hood, superintendent of schools at Garden City, was
the principal speaker at the annual meeting of the Finney County
Historical Society in Garden City, February 10, 1959. R. G. Brown,
Mrs. Frank Crase, William Fant, Arthur Stone, J. E. Greathouse,
and Amy Gillespie were re-elected directors of the society. New
directors chosen include: Mrs. Merle Evans, Damon Cobb, Mrs.
Claude Owens, Taylor Jones, and Mrs. Claudine Lindner.
New officers of the Shawnee County Historical Society, elected
February 11, 1959, are: John Ripley, president; Leland Schenck,
vice-president; Grace Menninger, secretary; Mrs. Frank Kambach,
treasurer; and Mrs. Harold Cone, editor of the Bulletin.
(255)
256 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Indian raids in Mitchell county in the summer of 1868 were re-
viewed by Alan B. Houghton in a 17-page booklet entitled The
Frontier Aflame, published by the Beloit Daily Call in 1958.
A 32-page pamphlet, reviewing the history and summarizing the
activities of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, was recently
published in observance of the Sisters' centennial.
Organizing a Local Historical Society, by Clement M. Silvestro,
was recently issued as a special Bulletin of the American Association
for State and Local History. Copies are available at 75 cents each
to nonmembers at the American Association for State and Local
History, 816 State Street, Madison 6, Wis.
Dr. B. M. Dobbin is the author of a recently published, 15-page
pamphlet on the history of the Synod of the Plains of the United
Presbyterian Church of North America. The synod was created
in 1869 as Kansas Synod. It was merged with synods of the Presby-
terian Church, U. S. A., in 1958.
Kansas medical history and the role of the Kansas doctor during
the past 100 years as practitioner, specialist, teacher, and health of-
ficer are reviewed by Thomas Neville Bonner in his new 334-page
book, The Kansas Doctor — a Century of Pioneering, published by
the University of Kansas Press.
Noble Women of the North is the title of a 419-page volume
containing excerpts from diaries, letters, memoirs, and journals of
women who served as volunteer nurses with the Union forces
during the Civil War, compiled and edited by Sylvia G. L. Dannett,
and published recently by Thomas Yoseloff, New York. Among the
women was Sarah Emma Edmunds, who, disguised as a man,
served as a soldier and spy, and who later lived in Kansas.
D
THE
KANSAS HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Autumn 1959
Published
Kansas State Historical Society
Topeka
NYLE H. MILLER KIRKE MECHEM JAMES C. MALIN
Managing Editor Editor Associate Editor
CONTENTS
PAGE
IRONQUILL'S "THE WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" James C. Malm, 257
With portrait of Eugene Fitch Ware, about 1881, facing p. 272.
A CHRONOLOGY OF KANSAS POLITICAL AND MILITARY EVENTS, 1859-1865, 283
MARK W. DELAHAY: PERIPATETIC POLITICIAN; A Historical Case Study
John G. Clark, 301
With reproduction of painting of Mark W. Delahay, facing p. 304.
RELIGION IN KANSAS DURING THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR ( In two install-
ments, Part One ) Emory Lindquist, 313
With portraits of Lewis Bodwell, Pardee Butler, Richard Cordley, and Hugh
Dunn Fisher, facing p. 320, and Charles H. Lovejoy, Samuel Young
Lum, Peter McVicar, and Roswell Davenport Parker, facing p. 321.
U. S. ARMY AND AIR FORCE WINGS OVER KANSAS — Concluded 334
With photographs of Boeing B-29 gunners at Smoky Hill Army Air Field,
Salina, and Free French fliers at Dodge City Army Air Field, facing
p. 336, and air force planes on Kansas fields, facing p. 337.
BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 361
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 363
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES . .366
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. Annual membership dues are $3; annual sustaining, $10;
life membership, $20. Membership applications and dues should be ad-
dressed to Mrs. Lela Barnes, treasurer.
Correspondence concerning articles for the Quarterly should be sent to
the managing editor. The Society assumes no responsibility for statements
made by contributors.
Second-class postage has been paid at Topeka, Kan.
THE COVER
Clean-shaven Abraham Lincoln as he appeared about the time
of his visit to Kansas 100 years ago. Mr. Lincoln arrived in El-
wood on November 30, 1859, speaking there that evening, at Troy
and Doniphan on December 1, at Atchison December 2, and at
Leavenworth December 3 and 5. (See pp. 285, 308.)
A caravan to cover Lincoln's Kansas itinerary of 1859 is being
planned for early December, 1959. Further details will be pub-
lished in the newspapers.
THE KANSAS
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Volume XXV Autumn, 1959 Number 3
Ironquill's
"The Washerwoman's Song"
JAMES C. MALIN
THE WASHERWOMAN'S SONG
In a very humble cot,
In a rather quiet spot,
In the suds and in the soap,
Worked a woman full of hope;
Working, singing, all alone,
In a sort of under tone:
"With a Savior for a friend,
He will keep me to the end/'
Sometimes happening along,
I had heard the semi-song,
And I often used to smile,
More in sympathy than guile;
But I never said a word
In regard to what I heard,
As she sang about her friend
Who would keep her to the end.
Not in sorrow nor in glee
Working all day long was she,
As her children, three or four;
Played around her on the floor;
But in monotones the song
She was humming all day long:
"With a Savior for a friend,
He will keep me to the end/'
It's a song I do not sing,
For I scarce believe a thing
Of the stories that are told
Of the miracles of old;
But I know that her belief
Is the anodyne of grief,
And will always be a friend
That will keep her to the end.
DR. JAMES C. MALIN, associate editor of The Kansas Historical Quarterly and author of
several books relating to Kansas and the West, is professor of history at the University of
Kansas, Lawrence.
(257)
258 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Just a trifle lonesome she,
Just as poor as poor could be;
But her spirits always rose,
kike the bubbles in the clothes.
And, though widowed and alone,
Cheered her with the monotone,
Of a Savior and a friend
Who would keep her to the end.
I have seen her rub and rub,1
On the washboard in the tub,
While the baby, sopped in suds,
Rolled and tumbled in the duds;
Or was paddling in the pools,
With old scissors stuck in spools;
She still humming of her friend
Who would keep her to the end.
Human hopes and human creeds
Have their roots in human needs;
And I should not wish to strip
From that washerwoman's lip
Any song that she can sing,
Any hope that songs can bring;
For the woman has a friend
That will keep her to the end.
THE PUBLICATION OF THE POEM AND THE RESPONSE
ON Sunday morning, January 9, 1876, the Fort Scott Daily Moni-
tor printed, without any explanation, Eugene F. Ware's poem,
"The Washerwoman's Song," in the form given above.2 The print-
ing of poetry in the Monitor was not unusual, some being reprints
of well known and obscure poets identified by name, some unidenti-
fied and on occasion unquestionably local, and some signed pieces
by local aspirants to literary recognition identified by name, by
initials, or by a pen name. Ware's poem was designated as
written for the Monitor and was signed by his pen name "Ironquill,"
which was already known in a modest way in Kansas. If the edi-
tors were impressed by this poem as being any different from their
customary poetic contributions, no hint was given, not even a dis-
tinctive position or typographical display. The reading public,
both local and state, allowed no room for doubt, however, register-
1. The wording used here is essentially that of the original printing in the Fort Scott
Daily Monitor, January 9, 1876, but the punctuation follows that of the third edition of the
Rhymes of Ironquill, 1892.
2. The date given by D. W. Wilder, Annals of Kansas (1886), p. 698, is an error.
He printed it in the original wording.
IRONQUILL'S "WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" 259
ing immediately and with enthusiasm a hearty approval, even when
disagreeing in part with some of the ideas expressed.
At Leavenworth, the Times and the Commercial, January 12, the
Anthony morning and evening papers at the moment, commented in
identical editorials: "The Fort Scott Monitor has an original poem
by Tronquill/ entitled 'The Washerwoman's Song/ which possesses
much more than ordinary merit, and deserves to take rank with
Hood's 'Song of the Shirt/ * 3 The poem was printed in both papers
a few days later, with the comment that it was "a beautiful little
poem by Eugene Ware/' 4
The Topeka Daily Commonwealth, January 16, 1876, the Sunday
issue, admonished its readers: "Don't fail to read the poetry on the
third page, written by Eugene Ware of Fort Scott. It is worth any
sermon you will hear today." Two days later, in calling attention
to the approval given the poem by the Leavenworth Times, the
Commonwealth added its bit of praise: "Eugene never wrote any-
thing better."
Whatever the Monitors private views may have been on Sunday
morning, January 9, when "The Washerwoman's Song" was first
printed, the editors purred in the reflected sunlight of such praise
like kittens who had just licked up a saucer of cream. On January
14 they acknowledged Anthony's approval and added their own
first recorded verdict: "It is one of the best poems Mr. Ware has
ever written." To be sure, that was a guarded commitment — "one
of the best." Four days later, the Monitor reported the printing of
the poem in the Times and the Commonwealth on Sunday, January
16, and the comments. But, in the locals column appeared the fol-
lowing wry verdict — bluntly practical and materialistic — "The
Washerwoman's Friend — The person who pays his wash-bill
promptly." In another two days, the exchanges received led the
Monitor to another self-satisfied acknowledgment: "Eugene Ware's
last poem, 'The Washerwoman's Friend/ is going the rounds of the
press. Most of our exchanges have published it, and many of them
highly complimented it." 5 Again, February 2, the Monitor noticed
that it was "going the rounds" having been reprinted in the Leaven-
worth Times, the Topeka Commonwealth, the Sedalia Bazoo, the
Girard Press, and the Columbus Courier, the Humboldt Union, and
the Manhattan Industrialist — "It is one of the most popular of Mr.
Ware's productions."
3. At this particular time most of the first column of the editorial page was identical in
both papers, and was printed from the same type. Later in the year the Commercial was
discontinued.
4. Daily Times, January 16; Daily Commercial, January 17, 1876.
5. Is it unkind to call attention to the newspaper's error in the title of the poem?
260 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
"The Washerwoman's Song" was indeed printed widely in Kan-
sas by the weekly press, and the news service that printed "Patent
Outsides" and "Insides" thought well enough of it to print it and
promptly.6 The Paola Spirit was among those that commented, not
only on the poem, but upon IronqimTs stature as a literary man:
Mr. Ware makes no pretention to poetical genius, yet he has already
achieved an enviable reputation in the literary circles of the West as a writer
of brilliance, not only on the poetical line, but in prose, and the field of wit.
The Spirit is only too glad to be able to "pick up" anything written by the
gifted and talented gentleman, Eugene Ware — "Ironqiiill." He will make his
mark.
This was reprinted by the Parsons Sun, February 19, 1876, along
with the news that Ware had accepted an invitation to read a poem
at the Parsons pioneer celebration, March 8.7
THE NICHOL POETRY EPISODE
On home ground the reception of Ware's poem was remarkable
and significant. Among the items recorded, the first in the sequence
was the publication, in the Daily Monitor, January 18, or nine days
after the historic Sunday of January 9, of a "poem" signed "Leon
Love" (Thomas M. Nichol):
THE WASHERWOMAN'S FRIEND
"With a Savior for a friend
He will keep me to the end."
Thus the washerwoman sings
And bright hope within her springs,
That the words are truth, she knows
And she rubs and rubs the clothes,
Trusting in her Savior friend
Who will keep her to the end.
As she washes all day long,
And keeps humming at her song,
It is not the song she sings
To her bosom hope that brings;
But she rather sings the song,
Knowing well 'twill not be long
Till her Savior friend will come
And will take her to her home.
It is not the mere belief
That's the "anodyne of grief;"
Her Savior friend is real —
He's not a mere ideal.
6. Parsons Sun, January 22; Oswego Independent, February 5, 1876, both "patent out-
sides."
7. Later Ware found it necessary to cancel this engagement. Parsons Sun, March 4,
1876; Daily Monitor, February 19, March 7, 1876.
IRONQUILL'S "WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" 261
Though He's all unknown to you
He's a person, real, true,
And he is the woman's friend;
He will keep her to the end.
You may smile at what she sings,
And may scorn the hope that springs
From "the stories that are told
Of the miracles of old."
But the woman at her tubs,
As each day she rubs and rubs
Still will trust her Savior friend
Who will keep her to the end.
It might well be worth your while
Never more at her to smile,
In your sympathy or guile,
Till you've thought more of the things,
Of the song the woman sings.
You may be assured of this,
There's a world of purest bliss
Comes from knowing that dear friend
Who will keep her to the end.
And although for all her hope
She would scarcely give the soap
That she rubs upon the clothes
Yet, in all her wants and woes,
She is certain at the last
When all her wants and woes are past
That her Savior friend will come
And will take her to her home.
This is why the woman sings —
It's to tell herself the things —
The only things — that cheer her,
And keep her Savior near her,
And he'll keep her — thought sublime! —
To the end of endless time —
For he is her only friend
Who will keep her to the end.8
Nichol had been on the Monitor staff for a time, having resigned
in December,9 and was devoting himself to the promotion of the
Kansas Clipper sulky and gang plows which he had invented. These
plows had been awarded the first premium at the Kansas State Fair
at Leavenworth, which opened September 7, 1874. The Kansas
State Grange had been contracted with the Fort Scott Foundry to
manufacture them, and this arrangement had brought Nichol from
8. In the sixth line of stanzas one and four, the words "rubs and rubs" were a reflection
of Ware's original version of "The Washerwoman's Song," which used them in the sixth
stanza, line one, instead of "rubs and scrubs," used in the book printings.
9. Daily Monitor, December 23, 1875.
262 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Humboldt to Fort Scott. He was born in Ohio, came to Kansas from
Illinois, and in 1876 was 29 years of age.10
Anthony's papers, the Leavenworth Times and the Commercial,
for January 20, ridiculed Nicholas effort at versification. "The
fledglings are already attempting to ape Ware's song of the washer-
woman. Leon Love's [Nichol's] doggerel in Tuesday's Monitor is
the first. You will have to make stronger 'suds' than that, Love, if
you expect your clothes to be 'fit to be seen.'" In printing this
blunt verdict by Anthony, the Monitor attempted, the next day, to
draw somewhat the sting with the comment: "Rather rough on
'Leon Love/" Then, on January 23 (Sunday), by request, the
Monitor reprinted both poems, along with the admonition: "They
are good Sunday reading."
The Fort Scott Pioneer, January 27, the Democratic weekly rival
of the Monitor, edited by U. F. Sargent, could not pass up such an
opportunity to deride the opposition. His barbed jibe, inspired by
Anthony's ridicule, was: "Poor Nichol! His wishy-washy parody
on Ware's 'Washerwoman's Song finds but little favor." And in the
same issue Sargent wrote a two-paragraph introduction to an anon-
ymous "poem." Of course, it might have been his own brain child,
whose paternity he did not have the courage to acknowledge.
THE WASHERWOMAN'S SONG
By a matter-of-fact-man
I've read the short haired poet's song
Of the woman all forlorn,
Who took in washing by the day,
And never asked about her pay.
But continued working right along,
Singing a mythical sort of song,
All the long and weary day
While the children about her play.
Long and earnestly I have looked
Through our new directory book,
Hoping, trusting, I might find
One with confidence so sublime.
For the washer that I have had
Has kept me feeling very, very sad,
Whenever we have chanced to meet,
In the church or on the street,
10. Kansas state census, 1875 (Ms.), y. 5, Bourbon county, City of Fort Scott, p. 55;
his name appeared a second time, p. 91, with an age of 30, in 1875; State Board of Agri-
culture, The Third Annual Report . . ., 1874, p. 75; Daily Monitor, August 28, De-
cember 3, 9, 1874, February 26, March 6, 1875. He was later to have a remarkable career
elsewhere.
IRONQUILI/S "WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" 263
By asking in a weary way
If I ever intend to pay;
If I don't she will put me through,
Then I beg her not to sue.
And then she tells it on the street
That I am a high-toned beat,
And if she had a friend,
Who would keep her to the end,
She would quickly find a way
Whereby I would promptly pay,
Or the end would quickly be
A case of assault and battery.
We met in the bank yesterday,
And she said, "Now you will pay,
For I have waited very long,
And I'm a widow all forlorn/'
I asked her not to speak so loud,
For she was drawing quite a crowd;
But she didn't seem to care a cent,
And on mischief seemed intent.
So I gave her all I had,
Still she seemed exceeding mad;
And departing, wildly said,
"Oh! I wish that I was dead/'
Had she the faith it would be
Better for her and for me,
Could she feel she had a friend
Who would pay her in the end.
This had been preceded in the Pioneer, January 20, by an article
in which Sargent had noticed unfavorably the structure of Michel's
versification. Nichol defended himself at length. Though the
Pioneer article is missing from the files, he quoted much of it.11 In
printing it the Monitor editor warned his readers in a local: " 'Leon
Love' criticizes a critic this morning at great length. In a contest
between giants the fur must fly." Also, at the top of the reply, the
Monitor accommodated with the headline: "What a Critic! A Few
Words About Poetry, Criticism, Ignorance, Stupidity and Mean-
ness." 12
Nichol began by quoting from the Pioneer editorial of January 20
entitled "What a Poet," which had ridiculed his rhyme and had
characterized his effort as a "wishy-washy parody on Ware's Washer-
11. Monitor, January 30 (Sunday), 1876.
12. The authorship of the headline is not clear; if the origin was Nichol, at least, the
editor accommodated by not "killing" it.
264 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
woman's Song. . . ." In defense Nichol showed a familiarity
with a wide range of literature, but he took the ground that prin-
ciple, not his own verses, was his concern. He condemned the
tendency to greet new writers "with words not of welcome and en-
couragement, but of derision and ridicule/'
The partisan verdict of the Monitor editor was that: "The worst
used-up critic we ever saw, is the universal expression in regard to
'Leon Love* vs. Sargent." 13 Immediately, the Monitor printed an-
other of Nichol's "poems," "The Sentry Boy" which indulged also in
unusual "poetic forms," and later, one called "Seed Time and
Harvest." 14 As he had asserted in his criticism of the critic, he was
not easily crushed by ridicule.
As the recipient of such forthright castigation, Sargent would have
had his readers believe that he was convinced of his error and was
contrite, so he printed "Our Apology" in the Pioneer, February 3,
which closed: "Then it follows that what we pronounced 'wishy
washy/ 'doggerel' is in fact, poetry descended from the gods. Poet
grant us pardon."
On February 17, while editor Sargent was absent, the Pioneer
printed another "poem," inspired by, if not a "parody" of "The
Washerwoman's Song." The author was not indicated but the title
asserted: "I Do Not Like to Hear Him Pray." 15
I do not like to hear him pray
"Let blessings on the widow be!"
Who never seeks her home to say
"If want o'er take you, come to me."
I hate the prayer so loud and long,
That's offered for the orphan's weal,
By him who sees him crushed by wrong,
And does not for his suffering feel.
I do not like to hear her pray
With jeweled ear and silken dress,
Whose washerwoman toils all day
And then is asked to "work for less."
Such pious shavers I despise;
With folded hands and face demure.
They lift to heaven their "angel eyes,"
And steal the earnings of the poor.
Who came off victor in this literary exchange is probably immaterial,
but this "contest between giants" made an impression, at least tem-
porarily, upon the community.
13. Daily Monitor, February 1, 1876.
14. Ibid., February 3, 15, 1876.
* 15. The Mirror and Newsletter, Olathe, February 24, 1876; the Arkansas City Traveler,
March 29, 1876, were among those printing this "poem."
IRONQUILL'S "WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" 265
THE POEM OUTSIDE FORT SCOTT —
PERSPECTIVE
Lest the reader conclude that all this has been taken too seriously,
the following, in lighter vein, by some unknown "Goosequill" ap-
peared in the Topeka Daily Commonwealth, April 2 (not All Fools
day), 1876:
THE BABY'S SONG
She pushed a baby wagon,
As she passed along the street —
While her curly head was hatless,
And no shoes were on her feet —
Yet she sang a childish song,
As she gaily tripped along,
And the baby crowed in concert
On the seat —
She smiled a cordial greeting,
As I bid her kind good-day —
While the baby's blue eyes twinkled,
And she lisped in childish way —
"I wuz zing, too, iz I could,
For I zink ze world iz good,
"Cause my sister takes me ridin
Ewy day!"
An Anchorite, while dreaming
Of the buffetings of time-
Caught an echo of the child song,
And both wrought it into rhyme —
Homely though the picture be
Twas a pleasing one to see —
"I would sing, too, if I could,
For I think the world is good — "
And the child caught up the strain
With a blithesome, glad refrain
Like the blended rhythm of bell notes
In a chime —
An Eastern reader did take "The Washerwoman's Song" too seri-
ously, however, and sent a ten dollar bill to Mr. Manlove, editor of
the Monitor, accompanied by a note:
Tell me, Mr. Manlove, do you know "Ironquill?" If so, was that tender,
touching little song the simple image of the mind, or does the subject of his
song actually live and toil in the by-ways of your city. If so hand "Ironquill"
the enclosed ten dollars that when he wanders that lonely way he may leave it
266 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
at the "humble cot" with my hope that an hundred hearts may beat in unison,
with his, and cheer with solid sympathy the widow's bleeding heart. A lay so
limpid and so soft could only flow from a pure and benevolent fountain.
This letter elicited from Ware the only contemporary hint found
thus far about the origin of "The Washerwoman's Song." To be
sure it was negative, but that in itself eliminated a whole class of
conjectural origins. Under the date February 29, 1876, Ware
wrote:
I regret that I cannot apply your friend's $10 bill to any one as indicated
in the letter.
The washerwoman is a myth and the character and scene wholly ideal.16
There is a positive side to this negative assertion, and it issues a
challenge to the historian to discover, if possible, the circumstances
out of which such an "ideal" might have emerged.
In the 1890's David Leahy ran a story in the Wichita Eagle 17
about "How Ware wrote it." Without specific dating, Leahy's story
was that in reply to a direct question Ware related the details. In
Leahy's words: "One dull day Mr. Ware was in his office and his
thoughts were turned to religion by hearing a church bell ring. The
following two lines flashed across his brain":
"Human hopes and human creeds
Have their root in human needs."
Using this as a focus, supposedly the poem was written backwards.
In December, Leahy says, when Ware and the postmaster, a man
of literary interests, sat on the steps of the Catholic church, Ware
read the poem. His friend was silent. Ware was discouraged and
stuck the poem into a pigeonhole in his desk where it rested until
some time later a Monitor reporter wanted something for his column
and Ware dug it out. Leahy's account included the story of the ten
dollars, but with the wrong name attached and some improbable
glosses. With modifications and without the more exaggerated
details, a similar story was told in the Tribune-Monitor obituary
notice about Ware, July 3, 1911. A kernel of truth may be involved
in these tales, which serve as human-interest stories, but they do
not explain anything.
THE REAL
On January 8, 1876, the day before the unheralded publication of
"The Washerwoman's Song," the locals editor of the Daily Monitor,
under the title "The Last Resort" explained apologetically to his
readers:
16. Fort Scott Daily Monitor, March 1, 1876.
17. Reprinted in the Topeka State Journal, January 10, 1898.
IRONQUILL'S "WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" 267
Local news is so scarce that probably a few items like the following will
have to be written up occasionally: "We are very sorry indeed to be called on
at this juncture to announce that Mr. So-and-So's little pussy, in an attempt to
get into the safe [cupboard] and try a piece of chicken, fell with a thud upon
the floor and hurt its little back.
Suffice it to say no such drastic measures were necessary. Besides
the argument over poetry stirred up by Nichol's efforts at versifica-
tion, the fundamental issues involved in "The Washerwoman's
Song" were discussed in lectures and sermons, and were the subject
of public debates immediately after the publication of the poem.
Two traveling lecturers appeared in Fort Scott, advertised to dis-
cuss Spiritualism. One called himself Prof. S. S. Baldwin, "Exposer
of Spiritualism," and the other, W. F. Jamieson, Spiritualist. The
latter attacked Christianity in the name of science and challenged
any clergyman to engage in public debate. No minister accommo-
dated Jamieson in his publicity stunt. Apparently, however, there
was some demand that Christianity be defended, and that a dull
winter be enlivened. Although some difference of opinion de-
veloped about how it happened, Thomas M. Nichol found himself
nominated to make the sacrifice. Nichol had delivered one of the
"home talent" lectures in the series arranged the preceding winter.
His subject had been theological, but as a Universalist, he insisted
that in the current instance he was not qualified to speak in the name
of orthodox Christianity. Altogether, the debate ran through three
nights, with partisans of each side claiming victory. It turned out
to be good "entertainment," but there was a serious side, and unless
the press reports were quite misleading, that aspect was upper-
most.18
Ware was silent throughout the period in which his poem was the
favorite topic of discussion. His mind was neither unobservant nor
fallow, however, and April 2, 1876, the editor of the Daily Monitor,
this time, with an air of pride, made an announcement: "A beautiful
little poem from the pen of the 'Philosopher of Paint Creek* is
printed in the MONITOR this morning." Again the poem was signed
"Ironquill:"
THE REAL
They say
A flower, that blooms I know not whither,
Perhaps in sunnier skies,
Is called the Amaranth. It will not wither
It never dies.
I never saw one.
18. The episode can be followed in the local papers, the Daily Monitor, and the
Pioneer, for the two weeks' period beginning January 31, 1876.
268 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
They say
A bird of foreign lands, the Condor,
Never alights,
But through the air unceasingly doth wander,
In long aerial flights.
I never saw one.
They say
That in Egyptian deserts, massive,
Half buried in the sands,
Swept by the hot sirocco, grandly impassive,
The statue of colossal Memnon stands.
I never saw it.
They say
A land faultless, far off, and fairy —
A summer land, with woods and glens and glades
Is seen, where palms rise feathery and airy
And from whose lawns the sunlight never fades.
I never saw it.
They say
The stars make melody sonorous
While whirling on their poles.
They say through space this planetary chorus
Magnificently rolls.
I never heard it.
Now what
Care I for Amaranth or Condor
Collossal Memnon, or the Fairy Land,
Or for the songs of planets as they wander
Through arcs superlatively grand.
They are not real.
Hope's idle
Dreams the Real vainly follows,
Facts stay as fadeless as the Parthenon
While Fancies like the summer tinted Swallows
Flit gaily mid its ruins and are gone.19
At the elemental folk level, but in its way as disconcerting as a
child's direct reaction, was a letter from one of those people who
are no doubt well-meaning, but distressingly literal minded:
19. The reading of the poem printed here, except for the correction of a typographical
error, is the original version as given in the Daily Monitor, April 2, 1876. In the selected
poems published later in book form under the title (with variations) Rhymes of Ironquill
(1885 and later) substantial changes in wording were introduced.
IRONQUILL'S "WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" 269
Right here in Southern Kansas, Mr. Ware, in almost any little garden [the
Amaranth does grow]. It is unfading and perennial; blooms as well amid
January snows as it does in June and July, and when hung up and dried for
six months, looks as fresh and beautiful as ever. The Amaranth is a veritable
flower, and no creature of imagination.20
Of course, it was. Amaranth was a common name applicable to
an order and to a genus of plants. Within the genus were many
species and in some cases distinctive varieties within a species. The
common garden names for those treated in gardens as flowers, are the
Red Amaranths, including cockscomb or Crested Amaranth, prince's
feather ( princess feather ) or Jacob's coat, and love-lies-bleeding.
Within the genus also were such plants as Pigweed (Green Ama-
ranth ) and Tumbleweed ( White Amaranth ) .21 The dictionaries all
agree, however, that the primary literary meaning, chiefly in poetry,
was an imaginary flower that was supposed never to fade. The
historical dictionaries cite usage in English literature from the early
17th century onward. Thus in Milton's Paradise Lost ( iii, 353 ) :
Immortal amarant, a flower which once
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,
Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence
To Heaven removed, where first it grew. . v
The title and substance of "The Real" should have made Ware's
meaning clear even to the most obtuse. He sought to compare iii
the sharpest contrast possible, and by varied examples, "The Ideal"
and "The Real." And he did it most effectively, emphasized by the
off-beat final line in each stanza — in the original printing, set off for
added stress by a black line.
Although not so recognized at the time, and no one since has
made a serious study of Ware, the publication of "The Real" at this
time may be viewed in the perspective here presented, as Ware's
rejoinder to the religious debates of the preceding weeks. He was
unrepentant. He was agnostic toward both Christianity and Spirit-
ualism—all intangibles that must be accepted on faith. The posi-
tion of the agnostic must be differentiated, however, from that of the
infidel — the agnostic doubted, but he did not deny. It is one thing
to render the Scotch verdict "not proven" but quite another to
20. Parsons Eclipse, April 13, 1876, reprinted in the Fort Scott Pioneer, April 27, 1876.
21. Asa Gray, Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States. . . . Sixth
Edition by Sereno Watson and John M. Coulter (New York, 1889); Harlan P. Kelsey and
William A. Dayton, editors, Standardized Plant Names, Second Edition (Harrisburg, Pa.,
1942); The Oxford English Dictionary, Being a Reissue . . . of a New English Dic-
tionary on Historical Principles . . . (Oxford, 1933); The Century Dictionary: An
Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language (New York, First Edition, 1891, Revised,
1913); Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition,
Unabridged (Springfield, 1950). The common spelling is Amaranth, but the correct form
is Amarant.
270 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
declare categorically that a thing is false, or does not even exist.
Ware's position — at any rate his ostensible attitude — was that of
practical pragmatist — only tangible facts were real and provided a
sense of certainty and security. Ware's was a Pragmatism, as was
the case of so many other so-called practical-minded Americans of
his generation, without a philosophical rationalization. That, how-
ever, was already, but unknown to Ware, being supplied by Charles
S. Pierce, followed by William James, John Dewey, and others.22
The conclusions embodied in "The Real" had not always repre-
sented Ware's position. No longer ago than 1872 he had taken the
opposite side of identically the same issues and in language and
ideology that were in many respects an earlier version of the same
poem. At that time he had called it "The Song," arranged in
rhymed prose form, and published in the Daily Monitor, October
13, 1872. It was signed Ironquill, and was among the first poetic
pieces to appear over that pen name. In the Rhymes of Ironquill,
it was reprinted, arranged in verse form, but scarcely changed in
wording, and named "The Bird Song":
THE SONG
In the night air I heard the woodland ringing; I heard it ring with wild
and thrilling song. Hidden, the bird whose strange, inspiring singing, seems
yet to float in liquid waves along.
Seems yet to float with many a quirk and quaver, — with quirks and quavers
and exultant notes, as though the air with sympathetic waver, down through
the song the falling starlight floats.
Speaking, I said: O bird, with songs sonorous, O, bird, with songs of such
sonorous glee, sing me a note of Joy; and in the chorus — in the same chorus — I
will join with thee.
The songs that others sing seem but to sadden; they seem to sadden — those
that I have heard. Sing me a song whose gleesome notes will gladden. Sing
me a song of joy. Then sang the bird:
"There is a land where blossoming exotic, the amaranths with fadeless
colors glow; where notes of birds with melodies chaotic, in tangled songs for-
ever come and go.
"There skies serene and bland will bend above us, and from them blessings
like the rain will fall; there those fond friends that have loved shall love us; —
in that bright land, those friends shall love us all."
The singer ceased — the melody sonorous, no more through star-lit woodland
floats along; and as it ceased my heart refused the chorus — refused to join the
chorus of the song.
22. James C. Malin, "Notes on the Writing of General Histories of Kansas: Part One,
The Setting of the Stage," Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 21 (Autumn, 1954), pp. 192-
202; On the Nature of History (Lawrence, The Author, 1954), ch. 3, especially p. 77; The
Contriving Brain and the Skillful Hand (Lawrence, The author, 1955), pp. 348-353.
IRONQUILL'S "WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" 271
Talk not, I said, thou bird in branches hidden, Hope's garlands bright,
Grief's fingers slowly weave — Grief slowly weaves from blooms that spring un-
bidden, that spring perennial when the heart doth grieve.
Grief present now proves naught of life eternal; grief proves no future with
proud blessings rife — with blessings rife and futures blandly vernal. Facts
show no logic in a future life.
And then I said, false is thy song, sonorous; thy song that floats from starlit
woodland dim. When we are gone and flowers are blooming o'er us — when
man hath gone, there endeth all with him.
Resang the bird: "There skies shall bend above us, and sprinkle blessings
like the rains that fall; and those we loved — who loved us not — shall love us,
in that bright land, shall love us best of all."
Then came a song-burst of bewildering splendor, that rolle"d in waves
through forest corridors; — up soared the bird, fain did my hopes attend her;
and hopes and songs were lost amid the stars.
Now all day long upon my mind intruding, there comes the echo of that last
night's song; — Grief claims the wrecks on which my mind is brooding; Hope
claims the facts which logic claimed so long.
Who cares, O, bird, for skies that bend above us? Who cares if blessings
like the rains shall fall? If only those who loved us not shall love us — in that
bright future — love us best of all.
Let logic marshal ranks of facts well stated; it leads them on in brave
though vain attacks; — for looking down from bastions crenelated. Hope smiles
derision at assaulting facts.
Because the Ware poems have never before been dated, and no
one has formerly undertaken to make Ware's philosophy and its
background a subject of serious historical study, the relationship of
these poems and their significance in terms of relations have been
ignored. Although Kansans and some others have visited upon
Ware an inordinate amount of highly sentimental admiration and
eulogy, their adulation was too superficial for them to feel obliged
to search for the structure of his thought or even to assume that
it had a structure. For reasons that are not known, Ware him-
self, purposely or accidentally, contributed to this chaotic situation
by the rule of complete irrelevance that seemed to govern the ar-
rangement of the book versions of the Rhymes. The unpredictable
manner in which contrasting types of poems rubbed elbows with
each other gave an impression that the sublime and the ridiculous
were never far apart, possibly only the reverse sides of the same
thing. Even if, perchance, that or some other deliberately selected
principle actually did govern at that time, a study of Ware accord-
ing to the historical principle is long overdue.
In 1872, when "The Song" was first published, Ware was in the
midst of the closing hysteria of the presidential campaign. As a
272 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Greeley Liberal, and editor of the Daily Monitor, he was grinding
out daily the lowest form of partisan political drivel, such as was
considered necessary to win a political campaign. Whether or not
"The Song" was written at this time, these were the circumstances
under which it was published. Even in that context, Eugene Ware's
two selves were involved; the self that was writing daily partisan
political trash, which no one would be stupid enough to assume
that he believed, and this other self, the poetic, the philosophical,
the idealist self, who made his own decision to publish "The Song"
at this particular time, even though it might have been written
earlier. Indeed, the sublime and the ridiculous were in this case
merely the reverse sides of Ware's two selves.
But in 1872 as contrasted with 1876, what was Ware saying?
What were his philosophical and theological commitments? — "Hope
smiles derision at assaulting facts." Apparently, then Ware was
still an orthodox Congregationalist, or near to it, and substantially
in accord with his father's conservatism. In "The Real," the terms
Ideal and Real had been substituted for Hopes and Facts, but with
the Ideal no longer paramount to the Real. Ware had reversed his
basic commitments.
And what about Ware's political commitments? In 1872 he was
editing a liberal newspaper, though seemingly a conservative in
philosophy and theology. In 1875, he published "Text," which ap-
peared in the book version of the Rhymes under the title "The
Granger's Text." This poem was a practical application of his
mother's philosophy: "Smooth it over and let it go": the future,
not the past, is important:
THE TEXT 23
Long the Topeka convention wrangled;
"Good men for office" got into a balk;
Grange nominations were hopelessly tangled;
Sargent got up and gave them a talk;
Said to the delegates quarreling so —
"Smooth it over and let it go."
Many a time I have thought of the quarrel
That "good men for office" so often reach,
Many a time I have thought that a moral
Shone like a lantern in Sargent's speech;
Look for my text in the line below,
"Smooth it over and let it go."
23. Daily Monitor, May 16, 1875, by "The Philosopher of Paint Creek." The version
given here is that printed in the Monitor. At this time Ware was using two pen names;
each for a different kind of rhymes. To be discussed elsewhere.
Eugene Fitch Ware
(1841-1911)
Fort Scott author, lawyer, and legislator, about 1881
IRONQUILL'S "WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" 273
When a fierce editor boiling with fury
Paints you with hot editorial tar;
Don't start a libel suit, don't hire a jury,
Don't seek redress from the bench or the Bar
Lies sometimes vanish, facts always grow;
"Smooth it over and let it go."
When you consent to be placed on a ticket,
When you have made up your mind to run,
Leg it your best — the political thicket
Tears off your clothes, but makes lots of fun,
If you are minus a vote or so,
"Smooth it over and let it go."
Efforts and hopes may be lighter or graver
Either in politics, business, or fame,
Things may go crooked, and friendships may waver,
Nevertheless, the rule is the same;
Facts will be facts, when you find it so,
"Smooth it over and let it go."
In the record of 1875-1876, Ware was considered a political con-
servative, also a reversal from the position of 1872, but associated
with philosophical and theological liberalism. In one or another,
all the ferments of the years 1869-1876 had involved the peace of
mind of many people in the Fort Scott neighborhood. A number
of them have been identified by name in association with the par-
ticular ideas to which they were committed. Each fitted into his
unique niche in the culture complex of Fort Scott, of Kansas, and
of the United States of the 1870's.24
But this Fort Scott of 1869-1876, with all its ambitions and incon-
sistencies, its dreams and disillusionments, was the background of
Eugene Ware, and his poem "The Washerwoman's Song," and for
that matter, of all his poetry. In the "scientific" language of the day,
contemporaries might have said: the product of "the development
theory." In a way, the conflict in the community was a mirror of
the confusion and uncertainty troubling the minds of many of its
citizens confronted with the new science of the middle years of the
19th century.
THE MCFARLAND EPISODE, 1883
A period of quiet followed the flurry of 1876 over "The Washer-
woman's Song." Although not forgotten, and reprinted again and
again, a revival of interest of some magnitude occurred in 1883 in
association with "An Open Letter to Hon. Eugene F. Ware," written
24. See the present author's articles dealing with Fort Scott philosophers, Kansas His-
torical Quarterly, v. 24 (1958), pp. 168-197, 314-350.
18—9545
274 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
by N. C. McFarland, commissioner of the General Land Office at
Washington, D. C., a lawyer of repute from Kansas. The "Open
Letter" was published first in the Topeka Daily Capital, November
18, and Ware's reply, November 25, 1883, a poem without a title
other than the salutation: "To Hon. N. C. McFarland, Washington,
D. C." and introduced by a short note to the editor. A name was
not assigned to the poem, apparently, until it appeared in the first
edition of Rhymes of Ironquill, in 1885, as "Kriterion." 25 Thus far
the exact set of circumstances have not been determined which
stimulated McFarland to write his letter, nor which explain the re-
markable response to the letter and to Ware's reply, along with the
original "Washerwoman's Song." The casual but appreciative com-
ment upon the "Song" over the intervening years, 1877 to 1882, was
one thing, but the enthusiasm of 1883 was quite another.
When, on November 18, the Sunday Capital printed the "Open
Letter," it was done without fanfare: "The Washerwoman's Song"
was printed at the top of the column, the letter occupying about one
and one half columns.26 McFarland's letter is rather long to print
here in its entirety, but these are the most pertinent parts:
DEAR SIR: — I have read again and again with indescribable pleasure and
sadness, your "Washerwoman's Song," — pleasure because it is really beautiful,
and voices correctly the joy of Christ's poor ones; sadness because you say you
are shut out from a hope, which, though not always so bright and cheerful, is
worth more than all else this world affords. You will pardon me for addressing
you in this public manner, for I know that many men of intellect and culture
occupy positions not dissimilar to your own, and I hope in this way to make
some suggestions which will reach both you and them, and not be inappropriate
to the subject, whether they shall prove valuable or useless. Reading between
the lines, I think I can see a thoughtful interest, a sort of inquiry, a desire to
possess a hope like, or at least equal, to the heroine of your song. If this were
not so, I could scarcely interest myself sufficiently to write you, for I confess
I have but little patience with that class of criticisms that flippantly brushes
aside the motives of God, Christ and immortality, as fit only for the contempla-
tion of "women and children." To me these mysteries are the profoundest
depths. I have no plummet heavy enough, nor line long enough to reach the
bottom. I may push them aside for a time, while other things engross me, but
they come unbidden again and again across my path. Is it so with you.
What is God? . . .
I have doubted whether he was "God manifested in the flesh/' but I never
disbelieved it. ...
I have written thus far so as to be able to say, that when you write, "I
scarce believe a thing" your true position is, that you doubt whether the woman
has a real foundation upon which to build her song. And if I am right in this,
25. If an earlier use was made of that name between 1883 and 1885, the present
writer has not found it.
26. The first line of the sixth stanza read "rub and scrub," instead of the original "rub
and rub."
IRONQUUJL'S "WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" 275
then further to suggest that there is nothing unusual or unreasonable in such
doubt. Nay more, when reason, judgment and all other faculties and means
for arriving at truth are imperfect, it seems to me that a perfect faith is unat-
tainable, and doubt becomes a necessity; of questions like these and many
others, there is no absolute demonstration here and now.
Did it ever occur to you that the woman did not always have that serene
faith which you ascribe to her. Do you not know that she often wondered, and
wondering, doubted, not, perhaps, whether there is a God, but whether He is
merciful, or even just? Do you not know that to her it is an unsolved problem
why she was left alone to support four children at one dollar a day, when you
could make twenty dollars a day at work less burdensome and exhaustive? If
she had called on you, when passing her door, to explain this problem to her
understanding, what could you have said? She probably knew that it was as
inexplicable to you as to her, and therefore did not ask. There is an answer,
but neither you nor I occupy a plane sufficiently exalted to fully comprehend
and speak it — "even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight."
There are two classes of people who may never have doubts; the one who
sees through these mysteries at a glance, or think they do; and the other, "who
never had a dozen thoughts in all their lives."
The washerwoman sung away most of hers in her beautiful song; and shall
we, who cannot sing, linger about Doubting Castle until Old Giant Despair
entices us into his gloomy prison house? No.
The Daily Monitor, November 20, in Ware's home town wrote
proudly:
The open letter addressed to Hon. E. F. Ware by Mr. N. C. McFarland, pub-
lished this morning, adds new interest to the "Washerwoman's Song," which is
considered by many to be Ware's best composition. There can be no higher
evidence of the merit of a poem than the fact that it arouses and calls into
active being such eloquent and burning thoughts as those contained in Mr.
McFarland's letter. . . .
D. W. Wilder's editorial on McFarland's letter stated that the pur-
pose was to give the poet faith in God and to remove his doubts;
that the spirit embodied in the letter was as pure as that expressed
in the poem. It does not have an "I-am-better-than-thou" tone, and
in reference to the purpose it says that perhaps the poet could tell
if the letter fulfilled its mission. "Noble letters between two true
men would set an example to theological disputants — who always
fight and who are not Christ-like." 27
Another communication on the poem and McFarland's letter was
by D. P. Peffley, of Fort Scott, dated November 25, and printed in
the Daily Monitor, November 28, the day before Thanksgiving. It
contained much of the same thoughtfulness and expression, and was
nearer to earth:
I have found much to interest me in reading the letter of Mr. McFarland,
reprinted in your last issue, discussing Mr. Ware's poem. After the mad whirl
27. Hiawatha World, November 22, 1883.
276 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of personal politics, which periodically seems to swallow up everything of such
a nature, it is indeed gratifying to those whose sentiments and affections cling
to the little circle lighted by the domestic lamp to be allowed a corner in the
indispensable and all visiting newspaper. The poem I have read before. I
have also seen beauty in it; not the Miltonic beauty of grand imaginative flights,
soaring into the loftiest empyrean, where ordinary minds dare not follow; not
the giantlike grasp of intellect that seizes something abstract, unreal, and
tortures it till it gives out its essence in labored metrical lengths, its beauty lost
to untrained intellects in its incomprehensibleness, but the simple beauty of
naturalness, of truthfulness. One hears the very "rub" of the washboard in its
meter. It requires not the genius of a Gustave Dore to picture to oneself the
home it describes, the hopeful sad face of the woman bending over the tub,
set perhaps on an upturned chair, the splashed child, the miscellaneous heap of
"duds." Alas! the scene too often naturalizes for us.
But the burden of the song: who shall say that the woman realizes its
weight? Let us assume that she does, since otherwise our interest must at once
fall lifeless. We cannot make an individual case, buL must apply this one
generally. Mr. McFarland places his stress on the existence of Christian faith.
. . . I have long thought, thought seriously, thought honestly, on the same
subject. Like him, I have doubted; have questioned; have asked nature; have
examined ostensible revelation. But none offer an unchallenged ultimate basis.
Like him, I have never disbelieved entirely, for the same reason that I have
offered for not having shared the common faith — lack of sufficient proofs to
warrant it. But that immortality is to be inferred from the unsatisfactoriness
of this life, I no more believe. For it is not necessarily unsatisfactory. Man
makes it so himself. If the average of human life be but a score and a half,
man's violations of laws, determinate and known to be inexorable, is the cause
of it. In proof of this we need but point to the hoary age and unimpaired
powers of some of the famous men of our time, of time but recently past. These
men were observant of laws whose penalties they knew to be certain of execu-
tion. Does he believe that Bryant went to his grave filled with regrets for the
unsatisfactoriness of life? That he went "as the galley slave," and not as one
"who wraps the draperies of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant
dreams?" That Longfellow yearned for life a second time on earth? Or Frank-
lin, Washington, John Adams? Or further back, Copernicus, the heathen Soc-
rates? The average of life's duration is known to be capable of being raised
by proper observance of the common law of hygiene. At the same time it is
admitted that we cannot compel universal observance of them [laws]; conse-
quently many of those who find the satisfactoriness of life to consist in the mere
fact of existence will continue to be disappointed.
Yet this faith, to those who have it, what a treasure! How it has upheld
the desolate heart! How it has bended over the couch of death, cheering the
ebbing spirit of life! ... It has made the tortures of the rack, the stake,
of the cross itself become as if they were not. Should we, then, who cannot
accept it implicitly, seek, by scoffs and vulgar jeers, as some do, to drive it
from those who may have little else? Spirit of compassion, forbid it! Let the
untaught washerwoman sing, and believe as she sings, that she has
"a Savior for a friend,
That will keep her to the end."
IRONQUILL'S "WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" 277
Among other things, these two letters show how greatly times
have changed. People took more time then, in writing such com-
ments and in contemplating poetry in this profound sense. What
now seems somewhat wordy and beside the point served as recrea-
tion as well as literary art, and when a series of events such as this
developed, it was like the serial on the inside of the back page, ex-
cept that anyone could offer something to the growth of the train of
letters. Also, discussions close to the hearts of the people were
carried on through the newspapers, often in a literary and informa-
tive fashion, taking the place of modern "canned" amusement.
An editorial in the Sunday Capital, November 25, 1883, was
headed, "The New Poem of Hon. Eugene Ware":
It will be unnecessary for us to call the attention of our readers to the
beautiful poem from Hon. Eugene Ware, of Fort Scott, addressed to Hon. N.
C. McFarland in reply to his letter which appeared in the Capital last Sunday.
The letter of Judge McFarland has been widely copied in the weekly press of
Kansas. The poem is rich in pure, deep and reverential feeling, delicate and
most beautiful in expression [,] a most appropriate reply to Judge McFarland's
thoughtful letter.
In another column of the same page, Ware's contribution was
printed with the heading "Hon. Eugene Ware to Hon. N. C. Mc-
Farland":
To THE EDITOR OF THE CAPITAL:
FORT SCOTT, KAN., November 21. — I have just seen in your excellent paper
of Sunday an open letter addressed to me by the Hon. N. C. McFarland of
Washington, D. C. I assure you that I feel honored that my "Washerwoman's
Song" should be noticed by one who to high official position adds a recognized
standing as a lawyer and a cultivated gentleman. The kindness of the criticism
leads me to venture a reply, which I ask you to publish.
To HON. N. C. MCFARLAND, Washington, D. C.
I see the spire,
I see the throng,
I hear the choir,
I hear the song;
I listen to the anthem, while
It pours its volume down the aisle;
I listen to the splendid rhyme
That, with a melody sublime,
Tells of some far-off, fadeless clime —
Of man and his finality
Of hope and Immortality.
Oh, theme of themes!
Are men distraught?
And hopes like dreams
To come to naught?
278 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Is all the beautiful and good
Delusive and misunderstood?
And has a soul no forward reach?
And do indeed the facts impeach
The theories the teachers teach?
And is this Immortality
Delusive unreality?
What Hope reveals
Mind tried to clasp,
But soon it reels
With broken grasp.
No chain yet forged on anvil's brink
Was stronger than its weakest link;
And do not arguments maintain
That many a link along the chain
Can not resist a reason strain?
And is not Immortality
The child of Ideality?
And yet — at times
We get advice
That seems like chimes
From Paradise;
The soul doth sometimes seem to be
In sunshine which it cannot see;
At times the spirit seems to roam
Beyond the land, above the foam,
Back to some half -forgotten home.
Perhaps — this immortality
May be indeed reality.28
In reprinting the "Reply," the Junction City Union, December 1,
1883, commented: "The letter and the two poems constitute a
cheerful oasis in the slush the newspaper man is called upon to deal
with." The lack of a name for the poem, besides the term "Reply"
was a handicap, but a temporary title was supplied; one of more
logical significance by the Emporia News in its Holiday edition
[December 25], 1883: "It May Be Reality." The Manhattan Na-
tionalist, November 23, 1883, put Ware "at the head of Kansas
poets," and suggested, "if he would cultivate his talents in this di-
rection, might secure a national fame." ™
28. The wording and arrangement of the lines is that of the poem as published in the
Capital. The punctuation, however, follows that of the third edition of the Rhymes of
Ironquill ( 1892 ) . In that edition, for the first time, changes were introduced including the
lines seven, eight, and nine of the third stanza which were revised to read:
"And are there not along this chain
Imperfect links that snap in twain
When caught in logic's tensile strain?"
29. In its issue of November 29, 1883, the Lyndon Journal, contrasted McFarland and
Sen. John J. Ingalls to the disadvantage of the latter as a sceptic. In his Troy Kansas Chief,
December 13, 1883, Sol Miller blundered in his reading of the Journal's comment, and at-
IRONQUILL'S "WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" 279
One of the most remarkable aspects of both the Ware episodes,
1876 and 1883, is the absence of personal hostility toward Ware, or
ridicule of his verse or of his ideas. With due regard to the allow-
ances that properly belong to any attempt at generalization, the
dictum of "FSM," in 1876, about Western people and religion may
again apply — respect for sincere faith even when agnostic toward
it.30
In Ware's reply to McFarland, which will be referred to hence-
forth by the later name "Kriterion," what was his position on reli-
gious orthodoxy? In "The Washerwoman's Song" Ware had as-
sumed the position of doubt, softened by tolerant compassion. In
"The Real" he had stood his ground, but in "Kriterion" he appeared
to hedge
Perhaps — this immortality
May be indeed reality.
In order to appreciate more accurately and adequately what had
happened to Ware's thinking and feeling, it is well to go still farther
back into the record. On October 23, 1870, the Daily Monitor had
printed a poem over the initials "EFW," the first of his poems found
there with so explicit an identification. This represented orthodox
theological certainty. "The Washerwoman's Song" revealed Ware
at the other extreme, a confessed agnostic, but also certain he had
found truth. The text of "The Palace," of 1870, which Ware never
saw fit to revive or revise for book publication in the Rhymes of
Ironquill, follows:
THE PALACE
Father, lay aside your paper —
See the house that I have builded,
With the blocks which uncle gave me
Christmas day.
See! its got a dozen windows,
On the sides and on the gables,
And its made so you can see out every way.
Then its got a little 'zervatory
Rising from the corner,
Where a person stands and looks out at the sky.
And its roof is very pointed,
And its made of gilded shingles,
And it rises in the middle very high.
tributed to it a comparison of Ware and Ing alls; Ware the Christian and Ingalls the sceptic.
Miller preferred Ingall's brains to Ware's piety. This is one of the few unkind Kansas re-
actions to Ware's poetry, and both its error and its animus were evident. If Ware was a
candidate for the United States senate, Miller suggested, then, "perhaps there is a neces-
sity for starting a religious boom in his favor."
30. Topeka Commonwealth, April 9, 1876.
280 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
And its got a lot of porticos
And balconies and arches,
And great big flights of back steps made of stone;
And inside there are galleries,
And staircases and parlors —
And that's the kind of house that I will own.
Father, lay aside your paper —
There! Why didn't you look sooner! —
Its too late now — you should have looked before,
For the wind came through the doorway,
And it tilted up the carpet,
And it wrecked my little palace on the floor.
That's the way it always happens —
When I've got my house finished,
There is always something sure to happen then;
And there is no use of trying,
For they crumble to the carpet,
Though I build them over time and time again.
Ah, my curly headed builder,
You have learned the lesson early,
That there's something always ruining our schemes;
Happiness is but a palace,
Built of hopes and aspirations,
With its spires and domes and minarets of dreams.
Ah, my little blue-eyed schemer —
Many palaces I'VE builded,
But the gales and storms would come
with angry strife;
First the spires and domes and minarets,
And then after that the palace
Would be wrecked upon the carpet of my life.
You will build them — they will crumble,
And the higher up — the sooner;
And as often as you build them — o're and o're,
When they're finished, through the doorway
Comes the wind that tilts the carpet,
And the palace crumbles downward to the floor.
But, my curly headed dreamer —
In the sky there is a palace,
And its builded there for those who
love the truth;
And its changeless and uncrumbling,
And the splendor of its beauty,
Far outrivals all the wildest dreams of youth.
IRONQUILL'S "WASHERWOMAN'S SONG" 281
The contrast betwen the texts of "The Palace" and of the "Krite-
rion" is made the more sharp by the titles supplied for the latter by
the Emporia News, "It May Be Reality." Ware had reversed him-
self once, and had gone part way apparently in a return, but had
not completed the cycle. Yet, candor must insist upon sticking to
the record, although a good case could be made for the view that
privately Ware had not abandoned the position of 1876 on "The
Washerwoman's Song," and "The Real," but purely as a matter of
expediency, had made a concession to what "FSM" had insisted
Western People demanded in "fair play" on matters of difference in
religion — a sincere respect for a genuine religious character, though
not necessarily acceptance of religious form. Unknown is the reason
why Ware selected, apparently belatedly, the title "Kriterion," both
the idea and the Greek spelling. Yet the public accepted the name
without any question about the meaning or about orthography.
THE KRITERION HOAX
All this was written prior to a full realization by the present author
of the fact that there was a private view of the "Kriterion" episode
quite different from the public view — in fact, a contradiction of both
the main facts and the interpretation just given them. In order to
reconstruct history as a whole, the private view must now be stated.
The "Kriterion" was not a new poem, and it was not written in reply
to Judge McFarland. Already it had been published under its
proper title, "Kriterion," and over his pen name Ironquill, in the
Daily Monitor, August 16, 1874, or nearly nine years prior to Mc-
Farland's "Open letter." That was long enough before the episode
of 1883 that those who may have once known of the earlier printing
had long since forgotten. Besides, in 1874, so far as can be dis-
covered, the poem did not attract any attention either at home or
abroad. Why should it have created so remarkable a flurry in 1883?
Why did Ware misrepresent it; offer it without its title, and as a
reply to the open letter? Surely after the remarkable experience
with "The Washerwoman's Song" he was aware that he was in the
presence of an occasion that might involve portentous responses.
Even though unprepared to answer with a new production, and like
the preacher who turned his sermon barrel upside down to select off
the bottom, he must have weighed the choice with care. Why did
he perpetuate the hoax in the book publication of the Rhymes of
Ironquill, in 1885, and in the many editions thereafter, by printing
282 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the McFarland Open Letter as the link between "The Washer-
woman's Song" and "Kriterion?"
But more important than this physical manipulation of tangible
facts, is the violence which Ware committed upon himself; upon his
private intellectual and religious integrity. As pointed out already,
if "Kriterion" had been written in response to McFarland, it meant
a retreat in thought. In its true chronology, however, it was a way-
station along a straight line transition from the orthodoxy of "The
Palace," through "Kriterion," to the agnosticism of "The Washer-
woman's Song." Already, the suggestion has been made that pos-
sibly it was a concession to his public, an act of expediency, without
necessarily being a private reversal. That view now becomes more
insistent, but for a quite different reason. Henceforth the student
of Ware's poetry, and admirers of "The Washerwoman's Song," or
of "Kriterion" as individual poems must keep in mind these two
views, the private and the public, and their irreconcilability.
Viewed as a whole, truth is complex and challenging.
A Chronology of Kansas Political and Military
Events, 1859-1865
I. INTRODUCTION
ON January 29, 1861, President James Buchanan signed the bill
which made Kansas the 34th state.
For nearly seven years Kansas territory had been strife-torn and
bloodied by the struggle over slavery. But statehood did not bring
peace. It was the withdrawal of Southern senators which assured
the passage of the Kansas bill. Thus joy over the admission of
Kansas to the Union was tempered by concern over the departure
of the Southern states.
War clouds were threatening when President-elect Abraham Lin-
coln started from Springfield, 111., to Washington to take the oath
of office. Because of threats of assassination his route in some areas
was kept secret. However, he appeared in Philadelphia long enough
on Washington's birthday, February 22, 1861, to raise the first flag
containing the Kansas star to fly at Independence hall.
Mr. Lincoln's appearance at Philadelphia was reported in the press
in part as follows :
FELLOW CITIZENS. — I am invited and called before you to participate in
raising above Independence hall the flag of our country, with an additional star
upon it. ( Cheers. ) . . .
I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing here, in this place,
where were collected together the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to prin-
ciple, from which sprang the institutions under which we live. You have kindly
suggested to me that in my hands is the task of restoring peace to the present dis-
tracted condition of the country. I can say in return, Sir, that all the political
sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw
them, from the sentiments which originated and were given to the world from
this hall. I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the
sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often pon-
dered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here,
and framed and adopted that Declaration of Independence. I have pondered
over the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who
achieved that independence. I have often inquired of myself what great prin-
ciple or idea it was that kept this confederacy so long together. It was not
the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the mother land; but
that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, not
alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the world for all future time.
( Great applause. ) It was that which gave promise that in due time the weight
would be lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is a sentiment embodied
in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be
(283)
284 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
saved upon that basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men
in the world, if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle,
it will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be saved without giving up
that principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot
than surrender it. (Applause.) Now, in my view of the present aspect of
affairs, there need be no bloodshed or war. There is no necessity for it. I
am not in favor of such a course, and I may say in advance, that there will be
no bloodshed unless it be forced upon the government, and then it will be com-
pelled to act in self-defense. (Applause.)
My friends, this is wholly an unexpected speech, and I did not expect to be
called upon to say a word when I came here. I supposed it was merely to do
something toward raising the flag. I may, therefore, have said something in-
discreet. (Cries of "No, no.") I have said nothing but what I am willing to
live by and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, die by. . . .
War came, and, though most of the major campaigns were fought
in the East, some with Kansas troops participating, the state was
still troubled at home. Skirmishes along the eastern and southern
borders culminated finally at Mine creek, Linn county. Here, on
October 25, 1864, the most important Civil War battle in Kansas
was fought, with nearly 25,000 men engaged.
Because of the approaching centennials of Kansas statehood and
of the Civil War, the latter to be observed nationally, the following
chronology of political and military events covering these stirring
years is here submitted. Entries for the most part were taken from
D. W. Wilder's Annals of Kansas.
II. THE CHRONOLOGY
1859
OCTOBER 4. — The Wyandotte constitution, drawn up in the town
of Wyandotte (now Kansas City, Kan.) in July, 1859, was adopted.
The popular vote was: For, 10,421; Against, 5,530.
OCTOBER 12. — The Republican "state" convention was held at
Topeka.
OCTOBER 16. — Capt. John Brown, with 18 men, took possession
of the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Va. Several were killed and
wounded before they were captured by federal troops, under Col.
Robert E. Lee, who battered down the doors. John Brown was
wounded, and two of his sons were killed.
OCTOBER 22. — Party arrived at site of "Camp on the Pawnee
Fork" to begin construction. The name was soon changed to Camp
Alert and later to Fort Larned.
OCTOBER 25. — The Democratic convention was held at Lawrence.
NOVEMBER 8. — Marcus Parrott was elected congressional delegate
POLITICAL AND MILITARY EVENTS, 1859-1865 285
from Kansas. Members of the Kansas territorial legislature also
were elected.
NOVEMBER 30. — Abraham Lincoln arrived in Elwood and made
a speech.
DECEMBER 1. — Lincoln made a two-hour speech at Troy and a
speech of shorter duration at Doniphan.
DECEMBER 2. — John Brown was hanged for treason at Charles-
town, Va.
Lincoln traveled from Doniphan to Atchison, where he spoke
in the Methodist church.
DECEMBER 3. — Lincoln arrived in Leavenworth. A welcome had
been prepared for him and he spoke that night to a large crowd at
Stockton hall on the topic of popular sovereignty. He mentioned
the execution of John Brown on the previous day saying:
Old John Brown has just been executed for treason against a state. We
cannot object, even though he agreed with us in thinking slavery wrong. That
cannot excuse violence, bloodshed, and treason. It could avail him nothing
that he might think himself right. So, if constitutionally we elect a President,
and therefore you undertake to destroy the Union, it will be our duty to deal
with you as old John Brown has been dealth with. We shall try to do our
duty. We hope and believe that in no section will a majority so act as to
render such extreme measures necessary. — Roy P. Easier, The Collected Works
of Abraham Lincoln (Rutgers University Press, 1953), v. 3, p. 502.
DECEMBER 5. — Lincoln spoke again at Leavenworth and remained
there to observe the voting on state officers.
DECEMBER 7. — Lincoln departed for his home in Illinois and
Marcus Parrott accompanied him eastward. The Leavenworth
Times of that date stated: "The River opposite this city has been
frozen over since Sunday morning. The ice on an average is six
inches thick, and many persons and horses crossed with safety yes-
terday." It is probable that Lincoln was driven across the ice on
his return to St. Joseph.
1860
JANUARY 2. — The Kansas Territorial legislature met at Lecomp-
ton. The council consisted of eight Republicans and five Demo-
crats; the house, 23 Republicans and 16 Democrats. The legisla-
ture on January 4 voted to adjourn to Lawrence but Governor
Medary vetoed the proposal. The legislature passed the adjourn-
ment measure over his veto on January 5 and 6.
JANUARY 7. — The legislature moved to Lawrence and remained
in session there until January 18, 1860.
286 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
JANUARY 18. — Gov. Samuel Medary issued a new proclamation,
summoning the legislature to meet at Lecompton on January 19.
JANUARY 19. — The territorial legislature met at Lecompton but
again, over the governor's veto, moved to Lawrence where it stayed
until adjournment, February 27, 1860.
FEBRUARY 14. — The Wyandotte constitution was presented to the
United States senate.
FEBRUARY 15. — Galusha Grow, of Pennsylvania, introduced House
Bill No. 23 in the U. S. congress to admit Kansas under the Wyan-
dotte constitution.
FEBRUARY 21. — Sen. William H. Seward, of New York, introduced
Senate Bill No. 194, asking for the admission of Kansas.
MARCH 16. — James Montgomery and his followers were prevented
by snow from rescuing some of John Brown's men at Charlestown,
Va.
MARCH 20. — Raids by Missourians on Bourbon county were re-
ported.
MARCH 27. — The Democratic convention was held at Atchison.
APRIL 3. — The first rider for the Pony Express left St. Joseph for
Sacramento, Calif. Until October 26, 1861, the Pony Express was
the fastest mode of transmitting messages from St. Joseph to the
west coast. For a period of 18 months, until the telegraph to'ok its
place, the Pony Express was the vital communication link between
the east and west coasts. The Kansas portion of the route ran be-
tween Elwood, via Seneca and Marysville, to the area of present
Hanover, where it angled northwest into Nebraska.
APRIL 11. — The U. S. house of representatives voted 134 to 73 to
admit Kansas under the Wyandotte constitution.
The Republican convention was held at Lawrence to elect dele-
gates to the party's national convention at Chicago, and to select
presidential electors.
APRIL 12. — The clerk of the house reported the Kansas admission
bill to the senate.
APRIL 13. — The house bill was referred to the senate committee
on territories.
MAY 16. — The house bill was reported back from committee with-
out recommendations.
MAY 29. — Camp Alert was renamed Fort Lamed.
JUNE 5. — Sen. Edward Wade moved to reconsider the bill, but
the motion was defeated 32 to 26.
JUNE 7. — Sen. Robert Hunter, of Virginia, moved to postpone ac-
tion on the Kansas admission bill. His motion carried 32 to 27.
POLITICAL AND MILITARY EVENTS, 1859-1865 287
NOVEMBER 6. — Election of the territorial legislature was held.
NOVEMBER 28. — Governor Medary and Gen. W. S. Haraey left
Leavenworth for Fort Scott.
DECEMBER 8. — The military expedition sent by the governor of
Missouri to the Fort Scott vicinity was encamped near the state line.
DECEMBER 11. — Sen. Jacob Collamer, of Vermont, recalled House
Bill No. 23.
DECEMBER 31. — Judge John Pettit of Kansas declared unconsti-
tutional the law abolishing slavery in Kansas.
1861
JANUARY 4. — Fort Leavenworth was placed on short mobilization
notice by Gen. Winfield Scott. Every man and horse was to be
ready to go to Baltimore at a moment's notice.
JANUARY 7. — The final territorial legislature convened at Le-
compton and adjourned to Lawrence where it met until February 2.
JANUARY 10. — The governor's message was presented to the legis-
lature by George Beebe, acting governor, replacing Medary who
had resigned.
JANUARY 18. — Sen. James S. Green, of Missouri, proposed an
amendment to the Kansas admission bill. This amendment pro-
vided that the Platte river region to the north should be added to
Kansas, while the Cherokee neutral lands and the Osage lands would
be cut off on the south. The measure was defeated, 31 to 23.
JANUARY 19. — Sen. Graham N. Fitch, of Indiana, moved to add
sections 4 and 5 to the measure, constituting Kansas a judicial dis-
trict of the United States, with "like powers and jurisdiction as the
district court of the United States for the District of Minnesota."
The motion was defeated 27 to 26.
JANUARY 21. — The senators from Mississippi, Alabama, and Flor-
ida withdrew; the senators from South Carolina had done likewise
in November, 1860. It has been stated that the presence of those
members in the senate delayed the passage of the Kansas bill.
Senator Fitch reintroduced his amendment on the judiciary. It
was passed 29 to 28.
JANUARY 21. — The senate passed the bill as amended, 36 to 16,
and sent it to the house for concurrence.
JANUARY 28. — The house suspended its rules so that it could take
up the Kansas admission bill as amended. The senate amendment
was concurred in by the house sitting as a committee of the whole,
and the Kansas bill was passed, 117 to 42.
288 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
JANUARY 29. — Pres. James Buchanan signed the Kansas admission
bill and Kansas became a state.
The Leayenworth Daily Conservative published an "extra" con-
cerning the passage of the Kansas admission bill.
FEBRUARY 1. — Both houses of the territorial legislature passed a
resolution to elect two U. S. senators from the state of Kansas.
FEBRUARY 8. — Marcus Parrott, Kansas delegate to congress, ar-
rived at Lawrence late at night bringing the official notification of
the admission of Kansas to Governor-elect Robinson.
FEBRUARY 9. — The first governor of Kansas, Charles Robinson,
took the oath of office at Lawrence. The oath was administered
by Caleb Pratt, county clerk of Douglas county.
FEBRUARY 20. — James Montgomery wrote to the governor that
the southern border of Kansas was in danger of Confederate attack.
FEBRUARY 22. — President-elect Abraham Lincoln, on his way to
Washington, paused at Independence hall, Philadelphia, to speak
and to raise the flag bearing the Kansas star.
MARCH 5. — An election was held to fill vacancies in the new state
legislature.
MARCH 10. — Linn county organized the first militia regiment in
the state.
MARCH 26. — The first state legislature convened at Topeka.
APRIL 4. — James H. Lane and Samuel Pomeroy were chosen by
the state legislature to be the first U. S. senators from Kansas.
APRIL 12. — Fort Sumter, South Carolina, was fired on by seces-
sionist troops.
APRIL 14. — James H. Lane, senator from Kansas, began enrolling
troops in the Frontier Guard. This organization was voluntary and
unofficial and was never mustered into the regular army. Its pri-
mary mission was to serve as a bodyguard for President Lincoln
and it was made up of Kansas men who were in Washington for
the inauguration. On the night of April 18 and several nights fol-
lowing, the Frontier Guard bivouacked in the East Room of the
White House. The group was disbanded on May 3.
APRIL 17. — Capt. Samuel Walker, of Lawrence, offered Governor
Robinson a company of 100 men. A meeting was held in Atchison
to form a Union military company but some residents cried "Coer-
cion" and the company was not formed.
APRIL 18. — The steamboat New Sam Gaty arrived at Leavenworth
from St. Louis with a rebel flag flying. An immense crowd col-
lected on the levee, and the captain was compelled to take down
the Confederate ensign.
POLITICAL AND MILITARY EVENTS, 1859-1865 289
APRIL 20. — Seven military companies were trained in Douglas
county and nine in Leavenworth; one was ordered to Fort Leaven-
worth for 30-day service.
APRIL 25. — Military companies were being formed in nearly every
county.
APRIL 29. — Capt. J. L. Reno, for whom Reno county was later
named, was placed in charge of the arsenal at Fort Leavenworth.
MAY 1. — Rebel flags flew in many places in Missouri.
MAY 10. — Capt. Nathaniel Lyon and Col. Francis P. Blair, at the
head of 6,000 Union volunteers, surrounded the rebel state guard
at St. Louis, and took them prisoners.
MAY 22. — The Republican congressional convention was held
at Topeka.
MAY 28. — The First Kansas volunteer infantry regiment began to
organize in Leavenworth.
JUNE 1. — Col. William H. Emory and Maj. S. D. Sturgis arrived at
Fort Leavenworth from the southwest with United States troops.
JUNE 3. — General Lyon became commander of the Military De-
partment of the West.
The First Kansas infantry regiment was mustered in at Leaven-
worth.
A rebel flag was captured by Kansans at latan, Mo., and was
brought to Leavenworth.
JUNE 4. — The state legislature adjourned.
JUNE 10. — Capt. Alfred Sully went from Fort Leavenworth to St.
Joseph, with a force of regulars, to organize a home guard.
JUNE 11.— M. F. Conway was elected to Kansas' seat in the U. S.
house of representatives.
Capt. William E. Prince and a body of U. S. troops left Fort
Leavenworth for Kansas City.
JUNE 13. — Seven companies of the First Kansas left Leavenworth
for Kansas City.
JUNE 17. — Governor Robinson called for more troops.
JUNE 20. — The Second Kansas infantry regiment was mustered
into service at Kansas City, Mo., for a period of three months.
JUNE 24. — The First Kansas infantry regiment and regular troops,
under Maj. Samuel Sturgis, left Kansas City for Springfield, Mo.
JUNE 25. — James Lane published a statement in the Leavenworth
Conservative: "On the 20th instant I was duly appointed a Brigadier
General in the volunteer force of the United States."
19—9545
290 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
JUNE 26. — The Second Kansas infantry regiment left Kansas City
for a meeting with Major Sturgis in Missouri.
JULY 4. — Printers in the First and Second Kansas regiments took
over the Clinton ( Mo. ) Journal and published a Union issue, remark-
ing that the former editor left in 'Very indecent haste."
JULY 7. — Kansas troops under Sturgis joined General Lyon at
Grand river.
JULY 8. — The Kansas senators, James H. Lane and Samuel C.
Pomeroy, drew lots to determine the length of their terms in the
U. S. senate.
JULY 12. — Organization of the Fifth Kansas cavalry regiment was
started.
JULY 15. — The Third Kansas regiment was organized with James
Montgomery as its colonel. The Third and Fourth Kansas regi-
ments were consolidated to form the Tenth Kansas infantry regi-
ment, April 3, 1862.
JULY 24. — The First battery of light artillery was mustered into
service. Thomas Bickerton was the captain.
JULY 25. — By a vote at a Union meeting in Leavenworth, business
houses were to close early every day to allow all citizens time for
military drill.
AUGUST 9. — The rebel John Matthews drove 60 Union families
from the Neutral lands.
AUGUST 10. — The Battle of Wilson's creek was fought south of
Springfield, Mo. Troops from the First and Second Kansas regi-
ments took an active part.
AUGUST 17. — General Lane began to fortify Camp Lincoln, Bour-
bon county.
SEPTEMBER 2. — The Battle of Dry Wood. Union men under Cols.
James Montgomery, C. R. Jennison, and H. P. Johnson and Capts.
Thomas Moonlight, John Ritchie, James M. [?] Williams, and John E.
Stewart fought the rebels under Gen. James S. Rains.
SEPTEMBER 7. — Atchison was in danger of invasion by rebels from
Missouri. Five companies went to her assistance from Jefferson,
Jackson, and Doniphan counties.
SEPTEMBER 8. — The First Kansas infantry regiment was located at
Hannibal, Mo.
SEPTEMBER 10. — The Sixth Kansas cavalry was mustered into serv-
ice at Fort Scott. It had been organized in July.
SEPTEMBER 12. — Humboldt was sacked by rebels.
POLITICAL AND MILITARY EVENTS, 1859-1865 291
SEPTEMBER 15. — The Second Kansas infantry regiment arrived in
Leavenworth and was given a public reception.
SEPTEMBER 20. — The "Jonn Brown's body" song was first sung in
Leavenworth. The song originated with Union soldiers at Fort
Warren, Mass.
SEPTEMBER 21. — Col. William R. Judson of the Sixth Kansas regi-
ment returned from the Neutral lands, having routed the Confederate
marauders.
SEPTEMBER 23. — Lane took Osceola, Mo., and burned it.
SEPTEMBER 30. — Lane's brigade arrived in Kansas City, joining
forces under Sturgis.
OCTOBER. — Organization of the Third Kansas battery was begun.
OCTOBER 11. — Sturgis and Lane left for Springfield, Mo.
OCTOBER 16. — Humboldt was attacked by rebels for the second
time and burned.
OCTOBER 24. — Organization of the Ninth Kansas cavalry was be-
gun.
OCTOBER 25. — Gardner, Johnson county, was sacked by Missou-
rians.
OCTOBER 27. — The organization of the Eighth Kansas infantry
regiment was completed.
OCTOBER 28. — The Seventh Kansas cavalry regiment was organ-
ized at Fort Leavenworth.
OCTOBER 30. — Settlers were driven from Mine creek in Linn
county.
OCTOBER 31. — The Second Kansas infantry regiment, a 90-day
unit, was honorably discharged.
NOVEMBER 2. — Lane and Sturgis reached Springfield, Mo.
NOVEMBER 5. — Votes for the state legislature and a location for
the state capital were cast. Topeka received the majority of the
votes, thus making it the permanent capital of Kansas. Lawrence
was second in the balloting. Whisky Point, near Fort Riley, re-
ceived two votes!
NOVEMBER 12. — A new military area, the Department of Kansas,
was established with Maj. Gen. David Hunter in charge.
NOVEMBER 15. — The Kansas brigade returned to Fort Scott.
NOVEMBER 27. — The Third Kansas battery was mustered at Leav-
enworth.
NOVEMBER 30. — Gen. James Denver was ordered to report to Fort
Scott.
292 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
DECEMBER 11. — Rebels raided Potosi, Linn county.
DECEMBER 14. — Maj. H. H. Williams and his Third Kansas regi-
ment took Papinsville and Butler, Mo.
DECEMBER 20. — The Eighth Kansas infantry was located at West-
port, Mo. One hundred contrabands, freed by Colonel Anthony
at Independence, arrived at Leavenworth.
DECEMBER 31. — The First Kansas infantry regiment was ordered
to Kansas City and Fort Scott.
1862
JANUARY 9. — Capt. John Brown, Jr., arrived at Leavenworth with
enough men to fill his company, which was Co. K, Seventh Kansas
cavalry. The men in Brown's company were mainly from Ohio.
JANUARY 14. — The state legislature met at Topeka.
JANUARY 15. — Union Indians were defeated in the Indian terri-
tory, and were driven to Kansas. They encamped on Fall river.
JANUARY 20. — The Second Kansas cavalry was ordered from Fort
Leavenworth to Quindaro (now part of present Kansas City).
JANUARY 21. — The decision of the supreme court, declaring the
election of the governor in 1861 illegal, was published. The opinion
was handed down by Chief Justice Thomas Ewing, Jr. This de-
cision was considered a defeat for Senator Lane in his attempt to
remove Governor Robinson from office.
JANUARY 23. — The Thirteenth Wisconsin volunteer regiment ar-
rived at Fort Leavenworth.
JANUARY 27. — James H. Lane arrived in Leavenworth, supposedly
as a major general, to take command of an expedition to the South.
JANUARY 29. — The Ninth Wisconsin volunteer regiment arrived
at Fort Leavenworth.
JANUARY 30. — Investigations were begun in the house of repre-
sentatives against Gov. Charles Robinson, Secretary of State John
W. Robinson, and State Auditor George S. Hilly er "for high mis-
demeanors in office" relating to the sale of state bonds.
FEBRUARY. — The supreme court held that laws passed by the
territorial legislature, after Kansas became a state, were valid.
FEBRUARY 14. — The report of the house committee on the ne-
gotiation of state bonds was published. It concluded with a reso-
lution to impeach the governor, auditor, and secretary of state.
FEBRUARY 26. — Gen. James Lane wrote the legislature that he
would not lead a military expedition but would resign his commis-
sion and return to the U. S. senate.
POLITICAL AND MILITARY EVENTS, 1859-1865 293
FEBRUARY 28. — The Daily Inquirer, a rebel organ, was started in
Leavenworth. A meeting was called to mob the newspaper. D. W.
Wilder and M. W. Delahay addressed the mob, advocating free
speech and the meeting of argument with argument.
The Third Kansas battery was assigned to the Second Kansas
cavalry regiment.
MARCH 1. — Three seats in the state senate were declared vacant
because the senators had accepted commissions in the volunteer serv-
ice. They were friends of Governor Robinson and enemies of Sena-
tor Lane.
MARCH 6. — The legislature adjourned.
MARCH 7. — The notorious William Quantrill, alias Charley Hart,
plundered Aubrey, in Johnson county, and killed at least three
citizens.
MARCH 14. — John A. Martin, lieutenant colonel of the Eighth Kan-
sas regiment, was appointed provost marshal at Leavenworth.
MARCH 15. — Kansas soldiers at Fort Riley destroyed the office
of the Kansas Frontier News, at Junction City, believing it to be a
disloyal newspaper.
General Denver was ordered to take command in Kansas. Gen.
George W. Deitzler was to join Gen. Samuel R. Curtis in Arkansas.
MARCH 26. — The First Colorado regiment was defeated at Pi-
geon's Ranch, New Mexico. This regiment was reportedly made up
of Kansas men.
MARCH 27. — The Ninth Kansas cavalry was mustered in at Leav-
enworth.
The Ninth Kansas volunteer regiment was renamed the Second
Kansas cavalry.
APRIL 8. — Robert Mitchell and James Blunt were appointed brig-
adier generals.
MAY 2. — Gen. James Blunt took command of the Department of
Kansas.
The First Indian regiment was organized at Le Roy, by Robert
Furnas.
MAY 8. — Congress appropriated $100,000 to pay the Lane bri-
gade.
MAY 11. — The Jayhawker, Marshall Cleveland, alias Moore, alias
Metz, was killed at the Marias des Cygnes river by men of the Sixth
Kansas regiment. He once had been a captain in Jennison's regi-
ment, and stole in the name of liberty.
MAY 24.— Col. William A. Barstow, of the Third Wisconsin, was
appointed provost marshal general for the state. Maj. Elias A.
294 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Calkins, of the Third Wisconsin, received the appointment as pro-
vost marshal for Leavenworth.
MAY 27-29. — The First, Seventh, and Eighth Kansas regiments,
the Second Kansas battery, and the Twelfth and Thirteenth Wis-
consin regiments sailed for Corinth, Miss.
MAY 30. — Col. William Weer, of the Tenth Kansas, was given
command of an Indian expedition.
JUNE. — The first reoccupation of any part of the Indian territory,
now Oklahoma, since May, 1861, was made by Kansas troops, who
marched almost to Fort Gibson.
JUNE 2-16. — The Kansas senate met as a court of impeachment.
Secretary of State John W. Robinson and Auditor George S. Hilly er
were impeached and removed from office, while Gov. Charles Rob-
inson was acquitted.
JUNE 15. — The Leavenworth Inquirer was suppressed by General
Blunt.
JUNE 18. — D. R. Anthony, lieutenant colonel of the Seventh
Kansas, issued the following order: "Any officer or soldier of this
command who shall arrest and deliver to his master a fugitive
slave, shall be summarily and severely punished, according to the
laws relative to such crimes.'* For issuing this order Colonel An-
thony was arrested and deprived of his command in Tennessee.
JUNE 20. — Decision of U. S. Attorney General Edward Bates:
"The absence of Governor Robinson from the State did not create
the disability contemplated by the Constitution of Kansas, by which
the Lieutenant Governor would be authorized to perform the duties
of Governor/' The need for this decision came about when Gov-
ernor Robinson and Lieutenant Governor Root appointed different
men to the colonelcy of the Seventh Kansas regiment.
JUNE 22. — The organization of the Second Indian regiment be-
gan.
JUNE 30. — Bill and Jim Anderson, Quantrill and others, raided
into Lyon county, shooting several people and stealing horses.
AUGUST 4. — James Lane opened a recruiting office in Leaven-
worth for negro and white troops.
AUGUST 8. — General Blunt left Leavenworth to take command
of the expedition in the Indian territory.
AUGUST 12. — Preston B. Plumb and Edmund G. Ross were en-
listing men for the Eleventh Kansas regiment.
AUGUST 15. — Quantrill issued orders that men going to federal
posts to enlist would be shot when captured.
POLITICAL AND MILITARY EVENTS, 1859-1865 295
SEPTEMBER. — Organization of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Kan-
sas regiments began.
SEPTEMBER 7. — Quantrill raided Olathe, killing several men, and
destroying offices of the Mirror and Herald.
Governor Robinson issued an order for complete organization
of the militia.
SEPTEMBER 10. — Organization of the Second battery began.
SEPTEMBER 14. — Thomas Ewing, Jr., chief justice of Kansas, was
mustered as colonel of the Eleventh Kansas cavalry regiment.
John Halderman was appointed major general of the militia
of northern Kansas.
SEPTEMBER 15. — The Eleventh Kansas cavalry regiment was
mustered at Fort Leavenworth.
SEPTEMBER 16. — Organization of the Third Indian regiment be-
gan.
SEPTEMBER 17. — The Republican state convention was held at
Topeka.
SEPTEMBER 18. — D. R. Anthony resigned from the Seventh Kan-
sas regiment and returned to Leavenworth.
SEPTEMBER 20. — The Thirteenth Kansas cavalry regiment was
mustered at Atchison.
SEPTEMBER 29. — The Union state convention was held at Law-
rence.
SEPTEMBER 30. — The Twelfth Kansas infantry regiment was
mustered at Paola.
OCTOBER 1. — The Democratic state convention was held at To-
peka.
OCTOBER 17. — Quantrill and his gang raided Johnson county,
killing three men and burning 13 buildings.
The First Kansas Colored regiment was organized near Fort
Lincoln, Bourbon county. It was ordered to Baxter Springs. The
Thirteenth regiment was at Fort Scott, the Twelfth on the eastern
border and the Eleventh had gone to join Blunt.
NOVEMBER 4. — An election was held for state officers, members
of the state legislature and a U. S. representative.
DECEMBER 7. — General Blunt won a victory at Prairie Grove,
Ark. He also gained victories at Newtonia, October 4; Old Fort
Wayne, October 22; and Cane Hill, November 28. Blunt's forces
took Van Buren, December 29.
296 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
1863
JANUARY 13. — The state legislature met at Topeka.
The First Colored regiment was mustered at Fort Scott.
JANUARY 17. — Fort Scott was re-established as a permanent mili-
tary post.
FEBRUARY 10. — The Leavenworth Daily Inquirer, a secession
paper, ceased to exist. The presses were destroyed, the type thrown
out the window and cases burned.
MARCH 3. — The legislature adjourned.
MARCH 13. — Thomas Ewing, Jr., was appointed a brigadier gen-
eral.
APRIL. — The Fourteenth Kansas cavalry began to organize.
JUNE 1. — Sidney Clarke was appointed provost marshal for Kan-
sas, Nebraska, and Colorado.
JUNE 11. — Col. James Montgomery, of Kansas, with his Colored
regiment, left Hilton Head for a raid in Georgia.
JULY 1.— Col. James Williams, with 800 men of the First Kansas
Colored regiment and 500 Indians, defeated a force of Texans
under the Cherokee Stand Watie at Cabin Creek.
JULY 4. — The surrender of Vicksburg, Miss. Troops of the First
Kansas regiment took part in the campaign.
JULY 17. — Blunt gained a victory over Cooper at Honey Springs,
south of the Arkansas river in Indian territory.
AUGUST 21. — Quantrill and his guerrillas raided and sacked Law-
rence. Approximately 200 buildings were burned and nearly 150
persons were killed.
SEPTEMBER. — The Fifteenth Kansas cavalry regiment was or-
ganized to protect border towns from further raids.
SEPTEMBER 8. — A Republican convention was held at Paola. A
resolution was passed asking for the removal of Gens. John M.
Schofield and Thomas Ewing and the establishment of a new mili-
tary department.
SEPTEMBER 19. — The Battle of Chickamauga, in Georgia. Mem-
bers of the Eighth Kansas regiment took an active part.
OCTOBER 6. — General Blunt and a small escort were attacked
near Baxter Springs by Quantrill and his Confederate guerrillas.
Blunt escaped, but most of his men were killed. Fort Blair was
also attacked, but the guerrillas were repelled and several were
killed.
POLITICAL AND MILITARY EVENTS, 1859-1865 297
Kansas up to this date had furnished the Union 9,613 white
troops, 2,262 Indians, and one Colored regiment.
OCTOBER 15. — The Fifteenth Kansas cavalry regiment was mus-
tered at Fort Leavenworth.
OCTOBER 25. — Col. Powell Clayton and the Fifth Kansas regiment
took part in the Battle of Pine Bluff, Ark. Negro noncombatants
were used to barricade the streets.
NOVEMBER 3. — The general election was held in Kansas. State
representatives, district attorneys and a chief justice of the supreme
court were elected.
NOVEMBER 25.— The Battle of Chattanooga, Tenn. The Eighth
Kansas regiment was instrumental in securing Mission Ridge and
Orchard Knob.
DECEMBER 18. — Col. William Phillips defeated a rebel force
near Fort Gibson.
1864
JANUARY 1. — Kansas was made a military department with Gen.
Samuel Curtis in command.
JANUARY 12. — The Kansas legislature met at Topeka.
FEBRUARY 6. — The Seventh Kansas cavalry regiment was given
a reception in Leavenworth.
Eight senators and 19 members of the house protested the forth-
coming election of a U. S. senator.
FEBRUARY 9. — Sitting in joint convention, the two houses elected
a senator for the term that began March 4, 1865. Gov. Thomas
Carney was declared elected but never claimed the office.
FEBRUARY 20.— The Battle of Olustee, Fla. Col. James Mont-
gomery, commanding Colored troops, was in this battle.
FEBRUARY 29. — A reception for the Eighth Kansas infantry regi-
ment was held at Leavenworth.
MARCH 1. — The legislature adjourned.
APRIL 20.— The War Department credited the state with 1,529
Colored troops.
APRIL 21. — The Republican state convention was held at Topeka.
APRIL 30. — A battle at Jenkin's Ferry, Ark. Members of the
Second Kansas cavalry participated.
MAY 4. — Kansas had raised 4,500 troops in excess of all calls.
JUNE. — Fort Ellsworth, later known as Fort Marker, was estab-
lished.
JUNE 1. — Democratic state convention was held at Topeka.
KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
JUNE 17. — The First Kansas infantry regiment was mustered out
at Fort Leavenworth, with the exception of two companies of
veterans who were mustered at Bovina, Miss., to form the Veteran
battalion, First infantry.
JULY 2. — Capt. William Matthews began to raise a Colored bat-
tery.
General Curtis was authorized to raise a regiment of "Hundred
Days" men. It was to be called the Seventeenth Kansas regiment.
JULY 27.— Confederate Gen. Richard M. Gano attacked an out-
post at Fort Smith, Ark., capturing Capt. David F. Medford and
82 of his Sixth Kansas men.
JULY 28. — The Seventeenth Kansas infantry regiment was mus-
tered at Fort Leavenworth.
AUGUST 3.— A state convention of Colored men was held; they
asked that the word, "white," be struck from the constitution.
AUGUST 10. — Indians made a serious raid on the Little Blue river
near Marysville.
AUGUST 29. — Four companies of the Fifth Kansas, commanded
by Maj. Samuel Walker, arrived at Leavenworth.
SEPTEMBER 6. — Fort Zarah was established by General Curtis.
He named it for his son, who was killed at the Baxter Springs mas-
sacre.
SEPTEMBER 8. — The Republican state convention was held at
Topeka.
SEPTEMBER 13. — Republican Union state convention was held at
Topeka.
OCTOBER 1. — Confederate Gen. Sterling Price was reported ad-
vancing toward Kansas.
OCTOBER 8. — Gov. Thomas Carney called out the state militia,
Maj. Gen. George Deitzler commanding.
OCTOBER 10. — General Curtis proclaimed martial law in Kansas.
OCTOBER 14. — General Blunt moved from Olathe to Hickman
Mills, Mo. His command was organized into three brigades.
OCTOBER 16. — Blunt moved toward Lexington, Mo., with two
brigades.
OCTOBER 19. — Blunt met the Confederate army and was driven
back.
OCTOBER 20. — Blunt moved to Independence, Mo. General
Moonlight was defeated at the Battle of the Little Blue.
OCTOBER 22. — The Battle of the Big Blue was fought, ending in
a Union victory.
POLITICAL AND MILITARY EVENTS, 1859-1865 299
Kansas had an estimated 20,000 men under arms.
OCTOBER 23.— The Battle of Westport, with General Price's line
extending west nearly to the Shawnee Methodist Mission in Kan-
sas. The rebels were defeated and began to retreat.
OCTOBER 24. — Price's army entered Kansas in Linn county, and
camped at Trading Post on the Marais des Cygnes.
OCTOBER 25. — The Battle of Mine Creek. Kansas troops met
and routed the Confederate army.
OCTOBER 26. — Generals Curtis and Blunt, along with their bri-
gades, started to follow the retreating Confederates.
OCTOBER 27. — Governor Carney ordered the militia members to
return to their homes.
OCTOBER 28. — The Sixteenth Kansas cavalry regiment was mus-
tered at Fort Leavenworth.
The Battle of Newtonia, Mo. Blunt began the fight alone but
later was reinforced by Sanborn. The rebels abandoned the field.
OCTOBER 29. — Gen. William S. Rosecrans ordered all troops in
his departments to return to their districts; however, Gen. U. S.
Grant ordered the pursuit of Price to be resumed.
NOVEMBER 8. — The pursuit of Price was discontinued when Gen-
erals Curtis and Blunt reached the Arkansas river.
State and national elections were held. Members of the state
legislature, state officers and national congressmen were elected;
also several amendments to the state constitution were approved.
1865
JANUARY 10. — The state legislature met at Topeka.
JANUARY 12. — James H. Lane was re-elected U. S. senator.
JANUARY 19. — The legislature adjourned until January 23, to take
a railroad excursion to Lawrence and Wyandotte.
FEBRUARY 7. — Gen. G. M. Dodge took command of Fort Leaven-
worth, succeeding Gen. Samuel R. Curtis.
FEBRUARY 15. — Kansas received a draft call for the first time.
Due to an error the state had not been given full credit for her
volunteers.
FEBRUARY 20. — The legislature adjourned.
FEBRUARY 21. — The Eleventh Kansas regiment left Fort Riley for
Fort Kearny.
FEBRUARY 25. — Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr., resigned his command
and left the army.
MARCH 15. — The draft in Kansas was suspended.
300 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
MARCH 18. — Five Kansas regiments left Fort Smith.
APRIL 9.— End of the Civil War.
APRIL 14.— Assassination of President Lincoln, by John Wilkes
Booth.
During the four years of the Civil War, Kansas supplied 17
regiments, three batteries, two Negro regiments and a Negro bat-
tery. Altogether Kansas is reported to have contributed 18,069
white troops and 2,080 Negroes; an excess of more than 3,000 over
all calls. The census of 1860 gave Kansas a white male population
between the ages of 18 and 45 as only 27,976 and less than 300
male Negroes.
Mark W. Delahay: Peripatetic Politician
A HISTORICAL CASE STUDY
JOHN G. CLARK
THE Democratic party, in territorial Kansas, was the victim of
a deep split engendered by the slavery issue. One faction,
composed mainly of Missourians settling in Kansas, supported
slavery. A second faction viewed slavery on grounds of expediency
and refused to condone the militant tactics of the Proslavery group.
As a result of this factionalism Democrats labored under a mani-
fest disadvantage in the contest for political control of Kansas.
The Democratic party was early associated in the minds of the
electorate with the Proslavery faction, and the possibility of Demo-
cratic ascendancy in Kansas became more remote in proportion
to the mounting free-state sentiment of the settlers.
Representative of the group opposed to both Abolitionist and
Proslavery factions was the politically ubiquitous Mark W. Dela-
hay, a Democrat, and editor of the Leavenworth Kansas Territorial
Register. Delahay was cognizant of the weak Democratic position
in Kansas and threw his support to the formation of the Topeka
Free-State government in the spring of 1856, although retaining
his position as a Douglas Democrat. The effort at Topeka proved
to be a failure but it served the purpose of consolidating the various
Free-State groups on a political level. These groups were soon to
furnish the nucleus of the Republican party in Kansas. Mark W.
Delahay was to be one of the founding fathers of Kansas Repub-
licanism. This study will attempt to trace the reasons and moti-
vation behind Delahay's change in politics. One factor, and prob-
ably the decisive one, was Delahay's long association and friendship
with Abraham Lincoln.
According to Delahay, his acquaintance with Lincoln began in
1835 in Illinois when both were circuit lawyers.1 A newspaper man
in Kansas, Delahay had gained his experience in the Illinois of the
1840's and had conducted a Democratic paper, the Virginia (111.)
JOHN G. CLARK, native of New Jersey, received his B. A. degree from Park College,
Parkville, Mo., in 1954. He is currently a graduate student in history and an assistant
instructor of Western civilization at the University of Kansas, Lawrence.
1. Mark W. Delahay, Abraham Lincoln (New York, Daniel H. Newhall, 1939 — a
limited edition, reprinted from the Unique Broadside, issued by M. W. Delahay about
1870), p. [2]. Delahay was also a distant relative of Lincoln's, having married the latter's
sixth cousin.
(301)
302 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Observer in 1848-1849. About 1840 Delahay was editor of a Whig
paper, the Naples (111.) Post.2
Politically, then, Delahay was both Whig and Democrat during
this decade. He participated in the Whig nominating convention
of 1846 prior t? t! e congressional elections. According to Delahay,
his role was crucial. In 1840 the Whig party came to an agreement
within the Springfield congressional district that congressmen were
to be chosen by rotation. Abraham Lincoln obtained the position
guaranteeing nomination in 1846. In that year another Whig
leader attempted to supplant Lincoln. This move was defeated
by a series of articles composed by Delahay in Whig papers. Dela-
hay was a member of the five-man committee choosing the per-
manent officers of the convention and thus in a position to exert
some influence over the choice of personnel on the nominating
and resolutions committees. Both committees were eventually
composed of Lincoln's partisans. Furthermore, Lincoln had in
January, 1846, expressed doubt as to his receiving the Cass county
vote. Delahay was delegate from Cass county and in November,
1845, had been active in Lincoln's interest. Much to Lincoln's
surprise, Cass county was delivered for Lincoln,3 at least partially
as a result of Delahay's efforts. According to Delahay ". . .
in a letter Mr. Lincoln did me the high honor of ascribing his
success to my efforts."4 Delahay was, perhaps unknowingly, cul-
tivating a future patron for his political wares.
Elections under the Topeka constitution, which Delahay had
aided in constructing, were held in January, 1856. Charles Robin-
son and W. Y. Roberts were elected governor and lieutenant gov-
ernor; and Delahay was named representative to congress.5 The
Free-State government organized in March, 1856, and elected
James H. Lane and Andrew H. Reeder as senators from Kansas.
Territorial comment on Delahay's nomination and election was
generally favorable. The Lawrence Herald of Freedom accepted
Delahay as a Douglas Democrat who would serve to make the
ticket popular in "those districts of Kansas where freedom is not
regarded as infinitely preferable to slavery, but is weighed in the
2. Franklin W. Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois 1814-1879 (Collections
of the Illinois State Historical Library, v. 6, Springfield, 1910), pp. 258, 345.
3. Donald W. Riddle, Lincoln Runs for Congress (Abraham Lincoln Association, Spring-
field, 111., Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1948), pp. 154-156.
4. Delahay, op. cit., p. 4.
5. Herald of Freedom, Lawrence, December 29, 1855, January 19, 1856. On Decem-
ber 29 the Herald cited Robert Klotz and M. F. Conway as his competitors in the Law-
rence convention of December, 1855. Delahay ran unopposed in the elections. On the
evening of December 22, 1855, Proslavery groups from Missouri invaded Delahay's Leaven-
worth office, destroyed it, and threw his printing press into the Missouri river.
DELAHAY: PERIPATETIC POLITICIAN 303
balance of political expediency, and found to be rather more de-
sirable, if anything, to the peculiar infamy of the South." 6
Sometime shortly after the Topeka legislature adjourned, Lane
and Delahay left Kansas and traveled eastward. A biographer
of Lane has indicated that Delahay was present at the Cincinnati
Democratic National convention in June, 185C.7 However, John
Speer, contemporary of Lane and Delahay, and biographer of the
former, reported a conversation with Delahay stating that Lane
and Delahay both campaigned for Fremont in 1856. Allegedly,
the Republican party invited Delahay and Lane to New Englanu
"for an assault on Democratic Connecticut." 8
It is certain that Delahay was in Washington, D. C., in July,
1856. In a letter to Governor Robinson and Lane, Delahay reported
that Governor Shannon was on his way to Kansas with express
instructions from Buchanan to arrest and punish "any and all per-
sons that may take part in the organization of the Independent
State Govt. . . ."9
Delahay's forebodings were turned into actualities in July. Gov-
ernor Robinson had been arrested in May, 1856, and then came
the dispersion of the Free-State legislature. Armed parties of both
Free-State and Proslavery men roamed the territory with occasional
meetings and skirmishes. A new governor, John W. Geary, ar-
rived replacing the dismissed Governor Shannon. In October elec-
tions were held for representatives to the territorial legislature
and on the question of calling a convention to form a state con-
stitution. The Free-State men boycotted the elections and the
question was affirmatively answered.
Where was M. W. Delahay during these momentous times? As the
Illinois State Register put it, "one Mark W. Delahay, sometime gen-
eral loafer from Kansas, shrieks for freedom at a Republican meet-
ing at Carlinville." 10 Delahay was on the stump in Illinois cam-
paigning for Fremont. One can imagine that Delahay, as a bona
fide Kansan, stumping for a party based on anti-slavery principles
6. Ibid.
7. Wendell H. Stephenson, The Political Career of General James H. Lane (Publications
of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, v. 3 [1930] ), p. 61.
8. John Speer, Life of Gen. James H. Lane, "the Liberator of Kansas" (Garden City,
Kan., 1897), p. 108.
9. Mark W. Delahay to General Robinson, Colonel Lane and others, Washington,
D. C., February 16, 1856. — "Robinson Papers," Mss. division, Kansas State Historical
Society, Topeka (hereafter cited as K. S. H. S.). Delahay from the beginning of the Topeka
movement had expressed doubt as to its legality, stating that "the power of a Territorial
Government ceases only by an act of the body which created it." — Kansas Territorial
Register, Leavenworth, December 22, 1855.
10. Illinois State Register, Springfield, October 18, 1856, quoted in Albert J. Beveridge,
Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1858 (4 vols., Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company,
The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1928), v. 4, p. 56.
304 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
and advocating the admission of "Bleeding Kansas'* as a free state,
made full use of his oratorical powers. The 1,300,000 votes gar-
nered by the Republicans in the nation could not have failed to
impress Delahay. Flexibility and willingness to advance with the
times were characteristics of Delahay throughout this amorphous
period. He was not yet ready to make a final political commit-
ment but when he did it would be the right one.
Lincoln's stature as a Republican leader was on the rise in Il-
linois and Delahay probably possessed the necessary political
astuteness to recognize this trend. In fact, one biographer of Lin-
coln has asserted that during the entire territorial period Delahay
was merely the echo of Lincoln in Kansas. This same authority
referred to Delahay as a "dissolute Illinois attorney" who was
"among the broken-down politicians, unsuccessful lawyers, and
failures in business who . . . went to the new Territories for
'another chance/ " u Although Delahay may have been in touch
with Lincoln during the earlier territorial period, the former's forth-
right stand on the Kansas-Nebraska act and its correlative prin-
ciple, popular sovereignty, seems to invalidate such a conclusion.12
Delahay perceived that the advocacy of a Democratic position in
Kansas was of little value in terms of popular support. However,
he remained, at least outwardly, until the presidential campaign
of 1856, a faithful exponent of Democracy. In explaining Delahay's
position, it seems reasonable to conclude that since Lincoln and
the Republican party did not prove themselves nationally until
1856, a sudden switch of politics would have been premature
and could have resulted in political suicide.
The year 1857 opened inauspiciously for Free-Staters and Re-
publicans of all shades. In March the supreme court announced
the Dred Scott decision which actually destroyed the basic prin-
ciple upon which the Republican party had organized, that of
recognizing congressional authority over slavery in the territories.
The Republican bete noire, Slavocracy, was stirring aggressively.
In Kansas the Proslavery territorial legislature had issued a
call for a June election of delegates to a constitutional convention,
which framed, in October, a constitution legalizing slavery. Dur-
ing the same month the Free-State party captured decisive majori-
11. Ibid, v. 3, pp. 308, 309.
12. Kansas Territorial Register, July 7, 28, August 4, 11, 1855. Bee, also, last issue
of Register, December 22, 1855, for Delahay's effort to keep any mention of slavery out of
the Topeka constitution. See, also, Daily Kansas Freeman, Topeka, October 26, 1855,
for Delahay's resolution introduced in the Topeka convention supporting the Kansas-Ne-
braska act.
Mark William Delahay
(1817-1879)
Early Leavenworth publisher and a friend of Abraham Lincoln. Copy
of a painting in the collections of the Kansas State Historical Society,
Topeka.
DELAHAY: PERIPATETIC POLITICIAN 305
ties in both houses of the territorial legislature. The passage
of the Lecompton constitution led to the famous, or infamous,
Lecompton debates in congress with Douglas combating the
Buchanan machine in an effort to defeat the bill admitting Kansas
under the Lecompton constitution. Passing in the senate, the
bill failed in the house and in April the house approved the Crit-
tenden-Montgomery amendment providing for resubmission of
the constitution to a popular vote.13
Delahay's reaction to these events is illuminated in a letter to
Douglas in April, 1858:
Last night the Steamer brought us the glad news of the defeat of Lecompton
in the House (or rather what we regard as equal to a defeat) . . . the
people collected on the Hill by the Eldridge House, Drum & fife and a torch
light procession with loud calls for me, and the occasion forced me from my
sick room ... to speak to the vast crowd. I could not do less than my
duty to you and Crittenden ... I desire to assure you that all past dif-
ferences between you and me upon political views, I am disposed as much to
regret as I am to forgive; . . . you [I] am at your command whenever
I can testify my greatfulness to you.14
Then came the compromise English bill and the rejection of the
Lecompton constitution in August, 1858, by Kansas voters. Dela-
hay's position, a study in equivocation, is expressed in a letter to
Abraham Lincoln in June, 1858. In regard to political parties in
Kansas, Delahay stated that:
. . . there are some here who are trying to get up an organization of a
Douglas party, but I am oppose [d] to any such folly ... & again there
are others who are trying to inaugurate a Republican party which I also regard
as bad policy . . . and to which I am opposed, at least until we become
a State; ... I have today offered to Bet an even Bet of $100 that you
will be the next Senator from Ills.15
The definitive test of strength between Lincoln and Douglas was
yet to come. When it came, Delahay was to be on hand to play
an active, if somewhat unethical, role.
As the summer of 1858 commenced, Delahay's field of activities
had moved from Kansas back to Illinois. The contest between
Douglas and Lincoln for Douglas' seat in the United States senate
13. In an extra-legal election on the entire constitution, held in January, 1858, it was
rejected 10,226 to 161.
14. Mark W. Delahay to Stephen A. Douglas, Wyandotte, April 7, 1858.— "Stephen
A. Douglas Papers," University of Chicago. Copy in the possession of Dr. Robert W.
Johannsen, University of Illinois. Delahay had served with Douglas in the Nauvoo expedi-
tion against the Illinois Mormons in 1846.
15. Mark W. Delahay to Abraham Lincoln, Leavenworth, June 13, 1858. — "Lincoln
Papers," Library of Congress, copy in the possession of Dr. Robert W. Johannsen. See,
also, Thomas Ewing, Jr., to R. B. Mitchell, December 15, 1858. — "Ewing Papers,"
K. S. H. S.
20—9545
306 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
had begun, and on May 18, 1858, Lincoln and Delahay, along with
other Illinois Republicans, spoke in Edwardsville.16 This procedure
was followed again in Moro, 111., a short time later.17
Stephen A. Douglas was in a precarious position. A letter from
Delahay to Lyman Trumbull is illustrative of the type of opposition
Douglas faced. Said Delahay:
Last night with Brown, English, and Lieb (mail agent),18 I spent several hours;
Lieb is drilling the faithful, and I of late, have made a few speaches, sort of
Douglass speaches. Lincoln and I went out to Edwardsville Tuesday. . . .
Lincoln made a fine Republican speach. My speach did not please the Re-
publicans, [but] by Brown and Lincoln, it was understood what I should say
beforehand; my policy is to back up Douglass until after the Buckhanan con-
vention nominate their state ticket, then I am for Lincoln.19
One authority maintains that Delahay's motive in stumping for
Douglas was his bitter hatred for the "little giant." 20 It is doubtful
that Delahay hated Douglas. Actually the Republicans found en-
dorsement of Douglas to be a valuable expedient to prevent Bu-
chanan men from harmonizing with the Douglas wing. Delahay
had reached that phase in his career where he felt that the correct,
politique, and final political allegiance could be consummated
with safety. And the allegiance was between Delahay and the
man, Lincoln, rather than with the Republican party. In any
event, Delahay now concentrated his efforts on securing the elec-
tion of Lincoln, whom Delahay did not hesitate to advise,21 and on
denouncing Douglas.
Delahay had now achieved orthodoxy. He believed, as other
Republicans did, or professed to, that Douglas had planned the
entire Lecompton affair "so as to give himself an opportunity to
win applause by opposing the abortion." Hence, the Republicans
could "make out a plausible case to show that the Buchanan ad-
ministration had been seeking to destroy the little giant' " and that
Douglas had used the Lecompton affair to create a new basis for
16. Roy P. Easier, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (9 vols., The Ab-
raham Lincoln Association, Springfield, HI., Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick,
N. J., 1953), v. 2, p. 447.
17. Beveridge, op. cit., v. 4, p. 195n.
18. George A. Brown, Republican editor of the Alton Courier; J. English, a Republican
politician in Alton; Lieb, considered to be a Buchanan administration agent working against
Douglas.
19. Delahay to Lyman Trumbull, Alton, 111., May 22, 1858, quoted in Beveridge,
op. cit., v. 4, p. 227.
20. Arthur C. Cole, The Era of the Civil War, 1848-1870 (Illinois Centennial Com-
mission, Springfield, 1919), p. 166.
21. Delahay to Lincoln, Alton, 111., August 13, 1858, "Lincoln Papers." Delahay ad-
vised ". . . misrepresent him [Douglas] and his press . . .," and accused Douglas
of infidelity to Illinois Democrats after the elections of 1852 when Illinois did not get a
good share of the spoils.
DELAHAY: PERIPATETIC POLITICIAN 307
political popularity so as to "groom himself for the presidency."22
Lincoln had gained national prominence as a result of his struggle
with Douglas. Some papers in his home state were already men-
tioning his name in relation to the presidential elections in 1860.
Delahay in January, 1859, wrote Lincoln inviting him to Kansas
to speak at a Republican mass convention in Leavenworth. Lin-
coln's reply was favorable as he planned a trip to Council Bluffs,
Iowa, for the summer of that year.23 Much correspondence passed
between Delahay and Lincoln concerning the latter's possible
presence in Kansas in May, 1859. The importune Delahay main-
tained that his presence was necessary for the Republican party
which Kansas was to organize in May. He urged that ". . . our
Territorial Platform will want your [Lincoln's! aid in devising.
. . . success is of first importance. . . . You must come.
. . ,"24 Lincoln was unable to attend the Osawatomie conven-
tion in May but sent a letter of advice to the convention through
Delahay and two other Kansans. In it he warned not to lower
Republican standards and especially not to surrender the object of
Republican organization — "the preventing of the spread and na-
tionalization of Slavery." 25
The newly organized Kansas Republican party was put to its
first test in June, 1859, during the election of delegates to the
Wyandotte constitutional convention. The Republicans captured
35 of the 52 delegates seated. In view of the two-to-one majority
the Republicans secured, Delahay's reaction is remarkable. In
a letter of ominous tenor to Lincoln, Delahay cried: "We have
just barely escaped a defeat in Kansas, by the [Democrats'] use
of larger sums of Federal money and by the importation of Irish
votes from the River Towns in Mo. . . ." Delahay revealed
his intention of running for governor or congress in the fall and
continued by asking Lincoln to lend him $100 and to ask mutual
Illinois friends to contribute the same.26
At this time Delahay and James H. Lane were close associates.
They were attempting to publish a newspaper which would be both
pro-Delahay and pro-Lane and hence pro-Republican. Delahay
considered the newspaper absolutely necessary to forward his
22. Delahay to Lyman Trumbull, November 28, 1857, quoted in Cole, op. cit., p. 174.
23. Lincoln to Delahay, Springfield, February 1, 1859. — Easier, op. cit., v. 3, p. 355.
24. Delahay to Lincoln, Leavenworth, February 8, 1859. — "Lincoln Papers."
25. J. L. Dugger and M. F. Conway; Lincoln to Delahay, Springfield, May 14, 1859;
Basler, op. cit., v. 3, 378, 379.
26. Delahay to Lincoln, Chicago, June 15, 1859. — "Lincoln Papers." According to
the letter James H. Lane and Delahay had been sent out to solicit funds, ostensibly for
the Republican party and the coming campaign.
308 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ambitions.27 Lane was necessary also as he was an extremely
popular figure among the Republicans and Free-Soilers of Kansas.
Delahay was quite optimistic concerning his chances of political
success if he could maintain his close association with Lane. Lin-
coln would also prove useful. In a letter to Lincoln, Delahay
stated his ambition for the senate and asked him to "address Genl
Lane . . . and say whatever you can in my behalf to him
[for] ... he can I think secure the Election of his Colleague,
and he is pledged to me." 28 In November, 1859, Delahay wrote
Lincoln evincing his belief that Lincoln was the man for the Re-
publican presidential nomination in 1860, and that Kansas, sure
to be a state by then, would go for Lincoln if he would visit and
canvass it thoroughly.29 The very next day Delahay formally in-
vited Lincoln, in behalf of the Republican party, to visit Leaven-
worth, exhorting him that ". . . This is the most important
period of your political life and a compliance with our wishes
will be the best thing of all the good ones you have ever done for
the Republican Party. . . ."30
Delahay was using to advantage whatever influence he possessed
to secure the senate seat. Lincoln complied with Delahay's re-
quest and visited Kansas late in 1859. He was ably chaperoned
by Delahay and spoke at several of the leading settlements.31 But
it is unfair to accuse Delahay, as most authorities are prone to do,
of merely using Lincoln to enhance his own prestige.32 While this
is true in part, the fact remains that Delahay felt a certain sense
of loyalty to his patron. Lincoln held this trait in high esteem
fortunately, for it was the one characteristic which Delahay had
to offer.
Delahay, in 1860, continued his efforts to gain a senatorial seat.33
In February Delahay asked Lincoln to urge his (Delahay's) can-
didacy upon his friends in Kansas and also requested Lincoln to
27. Delahay to Lincoln, Leavenworth, August 7, 1859. — Ibid. In it Delahay also re-
peats his request for $100.
28. Delahay to Lincoln, Leavenworth, September 28, 1859. — Ibid.
29. Delahay to Lincoln, Leavenworth, November 14, 1859. — Ibid.
30. Delahay to Lincoln, Leavenworth, November 15, 1859. — Ibid.
31. For brief accounts of his visit see "Lincoln in Kansas," Kansas State Historical
Collections, v. 7 (1901-1902), pp. 536, 537, and Fred W. BrinkerhofF, "The Kansas Tour
of Lincoln the Candidate," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 13 (February, 1945), pp.
294-307.
32. Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, v. 4, p. 342.
33. During this period Delahay was elected chief clerk of the territorial house of
representatives. In January, 1860, the Leavenworth Daily Herald accused Delahay of
tampering with and corrupting the Journal of the territorial house. A house committee
subsequently vindicated him of these charges. — House Journal . . . Kansas Territory,
Special Session (Lecompton, 1860), pp. 118, 119, 164, 165.
DELAHAY: PERIPATETIC POLITICIAN 309
ask Lyman Trumbull to write in his behalf.34 Trumbull did write
Delahay but was indisposed to interfere in Kansas matters.35
The Republican party convention to select candidates for the
presidential election of 1860 was rapidly approaching. Delahay
schemed to present Kansas for Lincoln in the convention. Lincoln
wrote to Delahay in March, 1860, in answer to three letters from
Delahay. Lincoln referred to one letter in an extremely suggestive
manner:
As to your kind wishes for myself, allow me to say I cannot enter the ring
on the money basis — first, because, in the main, it is wrong; . . . but
for certain objects, in a political contest, the use of some, is both right, and
indispensable. ... I now distinctly say this: if you shall be appointed
a delegate to Chicago, I will furnish one hundred dollars to bear the expenses
of the trip.3^
Lincoln's comment suggested that Delahay had intimated that
a sufficient sum of money, placed in capable hands, could secure
for Lincoln the Kansas delegation. Delahay's political ethics would
not have prevented the presentation to Lincoln of such an offer.
But even granting the truth of this supposition, Delahay should
not be castigated too hastily for he was playing the game according
to rules which he, in no way, invented; and which, at the time,
were not subjected to harsh condemnation.
Delahay in the months immediately preceding the Republican
convention worked diligently to secure the election of Lincoln dele-
gates from Kansas. He also found time to advise Lincoln that his
chances for the nomination were excellent and presented reasons
which have proven to be quite accurate.37 But his efforts were in
vain for he failed to deliver Kansas to Lincoln and even to get
elected to the Kansas Republican convention at Lawrence in April,
1860. The Kansas convention at Lawrence declared itself for
William H. Seward and its delegates were instructed accordingly.
Lincoln was supposedly disappointed with Delahay's lack of in-
fluence in Kansas.38 However, Lincoln was probably unconcerned
34. Delahay to Lincoln, February 6, 1860. — "Lincoln Papers." See, also, Lincoln
to Delahay, March 16, 1860. — Easier, op. cit., v. 4, pp. 31, 32.
35. Lincoln to Trumbull, March 16, 1860. — Easier, op. cit. Trumbull to Delahay,
February 11, I860.— "Delahay Papers," K. S. H. S.
36. Lincoln to Delahay, March 16, 1860. — Easier, op. cit., v. 4, pp. 31, 32.
37. Delahay to Lincoln, Leavenworth, March 26, 1860. — "Lincoln Papers."
38. William Baringer, Lincoln's Rise to Power (Boston, Little, Brown and Company,
1937), p. 175. See Ewing to Lincoln, May 6, 1860, typed copy, "Ewing Papers,"
K. S. H. S., for an explanation of Delahay's failure. Seward, Ewing stated, had far and
away the more zealous and numerous supporters who controlled the presses of Kansas.
G. Raymond Gaeddert, The Birth of Kansas (University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, 1940),
p. 20, stated that "the Republican people of Kansas were for William H. Seward, who
was fighting their battles in the United States Senate."
310 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
over Delaha/s failure and in a letter to Delahay, noticing that
Kansas had chosen Seward, he consoled his friend by saying, "Don't
stir them [the elected delegates] up to anger, but come along to
the convention, & I will do as I said about expenses/' 39
In May, 1860, Delahay joined the pilgrimage of Republicans to
Chicago. According to his own testimony, in letters to Lincoln,
he performed important services behind the scenes. Lincoln
warned him to "give no offence, and keep cool under all circum-
stances."40 During the initial sparring, Delahay reported con-
scientiously to Lincoln and the tenor of these missives was opti-
mistic; more so than was actually warranted.
What Delahay actually accomplished is in the realm of specu-
lation. His influence was meager. He was not well known in areas
other than Illinois and Kansas. He was from a territory with little
voice in the affair. And he was not even an elected delegate. It
seems probable that Delahay's influence was slight if not non-
existent in securing the nomination for Lincoln.41
Lincoln cannot have expected much aid from Delahay. His in-
vitation was probably the result of loyalty to an old friend. But
for Delahay a more crucial consideration compelled his presence.
Delahay sincerely believed that Lincoln's chances for nomination
and election were excellent. This belief translated into an accom-
plished fact would open wide, and hitherto unknown, political
vistas for Delahay. Two alternatives would be available; the senate
or a presidential appointment. On May 18, 1860, Lincoln received
the Republican nomination and for Delahay half the battle was
won.
Delahay was jubilancy personified and immediately wired Lin-
coln that "I want very much to return to your City [Springfield,
Illinois] — But at present I cant say that I will be able to do so.
. . . [This] is the happiest day of my Checkquered life."42
Delahay probably visited Springfield for campaign instructions, and
39. Lincoln to Delahay, April 14, 1860. — Easier, op. cit., v. 4, p. 44.
40. Lincoln to Delahay, Springfield, May 12, 1860. — Ibid., p. 49.
41. William E. Barton, The Life of Abraham Lincoln (2 vols., Indianapolis, Bobbs
Merrill Co., 1925), v. 1, p. 431, declared that on May 18 Delahay wired Lincoln that
his nomination was hopeless and asked if Lincoln would accept the vice-presidential nom-
ination. Lincoln allegedly replied affirmatively. However, no evidence has ever been
found to confirm this statement based on personal reminiscences. Furthermore, Delahay
wrote Lincoln from Chicago, May 14, 1860, that "all conceed [sic] that you can be easily
nominated for Vice-President, but we are not biting at the Bate [sic]." — David C. Mearns,
ed., The Lincoln Papers (3 vols., Doubleday and Co., Inc., Garden City, N. Y., 1948),
v. 1, pp. 233, 234.
42. Delahay to Lincoln, Chicago, May 18, I860.— Ibid, p. 242.
DELAHAY: PERIPATETIC POLITICIAN 311
he and James H. Lane both entered actively in the campaign, es-
pecially in the doubtful districts of Indiana and Illinois.43
Following the news of Lincoln's election, Delahay enjoyed his
reputation as a tried and true friend of the President-elect. Del-
ahay's prestige led many Republicans to apply to him for assistance
in getting an appointment to some government post.44
Delahay was in Washington for the inauguration and had at
least one interview with Lincoln. However, nothing was decided
regarding Kansas patronage, for, on March 13, 1861, Lincoln wrote
Delahay that "when I saw you . . . this morning, I forgot to
ask you about some of the Kansas appointments. ... If you
care much about them, you can write. . . ,"45 Delahay had
returned to Kansas to enter into the senatorial campaign. Late in
March Delahay answered Lincoln expressing hope that ". . . the
appointment of Surveyor General for Kansas . . ." would not
be made ". . . until I can see you. . . ." 46
After the campaign, which saw James H. Lane and Samuel C.
Pomeroy elected as the first senators from Kansas, and in which
Delahay seemed to concentrate more on advancing Lane's pre-
tensions than his own, both Lane and Delahay journeyed to Wash-
ington. There they experienced the first Northern reaction to the
bombardment of Fort Sumter. Both were officers of the heroic
Frontier Guard which served as the defenders of Lincoln during
those first fearful days. Delahay arranged for an interview with the
severely harrassed president 47 and within a few days received his
appointment as surveyor-general of Kansas. This appointment
explains the politically innocuous campaign Delahay conducted
for the senate.
Delahay was to receive another appointment in 1863 as Federal
District court judge of Kansas,48 and in 1865, before Lincoln's as-
43. See George W. Deitzler to S. N. Wood, August 18, I860.— "S. N. Wood Papers,"
K. S. H. S. Deitzler avers that "if such fellows [Lane and Delahay] . . . are to con-
trol matters in any degree, with the new administration, I shall feel but little hope for
any good results from the change."
44. William Ward to Delahay, November 8, 1860; Charles Van Lassen to Delahay,
November 26, 1860; J. B. McAfee to Delahay, December 7, I860.— "Delahay Papers,'*
K. S. H. S.
45. Lincoln to Delahay, March 13, 1861. — Easier, op. cit., v. 4, p. 283.
46. Delahay to Lincoln, March 29, 1861.— Ibid.
47. Delahay to J. L. McDowell, Washington [April], 1861.— "McDowell Papers,"
K. S. H. S.
48. This appointment stimulated a deluge of criticism and opposition, much of which
was valid. Lyman Trumbull received numerous letters of protest from Kansans. But there
was no trouble over confirmation. See Kansas City (Mo.) Western Journal of Commerce,
October 17, 24, 31, 1863, for articles reprinted from the Leavenworth Dotty Times, Fort
Scott Monitor, and Emporia News, all bitterly attacking the appointment.
312 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
sassination, he hoped for a foreign assignment. However, the cli-
max of his career came with his appointment as surveyor-general.
This was the goal towards which he had been striving, a federal
office, a lifetime sinecure.
Delahay's entire career is a study of the mediocre in politics.
In his personal accomplishments he is hardly significant. To be
fair, of course, one must mention his position in the Topeka con-
stitutional convention of 1855 and his journalistic efforts. But his
tangible, measurable contributions are hardly apparent, verging
indeed on the nonexistent.
The question which this investigation raises then is: How did
Delahay, possessed of such limited personal and intellectual quali-
ties, progress in politics to a position of some power and responsi-
bility? The obvious answer is Lincoln's use of the patronage at his
command. But this is insufficient for it fails to explain why Dela-
hay was so consistently a recipient of Lincoln's favors. In 1858
Delahay made a decision, the result being that he devoted himself
unreservedly to Abraham Lincoln. Not many men were willing
to commit themselves unequivocally at this early stage. Lincoln
could not have failed to recognize this. The combination of Dela-
hay's early commitment and Lincoln's Illinois experiences with
Delahay, and perhaps a political debt, created in Lincoln a deep
sense of loyalty made manifest when it was within his power to
do so.
Delahay's finest, most perfected quality, was political shrewdness.
This enabled him, at precisely the proper moment, to tie his for-
tunes to the career of the right man. Delahay assessed Lincoln's
potential with great accuracy and reaped the rewards of this judg-
ment in later years.
Religion in Kansas During the Era
of the Civil War
EMORY LINDQUIST
settlement and development of a new area, such as Kansas
territory, involved the coming of people who brought with them
their ideals and institutions. They brought also a pattern of work
and worship. The soil was tilled; houses were built; schools and
churches were established. Diversity was characteristic of the emi-
grants who came from various parts of the nation and from many
European countries. This diversity was a part of the religious wit-
ness on the frontier. There were differences in doctrine, in polity,
and in liturgy. People on the Kansas frontier were confronted with
the Christian gospel, which had its origin in a distant era. The
faith of the people had the rich legacy of the centuries to sustain it.
Although frontier conditions produced new challenges, the message
and meaning of Christianity was relevant, and believers felt a
missionary zeal to transmit it. Religion played a vital role in a time
of uncertainty, insecurity, and strife. Individuals and society
shared the blessings which came from the promises of the Word
of God.
The Kansas frontier attracted people who came for a variety of
motives. Adventurers, crusaders for freedom or slavery, restless
spirits, seekers after material gain, and ordinary citizens, striving to
improve their position, furnished the population of territorial Kansas.
The missionary from established areas soon found that the Kansas
locale created challenges and problems in the very nature of the
population. The sources show that diversity was characteristic.
Morever, the observers varied greatly in their evaluation of the
people.
An obvious fact was the mixed motives of the emigration to Kan-
sas. The Rev. S. Y. Lum, a Congregationalist, who came to Law-
rence in September, 1854, as an agent of the American Home Mis-
sionary Society, described the people on two occasions in Decem-
ber, 1854. On December 6 he wrote from Lawrence to the society:
In reference to the character of the emigration as a whole, I hardly know
what to think — many there are who come here with a noble purpose. They
DR. EMORY KEMPTON LINDQUIST, Rhodes scholar and former president of Bethany
College, is dean of the faculties of the University of Wichita. He is author of Smoky Valley
People: A History of Lindsborg, Kansas (1953), and numerous magazine articles relating
to the history of this region.
(313)
314 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
are willing to be martyrs in the cause of Religion & Liberty & yet I am com-
pelled to think that the number of such is small in comparison to those who have
some selfish or mercinary end to gain. I must confess that my mind has
changed on this subject & I do not think so highly of the aggregate emigration
as at first. I find many, perhaps a majority, without any settled moral principles
as a basis of action & when once outside the restraints of eastern society, they
act out the native depravity of the human heart. . . . l
Lum emphasized the mercenary character of the people, but in
addition, he was distressed by the open hostility which was shown
toward church work. In his first report to the American Home
Missionary Society on December 23, 1854, the Kansas situation was
graphically described:
The large majority of all who come to the Territory, so far as I have the
means of judging, are actuated solely by selfish or mercenary motives. Many
such are the open enemies of the dearest doctrines of the Cross, & declare
themselves determined to wage war against the introduction of "Orthodox
sentiments." In my intercourse with this community, I have been pained
to find not a few who have been professors of religion in Eastern Churches,
openly avow themselves the enemies of the truths they once espoused, tramp-
ling on the Sabbath, & ridiculing sacred things. On the other hand, I find a
goodly number of true spirits, who have joyfully sacrificed the comforts of
eastern homes, & the communion of eastern Christians, for the rescue & salva-
tion of Kansas & here they maintain a character such as might be expected
from such principles. 2
The pioneer Kansas preacher soon learned that the frontier bred a
response of radicalism of various types. The new freedom was
often accompanied by a freedom from the restraint of the old order.
The decision to leave the old society produced by its very nature a
break with tradition. As Lum became better acquainted with the
field which he was to serve, he found that the problems increased
in number and in intensity. On February 28, 1855, he shared his
deep-seated concern with the officials of the American Home Mis-
sionary Society as follows:
I find that when I wrote last I had not become fully acquainted with all
classes of men I had come in contact with out here & the more of experience [?]
I have on this subject, the more I am led to believe that, in many respects,
there are few fields of labor more difficult of cultivation than this. All kinds
of radical ideas are pretty fully represented here, and I have almost thought,
at times, that all this class of persons from the entire Union, are flowing in, in
hopes of realizing their wildest schemes. Time after time, they have made
1. Emory Lindquist, ed., "The Letters of the Rev. Samuel Young Lum, Pioneer Kansas
Missionary, 1854-1858," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Topeka, v. 25 (Spring, 1959),
pp. 45, 46. The original letters to the American Home Missionary Society are in the
splendid collection of the Hammond Library, Chicago Theological Seminary, with the ex-
ception of a few items. Permission to use these letters has been granted by Harvey Arnold,
librarian, of the Hammond Library.
2. Lum to A. H. M. S., December 23, 1854, ibid., pp. 52, 53.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 315
their boast that they would crowd orthodoxy out of Kansas. Yet I trust, in
this they will be disappointed; there is no kind of misrepresentation or mis-
statement, to which they have not already resorted, to shake, if possible, the
confidence of the community in those who adhere to the truth. Their influence
with candid men is constantly decreasing. I trust that there will be soon
large numbers of true men join us who will help to stay the flood of iniquity
& infidelity that it threatening.3
Lum sensed the impact of the frontier upon the religious life of
the people. A spirit of recklessness and abandonment of the princi-
ples of the home society created serious problems for the minister.
He realized that the evolving pattern might produce victory for
forces which would damage the future of Kansas. His concern as
well as his hope for the future was expressed in a letter to the
American Home Missionary Society in April, 1855:
But there are other dangers that await the comers to this new Territory,
than those which grow out of the political agitation. Every month's residence
here develops this fact more fully. The circumstances under which mind is
thrown in this wild frontier life, for it can be called nothing else as yet,
engenders a recklessness, & freedom from restraint, that too often, prove fatal
to the principles, as well as the practices of a home society & it is not too much
to say, that we have the material, for either the worst, or the best, state of
society in our country. There are surely enough influences at work, unless
counteracted by the Infinite One through the efforts of His church to over-
throw any society.4
Lum, however, felt encouraged by recent arrivals to Kansas. In the
same letter cited above he described the pattern of his expectation,
although it is characterized by eastern provincialism:
The first waves of eastern emigration begin to be felt here, & they bear to
us some choice spirits. From present appearances, I think we may hope for
a higher state of character in some respects, than that which came last Fall. A
greater proportion seem earnest Christians & from the interest, with which
they enter into our social gatherings for prayer, they encourage the hope of
eminent usefullness in our midst. As the families move in the Sabbath school
is rapidly increasing, & the Bible Class receives new accessions & awakens a
deeper interest.5
The consequences of separation from "the restraints of religious
society'* were emphasized often by the pioneer missionaries in
Kansas. The Rev. F. P. Montfort, a Presbyterian minister, empha-
sized this factor in his first quarterly report to the Presbyterian board
in 1856:
3. Lum to A. H. M. S., February 28, 1855, ibid., p. 57.
4. Lum to A. H. M. S., April, 1855, ibid., p. 59.
5. Ibid. Four parties came to Kansas under the auspices of the New England Emi-
grant Aid Company in September, October, and November, 1854. Six groups arrived in
the spring of 1855. — Louise Barry, "The Emigrant Aid Parties of 1854," The Kansas His-
torical Quarterly, v. 12 (May, 1943), pp. 115-155; Louise Barry, "The New England Emi-
grant Aid Company Parties of 1855," ibid., v. 12 (August, 1943), pp. 227-268.
316 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The people of the territory are from all points of the compass, those who
profess, differing not less in their religious sentiments than in their features of
countenance, while a vast majority make no profession, and separated from the
restraints of religious society show but little respect for the ordinances of
religion. Observation has also induced the painful reflection, that of those
who have named the name of Christ, many are more interested in political
affairs than in Christ's cause and more involved in measures whose tendency
is to encourage party jealousies and discord in the Territory, than in the interests
of Christ's kingdom, and in the use of those means and instrumentalities which
would be subservient to its advancement and prosperity in their midst.6
The Rev. M. J. Miller, a minister of the Evangelical Association
at Leavenworth wrote in 1858 that the people "are so wild and de-
graded that they do not desire the gospel. It appears that all the
lovers of strife, and wars, and bloodshed, of all states emigrated here
to this territory, or else they became so since they are here."7
Other missionaries recognized the problems associated with the
character of the population, but were reluctant to emphasize it in
their descriptions of the work in Kansas. Lewis Bodwell, a Congre-
gational minister at Topeka, was generally disposed to overlook
these facts, although he implied it in quoting the words of a neighbor
missionary who said that "outside of my church & of the others
formed here, I do not know of one young man who is not addicted
to gaming, profanity, intemperance or incestuousness, in some cases
to two, three, or all of these vices/' which was "a sad story & a fear-
ful account/'8
However, Bodwell was fully sympathetic with Lum's analysis of
the problems created by the uncertainty of life on the Kansas frontier
in relationship to religious values. He described the situation in
these graphic words:
Few facts, in connection with the settlement of this new country, are more
sad than the wreck of Christian hopes occasioned by the passage from East
to West. Members are found in every community who once stood fair in the
church of God, but have here denied their professions, or, what amounts to
the same thing, have neglected to reiterate those professions in their new home.
With some this is mere neglect — with others it is intentional. Some seem glad
of the opportunity, which a change of residence affords, to shake off the re-
straints of religious professions. . . . Kansas is full of professors of re-
ligion from the East, but, instead of shining out of themselves, we need to go
round and hunt them out with a torch.9
6. Rev. F. P. Montfort, The Home and Foreign Record of the Presbyterian Church
of the United States of America, Philadelphia, v. 8 (1856), pp. 355, 356. Hereafter re-
ferred to as The Home and Foreign Record.
7. Rev. M. C. Platz, ed., Fifty "Years in the Kansas Conference, 1864-1914; A Record
of the Origin and Development of the Work of the Evangelical Association (Cleveland,
n. d.), p. 19.
8. Russell K. Hickman, "Lewis Bodwell, Frontier Preacher; The Early Years," The
Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 12 (August, 1943), p. 291.
9. The Congregational Record, Lawrence, v. 1 (April, 1859), pp. 21, 23.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 317
Bodwell in an article in The Congregational Record, April, 1860,
entitled "Homelessness as a Hindrance to the Gospel" indicated a
significant characteristic of the population which had negative
influences on church work:
On this western field, the gospel meets some peculiar obstacles incident
to the state of society. Of these hindrances, few are more discouraging than
the unsettled character of our population. The western phrase, "I do not live,
but only stay," is of almost universal application. The word "home" might
be entirely stricken from our vocabulary. . . . It is quite probable that
one-half of the present population of Kansas will spend their days here — while,
at the same time, there are very few here who have positively made up their
minds to make this their home. It is all an experiment.10
While there were many declarations of despair from Kansas,
other missionaries held different opinions as to the character of the
population and the prospects for the church. In the autumn of
1854 an individual identified only as J. G., a Presbyterian colporteur,
made an extensive tour of the Kansas territory. He was impressed
with the settlers as "enterprising young men, with minds ardent and
social, just commencing life for themselves." He believed that "in
that confused mass of society too, composed of such heterogeneous
elements, all, as it were, severed from their natural associations, and
where society is just forming, they are much more open to religious
impressions than in old countries where habits and associations are
of a stereotype cast." n Mrs. Julia Louisa Lovejoy, wife of the Rev.
Charles H. Lovejoy, pioneer Methodist missionary, was enthusiastic
about the qualities of members of the company who settled in the
future Manhattan area in the spring of 1855. She wrote that "our
company consists of men of the 'right stamp* mostly from Massa-
chusetts and Rhode Island, including a number of clergymen, and
men of liberal education, who have been successfully engaged for
years as teachers in our distinguished seminaries of learning in the
East, and are henceforth to devote their energies for the benefit
of the new territory." 12
Richard Cordley, the long-time Congregational pastor at Law-
rence, recalled later the characteristics of the people with whom
10. Ibid., v. 2 (April, 1860), p. 23. Prof. James C. Malin has described the fluidity
of population as follows: "Pioneer life was always conspicuously unstable and insecure.
Movement was its outstanding characteristic. Of the people present in a given community,
according to the census of 1855, for example, very few would probably be there five years
later, still fewer in 1865, and 1875. A similar principle could apply to the newcomers of
1860 or 1865, only possibly in less drastic proportions." — James C. Malin, "Notes on the
Writing of General Histories . . ." The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 21 (Spring,
1955), p. 332.
11. The Home and Foreign Record, v. 6 (June, 1855), p. 164.
12. Julia Louisa Lovejoy, "Letters From Kanzas," The Kansas Historical Quarterly,
v. 11 (February, 1942), p. 38.
318 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
he associated upon his arrival in Kansas in 1857. He realized that
diversity was a real factor as he wrote:
And these were not the traditional roughs of the frontier. They were people
of culture and character who had come to make Kansas a free state. They
had come in many cases without any definite idea as to what they were to do
or how they were to make a living. They were ready to do anything that
offered, their main purpose being to take part in settling the great question of
freedom for Kansas. . . . Beside these solid men of solid purpose, the
country was full of the curious who came to see what was going on; of ad-
venturers who came to join in the fray; of speculators who came to profit by
the occasion.13
An unidentified Presbyterian visitor to Kansas in October, 1858, re-
ported to his board of missions that the character of the Kansas
people was on a very high level. He cited as an illustration the
statement of a reliable friend who had just recently "reckoned up
more than one hundred college graduates residing in Lawrence and
its immediate vicinity." This unnamed visitor concluded with the
question: "Who can estimate the power of such a mass of edu-
cated enterprising minds, for good or ill?" 14
Another observer, the Rev. J. D. Liggett, a Congregationalist at
Leavenworth, reported about the quality and attitude of the Kan-
sas people in 1860. He declared in January, 1860, that "I never
mingled with a population that embraced so large a proportion of
superior and cultivated intellect as is to be found in this city and
it is practically infidel and reckless in a moral point of view. Yet the
infidelity is more pretended than confirmed I think." 15 Liggett was
also impressed with what he saw in 1860 after an extensive trip
in the Kansas territory. His enthusiastic appraisal was as follows:
A trip of some 400 miles through this vast and beautiful territory has very
much enlarged my ideas of its size, the number of its inhabitants, and has
given me a much more favorable opinion of the character and habits of the
settlers. They are as a general thing, an intelligent, sober, and industrious
people. Judging from what I had seen in the border and river towns, I had
expected to see a good deal of open sin; but in travelling two weeks through
the most populous portions of Kansas, I did not see a single drunken man
and very few who looked as if they drank at all. In most of the flourishing
little towns, of which there are many, intoxicating liquor is a contraband article
of trade. I also found the people very willing to hear preaching.16
13. Rev. Richard Cordley, Pioneer Days in Kansas (New York, 1903), pp. 60, 61.
A fascinating description of the people in Lawrence during the early territorial era identi-
fied as "Easterners" and "Westerners" is found in James C. Malin, "Housing Experiments
in the Lawrence Community, 1855," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 21 (Summer,
1954), pp. 95-100.
14. The Home and Foreign Record, v. 9 (October, 1858), p. 318.
15. Rev. J. D. Liggett to the A. H. M. S., Leavenworth, January 2, 1860.
16. Ibid., July 23, 1860.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 319
Religious life on the Kansas frontier was fashioned by the forces
of society and by the character of the people. The latter factor
presented the missionaries with a variegated pattern of good and
evil. Some observers found that here were men of "the right
stamp," and "not the traditional roughs of the frontier." There
were "people of culture and character who had come to make
Kansas a free state," possessing "superior and cultivated charac-
ters." They were described as "intelligent, sober, and industrious
people."
There can be little doubt but that many individuals of that type
were in Kansas. But other contemporaries portrayed another pic-
ture with serious consequences for missionary enterprise. The
people were characterized by a "spirit of recklessness and aban-
donment of the principles of the home society." There were the
disastrous effects of "coming outside the restraints of eastern so-
ciety." Kansas had people who were "full of all kinds of radical
ideas." They were "speculators, curious, and adventurers," dom-
inated by "mercenary motives." "The unsettled character of the
population" destroyed the stability so necessary for effective con-
gregational life. While there were many professors of religion, it
was necessary "to go around and hunt them up with a torch."
Although there might have been problems with the people, at
least one individual found that Kansas was an unusual place. While
riding one twilight evening across the Kansas prairies in the au-
tumn, Brother Jonas Dodge confessed to the Rev. James Shaw:
"I cannot conceive that God ever made Kansas for men to live in.
It is altogether too good; he must have made it for the angels, and
we are only permitted to sojourn among them for awhile, prepara-
tory to our final dwelling place in heaven." 17
The frontier provided many great challenges to the pioneer
missionary who sought to confront the people in that unsettled and
disturbed civilization with the witness of the Gospel. Able and
consecrated men devoted themselves unsparingly to their high
calling. While they took courage because of their mission, there
was full recognition of the facts of frontier life. The Rev. Charles
Blood, Manhattan, in a statement to Milton Badger of the Ameri-
can Home Missionary society, in September, 1857, entitled, "Why
Kansas is an unpromising field for religious efforts" analyzed the
factors as follows:
17. Rev. James Shaw, Early Reminiscences of Pioneer Life in Kansas (Atchison, 1886),
p. 53.
320 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
1. The time and thought of the settlers are so much occupied in preparing
to live that it seems impossible to interest their minds in religious matters.
2. The minds of many are full of care and anxiety about their claims.
These cares will not be removed until they have paid for their lands and
secured a title to them.
3. The unsettled condition of political affairs has operated unfavorably to
the promotion of religion.
All these things have operated unfavorably to the moral and religious in-
terests of the people. Intemperance, profanity, sabbath breaking have prevailed
to an alarming extent. Still these things are incident to every new country.
We hope that soon we shall see an improvement in this respect.18
It is understandable that the charge of "worldliness" would be
directed against the people on the Kansas frontier. There was no
opportunity for the regular regimen of life as was possible in a
settled civilization. The contemporary sources portray these fac-
tors in an interesting manner. The Rev. J. D. Liggett described
from Leavenworth the general situation in January, 1860:
The great and formidable obstacle to the progress of the gospel here is, has
been, that people are too much engrossed in worldly affairs to think of religion.
I need not remind you of the absorbing character of the politics in Kansas or of
the scenes of riot and blood-shed which have demoralized the people. A no less
demoralizing cause is the spirit of speculation, which absorbs the hearts of almost
every one. Most of those who are here came for the purpose of improving
their worldly condition and they manifest by all their conduct, a determination
not to be easily divested from that object. When a little good seed is sown,
the cares of the world seem to prevent its growth. . . ,19
Liggett also pointed out in June, 1860, that "the emigration to the
gold regions has taken away several of our members, some per-
manently, and some temporarily. While the stir and excitement of
outfitting lasted, a marked effect was produced on the audiences at
church, this however lasted only two or three Sabbaths." 20
Evidence from nonclerical sources is provided by William Stanley
Hoole, a young Southerner who lived at Douglas, in November,
1856: "I am astonished to see so little regard paid to the Sabbath,
as there is here among people who seem to be enlightened in every
other respect. When I went up to Lecompton today, the steam-
mill was going just as if it were not Sunday, and all the groceries
were open, as on any week-day. But this is pretty much the case all
over the Ter. — those who do not work go hunting, or do something
else." 21 George H. Hildt found in June, 1857, "Sunday a very dull
18. Rev. Charles Blood to the A. H. M. S., Manhattan, September 28, 1857.
19. Rev. J. D. Liggett to the A. H. M. S., Leavenworth, January 2, 1860.
20. Ibid., June 19, 1860.
21. William Stanley Hoole, "A Southerner's Viewpoint of the Kansas Situation, 1856-
1857; The Letters of Lieut. Col. A. J. Hoole, C. S A.," The Kansas Historical Quarterly,
v. 3 (May, 1934), p. 148.
SOME PIONEER MINISTERS OF KANSAS
r
m
Lewis Bodwell
(1827-1894)
Congregationalist
Topeka
Pardee Butler
(1816-1888)
Christian
Atchison county
Richard Cordley
(1829-1904)
Congregationalist
Lawrence
Hugh Dunn Fisher
(1824-1905)
Methodist
Leavenworth
PIONEER MINISTERS OF KANSAS-Conf/nued
Charles H. Lovejoy
(1811-1904)
Methodist
Manhattan
Samuel Young Lum
(1821-1895)
Congregationalist
Lawrence
Peter McVicar
(1829-1903)
Congregationalist
Topeka
Roswell Davenport Parker
(1826-1899)
Congregationalist
Leavenworth and Wyandotte
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 321
hot day, a good deal of traveling on the road a great many going to
Paoli when the land sales goes off this week."22
The situation relative to Sunday observance reached a critical
state at Leavenworth in 1861. The ministers began an attack on
"Drunkenness, Gambling, Dancing, Profanity, Theater Going, Balls/'
These evils were denounced in Sunday sermons and in Monday
evening discussion groups. The "desecrators" of the Sabbath were
determined to have revenge. An attempt was made to prosecute
the ministers "for working for hire" on Sunday. Action was taken
to put through an "anti-Sunday" law. The slogan was, "Down with
the old Massachusetts Blue Laws." The church party, however,
won the election. The Rev. H. D. Fisher, who was an active partici-
pant in this struggle has described the situation:
I visited the Catholic Bishop, who kindly said: "My people have need of
the Sabbath for a day of worship and rest and I will instruct them so to vote.
Mr. Stone, the Episcopal Minister, doffed his surplice and gown, Mr.
Baldridge put his trousers inside his boots, Brother Pitzer rolled up his trousers
and put on a pair of rubbers, while I doffed what little ministerial dignity had
hitherto embarrassed me — I have never seen it since — and we pitched in to
win. And win we did.23
While there were many critics of the lack of Sunday observance,
other contemporaries were impressed by the traditional and sober
observance of the day. When William P. Tomlinson spent a Sunday
at Lawrence in May, 1858, he observed that "the citizens of Law-
rence, by their universal observance of the 'day of rest' remind the
sojourning traveler that they were the descendants of the stern and
rugged Puritans. Not a sign of business was anywhere to be seen.
No groups were on the corners of the streets. When the bells
ceased ringing their morning chimes, all were gathered in the
various houses of prayer." 24 A visitor to Topeka in 1864, David R.
Cobb, felt that "the Sabbath here seems more like civilization —
the good old Bell chimes forth its notes of peace, of rest, and love."
However, he concluded that "the people are not a church going
people if I was to judge from those I saw out last Sabbath and
today." 25
22. Martha B. Caldwell, ed., "The Diary of George H. Hildt, June to December, 1857,
Pioneer of Johnson County," ibid., v. 10 (August, 1941), p. 269.
23. Rev. H. D. Fisher, The Gun and the Gospel; Early Kansas and Chaplain Fisher
(Chicago and New York, 1897), pp. 156, 157; Rev. Hiram D. Stone, "Memoirs of a Pioneer
Missionary and Chaplain in the United States Army," The Kansas Historical Collections,
Topeka, v. 13 (1913-1914), pp. 343, 344.
24. William P. Tomlinson, Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight (New York, 1859), pp.
45, 46.
25. David Glenn Cobb, ed., "Letters of David R. Cobb, 1858-1864," The Kansas His-
torical Quarterly, v. 11 (February, 1942), p. 69.
21—9545
322 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The ministers generally were cautious in their statements relative
to numbers at worship services. It was generally assumed that the
church goers were serious in their attendance and undoubtedly
this was the true situation for the majority. However, the Rev.
Lewis Bodwell, who served the Topeka Congregational church
with great devotion, was honestly skeptical at least when he wrote
an article for The Congregational Record in January, 1860, entitled,
"Worship Versus Entertainment":
There is undoubtedly a growing tendency in our communities to underrate
worship as such. Our Sabbath assemblies are not regarded distinctly as
worshipping assemblies, but as congregations assembled to hear preaching.
The services are judged, not by their power to build up Christian character,
but by their power to entertain. Men go to church for the same reason that
they go to a concert. Church services may not be as interesting as a concert
would be, but then the Sabbath hours are on their hands. . . . Church
service breaks up the monotony, and helps the hours along.26
While worldliness and desecration of the Sabbath might be
viewed with varying degrees of concern, there was unanimous
agreement about the evils of drinking and allied activities. The
Rev. Charles Blood felt in 1856 that "in this new territory one of
the greatest obstacles to the spread of the gospel is the alarming
prevalence of intemperance" although he realized that "temperance
has its friends and advocates here." 27 In October, 1856, the com-
mittee on temperance at the first session of the initial meeting of
the Kansas and Nebraska Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in assembly at Lawrence presented the following report
which was adopted by the conference:
Viewing the temperance movement as one of the great instrumentalities
for the suppression of crime and the promotion of virtue, therefore, Resolved,
1st, that we give king alcohol no quarters within our bounds.
Resolved, 2nd, that we will not patronize nor in any way give our support to
the dealers in spirituous liquors.
Resolved, 3rd, that we will preach on the subject of temperance at our
various appointments during the year and encourage the formation of a tem-
perance society.28
In 1861 the Methodists declared in annual convention that "whereas,
Intemperance with all its accumulations of moral and social evils,
is still destroying the souls and bodies of many in our State, there-
fore Resolved, That Methodist Preachers should not cease to 'cry
26. The Congregational Record, Lawrence, v. 2 (January, 1860), pp. 5, 6.
27. Rev. Charles Blood to the A. H. M. S., Manhattan, March 15, 1856.
28. Minutes of the First Session of the Kansas 6- Nebraska Annual Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, 1856 (Omaha City, N. T.), p. 7.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 323
aloud and spare not' before all the people/' 29 In 1862 in addition
to a resolution on alcoholism, the Methodist annual conference re-
solved, "that it is the duty of Christians to put off all 'filthiness of
the flesh' especially that which is involved in the use of Tobacco,
and we pledge ourselves to enjoin the same by both precept and
example." 30
Various church groups passed resolutions on the subject of al-
cohol and drinking. One of the more interesting approaches to
this subject was taken under the leadership of the Rev. Peter Mc-
Vicar at Topeka, who in March, 1861, organized the "Band of
Hope." Membership was limited to persons between the ages of
five and twenty-one, although older individuals could become
honorary members. McVicar reported that 131 people had taken
the following pledge as members of the "Band of Hope":
I do Solemly Promise, totally to abstain from the use of all Intoxicating
Liquors as a drink, and from the manufacture and sale of them, except for
medical, mechanical, and sacramental purposes.
I also promise to abstain totally from the use of Tobacco, in all its forms; also
from the use of Profane Language.
I will also use my best endeavors to induce others to sign this pledge.31
When the first annual meeting of the Kansas State Temperance
Society was held on October 9, 1861, it was resolved "that we look
to the churches of our state for earnest cooperation in the work of
temperance, and we suggest that self-defense will demand total
abstinence from intoxicating drinks as a beverage as one test of
membership." A number of clergymen, including the Rev. Peter
McVicar of Topeka, were leaders in this society.32
The American Home Missionary Society received many reports
from the missionaries about the lack of sobriety among certain
Kansans. The Rev. Rodney Paine declared from Burlington in
January, 1861, that "a more miserable crew of drunkards ought no-
where to be found than have lounged at the grogery and staggered
in the streets of Burlington. The restraints of the Gospel have not
prevented an increase of this demoralizing influence." 33 The Rev.
J. D. Liggett chronicled from Leavenworth in December, 1862, a
wide variety of evils as well as one proposed solution:
29. Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1861 (Leav-
enworth), p. 16.
30. Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1862, p. 21.
31. Rev. Peter McVicar to the A. H. M. S., Topeka, March 1, 1861. A one-page cir-
cular describing the "Band of Hope" was enclosed with McVicar's letter.
32. Clara Francis, "The Coming of Prohibition to Kansas," The Kansas Historical Col-
lections, v. 15 (1919-1922), p. 200.
33. Rev. Rodney Paine to the A. H. M. S., Burlington, January 17, 1861.
324 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
We have two theatres of a low order much patronized. Saloons and whiskey
shops almost numberless; about 300 prostitutes; whose houses are very prom-
inent and notorious, one of which stands right in front of the Methodist
Church, unmolested by Civil authority. A very large proportion of our citizens
are young men, away from home and also without the restraints of well-or-
ganized and virtuous society and they fall ready victims of the temptations
that assail them on all hands. Many of them are intelligent and, have been
well-educated under early religious influences, and are respectable as the
world goes. They will attend church too as a general thing, but the influences
of evil outweighs all good impressions. A free and easy life seems to be the
general standard. After much thought, perplexity and prayer as to my duty,
I have concluded soon to deliver a series of lectures on sabbath evenings
exclusively to young men; and to grapple with these glaring sins in the un-
restrained language which such an audience will allow better than a mixed
congregation. I can think of no way better than thus to meet such sins with
the ungloved hand in open and relentless fight. The ordinary preaching does
not seem to meet the exigencies of the case.34
While the standard of conduct on the frontier was a factor in the
development of the churches, the real facts of hard times and
economic distress were also decisive. The financial sources of the
settlers were exceedingly limited. There were no old and well-es-
tablished families who could furnish capital for building and funds
for current operations. Moreover, under the best circumstances,
a considerable period of time was required before any surplus
money was available for either individuals or the community.
The missionaries were almost entirely dependent upon the modest
grants provided by the home society or upon the sources of income
which they could secure by their own labors exclusive of the
ministerial appointment.35
The nature of the economic problem was made apparent in the
report of the committee on necessitous cases at the first session of
the Kansas and Nebraska Annual Conference meeting at Lawrence
in October, 1856. The committee acknowledged the receipt of
$456.20 for "suffering brethren who have labored in Kansas, and
who have met with heavy losses and endured very great sufferings
and hardships during the late troubles in the territory." Fourteen
34. Rev. J. D. Liggett to the A. H. M. S., Leavenworth, December 3, 1862. An inter-
esting description of the theatre and other forms of entertainment in Leavenworth during
this period is found in the study by James C. Malin, "Theatre in Kansas, 1858-1868: Back-
ground for the Coming of the Lord Dramatic Company to Kansas, 1869," The Kansas His-
torical Quarterly, v. 23 (Spring, 1957), pp. 23-31. The author points out that there were
200 license-paying saloons in Leavenworth in November, 1858. — Ibid., p. 52.
35. Prof. James C. Malin has described these important economic factors in another con-
text: "Kansas could not indefinitely be supported by 'aid' and 'relief and new capital
brought in by immigrants and the general government. Sooner or later Kansas must assume
responsibility for paying its own way. How long did Kansas operate on a deficit economy?
Certainly until the later 1870's. . . ." — Malin, "Notes on the Writing of General
Histories," loc. cit., p. 338.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 325
ministers received amounts from $19.05 to $60.00. It is interesting
to observe the feeling of distress on the part of these Kansas
Methodists on account of their economic situation as indicated by
the resolution at the same meeting that "we sympathize with all
our hearts in the enterprise now being prosecuted for the evan-
gelization of Ireland, and but for the peculiar circumstances that
now embarrass our condition, would gladly evince our feelings by
'material aid/ " 36 In addition to official action as above, there are
many evidences from individual sources as to the economic plight
of the missionary. The situation of the Rev. Charles Lovejoy was
described in December, 1859, by his wife as follows: "Our Con-
ference year closes the 15th of next March, and we have received
this year, as yet, but one dollar and seventy cents from our people,
in cash, and only five dollars in every other article, and have no
prospect of receiving five dollars more for the year, our people are
so poor — we have $100 missionary appropriation. . . ." 37
The New England Emigrant Aid Company recognized the re-
sponsibility of providing financial assistance for the establishment of
churches. In the "Circular of^the Committee of Clergymen," July 2,
1855, designed "to have all the 'clergymen of New England' made
life members of the New England Emigrant Aid Company," Ar-
ticle 2 declared the position of the company as follows:
The officers of this Company have understood that, to make a free State,
they needed, first of all, the Gospel. Every missionary sent there by different
boards has received their active assistance. Divine service is regularly main-
tained in the towns where the company has influence, and, we believe, no-
where else. Every Sabbath school in the Territory has been formed with the
assistance of the Company, or its officers. Every church organized has been
organized with their cooperation.38
The financial support was largely on a personal rather than on a
company basis. In 1855 and 1856 money was solicited in New
England for building a Congregational church in Lawrence, with
Amos A. Lawrence contributing $1,000 personally. In 1855 the
Unitarian church was organized in Lawrence under the leadership
of Charles Robinson. In 1857 when the Episcopal church was
built at Lawrence, the lot was donated by the New England Emi-
grant Aid Company; Lawrence made a contribution. Dr. Webb's
36. Minutes of the First Session of the Kansas 6- Nebraska Annual Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, 1856 (Omaha City, N. T.), p. 4.
37. "Letters of Julia Louisa Lovejoy," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 16 (Febru-
ary, 1948), p. 75.
38. "Letters of New England Clergymen," The Kansas Historical Collections, v. 1-2
(1875-1878), p. 194; William Warren Sweet, "Some Religious Aspects of the Kansas
Struggle," Journal of Religion, Chicago, v. 7 (October, 1927), p. 586.
326 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
pamphlet of May, 1857, "Information for Kansas Emigrants," in-
cluded an appeal for funds to assist various denominations in Law-
rence. The company, through S. C. Pomeroy, pledged modest
support to the Methodist church at Manhattan.39
The precarious economic situation was further accentuated by
the great drought of 1860 and the impact of the Civil War. The
nature of this combined situation was described by an individual
identified only as "E. F." writing from Geneva, Allen county, in
December, 1861:
The famine of last year was a heavy blow to Kansas. Those who look
upon this calamity only in the light of the destitution which was experienced
have a very inadequate conception of its extent and severity. An instantaneous
and entire check of immigration to a new country remote from any market is
always a serious pecuniary disaster. But in the case of Kansas, not only has
immigration been wholly cut off — thus annihilating the only market on which
the people could depend — but many of the settlers becoming discouraged,
tempted those who remained to part with what money was left, by offering
their effects at half-price in order to procure the means of bearing their ex-
penses to a land of plenty. But the famine with all its effects direct and in-
direct was a calamity which bears but a feeble comparison to that occasioned
by the alarms and demands of the war. SI . . Hence the difficulty which
churches experience in doing anything in the way of raising money for the
support of the gospel here.40
The economic situation was a frequent theme of observers in
Kansas. The Rev. R. D. Parker at Leavenworth emphasized in
August, 1861, that "the interruption of Rail Road Travel and river
navigation through Missouri and the uncertainty resting on every
enterprise the material prosperity is at a lower ebb than ever."41
The Rev. Richard Cordley reported from Lawrence in July, 1861,
that "'Hard Times' is in everybody's mouth. Business dull and
growing duller." 42 A writer in The Congregational Record, in an
article entitled "The Famine," described the serious consequences
of the hard times for churches and church members. He urged
his readers to contact friends and organization in the East for funds
and especially for seed so that crops could be planted in the new
season.43 The officials of the Plymouth Congregational church in
Lawrence described the situation in detail in December, 1861. It
was pointed out that the Methodists in Lawrence were raising
39. Samuel A. Johnson, The Battle Cry of Freedom; The New England Emigrant Aid
Company in the Kansas Crusade (Lawrence, 1954), pp. 87, 88, 249.
40. E. F. to the A. H. M. S., Geneva, Allen county, December 2, 1861. A description
of conditions in 1860 is found in George W. Click, "The Drought of 1860," The Kansas
Historical Collections, v. 9 (1905-1906), pp. 480-485.
41. Rev. R. D. Parker to the A. H. M. S., Wyandotte, August 13, 1861.
42. Rev. Richard Cordley to the A. H. M. S., Lawrence, July 9, 1861.
43. The Congregational Record, Lawrence, v. 3 (January, 1861), pp. 10-12.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 327
less than $100 per year for the work of the Gospel. The Presby-
terians and Baptists had been unable to support a minister and
had abandoned the field. The Unitarian minister was farming
and also received support from the American Christian Associa-
tion; he received nothing from his congregation. The Episcopalian
minister had independent sources of income.44 The Rev. J. D. Lig-
gett at Leavenworth reported in July, 1861, that he had received
no funds from his church or from the American Home Missionary
Society. He had been boarding himself. "I am entirely out of
money and it is a thing that has almost disappeared from this com-
munity." 43
The economic stress was severe throughout Kansas. The
churches shared in the consequences. However, at least one ob-
server, the Rev. S. M. Irvin at Highland, in appealing for help to
the Presbyterian Home and Foreign Missionary Board placed events
in the perspective of a judgment upon the people:
We ask help, seeing that it has pleased God to lay his hand upon us this
year, and withhold the crops. We are in affliction and we deserve it. We
have sinned greatly in Kansas. Innocent blood has been shed, for which there
has been no thought of humiliation or repentance. A rage of mammon and
speculation has intoxicated our people, and we need chastisement — and now,
while under the stroke, though, in one sense, we do not deserve it, we venture
to cry out to our friends whom God has favored with abundance, that they
may help us in this our time of need.46
While many factors created a pattern which made church work
difficult, the most decisive element was the conflict preceding and
during the Civil War. The political designs for the future of Kansas
produced vast implications for all other aspects of life. Rumors
of violence and actual violence destroyed the stability which was
necessary for effective community living. Contemporary observers
were unanimous at this point.
The Rev. S. Y. Lum at Lawrence expressed many times the deep
anxiety occasioned by the conflict. He described the situation
in March, 1856, in a letter to Milton Badger of the American Home
Missionary Society:
All has for a great part of the time been wild excitement. Our place of
worship has been taken for soldiers barracks, & our meetings when we could
have any, were held in little private rooms, where but very few could be as-
sembled. ... A few of the brethren & sisters have been drawn nearer
to God, & have felt their entire & absolute dependence upon him in every
44. Plymouth Congregational church to the A. H. M. S., Lawrence, December 4, 1861.
45. Rev. J. D. Liggett to the A. H. M. S., Leavenworth, July 29, 1861.
46. The Home and Foreign Record, v. 11 (1860), p. 363.
328 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
trial, but the great majority even of the church have been influenced in a
contrary direction. Excitement seemed to dissipate serious reflection, & the
mind lost its delight in the worship & service of God.47
Lum emphasized his concern four days later in another letter to
Badger in which he stated that "those who have not seen, cannot
feel as we do, what an awful influence the wild excitements of the
past year have had on the morals & virtue of this community. All
the efforts of the Missionary are far more than overbalanced by
the agencies for evil & the character of the place, as a whole, has
been sinking instead of rising.48
In December, 1856, Lum again described the consequences of the
course of events: "Never in the history of this country, has a Ter-
ritory been settled in the midst of so many influences calculated to
counteract the spread of the truth, & to foster the growth of sin;
& unless the tendency of these influences be arrested, we have no
reason to expect that they will fail to work out their legitimate
results." 49 Lum found also that events conspired to encroach upon
the Sabbath as reported in The Home Missionary: "It has seemed
as though the Sabbath was selected as the day for special excite-
ments; and not infrequently have the members of my congrega-
tion and even members of my church, been called from the
morning service to go to the rescue of their brethren, attacked by
the banditti who surround us."50 The course of the Civil War
further strengthened the trend described by Lum. In October,
1861, The Congregational Record carried a leading article entitled
"The War and the Sabbath," which drew the conclusion that
"among the ill effects of the present war, the desecration of the
Sabbath stands prominent."51
The spirit of the times was also portrayed by the Rev. F. P. Mont-
fort, a Presbyterian, writing from Highland in October, 1856:
The all-absorbing subject here is the same which engrosses the public
mind and the public press in the States; and it is to be feared that the Gospel
cannot have a "free course and run and be glorified" among us until this
great question which now agitates our citizens shall be settled. When quiet
prevails among us, there is no difficulty in securing congregations respectable
in size, and attentive; but Christians and infidels alike can, in a moment, and
often do give up their interest in the services, to hear reports brought in by
47. Rev. S. Y. Lum to the A. H. M. S., Lawrence, March 10, 1856, in The Kansas His-
torical Quarterly, v. 25 (Summer, 1959), p. 172.
48. Lum to A. H. M. S., March 22, 1856, ibid., p. 174.
49. Lum to A. H. M. S., December 24, 1856, ibid., p. 179.
50. Rev. S. Y. Lum in The Home Missionary, v. 29 (1856), p. 95, quoted in Colin
Brummitt Goodykoontz, Home Missions on the American Frontier (Caldwell, Idaho, 1939),
p. 297.
51. The Congregational Record, Lawrence, v. 3 (October, 1861), pp. 63-65.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 329
the agents of partisans, and the minister must lose half of his hearers and
the attention of all. The remainder of God's sacred day is then spent at the
hotels and street corners, in canvassing the report, or throughout the com-
munity in preparing for war. Under such circumstances the minister feels
that but little can be accomplished for Christ and the only encouragement for
continuing his labors is the hope of some change for the better in political
affairs; and he remains at his post that he may be in readiness to win souls,
when men, weary of strife and scenes of blood, shall be ready to reflect on the
more serious interests of the soul and eternity.52
While there were many disruptions and problems, the Rev.
Lewis Bodwell, writing from Topeka, in October, 1856, placed them
in a philosophical perspective: "The minister can scarcely do
more than keep people reminded of duty, though we must give
thanks for the grace which keeps alive and glowing the flame of
love in the heart of many Christians. Already I have had the
privilege of visiting, praying, eating, sleeping in the unchinked,
unplastered cabin of the Christian, where at his bedside, beside
his Bible, stood his musket, loaded and primed ready within reach
for instant service/'53
The consequences of the unsettled conditions were not confined
to any year. The Rev. S. D. Storrs, writing from Quindaro in
February, 1858, described the effect across the years: "The camp,
the battlefield & such scenes as have been witnessed at the polls
have been anything but favorable to religion. Scarcely a month
has passed since the first settlers arrived, after the passage of the
'Nebraska Act/ without something occurring to excite them & not
infrequently arouse the worst passions of the heart/' 54
When Kansas was admitted as a state on January 29, 1861, some
observers felt that the future for the church would be brighter in
Kansas. The Rev. M. J. Miller, a minister of the Evangelical church
in Leavenworth, reported that the cannon had been fired when
the news arrived of the admission of Kansas into the Union. He
wrote: "Thank God for the hard-fought and long-sought-for ad-
mission. Kansas now looks for a better state of things, both in the
political and moral condition of the country. Many political devils
are now being put away. I believe religion will soon prosper
more readily than ever before in Kansas."55 The Rev. Charles
Blood wrote from Manhattan about his keen anticipation of the
52. The Home and Foreign Record, pp. 355, 356.
53. Rev. Lewis Bodwell to the A. H. M. S., Topeka, October 21, 1856.
54. Rev. S. D. Storrs to the A. H. M. S., Quindaro, February 9, 1858, quoted in Goody-
koontz, op. cit., p. 297.
55. Rev. M. J. Miller in the Evangelical Messenger, March 7, 1861, quoted in Platz, op.
cit., pp. 31, 32.
330 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
course of events to the Amercan Home Missionary Society on Feb-
ruary 1, 1861. He pointed out that "for more than six years we
have been uncertain what would finally be our fate, but now all is
certain and fixed so far as relates to freedom. We have a free con-
stitution, and neither Congress nor the president nor all the States
combined can interpret to alter the result." 56 The Rev. R. D.
Parker at Wyandotte was not so optimistic. On February 6, 1861,
he believed that "although public confidence is at the lowest ebb
and business at a standstill yet some little courage is given by our
admission as a state." 57
The outbreak of the Civil War intensified the feeling of un-
certainty about the future. The Rev. R. D. Parker writing from
Wyandotte on May 6, 1861, indicated that there was still peace
along the border, "but the fire smoulders that may at any moment
'wheel' us all into ruin." He could see from his home the secession-
ist flag floating in the breeze at near-by Kansas City. The excite-
ment was intense. He was concerned about how it would all end,
"but we pray it may not be until the slave power is crippled and
subdued. Such a result would repay even a baptism of blood." 58
The Rev. Richard Cordley shared the same concern as Parker.
Writing from Lawrence in July, 1861, he pointed out that his Con-
gregational church was no stronger than it had been two years
before. He felt "mortified" to recall that in spite of the auspicious
beginnings of Congregationalism in Kansas, there was after seven
years not a single self-supporting church in Kansas. "Hard times
and the war absorbs all attention."59
The Rev. J. D. Liggett described in detail the impact of the war
in his letter to Milton Badger from Leavenworth in July, 1861:
Men's minds are wholly engrossed with the war, its news and its pros-
pects. . . . Kansas will take care of herself with the help of the gov-
ernment, but it will convert us all into military men. Much of the old feeling
of recklessness, created by the past difficulties has been revived. Our people
here will fight, — but the prayers they say when they go at it, — are worthy
of the left-handed sort. The wickedness and the malice of the men who
have brought these evils upon us and upon themselves, it seems to me, is
without a parallel in the history of nations and when and what the end is to be,
God only knows.60
Liggett went on in this letter to report that only nine members had
been added to his church during the past year. At times, as he
56. Rev. Charles Blood to the A. H. M. S., Manhattan, February 1, 1861.
57. Rev. R. D. Parker to the A. H. M. S., Wyandotte, February 6, 1861.
58. Ibid., May 6, 1861.
59. Rev. Richard Cordley to the A. H. M. S., Lawrence, July 9, 1861.
60. Rev. J. D. Liggett to the A. H. M. S., Leavenworth, July 29, 1861.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 331
contemplated it, he felt as if he would "almost sink down in de-
spair." However, as he thought about it, he recalled that "Paul
may plant and Apollos water but the increase was of God." He
was certain that "nothing indeed but a pentecostal effusion can or
will move or mould the elements here congregated into materials
fit for God's building. He concluded with the prayer "May God
pour floods upon this dry ground."61 However, in August the
Rev. R. D. Parker was more encouraged than Liggett when he
wrote to Badger from Wyandotte "but notwithstanding the war
news seems to absorb every other interest, I am gratified to be able
to report a congregation undiminished, a Sabbath School increas-
ing in interest and efficiency, and a system of home evangelization
in operation, systematic tract distribution is in progress and we look
and pray for the blessings of God."62
The year 1861 saw the full impact of the war upon Kansas par-
ticipants. The Rev. Richard Cordley described the situation in
the late summer: "The war absorbs every interest now. Since the
battle of Springfield our place has had the aspect of a funeral.
The two Kansas regiments were terribly cut up and many of our
friends from this place have fallen. The anxious suspense between
the news of the battle, and the report of the slain was terrible." ^
The Rev. H. P. Robinson at Grasshopper Falls chronicled also the
effects of the war. A large number of the men in his community
were now "off to the wars." The course of events had created a
situation in which "the present distracted condition of the country
has so disarranged society that God, religion, eternity seem almost
left out of view. . . . Apathy in regard to religion has taken
possession both of the church and community. Many professedly
religious people have almost entirely abandoned church going
while multitudes of the worldly hardly darken the portals of the
sanctuary." 64
The missionaries and their families were closely identified with
61. Ibid., July 29, 1861. The reference to Paul and Apollos is the scriptural verse
found in I Corinthians 3:6.
62. Rev. R. D. Parker to the A. H. M. S., Wyandotte, August 13, 1861.
63. Rev. Richard Cordley to the A. H. M. S., Lawrence, August 26, 1861. The First
and Second regiments of Kansas volunteers suffered very heavy casualties in the battle near
Springfield, Mo., on August 10, 1861. Maj. John A. Halderman, commanding the First
regiment of Kansas volunteers, reported that "with about 800 men we marched upon the
field; we left it but with 500." — The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union
and Confederate Armies (Washington, 1881), Ser. I, v. 3, p. 83. The official report listed
the following casualties: First Kansas, 77 killed, 187 wounded, 20 missing, for a total of
284; Second Kansas, 5 killed, 59 wounded, 6 missing, for a total of 70. — Ibid., p. 72.
64. Rev. H. P. Robinson to the A. H. M. S., Grasshopper Falls, October 16, 1861. The
Rev. Richard Cordley, Lawrence, was not as pessimistic as Robinson. In the letter quoted
under date of August 26, 1861, he wrote "considering all things our Sunday congre-
gations have continued good — better than last year at this time."
332 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the people in their churches and communities and with the course
of events. The geographic factor was decisive since the greatest
hardships were concentrated among the people in the eastern sec-
tion of the state. The Rev. R. D. Parker at Wyandotte was in the
midst of these stirring and tragic events. On November 2, 1863,
he gave a graphic description of the general situation and his own
intimate role:
My sixth year of labor as your missionary in Kansas has closed. Like the
two preceding years, it has been attended with alarm and danger. QuantriU's
bloody band has been prowling like beasts of prey along the Border. We
have often seen the fires of Union homes kindled by them. Like my neighbors,
I have slept with arms by my side, and beneath my pillows, and have taken
my turn in standing guard nights. I have been repeatedly called out to de-
fend the town from threatened attacks, sometimes at the midnight hour.
Once the danger signal of the Union League struck upon my church bell,
and the terror of the people, especially of the blacks, brought vividly to mind
the massacre at Lawrence. Like most of our people, we have kept a few
articles of indispensible wearing apparel packed ready for a hasty flight, and
in my absence, my sermons, as combustible, and of chief value, have slept
out of doors.65
The most damaging effect of the Civil War in Kansas was
Quantrill's raid on Lawrence on August 21, 1863, when the town
was almost completely destroyed and more than 100 people were
killed. The ministers were called upon to serve in the deep tragedy
of that hour. The Rev. Lewis Bodwell came from Topeka in order
to assist his friend the Rev. Richard Cordley, at the burial service
of 52 persons whose bodies were placed side by side in a trench.66
The Rev. Grosevenor C. Morse hastened to Lawrence from Em-
poria to assist Cordley. In the tragic setting of the time and place
he used the 79th Psalm for his Scripture lesson: "O God, the
heathen are come into thine inheritance. The dead bodies of thy
servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of heaven,
the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood
have they shed like water round about Jerusalem and there was
none to bury them." 67
65. Rev. R. D. Parker to the A. H. M. S., Wyandotte, November 2, 1863. Prof. C. B.
Goodykoontz's statement that "the remarkable thing about the effect of the Civil War on
the home missionary movement is not that it interfered with it, but that it interfered with
it to so slight an extent" is not applicable to Kansas. — Goodykoontz, op. cit., p. 303. The
geographic position of Kansas, its isolation from the North and East, and the activity of
raider bands from Missouri were contributing factors to this situation. The reference to
developments in Lawrence is to the tragic raid by Quantrill and his men on August 21,
1863. A full description of the raid is found in Richard Cordley, A History of Lawrence,
Kansas; From the First Settlement to the Close of the Rebellion (Lawrence, 1895), pp.
187-232.
66. Cordley, Pioneer Days in Kansas, p. 220. Cordley lists the names of 126 individuals
who were killed in QuantriU's raid.
67. Ibid., p. 221.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 333
When Bodwell visited Cordley at Lawrence on September 4,
he witnessed the full implications of the tragedy on all sides. He
found Cordley at work in a small attic room from whence he saw
the smouldering ruins of Cordley's house, library, and furnishings.
Cordley was preparing his first sermon following QuantruTs raid.
His library consisted of a pocket Bible and a small Bible con-
cordance, both borrowed items, which Bodwell estimated to be
worth $1.60. Cordley had written the subject for his sermon, "The
Morning Cometh/' across the top of the first page. Then Bodwell
continued: "In its light he saw the ruins; across its sunshine drifted
the smoke; on its breezes whirled the ashes; but God who had
been there in the darkness, had not left at dawn/' 68 When Cord-
ley preached to his congregation on the second Sunday following
the raid he used as his text a passage from Isaiah 54: "For a small
moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather
thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but
with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee/' 69
In February, 1864, in a detailed letter to the American Home
Missionary Society, Cordley assessed the implications of Quan-
trill's raid:
Our church here was weakened more than appeared on the surface. . . .
Twelve members of the congregation were killed, but more than fifty have
left from the same cause. Broken families have left us, and men broken up
in their business have left us. ... I neither carried or owned any arms
before, but now I keep a Colt's Navy on my study table and thirty rounds
of cartridges in the drawer with my sermon paper.
Still, Lawrence is rapidly recovering and the church is feeling the effect
of the general growth. The Sabbath School and congregation are again filling
up and things are beginning to assume the former look of prosperity. The
town is being rapidly rebuilt. When a few days after the raid, I said, "Law-
rence will be rebuilt in two years," many thought me wild. But six months
have scarcely passed and as many buildings have been erected or moved
into town as Quantrill burned.70
68. Rev. Lewis Bodwell, "A Kansas Attic in 1863," The Kansas Telephone, Manhattan,
v. 1 (April, 1881), p. 1.
69. Cordley, Pioneer Days in Kansas, pp. 233, 234. Other ministers and their families
suffered great losses from Quantrill's raid. The home and possessions of the Rev. H. D.
Fisher were seriously damaged, but Fisher had a miraculous escape due to the imaginative
deception of the invaders by his wife. — Fisher, op. cit., pp. 195-210. The raiders burned
Jacob Ulrich's house south of Lawrence in the Dunkard settlement and seriously wounded
Elder Rothrock. — Elmer LeRoy Craik, A History of the Church of the Brethren in Kansas
(McPherson, 1922), p. 24.
70. Rev. Richard Cordley to the A. H. M. S., Lawrence, February 29, 1864.
(To Be Concluded in the Winter, 1959, Issue.)
U. S. Army and Air Force Wings
Over Kansas — Concluded
INDEPENDENCE ARMY Am FIELD
(1941-1947)
IN January 1941 the Independence Chamber of Commerce under
the leadership of C. M. Carman, president, and R. A. McKeen,
secretary, resolved to sell the citizens of the Kansas community the
idea of a municipal airport. On 26 June 1941, after six months of
effective "selling" by Carman, McKeen, and other civic leaders, the
city commission decided to ask the voters to approve a $100,000
bond issue for financing work on the airport. The citizens approved
by a vote of 1,219 to 173 on 1 August 1941. A short time later the
city commission entered into contract with Paulette and White, con-
sulting engineers from Topeka, to survey potential sites for the
field. Several locations were considered before any selection was
made. The site chosen was in Montgomery county, six miles south-
west of Independence.
Early in 1942 the government indicated it was interested in
acquiring the site for an Army airfield. During April and May
Mayor F. B. Wilhelm of Independence, Pres. J. D. Turner of the
Chamber of Commerce, and other civic leaders met with govern-
ment officials in a series of conferences. Army Engineers made
surveys from 8 to 11 April. About six weeks later, on 23 May 1942,
the Army officially notified Mayor Wilhelm that it would purchase
approximately 1,433 acres.
The contract for planning and supervising the construction of
the airfield was awarded to Black and Veatch, architectural engi-
neers from Kansas City, Mo. Work began on 6 June 1942, when
Ottinger Brothers of Oklahoma City moved in with a labor crew
and began grading operations. Shortly thereafter, work began on
the drainage and sewerage systems. During the summer the Mis-
souri Pacific constructed a railroad spur to the site. In August
work began on runways and buildings. During the fall of 1942
clearing and grading operations began at four locations that had
been selected for auxiliary fields. The four sites were located 8 to
20 miles from the main field. Work progressed satisfactorily
throughout the winter despite interruptions caused by heavy rains
and sub-zero temperatures. By January of 1943 three concrete run-
(334)
WINGS OVER KANSAS 335
ways 5,000 feet in length had been constructed. Electric, gas and
water lines also had been completed and sufficient troop housing
was available. Most of the buildings were of temporary wartime
design — tarpaper over wood, with pot-bellied coal stoves for heat-
ing. The major construction work, which cost more than $8,000,000,
ended in May 1943.
In the meantime, in June 1942, Lt. Col. (later Col.) Harold L.
Mace, commander of the nearby Coffeyville Army Air Field was
designated as project officer for the new airfield. He was accom-
panied by Maj. Temple F. Winburn who acted as the airfield's
temporary commander for one month pending arrival of Lt. Col.
Richard M. Montgomery (later Major General) to take command.
Major Winburn then became Colonel Montgomery's executive of-
ficer and was shortly thereafter promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
The base was activated as a Basic Flying School on 12 October
1942, but the personnel to operate the base did not begin arriving
until December 1942.
Basic flying training began when 152 cadets arrived for the first
class on 26 January 1943. Some of the classes that arrived later had
as many as 345 students. The cadets, who had completed primary
flying training, received a nine-week course that was divided into
flying training and classroom instruction. In the flying training
phase, the students practiced landings, made cross-country flights,
and flew night navigational missions. During classroom instruction,
the students familiarized themselves with aircraft instruments and
studied navigation, radio communications, weather, and aircraft
recognition.
Basic flying training at Independence continued until January
1945. Nineteen classes, totaling 4,933 students, graduated from the
school. The last class completed training on 29 January 1945.
The termination of flying training at Independence resulted in the
reassignment of personnel and equipment. Flying personnel were
reassigned to airfields in Kansas and Texas during February and
March. The BT-13's and BT-14's were moved to airfields in Georgia,
Oklahoma, and Missouri. On 15 March Independence Army Air
Field was placed on a standby basis. On 11 April 1945, however,
the Army announced that the airfield would be used to store World
War II aircraft. During the next two months civilian employment
on the field jumped from 44 to 505 and military personnel increased
from 2 to 272. Aircraft began arriving on 13 April 1945. At first,
bomber aircraft ( B-17's, B-24's, and B-25's ) were prepared for stor-
336 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
age and kept at Independence. During October 1945, however, all
B-24 and B-17 aircraft were moved to Kingman, Ariz. At the same
time P-47's and AT-6's began arriving. During a period of two and
a half years the aircraft stored at Independence included 1,542
P-47's, 1,118 AT-6's, 72 B-25's, 401 B-24's, and 260 B-17's.
In the fall of 1947 all aircraft were moved from Independence.
Military personnel were transferred effective 11 December 1947.
Four days later Independence Army Air Field, which had been
listed as surplus, was turned over to the Army's District Engineer,
Omaha, Neb. Since then the installation has been operated by the
city of Independence as its municipal airport.
LIBERAL ARMY AIR FIELD
(1943-1945)
r I AHE first tangible move to implement the decision to locate a
-I- four-engine pilot school on a site selected one mile west of
Liberal was the grant of a contract to Murray A. Wilson and Com-
pany, engineers, to make a complete survey and layout for the air-
field. By 16 January 1943 the survey had been completed. But
even before the survey had been officially finished, contracts were
let on 9 January, with Peter Kiewit Sons named as prime con-
tractor. Just nine days later construction began on the site.
The new field was situated in western Kansas, 120 miles from
Amarillo, Tex., in Sections 1, 6, 25, 30, 31, and 36, Townships 34
and 35 South, and Ranges 33 and 34 West, with a dimension of
two miles north and south and two miles east and west. The entire
field, some 1,946.7 acres, was purchased by the government. In
addition, 3.3 acres on the north extremity of the north-south run-
way were leased to provide zone clearance space. The field
formed part of a flat, low plateau.
Facilities on Liberal Army Air Field were to run to approxi-
mately $8,000,000. Three concrete runways were built, each 7,000
feet in length and 150 feet wide, with a gross load capacity of
37,000 pounds. Portable B-2 type runway lights were installed.
In addition, a concrete parking apron of some 276,318 square yards
was constructed, along with three concrete taxiways 100 feet in
width. Training facilities included three school buildings and four
Link trainer buildings. Five hangers were built, two of steel and
three of wood. Three large warehouses and storage facilities for
591,000 gallons of gasoline were built. Construction coming under
the general category of recreation and welfare included a gym-
\
Boeing B-29 gunners receive operating instructions for the new electric gun
turrets at Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Salina.
Free French fliers receive B-26 instruction at the Dodge City Army Air Field.
Upper: Vultee BT-13 taking off from an unidentified air force field in Kansas.
Cenfer: Training planes on ramp, at an unidentified air force field in Kansas.
Lower: Night refueling of Douglas C-54 "Skymaster" at Topeka Army Air Field,
October 13, 1945.
Photos on this and preceding page courtesy United States Air Force.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 337
nasium, officers' club, service club, theater, chapel, and three post
exchanges. A spur line of the Rock Island railroad was run on to
the field from the main line. Housing facilities for 4,934 officers
and men and a hospital with a normal bed capacity of 142 were
constructed. All buildings were of mobilization type construction.
In addition to the main installation, Gage Auxiliary Field, a
former municipal airport, was acquired by lease. This field, some
81 miles from Liberal Army Air Field, comprised 780 acres, pro-
viding two hard surfaced runways, each of which was 5,500 feet in
length and 150 feet wide.
One officer, Capt. Glen C. Wilson, serving as project officer, was
present on the field from the beginning of construction. In April
1943, before completion of construction, additional officers and
men of the original cadre reported. Col. Arthur L. Bump arrived
on the post on 27 April 1943 and assumed command. Additional
personnel arrived during subsequent weeks. In the midst of con-
struction, personnel acquisition moved into an intensified phase
during April and May, so that the base was actively manned by
the time the first B-24's to be used in training set down on the
brand new runways on 20 June. That scheduling was extremely
close during those hectic days can be seen in that only ten days
later, on 1 July, the members of the first class were introduced to
the Liberators. This is the official date of the inauguration of train-
ing at Liberal, barely six months after construction began.
Students were predominantly newly-commissioned officers grad-
uated from advanced twin-engine flying schools. The training
cycle was nine weeks in length. Half way through the cycle of the
first class, another class began the course, so that, afterward, a class
graduated every four and a half weeks. By 8 December 1943 Col.
R. C. Rockwood, operations and training officer, was able to tell a
group of civilian employees that "we are now training approxi-
mately one-fourth of the Liberator bomber commanders trained
in the continental United States/' The pace of training is well il-
lustrated in that it was not until 7 October 1943 that time was
found for a formal dedication.
Initially and for a considerable time the commanding officer of
the field was in charge of the several squadrons and detachments
which performed the various functions requisite to the functioning
of the school. The commanding officer was, of course, responsible
both for training and for the maintenance of the base services. On
1 May 1944 all the separate units on the field were disbanded ex-
22—9545
338 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
cept for the 744th AAF Band, the Airways Communications Squad-
ron, and the Base Weather Section. In place of the disbanded
organizations the several sections of the 2525th Base Unit were
created, distinguished by the nature of the service performed:
Unit Headquarters.
Section "A" — administration and services.
Section "B" — training and operations.
Section "C" — supply and maintenance.
Section "E"— medical.
Section "F" — Negro personnel.
Section "H" — officer students.
In February 1945 these sections were redesignated squadrons,
which remained in existence until inactivation of the field.
After victory in Europe the training program of Liberal Army
Air Field became somewhat erratic because of the frequent changes
of policy in the Training Command. However, with the surrender
of the Japanese in August, the mission of the school was definitely
over. On 7 September 1945 the commanding officer received offi-
cial orders for inactivation of the field on or before 30 September.
The field was placed at that time on a standby status, which meant
maintaining it in such condition as would make possible reactiva-
tion within thirty days. Consequently, the field's activities for the
greater part of September were largely concerned with the process
of inactivation. Considering the magnitude and complexity of the
task, the inactivation process proceeded with a minimum of diffi-
culties. Possibly the greatest problem was a scarcity of experienced
personnel. On 19 September the officer students slated to complete
training at Hondo Army Air Field were ordered to proceed there.
All remaining personnel, except officers and enlisted men scheduled
to form the standby cadre, were put on movement orders on 29
September. Although the majority of departments were still
functioning on 1 October, they were prepared to close down within
a few days.
Liberal Army Air Field was fortunate in the relative stability of
its commanders. During its entire active period the field had only
four commanding officers: Col. Arthur L. Bump from 27 April 1942
to 1 April 1944, Col. Edward H. UnderhiU from 1 April 1944 to 18
July 1945, Col. Charles Sommers from 18 July 1945 to 18 Septem-
ber 1945, and Col. Ford V. Lauer from 18 September 1945 to 30
September 1945.
Those who had served at Liberal Army Air Field, both military
and civilian, might well have been proud of the genuine contribu-
WINGS OVER KANSAS 339
tion made by the school to the war effort. During its 27 months of
actual training, Liberal Army Air Field graduated 4,468 four-engine
airplane commanders. In addition, 1,025 pilots were graduated
from the pre-transition course conducted for a period in the middle
of 1944. By any standards this was an impressive achievement to
come from a place which, as late as the first part of January 1943,
was an open prairie.
McCoNNELL Am FORCE BASE
(1942-1957+)
McCONNELL Air Force Base, in Wichita, was known during
the first part of its existence as the Wichita Municipal Airport.
Although the field was designed originally to serve only municipal
needs, it had an Air Force connection almost from the beginning.
On 1 March 1942, the AAF Materiel Center, Midwestern Procure-
ment District (Materiel Command) was established. As soon as
construction permitted, the headquarters of the district was es-
tablished in the administration building of the municipal airport.
By the end of 1942, due to the growth and expansion of the organiza-
tion it occupied practically the entire building save for a few offices
occupied by the CAA and airline companies, while some activities
of the district were housed at the Boeing Airplane Company Plant
No. 1, in Wichita.
The airport, at that time, was located about six miles from the
city of Wichita and comprised some 1,337 acres, leased by the gov-
ernment from the city. Although the runways were adequate, other
facilities at the airport were meager. There were five runways
each 150 feet wide; two were 7,500 feet, one 7,100 feet, one 6,000
feet, and one 4,500 feet in length. All had a wheel load capacity of
60,000 pounds. A parking apron with dimensions of 8,373 by 931
feet, and seven taxi strips were provided. The field could boast of
only one hangar and three small warehouses. No facilities were
available either for troop housing or troop messing. No fuel storage
facilities existed, and all such supplies were handled by commercial
contract.
The Midwestern Procurement District was not disturbed at the
time of the discontinuance of the Air Materiel Command and the
Air Service Command and the creation of the Air Technical Service
Command in 1944. However, on 1 August 1945 the Midwestern Pro-
curement District was absorbed by the Western Procurement Dis-
trict, Air Technical Service Command. A few weeks later, on 8
September 1945, Wichita Municipal Airport was transferred from
340 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the jurisdiction of Western District, Air Technical Service Com-
mand, to that of the Oklahoma City Air Technical Service Com-
mand. Personnel formerly assigned to the airport by the ATSC
were transferred to the new command. At the same time, the 4156th
AAF Base Unit (Air Base) was organized. The new base unit had
the mission of servicing, dispatching, and maintaining transient and
locally based aircraft. The working personnel were entirely civilian,
with a few officers in supervisory capacities.
Slightly over a year later, on 11 October 1946, the 4156th AAF
Base Unit was ordered to cease operations by the 30th of the
month. Consequently, the remainder of October was spent in clos-
ing down operations and transferring property to Tinker Field.
On 15 November the field was officially transferred to the Division
Engineer, Kansas City, while the 4156th AAF Base Unit was dis-
continued on the same day. All military personnel were absorbed
by Headquarters, Oklahoma Air Materiel Area (the successor of
the Oklahoma City Air Technical Service Command).
There followed several years of inactivity, at least insofar as the
Air Force was concerned. Then on 5 June 1951 the Air Force acti-
vated Wichita Municipal Airport to serve as a training center for
combat crews for the B-47 jet bomber, which was being produced
at Wichita. To carry on the training the 3520th Combat Crew
Training Wing was activated, and an ambitious building program
totaling some $22,000,000 was begun. In spite of the difficulty of
building an installation and initiating an entirely new program
simultaneously, the base developed into a highly specialized train-
ing center. Actually, there were two principal parts to the mission
of the training center: aircrew training in B-47's and transition
training in the same aircraft. A subsequent fluctuation of em-
phasis from one of those functions to the other reflected the varying
demands of the Strategic Air Command. A more inclusive func-
tional title was given the wing in June 1952 when it was redesig-
nated the 3520th Flying Training Wing (M Bomb).
Up to 1 April 1952 the activity at Wichita Municipal Airport was
under the jurisdiction of the Flying Training Air Force. On that
date it was transferred to the Crew Training Air Force, still remain-
ing, however, in the Air Training Command.
The Air Force was not the sole occupant during this period. In
1952 Wing Headquarters shared the Wichita Municipal Airport
Terminal Building with four commercial airlines, Braniff, Central,
TWA, and Continental, plus one private flying service: Executive
WINGS OVER KANSAS 341
Airways. These lines were located in the terminal building at the
time of government occupation, and were permitted to operate on
a temporary basis pending completion of the proposed new munici-
pal airport. By 1952 the Air Force had decided to make a perma-
nent base of the quondam municipal airport. The government took
the property by federal court action during the first half of 1952,
thus becoming owner and no longer lessee. Reflecting official
government ownership, Wichita Municipal Airport was redesig-
nated the Wichita Air Force Base on 15 May 1953.
Some 11 months later, on 12 April 1954, still another redesigna-
tion occurred, this time as McConnell Air Force Base. The change
was effected to honor the memory of two brothers, former residents
of Wichita, Thomas L. and Fred McConnell, Jr. A third brother,
still living, is Edwin M. McConnell. The three McConnell broth-
ers had almost identical service careers in the Air Force. From the
time they enlisted, won their wings, and served as co-pilots on com-
bat duty in the South Pacific, the McConnell trio stayed together
and fought as a team.
Proof of the vigor with which the training center pursued its
training function is seen in that the 1,000th B-47 crew graduated
at McConnell Air Force Base on 21 April 1955. And at least as late
as June 1957, the field was still charged with the same mission.
MARSHALL Am FORCE BASE
(1912-1950+)
ONE of the oldest military airfields in the United States, Marshall
- Air Force Base at Fort Riley, made its first appearance in his-
tory in November 1912 as the site of the first attempts in the United
States to direct artillery fire from an airplane. Among the partici-
pants was a young lieutenant, H. H. Arnold, who later became
Commanding General of the United States Army Air Forces. Long
afterward Arnold recalled the various methods tried for transmitting
observations and instructions: a primitive radio, smoke signals, and
even colored cards, weighted with iron nuts and dropped through a
stovepipe.
The airdrome from which Arnold made his flights was probably
the polo field at Fort Riley. How and when the polo field turned
into an air base is unknown, but it was used during World War I
by both airplanes and balloons. The first regularly constituted air
unit at Fort Riley was the 16th Observation Squadron, which was
activated there on 7 December 1921. One of its first commanders
was Maj. Clarence L. Tinker, who subsequently rose to be com-
342 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
mander of Seventh Air Force in World War II and was reported
missing in action on a combat mission during the Battle of Midway.
Early in 1923 the name of the base was changed from Fort Riley
Flying Field to Marshall Field in honor of Brig. Gen. Francis C.
Marshall, assistant chief of cavalry, who had been killed in an air-
plane crash in California on 7 December 1922.
In March 1926 Arnold, then a major, returned as air base com-
mander. He held the post for about two and a half years. When
he arrived the only flying unit there was still the 16th Observation
Squadron. Considerably below strength, it had about eight officers
and four or five De Havilland observation planes ( DH-4's ) supple-
mented by eight or ten Curtiss Jennies. Both these planes dated
from World War I. A few more modern observation aircraft reached
the base, beginning in 1926. The primary responsibility of the
fliers at Marshall was to provide demonstrations and participate in
training exercises for the Army Cavalry School at Fort Riley. At
Arnold's initiative a regular air indoctrination course was set up
for the cavalrymen. The 16th Observation Squadron also had to
furnish aircraft to work with ground units all over the Seventh Corps
Area, which stretched from Arkansas to North Dakota, and for such
special assignments as flying President Coolidge's mail from North
Platte to Rapid City while he was vacationing in the Black Hills in
1927.
The air base did not change much in size or mission during the
1930's. In March 1931 the 16th Observation Squadron was sub-
divided into several flights, of which only Flight D was stationed
at Marshall. However, it occasionally had company, because from
1930 to 1933 the 35th Division Aviation, National Guard, St. Louis,
Mo., was using the field as a training center for its summer encamp-
ments. In June 1937 Flight D was absorbed into the 1st Observa-
tion Squadron, which fulfilled the traditional responsibilities of fly-
ing units at Marshall until 28 December 1941 when it moved to
New Orleans for shipment to the Canal Zone.
When the United States entered World War II Marshall possessed
two hangars and three unsurfaced landing strips, the biggest strip
being 3,700 feet long. These installations were about a mile south-
east of Fort Riley proper and three and a half miles from Junction
City. During the war the old strips had to be surfaced and length-
ened to take increased traffic and heavier, faster planes. Two con-
crete runways, each 4,500 feet long and 150 feet wide, six taxiways
and 5,400 square yards of parking apron were laid down to meet the
new needs. However, Marshall remained a relatively small base.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 343
A base detachment activated in January 1941 to operate the field
was designated in January 1942 as the 305th Air Base Squadron
( Reduced ) , but in June it was renamed the 305th Base Headquarters
and Air Base Squadron ( Reduced ) . It was disbanded in the spring
of 1944 and in June the 356th AAF Base Unit was activated to run
the base. At the beginning of that year the work of housekeeping
and administration was being done by nine officers and 80 enlisted
men. Unit and base commander at the end of 1943 was Maj. Victor
E. Nelson. He was succeeded on 15 August 1944 by Maj. Herman
C. Brigham, who was followed on 13 December by Lt. Col. Jack C.
Dale, a veteran fighter pilot with 194 missions to his credit. He left
in the spring of 1946. During most of the next two and a half years
Col. Eugene H. Snavely commanded the base.
After the departure of the 1st Observation Squadron from Fort
Riley, the 6th Observation Squadron (Special) was activated at
Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on 7 February 1942 to take its place at the
Cavalry School. The squadron moved to Marshall Field on 21
April 1942 with 15 liaison planes. Its commander at that time was
Capt. R. S. Wilson, who was followed on 13 June 1943 by Capt.
Francis J. Beck. On 28 December 1943 Maj. Dale C. Jones took
command and held it until 1 January 1945 when Maj. William Fore-
hand, a fighter pilot back from duty in Europe, replaced him. In
June 1943 the squadron was redesignated 6th Reconnaissance Squad-
ron ( Special ) , and on 12 October of that year its name was changed
to 2d Composite Squadron (Special).
It well deserved the term "composite" for by that time it had ac-
quired 15 P-39's and five B-25's as well as liaison planes and was
flying all sorts of tactical air missions. Besides photographic work,
observation, and artillery adjustment, its pilots flew air-ground sup-
port demonstrations and simulated strafing, bombing and chemical
warfare missions. They "destroyed enemy headquarters" with flour
bombs, and sprayed troops with molasses residue in lieu of mustard
gas. The commandant of the Cavalry School repeatedly com-
mended the squadron for its "cooperation, enthusiasm and assist-
ance" and wrote "This type of air-ground cooperation ... is
a pleasure to receive." Members of a Colombian military mission
said of one air-ground demonstration that it was "worth going to
Fort Riley for that alone." Much work was done away from Fort
Riley. Teams from Marshall were scheduled to provide the Ar-
mored School and the Field Artillery School with six demonstra-
tions apiece in 1944, and they answered many special requests for
demonstrations and tests. On 1 August 1945 the airmen at Marshall
344 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
put on a giant air show in which they displayed to 5,000 Kansan
friends and neighbors the tactical skills they had acquired during
the war.
Several units besides the 2d Composite Squadron spent some time
at Marshall during the war. The 72d Observation Group had its
headquarters squadron there briefly in December 1941; the 5th Ob-
servation Squadron was there from August 1942 till April 1943; and
a Negro unit, the 1018th Guard Squadron trained at Marshall for
a short time in 1945. Also, a detachment of the 161st Liaison Squad-
ron with L-5 aircraft visited the base for exercises in November
and December 1944. The ground forces at Riley in 1944 had 36
aerial target planes which were serviced by the 356th Base Unit.
Marshall was much used as a convenient stop on cross-country
flights. Of some 1,400 landings and take-offs at the field in July
1945, 614 were transients. Another and not inconsiderable activity
was the flying in and out of distinguished visitors to Fort Riley.
Among them were Gens. Ben Lear, Joseph W. Stilwell, and George
S. Patton.
On 7 November 1945 the 2d Composite Squadron was inactivated,
its place being taken by Detachment "B" of the 69th Reconnaissance
Group which inherited some of its personnel and equipment. About
the same time the 72d and 167th Liaison Squadrons, equipped with
75 L-5's arrived at the base for training. At the end of the year
there were 106 aircraft at Marshall. However, this strength was
soon whittled down as the postwar demobilization progressed.
Early in 1946 the detachment of the 69th Group was withdrawn
and the 72d Squadron was reduced to a two-man cadre, so that by
late April only the 167th Squadron remained. On 3 October 1946 it
was inactivated and the 163d Liaison Squadron was created to
replace it.
Late in 1946 the Cavalry School and the Cavalry Intelligence
School at Fort Riley were inactivated and the Ground General
School was established there. The principal mission of the 163d
Squadron continued to be the giving of air support to the new
school as to the old, but it confined its efforts mainly to visual recon-
naissance. At first it used only L-5's, but in the spring of 1947 it
acquired six helicopters, the novelty of which aroused much interest
in subsequent demonstrations. That spring the squadron was also
given control of detachments at Biggs Air Force Base, Alamogordo,
and Camp Beale. These detachments, with a half-dozen liaison
planes, were working with the rocket development center at White
WINGS OVER KANSAS 345
Sands. The Air Force decision in 1948 to eliminate all enlisted
pilots by the end of the year caused a drastic shake-up at Marshall.
Though they were almost extinct in most flying units, the 163d had
had 25 of them and only nine commissioned pilots in 1947.
Undoubtedly the most dramatic episode of the postwar period at
Marshall came early in 1949 when the base contributed its facilities,
planes, and helicopters to "Operation Haylift," bringing relief to
snowbound areas in several Western states. Another memorable
event was the emergency landing on 6 August 1948 of a B-29 which
had made a record-breaking 5,120-mile non-stop flight from Fursten-
feldbruck, Germany, with Capt. Walter E. Abbott as pilot.
On 1 April 1949 the 163d Liaison Squadron was inactivated.
Light aviation detachments of the Ground General School and the
10th Infantry Division took over most of its functions. However,
in September 1949 Tenth Air Force established an Instrument Train-
ing Center at Marshall Air Force Base to provide a refresher course
for all its pilots outside the 56th Fighter Wing. The school had
eight instructors, commanded by Capt. John J. Davis, and was
equipped with ten B-25's which were later replaced by C-45's. In
March 1950, after 86 pilots had graduated, the school was moved to
Selfridge Air Force Base. The Air Force then withdrew entirely
from Marshall and, effective 1 June 1950, the base unit, which on
23 August 1948 had become the 4406th Air Base Squadron, was
inactivated.
PRATT ARMY Am FIELD
(1942-1945)
"ORATT Army Air Field was constructed in south central Kansas
•*• in Pratt county. The field was located about three miles north of
the city of Pratt, a community of about 7,000, and which was the
only urban area readily accessible to personnel of the field. The
area of the field sloped slightly from west to east, with an elevation
varying from 1,969 feet to 1,930 feet.
Construction, begun in 1942, was of the theater of operations type.
By the time of the official dedication of the field in May 1943, some
60 barracks had been completed giving accommodations to 2,460
enlisted men. Total authorized construction called for a total of
72 barracks with a capacity of 3,060 enlisted men and eight officers'
quarters with a housing capacity of 522.
A few personnel began to arrive well before completion of the
field. The first group, a 12-man cadre on detached service, stayed
for a time at the Calbeck Hotel in Pratt until facilities at the field
346 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
had been completed sufficiently for them to move in. In January
1943 the 502d Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron was acti-
vated to function as the administrative and training squadron for
the other organizations which would be assigned to the base. On
10 February 1943 Lt. Col. J. F. Nelson assumed command of the
field, and by March the installation began to function as a military
post with the barest of essentials in housing, messing, and adminis-
trative equipment. Construction and personnel manning had pro-
gressed so far by May that on the second of the month the field was
officially dedicated.
Originally, Pratt Army Air Field had been scheduled to function
as one of several bases under the control of the 21st Bombardment
Wing. It was the task of this latter organization to process for
overseas duty, especially as to equipment, the bombardment wings
formed and trained under the Second Air Force. However, to the
disappointment of the 21st Wing, which, incidentally, was con-
tinually plagued by lack of facilities with which to operate, Pratt
never really came under its program. The enormous effort necessary
to form and train the B-29 groups diverted Pratt from its original
mission with the 21st to one of the several fields dedicated to the
special B-29 combat training program.
The function of Pratt Army Air Field, under the administration
of the 502d Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron, was to
furnish housekeeping and administrative services to the bombard-
ment groups which made Pratt their temporary station while under-
going combat group training. During 1943 and much of 1944 the
newly-formed B-29 bombardment groups conducted their own train-
ing at Pratt, with the field and its units serving only in an adminis-
trative, housekeeping, and general support capacity. This was true
of both the 40th and 497th Bombardment Groups.
As each group went into the latter phases of its training at Pratt,
the next group in line to move to Pratt would send its maintenance
squadrons ahead in order to acquire experience by assisting in air-
craft maintenance for the older group. As a result, when the flight
echelon of the new group arrived at Pratt upon departure of the
previous group, the maintenance squadrons had acquired sufficient
experience to enable them to keep their own group's aircraft in the
air.
Early in 1944 a new base unit system was devised throughout the
Air Force. At Pratt the 246th Base Unit, OTU (VH), was formed
WINGS OVER KANSAS 347
on 1 April 1944. Under the new dispensation the responsibilities
of the base were greatly increased, for in addition the base, through
the 246th Base Unit, was henceforth to be in charge of the training
program of each succeeding B-29 group.3 For this purpose, a Di-
rectorate of Training was authorized.
Such a great increase in function could not, of course, be ac-
complished immediately. Time was needed in which to acquire
personnel sufficiently knowledgeable to supervise the instruction.
Consequently, the 497th Bombardment Group trained itself just as
the 40th Group had done before it. Indeed, it was not until August
1944, with the advent of the 29th Group, that the 246th Base Unit
was able to assume the task of group combat training. Under the
same system the 29th Group was succeeded at Pratt by the 346th
Group in February 1945, and the latter in turn by the 93d Group
in July.
The process of closing down Pratt Army Air Field began in No-
vember 1945, while the 93d Group was still in training. The base
unit suffered such serious losses of personnel during the month as
to render its task of supervising the training of the 93d Group a most
difficult one. With the departure of the 93d Group in December,
the work of Pratt Army Air Field was done, and there remained
only to complete the process of closing down the installation. Col.
Reuben Kyle, Jr., as commanding officer, supervised the process.
Pratt Army Air Field was officially inactivated on 31 December 1945,
with no subsequent period of activation.
SCHILLING Am FORCE BASE
(Formerly Smoky Hill Air Force Base)
(1942-1958+)
DURING World War II many famous B-29 units were stationed
at Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Salina. Both the XX Bomber
Command, which handled B-29 operations in the China-Burma-
India Theater, and the XXI Bomber Command, which controlled
B-29's flying from the Marianas to Japan, were activated at Smoky
Hill. Though the XX and XXI Bomber Commands remained at
this station for only a brief period of time, Smoky Hill retained the
honor of being the birthplace of these two famous units. Also at
3. Maj. Robert K. Morgan, who led the first all-American raid over Germany in March,
1943, was assigned at Pratt Army Air Field about this time. Major Morgan was com-
mander of the "Memphis Belle" which became famous as the subject of one of the out-
standing documentary motion pictures of World War II. — Pratt Tailwind, March 11, April
22, May 6, 1944.
348 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Smoky Hill for a short period was the 58th Bombardment Wing,4
which operated under the XX Bomber Command in China-Burma-
India and later under the XXI Bomber Command in the Marianas.
The 73d Bombardment Wing, which served so valiantly in the
Marianas under the XXI Bomber Command, was also stationed at
Smoky Hill. In addition to the above-mentioned headquarters units,
Smoky Hill Army Air Field took care of several B-29 tactical groups.
These included the 468th, 499th, and 39th Bombardment Groups.
Though Smoky Hill Air Field was distinguished as a B-29 training
station during World War II, the base originally was used as a
processing and staging area for heavy bombardment units going to
overseas stations. This phase as a processing station lasted from the
fall of 1942, when minimum operational facilities first were avail-
able, through the first half of 1943. The B-29 units began to arrive
in the fall of 1943; and thereafter, until the end of the war in Septem-
ber 1945, Smoky Hill was predominantly a B-29 training base.
The handling of very heavy bombardment units required a base
possessing extensive facilities. Two runways at Smoky were 10,000
feet in length, while two other runways were 7,500 feet in length.
Twelve taxistrips connected the various runways. The concrete
apron measured 4,000 x 600 feet. The size of the base is further
indicated by the fact that it comprised approximately 2,600 acres
in Smoky Hill and Smolan townships. The area on which buildings
were constructed took up 365 acres. The major part of the con-
struction work was completed in 1942, with the working force at
one time including 13 civilian contractors with more than 7,000
workers.
Important dates in Smoky Hill's early history include: 5 May
1942, when construction work on the airfield started; 23 December
1942, when the field was officially designated Smoky Hill Army Air
Field; 20 November 1943, when the XX Bomber Command was acti-
vated at Smoky Hill; and 1 March 1944, when the XXI Bomber
Command was activated at Smoky Hill.
After the end of World War II in September 1945, activity at
Smoky Hill Army Air Field shifted from wartime to a peacetime
4. The First Group of the 58th Bombardment Wing, the first of the B-29 "Superfort"
units, was organized at Smoky Hill Army Air Field. The early B-29's delivered to this unit
were shipped unfinished, a fact which precipitated the "Salina Blitz" or the "Battle of
Kansas," in which Gen. H. H. "Hap" Arnold played a leading role. The result of the
blitz was the bombing of Japan by Kansas built B-29's on 15 June 1944. — Wesley Price,
"Birth of a Miracle," Saturday Evening Post, Philadelphia, August 25, 1945, pp. 11, 52;
"The Battle of Kansas," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 13, pp. 481-484; Thomas Col-
lison, The Superfortress Is Born, the Story of the Boeing B-29 (New York, Duell, Sloan &
Pearce, 1945), pp. 175-188.
The Collison history gives credit to Brig. Gen. Orval Cook and Ma). Gen. B. E. Meyers,
and includes the airfields at Pratt, Great Bend and Walker, in this operation.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 349
basis. In 1946 the base came under the control of the Fifteenth
Air Force of Strategic Air Command. From 1946 onward, with the
exception of two years ( 1950-1951 ) when the field was on a stand-by
status, Smoky Hill was a key installation of Strategic Air Command.
Two changes of designation occurred in the post World War II
period. In 1946 the base became Smoky Hill Air Force Base. And
in 1957 the designation was changed to Schilling Air Force Base in
honor of Col. David C. Schilling, who was killed in an automobile
accident in England in 1956. Colonel Schilling, as a member of
the famous 56th Fighter Group, was a leading ace during World
War II.5
Schilling Air Force Base is now (January 1958) the home of the
40th and 310th Bombardment Wings, both B-47 jet bomber outfits
and the 802d Air Division — all assigned to Strategic Air Command.
Each wing consists of 45 bombers and 20 large four engine KC-97
aerial tankers aircraft. This base continues as a key one in the de-
fense of our country. Brig. Gen. James C. Wilson commands ( 1958)
the 802d Air Division.
SHERMAN Am FORCE BASE
(1926-1953+)
FROM its beginning until the Air Force discontinued operations
there in 1953, the primary and almost exclusive function of
Sherman Air Force Base at Fort Leavenworth was to provide flying
facilities for the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leaven-
worth. Most of its use was for proficiency flights by pilots assigned
to the school as students or instructors. In the early 1920's such
flying was done at an old polo ground about three miles from
Sherman. However, in the spring of 1926 an emergency strip,
which had been laid out on the present site in 1923, was converted
into a permanent airfield. To run the field an Air Corps detach-
ment was stationed there until 1 July 1937 when the detachment
became the Third Staff Squadron.
The base was located on low ground in a bend of the Missouri
river one mile northeast of Fort Leavenworth near the Disciplinary
Barracks. At first a sod surface was used, but in 1930 construction
of three cinder runways was initiated. The largest of these had a
5. Col. David C. Schilling was born in Leavenworth and grew up in the Kansas City
area. His Air Force career was spectacular. During World War II he shot down 33
German planes. A colonel at 24, he was entitled to wear 40 ribbons by the end of the
war. In 1948 he led the first trans-oceanic jet flight from the United States to Germany.
In 1950 he made the first non-stop trans-Atlantic single jet engine flight. In 1952 the Air
Force Association designated him as the man who had contributed most to U. S. air power
the preceding year. He also participated in several speed flights during the early 1950's. —
Kansas City (Mo.) Star, March 10, 1957.
350 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
length of only 2,800 feet in 1937. During the next two years two
runways were extended to 4,000 feet, and after the entry of the
United States into World War II they were further lengthened to
6,000 feet, a distance sufficient for most types of aircraft used in
that war. However, because in wet weather or when the river was
high the ground was often too sodden to be satisfactory for use by
heavy aircraft, cement aprons were laid down late in 1944 at the
ends of the main runways. Intersecting at one end and joined by
a short cross-strip, the runways made a pattern like the letter "A."
A hangar for the base was built in 1932. Badly damaged in 1934
by a fire which also destroyed several planes, it was repaired and
used for the next 20 years. Several temporary buildings, including
barracks for enlisted men, were added during World War II.
It appears probable that command of the field was first exercised
in 1926 by Capt. Benjamin F. Giles, subsequently commander of
the Army Air Forces in the Middle East during the latter part of
World War II. The base commander in 1935 was Capt. Harry A.
Johnson, who rose to be head of Tenth Air Force before his retire-
ment in 1953. During much of World War II Sherman had the
peculiar distinction of being directly under Headquarters, Army
Air Forces. However, on 21 January 1944 it was assigned to Third
Air Force under which it remained for the duration of the war.
The Third Staff Squadron was inactivated on 29 April 1944, its
personnel and equipment going to a new organization, the 355th
Air Base Unit. Also disbanded at that time and absorbed into
the 355th were a medical detachment and the 344th Sub-Depot,
which had been in operation at Sherman since its activation on
1 May 1941. About 50 men belonging to an airways communica-
tions detachment and a weather detachment remained outside the
base unit, though attached to it for rations and quarters. Maj.
John F. Buckman, who had commanded the base and the Third
Squadron since before February 1944, commanded the base and
base unit until 24 September when he was succeeded by Lt. Col.
Blair M. Sorenson. Sorenson held the command until 4 September
1945.
Early in the war when bases were scarce Sherman was pressed
into service for training purposes. In September and October 1941
two National Guard units, the 124th and 127th Observation Squad-
rons, were sent there to train. They left in April 1942. Dutch
cadets were given primary flight instruction there in 1942 by the
671st School Squadron. Otherwise the mission of the base con-
WINGS OVER KANSAS 351
tinued to be to provide facilities for proficiency flying by faculty
and students at the Command and General Staff School, for ad-
ministrative flights, and for transients.
As late as May 1944 Sherman had only 25 planes, most of which
were trainers and none models then used in combat. However, an
influx of pilots sent to study at Fort Leavenworth after gaining
extensive combat experience on tours of duty overseas made it de-
sirable to provide more and better planes for their use. A batch
of 15, including some P-40's, arrived in June 1944, and by the end
of the war over 60 aircraft, at least ten of which were P-51's, were
based at Sherman. Traffic expanded until in July 1945, 868 local
and 357 cross-country flights were made from the base.
In recognition of the growing importance of air warfare, Brig.
Gen. Robert C. Candee, one-time Commanding General of VIII
Air Support Command, was appointed on 5 October 1944 as di-
rector of air instruction at the Command and General Staff School.
He is believed to have been the first general officer to hold that
position. In May 1945 Candee and about 60 other Air Corps of-
ficers on the faculty and staff of the school who had been on de-
tached service there were assigned to a specially constituted squad-
ron of the 355th Base Unit.
Over the years Sherman saw a dazzling array of visitors, usually
drawn there to transact business or attend ceremonies at Fort
Leavenworth. Among them were in 1944 Gen. H. H. Arnold, Com-
manding General of the Army Air Forces, in 1945 Lt. Gen. Lewis H.
Brereton, Commanding General of Third Air Force, and in 1946
the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General of the Army
Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the Deputy Commander of the AAF,
Lt. Gen. Ira C. Eaker. Later came Gen. Jacob L. Devers, the
commander of the Army Ground Forces, Lt. Gen. Curtis E. LeMay,
Commanding General of Strategic Air Command, and Lt. Gen.
Elwood R. Quesada, head of Tactical Air Command. Of many
foreign dignitaries, the British general, Marshal Sir Bernard L.
Montgomery, who attended graduation at Fort Leavenworth in
1953, was the most famous, but probably the most stared at was the
only Soviet general ever seen in that area, Maj. Gen. Nicolai V.
Slavin, who stopped off in 1944 on his way to the Dumbarton Oaks
Conference.
In 1946 Sherman passed from Third Air Force to the newly
created Tactical Air Command, under which it remained until the
end of 1948 when it was given to Tenth Air Force, a subordinate
352 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of Continental Air Command. The name of the installation was
changed on 13 January 1948 from Sherman Field to Sherman Air
Force Base. The 355th Base Unit was transformed on 23 August
1948 into the 4405th Air Base Squadron, and this in turn was re-
designated as the 2223d Air Base Squadron, effective 16 December
1950. Postwar base commanders were Col. Kenneth R. Martin
(4 September 1945-25 August 1947), Lt. Col. Elliott H. Reed (26
August 1947-20 July 1948), Lt. Col. O. J. Mosman (21 July 1948-
spring 1950), Capt. James B. Murrow, Jr. (spring 1950-14 Sep-
tember 1951), Capt. Wilson B. Swan (15-30 September 1951),
Maj. Peter V. Mullen (1 October 1951-13 June 1952), Capt.
Laurence J. Rooney (13 June 1952-10 July 1952), and Maj. Witold
B. Monkiewicz (11 July 1952-October 1953).
After World War II operations at Sherman sank again to a small
scale. By mid-1947 there were only 13 aircraft at the field and
later there were even fewer. On 1 July 1950 only four officers and
104 airmen were assigned to the 4405th Air Base Squadron. How-
ever, this low manning was possible only because even after the
separation of the Air Force from the Army, Fort Leavenworth con-
tinued to provide Sherman with almost all necessary quartermaster,
ordnance, engineering and finance facilities.
In 1951 the base acquired an additional mission, responsibility
for providing minimum flying training for officers at 11 stations,
mostly ROTC detachments, in Kansas and neighboring states.
Often endangered by floods, Sherman was inundated on 23 April
1952 when one of the dikes protecting it failed. Damage was
slight, and the field was back in operation within ten days, but the
crisis may have hastened the death of its commander, Major Mullen,
who died of a heart attack on 13 June. Command was assumed
by Capt. Rooney in addition to his previous duties as operations
officer, aircraft maintenance officer, engineering officer, and air in-
stallations officer. Only at so extraordinarily small and thinly
manned a base as Sherman could one officer have carried even
temporarily such a multitude of responsibilities.
During the summer of 1953 Tenth Air Force evaluated Sherman
Air Force Base and came to the conclusion that in the interests of
economy the base should be discontinued and its training activities
be transferred elsewhere. Headquarters USAF approved this meas-
ure, and on 25 October the 2223d Air Base Squadron was officially
discontinued. Responsibility for final close-out of the base was
entrusted to the 2472d AFROTC Detachment at the Olathe Naval
Air Station, Olathe.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 353
STROTHER ARMY Am FIELD
(1942-1953)
WHAT began as a joint enterprise of the proximate cities of Win-
field and Arkansas City to build a municipal airport evolved,
by the force of events, into construction of an Army airfield dedi-
cated to basic flying training. At a joint meeting on 6 February
1941 the two city commissions approved construction of a Class 2
airport comprising some 240 acres with a 100 x 100-foot hangar.
Authority to issue bonds had already been granted by the legislature.
During the course of 1941 the government's interest in this site
for the establishment of a flying school became known. A site selec-
tion board of officers met at Arkansas City, 11 April 1942, and in-
spected the proposed airport site. In its report three days later,
the board approved the proposed site. On the same day of the
board meeting, 11 April, the two cities passed a resolution com-
mitting the municipalities to obtain approximately 1,400 acres of
land to be leased to the government at the rate of one dollar per
year, and renewable yearly for 25 years.
Strother Field, named after Capt. Donald R. Strother, who was
killed over Java on 13 February 1942,6 was located midway between
Arkansas City and Winfield, in Cowley county on U. S. Highway
77. The entire field comprised some 1,386 acres. In addition, there
were four auxiliary fields. Number one, totaling 481 acres, was
acquired from seven owners, partly by straight purchase and partly
by Decision of Taking of the Federal District Court. Cost of the
land was $48,941. Number Two contained 643 acres. It, too, was
acquired from seven owners, partly by straight purchase and partly
by Decision of Taking. Total cost was $70,409. The 631& acres
of Auxiliary Number Three were acquired from eight owners. Only
three acres were purchased; the remainder was acquired on annual
lease. Number Five, totaling 656.40 acres, was acquired from eight
owners at a total cost of $46,169. A portion was obtained from
straight purchase, while a Decision of Taking was necessary to
acquire title to the remainder.
Construction at Strother Field, the total cost of which was to ap-
proach $9,000,000, began on 16 May 1942. Building operations
began on the sites of the auxiliary fields at the same time. At
6. Captain Strother was born October 26, 1911, in Winfield. He attended the Win-
field schools and Southwestern College, and in 1934 became a cadet in the army air corps.
Later he served two years as a civilian air line pilot. In 1938 Strother re-entered the air
corps, and at the time of his death commanded a squadron of flying fortresses. — Winfield
Dotty Courier, May 28, 1942; Official Army Register, 1942, p. 839.
23—9545
354 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Strother, four asphalt runways, 5,500, 4,000, and two of 5,840 feet
in length and all 150 feet wide, were built. Permanent type run-
way lights were installed. Connecting these were four taxiways,
three of asphalt and one of concrete, two of which were 700 feet in
length, another 3,500 feet, and the fourth 1,600 feet. Three were
50 feet wide, one 100 feet.
Storage facilities included three AAF and four Quartermaster
buildings. All were of wood frame construction, with cement
floors. Two instructional buildings, totaling 15,550 square feet
with a total student capacity of 550, were erected. In addition, six
Link Trainer buildings were provided, with a total capacity of 34.
Under the general category of recreational and welfare facilities,
day rooms, an officers' club and a service club, theater, chapel, post
exchange, bowling alley, gymnasium, swimming pool, and library
were built. Housing was built to accommodate a total of 4,404 offi-
cers and men, while the hospital was designed for a normal bed
capacity of 141. Although fuel was readily available locally, a
gasoline capacity of 210,216 gallons was provided, and an oil storage
capacity of 36,000 gallons.
Col. Joseph F. Carroll arrived in Winfield on 17 September 1942,
moved into his office at post headquarters two days later, and took
up his duties as project officer. The post was activated on 1 Novem-
ber 1942, construction being still in progress, with Colonel Carroll
as commanding officer. Because of his late arrival, Colonel Carroll
was not burdened with the greater part of construction as project
officer as he himself attests:
I had no predecessor as Commanding Officer of this station, but I wish to
pay tribute to the work of Colonel H. W. Dorr, who as the original Project
Officer during the early phase of construction, initiated changes in the con-
struction plans to fit the particular requirements of a basic school.
The voracious demand for fighter pilots necessitated a very early
inauguration of training on 14 or 15 December 1942 with the arrival
of the first class of cadets. At that time, the runways had not been
completed and planes were forced to operate from the parking ramp
only. A most hazardous situation. Training consisted principally
of 70 hours pilot training. Like most new training bases in this
period, the greatest initial problem was a scarcity of training air-
craft. Training was inaugurated with a ratio of one plane to six
students. The 14 months between 1 January 1943 and 1 March 1944
were to bring to Strother Field, including those who arrived in the
middle of December 1942 and those who remained after 1 March
1944, 14 classes of students.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 355
The two cities of Winfield and Arkansas City, with populations of
10,000 and 12,000 respectively, and each seven and a half miles
from the field, had been from the beginning enthusiastic supporters
of the field. The cooperation of these two municipalities continued
at the same high level, as Colonel Carroll asseverated:
My job was made much easier and much more pleasant by the excellent
cooperation from the people in the two nearby towns of Winfield and Arkansas
City, Kansas. The civic leaders many times took the initiative in formulating
plans for projects to improve the morale of the personnel of this station, and
to provide things which we were unable to get without their assistance. The
townspeople received the military personnel with open arms, and convinced
us all that there is such a thing as "Kansas Hospitality."
On 1 June 1944 the basic flying training function at Strother
ceased, and the field was taken over by the Second Air Force. With
the graduation of Class 44-G on 23 May, Strother Field had ac-
complished its mission as a basic pilot school of the Central Flying
Training Command. This was the 16th class to take basic training
at Strother.
On 1 June 1944 Col. Donald E. Meade took command for the
Second Air Force. Most of the permanent personnel of the old
basic flying school were transferred within the Training Command,
and the Second Air Force brought in its own personnel to man the
base. The chief problem facing the new command was transition
from a basic flying training station to a tactical training station.
For a full year Strother Field functioned as a fighter pilot combat
crew training school. With the end of the war in sight, official
orders were received on 27 July 1945 providing for the inactivation
of the base by 15 August. Consequently, on 30 July a total reduction
of force, both military and civilian, was begun. One by one the
various units of operation were closed during the first 15 days of
August. Flying training ended officially on 8 August, although in
fact it had ceased four days before. By 15 August orders had been
complied with in full, save for such minor modifications as were
authorized by higher headquarters to meet existing needs.
Strother Field was placed on a standby status and assigned to
Pratt Army Air Field as an auxiliary field. Colonel Meade, station
commander since the Second Air Force took over on 1 June 1944
from the Central Flying Training Command, awaited only the ar-
rival of relieving command from Pratt before his own departure.
The Pratt Army Air Field budget and fiscal officer took over the
duties of closing the fiscal records of the field. Strother Field served
356 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
as a satellite for only a few months, for Pratt itself was inactivated
in December 1945.
Presumably, no further activity took place at Strother until about
July 1948. At that time it assumed a housing function for a reserve
composite squadron, Tenth Air Force, Air Defense Command.
Sometime during 1949 or the first half of 1950 it ceased to perform
even this function. By March 1952 it was housing the 9721st Volun-
teer Air Reserve Training Squadron. But between November 1953
and September 1954 this activity was removed, and up to March
1958 Strother Field was not used in any Air Force capacity.
WALKER ARMY Am FIELD
(1942-1946)
WALKER Army Air Field was located in Ellis county, about two
and one-half miles northwest of Walker. The main line of
the Union Pacific railroad was situated only two miles away, and the
field had ready access to U. S. Highway 40. The topography was
of such a nature as to permit construction of 10,000-foot runways
with minimum grading.
Requisite land was purchased by the government in fee simple
from individual owners. Additional areas were leased from the
Union Pacific railroad for the location of storage yards. Other
auxiliary facilities were acquired as needed. Three gunnery ranges
were acquired in Ellis, Ness, and Gove counties, and three bombing
ranges in Trego and Graham counties.
In planning the field, the water supply was a particularly difficult
problem principally because this site was judged by the state geol-
ogist to have the most difficult water situation of any spot in the
state. After spending considerable time and money drilling, a fair
water supply was located on Little creek about eight miles from the
site. In addition, a proven supply was available from the Hays city
system about 12 miles distant. A study of comparative costs and
results revealed that connection with the Hays city system was the
safest and most practical answer. Consequently, a connecting line
was run there. The easement for water lines to Hays was purchased
by the government subject to expiration six months after termination
of the emergency.
Contracts were negotiated on 26 August 1942, and construction
got under way on 14 September. Three concrete runways 150 feet
in width were paved to a length of 8,000 feet and graded at each
end another 1,000 feet so that by adding concrete paving at each
end, runways 10,000 feet long would be available. Concrete taxi-
WINGS OVER KANSAS 357
ways 75 feet wide, as well as an apron 300 by 375 feet, were con-
structed. The cantonment, originally designed for about 1,000 men
but later much expanded, was of minimum cost (theater of opera-
tions ) construction, save for the dispensary and one mess hall which
were of mobilization type construction. As an example of subse-
quent expansion, originally only one hangar was built, but by the
time of the field's inactivation five hangars were in use. Comple-
tion to the point of limited occupancy was accomplished within 79
days after negotiation of the contracts.
The first military personnel at the base were members of a Quar-
termaster Corps detachment, which arrived from Smoky Hill Army
Air Field, Salina, on 11 November 1942. This advance party was
composed of one officer, 2d Lt. Glenn M. Wheeler, and four en-
listed men. The first commanding officer of the yet incompleted
base was Capt. James E. Altman, who assumed command on 12
December 1942. However, he was quickly replaced by Lt. Col. Wil-
liam A. Cahill on 18 December. The new field acquired its head-
quarters unit with the activation of the 500th Base Headquarters
and Air Base Squadron on 8 February 1943. Real base activity be-
gan when the 852d Signal Corps Detachment, the 3d Weather
Squadron, the 23d Airways Communications Squadron, the 2064th
Ordnance Corps Detachment and a medical detachment were at-
tached to the 500th Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron for
administration, rations, and quarters. Early in 1943 the 502d Bom-
bardment Squadron also arrived, along with a guard squadron, a
quartermaster company, and an airdrome squadron. The field was
in good enough condition by 4 July 1943 to enable the commanding
officer to hold "Open House."
Morale was a problem at Walker Army Air Field, particularly in
the early period, principally because there was no town of more
than a few thousand people within a radius of 100 miles. Indeed,
the nearest large city was Kansas City, 350 miles away. Severely
limited in recreational opportunities as the field and the area were,
it was nevertheless not until June 1943 that provision was made for
construction of a gymnasium, theater, service club, and post ex-
change.
Intimately connected with the absence of municipalities of any
size was a most acute housing problem both for civilian workers and
military personnel. Unfortunately, this bad condition was per-
mitted to exacerbate relations between the field and surrounding
areas, particularly Hays, during most of 1943. The situation actually
deteriorated to the point where vituperative exchanges were printed
358 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
in the local newspaper during March 1943. However, by the end
of the year, with a new commanding officer at the field, relations
began to show a marked improvement.
Even though the base and community were plagued with the
problem of where to house civilian workers, a chronic shortage of
qualified civilians was something successive commanders were
forced to live with. Even worse, the shortage did not stop with
civilians, for the bane of operations was the paucity of enlisted tech-
nicians, especially airplane and engine mechanics, airplane techni-
cians, power plant specialists, electrical specialists, and propeller
specialists. This was especially grievous since the field was in large
part responsible for all maintenance and repair.
Walker Army Air Field began operations simply as a satellite
field of Smoky Hill Army Air Field located at Salina. In this ca-
pacity Walker was used merely as a spillover field in the perform-
ance of Smoky Hill's mission of processing heavy bombardment
crews for overseas shipment. A more important, and more inde-
pendent mission was given to Walker on 1 February 1943 when the
Second Air Force organized the 6th (later replaced by the 7th)
Heavy Bombardment Processing Headquarters there. Walker thus
became a processing center in its own right. By the middle of 1943
a still further expansion of mission was due at Walker. The field
was scheduled to begin training B-29 crews for combat duty, and in
about August 1943 the first B-29's were brought in. Walker was
to function through the remaining active portion of its career within
the training program of the 17th Bombardment Operational Train-
ing Wing, which had its headquarters at Sioux City Army Air Base.
As the training program got under way a major problem pre-
sented itself in the lack of bombing ranges. Prior to December
1943, Walker had only one bombing range, the result being over-
crowding beyond reasonable limits of safety. In an effort to
eliminate this dangerous situation arrangements were made with
other fields in that area of Kansas whereby planes from Walker
could practice bombing on ranges belonging to other fields. But
this solution proved unsatisfactory since the bombing schedules of
Walker planes often conflicted with those of other fields. A much
better solution was found by the acquisition of four tracts of land
during December 1943. By the end of January 1944 these ranges
were almost ready for use. As was anticipated, not only did the
new ranges eliminate a dangerous condition, but it also resulted in
accelerating the B-29 training program.
WINGS OVER KANSAS 359
All the units permanently stationed at Walker were reorganized
on 25 March 1944 and placed in the 248th AAF Base Unit, which
assumed the official designation of the 248th OTU (Operational
Training Unit) Training School. The new organization was de-
signed to serve as carrying unit for all permanent party activities, as
well as to conduct functions of administration, training, supply, and
maintenance.
In April 1944 there was established a Directorate of Training
which, it was anticipated, would, when fully manned and equipped,
take over and completely train the new bombardment groups which
would come thereafter to Walker. This involved preparation of
training programs and schedules, the proper coordination of all
training activity to ensure fulfillment of Second Air Force require-
ments with no overlapping or loss of time. As one group would
complete operational training and prepare to leave, the leading ele-
ments of the next group would arrive and training would begin on
the new group. Sometimes overlapping of two groups on the
field at the same time caused acute, though temporary, housing
problems. Besides training bomb groups for overseas, Air Service
Groups, such as the 72d, 75th, and 367th, were also trained for
overseas duty.
From very humble beginnings, both the mission and the physical
plant of Walker Army Air Field expanded considerably so that by
31 August 1944 a total of 5,936 personnel were stationed at the field.
Out of this total 529 officers and 2,742 enlisted men were stationed
for training, leaving a permanent party of 235 officers, 1,781 enlisted
personnel, and 659 civilians.
With victory over Japan in August 1945, the mission of the 17th
Bombardment Operational Training Wing changed and slackened.
Salina was the only one of the wing's stations to continue combat
crew training. Five other stations were to complete the manning
and training of the 449th, 467th, 448th, 44th, and 93d Groups, while
three stations, including Walker, were left with no mission at all.
Consequently, Walker was relieved from assignment to the 17th
Bombardment Operational Training Wing and reassigned to the
Air Technical Service Command, effective 30 September 1945, and
further assigned to the Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area. The
latter then moved in the 4180th AAF Base Unit to maintain the
field on a housekeeping basis. On 31 January 1946 Walker was put
on inactive status, and disposition of property became the major
activity at the field. The inactive status continued until the War
360 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Department placed the installation in a surplus category in the
middle of 1946. A transfer agreement was drawn up on 21 No-
vember 1946 between representatives of Oklahoma City Air Ma-
teriel Area, Walker Army Air Field, Fifth Army, and the District
Engineers, Kansas City. Subsequently, on 19 December 1946, the
field was transferred to the District Engineers.
Bypaths of Kansas History
LIFE IN KANSAS
From the Kansas Weekly Press, Elwood, November 20, 1858.
A citizen of Kansas thus posts up an eastern correspondent who asked a va-
riety of questions as to the territory and life there: —
"What kind of country do you live in?"
"Mixed and extensive. It is made up principally of land and water."
"What kind of weather?"
"Long spells of weather are frequent. Our sunshine comes off principally
during the day time."
"Have you plenty of water and how got?"
"A good deal of water scattered and generally got in pails and whiskey."
"Is it hard?"
"Rather so when you have to go half a mile and wade in mud knee deep to
get it."
"What kind of buildings?"
"Allegoric, Ionic, Anti-Baloric, Log and slabs. The buildings are chiefly out
of doors and so low between joints that the chimneys all stick out through the
roof."
"What kind of society?"
"Good, bad, hateful, indifferent and mixed."
"Any aristocracy?"
"Nary one."
"What do you people do for a living, mostly?"
"Some work, some lay around; one is a shrewd business manager, and several
drink whiskey."
"Is it cheap living there?"
"Only fifty cents a glass and water thrown in."
"Any taste for music?"
"Strong. Buzz and buck saws in the daytime, and wolf howling and cat
fighting nights."
"Any pianos there?"
"No, but we have several cow bells, and a tin pan in every family."
"Any manufacturers?"
"Every household. All our children are home productions."
"What could a genteel family in moderate circumstances do there for a liv-
ing?"
"Work, shave notes, fish, hunt, steal, or if hard pinched, buy and sell town
property."
A CHAMPION HEN
From the White Cloud Kansas Chief, January 27, 1859.
SOME EGG. — Henry Ulsh, of Rush Island, brought into our office, last week,
an egg laid by a common hen, which (the egg) measured 5£ inches in circum-
ference around the centre; and endwise, 1% inches in circumference. This was
a bigger egg than an elephant could lay I Can anybody lay a bigger one?
(361)
362 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
MAIL TROUBLES
From The Big Blue Union, Marysville, August 15, 1863.
The mail due here from the east a week ago last Friday, by the Overland
Coach has never yet turned up. It failed to come Friday morning, but as that
was no uncommon occurrence our citizens only made a few wry faces and left
the office, expecting it would of course come in a few days. — There were a
good many valuable letters and papers in that mail which have been anxiously
looked for ever since. Through some scandalous neglect however, it has never
arrived. If the coach lost the sack or permitted it to be stolen, they should be
made to pay roundly for their carelessness. If the P. M. at Atchison or any
along the road are to blame, it should be known and the parties punished.
Since writing the above, the lost mail has arrived. Accompanying it was a
letter from the P. M. at Atchison, saying that he put the sack on the coach at
the usual time, plainly labeled, and enquiring who is to blame for its return to
Atchison unopened.
From the Union, April 9, 1864.
The other day the coach carried our mail up to Colorado Territory and back
to Atchison before it got to Marysville. Again this week the mail sack was left
at Guittard's and lay there until a man came along with a team and hauled it
over here. Instead of getting a tri-weekly mail, we get it just as circumstances
happen. This is very nice for our post office here through which eight or ten
smaller offices are dependent for their mail.
From the Union, April 16, 1864.
We have had one eastern mail this week. It came with no explanation, and
no excuse. We have taken pains to find out who is to blame, and can trace
the source of our trouble as far down east as Atchison. The Overland Company
is not to blame, neither is Mr. Guittard, who brings it from his place. The
coaches bring the sack every time it is furnished them by the Postmaster at
Atchison, and Mr. Guittard brings it as soon as it arrives at his place. Either
the Postmaster at Atchison fails to put it on board or the sack is not sent down
from St. Joseph. How is it? We don't want to be fooled any more this way.
Let us know the evil and it shall be remedied. The mail had accumulated at
the other end of the route to such an extent that it was sent up in two large
sacks, and one of them was an ordinary canvass sack, fastened with a string.
This was all the fastening. Think of that. How do you like to have your mail
run the gauntlet of inquisitive persons between here and the river, with no pro-
tection but an ordinary sack tied with a tow string? [Page 2.]
We stated last week that the mail sack lay at Guittard's until a team came
along to bring it to Marysville. It did come in a buggy, but came as quick
as it otherwise would. Mr. Mills, a mail contractor was at Guittard's with his
buggy when the mail arrived, and as he was on his way to Marysville, he was
requested to bring it along, which he did. [Page 3.]
YOUNG IN HEART
From the Washington Republican, August 22, 1873.
A lady 106 years old passed over the Denver road last week on her way
west to take a homestead and grow up with the country.
Kansas History as Published in the Press
In 1866 Mary Smith of Sheffield, Ohio, traveled across the Plains
to Colorado territory. Part of the journey was with a wagon train,
the remainder by stagecoach. A journal which she kept during the
trip has been edited by Dorothy Gardiner and published in The
Westerners Brand Book, New York, for 1959.
Two articles in the January, 1959, number of Agricultural History,
Urbana, 111., are of special interest to Kansans: "From Cattle to
Wheat: the Impact of Agricultural Developments on Banking in
Early Wichita," by George L. Anderson; and "William Allen White
and Dan D. Casement on Government Regulation," by James C.
Carey.
Downs as a railroad center was the subject of a series of articles
by Doug Brush, beginning in the Downs News, January 15, 1959.
The town was once the site of railroad shops on the Central branch
of the Missouri Pacific railroad.
A history of Rossville's newspapers was published in the Shawnee
County Reporter, Rossville, January 22, 1959. The first newspaper,
The Kansas Valley Times, was moved to Rossville by O. LeRoy
Sedgwick in 1879, from St. Marys.
In 1854 Alfred Larzelere staked a claim and built a cabin near
present Wathena. The following year he brought his family to the
new home. A biographical sketch of Larzelere, by Margaret Larze-
lere Rice, appeared in the Kansas Chief, Troy, January 22, 1959.
"Tall Tales in Kansas Newspapers," by Mary Francis White, was
the feature of the February, 1959, issue of the Heritage of Kansas,
Emporia.
Pleasant Ridge school, District No. 59, Marshall county, was
organized in 1872, according to a history of the school by Gordon
S. Hohn, printed in the Marysville Advocate, March 5, 1959.
An article on the early history of the Prairie Range school, Kearny
county, by India H. Simmons, was published in the Lakin Inde-
pendent, March 5, 1959. The school was opened in October, 1888,
in a dugout.
Early-day experiences of the John Blankenship family are re-
counted by a daughter, Mrs. Harm Schoen, in tie Downs News
and the Cawker City Ledger, February 5, 1959. The family settled
in Smith county in 1871.
(363)
364 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The battle of Coon creek, fought between U. S. cavalry and the
Indians in 1848 near present Kinsley, is reviewed by C. R. Coover
in the February 12, 1959, issue of the Kinsley Mercury. The attack
by the Indians is said to have been led by a squaw.
On February 12, 1959, the Belleville Telescope printed Ed Fisch-
er's recollections of an 1888 blizzard in the Republic area. A brief
history of the Cuba community appeared in the Telescope, Febru-
ary 19.
George W. Coffin is the author of a historical sketch of the Kaw
Indians and their reservation in the Council Grove area, published
in the Council Grove Republican, March 18, 1959. The Kaws
were moved to the Council Grove reservation in 1847. Coffin pro-
poses a historical shrine memorializing these Indians and the res-
ervation.
A special 36-page edition was published by the Baldwin Ledger,
February 19, 1959, in observance of Baker University's centennial
year and the Ledgers 75th year.
"First Families From Russia Arrived in Catherine Community
Years Ago," was the title of a historical article in the Hays Daily
News, February 22, 1959. The News printed "Colonists in Hays
and Ellis Enjoyed Bits of Culture With Pioneer Life," March 1.
On February 24, 1959, Orville W. Mosher's column "Museum
Notes" in the Emporia Gazette, included a biographical sketch of
the Rev. Solomon Brown. Brown and his family settled on the
Cottonwood river in 1855.
Although chartered in 1889, the Russell State Bank was started
12 years earlier as a private bank by Theodore Ackerman and
Charles P. Copeland, it was reported in a sketch of the bank in the
Russell Daily News, March 4, 1959.
Heinie Schmidt's column "It's Worth Repeating," has continued
to appear regularly in the High Plains Journal, Dodge City. In-
cluded among the stories in recent months were: "Pawnee County
Pioneer Farmer [Alvis Bell] Practiced Early Irrigation," April 9,
1959; "Early Day Boom Fails in ... Hartland," by Mrs.
Sarah E. Madison, April 16; "Early Kearny History Story of Violent
Weather," by Edgar R. Thorpe, April 23; "1880 Census Shows
Dodge City Railroad Town," May 7; "Early Day Kendall," by Mrs.
India Harris Simmons, May 14; "Cold Weather Story [1895]," by
Andy J. Meyers, May 28; a sketch of the pioneer family of Webb
KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 365
Snyder, by E. R. Snyder, June 4, 11, 18; "Fourth [of July, 18801
on Chouteau Island/' by Francis L. Pierce, July 2, 9; and three
articles by Jennie Ross O'Loughlin: "Santa Fe Traffic and Trade/'
July 23; "Slaughter of Buffalo," July 30; and "Early Day Lakin,"
August 6.
Some of the history of Nicodemus, Graham county Negro settle-
ment, compiled by Mrs. Clarence Dale and Howard Raynesford,
appeared in the Ellis County Farmer, Hays, May 28, 1959.
The Wellsville Globe, June 4, 1959, published a history of Salem
Hall school, in the Wellsville area, by Bernice Holden.
Mrs. Lulu Kassebaum is the author of a history of early Ross-
ville, which began appearing in series in the Shawnee County Re-
porter, Rossville, June 18, 1959.
The history of educational development in Edwards county,
compiled by Hubert Fatzer and Mrs. Albert Wilson, was printed
in the Kinsley Mercury, June 25, 1959.
Will T. Beck is the author of a two-column history of Campbell
College in the Holton Recorder, July 9, 1959. The college was
started in 1882 as Campbell University, a private school. In 1903
the United Brethren Church began operation of the college. Seven
years later the school was moved to Kansas City.
Kansas Historical Notes
Programs at recent meetings of the Ottawa County Historical
Society included the story of George Washington Carver in Minne-
apolis, read by A. R. Miller, February 21, 1959; a biographical
sketch of the Peter McGee family of Delphos, given by Ray Hal-
berstadt, March 21; and the presentation by Mrs. Ellis Bishop of
historical information on Negro families in Minneapolis, April 11.
Edwin J. Walbourn, El Dorado Junior College, was elected
president of the Kansas Association of Teachers of History and
Social Science at the association's 33d annual meeting in Atchison,
March 6 and 7, 1959. W. Stitt Robinson, University of Kansas,
was chosen vice-president; C. Robert Haywood, Southwestern
College, secretary-treasurer; and Ernest B. Bader, Washburn Uni-
versity, member of the executive council. Peter Beckman, St.
Benedict's College, was the retiring president.
Foster Eskelund was named president of the Kearny County
Historical Society at the annual meeting in Lakin, March 7, 1959.
Mary G. Smith, Lenora B. Tate, and Olivia T. Ramsay were elected
vice-presidents; Virginia P. Hicks, recording secretary; Joseph M.
Eves, corresponding secretary; Robert O. Coder, treasurer; Mar-
garet O. Hurst, historian; and Vivian P. Thomas, curator. Charles
A. Loucks was the retiring president.
The Kauffman Museum at Bethel College, North Newton, was
described by E. Lawson May in the Hutchinson News, March 22,
1959. The article included biographical notes on Charles J. Kauff-
man, who collected the relics, stuffed and mounted the birds and
animals, and donated the museum.
Township directors were elected at a meeting of the executive
committee of the Clark County Historical Society in Ashland,
April 13, 1959. They are: Mrs. Cecil Pike, Appleton; Mrs. Gay
Hughs, Ashland; Mrs. Lena Smith, Brown (east); Mrs. George
Abell, Brown (west); Mrs. Paul Salyer, Center; Roy Shupe, Cim-
arron; Mrs. Philip Arnold, Edwards; Mrs. Florence Walker, Engle-
wood; Jack Stephens, Lexington; Mrs. Ross Bell, Liberty; Mrs.
Kenneth Huck, Sitka; and Mrs. Glenn Dennis, Vesta. Shupe, vice-
president of the society, is chairman of the township directors.
Approximately 65 persons listened to a panel discussion on the
early history of Pittsburg by a group of students from Lakeside
(366)
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 367
Junior High School, Pittsburg, at the spring meeting of the Craw-
ford County Historical Society in Pittsburg, April 21, 1959. T. E.
Davis is president of the society.
Mrs. E. G. Peterson was re-elected president of the Edwards
County Historical Society at a meeting in Kinsley, April 21, 1959.
Other officers elected were: M. L. Tatum, first vice-president;
Mrs. Iva Herron, second vice-president; Harry Offerle, third vice-
president; Mrs. Elsie Jenkins, secretary; Cecil Matthews, treasurer;
Myrtle Richardson, historian; Mrs. Mary Cole- Vang, assistant his-
torian; Mrs. Jessie Winchester, custodian; and Mrs. Lloyd Britton,
assistant custodian. A fund has been started by the society for
building a museum.
An article describing the Fort Riley Museum, by Kent D. Stuart,
was printed in the Coffeyville Daily Journal, Chanute Tribune, Em-
poria Gazette, Pittsburg Headlight, and Southwest Daily Times,
Liberal, April 30, 1959; Manhattan Mercury, May 3; and Hutchin-
son News, May 4. The museum is operated by the Fort Riley His-
torical Society, Lee Rich, president. More than 600 persons have
become active members of the society since its start in 1957.
Marshall G. Gardiner described the Fort Leavenworth Museum
in an article which appeared in the Leavenworth Times, May 5,
1959, and the Ottawa Herald and the Kansas City (Mo.) Times,
May 6. The museum recently moved to new quarters at the fort.
On May 9 and 10, 1959, the Border Queen Museum, Caldwell,
held its fourth annual show, featuring a parade and a variety of
exhibits. Dr. J. E. Turner is president.
Organization meetings of the Jewell County Historical Society
were held in Mankato, May 16 and June 13, 1959. Fred W. Meyer
is president of the group. Other officers include: Bradley Judy,
vice-president; Mrs. Elton Gillett, secretary; and O. K. Fearing,
treasurer. Nyle Miller, secretary of the Kansas State Historical
Society, addressed the June 13 gathering.
Dr. Howard C. Clark is chairman of the new Historical Wichita
board, appointed in June, 1959, by the Wichita city commission.
Other members are: Pat Rowley, Mrs. William I. Robinson, Mor-
ris N. Neff, Jr., Larry W. Roberts, Thomas W. Fuller, and Ewing
Lawrence. The board will represent the city in the work of pre-
serving and improving points of historical interest in Wichita.
368 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The annual meeting of the Scott County Historical Society was
held in Scott City, June 4, 1959. The following trustees were re-
elected: W. A. Dobson, Bill Boyer, and Harold Kirk. On June
11 the trustees re-elected Dr. H. Preston Palmer president of the
society. John A. Boyer and James W. Wallace were elected vice-
presidents; Mrs. C. W. Dickhut was re-elected secretary, and Mrs.
Robert Deragowski, treasurer.
Judge Spencer A. Card was chosen president of the Allen
County Historical Society at a meeting of the board of directors
in lola, June 15, 1959. Mary Ruth Carpenter was elected to suc-
ceed Judge Card as secretary. Angelo Scott was the retiring presi-
dent.
Organization of the Rice County Historical Society was com-
pleted at a meeting in Lyons, June 17, 1959, with the approval of
a constitution and the election of permanent officers. The officers
are: Art Hodgson, president; Mrs. Jo Bundy, vice-president; Paul
Jones, secretary; and Ed Kilroy, treasurer.
Bob Bolitho was elected president of the newly organized Harper
City Historical Society at a meeting July 25, 1959. Other officers
are: Audrey Murray, vice-president; Agnes Nye, secretary; Lenore
Murray, treasurer; and Harold Bebermeyer, Tom Hudson, and Lem
Laird, directors.
The Fort Scott and Bourbon County Historical Society was re-
organized at a meeting July 31, 1959. George Eakle was named
president for a two-year term. G. W. Marble was elected vice-
president and Mrs. J. R. Prichard, secretary-treasurer. Other mem-
bers of the executive board are: Mrs. Emma Connolly, Harold
Calhoun, Hilton Wogan, Melvin Hurst, John Grain, A. W. Dick-
erson, Earl Vore, R. H. Waters, Dr. D. E. Torkelson, and Harry
Fisher.
Evangeline Louise Mohl is the author of a new 205-page volume
consisting of a group of poems entitled Lyrics of the Night, and a
two-act play, The Moonlight Sonata. Early experiences of the
author, a native Kansan, are reflected in many of the poems. Pag-
eant Press, Inc., New York, is the publisher.
THE
KANSAS HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Winter 1959
Published by
Kansas State Historical Society
Topeka
NYLE H. MILLER KIRKE MECHEM JAMES C. MALIN
Managing Editor Editor Associate Editor
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE PONY EXPRESS RIDES AGAIN 369
With photographs of altered Pony Express stations still standing in Seneca
and Marysville, and map of the Kansas portion of the Pony Express
route, frontispiece.
CRITIQUE OF CARRUTH'S ARTICLES ON FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS IN KANSAS,
/. Neale Carman, 386
THE FIRST KANSAS LEAD MINES Walter H. Schoewe, 391
With sketches and photographs of Linn county lead mine area, between
pp. 400, 401.
EUGENE WARE'S CONCERN ABOUT A WOMAN, A CHILD, AND GOD,
James C. Malin, 402
RELIGION IN KANSAS DURING THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR —
Concluded Emory Lindquist, 407
THE CENTENNIAL OF LINCOLN'S VISIT TO KANSAS 438
BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 444
KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE PRESS 445
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 450
ERRATA, VOLUME XXV 454
INDEX TO VOLUME XXV 455
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.
Second-class postage has been paid at Topeka, Kan.
THE COVER
A Pony Express rider, from an oil painting in
the museum of the Kansas State Historical Society.
Courtesy Mary Huntoon.
*
This was the Pony Express station at Seneca. Originally it was a hotel kept by John E. Smith.
The building was moved about three blocks from its original location and converted into a
private residence.
igm
A Pony Express station also still stands in downtown Marysville. Built of stone, it has under-
gone considerable remodeling.
For a picture of state-owned Cottonwood station, more familiarly known today as the Hollen-
berg ranch Pony Express station, see The Kansas Historical Quarterly, Summer, 1957 (v. 23),
between pp. 144, 145. Hollenberg station is outstanding because it is said to be the only re-
maining unaltered Pony Express station on the entire route.
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THE KANSAS
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Volume XXV Winter, 1959 Number 4
o
The Pony Express Rides Again
I. INTRODUCTION
N April 3, 1860, the Pony Express began operating over a 2,000-
mile route connecting the contiguous Eastern states at their
western outpost of St. Joseph, Mo., with the ten-year-old Far
Western state of California. Averaging less than ten days per run,
traveling through the storms and heat of summer, and the snow and
cold of winter, with Indian raids and other hazards thrown in, the
Express has come to be known as one of the West's most colorful
epics.
To commemorate this significant episode in American history
plans are being made for reruns of the Pony Express in the year
of its 100th anniversary, probably in April or July, 1960. Riders
will leave St. Joseph and California simultaneously to begin a series
of relays which will carry 1960 mail west and east again in some-
thing like the manner it was accomplished a century ago.
The old Pony Express crossed several northeast Kansas counties,
generally following a route of the Oregon and California road which
headed northwest toward the Platte river in Nebraska, then west-
ward. Riders will be recruited and the 1960 runs will parallel on
modern roads as nearly as practicable the original route. The Kan-
sas Centennial Commission and towns and riding clubs along the
way will assist in making the reruns a success.
The Pony Express ran for nearly 18 months before the telegraph
line was completed making possible the transmission of news across
the continent by wire. Inasmuch as a detailed account of the oper-
ation of the Pony Express by George A. Root and Russell K. Hick-
man appeared in The Kansas Historical Quarterly in February, 1946
( v. 14, pp. 36-70 ) , its story will not be repeated at this time. How-
ever, a map of the Kansas route and a few items concerning the
Express published in newspapers of the period are presented here.
(369)
370 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
II. THE ROUTE OF THE PONY EXPRESS THROUGH KANSAS
Aggregate
Distance Distance
Station or Place Type (Approximate} (Approximate)
MISSOURI
St. Joseph Terminal 0 0
KANSAS
Elwood Relay?* 2 2
Johnson's Ranch Relay? 10 12
Troy Relay? 2.5 15
Cold Spring
(or Syracuse?) Relay 9 24
Kennekuk Relay or Home?* 15 39
Kiokapoo Relay? 12 51
Pleasant Springs
(Granada) Passed by? 4 55
Log Chain Relay 9 64
Seneca Home 11 75
Ash Point
(Laramie Creek?) . . . Relay? 11 86
Guittard's Relay 12 98
Marysville Relay or Home? 14 112
Cottonwood Station
(Hollenberg) Relay 11 123
ELWOOD.— The Elwood Free Press, April 21, 1860, said this was the first
station and horses were kept here.
JOHNSON'S RANCH. — Places variously known as Thompson's, Cottonwood
Springs, Cold Springs, and Johnson's have been listed as points on the Pony
Express route between Elwood and Cold Spring. Where these were, or if one
and the same, is not known.
TROY. — Apparently there were two routes between Elwood and Cold Spring,
one being 20 miles long, the other 24. The latter was through Troy. It is not
certain which route was most used. The Pony Express Courier, Placerville,
Calif., July, 1936 (p. 3, col. 2), said Troy was the first relay station west of
St. Joseph. This would make the first run about 15 miles, an average distance.
COLD SPRING. — The aggregate mileage to this station is based on the long
route through Troy. Some sources list Cold Spring and Syracuse as separate
stations (see "Map of the Pony Express Trail" by W. R. Honnell, and Root and
Hickman, KHQ, v. 13, p. 513). Others list either one or the other or none at
all ( see Raymond W. Settle and Mary Lund Settle, Saddles and Spurs ( Harris-
burg, Pa., 1955), p. 118; Frank A. Root and William E. Connelley, The Over-
land Stage to California (Topeka, 1901), p. 113, and map in end fold). It is
* Stations on the Pony Express route were usually nine to fifteen miles apart and were
of two kinds. Relay stations were small affairs which housed only a station keeper and a
stock tender plus three or four horses. Their purpose was to provide a change of mounts
for the riders. Home stations were larger, and usually were also stage stations. Each housed
at least two riders, the station keeper, and two to four stock tenders. Spare horses, supplies,
and surplus equipment were also kept at the home stations.
The distance between stations was called a "stage." Each rider rode three successive
stages on three different horses, and was expected to total at least 33% miles per run. At the
home station he turned his mail over to the next rider and rested there until his turn came
to make the return trip.
THE PONY EXPRESS RIDES AGAIN 371
possible Cold Spring and Syracuse were the same station located near the
present town of Severance. The location of Syracuse is given as Sec. 36, T.
3 S., R. 19 E.
KENNEKUK. — The Pony Express route met the Fort Leavenworth-Fort Kearny
military road at Kennekuk. Its distance from St. Joseph indicates it may have
been a home station. The Pony Express Courier, June, 1939 (p. 3, col. 3), re-
ported that Kennekuk was the fifth station out of St. Joseph. The location is
Sec. 3, T. 5 S., R. 17 E.
KICKAPOO. — This station, on Plum creek, was near a mission school in the
Kickapoo Indian reservation. The location was Sec. 14, T. 4 S., R. 15 E.
PLEASANT SPRINGS. — About 1865 the name of this town was changed to
Granada. There is some confusion between it and Log Chain station. In 1860
the Granada hotel here, was a station on the Central Overland California &
Pike's Peak Express. It was kept by David M. Locknane. It is doubtful that
the Pony Express, a sister enterprise of the C. O. C. & P. P. E, officially stopped
at Locknane's station since it was only four miles from the Kickapoo station.
The location of Pleasant Springs is Sec. 12, T. 4 S., R. 14 E.
LOG CHAIN. — The Pony's next stop was at Log Chain. There is an oft-
repeated and varying legend that the creek on which this station was located
was once called Log Chain because of the many chains which were broken in
attempts to pull wagons across its bed. However, "Log Chain" possibly could
be a corruption of "Locknane," the stream's actual name. (On some maps
the creek is labeled Locklane and on at least one it is called Muddy creek.)
The keeper here was N. H. Rising whose 24 by 40-foot house and 70-foot long
barn served as the station. The log cabin house still stands although it has
been somewhat altered and is now (1959) covered with shining white clap-
board. In 1859 and part of 1860 Rising had kept the Granada hotel in Pleasant
Springs, further adding to the confusion surrounding Granada and Log Chain.
The location of Log Chain station is Sec. 19, T. 3 S., R. 14 E.
SENECA. — Settle and Settle reported this to have been the first home station
on the east end of the Express, 77 miles west of St. Joseph (p. 119). The
station was a hotel kept by John E. Smith and the place was noted for its fine
food. The old building, now a private residence, still stands in Seneca but it
is several blocks down Main street from its location in Pony Express days. The
original site, at Fourth and Main, is marked with an inscribed boulder.
ASH POINT. — It is possible that Ash Point, Laramie Creek, and Frogtown
stations were the same. It was at Ash Point that "Uncle John" O'Laughlin kept
a grocery store and sold whisky to stage passengers. The location was Sec. 8,
T. 2 S., R. 11 E.
GUTTTARD'S. — This station was kept by the George Guittard family, and is still
marked on some maps. Photos of the station and barn are published in Root
and Connelley (p. 196). The location is Sec. 4 (probably the N.E. J* of the
N.E.M),T. 2S.,R. 9E.
MARYSVILLE. — The Pony Express Courier, April, 1936 (p. 3, cols. 1, 2), re-
ported Marysville a home station. Settle and Settle ( p. 120 ) said it was a relay
station. The original building, considerably altered, is still in use.
COTTONWOOD STATION. — This is the well-known Hollenberg ranch house
and was the last Pony Express station in Kansas. It is reported to be the only
372 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
remaining unaltered Pony Express station. The place is now a state museum.
It is located in the S.W. X of the S.W. X of Sec. 2, T. 2 S., R. 5 E., northeast of
Hanover.
III. THE STORY OF THE PONY EXPRESS AS PUBLISHED IN
1860-1861 NEWSPAPERS
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, January 30, 1860.
From Leavenworth to Sacramento
GREAT EXPRESS ENTERPRISEI
in Ten Days!
Clear the Track and let the Pony Come
Through!
In our telegraphic columns a few days ago, there was an item stating that
it had been decided by the Government to start an Express from the Missouri
river to California, and the time to be ten days; but we were not aware that
our fellow-citizen, Wm. H. Russell, Esq., was at the head of the enterprise
until we were shown the following dispatch. Its importance can be readily
perceived:
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27th, 1860.
To JOHN W. RUSSELL — Have determined to establish a Pony Express to
Sacramento, California, commencing the 3rd of April. — Time 10 days.
WM. H. RUSSELL.
That's a short and important dispatch, and the time to travel between here
and California is very short also.
The first conclusion almost any one would come to, is, that this is utterly
impossible. Even the old mountaineer who has been long months traversing
the great Plains between here and California, at first would pronounce the
project is entirely impracticable. But when we take into consideration that
the men who have undertaken this project know their business, and have carried
out other projects of great magnitude, and even excelled their promises, we are
prepared to believe that they will carry out to the letter this the greatest enter-
prise ever undertaken in this western country.
We believe the Express is to be run by Messrs. Jones, Russell & Co., whose
Express from here to Pike's Peak has made such extraordinary time since its
first inauguration, making almost as good time to and from the Rocky Mountains
in the Winter as in the Summer. Their Pike's Peak Express was indeed a
great project, but the Pony Express that they will run from the Missouri river
to the Sacramento in ten days, will eclipse it.
We have not been informed the route that it is intended to run — in
fact, we presume the parties themselves have not fully determined the exact
THE PONY EXPRESS RIDES AGAIN 373
line of travel — but we may be pretty well assured that it will be as straight
as possible. We believe the Express will be run for the Government alone,
and infer that it will go the shortest and easiest route to Camp Floyd, Utah.
Whether it will go by way of the new gold fields or not we can only conjec-
ture. There are three routes from here to the valley of the Great Salt Lake.
The usual route is on the South side of the Platte, and through the South Pass;
the other route is by way of the new gold mines, and over the Rocky Mountains,
by what is called the Cherokee trail. This trail was traveled considerable last
Summer, . . . and is represented as being better in Summer, than the old
South Pass route, for persons going on horseback; it is said to be a little nearer
than the old route.
The distance from here to Denver, the route the Express travels, is 665
miles, and from Denver to Camp Floyd, per Cherokee trail, is estimated at 550
miles, making the distance to Camp Floyd 1,215 miles. From Camp Floyd
there is a new route through Skull Valley, which strikes Humboldt river at
Gravelly Ford; passes down the Humboldt some distance below Lawson's
Meadows, and enters the Sierra Nevada mountains through a pass below
Honey Lake Valley, and then goes west to Placerville and Sacramento. The
distance from Camp Floyd to Sacramento via Placerville is about 700 miles
over this route — making the entire distance from this city to Sacramento, 1,950
miles. We have made some enquiry of persons who are pretty well posted in
the distance, and presume they are near correct. If their figures are correct,
the Express will have to travel but eight miles per hour to get through in ten
days.
In connection with this Express to California, we have no doubt but that
the Government will start another from Camp Floyd to the Dalles of the
Columbia, Ft. Vancouver, Oregon, and Steilacoom on Puget Sound. — These are
all important military stations. By a new route discovered by Lieut. Mullen,
the distance from Salt Lake to the navigable waters of the Columbia is but 450
miles — so that the trip from the Missouri to the Columbia river, can be made
in ab[o]ut nine and one-half days.
That the enterprise will be accomplished we have no doubt. The men who
have the matter in charge, are men of means and energy.
Success to the Pony Express!
A jealous note appearing in the Journal of Commerce, of Kansas
City, Mo., was reprinted and promptly dealt with by the Leaven-
worth Daily Times in its issue of February 4, 1860.
It is said that some of the citizens of Leavenworth have contracted with the
government to run a one horse express to California from that city. We should
think that such an one would fully meet their demands. — Kansas City Journal.
For the information of that enterprising sheet, we would say that the "citi-
zens of Leavenworth" who "have contracted with the Government to run a
one horse Express," are Messrs. Russell, Jones & Co., to whom the Journal is
indebted for the only news it publishes from Pike's Peak and Salt Lake, which
it copies from THE DAILY TIMES.
It is but just to say that our energetic neighbor of the Journal runs the only
Express that goes out from that city; it makes semi-occasional trips to Westport,
which is four miles distant, returning same day. As a sample of the extraor-
374 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
dinary time made, we refer to the fact that the Journal gave a full account
of the burning of the Methodist Mission long before it took place — in fact the
Mission stands there yet for aught we know!
We would suggest to our enterprising neighbor that if he would wish to be
put in immediate communication with Salt Lake, Santa Fe and Pike's Peak,
he must run an Express (a one-horse one is better than none) to this city. We
will gladly furnish him the news in advance from our proof-sheets, on the ar-
rival of the Pike's Peak Express every week.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, February 10, 1860.
OVERLAND PONY EXPRESS!
Dispatches from Leavenworth to be De-
livered in Sacramento in Eight Days!
By reference to an advertisement in another part of the paper, it will be
seen that Jones, Russell & Co. want two hundred grey mares, to put on the Ex-
press that is to leave here on the 3d of next April, for Carson Valley, Cali-
fornia. It is intended that the trip will be performed in eight days. At Carson
Valley is the first telegraph station; from there the dispatches will be sent to
Sacramento over the California telegraph line.
Short as the time may appear to cross the Rocky Mountains, the trip will be
performed. The originators of this great enterprise know no such word as
fail. To perfect arrangements for so great an undertaking at this season of the
year, will require great energy, capital and tact. But those who have under-
taken this great feat, are fully equal to the task.
WANTED
Two HUNDRED GREY MARES, from four to seven years old, not to exceed fifteen
hands high, well broke to the saddle, and
Warranted Sound,
With black hoofs, and suitable for running the "Overland Poney Express."
feb 10 Iw JONES, RUSSELL & Co.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, February 22, 1860.
THE PIKE'S PEAK EXPRESS left yesterday morning for Denver. There were
two passengers, and a very large freight list. Among the articles, we noticed
a lot of saddles and other riggings for the Pony Express. Mr. Van Vleit was the
Messenger.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, March 10, 1860.
We are credibly informed that Russell & Co.'s Pike's Peak Express, which
has heretofore run between Leavenworth and Denver City, is about to be
changed to St. Joseph.— The citizens of St. Jo. subscribed $25,000, which is
to be given to the company when the change is perfected. The next Express
will probably leave St. Joe instead of Leavenworth, as heretofore. — Kansas
City Jour., 7th.
The above rumor was started some days ago. We showed the above extract
to the Secretary of the Express Company, and he replied that it was news to
him. There is no truth in the rumor. They will undoubtedly carry passengers
from St. Joe, and perhaps other points, but the head quarters of the estab-
lishment will remain at Leavenworth.
There was also a rumor that Messrs. Russell, Majors & Wadell were to re-
move from this city. This rumor, like the other, has no foundation, we are
THE PONY EXPRESS RIDES AGAIN 375
very credibly informed. — Neither of these great firms contemplate leaving
Leavenworth. They are fixed institutions — their head-quarters will be at this
city.
As the Journal has given currency to the rumor, will it do Leavenworth
justice by making the correction?
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, April 2, 1860.
THE PONY EXPRESS.
This great western enterprise, the Pony Express to California, starts on Tues-
day, or April the 3d. It will run through in ten days, and will carry letters
and messages at four dollars each.
The Telegraph on the California side, is finished to Carson Valley. Virtually
then, the Pony Express will put the Atlantic States within eight days of San
Francisco. For a private enterprise, this is one of the most important yet
undertaken in this country.
Unfortunately for Leavenworth, the rumor that the Pony Express
would start from St. Joseph proved true. Which accounts for the
following sour note in the Leavenworth Daily Times, April 5, 1860.
PONY EXPRESS.
Our neighbors of St. Joseph had a jolly time, April 3d, over the starting of
the Pony Express. It was to have left at 3, P. M., that day, but an express
from New York failed to reach it, as it was delayed. The railroad dispatched
a special train to Palmyra — some one hundred and sixty miles distant from St.
Joseph — and brought it in in three hours and fifty-one minutes.
All being thus arranged, the Pony Express started at 7J£, P. M., with forty-
nine letters, nine telegrams, and newspapers for the California Press. A huge
undertaking this! An enterprise great as the countryl
From the Elwood Free Press, April 7, 1860.
— The Pony Express from St. Joseph to San Francisco left Elwood on Tues-
day evening. The following is the time table:
ELWOOD TO
Marysville, 12 hours.
Fort Kearney, 34
Laramie, 80
Bridger, 108
Salt Lake, 124
Camp Floyd, 128
Carson City, 188
Placerville, 226
Sacramento, 232
San Francisco, 240
The Express carries only telegraphic despatches. It will run weekly from
this date.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, April 14, 1860.
ARRIVAL OF THE PONY EXPRESS.
The Pony Express arrived at St. Joseph yesterday, having made the distance
from San Francisco in a little less than ten days. The Express carries only
telegraph dispatches and letters. The news is unimportant.
376 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
From the New York Daily Tribune, April 14, 1860.
CALIFORNIA PONY EXPRESS
St. Louis, Friday, April 18 [13], 1860. — The Pony Express that left San
Francisco at 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the 3d inst, reached St. Joseph's a few
moments after 5 o'clock this afternoon, but while the private dispatches and
Associated Press reports were being prepared for transmission, the wire broke
down between Kansas City and Leavenworth. It was then too late to repair
it to-night, but it will be put in working order the first thing in the morning.
An organized band of horse thieves have seriously interfered with the line
all the Spring. They have often cut the line simultaneously in several places
and carried off and hid a large quantity of wire, and once they threatened the
life of the line repairer.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, April 16, 1860.
THE PONY EXPRESS.
A marvel feat has been accomplished! The Pony Express has galloped
across half the continent, and to-day the Pacific is in close neighborhood to
the Atlantic. History will record this event as one of the gigantic private enter-
prises of our day.
The Pony Express left San Francisco on the 3d of March [April], at 4,
P. M., and arrived at St. Joseph on the 13th of March [April], at 4, P. M. The
difference in time between these points is about three hours. Thus the dis-
tance was made in nine days and twenty-one hours!
The run from San Francisco to Salt Lake City was made in two days and
twenty hours. Had it not been for snow on the mountains, the whole trip
could have been made inside of eight days!
Nor is this great triumph to be without fruit. It is the pathway for other
and greater ones. Government is laggard. In all that relates to the interests
of the West, and the development of the resources of the West, it has been
niggard as well as laggard. It can be so no longer. This great success of a
private energy will prick the mind of the country to the necessity of Western
wants, and compel Government to attend to these wants quickly and well.
We can do but little towards testifying cur respect and admiration of the
great action of Messrs Russell, Jones & Majors, but that little should be done
in a spirit worthy of the occasion. We should celebrate the triumph — for it
is ours, the country's, as well as theirs. We propose, then, a dinner, or a supper,
or a testimonial of some kind, that we speak at least the general joy. Will
the Mayor of the City, with such other gentlemen as he may associate with
him, consider and act upon this suggestion?
From the Elwood Free Press, April 21, 1860.
The third Pony started out yesterday. Elwood is the first station on the
Express line and the horses are kept here. Another messenger arrived last
night — through in eight days.
THE PONY EXPRESS. — This great enterprise has been successful. The first
messenger came in ten days, and the trip will be made two days sooner than
this after the arrangements have been fully completed. This is the best time
ever made. All important intelligence will now be transmitted over the St.
THE PONY EXPRESS RIDES AGAIN 377
Joseph and San Francisco Pony Express Line. It will leave here every Friday.
It goes by way of Kearney, Laramie, Salt Lake City and Placerville.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, April 23, 1860.
ARRIVAL OF THE PONY EXPRESS.
ST. JOSEPH, April 20.
The second messenger of the Central Overland Pony Express, bringing
California dates to April 10th, and Carson Valley to the llth, reached here at
5 o'clock this evening, exactly on time. . . .
From the Elwood Free Press, April 28, 1860.
The Pony Express will leave hereafter on Saturday of each week.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, May 8, 1860.
ARRIVAL OF THE PONY EXPRESS.
ST. JOSEPH, May 7.
The Pony Express arrived here last night at half past nine o'clock in nine
days and four hours from San Francisco. The last 120 miles on this end were
run in eight and one half hours.
SAN FRANCISCO, April 27. — . . . It is estimated that $35,000 in drafts
were transmitted eastward by the Pony Express, which may reach their destina-
tion twelve days before the steamer having treasure to meet them arrives in
New York.
The Pony Express which left St. Joseph on the 13th, arrived at San Fran-
cisco in nine days and seventeen hours from the time of starting.
Telegraphic dispatches from Carson Valley to parties interested, not yet
published, state that the Indians between Salt Lake and Carson Valley having
stolen thirty horses belonging to the Pony Express, a new supply of horses will
be sent out speedily from Sacramento, but the incoming Express may be three
or four days behind time in consequence of this misfortune. . . .
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, May 31, 1860.
ARRIVAL OF THE PONY EXPRESS.
ST. JOSEPH, May 30.
The Pony Express, due on Monday, the 28th, arrived last night at 9 o'clock,
but brought no California mail, which is supposed to have been intercepted
by Indians.
The only matter brought by the Express is from Salt Lake, at which place
it arrived and left on the 24th inst.
All the information we can learn in regard to this failure is the following
note on the Salt Lake way-bill, made by the agent at that point:
"Rider just in. The Indians have chased all the men from the stations be-
tween Diamond Spring and Carson Valley. The macheres, in which the Ex-
press matter is carried, is lost. The Indians are reported to have killed two
riders on the last trip, and it is supposed that they carried off or destroyed
the mail matter belonging to this Express."
The news from Salt Lake is very meagre.
On the 17th, two men, named Myron Brewer and R. Kitt Johnson, were
both shot at once, by unknown hands.
378 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The distance from Salt Lake to St. Joseph — 1200 miles — was made in five
days and seven hours. . . .
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, June 5, 1860.
ARRIVAL OF THE PONY EXPRESS!
MISSING MAIL RECOVERED!
Americans Murdered — Fight with 500
Indians — Defeat of Major Ormsby
and His Death — Retreat of the Troops —
Excitement in California.
The Pony Express brings sad news. The dates are from San Francisco May
13th, 3:40 P. M.
Several Americans had been murdered on Carson's river, while asleep, by
the Indians. This outrage led to an organization of whites. The volunteers,
numbering one hundred and five men, placed themselves under the command
of Major Ormsby, and pushed in pursuit of the Indians. The report says:
This force, on the 12th instant, at 4 P. M., came upon the Indians at bend
of Truckee river, about sixty-five miles northward towards Pyramid Lake from
Virginia City. The Indians were in ambush at a narrow pass thro' which the
Ormsby party were proceeding, and numbering, it is supposed, not less than
five hundred, all having fire-arms, plenty of ammunition, and one hundred and
fifty horses within convenient distance. They opened a fire upon our troops
from their safe hiding places, and Major Ormsby ordered a charge, but the
Indians continued to skulk, firing occasionally from behind rocks and sage
bushes, doing damage without suffering much in return. This condition of
things continued two hours, when the ammunition of Ormsby 's party gave out.
The Indians seeing this, closed upon our men, pouring in volley after volley,
killing many on the spot. The balance retreated, scattering in all directions,
over hills and among sage bushes. They were pursued twenty-five or thirty
miles by the mounted Indians and many detached parties cut off. — The sur-
vivors came straggling into Virginia City during the two following days. The
exact number of killed is not yet ascertained, but it probably exceeds fifty.
Among the slain are Maj. Ormsby, Henry Meredith, a distinguished California
lawyer, W. S. Spear, Richard Snowden, Wm. Arrington, Dr. Jader, Charles
McLeod, John Fleming, S. Anderson, Andrew Scheald, M. Knezswich, John
Gormbo, A. K. Elliot, W. Hawkins, Geo. Jones, Wm. Macintosh, O.
McNoughton.
Total known to be killed, 21; wounded, 3. The fate of 43 is unknown.
Returned alive, 38. Wagons have been sent out to pick up any wounded
that may be found, and also an armed force to protect parties burying the
dead, but no account has yet been received from the battle ground.
Great excitement ensued in California. — Money was received, and men
volunteered, in every direction to punish the Indians. The State authorities
promptly dispatched arms and ammunition to quarters likely to tell against
the Indians. The report says further:
General Clarke, commanding the Pacific division, U. S. A., dispatched from
San Francisco, on the 14th, 150 United States troops, all the available men in
Central California, together with 500 stand of arms and 100,000 rounds of
ammunition. He also sent orders to the 100 United States soldiers stationed
at Honey Lake, one hundred miles north of Carson Valley, to proceed to the
THE PONY EXPRESS RIDES AGAIN 379
Pyramid Lake regions and aid in suppressing hostilities. These movements
warrant the belief that there are not less than 300 well armed volunteers from
California and 260 U. S. soldiers ready for duty on the eastern slope of the
mountains, which is an ample force to protect the people as long as unpaid
volunteers can afford to remain in the field. At the last accounts the hostile
Indians were all to the north of the Pony Express and Salt Lake mail and
emigrant route, and the troops will be so posted as to keep that route open.
The Indians on the eastern side of the mountains, extending north into Oregon,
and westward into the interior of Utah, number probably 2,000, and from their
contiguity with Mormons and other unavoidable causes, are all liable to be-
come hostile to Americans, unless permanent means are taken by the govern-
ment to restrain them. At least 500 U. S. soldiers should be stationed at
different exposed points, between the Humboldt and Walker rivers.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, June 23, 1860.
OVERLAND MAIL.
MORE INDIAN TROUBLES.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo., June 21.
The Butterfield Overland Mail Coach, with San Francisco dates to the first
inst, arrived this evening, bringing the following summary of news:
SAN FRANCISCO, June 1.
The mail departing to-day leaves California in the midst of great excitement
on account of the Indian hostilities in Western Utah. — The war is becoming
very serious. Within the month just closed the Indians have made attacks
on different parties of whites as far South as Walker's river, and Northward
as far as Honey Lake. The stations on the Pony Express line, and Salt Lake
mail route, are known to have been destroyed, and the stock driven off over a
distance of two hundred miles Eastward from Carson Valley. Parties of In-
dians constantly cross this route, and render it impossible to repair stations
and restock the route unless United States troops are provided to protect it,
and thus far Gen. Clark has not been able to spare the necessary men from
other duties. Under these circumstances, the Pony Express has been discon-
tinued until such time as its trips can be resumed without jeopardizing the
interests of its patrons. The main body of Indians are concentrated at Pyramid
Lake, where Col. Ormsby's party was recently defeated and over seventy of
them killed, as is now ascertained. — They are defiant, and well armed, and
number according to information relied on by Col. Jack Hays, from 1,500 to
3,000 warriors.
On the 29th ult, Col. Hays' party, of over six hundred volunteers, and
Capt. Stewart, with one hundred and sixty United States troops, started from
Carson Valley for the Indian head quarters, at Williams' Station, on Carson
River, where the first Indian murders occurred. Col. Hays' party came upon
a party of three hundred Indians, attacked and defeated them, killing seven
Indians, among them a principal chief. Two of the volunteers were wounded.
Yesterday, the 31st of May, the volunteers marched for Pyramid Lake,
and by the 2d inst. they confidently expect to bring on a general battle with
the main body of the savages. The most intense anxiety is felt upon the result,
for if our men are unsuccessful in striking an overwhelming blow, the most
serious Indian war ever known upon this coast will be inevitable. The effect
of these disturbances has been to concentrate all the mining population of
380 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the Washoe region, now numbering seven or eight thousand men, within a
small space in the vicinity of settlements. . . .
A memorial also goes forward to-day praying for a daily overland mail,
and Congressional encouragement to the Pony Express. . . .
The Pony Express, with St. Louis dates of May 20th, now five days over-
due, has not arrived, and probably has been cut off by Indians.
The outgoing Express of the 18th and 25th of May, passed through Carson
Valley on the journey eastward, and it is hoped got safely over the Indian-
infested portion of the route. Much apprehension, however, is felt for their
safety. They each had about 150 letters. . . .
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, July 3, 1860.
OVERLAND MAIL ARRIVED — INDIAN TROUBLES
CEASED — OREGON ELECTION.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo., July 2.
The Overland Mail Coach, from San Francisco June llth, and Virsalia June
12th, passed here last night. The following summary has been received:
SAN FRANCISCO, June 11. — . . . Since the Indians fled beyond the
reach of Col. Hay's volunteers, all apprehension of further trouble from them
in the Washoe mines are over. The regular troops will be stationed near
Pyramid Lake, and at other places where they can best protect all the settle-
ments. The company who went through on the Pony Express route expect to
obtain a sufficient force from the United States troops, now at Camp Floyd, to
keep the route free from danger after it is once cleared, and the stations re-
established. . . .
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, July 25, 1860.
THE JOURNEY OF THE PONY.
A correspondent of the St. Louis Republican thus describes the journey of
the Pony Express: "Bang goes the signal gun, and away flies the Express
pony, with 'news from all nations lumbering at his back/ But whither flies this
furious rider on his nimble steed? It is no holiday scamper or gallop that this
young Jehu is bent upon. His journey lies two thousand miles across a great
continent, and beyond the rivers, plains and mountains that must be passed;
a little world of civilization is waiting for the contents of his wallet. He and
his successors must hurry on through every danger and difficulty, and bring
the Atlantic and Pacific shores within a week of each other. No stop, no stay,
no turning aside for rest, shelter or safety, but right forward. By sun light,
and moonlight, and starlight, and through the darkness of the midnight storms,
he must still fly on, and on toward the distant goal. Now skimming along over
the emerald sea, now laboring through the sandy track, now plunging head-
long into the swollen flood, now wending his way through the dark canon,
or climbing the rock steep, and now picking his way through or around an
ambuscade of murderous savages. No danger or difficulty must check his
speed or change his route, for the world is waiting for the news he shall fetch
and carry. It is a noble enterprise, and as the express hurries down the
street and across the river, and I think of the toil and peril of the way, my
heart says, 'God speed to the boy and the pony'.["]
THE PONY EXPRESS RIDES AGAIN 381
THE HERALD'S Washington correspondent telegraphs that —
"Majors, Russell & Co., of the Pony Express establishment, received a
warrant upon the Territory to-day for $67,000, in consideration of past mail
services rendered. The Government is still largely in the debt of this firm for
valuable trains of merchandise destroyed on the Plains by the Indians during
the Utah rebellion, in consequence of the Government failing to furnish the
necessary escort authorized in their contract."
We know nothing of this or any other firm's accounts with the Federal
Treasury, and we want to know nothing, save that they are adjusted and paid
by the present Administration, not turned over as a legacy to its successor.
On every side we see indications that the game of throwing over dues and
accounts that should have been previously adjusted, to be dealt with by the
next Administration, is systematically pursued. There is the Oregon war debt,
which, whatever its amount or validity, ought to have been disposed of long
ago, still hanging about Congress and the Treasury, to be carried beyond the
4th of March next, if possible — and this is but a sample. If Majors, Russell
& Co. have such a claim as is above asserted, and the Treasury will not or
cannot adjust it, why is it not taken to the Court of Claims, and there adjudi-
cated! Why not have all outstanding claims so passed upon and promptly
settled? If they are left over till next year, they will go into the aggregate
expenditures thereof, and be paraded to prove the extravagance of the next
Administration. Let each dynasty settle its own bills and make an end of
them.— N. Y. Tribune.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, July 26, 1860.
THE PONY EXPRESS
Arrived in St. Joseph July 24th; and, it is thought that regular trips will be
made hereafter. . . .
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, August 1, 1860.
PONY EXPRESS!
RATES ON LETTERS REDUCED!
ON AND AFTER DATE,
LETTERS WEIGHING 1-4 OUNCE
WILL BE CARRIED THROUGH
For Two Dollars and Fifty Cents.
augl-tf
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, August 25, 1860.
LATEST NEWS FROM CALIFORNIA.
Arrival of the Pony Express.
WAR AMONG THE INDIANS.
ST. JOSEPH, Aug. 24.
San Francisco advices to Aug. llth, reached this city last night. . . .
The patronage of the Pony Express is greatly increasing, since the trips are
made in due time and news received of the safe arrival of all letters sent East-
ward. The new buildings being put up on the line of the Express, for three
hundred miles East of Carson Valley, in place of the stations recently de-
stroyed by the Indians, are sixty feet square, with stone walls eight feet high,
being designed to serve as forts when necessary. . . .
382 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
From the Elwood Free Press, September 29, 1860.
FAST TIME BY THE PONY EXPRESS —
Wm. H. Russell.
A St. Joe. correspondent of the St. Louis Republican sends an interesting
letter to that paper, from which we clip a few paragraphs:
The wonderful rapidity with which the Express riders have to make from
station to station, has already caused an occasional display of extraordinary
human endurance. Thus, Mr. John Fry, one of the couriers, some time since
started from Kennekuk, a station forty-five miles from this place, at 8 o'clock
one Saturday night, and reached St. Joseph at midnight. Starting out again
from this city on the following morning, he made three stations twenty-five
miles apart from one another; and had returned to St. Joseph at 11 P. M. of
the same day, thus traveling a distance of not less than one hundred and
ninety-five miles in eighteen runing hours, after losing one hour in eating
meals, making eight changes of animals, &c. This is certainly fast riding.
The individual that accomplished the feat is of a rather youthful appearance
and does not at all look like the NAT he must actually be.
The President of the Central Overland Express Company, Mr. William
H. Russell, of the well-known firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell, indulges in
hardly less rapid locomotion, although in a different way. — He is constantly
flying to and from Leavenworth, St. Joseph and Kansas City, St. Louis, Chi-
cago, Washington and New York. He makes from place to place in a rush;
drops among his associates and employees like a deas ex machina; hurries
through with his business and is — seen no more. — I believe he has made the
tour from Leavenworth to New York, Washington and back three times within
the last five weeks. Mr. Russell has, indeed, the indomitable energy of a true
Western man. Risen from a very humble station through his own exertions
to a highly influential position, he is a living illustration of Anglo-American
activity and enterprise.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, November 5, 1860.
FROM FORT KEARNEY.
FORT KEARNEY, Nov. 3.
The Pony Express, bound West, passed here at 8:35, P. M., on Friday, be-
ing a few hours behind time, occasioned by muddy roads.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, November 7, 1860.
FROM FORT KEARNEY.
FORT KEARNEY, Nov. 5.
The Pony Express, bound West, passed this point at six o'clock this evening.
The Pony Express Company have decided to start an extra Pony from this
point for California, on Wednesday 7th, carrying election news and private
telegrams. It is expected that the Pony will make very quick time. . . .
From the Elwood Free Press, November 10, 1860.
FORT KEARNEY, Nov. 7. — An extra of the Pony Express left here for Carson
Valley, at 1 P. M. to-day, carrying the election news and a considerable
number of private telegrams. The rider and horse were tastefully decorated
with ribbons, &c., and departed amid the cheering of a large and enthusiastic
gathering. This run is expected to be quicker than any yet made between here
THE PONY EXPRESS RIDES AGAIN 383
and the outer station of the California telegraph lines. The ponies leaving St.
Joseph Thursday, the 8th, and Sunday morning, the llth, are also to make
double quick time, calling here for latest telegraphic dates.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, November 20, 1860.
CALIFORNIA CLOSE BETWEEN
LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS.
GREAT UNION SPEECH OF STEVENS.
The South Coming to Her Senses.
FORT KEARNEY, Nov. 18.
The Pony Express from San Francisco the 7th, arrived at half-past nine
o'clock last night, bringing California dates, via Fort Churchill, by telegraph,
up to ten P. M., on the night of the 8th.
The rider reports a heavy storm between Fort Laramie and Salt
Lake. . . .
From the Elwood Free Press, November 24, 1860.
GOOD NEWS FROM CALIFORNIA.
The Pony Express brings to us the glad tidings that at least one of the
Pacific States is with us on the great question of freedom or slavery. Cali-
fornia, which has always been Democratic, always pro-slavery in her tend-
encies, has at length wheeled into the line of States who are united to prevent
the further aggressions of the slave power. Senator Gwin is repudiated at
home. His heinous acts will no longer reflect the sentiments of his State.
His future is easily read, and his retirement on the accumulations of corrupt
years is near at hand.
Oregon will soon, we hope, send across the mountains her greeting to the
glorious band of kindred free States. She has given us Republican Senators;
she will give us Republican electors, and the bright light of freedom shall
tint the entire Western Slope of our great Sierras. Thank God! for once the
North does as the South has done for years — shows to her enemies a strong,
united front. Let South Carolina fret, fume and threat. We are too great
to tremble.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, December 1, 1860.
PONY EXPRESS!
CHANGE OF SCHEDULE.
ON and after the first day of December next, the Schedule Time of the
Express will be changed and run as follows: Fifteen days between St. Joe and
San Francisco; eleven days between Fort Riley and outer telegraph station
Utah.
This Schedule will be continued running as new semi-weekly trips during
the winter, or until Congress shall provide for a tri-weekly Mail Service, which
alone will enable the Company to return to present or a shorter schedule,
the present mail service between Julesburg and Placerville being only semi-
weekly, which is not sufficient to keep the route open during winter.
WM. RUSSELL, Secretary
decl-dlm
Leavenworth City, K. T., Dec. 1st, 1860
384 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
From the Elwood Free Press, December 1, 1860.
FROM CALIFORNIA AND OREGON.
FORT KEARNEY, Nov. 28 — The Pony Express, which left San Francisco on
the evening of the 17th, passed here about one this morning. Reports three
feet snow on the South Pass and Rock Ridge. . . .
From the Elwood Free Press, January 12, 1861.
FT. KEARNY, Jan. 9 — The Pony Express passed about 11 last night.
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 26, 3:40 P. M. — The Pony Express, with St. Louis
dates, telegraphed to Ft. Kearney on the 10th, arrived at Sacramento on Sun-
day 23d, where it was detained twenty-four hours waiting for a steamer to
take it to San Francisco. There being no Sunday boat. The Pony is delayed
at Sacramento from one to two days, whenever it arrives there on Saturday,
after two o'clock, P. M. The Express time table ought to be arranged so that
the Pony will always arrive at Sacramento between Monday morning and
Friday evening.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, February 26, 1861.
LATEST NEWS BY TELEGRAPH.
NEWS BY THE PONY EXPRESS.
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 9, 3:40 P. M.
No arrivals or departures since last Pony Express. There are no more fail-
ures, and it is believed no more will take place. Shipment of treasury by
Monday's steamer, however, is expected to be light.
Notwithstanding the delay of the ponies, the last outgoing Express took
over ninety letters, and to-day's Express letters will probably number one
hundred and fifty.
Both houses of the Legislature have passed resolutions asking Congress
for additional aid to the Pony Express.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, June 11, 1861.
LATEST NEWS BY TELEGRAPH.
PER PONY EXPRESS.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 29.
The overland telegraph expedition left Sacramento on the 27th, for Carson
Valley, at which point they are to commence laying wires towards Salt Lake.
The expedition embraces 228 head of oxen, 26 wagons, and 50 men.
Pony Express with dates to May 20th, has arrived.
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, June 12, 1861.
LATEST NEWS BY TELEGRAPH.
PONY EXPRESS.
FORT KEARNEY, June 11.
The Pony Express passed here at 6 A. M.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 1. — There is no California news of moment. Every-
body is waiting with intense anxiety for Eastern news, and as each pony
arrives, the announcement of attack on Harper's Ferry, Norfolk, or some other
movement toward retaking public property captured by the South, is expected.
THE PONY EXPRESS RIDES AGAIN 385
From the Leavenworth Daily Times, August 29, 1861.
ST. JOSEPH, Aug. 26. — The Pony Express has been abandoned between St.
Joseph and a station 110 miles west [Marysville]. Letters will be obliged to go
by stage from here to reach the Pony at that starting point.
From Freedom's Champion, Atchison, November 2, 1861.
PROGRESS OF THE TELEGRAPH. — It was thought last year, and truly too, that
the pony had accomplished wonders when he had given us a communication
with the Pacific coast in from six to seven days. But now the Pony has be-
come a thing of the past — his last race is run. Without sound of trumpets,
celebrations, or other noisy demonstrations, the slender wire has been stretched
from ocean to ocean, and the messages already received from our brethern on
the Pacific coast, most conclusively show that the popular heart beats in unison
with ours, on the absorbing question of the preservation of the Union. The war
has been the all-absorbing topic, so that this great work has been almost en-
tirely lost sight of by the public. . . .
25—961
Critique of Carruth's Articles on
Foreign Settlements in Kansas
J. NEALE CARMAN
FROM the geographic point of view, the only printed work
treating as a whole the problem of the foreigner in Kansas has
been the two articles published by William Herbert Carruth in
1892 and 1894.1 We owe him a debt of gratitude; with no funds
at his disposal to aid him in pursuing his investigation he took time
from his literary occupations and from scholarly and pedagogic
activities, which in those days he necessarily devoted almost ex-
clusively to German, to concern himself with a general matter that
could bring him but little immediate recognition. Fortunately he
made his study at a time after almost all the rural foreign settle-
ments in Kansas had already been established and before the forces
of assimilation had invaded them sufficiently to hide their identity
from the casual observers that Carruth had to call on as informants.
His articles, if carefully studied, contain much of great value. They
are of less interest to the casual reader because they are filled with
local names that have no meaning unless detailed maps of the period
are consulted at the same time. Carruth provided a map to ac-
company his articles. It helps a great deal, but as we shall see, not
too much confidence can be placed on it.
As inferred above, the articles do not represent a major interest
of Carruth's. He merely reported on answers to a questionnaire.
He stated his procedures as follows:
As a source of information regarding the origin of the foreign elements of our
population when their native speech shall have been forgotten, but when the
influence of it will be left in vocabulary and pronunciation, I have thought that
a map of the state with the location of all the foreign settlements of even quite
small size would be of interest and in time of great value. In the following
pages I transmit the results of my inquiries so far as received. It is my intention
to make the report complete and to publish the map, when as complete as it
can be made, in colors. Unexpected difficulties have delayed the work and
prevented its being complete. I depended for my information upon the County
Superintendents of the State, a class of unusually intelligent and well-informed
men and women. But in not a few cases there seems to have been a suspicion
in the mind of my correspondent that I might be a special officer of the state
DR. J. NEALE CARMAN, author of several papers on foreign settlements in Kansas, is a
professor in the department of romance languages at the University of Kansas, Lawrence.
1. Herbert Carruth, "Foreign Settlements in Kansas," Kansas University Quarterly,
Lawrence, v. 1 (October, 1892), pp. 71-84; v. 3 (October, 1894), pp. 159-163. A brief
exception to the first sentence of this article is: J. Neale Carman, "Babel in Kansas," Your
Government, v. 6 (1951), No. 7, pp. 1-4.
(386)
CRITIQUE OF CARRUTH'S ARTICLES 387
trying to locate violations of the law requiring district schools to be conducted
in English, and hence information regarding schools in foreign tongue was
withheld or given but partially. And in some cases my informants were not
well posted. A superintendent by the name of Schauermann in a county con-
taining a town called Suabia, tells me that there are no foreigners in his county.
In such cases time must be taken to secure a correct result.
Carruth suspected that his informants might deceive him, but ap-
parently did not think of their being involuntarily wrong. He seems
to have verified their statements very seldom. The results of such
an inquiry could not be expected to be complete; they also exhibit
great unevenness of quality. There were scores of omissions that
might easily be pardoned, but others are sometimes astounding, not
only when the county superintendent reported no foreigners as in
Atchison county, but also when he was fully attempting to do so.
Here are some glaring cases of omission:
BARTON COUNTY. — The Pawnee Rock Mennonites and the Albert Germans
BROWN COUNTY. — The Norwegian and Welsh settlements
CLAY COUNTY. — The East Border Germans
CLOUD COUNTY. — The Danish settlement, the Germans
CRAWFORD COUNTY. — The Hepler-Brazilton Germans
DICKINSON COUNTY. — The Alida Germans (not reported from Geary county
either)
ELLIS COUNTY. — The Ellis Bukovinan Germans
JACKSON COUNTY. — The Germans
LEAVENWORTH COUNTY. — The city and its neighborhood (the text omits; the
map shows)
MCPHERSON COUNTY. — The New Andover Swedes
MARION COUNTY. — The Lincolnville Germans
MARSHALL COUNTY. — The Axtell Swedes, the Danes
OSAGE COUNTY. — The Vassar Germans
RENO COUNTY. — The Pretty Prairie Mennonites
RICE COUNTY. — The Bushton Germans
RELEY COUNTY. — The Fancy Creek Germans, the Bala Welsh, the Leonard-
ville-Riley Germans
RUSSELL COUNTY. — All but the most important group
SHAWNEE COUNTY. — Topeka itself
WASHINGTON COUNTY. — The Brantford Swedes, the Danes
WYANDOTTE COUNTY. — Slavs (they were already in the packing houses) 2
In many of these cases the county superintendent probably
omitted a report because other foreign elements in the county so
impressed him that he momentarily forgot certain important groups.
If, for instance, the Ellis Bukovinan Germans had lived in any county
2. The above omissions are "glaring." There are many other omissions. Carruth and
his informants might be pardoned for overlooking smaller settlements in western Kansas
where the population had not become stabilized, but even in the eastern part of the state
there are many. Three counties in which he reports "no foreigners" or as containing only
"scattered" individuals may serve as examples:
BOURBON. — The Fort Scott Germans
FRANKLIN. — The Homewood Germans
JOHNSON. — The Lenexa Germans (still others in this county)
388 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
but the one in which the Catholic Volgan Germans were centered,
an informant could hardly have neglected them.
The omission of the cities of Leavenworth and Topeka must have
been occasioned by the county superintendent's understanding that
he was to report only on that part of the county where he was himself
active. Omissions of certain other urban groups have probably the
same explanation. It cannot be applied in Kansas City, however,
where the Swedes are reported, but all other groups neglected. It
is equally hard to understand how the Riley county superintendent
could neglect to report the two most important groups of Germans,
while he did name one of lesser size, combining it with the adjacent
Czech settlement. Possibly he confused Swede creek and Fancy
creek, but he certainly does not have the same excuse for passing
over the Leonardville-Riley Germans who were located so near his
Manhattan headquarters. The amount of vagueness and inac-
curacy was quite in proportion to the number of omissions. Some of
it must probably be blamed on Carruth himself. He certainly
could have been more accurate about Douglas county where he
lived; he did not need to invent Big Springs township. The con-
fusions regarding Russian Germans seem to reflect his own haziness;
he apparently thought they all came from the same part of Russia.
The Russians of Russell and Rush counties (Catholics, Lutherans,
Baptists, Seventh Day Adventists ) would have been astonished and
indignant if they had known they were being lumped off as Men-
nonites. Setting up a Greek Catholic Church in Scott county was
quite a feat; Carruth's inability to believe that Germans in Russia
could be Roman Catholic seems to be at the basis of this error.
Similarly, he seemed to feel that everybody in the Austro-Hungarian
Empire spoke German by choice. The Moravians of Brown and
Shawnee counties would have been hurt to be classified as Ger-lings.
The inaccuracies of the informants usually show up in matters of
locations, chronology, and statistics. For instance, in Anderson
county, the Scipio-Greeley Germans very early had population in
townships adjoining as well as in Putnam township; they were there
by 1855 instead of 1860. The informants may also confuse the
identity of the foreign stocks; in Cloud county, Swedes are identified
as Norwegians (the Norwegians were farther north), and in Jewell
county, Bohemians, Hollanders, and Norwegians are called Swedes.
In making his map on the basis of the data at hand, Carruth could
not help falling into other errors. For instance, in Anderson county,
finding that the county superintendent had said that the Scipio-
Greeley Germans were in Putnam township, he marked the whole
CRITIQUE OF CARRUTH'S ARTICLES 389
township as occupied by them, whereas they were in the east half
only, though, as said above, they were also in adjoining lands to the
east and south. When a single settlement occupied parts of more
than one county, error was still more likely. The Russell report said
there were Russians (called Mennonites by Carruth) in the south-
west part of the county. So Carruth marked the two south town-
ships along the west county line as German, left unmarked the most
important township next east on the south border and so only
casually joined the Milberger Russian Germans to the part of this
group in Barton county. He does not distinguish the Hollanders
from the Germans, perhaps deliberately because he had used up the
colors at his disposal. In any case the Dispatch Dutch appear with
the German color in Smith county and the Scandinavian color in
Jewell county, so that no one could suspect their unity.
In Greenwood county, the county superintendent reported, "Nor-
wegians, about 200, in the south part of Salem Township." Carruth
assigned to them the whole of the township, which was very large,
and thus gave a mistaken idea both of the size and of the location
of the settlement. In the same county he located correctly "Germans
in Shell Rock Township," but he did not realize that the Coffey
county superintendent, when he reported "Germans in Liberty"
township, was speaking of a portion of the same settlement, and he
consequently left a gap in the middle of that settlement. Again,
the Washington county report said, "French about midway in Sher-
man township/' Carruth consequently gave the French a full survey
township around Linn in territory that is almost solidly German.
On the other hand, in Cloud county where the report stated, "Ca-
nadian French are scattered over much of the county, with con-
siderable settlements in and around the towns of Concordia, Clyde,
St. Joseph and Aurora/* Carruth did not guess how much territory
was French, and he assigned to the Canadians insufficient space,
sometimes wrongly placed. As a final example, the maps make the
Danes in Jackson county appear to occupy more territory than those
in Lincoln county, because the Lincoln informant specified only one
township for Danes, to which Carruth limited them, while the Jack-
son county superintendent mentioned two townships, and Carruth
spread them over most of both although they occupied only a small
part of each.
Carruth's articles record the existence of a great many foreign
settlements which are otherwise noted only in parish church his-
tories or documents even less widely circulated. As examples, let
me cite the Andale-Colwich Germans just west of Wichita, the
390 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Mound Valley Swedes near the Oklahoma line in Labette county,
the Cuba Czechs east of Belleville in Republic county, the Cloud
county French Canadians to the east of and south of Concordia,
the Osage City French and Italians, the Arvonia Welsh in Osage
county east of Emporia. This value may exist even when Carruth
incorrectly interpreted the data that he had at hand, as occurred in
some of the examples already cited.
Another example of value combined with error is the case of the
Hungarian Germans of Rawlins county. His article speaks of Hun-
garians. Though his map shows them with the same color as Bo-
hemians, and his articles do not show that they were German in
speech, he has at least recorded their existence. To be sure, the
existence of all these groups could be learned in other ways, includ-
ing inquiry made today; the record of their presence in the 1890's
is, however, important. Also, the notes concerning language usage,
particularly in schools, are important, for in many instances parish
histories are again the only record that we have in this matter. Here
is a list of counties having schools in foreign languages as reported
by Carruth (schools are German unless otherwise noted):
ANDERSON MITCHELL
BARTON MORRIS. — Swedish
CHASE NEMAHA
CHEYENNE OSBORNE
CLOUD. — French PHILLIPS
DICKINSON. — German and Swedish POTTAWATOMIE. — G erman and
ELLIS Swedish
ELLSWORTH RENO
FORD REPUBLIC. — Swedish, Norwegian,
GEARY Czech
HARVEY RELEY. — Swedish
LEAVENWORTH SALINE. — Swedish
LINCOLN. — German and Danish SEDGWICK
LOGAN. — Swedish WABAUNSEE
McPHERSON. — German and Swedish WALLACE
MARION WASHINGTON
MEADE WICHITA
As this list shows, in the 1890's there were foreign language schools
on all four borders of Kansas and there was a great concentration
of counties in central Kansas where such schools existed. Carruth's
is the only record of this phenomenon for the state as a whole.
In spite of the omissions and imperfections, Carruth's articles had
a very real value. The general picture that they presented was so
nearly correct and so valuable that it should have been given more
consideration than appears to have been the case.
The First Kansas Lead Mines
WALTER H. SCHOEWE
THE first lead ore mined in Kansas insofar as published records
go was in Linn county. The mines were centered around
Pleasanton in T. 21 and 22 S., R. 25 E., in the southeastern part of
the county. The mines of this area are of special interest because
the ore came from strata of Pennsylvanian age rather than from the
Mississippian, the lead-bearing rocks of the Tri-State Lead and Zinc
District; because most of the lead ore was distributed in a "circle"
or "chimney" surrounded by undisturbed strata; and because the
genesis of the ore is problematic.
THE ANCIENT DIGGINGS
Ten and more years before Kansas became Kansas territory in
1854, mining for lead had been carried on about two miles south-
east of Pleasanton. The evidence was found in a number of dig-
gings or shallow pits surrounded by heaps of debris among which
could be found particles of galena and crystals of sphalerite. Who
the early miners were and just when the mining was done cannot
be determined with absolute certainty. It is definitely known, how-
ever, that the mining antedates 1876, the date usually assigned to
the commercial mining of the lead and zinc ores of Cherokee
county, which is part of the Tri-State Lead and Zinc District, com-
prising parts of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas and which con-
stitutes one of the most important zinc and lead mining districts in
the United States. The occurrence of galena in Cherokee county
near Galena and in the vicinity of Baxter Springs at and before 1873
was known to some and anticipated by others.1 No account, how-
ever, is extant indicating mining activity in Cherokee county until
about 1876. As far as known, the mining near Pleasanton is the
first venture for metals in Kansas. With a fair degree of certainty,
it can be ascribed to the late 1830's or early 1840's, for in the spring
of 1864, B. F. Mudge visited the site and found oak trees estimated
to be at least 25 years old growing on the old mine dumps.2
A further clue to the date is found in a letter addressed to the
DR. WALTER H. SCHOEWE is head of the division of mineral economics and coal,
State Geological Survey of Kansas, and associate professor of geology at the University
of Kansas, Lawrence.
1. D. W. Wilder, Annals of Kansas (Topeka, 1875), p. 620.
rt on tt
(391)
2. B. F. Mudge, First Annual Report on the Geology of Kansas (Lawrence, 1866),
p. 30.
392 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
editor of the Observer-Enterprise, a weekly newspaper published
at Pleasanton, by A. R. Wayne, under date of September 20, 1926.
According to Wayne, who came to Kansas in 1855 and who
searched for lead on Mine creek in Linn county, the excava-
tions were made by the French in the 1840's. Still another clue is
to be found in the existence of a small town by the name of Potosi,3
in the mining area. The writer verified its location at the court-
house at Mound City, the county seat. It was in the S. E. M, Sec. 5,
T. 22 S., R. 25 E., the same legal description of the old mining site.
The date recorded was May, 1844. This 1844 town of Potosi was
apparently moved later to another location, a mile or so to the east
along Mine creek. The new Potosi consisted of 320 acres and was
laid out in 1856 by Proslavery men. The town, which existed
until 1869, when Pleasanton was started, consisted of six houses and
about 30 inhabitants. This Potosi Town Company was incorporated
by a special act, approved February 20, 1857.4 From the circum-
stantial evidence presented, it is reasonable to conclude that the
diggings southeast of Pleasanton date back at least to the early
1840's.
These mine works have been attributed by some to the Indians,
who undoubtedly must have known of the presence of galena in
the Pleasanton area; especially since, as stated by Wayne, crystals
of galena were plentiful on the surface in the mining area years
ago.5 It is debatable, however, whether the Indians were respon-
sible. Mudge was of the opinion that the pits were not the work
of the Indians, for he says "no one, knowing their [Indians'] habits
of labor, and ignorance of the reduction of ores, will credit this
report. The mining was undoubtedly the work of the early settlers
of Missouri."6 Indirect evidence points to the French, as they
were the first white men to enter Linn county.7 This is indicated
by the fact that Pleasanton and the mining area are in Potosi
township, and that formerly one, if not two, towns by the name of
Potosi existed in and close by the mining center.
The significance of the name Potosi is as follows: In Washing-
ton county, Missouri, less than 50 miles southwest of St. Louis is a
town by the name of Potosi. Lead and zinc were mined by the
French in Washington county as early as 1724 and at Potosi in
3. W. A. Mitchell, Linn County, Kansas, a History (Pleasanton, 1928), p. 321.
4. A. T. Andreas and W. G. Cutler, History of the State of Kansas (Chicago, 1883),
p. 1116.
5. Pleasanton Observer-Enterprise, September 23, 1926.
6. B. F. Mudge, "Geology of Kansas," Fourth Annual Report of the State Board of
Agriculture ... /or the Year Ending November 30, 1875 (1875), p. 123.
7. Andreas-Cutler, op. cit., p. 1101.
THE FIRST KANSAS LEAD MINES 393
the same county in 1763.8 Mining of lead is still carried on in
this same general area; it is not only the most important lead min-
ing district in Missouri, producing about 95 percent of all lead
mined in that state, but it is foremost in lead production in the
United States.9 It seems logical, therefore, to conclude that at
least some of the early settlers of the Pleasanton and lead mining
area of Linn county came from the lead-mining district of Potosi
and vicinity in Washington county in eastern Missouri. That these
early immigrants would apply names reminiscent of their former
homes, and also pursue occupations formerly engaged in, is natural
and to be expected. Furthermore, old settlers of Linn county de-
scribed the original metal miners of the county as Frenchmen.
It may be concluded, therefore, that these first lead miners were
Frenchmen rather than Indians.
THE JUMBO LEAD MINE
The Jumbo lead mine is the present-day representative of the old
diggings or pits. It is in the S. E. M, Sec. 5, T. 22 S., R. 25 E., about
one mile east and one mile south of the southeast corner of Pleas-
anton ( Fig. 1 A ) . At present ( 1957 ) , the mine is a circular, water-
filled pit, 117 feet in diameter and from 50 to 80 feet deep, sur-
rounded on all sides, except on the west, by heaps of debris from
10 to 15 feet high (Fig. 2A). The dump heaps, or mounds, are
composed of rocks of various kinds including bituminous limestone
(Fort Scott limestone formation), black shale, gray shale, sand-
stone, and coal. Scattered among the debris one may find today
particles of galena and crystals of sphalerite, especially after rains
have removed the finer clay and silt particles that ordinarily cov-
ered the ore fragments. Some lead ore has been mined, shipped,
and sold from the mine. Just when the original shaft of the Jumbo
mine was sunk is not known for certain. John Pellegrino reports
that the old Jumbo mine was sunk to a depth of 250 feet, but gives
no date.10 Erasmus Haworth states that a shaft was sunk 250 feet
in 1873.11 Whether the two 250-foot shafts are one and the same
is not clear. According to Mack Probasco (personal communica-
tion), a former owner of the mine, the Jumbo mine was sunk as
8. Arthur Winslow, Lead and Zinc Deposits, Missouri Geological Survey, v. 6 (1894),
pp. 269, 270.
9. E. S. Smith, The Mineral Industry of Missouri in 1952, Geological Survey and Water
Resources, State of Missouri, Information Circular No. 11 (1955), p. 12.
10. John Pellegrino, Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Inspection of Coal Mines and
Coal Production, State of Kansas, From January 1, 1916, to December 31, 1916 (1917),
p. 240.
11. Erasmus Haworth, W. R. Crane, A. F. Rogers, and others, Special Report on Lead
and Zinc, University Geological Survey, v. 8 (1904), p. 69.
394 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
a double shaft 300 feet deep. This shaft was sunk around 1899 and
was operated by two men named Dalton and Morrow, who named
their shaft the Jumbo lead mine. The Dalton-Morrow Jumbo mine
was either sunk originally to 300 feet or else is the deepened 250-
foot shaft sunk in 1873. Good ore is reported to have been found
in a drift which extended from the shaft in a northeasterly direction
for a distance of 210 feet. An overflow of a near-by stream flooded
the mine, resulting in its abandonment; however, not before some
lead ore had been hoisted from the mine, shipped, and sold.
The Jumbo mine was next operated by a group of businessmen
from Pleasanton, who, finding the venture unprofitable, soon lost
interest and ceased mining. In 1924 Mack Probasco, with his
brothers Burt and Ted, all drillers from Pleasanton, got possession
of the mine and for the next 13 years "played" around, taking out
some ore, but not enough to classify the enterprise a commercial
success. The ore was hauled by team to a small smelter at Rich
Hill, Mo., which was approximately five miles south and 18 miles
east of the mine.
According to Probasco, the ore occurred in pockets, and also
impregnated all types of rock that surrounded the shaft. When
prospecting revealed the presence of the circle, shaft mining was
abandoned and was replaced by surface mining. By means of a
small drag line the shaft opening was converted into a circular pit
from 20 to 25 feet deep and approximately 50 feet in diameter. In
1937 the Probasco brothers leased their Jumbo mine to a company
consisting of M. A. Medler and a Dr. Roe of Pittsburg, and Van
Cook of Joplin, Mo. The circular pit was deepened for another
50 feet by means of an 80-foot boom drag line. The Pittsburg
company operated the mine for about one and one-half years and
then ceased its mining activities for more lucrative investments in
promoting oil development in Oklahoma. Before ceasing operations,
the company drilled a prospect hole down to the Fort Scott lime-
stone formation, which was considered lead bearing. About 1940
( Fig. 2B ) the mine was leased to a group of men from Iowa who,
after operating for a year and selling about five tons of ore, became
involved in financial difficulties which resulted in bringing their
activities to an end. Since then no further attempts have been
made to work the Jumbo mine.
THE FIRST KANSAS LEAD MINES 395
OTHER PLEASANTON AREA LEAD MINES
In addition to the Jumbo lead mine, other lead mines and pros-
pect shafts and drill holes were sunk or drilled in its vicinity
(Fig. IB). In the spring of 1864 Mudge reported only the pres-
ence of the ancient diggings.12 Between Mudge's visit and the pub-
lication of his report in 1866, several small shafts had been sunk,
and although some lead was obtained, the enterprise was not
profitable. The mining area was also visited by G. C. Swallow
and Hawn apparently a year after Mudge's visit, and the conclusion
was reached that "whether these mines will prove productive, it is
impossible to determine in the present stage of the work/'13 In
1875 Mudge reported that various attempts had been made to mine
lead and zinc ores in the Pleasanton area during the preceding 12
years but with little reward.
Between 1873 and 1875, about 30 openings had been made, and
approximately 20 tons of ore had been raised near the town of
Pleasanton, a few miles from the old Potosi diggings. A new shaft
was under construction at the time of Mudge's visit to the Pleasan-
ton area in 1875. Mudge, in company with a Mr. Darlow, one of
the proprietors of the mine, descended the new shaft to a depth
of 260 feet, where a horizontal drift had just been started. Com-
menting on this new mine, Mudge stated, "We await the result
with much interest."14
The discovery of lead and zinc ore in 1899 in the walls of an old
shaft, which had been abandoned for years, renewed considerable
excitement and interest in prospecting. According to Haworth,
mining "companies were organized, grounds leased and subleased,
and many prospecting shafts and drill holes begun. Some of the
old shafts were opened and examined, and drifts driven out at
different levels, with the result that a few thousand pounds of high-
grade lead ore and a small amount of zinc ore were obtained/'15
It is at this time that the Jumbo mine may have come into existence.
Shafts and drill holes continued to be sunk or drilled for some years.
The 1899 to 1904 lead boom resulted in the extraction of about 15
tons of lead ore and a small quantity of zinc ore, all of which was
obtained from depths 65 to 85 feet and all of which was shipped
to the Kansas City Argentine refinery for smelting.
12. Mudge, First Annual Report of the Geology of Kansas, p. 30.
13. G. C. Swallow, Preliminary Report of the Geological Survey of Kansas (Lawrence,
1866), pp. 58, 111.
14. Mudge, "Geology of Kansas," loc. cit.
15. Erasmus Haworth, Annual Bulletin on Mineral Resources of Kansas for 1898, Uni-
versity Geological Survey of Kansas (1899), pp. 23, 24.
396 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Prospecting for the ores continued, if not continuously at least
intermittently. In 1916 the Nevada Mining Company sank a pros-
pect shaft one and one-fourth miles east and one and one-fourth
miles south of Pleasanton to a depth of 153 feet. This shaft, sur-
rounded by a number of old shafts dating back to 1873, is known
only because on May 30, 1916, two men working in the shaft were
blown out of it and killed by a gas explosion. The two men, Walter
Bray and Edward Riggs, were about 20 feet from the surface with
an open carbide lamp, used for illumination, which ignited the es-
caping natural gas. A second explosion occurred in this same shaft
on the following June 23. Two men, W. H. McClintock and E. A.
Stockton, were cleaning up the debris caused by the first explosion.
No one was fatally injured; McClintock was burned slightly and
Stockton seriously. As in the first case, the cause was ignition of
escaping natural gas. According to John Pellegrino, assistant com-
missioner of labor in charge of the Kansas Mine Inspection Depart-
ment, who investigated the two explosions of the Nevada Mining
Company's shaft, there were about ten prospect holes sunk in the
vicinity of the Nevada shaft, ranging from 35 to 1,200 feet apart,
and to a depth of 35 to 250 feet.16
That lead mining was still in progress in the Pleasanton area
in 1940 is revealed by the report of State Coal Mine Inspector
John Delplace for the year 1940. On July 27, 1940, Charles Jobes
and George Dixon were pumping water out of the Linco Lead
Company's mine. While sitting at the mouth of the mine, Jobes
struck a match to light his cigarette. Escaping gas exploded which
killed Jobes and injured Dixon.17 This mine, according to Del-
place, was one-half mile east of Pleasanton.18 No record of lead
mining in the Pleasanton area is extant since 1940.
GEOLOGY OF THE PLEASANTON LEAD MINING AREA
The surface rocks of the Jumbo lead mine and surrounding area
are the Nowata shales of the Marmaton group, Pennsylvanian in age
(Fig. 1C). Many of the prospect holes and shafts penetrated the
Fort Scott limestone formation, which was reached at a depth of
approximately 180 feet and which constitutes the base of the
Marmaton group. Some of the shafts and drill holes bottomed
in what is now classified as the Cabaniss subgroup of the Cherokee
18. Pellegrino, op cit., pp. 239, 240.
17. John Delplace, Annual Report of the Mine Inspection Division and the Mine Rescue
Station, 1940 (1941), p. 66.
18. Ibid., p. 60.
THE FIRST KANSAS LEAD MINES 397
shale 19 at a depth of about 135 feet below the base of the Black-
jack creek limestone member, the basal strata of the Fort Scott
limestone formation (Fig. 1C). The rocks encountered by the
drill or shafts were black to gray shales, gray to reddish sandstones,
brown to white limestone, and coal.
OCCURRENCE OF THE ORES
The discovery of galena in the Pleasanton area was undoubtedly
due to the finding of specimens at the surface, presumably by the
Indians, who informed the early settlers of their discovery. Wayne
stated that in the early days when he searched for lead on Mine
creek, and northeast of the Jumbo mine, there was plenty of lead
to be picked up on top of the ground about one-fourth of a mile
from the mine.20 Mack Probasco and Roy Cook, two drillers from
Pleasanton, who drilled many of the prospect holes in the area,
reported to the writer that galena and sphalerite, especially the
former, occurred in all the rocks penetrated in drilling from the
grass roots down to the bottom of the holes or shafts, which reached
depths in some cases from 250 to 315 feet. Specimens at hand con-
taining galena crystals are identified as belonging to the Fort Scott
limestone formation, which is reached approximately at 180 feet
beneath the surface at the mining site.
According to Swallow the "lead [galena] is found as small crys-
tals in the mass of the shales, or in thin sheets between the laminae
of the shales and sandstones." 21 Hawn states that the lead or galena
occurs in fissures in sandstone.22 Haworth, reporting on the occur-
rence of the Pleasanton lead, states that the "ore occurs in a soft
shale, the Pleasanton shales. In most cases it is beautifully crys-
tallized, affording magnificent museum specimens."23 Further de-
scribing the ore, Haworth states that "the galena was of a high
grade of purity, was not weathered or oxidized in the least, and pro-
duced brilliant surfaces on the crystalline faces, approximating in
brilliancy fresh cleavage surfaces."24 Galena specimens in the
writer's possession and reported by Probasco as coming from the
Jumbo mine show dull to semidull, well-crystallized galena, some
of which also displays striations or slickensides as well as etching
or the effects of solution (Fig. 3).
19. W. B. Howe, Stratigraphy of Pre-Marmaton Desmoinesian (Cherokee) Rocks in
Southeastern Kansas, Kansas Geological Survey, Bulletin 123 (1956), p. 22, pi. 1.
20. Pleasanton Observer-Enterprise, September 23, 1926.
21. Swallow, op. cit., p. 58.
22. F. Hawn, "Report of Major F. Hawn, Assistant Geologist," ibid., p. 111.
23. Haworth, Annual Bulletin on Mineral Resources, 1898, p. 24.
24. Haworth, et al., Special Report on Lead and Zinc, p. 70.
398 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
R. L. Snow, a farmer and strip-pit coal mining operator living
close to the lead mining center, reported to the writer that the ore
occurred in pockets and that some of the galena removed weighed
several hundred pounds. Probasco likewise reported the finding
of masses of galena weighing from 50 to 60 pounds and some as
much as 150 pounds. Many pieces obtained weighed from 5 to 15
pounds. The largest single unit of pure galena seen and measured
by the writer, and reported to have been obtained from the Jumbo
mine, measured three and one-half by three and one-half by
five inches and weighed approximately 16 pounds. Several smaller
specimens at hand weigh three pounds and under. All specimens,
when broken into, display bright shiny crystals or cleavage faces.
Prospecting revealed the presence of ore, but of greater im-
portance was the discovery that the greatest quantity of ore was
found in or restricted to a circular area whose diameter had been
enlarged to approximately 120 feet (Fig. 2A). According to
Probasco, drilling in the circular area was much easier than outside
of it. Not only were the rocks softer but they were also broken,
displaced, and occurred as brecciated masses. On the west wall
of the circle or chimney, according to Probasco, the shale was very
slick, shiny, from five to six feet thick, and its standing in a vertical
position indicated movement within the circular area. That some
movement did take place is attested by the fact that several speci-
mens of ore and rock in the writer's possession clearly show per-
fectly flat and smooth planes cutting across limestone and galena
alike and bearing striations or slickensides on their surfaces (Fig.
3A). On the reverse sides of the specimens the surfaces are un-
even, owing to protruding crystals of galena, slickensides are absent,
and effects of solution are evident by the fretwork nature of the
limestone (Fig. 3B).
As early as 1865, Swallow associated earth movements with the
occurrence of the Pleasanton lead ores, for he states, "There are
evidences that the strata have been disturbed, tilted and fractured
at this and various other localities between Potosi and Fort Scott.
The sandstones and shales have a strong dip to the southeast. They
probably form an anticlinal axis on the ridge to the west of the
mine, where lead has also been found in the soil/'25 At the time
when Swallow made his observations the presence of the circle or
chimney-like lead-bearing area was not known or suspected. Swal-
low's keen observations relate to the local and regional structure
of the strata of eastern Kansas extending from the Pleasanton area
25. Swallow, op cit., p. 58.
THE FIRST KANSAS LEAD MINES 399
southward through Bourbon county into Crawford county rather
than to the local and now-known chimney-like area.
Outcrops of rock in the immediate vicinity of the Jumbo mine
are scarce because of the flat topography and hence the attitude
of the strata are not readily discernible. Currently, in the vertical
west wall of the water-filled pit of the Jumbo mine, Just about
at the water level, the rock could be seen dipping to the south
(Fig. 2C). Whether the actual dip is to the south, southeast, or
southwest could not be determined, as there was no way to get
to the exposure for close examination. Swallow may have observed
the very steeply dipping strata in a small stream bed just north of
the northwest corner of Pleasanton (Fig. 1) and at a number of
other localities in southern Linn county. Haworth, on the other
hand, was aware of the chimney or circle. In discussing the Pleas-
anton lead mine area, Haworth stated that the exact nature of the
disturbance could not be determined and expressed the opinion
that since there were no marks found on the surface "it is certain
that there was no considerable vertical displacement" and that the
regularity in the stratification of the entire surrounding area "pre-
cludes the idea of any considerable disturbance/'26
According to Roy Cook, driller from Pleasanton, several other
chimney-like areas containing lead and zinc ore occur in eastern
Linn county. Ore, mainly sphalerite, was taken from one of the
circles or chimney discovered by Cook in 1945, while stripping coal.
The pit, now the site of a pond about 200 feet in diameter and
surrounded on the east, south, and west sides by strip-mine spoil
banks, is in the N. W. corner Sec. 11, T. 23 S., R. 25 E., about three
miles east of Prescott and seven miles southeast of Pleasanton. The
coal, Mulberry, just above the Pawnee Limestone is 32 inches thick
and 17 feet below the surface.27 The circle was discovered when
stripping for the coal, and revealed the fact that all strata were
dipping into a circular area. Based upon prospecting, mining oper-
ations were started by excavating the circular area by means of a
drag line. The pit was deepened for a total of 30 feet down to
the horizon of the Pawnee limestone. Sphalerite with some galena
impregnated the rocks, mainly sandstone, from seven feet beneath
the surface down to the bottom of the pit. Cook described the
rocks removed as being in a shattered state and boulder-like in
character.
26. Haworth, et al., Special Report on Lead and Zinc, pp. 69, 70.
27. W. H. Schoewe, Coal Resources of the Marmaton Group in Eastern Kansas, Kansas
Geological Survey, bulletin 114 (1955), pi. 2, pp. 49-112.
400 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ORIGIN OF THE CIRCLES OR CHIMNEYS
Several explanations have been given for the origin of the circles
or chimneys. Hawn, without discussing any details concerning the
disturbed lead-bearing area near Pleasanton, was of the opinion
that the circle was of plutonic origin.28 No evidence of igneous
origin is present, however, in the area, and hence the plutonic hy-
pothesis is no longer tenable. The best and perhaps the only expla-
nation of the areas is the one associated with the formation of sink-
holes as described by Siebenthal for the Joplin or Tri-State Lead
and Zinc District. According to Siebenthal, the circles are the result
of the dropping down of the areas owing to solution of the under-
lying strata in sinkholes developed in the Mississippian rocks. It is
now fairly well accepted that the Pennsylvanian strata of the general
Ozark region, which includes the Tri-State Lead and Zinc District,
were deposited upon the karst or solutional surface developed upon
the Mississippian rocks.
In accounting for the ore-bearing circles of the Joplin area, C. E.
Siebenthal postulated that the circles were formed before the Penn-
sylvanian Cherokee shale was eroded from the Joplin region. Con-
tinued solution resulted in the formation of new sinks and the col-
lapse of the old sinkhole roofs, thereby causing the overlying
Pennsylvanian rocks to drop down. The ensuing displacement re-
sulted in the shattering and general brecciating of the overlying
rocks, rendering them accessible to circulating artesian or surface
waters and thereby affording favorable sites for the deposition of
the metallic ores. Siebenthal was of the opinion that the Linn
county circles are analogous in origin to the Tri-State Lead and Zinc
District circles and that the Pleasanton circle also reaches to the
Mississippian limestones.29
That sinkholes in the subsurface in Kansas are not uncommon has
been recorded recently by D. F. Merriam and W. R. Atkinson 30
and also by R. F. Walters.31 The sinkholes in eastern Kansas de-
scribed by Merriam and Atkinson include strata of Simpson age
(Ordovician), especially the St. Peter sandstone, which have been
deposited as fill in sinkholes developed on an eroded surface of
dolomite and limestone of the Arbuckle group. The sinkholes de-
scribed by Walters have been developed on the Arbuckle on and
along the flanks of the central Kansas uplift in Barton county.
28. Hawn, op. cit.
29. C. E. Siebenthal, Origin of the Zinc and Lead Deposits of the Joplin Region, Mis-
souri, Kansas, and Oklahoma, U. S. Geological Survey, Bulletin 606 (1915), pp. 1-283.
30. D. F. Merriam and W. R. Atkinson, "Simpson Filled Sinkholes in Eastern Kansas/'
Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 119 (1956), pt. 2, pp. 61-80.
31. R. F. Walters, "Buried Pre-Cambrian Hills in Northeastern Barton County, Central
Kansas," American Association Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin 30 (1946), pp. 610-710.
I/O1SAS NVINVA1ASNN3d
Figure A, opposite page: Site of first lead mine in Kansas. Circular
water-filled Jumbo lead mine, 117 feet diameter, 80 feet deep and 15
to 20 feet below general elevation of surrounding country. View taken
in July, 1957.
Figure 8: Last of mining equipment, Jumbo lead mine. Water-filled pit
visible between machinery and dump heap in background. View taken
in November, 1951.
Figure C: West bank of Jumbo lead mine pit showing southward
dipping beds.
THE FIRST KANSAS LEAD MINES 401
AGE OF ORE DEPOSITS
The Pleasanton lead ores are unique in that they occur in rocks
of Pennsylvanian age (Figs. 1, 6), whereas the ores in southeastern
Cherokee county and in the rest of the Tri-State Lead and Zinc Dis-
trict of adjoining Missouri and Oklahoma are obtained from the
Boone formation of Mississippian age. The deepest prospect hole
for lead, 315 feet, in the Pleasanton area, tested rock to a depth
of approximately 135 feet beneath the Fort Scott limestone forma-
tion or approximately to the mineral formation in the Cabaniss sub-
group of the Cherokee group (Fig. 1C).
On the basis of the sinkhole explanation, metallic ores may rea-
sonably be expected to occur in rocks down to the normal lead and
zinc bearing Boone formation of the Tri-State Lead and Zinc Dis-
trict, or an additional 400 to 450 feet below the deepest lead-bearing
prospect hole drilled in the area. Since lead and zinc are found
in Pennsylvanian rocks involving strata of the Nowata shale forma-
tion, Marmaton group, a clue as to the time of ore deposition of the
Tri-State Lead and Zinc District is suggested. On the assumption
that the Pleasanton and Preston lead and zinc ores in the circles or
chimneys of Linn county are related to the ores in the Tri-State
Lead and Zinc District, ore deposition in the Tri-State district must
be dated at least as post-Nowata in age.
ORIGIN OF THE ORES
The source of the ores and the method of their deposition,
whether by ascending artesian waters or by the downward move-
ment of surface or normal ground water, is still a controversial
problem. Siebenthal, who has probably made the most exhaustive
study of the lead and zinc deposits of the Tri-State Lead and Zinc
District, is of the opinion that the source of the ores is Cambrian
and Ordovician limestone of the Ozark region and that the ores
have reached their present position by ascending artesian waters.32
Haworth and others, on the other hand, believed that the source of
the ores was the Pennsylvanian Cherokee strata and that descending
ground water was accountable for the deposition and concentration
of the metals in the underlying Mississippian strata.33 As no new
data concerning the occurrence of the Pleasanton ores is available
from what was known previously, a discussion of the ore genesis is
not germane to the purposes of this historical sketch.
32. Siebenthal, op. cit., pp. 41, 42.
33. Haworth, et al., Special Report on Lead and Zinc, pp. 117-126; J. H. Wilson, Lead
and Zinc Ore of Southwest Missouri Mines, Authenticated Statistics (1887), with contribu-
tions by F. L. Clere and T. N. Davey, Carthage, Mo., pp. 8-11; E. R. Buckley and H. A.
Buehler, Geology of the Granby Area, Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines, 2d ser., v. 4
(1906), pp. 78-110.
26—961
Eugene Ware's Concern About a Woman, a Child,
and God
JAMES C. MALIN
I. THE WOMAN: THE PROMISE OF A STAR
'T^HE year 1868 was a leap year, so the Monitor, January 22, as
•*• was more or less the custom, encouraged the girls by compiling
a list of the town's most eligible "phat takes/' The Wares, father
and son, had established themselves in the harness business, ap-
parently in late October or early November of 1867. If no other
evidence were available the inclusion of Eugene in the January
list of eligible bachelors was testimony that he had already made
an impression about town:
E. F. Ware, though lately come among us, stands well in the community.
However, he is one that soliloquizes — and has been overheard repeating the
following:
Can it be virgin bashfulness
That has concealed the tender thought?
Or fear I might perchance confess
A love that was not sought?
He would be an easy conquest for some fair one who has what he is devoid
of — assurance.
Whether or not this estimate of Ware was altogether accurate may
be beside the point. He had made a positive impression, even
though, in relations with the fair ones, he lacked assurance. Ware
was always a man's man.
After nearly three years, another glimpse of Ware was a matter
of record. This was in Ware's own local page of the Monitor,
October 14, 1870, when as reporter he interviewed a visiting Spirit-
ualist lecturer, a Mrs. C. Fannie Allyn. As Ware told the story,
in the seance he made the acquaintance of a Mr. Vinton, formerly
of New Hampshire, but then of the spirit world:
He likes a good Yankee joke just as well as we do. . . . [He] poked fun
at us in such a rude, bland old way that he just buried himself in our heart.
We like a joke even if it is on ourselves . . . and says he, "Mr. Local,
you fall in love with every good looking girl you see. You're a very susceptible
young man, you are; there's a little soft spot in your head on the woman
question." We blushed and tried to think of something bright to say but
wasn't equal to the emergency, and then the good kind fellow saw how embar-
DR. JAMES C. MALIN, associate editor of The Kansas Historical Quarterly and author
of several books relating to Kansas and the West, is professor of history at the University
of Kansas, Lawrence.
(402)
IRONQUELL: ABOUT WOMAN, CHILD, AND GOD 403
rassed we were and he smoothed it all over and gave us compliments that
made it all up. . . . But that was a little too cruel — that woman joke
was. Ain't a "single" man obliged to have a soft spot in his head on the
woman question?
During the campaign of 1872 Ware's comments on women were
on the acid side. To draw conclusions from that fact, however,
would be dangerous. He may have suffered a disappointment,
or he may have been indulging in public in a cynicism frequently
assumed to mask a quite different feeling toward the opposite sex.
When a coroner's verdict on a suicide concluded that it had been
caused by a woman, Ware commented: "Some woman is always
found to be an accomplice in all such scrapes and we should think
they ought to be banished from the community." 1
But this may have been only one of Ware's peculiar types of
humor of exaggeration which sometimes missed the mark. Some
weeks later he commented on marriage:
Single lonesomness is being transformed into duplicated cussedness to a
vast extent in the counties north and west of us. Every young man ought
to have his pie-box packed so as to be able to get out of the country as soon
as the epidemic threatens his native health.2
The scarcity of young women in Fort Scott apparently over-
came such cynicism on the part of unattached young men who
slipped out of town as inconspicuously as possible on unannounced
business. Ware took notice of such suspicious behavior and pub-
lished a warning:
Any single young man leaving Fort Scott and going east on a trip who
does not file a declaratory statement with the clerk of the District Court,
setting forth the nature of his business and the probable length of his absence
will be advertised the day after his departure as having gone east to get
married.3
Some who did not go east, married young school teachers on
the spot and brought on a major crisis in Kansas:
The Representative to the Kansas Legislature from Smith county, has been
nominated upon a distinct pledge that he will introduce a law making it a
felony for a young man to marry ... a school marm in a county having
less than 5,000 population. This is on the grounds of public policy that in
the frontier counties it is impossible to educate the young on account of the
marriage of the teachers.4
Bourbon county had a population in excess of 5,000, so such a
law would not have applied in Fort Scott when the following ar-
ticle appeared in the Fort Scott Border Sentinel, October 12, 1874:
1. Fort Scott Daily Monitor, August 23, 1872.
2. Ibid., October 17, 1872.
3. Ibid., August 9, 1872.
4. Ibid., October 16, 1872.
404 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
THE PHILOSOPHER'S DOOR
On passing along Market street today, we called at the office of the
philosopher of paint creek, but found the following on his door:
About three feet of foolscap paper and the same distance of rope, pencil
and rubber attached. From the length, of the aforesaid papers, we should
suppose the philosopher was on a visit to the Holy Land, or Hungary —
Hun-gary, we believe is the proper solution. People do not travel with such
celerity in those countries as they do in this country of ours. This the phi-
losopher will explain on his return.
The following is a verbatim copy, as appears on the above mentioned
paper:
E. F. Ware, present occupant, gone visiting will be back about Novem-
ber 1. Leave orders.
ORDER I
Come where my love lies dreaming.
ORDER II
A friend came here on business,
But found the sanctum closed,
With none to attend to clients,
Who came here well disposed.
We asked the present occupant,
When WARE had gone away;
The echo, sent the answer back,
We went east the other day.
Friend, may pleasure, your companion be,
While visiting the eastern shore,
But wish you in your sanctum,
To open the sanctum door.
Two weeks later, the same paper published the following:
LEGAL NOTICE
Before Rev. Dr. Buckland, at Rochester, N. Y., in the presence of a large
number of witnesses, personally came EUGENE F. WARE, who deposeth and
says that he is of lawful age; that he is by occupation a lawyer; that he
desires to have and to hold in his peaceful possession, the accomplished
JEANETTE P. HUNTINGTON. The evidence on the other side being extremely
brief, the prayer of the petitioner was granted; and there being no lawful
objection to custody of said JEANETTE P. HUNTINGTON on this 22d day of
October, is given to said petitioner. — In testimony thereof, the congratula-
tions of the friends are numerous.
HYMEN & Co., Pl'ffs Attys.
On October 25, the Daily Monitor recorded the arrival on the
preceding day of E. F. Ware and bride.
The only printed evidence of this period that has been found
concerning E. F. Ware's active interest in the welfare of the Fort
Scott schools, appeared in the spring of 1873. At that time he
was nominated on the Citizens' ticket for treasurer of the school
IRONQUILL: ABOUT WOMAN, CHILD, AND GOD 405
board against the regular Republican ticket, and was defeated.
His defeat and his subsequent raid on the faculty of the city schools
had no doubt only a casual, not a causal, relationship. Ware's
courtship of Nettie Huntington was among those things that for
him were strictly private, but to his eldest daughter Abby he
wrote reminiscently in 1897: "I promised your mother once if
she would marry me I'd get her a star sometime — I haven't been
able to get her one yet, and now I'm getting so advanced in years
that I can't even catch an airship." 5
II. A WOMAN, A CHILD, AND GOD
Eugene Ware had a concern about God before he met Nettie
Huntington. The exact time of their meeting and of their en-
gagement are not now known, but the commitment occurred dur-
ing the school year 1873-1874. From that time onward he in-
curred a new obligation to exercise restraint over his expressions
about women and about preachers and churches. He had said
harsh things on both subjects. Nettie was an orthodox Baptist.
The poem "Kriterion" was published August 16, 1874, two months
prior to the wedding. In this treatment of the soul and immortality
he concluded:
Perhaps — this Immortality
May be indeed reality.
The origin of "The Washerwoman's Song" has been the object of
legitimate speculation, and much absurd legend. Ware was pe-
culiarly reticent about its origin, and seemed to permit, if he did
not encourage the legend, however untenable it obviously was.
Possibly, if not probably, he preferred to divert public curiosity
away from things most peculiarly private. As already pointed
out, "The Washerwoman's Song" was published January 9, 1876.
Even if the published stories were substantially true about it be-
ing written earlier, being received coldly by his literary friend,
Postmaster T. F. Robley, and being laid away until given to a
reporter desperate to fill a column on a dull day, there was more
than that involved. The first child born to the Wares arrived
January 4, or five days prior to the publication of the poem. Thus
Abby [Abigail] Ware and "The Washerwoman's Song" were neces-
sarily closely associated. Although the evidence is circumstantial,
the washerwoman of the poem appears to have been only a subter-
fuge to mislead the public and divert attention from the real
5. "Eugene F. Ware Papers," Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. — A typed letter
formerly in the possession of Mrs. Justus N. Baird (Amelia Ware).
406 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
woman of the poem and attention from the dilemma of Eugene
and Nettie. The poem was written during the weeks of tension
associated with the first childbirth of their married life:
Sometimes happening along,
I had heard the semi-song,
And I often used to smile,
More in sympathy than guile;
But I never said a word
In regard to what I heard,
As she sang about her friend
Who would keep her to the end.
* * *
It's a song I do not sing,
For I scarce believe a thing
Of the stories that are told
Of the miracles of old;
* * *
Human hopes and human creeds
Have their roots in human needs;
And I should not wish to strip
From that washerwoman's lip
Any song that she can sing
Any hope that songs can bring;
For the woman has a friend
Who will keep her to the end.
Christmas was just passed, and vividly would the story of Jo-
seph and Mary and the Christ child assume a new and personal
meaning. Certainly to Nettie! Then on January 4, 1876, a new
soul was born into the world. No longer was the Ware household
just Nettie and Eugene. The mother of the child, in prospect
now a reality, called for the utmost in sympathetic understanding
of her faith. This was no time for cynicism. Even though he could
not himself believe on the Christian Miracle, he had been living
for months in the intimate presence of a contemporary miracle.
Religion in Kansas During the Era
of the Civil War — Concluded
EMORY LINDQUIST
THE slavery issue, matters of doctrine, policy relative to mis-
sions, and conflicts between frontier groups and parent mis-
sionary boards produced wedges of separation in Protestantism in
Kansas. Some of these issues reflected national situations; others
were due to the Kansas scene. It took years and sometimes decades
before the wounds of division were healed.
The Methodists of Kansas were destined to share fully in the
split that occurred in 1844 which resulted in the creation of the
Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1845. At the General Con-
ference of Methodism in 1844, the Indian Mission Conference
was established which included the Kansas territory. This con-
ference voted overwhelmingly to adhere to the Church South. In
May, 1854, the Kansas Mission Conference was created at the Gen-
eral Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South at its
meeting at Columbus, Ga. It was organized by the St. Louis
Conference at Springfield on October 24, 1855. Kickapoo was the
setting for the first regular session of the Kansas Mission Confer-
ence on September 12, 1856.71 Presiding at the Kickapoo confer-
ence was Bishop George Foster Pierce of Georgia. He found that
"the Conference met at the appointed hour — every preacher at his
place save one or two, whose location in the midst of the depreda-
tors compelled them to remain at home, for the protection of their
families and their property." 72
The future of the M. E. Church South was inextricably asso-
ciated with the development of the controversy over slavery and
the future of Kansas as a free or slave state. The feeling became
more intense with the passing of the years. In 1860 the Rev. Joab
Spencer was informed by his parishioners: "You are regarded as a
DR. EMORY KEMPTON LINDQXTIST, Rhodes scholar and former president of Bethany
College, is dean of the faculties of the University of Wichita. He is author of Smoky
Valley People: A History of Lindsborg, Kansas ( 1953 ) , and numerous magazine articles
relating to the history of this region.
71. Rev. Joab Spencer, "The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Kansas, 1854-
1906," The Kansas Historical Collections, v. 12 (1911-1912), p. 143; Martha B. Caldwell,
ed., Annals of Shawnee Methodist Mission and Indian Manual Labor School (Topeka,
1939), p. 98. The arrangements for the division of jurisdiction and property is described
in William Warren Sweet, The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Civil War (Cincinnati,
1912), pp. 28, 29.
72. George G. Smith, The Life and Times of George Foster Pierce, D. D., LL. D.
(Sparta, Ga., 1888), p. 288.
(407)
408 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
'secesh/ and your visits will only bring trouble to those who enter-
tain you. They will be accused of harboring a rebel." Spencer
was told that a sermon which he had preached at Marysville over
the text Matthew 22:21 had been characterized as a "secesh" ser-
mon. The pressure mounted so that Spencer abandoned temporar-
ily his circuit and went to Missouri. He had also suffered personal
losses of clothing and his saddle horse when, according to his ac-
count, some soldiers had invaded his property.73 Other ministers
of the Church South had problems of a similar character.74
The last session of the Kansas Mission Conference until after the
end of the Civil War was held at Atchison, September 5, 1861.
The feeling toward the members of the conference increased as the
group assembled. Spencer reported that "on account of unusual
commotion in the community, we were notified that but two hours
would be given us to transact business and leave the city." The
meeting was then transferred to Grasshopper schoolhouse 15 miles
west of Atchison, where they conducted their business "without
molestation though under surveillance." Twenty-three ministers
received appointment, but only six were known definitely to have
continued work at their assigned places. The nature of the prob-
lems confronting the members of the conference is found in the
memorial addressed to the General Conference scheduled to meet
at New Orleans in May, 1862, which was adopted with one dis-
senting vote: "Resolved, that the General Conference be and is
hereby requested to change the name of our church from 'The
Methodist Episcopal Church South' to 'The Episcopal Methodist
Church/" Since the General Conference did not meet, the me-
morial remains only as an expression of feeling by the Kansas
group.75
All ministers of the M. E. Church South were forced to quit their
ministry in Kansas except Spencer, who continued to serve at Coun-
cil Grove. Two of the group, the Rev. J. E. Bryan and the Rev.
Cyrus R. Rice joined the Methodist Church. Rice became a leader
in that group. The Rev. D. C. O'Howell joined the Cumberland
Presbyterians, the Rev. J. O. Foresman went to California, and the
73. Spencer, loc. cit., pp. 147, 148.
74. The home of the Rev. L. B. Stateler at Tecumseh was destroyed by an incendiary
torch. — Rev. E. J. Stanley, Life of Rev. L. B. Stateler; A Story of Life on the Old Frontier
(Nashville, 1916), p. 168. Stateler, the Rev. H. B. Burgess, and the Rev. N. H. Watts
were the three original judges in the violent election at Tecumseh on March 30, 1855. —
Report of the Special Committee Appointed to Investigate the Troubles in Kansas, 34th
congress, 1st session, report No. 200 (Washington, D. C., 1856), pp. 192-199. Mrs.
Sara Robinson found that Burgess was one of those men who "have girded on another
sword than that of the spirit." — Mrs. Sara T. D. Robinson, "The Wakarusa War," The
Kansas Historical Collections, v. 10 (1907-1908), p. 463.
75. Spencer, loc. cit., pp. 152-155; Stanley, op. cit., pp. 160, 161.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 409
Rev. L. B. Stateler to Colorado. Three of the group in addition to
Spencer remained in Kansas. They conducted unofficial services
and cottage meetings from time to time. The work of the M. E.
Church South was resumed in Kansas in 1866.76
The members of the ministerium of the M. E. Church South con-
tended that they were never guilty of disloyalty. The Rev. E. J.
Stanley described the pattern as follows:
There was not a man in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, in Kansas that was guilty of a disloyal act or who ever said or did any-
thing inconsistent with his duties as a true citizen or a faithful minister of
Jesus Christ, yet because the word "South" happened to be on the name of their
Church, or for some other indefinable cause, they were looked upon with
suspicion, harassed by squads of armed men who would hoist flags over them
while preaching, require them to frame their prayers after a particular fashion,
and otherwise disturb their assemblies. In some cases they suffered personal
violence for no apparent cause but that of preaching the pure gospel and for
keeping clear of political issues.77
The Methodist Episcopal Church entered into the work in Kan-
sas in 1848 when the Rev. Abraham Still preached to the Wyandotte
Indians. This was in opposition to the agreement of 1844. Other
representatives, including the Rev. L. B. Dennis, came to serve in
the area. On July 9, 1854, the Rev. William H. Goode in the com-
pany of Still and others preached a sermon on the text Matthew
24:14 at Kibbe's cabin at Hickory Point. This was supposedly the
first sermon preached under terms of a regular appointment to
white settlers in Kansas.78 On November 26, 1854, Goode dis-
covered when he came to a cabin on the Marais des Cygnes that
a man had recently declared himself to be a Methodist preacher
"without adding the peculiar cognomen assumed to indicate his
'distinct ecclesiastical connection/" and had secured permission
to hold a quarterly meeting there at a date designated a few weeks
in advance. This development greatly disturbed Goode who with
the co-operation of the man of the family, who had been absent
when the other plans were made, assembled some people and held
a quarterly meeting. Goode never learned what happened to the
Methodist South brother who had preceded him in the area; he
had the satisfaction of beating him for the honor of holding the
first quarterly meeting.79 Goode also found that the Rev. Thomas
76. Spencer, loc. cit., pp. 152, 153. Rice has presented an interesting portrayal of
his activities in Kansas prior to 1860 in Rev. Cyrus B. Rice, "Experiences of a Pioneer
Missionary," The Kansas Historical Collections, v. 13 (1913-1914), pp. 298-318.
77. Stanley, op. cit., p. 161.
78. William H. Goode, Outposts of Zion With Limnings of Mission Life (Cincinnati,
1864), pp. 254, 255; Rev. J. J. Lutz, "The Methodist Missions Among the Indian Tribes
of Kansas," The Kansas Historical Collections, v. 9 (1905-1906), pp. 219, 230.
79. Goode, op. cit., pp. 313, 314.
410 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Johnson of Shawnee Mission was not responsive when he saw him
occasionally in 1854 and 1855 although he had enjoyed his hos-
pitality while in Kansas on a previous occasion. He declared that
"I never met an act of recognition from its clerical conductor. And
my experience was, so far as I learned, identical in this particular
with that of all others who remained firm in their adherence to the
Methodist Episcopal Church." 80
The Methodist Episcopal Church South and the Methodist Epis-
copal Church each held their first Kansas Conference meeting in
1856. The conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South
met at Kickapoo on September 12 and showed a membership of
13 traveling preachers, 12 local preachers, 672 members including
482 whites, two colored, and 176 Indians. The conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church met at Lawrence October 23-25, and
reported 17 preachers and 661 members. When the last conference
of the M. E. Church South prior to the end of the Civil War met
in 1861 there were 23 preachers and a membership of 1,621, in-
cluding 1,400 whites, five colored, and 216 Indians. The Methodist
Episcopal Church reported that year a membership of 3,020 and a
ministerium of 46 preachers. In addition, the German Methodist
District joined the conference which added nine more ministers
and 316 members.81
A sequel to the rivalry between the two Methodist groups was
finally settled in 1865 in favor of the M. E. Church South. It was
agreed in the Articles of Separation of 1844 that "all the property
of the Methodist Episcopal Church in meeting houses, parsonages,
colleges, schools, conference funds, cemeteries, and of every kind,
within the limits of the Southern organization, shall be forever free
from any claim set up on the part of the Methodist Episcopal
Church." By a treaty of 1854, three sections of land including the
improvements at the Shawnee Mission School were assigned to the
missionary society of the M. E. Church South or to persons des-
ignated by it. The arrangements were designed to make this land
the property of the Rev. Thomas Johnson, who had been identified
with the school almost continuously since 1830. A new treaty was
proposed in March, 1864, declaring that the contract of March,
80. Ibid., pp. 249, 250.
81. Statistics for the M. E. Church South are found in Caldwell, Annals of the Metho-
dist Shawnee Mission and Indian Manual Labor School, p. 98; for 1861 in Spencer, loc.
cit., p. 152. The information for the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1856 is found in
Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1856 (New York,
1856), pp. 174, 175; for 1861 in the Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, 1861 (New York, 1861), pp. 4
41-48.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 411
1855, between the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Mission-
ary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, null and void on
the ground that the M. E. Church South was disloyal. William
L. Harris pushed the claim for the Methodist Episcopal Missionary
Society. However, after much controversy, J. P. Usher, Secretary
of the Interior, approved the claim of the heirs of Thomas Johnson.
The patent was delivered to them on May 26, 1865.82
The national division among the Baptists in 1845 with the or-
ganization of the Southern Baptist Convention also was associated
with developments in Kansas. One of the factors in the situation
was the formation of the American Indian Mission Association at
Cincinnati, Ohio, in October, 1842. The leader in this movement
was Isaac McCoy, who had long been identified with events in
the future state of Kansas. This movement was enthusiastically
supported by Johnston Lykins and Robert Simerwell, well-known
Kansas Baptist missionaries. McCoy and his associates felt that the
Boston board was not showing enough concern for Indian missions.
However, John G. Pratt, Ira D. Blanchard, and Jotham Meeker,
other well-known Kansas missionaries, did not favor the new group.
The Southern Baptist churches supported the American Indian Mis-
sion Association and in 1855 an official relationship was established
between the association and the Southern Baptist Convention.
A leader in Baptist circles in Kansas was the Rev. W. Thomas of
Delaware City, a missionary in Kansas under the auspices of the
Board of Domestic Missions of the Southern Baptist Convention.
He was elected temporary chairman at the meeting of the East
Kansas Association of Baptists, at Atchison, in October, 1858, the
first Baptist Association to be formed in Kansas. He then was
elected moderator. Thomas left Kansas before or early in 1859
because of the severity of the climate. The Baptist work was not
progressing well in Kansas as indicated in the report of the com-
mittee on "Home Destitution" of the East Kansas Association of
Baptists in 1858. The political situation had been a factor.
In 1857 the Rev. J. H. Luther found at Kansas City that the con-
flict over slavery was so great that he decided not to enter the
Kansas territory. Southern Baptist work in Kansas was discon-
tinued in 1861. It was not re-established until 1910. In 1867 a
treaty conveyed the title to the 320 acres and the Pottawatomie
Manual Labor School to the American Baptist Home Mission So-
82. This series of events is described in Caldwell, Annals of the Methodist Shawnee
Mission and Indian Manual Labor School, pp. 79, 84, 113, 114, 117, 118, 120.
412 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ciety rather than to the Board of Domestic Missions of the South-
ern Baptist Convention.83
The division between the Old School and the New School Pres-
byterians in Kansas was not sharply marked on the issue of slavery.
The New School representatives were generally stronger in their
antislavery feeling than the Old School on a national basis.84 The
Rev. R. D. Parker wrote in 1860 that "the pro-slavery feeling is kept
up by the M. E. Ch. South and the Old School Pres. Ch. It re-
quires no little wisdom to do ones duty and yet avoid strife/' 85 The
controversy did not attain serious proportions in Kansas.
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Kansas owed much
to Wm. S. Yok of South Carolina, a slave owner and a man of con-
siderable wealth, who was responsible for founding the Christian
church at Leavenworth in 1855. Yok was the first elder and minister
of the church. He also helped to organize other churches in Kan-
sas. However, the majority of the Disciples were antislavery al-
though they sought a moderate course. The state convention of
Disciples at Big Springs in 1860 wanted assurance that Pardee
Butler would "preach the Gospel and keep out of politics/' How-
ever, Butler had friends among both Northern and Southern sympa-
thizers. There was no congregational division in Kansas Christian
Churches over the slavery issue. Moreover, there was no national
division between North and South over this problem.86 The Epis-
copalians and Lutherans, among the major groups, held an anti-
slavery position in Kansas.
The Rev. Thomas Johnson of the M. E. Church South as a slave
owner was a rather unusual exception among Protestant missionaries.
Included among Johnson's transactions was his purchase of a Negro
girl named Harriet from B. M. Lynch for $700 on June 7, 1855, and
the acquisition of another Negro girl, Martha, from David Burge
for $800 on May 24, 1856.87 However, when it came to the basic
issues associated with the preservation of the Union, Johnson was
in direct opposition to the secessionists. On July 4, 1861, when the
Union Club held a celebration near Turner in Wyandotte county,
83. Minutes of the First Meeting of the East Kansas Association of Baptists, . . .
Atchison, K. T., . . . October 1-3, 1858, . . . (Atchison, 1858), p. 6; Rev.
N. J. Westmorland, "Kansas' First Challenge to Southern Baptists," The Quarterly Review,
Nashville, v. 15 (third quarter, 1955), pp. 42-55.
84. Goodykoontz, op. cit., pp. 238, 239.
85. Rev. R. D. Parker to the A. H. M. S., Wyandotte, February 9, 1860.
86. Rev. John D. Zimmerman, "Kansas Christian Church History; The Story of a
Century," The Kansas Messenger, Topeka, v. 57 (January, 1953), pp. 11, 12.
87. Caldwell, Annals of the Methodist Shawnee Mission and Indian Manual Labor
School, pp. 86, 95.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 413
Johnson made his position clear. He condemned the secession
movement as "unjustifiable, and stated in unequivocal terms that
he should adhere to the flag of his country, that he had been in-
directly for years in official relation with the government, enjoying
its protection, and he owed to it fealty, love and support." 88
Various church conferences and conventions passed resolutions
on the subject of slavery. In April, 1857, when the Congregational-
ists met at Topeka the following resolutions were passed:
Resolved 1. That the system of American Chattel Slavery is a high crime
against God and humanity, and, as such, is piima facie evidence against the
Christian character of those implicated in it.
2. That this Association will in no manner fellowship any other ecclesiasti-
cal body which wilfully sustains, directly or indirectly, that system.89
In the first meeting of the association following the outbreak of the
Civil War, the Congregationalists passed a resolution in which
they declared that "in obedience to the injunction of our Divine
Master, we, as his disciples, are bound always to take special notice
of the 'Signs of the Times/ in order that we may so shape our course
as fully to co-operate with Him in carrying forward His providential
plans, consummating the subjection of all His enemies and remov-
ing every obstacle that hinders the final and speedy triumph of His
cause/' They continued by expressing their belief that "the Presi-
dent should not only repel aggressions but prosecute the conflict
with vigor, and at all hazards, until all government property is re-
gained, and its authority and supremacy fully re-established/'90
The Baptist convention in 1862 recognized the "chastening hand
of God, pledged the people to humble themselves in the midst of
the awful disaster, earnestly supplicated the Divine favor and re-
solved to pray for the 'speedy triumph of freedom/ " 91 The Meth-
odists reiterated their devotion to the Union cause at their annual
conference meeting at Leavenworth in March, 1864, when they
took the following action: "Resolved, that we are immovably de-
voted to the Union, and are pledged to the maintenance of the
authority of the Government of the United States over every inch
of its territory; and we will unfalteringly support the Administra-
88. Ibid,, p. 108.
89. Minutes of the General Association of Congregational Ministers and Churches in
Kansas, . . . Topeka, April 25-27, 1857, p. 6.
90. The Congregational Record, Lawrence, v. 3 (July, 1861), pp. 46, 47. The meet-
ing was held at Leavenworth on May 24, 1861.
91. W. A. Elliott, Historical Address, Kansas Baptist Convention, Fiftieth Anniversary,
October 10-13, 1910, p. [4].
414 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
tion in all its measures to put down rebellion and crush out treason,
come from what source they may/'92
Individuals shared in a variety of experiences because of their
attitude on slavery. The best known are the two experiences of
Rev. Pardee Butler of the Christian church. On August 17, 1855,
a demand was made upon Butler at Atchison by a committee under
the leadership of Robert S. Kelly, editor of the Squatter Sovereign,
that he subscribe to a set of resolutions including one "that other
emissaries of this Aid Society who are now in our midst tampering
with our slaves are warned to leave, else they too will meet the
reward which their nefarious designs justly merit — hemp." Butler
refused to subscribe to the resolutions. He was then placed on
a raft made of two cottonwood logs and set afloat in the river. A
flag was placed on it with these words inscribed: "Eastern Emigrant
Express. The Rev. Mr. Butler, agent for the underground railroad.
The way they are served in Kansas. . . ." 93 On April 30, 1856,
Butler was charged with being an active abolitionist and was tarred
and feathered at Atchison.94
Josiah B. McAfee, a Lutheran minister, arrived at Leaven worth
on April 15, 1855. He was soon contacted by a committee which
insisted that he preach a sermon on the subject, "slavery is a divine
institution and ordained of God." McAfee refused the request and
declared that "he would as soon undertake to prove that his satanic
majesty was still an angel of light as to prove that slavery was a
divine institution." He was notified that he should "leave or hang."
The threat was not carried out and McAfee later established a
Lutheran church at Leavenworth.95 Other ministers had problems
associated with slavery issues. However, as indicated above, mis-
sionaries of the M. E. Church South suffered persecution at the
hands of antislavery supporters.96
92. Minutes of the Ninth Session of the Kansas Annual Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, Leavenworth, March, 1864 (Leavenworth), p. 36. Twelve Kansas
ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church served as chaplains with the Union army. —
Sweet, The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Civil War, p. 191. Information is not
available as to chaplaincy service by Kansas ministers of the M. E. Church South with the
Confederate army. — Ibid., p. 222.
93. Report of the Special Committee Appointed to Investigate the Troubles in Kansas,
pp. 960-963.
94. Rev. Pardee Butler, Personal Recollections of Pardee Butler (Cincinnati, 1889),
pp. 106-109. Butler recounts the experience as originally printed in a letter to the
Herald of Freedom, Lawrence, May 6, 1856.
95. Rev. H. A. Ott, A History of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Kansas (Topeka,
96. The Rev. John McNamara, an Episcopalian, describes an interesting experience
in the Leavenworth area. — [Rev. John McNamara] Three Years on the Kansas Border
(New York and Auburn, 1856), p. 169tf. The problems of M. E. South missionaries
is described supra, pp. 407-409.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 415
While the majority sentiment in Kansas was overwhelmingly in
favor of the abolition of slavery, there were definite limits to the
extent that this articulate group would go in regard to the civil
rights of Negroes. This attitude was a matter of genuine concern
to many missionaries. The Rev. Lewis Bodwell, Topeka, wrote
with great anxiety to Milton Badger of the American Home Mis-
sionary Society in March, 1858, asking for Badger's advice and
help:
When men around me and among them members of my own church attach
their names to documents which in my mind throw away all of vital principle
connected with the Kansas struggle & declare themselves "in favor of a free
white state to the exclusion of bound or free blacks," I begin to tremble for our
cause in Kansas. These signs of selfish ambitions & deep moral corruption
already plain & abundant, disgusts me most completely. Who would think
of a man with the name & fame which Gov. Charles Robinson has won de-
claring ( as I heard him ) in a public meeting at Lawrence "the talk about con-
sistency in a struggle like this is an absurdity." 97
BodwelFs fears as to the status of the Negro were not unfounded,
because when the Wyandotte constitution was adopted on July
29, 1859, "Article V— Suffrage" limited the franchise to "white male"
persons.98 Moreover, when "Article VI — Education" came up for
discussion, a militant minority maneuvered strenuously, but un-
successfully, to exclude Negroes and mulattos from participating
in the publicly supported schools." In 1867, when a constitutional
amendment was submitted proposing to eliminate the word "white"
in the section in suffrage, it was defeated at the polls by a vote of
19,421 to 10,483. The word "white" remained in the Kansas con-
stitution until the 14th amendment was added to the constitution
of the United States.100
The Civil War brought to Kansas a sizeable number of Negroes,
refugees from their former owners, who became known as "contra-
bands." The missionaries and churches recognized their responsi-
bility to these individuals. The year 1862 witnessed the arrival of
a substantial group in various Kansas communities. In March, 1862,
the Rev. R. D. Parker reported that his church at Wyandotte was
working with the "contrabands" there. Instruction in reading was
provided for them in their Sabbath school. He expressed a real
97. Rev. Lewis Bodwell to the A. H. M. S., Topeka, March 18, 1858.
98. Proceedings and Debates of the Kansas Constitutional Convention (Wyandot
1859), p. 582.
99. Ibid., pp. 174-183, 191-195.
100. Constitution of the State of Kansas and Amendments and Proposed Amendments
Submitted (Topeka, 1953), p. 27; O. E. Learnard, "Organization of the Republican
Party," The Kansas Historical Collections, v. 6 (1897-1900), p. 313.
416 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
interest in them but declared that "this hunted people must leave;
for the Kidnapper has already begun his work, and they will not be
safe a day after the troops are ordered away." 101
The Rev. Richard Cordley reported from Lawrence on March
15, 1862, that there were two or three hundred "contrabands" in that
community. A Congregational church had been organized among
them with eight charter members and others expected to join in
the near future. This was the Second Congregational church of
Lawrence. Cordley reported that they were "fine specimens of
freedom." Only one of the eight charter members had a letter of
transfer; the others were admitted on profession. The individual,
who had presented a letter of transfer, had one also for his wife
but said with tears, "they sold my wife and children down south be-
fore I got away." 102 In a letter from Cordley to the American
Home Missionary Society on June 17, 1862, was enclosed a clipping
from The Congregational Record dealing with the "contraband"
congregation at Lawrence, which declared that "this is the only
Church in Kansas that has a Value in markets/ The five men
are fine looking fellows, and in good times would probably have
sold for $1,500 apiece. For piety has commercial value in the slave
market. 'The Second Congregational Church in Lawrence/ there-
fore has a market value of from ten to twelve thousand dollars." 103
On July 4, 1862, an interdenominational Sabbath school celebra-
tion was held at Topeka in which the Congregationalists, Meth-
odists, and Episcopalians participated. The "contrabands" shared
in the parade, bringing up the rear of the procession, as they car-
ried the Stars and Stripes, and their motto: "Hail Liberty." The
Rev. Peter McVicar was pleased to report that at the picnic follow-
ing the parade, the "contrabands" had a table by themselves so that
they did not need to wait on the white people.104 The Rev. R. D.
Parker at Wyandotte was concerned about the welfare of these Ne-
groes in Kansas and in December, 1863, urged the American Home
Missionary Society to do something in their behalf. He was certain
that "they are a religious people and will have churches of some
kind, but they are at a loss what to do in a free state and surrounded
by strange churches." 105
101. Rev. R. D. Parker to the A. H. M. S., Wyandotte, March 3, 1862.
102. Rev. Richard Cordley to the A. H. M. SM Lawrence, March 15, 1862.
103. Ibid., June 17, 1862. The clipping states that the Second Congregational church
at Lawrence was organized on "Sabbath evening," March 16, 1862. — The Congregational
Record, Lawrence, v. 4 (April, 1862), pp. 47, 48.
104. Rev. Peter McVicar to the A. H. M. S., Topeka, July 28, 1862.
105. Rev. R. D. Parker to the A. H. M. S., Wyandotte, December 11, 1863.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 417
The impact of sectarian influences was also felt in the religious
activities of the "contrabands." The Rev. Richard Cordley reported
that "they seemed to be of one mind, and no sectarian name was
mentioned. They had been members of different churches, but all
seemed to go together. . . . Before the year had passed several
of their own ministers appeared, and they divided into various
ecclesiastical camps. Most of their preachers were very ignorant,
some of them not able to read." 106
The Episcopalians in Kansas reflected national issues within their
denomination although the controversy over slavery was not a
factor. On December 10, 1856, the Rev. Hiram Stone organized
St. Paul's church at Leavenworth. Stone soon found himself in
conflict with the Philadelphia association of the church, which was
generally identified as a "low church" group. Stone declared that
"partisan spirit had developed in the church at large" and it had
become "the settled purpose of this society to organize Kansas into
a diocese and to supply it with clergy suited to its own stripe of
churchmanship." The Philadelphia association sent out several mis-
sionaries to Kansas and started parishes in Wyandotte, Lawrence,
Topeka, and Atchison.
The mission at Leavenworth founded by Stone was supported by
the Domestic committee of the General Board. At a meeting at
Wyandotte on August 11, 1859, it was proposed that the group
consider the possibility of organizing a diocese. Bishop Kemper
was in attendance. The decision was in the affirmative and while
Stone opposed the action, it was decided to hold a convention in
Topeka on April 11, 1860, to elect a bishop. The opposition party
argued that a general convention of the church was to meet at
Richmond, Va., two months following the Wyandotte assembly,
when a missionary bishop was to be provided for Kansas. Stone
characterized the proceedings of organizing the diocese and elect-
ing a bishop as "thoroughly partisan in its character besides being
irregular, uncanonical, and unnecessary." Stone further pointed
out that there were only seven Episcopalian clergy in Kansas at
the time and that three of them had never taken demissory letters
from the diocese which they had served formerly.107 The con-
vention at Topeka elected the Rev. Francis M. Whittle of Louis-
ville, Ky., as bishop. However, when it became known that Whittle
106. Cordley, Pioneer Days in Kansas, pp. 144, 145.
107. Stone, loc. cit., pp. 320, 321; William Henry Haupt, "History of the American
Church, Known in Law as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of Kansas " The
Kansas Historical Collections, v. 16 (1923-1925), p. 358.
27—961
418 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
was inclined toward the Proslavery position, the laity rejected him
by a vote of four to two. Dr. Dyer of New York City was then
elected. Dyer declined to serve, and the Rt. Rev. Henry W. Lee,
bishop of Iowa, served the Kansas diocese. There were only 147
communicants in Kansas when the Rev. Thomas Hubbard Vail,
Muscatine, Iowa, was elected bishop of Kansas in 1864.108
The desire to bring the Christian message to Kansas resulted
occasionally in duplication of efforts and sometimes in attendant ri-
valry. In December, 1854, the Rev. S. Y. Lum reported at Lawrence
that "there is already a liberal supply of missionaries from the va-
rious societies at this point/' He identified ministers from the Bap-
tist, United Brethren, Methodist, Christian (Disciples of Christ),
and Congregational churches, and one representing the Sweden-
borgians.109 The scarcity of facilities provided the background for
friction. In October, 1856, the Rev. Lewis Bodwell complained that
Constitution Hall, the only adequate building in Topeka, had been
usurped by the Methodists morning, afternoon, and evening for
their quarterly meeting although that day belonged to the Con-
gregationalists by mutual agreement.110 Rev. E. W. Whitney, a
Congregationalist at Troy, found in February, 1861, that the Meth-
odists interfered with his meetings by getting possession of the
courthouse, the only suitable place in the community for public
gatherings. He contended that "the course they pursue in Kansas
looks very much as if they thought they had a divine right to crowd
out every other denomination." However, Whitney rejoiced over
the fact that prospects were brighter for the Congregationalists
in the future because the individuals who would have control of
the courthouse were more sympathetic to them.111
The pattern of diversity in Kansas religion was emphasized in
a report by the Rev. J. D. Liggett to the American Home Missionary
Society in December, 1861, dealing with Leavenworth. Fifteen
congregations were reported functioning with various degrees of
success. The groups and the estimated attendance were listed as
follows: Irish Roman Catholic, 500; German Roman Catholic, 50;
108. Ibid., pp. 363, 364, 377. Journals of the Primary Convention . . . in
A. D. 1859 and of the Annual Conventions . . . Following, in A. D. 1860, 1861,
1862, 1863, and 1864 and of the Special Convention in April, 1860, Protestant Episcopal
Church, Kansas Diocese (Lawrence, 1885), pp. 24-26.
109. Rev. S. Y. Lum to the A. H. M. S., Lawrence, December 23, 1854, in The
Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 25 (Spring, 1959), p. 53. In January, 1855, G. W. Brown
wrote in the Herald of Freedom that Lawrence had nearly a dozen lawyers, doctors, and
clergymen. He felt that Lawrence needed more of "any class of persons relying upon
labor for support. . . ." — Quoted in Malin, "Notes on the Writing of General Histories
of Kansas," loc. cit., p. 332.
110. Rev. Lewis Bodwell to the A. H. M. S., Topeka, October 21, 1856.
111. Rev. E. W. Whitney to the A. H. M. S., White Cloud, February, 1881.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 419
Campbellite, 150; German Lutheran, no regular preaching; German
Evangelical, 50; Protestant Episcopal, 50; Baptist, no regular
preaching; Methodist Episcopal, 200; German Methodist, 50; Old
School Presbyterian, no regular preaching; Presbyterian (West-
minster), 50; United Presbyterian, 25; Congregational, 150. Lig-
gett estimated the population of Leavenworth at about 10,000.112
In December of the following year Liggett reported that there
had been a split in the Baptist church which had 30 members.
The division occurred when a new pastor was to be called. The
congregation divided, two men were called, and both came to
Leavenworth thus forming two Baptist churches. He concluded
his report by stating that "almost all denominations are now strug-
gling for a foothold here, while all are weak." 113
While there were many occasions for misunderstanding of a gen-
eral nature, the issue became more specific for the Rev. S. Y. Lum
in January, 1857, when he attributed to the Unitarians the greatest
responsibility. In writing to Milton Badger of the American Home
Missionary Society, he stated that "were no doctrines taught, but
those of the truth as it is in Jesus, there would be strong hope then
of overcoming these influences but when the truth — as it is called —
is so presented as to fall in with all the natural inclinations of the
sinful heart, it fortifies the way against that which is distasteful.
Thus I find that Unitarianism is more in the way of the progress
of the saving truth than any or all other influences combined." 114
The contemporary records show no great evidence that the re-
ligious scene in Kansas was seriously disrupted in this era by bitter
hostility between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Ray A.
Billington has written that "the desire to save the West from Ca-
tholicism" had been an important motive for home mission activity
on a national basis. He pointed out that between 1834 and 1856
The Home Missionary, official publication of the American Home
Missionary Society, was "an outspoken organ of propaganda." The
fear generated by the declarations of Samuel F. B. Morse and the
Rev. Lyman Beecher did not make a decisive impact upon devel-
112. Rev. J. D. Liggett to the A. H. M. S., Leavenworth, December 2, 1861. The
population of Leavenworth in the 1860 census was 7,429. — Population of the United
States in 1860, Eighth Census (Washington, D. C., 1864), p. 164.
113. Rev. J. D. Liggett to the A. H. M. S., Leavenworth, December 1, 1862.
114. Rev. S. Y. Lum to the A. H. M. S., Lawrence, January 15, 1857, in The Kansas
Historical Quarterly, v. 25 (Summer, 1959), p. 180. On May 27, 1855, Mrs. Sara
Robinson wrote with enthusiasm about the arrival in Lawrence of Mr. Nute, a clergyman
sent by the Unitarian Association: "We are glad he has come among us with his genial
sympathies, his heart warmth, his earnest ways, his outspoken words for truth, and his
abiding love for freedom and the right." — Sara T. L. Robinson, Kansas; Its Interior and
Exterior Life (Boston, 1857), pp. 59, 60.
420 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
opments in Kansas.115 There were undoubtedly some individuals
and groups who were concerned about the expansion of Catholicism
in the frontier area. In October, 1858, at the first annual meeting
of the East Kansas Association of Baptists, Elder W. Thomas as
chairman of the committee to report on "Home Destitution" la-
mented the prevalence of "Infidelity, Universalism, and Romanism."
However, the report also emphasized that "a wide spread desti-
tution of Baptist preaching prevails in Kansas" so that the sectarian
concern included Protestants as well as Roman Catholics.116
An interesting aspect of Protestantism in Kansas during the era
of the Civil War was the controversy, and at times conflict, between
the home or parent missionary society or church, and their Kansas
representatives. One manifestation of this rivalry occurred within
the framework of the American Home Missionary Society. In Oc-
tober, 1858, when the General Association of Congregational Min-
isters and Churches met at Manhattan, a committee on home evan-
gelization was appointed. The committee should "act as a com-
mittee on missions, church extension and colportage, and should
have general oversight of the religious interests of the Territory.117
This decision was a type of declaration for independent action by
the missionaries on the Kansas frontier. It seemed as if this "native"
authority would be a threat to the hegemony of the Eastern so-
ciety. The criticism of the action by Milton Badger and other
officials of the society was met by Bodwell in a communication
to the society on January 16, 1859, in which he urged the society
to send a representative to Kansas. He argued that "we are con-
fident that it would facilitate your labors for the cause among us
by giving you a knowledge which you can hardly acquire any-
where but here." He contended that at least six of the brethren,
especially the committee on missions, supported his position.118
Bodwell, as chairman of the committee, urged greater adaptation
of missionary methods to frontier conditions in Kansas where there
were widely scattered settlements. The Methodist circuit riders
were admirably suited to the Kansas scene. The society was com-
mitted to a policy of supporting pastors for settled congregations.119
The controversy between the society and Bodwell and his group
115. Ray A. Billington, "Anti-Catholic Propaganda and the Home Missionary Move-
ment, 1800-1860," The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Lincoln, Neb., and Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, v. 22 (December, 1935), pp. 362-373.
116. Minutes of the First Meeting of the East Kansas Association of Baptists, . . .
Atchison, K. T., October 1-3, 1858 (Atchison, 1858), p. 6.
117. The Congregational Record, Lawrence, v. 1 (January, 1859), p. 5.
118. Rev. Lewis Bodwell to the A. H. M. S., Topeka, January 16, 1859.
119. Goodykoontz, op. cit.t pp. 181, 182. This authoritative study on home missions
describes effectively the policies and practices of the American Home Missionary Society.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 421
developed further on the basis of charges that had been reported
from Kansas about sectarianism. The Congregationalists and Pres-
byterians were still associated in the work of the society. A Pres-
byterian had accused the Bodwell group of sectarian practices.
On February 8, 1860, Bodwell declared as to the charges about
sectarianism: "Evangelical Kansas is in main the foster child of New
England and it is not strange that we should adopt our mother's
views." Bodwell was losing patience by this time. He emphasized
that Lum, Blood, Jones, Copeland, Adair, Byrd, and he came to
Kansas because they chose to do so and not because the society
had selected them.120 On February 28, 1860, Bodwell countered
with a charge of sectarianism. He reported soberly to the society
that "I need not state at length how sectarian selfishness sought to
forestall action; withdrew from co-operation, wouldn't work with
Brother B; secured the use of the only capacious Hall (by right
ours 4 to 1 ) ; began a series of meetings which by shouting, scream-
ing, and dancing! were under the point of attraction to scores who
Vent for fun/"121
Badger and the officials of the American Home Missionary So-
ciety were apparently planning to send an agent to Kansas and had
provided a description of the qualities which he should possess.
This action irritated Cordley who wrote on March 29, 1860, as fol-
lows:
The man whose pattern you give is not on the ground. I have never seen
him, but it would do my eyes good to look on his like. The unanimous opinion
of the brethren here is that Bro. Bodwell can do more for us and you in the
present state of things than any other man. . . . He is faithful. We
will always be sure that he is doing the best he can. We cannot feel so in
regard to Bro. Lum. Then Bro. B. is always willing to receive aid and advice
from brethren. . . . He is a worker. He is earnest. Then again he is
thoroughly acquainted with the country & the people. It would take two
years for a new man to gain the knowledge of the land & the people which
Bro. B. possesses to begin with.122
This phase of the controversy was settled in favor of the Kansas
group in April, 1860, when the society appointed Bodwell to succeed
Lum as Kansas agent.123
There were occasional conflicts between the American Home
120. Rev. Lewis Bodwell to the A. H. M. S., Topeka, February 8, 1860. The New
School Presbyterians withdrew from the American Home Missionary Society in 1861. How-
ever, the change of name to the Congregational Home Missionary Society was not made
until 1893. — Goodykoontz, op. cit., p. 301.
121. Rev. Lewis Bodwell to the A. H. M. S., Topeka, February 28, 1860.
122. Rev. Richard Cordley to the A. H. M. S., Lawrence, March 29, 1860.
123. Rev. Lewis Bodwell to the A. H. M. S., Topeka, April 24, 1860, quoted in
Hickman, "Lewis Bodwell, Frontier Preacher; the Early Years," loc. cit., v. 12 (Novem-
ber, 1943), p. 364.
422 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Missionary Society and individuals who allegedly or actually were
violating the policy of the society. It was the established policy of
the organization to discourage its missionaries from engaging in
other activities than those associated directly with their pastoral
work. This policy was unrealistic in many situations because of
the modest grant from the society and the inability of congrega-
tions to render adequate support. In the summer of 1861, the Rev.
R. Paine, Burlington, was admonished by Badger that the com-
mission "requires you to be wholly devoted to the preaching of the
Gospel and pastoral duties." A portion of Paine's eight page letter
is cited as an indication of the varied life of the missionary on the
Kansas frontier:
I begin by saying that I am in the habit of working with my hands. I have
gone to the woods alone with four yoke of oxen and taken thence huge logs
five miles and a half to the mill. Have often sat upon the load with my heart
lifted to God in the ferver of praise and prayer. I have plowed, planted,
hoed, choped, split posts, built fence, mowed, pitched hay, drawn grass, and
stone and wood and lime and sand. ... I have as the reward of my
labour in part, a very great increase in physical vigour.
Besides, I have a family to support and some debts to pay. ... I
cannot regret that I have planed and laboured in the main as I have. If I
had left the word to serve tables: if I had not loved the souls of my people,
and had not bonie them up in strong intercession at the throne of grace: if I
had not visited them and not come before them on the Sabbath with the well
beaten oil of the sanctuary, then I might be troubled, if my heart was calloused,
with the stings of conscience.
Certainly I hope to be able to do more in the vineyard in the future than I
ever have done. I look forward with joyful hopes of erelong of obtaining
another horse, that I may ride over my field oftener.124
At the annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church
meeting at Atchison in March, 1861, a further demonstration was
provided by Bishop Morris as to the status of the frontier church.
The Rev. H. D. Fisher, the secretary, presented the nominees for the
standing committees. Fisher named the presiding elder and one
man from each district as the committee on missions. The Rev.
James Shaw, who was present at these deliberations described the
scene as follows:
After he [Fisher] had read his report the Bishop remarked, "It seems to
me you have got a new fangled arrangement in your nominations. It is cus-
tomary to appoint the Presiding Elders alone as the Mission Committee. They
124. Rev. R. Paine to the A. H. M. S., Burlington, August 13, 1861. In December,
1861, when the Plymouth Congregational church at Lawrence petitioned the American
Home Missionary Society for $300 to support the Rev. Richard Cordley the following
statement was made: "He is one of very few ministers in Kansas who devote themselves
entirely to the ministry and who have eschewed farming and real estate speculation. —
Plymouth Congregational church, Lawrence, to the A. H. M. S., December 1, 1861.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 423
only are competent, from their knowledge of the work, to make a just distribu-
tion of the money.
Brother Fisher replied, "This is a Kansas arrangement." But said the
Bishop, "Kansas is Methodist soil, and I am here to maintain Methodist usages."
Brother Marian at once moved to strike out all but the Presiding Elders,
which motion prevailed.125
There was considerable tension at times between the older con-
ferences and the frontier missionaries. The Rev. William H. Goode
who began an important career in Kansas in 1854 has indicated
the nature of the tension. He found that generally the men who
came to Kansas were "men of the right stamp, volunteers, men of
energy, willing to 'endure hardness as good soldiers/" However,
"attempts were made to foist upon us, from the older Conferences,
men who were either too indolent or incompetent to labor accept-
ably where they were; but who, in the judgment of the good
brethren, 'would do for the frontier/" Goode believed that such
efforts were generally detected.126 He, however, had some un-
pleasant experiences with older conferences. He sought a cer-
tain man for an assignment in Kansas, but was told he could not
be spared from his present church. Goode identified the nature
of the problem by pointing out that "another was kindly offered as
'suitable for our work,' whom, on my declining, they found reason
to honor with a location, unsought. Such is the dependent condi-
tion of frontier work; and such it must remain, while a mere ap-
pendage of other Conferences. Their 'tender mercies are cruel/ " m
The Kansas Congregationalists also lamented at times the atti-
tude of Eastern ministers and members. In July, 1859, when a
clergyman from West Brookfield, Mass., declined a call to serve
the church at Wyandotte, the editor of The Congregational Record
observed that "our Eastern brethren seem to have a mortal dread
of Kansas. We wish something could be done to inspire them with
a little more pluck/' 128 The attitude of the East toward the West
was again a matter of concern in a leading article in The Congre-
gational Record for January, 1861, entitled "The West Needs Pe-
culiar Men." The writer argued that Easterners thought that "the
West needs peculiar men." He declared that "we need the same
peculiarity of which the Apostle speaks; 'A peculiar people, zealous
of good works/ We want the same pecularity that is needed in the
gospel ministry everywhere, and no more. Any man, who has the
125. Shaw, op cit., pp. 105, 106.
126. Goode, op. cit., p. 323.
127. Ibid., pp. 351, 352.
128. The Congregational Record, Lawrence, v. 1 (July, 1859), p. 54.
424 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
love of Christ and of souls in his heart can succeed here. ... Of
course, talent and scholarship are an advantage here, as every-
where; but no man who has no other aim than the good of souls,
need fear that he is not adapted to the West." 129
There was considerable personal feeling on the part of the fron-
tier missionary and his family toward the older churches and their
members. Mrs. Julia Louisa Lovejoy, the wife of the Rev. Charles
Lovejoy, Methodist missionary, was particularly articulate on this
point. In great detail she outlined life on the Kansas prairies "for
the gratification of the Methodist preachers in New Hampshire, who
are disposed to complain of *hard fare/ in their comfortable par-
sonages. . . ." After chronicling the hardship, famine, and lone-
liness she exclaimed: "O, that some of the *broken fragments' of
the well-filled tables, might roll in this direction and feed some
of these hungry Missionaries and their families." 13° Mrs. Lovejoy
was also a strident combatant in her attack upon a Kansas minister
who in an article "Kansas Preachers" in the Christian Advocate and
Journal had been exceedingly critical in 1858 of the political ac-
tivities of the missionaries. While denying these charges, she
pointed out that the author was generally hostile to and unac-
quainted with the New England Methodism which the group at-
tacked represented in Kansas.131
The Kansas scene also reflected the issues within Protestantism
relative to the role of an educated ministry as against the preachers
who supposedly were native to the West and possessed a "call"
that qualified them to bring the Gospel message. As early as 1847
Horace Bushnell expressed genuine alarm over the degradation
of religion and education as a result of emigration. He described
the situation: "Still we are rolling on from east to west, plunging
into the wilderness, scouring across the great inland deserts and
mountains, to plant our habitations on the western ocean. Here
again the natural tendency of emigration towards barbarism, or
social decline are displayed, in signs that cannot be mistaken." 132
While Bushnell was lamenting the consequences of emigration,
the process was going on with accelerated tempo. A great ques-
tion confronted Protestantism: Should the Gospel be withheld until
a fully trained ministry could provide for the spiritual needs of the
129. Ibid., v. 3 (January, 1861), pp. 8-10.
130. "Letters of Julia Louisa Lovejoy, 1856-1864," loc. cit., v. 15 (August, 1947),
p. 294.
131. Ibid., p. 383.
132. Horace Bushnell, Barbarism the First Danger; A Discourse on Home Missions
(New York, 1847), p. 16.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 425
people? The answer was in the negative with some major denom-
inations. A dynamic rationale for this position was found in the
strong feelings of some individuals who were represented by the
Rev. Peter Cartwright, the distinguished Methodist pioneer mis-
sionary. Writing in 1856 he declared that "the great mass of our
Western people wanted a preacher that could mount a stump, a
block, or old log, or stand in the bed of a wagon and without note or
manuscript, quote, expound and apply the word of God to the
hearts and consciences of the people." 133 He thought how kind
fate had really been when he exclaimed: "Suppose the thousands
of early settlers and scores of early Methodist preachers, by some
Providential intervention had blundered on a Biblical Institute, or
a theological factory, where they dress up little pedantic things
they call preachers; suppose ye would have known them from a
rams horn? Surely not." 134
The course of events and the scarcity of ministers did not permit
Cartwright's fears to become a reality. There was a wide variety
in education among the Kansas missionaries. They ranged from
the well-educated Andover Band of Congregationalists, who came
directly to Kansas from Andover Theological Seminary, to the rather
crude but devoted preacher who felt that he had a direct "call" to
preach the Word of God.133 The educated ministers in Kansas
often lamented the activities of the uneducated brethren. The
Rev. Richard Knight, an Englishman, described the situation at
Hampden, K. T., in August, 1855, as follows: "Our Sabbath meet-
ings are attended by many for a distance of 6 or 8 miles who would
otherwise have nothing but the teaching of ignorant men from some
of the Western States who have come in as Emigrants and who
have already held meetings advancing some of the crudest and
strangest notions conceivable. . . ." 136 The Rev. William H.
Ward at Oskaloosa found many of the same problems that Knight
described. He believed that the lack of religious interest was
133. Charles L. Wallis, ed., Autobiography of Peter Cartwright (New York and Nash-
ville, 1956), p. 236. Lyman Beecher had argued forcibly for an educated ministry:
"The ministry for the West must be a learned and talented ministry. ... No opinion
is more false and fatal than that mediocrity of talent and learning will suffice for the
West." — Lyman Beecher, Plea for the West (Cincinnati, 1835), p. 25.
134. Wallis, op. cit., p. 316.
135. The Andover Band is described in Charles M. Correll, A Century of Congregation-
alism in Kansas, 1854-1954 (Topeka, 1953), pp. 23-28. Carl Becker writing in 1910
showed how knowledge of the Andover Band had degenerated by that time to the point
that "some thought it was an iron band, and some a band of Indians." — Carl Becker,
"Kansas," in Essays in American History Dedicated to Frederick Jackson Turner (New
York, 1910), p. 99.
136. Rev. Richard Knight to the A. H. M. S., Hampden, August 1, 1855. William
A. Phillips, well-known correspondent for the New York Tribune, described Knight, a
delegate to the Topeka constitutional convention, as "an Englishman and a clergyman.
A man of ability, he was fully conscious of its possession. — William A. Phillips, The
Conquest of Kansas by Missouri and Her Allies (Boston, 1856), p. 135.
426 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
"increased by the fact that there was a year ago this winter a re-
ligious excitement under the auspices of the Methodists and most
of their converts have relapsed. Their manners here, so noisy and
ignorant, quite disgust the more educated part of the community."
Ward was requested by the Lyceum of the community to deliver
a lecture on geology, "taking the ordinary views in reference to the
age of the world." He learned, however, that on "the next Sabbath
the Methodist clergyman preached against Geology as a humbug
and its defenders as pantheistical, a word which I have no idea he
knew the meaning of." 137 The Rev. E. Whitney found at Palermo
that "no less than 3 uneducated ministers from Missouri have com-
menced preaching there. They manifest a great deal of zeal speak
very loud." 138
While there were many occasions for conflicts and tensions among
and between groups and denominations there were also situations
in which the frontier produced co-operative efforts. In December,
1855, the Rev. Charles Blood and the Congregationalists at Man-
hattan described co-operative relationships with the Methodists
and Baptists in the area, although it was reported with regret that
the representatives of the M. E. Church South would not share in
these plans.139 This ecumenical pattern was continued in the
Manhattan community. In December, 1856, it was reported that
the Baptist, Methodist, and Congregational ministers rotated their
services so that the people could have weekly services, but they
heard each preacher only once in every three Sundays.140 On
the first Sunday in November, 1856, the Rev. Lewis Bodwell, a
Congregationalist, held what was possibly the first communion
service at Topeka. Individuals from other denominations par-
ticipated in this service for administering the sacrament. It ap-
peared that sectarian lines at that occasion were broken down.141
In 1860 Bodwell reported an impressive revival in which the
Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and Baptists participated.142 In
January, 1861, The Congregational Record told its readers that "a
powerful revival is in progress in connection with the New School
Presbyterian Church at Auburn. . . . The whole community
seems stirred for miles around. . . ." 143 There are also evidences
137. Rev. William H. Ward to the A. H. M. S., Oskaloosa, March 19, 1860.
138. Rev. E. Whitney to the A. H. M. S., Elwood, April 3, 1860.
139. Rev. Charles Blood to the A. H. M. S., Manhattan, December 15, 1855.
140. Thomas C. Wells, "Letters of a Kansas Pioneer," The Kansas Historical Quarterly,
v. 5 (August, 1936), p. 290.
141. Hickman, "Lewis Bodwell, Frontier Preacher; the Early Years," loc. cit., v. 12
(August, 1943), p. 281.
142. Ibid., pp. 294, 295.
143. The Congregational Record, Lawrence, v. 3 (January, 1861), p. 17.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 427
of a broad tolerance that went beyond the boundaries of both
Protestantism and Christianity. In 1863, when the United Brethren
Church at Mound City found it financially impossible to complete
its church building, the project was taken over and completed by
the Ladies' Enterprise Association. On June 3, 1864, the president
and secretary of the association published in the Mound City
Border Sentinel a communication indicating that the structure was
a "Free Meeting House," available not only to all Christian groups
but to "spiritualists, infidels, atheists, or any other of the numerous
'ists' or 'isms'! . . ." and that it should be open "for all public
meetings and for all innocent amusements." 144
While there were differences of opinion on matters of doctrine
and order of worship among denominations, there was unanimity
of belief relative to the right of worship according to the dictates
of conscience. Freedom of religion was fully guaranteed in the
Topeka, Lecompton, Leavenworih, and Wyandotte constitutions.
The section on this phase of the Bill of Rights is similar in intent
and spirit in each document. When the Wyandotte constitution
was adopted on July 29, 1859, section seven of the 20 sections
which constituted the Bill of Rights read as follows:
The right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience shall never
be infringed; nor shall any person be compelled to attend or support any form
of worship; nor shall any control of, or interference with the rights of con-
science be permitted, nor any preference be given by law, to any religious
establishment or mode of worship. No religious test or property qualification
shall be required for any office of public trust, nor for any vote at any election,
nor shall any person be incompetent to testify on account of religious belief.145
While the Kansas scene provided many problems which made
church work exceedingly difficult, steady, if not spectacular, prog-
ress was recorded by the pioneer missionaries and congregations.
It soon became apparent that except for times of revival and the
special emphasis of camp meetings, the ministers could not meas-
ure achievement primarily by numbers in attendance at religious
meetings. The fluidity of movement on the frontier, emergency
demands upon the people, and the general lack of stability created
a pattern quite different from that of an older civilization.
The role of the prayer meeting loomed very large in the life of
the church. In July, 1856, Charles B. Lines reported from Wa-
144. "The Letters of Joseph H. Trego, 1857-1864, Linn County Pioneer," The Kan-
sas Historical Quarterly, v. 19 (November, 1951), p. 393.
145. Proceedings and Debates of the Kansas Constitutional Convention (Wyandotte,
1859), p. 575. There was little debate on this section. The word "man" in the original
version was changed to "person" since it was argued that "here is a principle granted to
men to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, while women are left
out of the question." — Ibid., p. 287.
428 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
baunsee about a regular prayer meeting, which brought 20 per-
sons together in a small tent. He observed that "an expression in
one of the prayers, offered by an old settler would have sounded
strange in the ears of a New Haven audience. He prayed that
God would take care of the interests of our Territory, that He would
overturn the existing corrupt government, and especially supply the
place of our debased Governor with a better man, and in all this,
he spoke right out into the ear of God, what he felt in his soul.
. . ,"146 In January, 1857, the Rev. Lewis Bodwell reported
from Topeka that a prayer meeting was held every Sunday eve-
ning "which is usually largely attended by persons old and young
both prosperous & non-prosperous, a goodly number taking a part
& making the meeting lively, interesting &, we hope, very profit-
able/'147
Another point of strength in the frontier church was the Bible
classes. Although the attendance was not generally large, the
emphasis in these smaller groups stimulated the life of the congre-
gation and encouraged the pastor. In March, 1860, the Rev. Rich-
ard Cordley at Lawrence felt real encouragement because of the
activities of five Bible classes in his Congregational church, two
for ladies and three for gentlemen. Moreover, a union concert
at the church had attracted 300 people.148 The denominations
generally gave great emphasis to the program of Sunday schools.
For instance, at the annual meeting of the Kansas Conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1865 the report showed 110
Sunday Schools with 4,372 scholars.149 The Congregational Rec-
ord carried lengthy articles regularly about children's work and the
need for emphasis upon it.
Revivals and camp meetings were typical of the frontier witness
of certain Protestant denominations. Camp meetings were held
early in the history of Kansas territory. In August, 1855, Mrs.
Sara Robinson described the departure of two large carriage loads
from the Robinson home in Lawrence for a camp meeting on the
Wakarusa. A large number of people participated in the event.
146. Alberta Pantle, "The Connecticut Kansas Colony; Letters of Charles B. Lines
to the New Haven Daily Palladium," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 22 (Summer,
1956), p. 173. Lines wrote a series of interesting letters about the "Beecher Bible and
Rifle Colony." These letters were especially interesting to New Haven readers since the
colonization movement had its origin in their community. The reference in the prayer
to "our debased governor" was to Wilson Shannon who was territorial governor from Sep-
tember 7, 1855, to August 18, 1856.
147. Rev. Lewis Bodwell, first quarterly report to the A. H. M. S., Topeka, January
10, 1857.
148. Rev. Richard Cordley to the A. H. M. S., Lawrence, March 1, 1860.
149. Minutes of the Tenth Session of the Kansas Annual Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church . . ., Topeka, March 15, 1865 (Leavenworth), p. 22.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 429
Mrs. Robinson believed that the services would have been im-
pressive if there had not been continual " 'Amens/ in shrill as well
as deep guttural tones, which the zealous worshippers are sound-
ing in one's ears from all quarters." 15° Mrs. Julia Louisa Lovejoy,
the wife of the Rev. Charles Lovejoy, a Methodist minister, de-
scribed in detail a camp meeting in 1858. She observed that for
30 years she had attended camp meetings in New England, "but
seldom have we heard better preaching, or 'seen more religious
interest manifested* than at our late meeting. There were about
thirty preachers present, and at one time, around the 'sacramental
board' on the Sabbath, twenty-six ^heralds of the cross* bowed
together as members of one common brotherhood. Ah! sir, you
(Mr. Editor, I mean) would not wonder at our emotions, as we
stood at that rustic altar, and gazed at the scene!" m Mrs. Love-
joy reported that approximately one thousand persons were in at-
tendance at this camp meeting. Her description of the response
of these Kansans to the meeting included the following:
We think there is far greater excitability among our Western brethren than
New Englanders, who are bred in a clime near the frigid zone. For instance,
when the Holy Ghost came down upon our tent's company, and rested upon
each "like a tongue of fire," some of the Western brethren and sisters were
pressing through the crowd, shaking hands with each other; (as preachers
and people almost invariably do when God blesses them) others were pros-
trate, slapping their hands and shouting in ecstacies, whilst we Yankees could
only weep and adore the great mercy of Christ risen and exalted. At another
time, when a sister was telling the assembly of the wonderous love of Jesus
to the fallen race, one who has been an official member in the West, strided
back and forth in front of the altar, shouting every breath, and finally ended
this singular exercise by jumping up and down, and shouting till the exhorta-
tion concluded. Now we do not mention these matters in a condemnatory
spirit by any means, but as being somewhat new to us, having never seen
things on this wise in New England. The good effects of this meeting we
fully believe will be seen and felt for years to come in Kansas. . . ." 152
In 1862 Mrs. Lovejoy again reported a great camp meeting at
Centropolis in Franklin county. The meeting was scheduled to
end after one week, but "such was the wonderful display of the
power of God that it commenced again." Mrs. Lovejoy estimated
that "from fifty to seventy found peace in believing."153 While
Mrs. Lovejoy reported on large camp meetings, these gatherings
were often of more modest proportions. In September, 1861, the
150. Robinson, Kansas; Its Interior and Exterior Life, pp. 85, 86.
151. "Letters of Julia Louisa Lovejoy," too. tit., v. 15 (November, 1947), p. 396.
152. Ibid., pp. 398, 399.
153. Ibid., v. 16 (May, 1948), pp. 185, 186.
430 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Rev. M. J. Miller, Leavenworth, reported on two camp meetings
at Holton and Lawrence Mission. Each meeting had four tents,
30 members, five preachers with an average attendance of 100.
The meeting at Holton had included a subscription for missions
which produced $65.00, a steer, and half a cow.154
The Rev. James Shaw, a presiding elder in the Methodist church,
stated that in 1861 he was criticized as "a little cold hearted, and
formal," and it was "feared that [he] was attempting to 'steady the
ark.'" He has described his attempt to promote moderation at a
camp meeting when he stated that "the next day I talked with some
of them about properly directing our efforts; that while we labored
to get our own souls filled with love, joy and fire, we should not
hoist the safety valve and let off steam in the open air, but with
warm hearts, and burning zeal, we should work for the Master,
and devote our renewed energies, lovingly, to bring sinners to the
Saviour." 155
The camp meeting served many purposes on the frontier. Prof.
C. B. Goodykoontz has pointed out that "among a people forced
to live in more or less isolation these were important social as well
as religious gatherings." 156 These occasions afforded opportunities
for meeting old friends and making new ones. A sense of group
solidarity among Christians was promoted, and this in turn pro-
duced real encouragement. In an era before conventions, the
camp meeting afforded many of the resources usually associated
with such activity. However, the motivation was definitely a re-
ligious one; the camp meetings furnished significant support for
frontier Christianity.
While there were many obstacles to effective church work in
Kansas, they were matched by the enthusiasm and dedication of
the pioneer missionary. Adaptation to frontier conditions was
essential for survival, but there was no hesitancy in making the ad-
justments. The ministers from established churches found many
great contrasts. Instead of a well-furnished church building, the
Kansas scene provided facilities which only by imaginative thought
could be transformed into places of worship. In October, 1856, the
Rev. Lewis Bodwell described his first service at Topeka: "The
place of meeting, Constitution Hall (from which, last July, Col.
Sumner, by government order and with U. S. troops, ejected the
'free state legislature'), a rough, unplastered room, board and slab
154. Rev. M. J. Mtfler to Christliche Botschafter, September 21, 1861, quoted in
Platz, op. cit., p. 36.
155. Shaw, op. cit., p. 119.
156. Goodykoontz, op. cit., p. 32.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 431
seats, a shaky cottonwood table, and an audience of about twenty-
five. The Master present to help, his friends to hear and afterward
warmhearted greetings and what would I more?" 157 In Decem-
ber, 1857, Bodwell wrote that "we are obliged to preach in the
open air, in ball-rooms & bar rooms & kitchens, as we may and
where we may. Nor would we by any means neglect such places
& opportunities; but you can well understand why we cannot do
all our work thus and hope to do it well." 158
In the winter of 1857 the Rev. Richard Cordley reported from
Lawrence that the building of a church was well under way. The
project had to be interrupted for lack of funds, but again it was re-
sumed. The windows had no casings, no plaster was upon the walls
or ceilings, the only entrance being a board left so that it would
swing. Cordley pointed out that "the winter winds used to laugh
at these loose boards, and run in through the cracks, and cool the
ardor of the congregation. The roof was said to be a good one,
but in spite of this the snow would sift through and powder our
heads as we worshiped. The seats were rough benches, and along
the sides by the wall a row of seats had been made by placing
boards on nail kegs and boxes." The room was heated by two big
stoves which were unable to accomplish the objective on winter
days. When it was especially cold, the congregation huddled
around the stoves, and the pulpit was moved to them.159
However, there were to be other days when modest, but com-
fortable houses of worship dotted the Kansas landscape as faithful
groups of worshippers came to hear the Gospel message, share in
the sacraments, witness happy marriage ceremonies, and say fare-
well to those near and dear in sad funeral services. The frontier
church was a place of consolation and hope in a drab and difficult
world. The church was planted, a symbol of growing stability on
a fluid frontier.160
157. Rev. Lewis Bodwell, "Sixty Days Home Missionary Work," The Kansas Tele-
phone, Manhattan, v. 2 (August, 1881), p. 1. Bodwell referred to the dispersal of the
Topeka legislature by Col. Edwin V. Sumner. It was on that occasion that William A.
Phillips is reported to have greeted Sumner with these words: "Colonel, you have robbed
Oliver Cromwell of his laurels." — Abby Huntington Ware, "Dispersion of the Territorial
Legislature of 1856," The Kansas Historical Collections, v. 9 (1905-1906), p. 545.
158. Rev. Lewis Bodwell to the A. H. M. S., Topeka, December 14, 1857.
159. Cordley, Pioneer Days in Kansas, pp. 74, 75. It took several years before the
Kansas church buildings could meet the specifications as outlined in 1852 on various
points including the following: "Pews. — The convenience and comfort, and therefore the
real usefulness of a house of worship, are dependent, in no small degree, upon the ar-
rangement of the pews. Much attention is necessary in order to secure, for instance, such
a slope for the backs of the pews as will make them consistent with the proper ease of
the sitter. — Central committee appointed by the Annual Congregational Convention,
October, 1852, A Book of Plans for Churches and Parsonages (New York, 1853), p. 25.
160. A fine study of early Kansas churches is found in E. R. Dezurko, "Early Kansas
Churches," Kansas State College Bulletin, Manhattan, v. 33 (April, 1949). This publica-
tion includes reproductions of photographs and prints, floor plans, and other illustrative
material. There are striking resemblances between these early churches and the volume,
A Book of Plans for Churches and Parsonages, referred to in Footnote 159.
432 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The contemporary sources indicate that various denominations
were determined to remain on the Kansas frontier even if progress
was slow. In 1858 the East Kansas Association of Baptists reported
conditions "showing great destitution, but yet great encouragement
to put in the sickle and reap an abundant harvest." There was a
disposition to hear the Gospel, and in some places there were evi-
dent tokens of the awakening and converting power of the Holy
Spirit.161 In 1860 the association reported that at Atchison there
was fine progress, with "her number more than doubled"; at Wa-
thena, "a season of spiritual refreshing"; at Troy, "an abundant out-
pouring of the spirit"; at Mount Pleasant, "an extensive revival of
religion"; at Leavenworth, "clouds of discouragement have been
dissipated and the clear sunlight of God's presence has been re-
newed to them." 162 However, the reports were not so favorable
during the sessions of the Baptists at Atchison in September, 1863.
The church at Atchison was "in need of the reviving influence of
God's spirit." The spiritual apathy was a part of the pattern of
those times. Wathena reported no special gains but they had "rea-
son to believe that God's spirit had been with them." The Tab-
ernacle church had "nothing especially cheering to report, but re-
joice that they are still a branch of the living vine and have com-
munion with their spiritual fountain." 163
In November, 1862, after five years in Kansas, the Rev. R. D.
Parker reported from Wyandotte that "they have been years of
some trial and labor; but as I look back upon them I see that they
have been filled with blessing." Parker felt that he "should shrink
from exchanging my field with any of my classmates in the East,
although some of them have attained high positions. My hands
and my heart are full of labor and what more can I ask." 164
The Rev. Richard Cordley described his response to develop-
ments in December, 1862, after completing five years in Kansas
when he wrote that "there have been many things discouraging,
but more to cheer. The country has not developed as rapidly as we
expected then. *War, pestilence, and famine' have reduced the
expectations of former years, but on the whole I cannot but feel
grateful for the progress we have made." He continued by pointing
out that when he arrived in Lawrence, the membership of the First
161. Minutes of the First Meeting of the East Kansas Association of Baptists., October
1, 1858, p. 5.
162. Minutes of the Third Annual Meeting of the East Kansas Association of Baptists,
Commencing Aug. 31, 1860, pp. 4, 5.
163. Minutes of the Sixth Annual Meeting of the East Kansas Baptist Association,
Atchison, September 25, 26, 1863, p. 5.
164. Rev. R. D. Parker to the A. H. M. S., Wyandotte, November 10, 1862.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 433
Congregational church in Lawrence was 27; in 1862, it was 83.
His first service had included 60 persons, now there were five times
that many at the services.165
A variety of motives fashioned the pattern of missionary activity
in Kansas. One dominant motive in the history of American home
missions has been described as "the natural desire of the religious
men to perpetuate in the West the ideals, traditions, and civiliza-
tion of the East/' 166 This desire is reflected clearly in the Kansas
scene. In October, 1854, Thomas H. Webb, secretary of the New
England Emigrant Aid Company, described this motive vividly
in the context of his recommendation as to the nature of the pro-
posed settlement of Kansas:
My idea has always been, that it was not well to concentrate our people
in one locality. It is desirable that New England principles and New England
influences should pervade the whole Territory; this can only be effected by
wise foresight and judicious management. Dot Kansas with New England
settlements, and no matter how heterogeneous the great living mass which
flows into the Territory may be, it will all eventually be moulded into a
symmetrical form, and the benefits resulting therefrom will be such that
generations yet to come will bless the memory of those thro* whose efforts
the boon of freedom, knowledge and pure & undefiled religion were secured
for them and their posterity.167
When Congregational ministers and delegates assembled at To-
peka on April 25, 1857, to promote the activity of the General As-
sociation of Congregational Ministers and Churches in Kansas or-
ganized in August, 1855, the group declared in their address to other
Congregational bodies that "it shall be our aim ... to trans-
plant the principles and institutions of the Puritans to these fertile
plains, and to lay foundations which shall be an honor to us, when
in the grave, and a blessing to all coming generations/'168 One
way of seeking to transmit the principles of New England was
through education. The same conference which affirmed the desire
"to transplant the principles and institutions of the Puritans" to
Kansas also resolved "that a Committee of five be raised to obtain
information in regard to the location of a College, under the patron-
165. Rev. Richard Cordley to the A. H. M. S., Lawrence, December 16, 1862.
166. Billington, loc. cit., p. 362.
167. Dr. Thomas H. Webb to S. C. Pomeroy, October 30, 1854, "Webb Letter Books,"
quoted in Edgar Langsdorf, "S. C. Pomeroy and the New England Emigrant Aid Com-
pany, 1854-1858," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 7 (August, 1938), p. 233. The
company was instrumental in founding and assisting in founding Lawrence, Osawatomie,
Manhattan, Wabaunsee, Hampden (Burlington) and to a lesser extent, Topeka, as well
as several smaller communities. — Samuel A. Johnson, "The Emigrant Aid Company in
Kansas," ibid., v. 1 (November, 1932), pp. 432-434.
168. Minutes of the General Association of Congregational Ministers and Churches
in Kansas, Topeka, April 25-27, 1857 (Ogden, K. T.), p. 12. A discussion of Congre-
gationalism and Puritanism is found in Correll, op. cit., pp. 55, 56.
28—961
434 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
age of this body, and, if they deem it expedient, to secure such a
location." 169 A committee was appointed and the movement
launched which resulted in the establishment of Lincoln College,
which furnished the origin for present Washburn University of
Topeka, a municipal institution.170 The Puritan tradition was un-
doubtedly a valuable point of reference and a strong source of sup-
port for the New England Congregationalists who were settling
in a wilderness amidst great privation to bring the Christian gospel.
While the motivation had deep historic roots, the task of planting
a Puritan civilization in the Plains area was a herculean one which
was not literally possible, although the vestiges of the attempt have
furnished enough evidence in some quarters to create the tradition
that the task was in large measure accomplished.
The census of 1860 showed that Kansas had a population of
107,206 and that only 4,208 were born in the New England states.
The neighboring state of Missouri, with its earlier origin and longer
history, had 8,013 natives of New England in the same census.171
While many residents of Kansas territory were from Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois, a sizeable number of whom had antecedents in New
England, the sheer force of numbers as well as frontier conditions
made the odds too heavy for the achievement of the objective as
declared by the General Association of Congregational Ministers
and Churches.172 During the period 1854 to 1865, 51 Congrega-
tional ministers came to serve in Kansas, 36 arriving before the end
of 1860. The number in the ministerium of the Congregational
church in Kansas was 30 in 1865. Forty-one congregations were
established between 1854 and 1865.173 While this number repre-
sents a substantial effort at missionary enterprise, it was scarcely
adequate for the achievement of establishing New England Con-
gregationalism in the large expanse of Kansas territory. However,
169. Minutes of the General Association of Congregational Ministers and Churches in
Kansas, Topeka, April 25-27, 1857, p. 6.
170. These interesting developments are portrayed in Russell K. Hickman, "Lincoln
College, Forerunner of Washburn Municipal University," The Kansas Historical Quarterly,
v. 18 (February, 1950), pp. 20-54; (May, 1950), pp. 164-204.
171. Population in the United States in I860, Eighth Census (Washington, D. C.,
1864), p. 166, 301.
172. Samuel A. Johnson states that while it is difficult to know how many people came
to Kansas under the auspices of the Emigrant Aid Company, he believes that it was less
than 2,000 and a third of them may have returned home. The parties were small and in-
frequent after June, 1855. He contends that "one must agree with those who have pub-
lished independent studies of the subject that, numerically speaking, the emigrant aid move-
ment was at best a minor factor in the peopling of Kansas." — Johnson, "The Emigrant
Aid Company," loc. cit., pp. 431, 432.
173. Correll, op. cit., pp. 185-202. The statistics for 1865 are found in The Con-
gregational Record, Lawrence, v. 7 (June, 1865), appendix following p. 18. A com-
prehensive description of early Congregationalism in Kansas is found in the article by
the Rev. Richard CorcDey, "Congregationalism in Kansas," The Congregational Quarterly,
Boston, v. 18 (new series, v. 8), July, 1876, pp. 867-386.
KANSAS RELIGION DURING CIVIL WAR 435
the idealism of these individuals should not be discounted; their
influence was greater than the numbers indicate.174
The Congregationalists were not unique among Kansas Prot-
estant groups in recognizing the role of education in promoting
the Christian witness and in improving the cultural level of the
people. When the delegates to the first Kansas and Nebraska An-
nual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church met in Law-
rence on October 23, 1856, the committee on education presented
a report which resulted in action to take steps to secure "such lands
for sites of seminaries or universities, and their building and en-
dowment by legislative action and otherwise." On February 9,
1859, the Kansas territorial legislature granted a charter for Baker
University, which has had a continuous history since its found-
ing.175 The Methodists in 1858 received a charter for Bluemont
Central College, Manhattan, the forerunner of Kansas State Uni-
versity.176 On December 19, 1857, the Presbyterians organized
Highland University at Highland, which has a continuous history in
present Highland College. Faith in the venture was expressed in
the resolution that "a thorough and Christian education is second
only to a preached gospel in the world's redemption. . . " 177
In October, 1858, the East Kansas Association of Baptists resolved
"that we cheerfully unite with our Brethren in the Territory in
building up a College, in some central locality." Roger Williams
University, which became Ottawa University and has a continuous
history to the present day, received its charter on February 27,
I860.178
When the Primary Convention of the Protestant Episcopalian
churches met at Wyandotte August 11-12, 1859, it was observed
that "our brethren of other denominations, in Kansas, are fully
awake to the state of things, and have already taken advantage
of it in a manner creditable to themselves and worthy of imitation."
174. The late Carl Becker in his famous essay on Kansas written in 1910 stated that
"ideas, sometimes, as well as the star of empire, move westward, and so it happens that
Kansas is more Puritan than New England today." — Becker, op. cit., p. 87.
175. Minutes of the First Session of the Kansas <tr Nebraska Annual Conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, Laurence, K. T., October 23-25, A. D., 1856 (Omaha City,
N. T., 1856), p. 6; Private Laws of the Territory of Kansas, . . . 1858 (Lecompton,
1858), pp. 71-74. The background factors in the founding and development of Baker
University are presented in Homer Kingsley Ebright, The History of Baker University (Bald-
win, 1951).
176. J. T. Willard, "Bluemont Central College, the Forerunner of Kansas State Col-
lege," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, y. 13 (May, 1945), p. 329. An interesting de-
scription of the founding of the college is presented in detail by Dr. Willard. — Ibid., pp.
323-357.
177. The Home and Foreign Record, v. 9 (March, 1858), p. 74.
178. Minutes of the First Meeting of the East Kansas Association of Baptists, 1858
p. 5; Private Laws of the Territory of Kansas, 1860, pp. 446-449. The background of
these events and later developments are portrayed in B. Smith Haworth. Ottawa University-
Its History and Spirit (Ottawa, 1957).
436 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The convention endorsed the plans to erect a female seminary at
Tecumseh.179 The Big Springs convention of the Disciples of Christ
considered "the propriety of establishing a literary institution for
the Christian brotherhood in Kansas." It was resolved to take
"initiatory steps" to found a university. Western Christian Uni-
versity was established at Ottumwa, Kan., in the Spring, 1863.180
In the four years of Kansas territorial history between 1857 and
1860, 35 acts were passed by the legislature to authorize colleges,
universities, and educational associations.181
While many motives stimulated missionary activity, the responsi-
bility of Christianizing Kansas territory was the decisive consid-
eration for committed ministers who left the comforts and security
of established communities and congregations to suffer the priva-
tions of frontier life. It would be unrealistic and inaccurate to
minimize this aspect of the situation. In July, 1855, the Rev.
Timothy Hill, a well-known Presbyterian minister, declared that
"if Christians neglect that Territory, the emissaries of Satan will
not; and amidst all the tumult, Oh! that the authoritative voice of
God's Law may be heard, commanding men to love one another,
and to remember that He will soon call them to give account to
Him for their conduct." 182 In August, 1858, the Rev. M. J. Miller
identified the role of the church by declaring that "Kansas needs
not only a free constitution to liberate her slaves but a free gospel
to liberate her sinners." 183 This imperative was taken seriously
by many men. Kansas was a great mission field and in the course
of events, political factors and the human emotions associated with
slavery made the sense of mission increasingly articulate.
A minister's wife, Mrs. Charles Lovejoy, expressed multiple mo-
tives in a letter in 1858. She contended that "no temptation would
induce Mr. L. to leave Kansas, for this is the spot for him, in pref-
erence to all others. Now is a chance for preachers with families
to secure to themselves homes in the finest country that lies beneath
the sun." After recounting a series of great hardship and deep
tragedy, including the fact that "we have seen our heart's idol laid
179. Journals of the Primary Convention of the Diocese of Kansas in A. D. 1859 and
of the Annual Conventions Following in A. D. 1860, 1861, 1862, 1863, and 1864 and
of the Special Convention in April, 1860, Protestant Episcopal Church, Kansas Diocese
(Lawrence, 1885), pp. 8, 9.
180. Zimmerman, loc. cit,, p. 23.
181. Private Laws of the Territory of Kansas, 1857, 1858, 1859, 1860.
182. Letter of the Rev. Timothy Hill, July, 1855, in John B. Hill, "Timothy Hill and
Western Presbyterianism; A Review of the Life and Letters of a Superintendent of Mis-
sions," p. 242. This interesting manuscript is in the Presbyterian Historical Library, Phila-
delphia, and a copy is in the Kansas State Historical Society library. Hill wished to go
to Kansas but his Missouri Presbytery voted against it.
183. Rev. M. J. Miller in the Evangelical Messenger, quoted in Platz, op. cit., p. 18.
KANSAS RELIGION DUBING CIVIL WAR 437
in her cold, damp grave in Kansas," Mrs. Lovejoy concluded by
declaring that "we are glad we came to Kansas, to labor for truth,
and justice, and we shall triumph." 184 This was a sincere expres-
sion that could be multiplied by many "soldiers of the cross" on
the Kansas frontier.
In October, 1856, Bishop George F. Pierce came to Kickapoo to
preside at the first assembly of the Kansas Mission Conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church South. His experiences had deep-
ened his appreciation of the frontier preacher and enabled him to
recognize the type of individual who should seek to serve there.
He asked the important question, "Who will go to Kansas?" and
answered it as follows: "We want no steel-clad warriors, but men
with 'tongues of fire/ We want no land-hunters, but strangers and
pilgrims, who declare plainly that they seek a country, even a
heavenly." He declared that the church would seek to provide
the necessities of life, but "other expenses may be charged to Him
who pledges 'everlasting life* in the world to come." The bishop
was certain that "it is a little nearer to heaven from the field of self-
denying labor than from the home of self-indulgent rest. And sure
I am, the prairie grass will weave sweeter memorials over your
lonely grave, than all the monuments art can fashion, or affection
buy. In the city cemetery or the country churchyard, human
friends may come to weep, but above the tombs of the pioneer
preacher, the angels of God will encamp." 185
184. "Letters of Julia Louisa Lovejoy, 1856-1864," loc. cit., v. 15 (August, 1947),
p. 319.
185. George F. Pierce, Incidents of Western Travel (Nashville, 1857), p. 182; Smith,
op. cit., p. 291.
'T^HE
JL VITT
The Centennial of Lincoln's Visit to Kansas
I. INTRODUCTION
visit of Abraham Lincoln to northeast Kansas 100 years ago
was re-enacted December 5, 1959, as a preliminary to the cele-
bration of the state centennial in 1961. Although Lincoln spent
seven days (November 30-December 7) on his Kansas speaking
tour of 1859, the 1959 re-enactment was accomplished in several
hours by motor car.
Commemoration of the Lincoln tour, under the sponsorship of the
Kansas Centennial Commission and the State Historical Society,
was proposed by Fred W. Brinkerhoff, editor of the Pittsburg Head-
light and Swn, a director of the commission and former president of
the Society. Holla Clymer, editor of the El Dorado Times, also a
director of the commission and former president of the Society, was
cast in the role of the Illinois statesman. Marshall Gardiner of
Leavenworth, Al Bennett of Atchison, and C. C. Calnan of Troy,
assisted by other citizens and officials, planned the programs and
parades along the way.
The caravan traveled from St. Joseph, Mo., through Elwood to
Troy, Atchison, and Leavenworth. Stops for speeches were made
at the latter three cities — from steps of the courthouses in Troy and
Atchison, and from a platform in a downtown street at Leavenworth,
near the site of old Stockton hall where Lincoln gave two of his
speeches. The weather was cold in 1959, but not as cold as when
Lincoln huddled under a buffalo robe in an open buggy 100 years
earlier. This buggy, used by Lincoln on part of his Kansas journey,
is now the property of the Fort Leavenworth museum and was
transported on a truck-drawn trailer. The 1959 Lincoln made en-
trances into some of the towns in this authentic but now horseless
carriage.
Clymer's talks included words and phrases of the Lincoln speeches
as reported in contemporary newspapers and in Roy P. Basler's
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (Rutgers University Press,
1953). With these, Clymer reconstructed the political scene of
1859 and gave the essence of what Lincoln, who the next year was
to announce himself a candidate and to win the Presidency, may
have said in several long speeches in these Kansas cities.
(438)
LINCOLN'S VISIT TO KANSAS 439
II. HOLLA CLYMER'S 1959 PRESENTATION OF
LINCOLN'S SPEECHES IN KANSAS
TROY
This is the first time I have set foot on Kansas soil, and I am glad to be here.
It is possible that you people of Kansas have local questions with regard
to Railroads, Land Grants and internal improvements — which are matters of
deeper interest to you than the questions arising out of national politics.
Of these I know nothing, and can say nothing.
You have, however, just adopted a state constitution and it is probable that,
under that Constitution, you will soon cease your territorial existence and
come forward to take your place in the brotherhood of states, and act your
part as a member of the confederation.
Kansas will be free, but the same questions aroused here in regard to freedom
or slavery will arise with regard to other territories — and Kansas will have
to take a stand in deciding them.
People often ask: "Why make such a fuss about a few Negroes?" I answer
the question by asking, what will you do to dispose of this question? The
slaves constitute one-seventh of our entire population. Wherever there is an
element of this magnitude in government, it will be talked about.
The general feeling in regard to slavery has changed entirely since the early
days of the Republic. You may examine the debates under the Confederation,
in the convention that framed the constitution, and in the first session of Con-
gress— and you will not find a single man saying Slavery is a good thing.
They all believed it was an evil.
They made the Northwest Territory — the only territory then belonging to
the government — forever Free. They prohibited the African slave trade. Hav-
ing thus prevented its extension and cut off the supply, the Fathers of the
Republic believed that Slavery must soon disappear.
There are only three clauses in the Constitution which refer to Slavery,
and in neither of them is the word Slave or Slavery mentioned. The word
is not used in the clause prohibiting the African slave trade; it is not used in
the clause which makes Slaves a basis of representation; it is not used in the
clause requiring the return of fugitive Slaves.
And yet in all the debates in the Convention the question was discussed
and Slaves and Slavery talked about. Now why was this word kept out of this
instrument and so carefully kept that a European, be he ever so intelligent, if
not familiar with our institutions, might read the Constitution over and over
again and never learn that Slavery existed in the United States?
The reason is this: The Framers of the Organic Law believed that the
Constitution would outlast Slavery, and they did not want a word there to tell
future generations that Slavery had ever been legalized in America.
Tomorrow John Brown will be hanged for treason in Virginia. We are
forced to believe that the attack of Brown on Harpers Ferry was wrong for
two reasons: It was a violation of law; and it was, as all such attacks must be,
futile as far as any effect it might have on the extinction of a great evil.
We have provided a means for the expression of our belief in regard to
slavery — and that is through the ballot box — the peaceful method provided by
the Constitution. John Brown has shown great courage, rare unselfishness, as
440 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
even Governor Wise testifies. But no man, North or South, can approve of
violence or crime.
And now I thank you, and extend the wish that all of you go to your own
state election on Tuesday and vote as becomes the Free Men of Kansas.
ATCHISON
You are, as yet, the people of a territory, but you probably soon will be the
people of a state of the union.
Then you will be in possession of new privileges — and new duties will be
upon you. You will have to bear a part in all that appertains to the admin-
istration of the national government.
That government, from the beginning, has had, has now, and must continue
to have a policy in relation to domestic slavery. It cannot, if it would, be
without a policy upon that subject.
And that policy must, of necessity, take one of two directions. It must deal
with the institution as being wrong, or not being wrong.
The nationality of Freedom is as old as the government itself. In all states
where slavery did not exist by municipal law, or was not made a distinctive
feature of the articles of cession, Freedom was established.
The Fathers opposed interfering with slavery where it existed, or allowing it
to encompass the national domain. That is alike my doctrine, and the doctrine
of the Republican party.
We hear much today about the doctrine of Popular Sovereignty. If you
carry out that doctrine to its full meaning, it would renew the African slave
trade.
Who can show that one people have a better right to carry slaves to where
they never have been, than another people to buy slaves wherever they please,
even in Africa?
The advocates of Popular Sovereignty by their efforts to brutalize the Negro
in the public mind — denying him any share in the Declaration of Independ-
ence, and comparing him to the crocodile — are beyond what avowed pro-
slavery men ever do. These people do as much, or more, as the pro-slavery
men toward making the institution national and perpetual.
Many of these Popular Sovereignty advocates say they are "as much op-
posed to slavery as anyone," but they never seem to find any time or place
to oppose it.
In their view, it must not be opposed to politics, because that is agitation;
nor in the pulpit, because that is religion; nor in the Free States because
it is not there; nor in the slave states because it is there.
These gentleman are never offended by hearing slavery supported in any
of these places. Still, they are "as much opposed to slavery as anybody." One
would suppose that it would exactly suit them if the people of the slave states
themselves would adopt emancipation.
But when Frank Blair tried this last year in Missouri, and was beaten,
everyone of them threw up his hat and shouted, "Hurrah for Democracy/'
Your territory has had a marked history. No territory has ever had such a
history. There has been strife and bloodshed here. Both parties have been
guilty of outrages.
LINCOLN'S VISIT TO KANSAS 441
Whatever the relative guilt of the parties, one fact is certain — that there
has been loss of life, destruction of property and material interests have been
retarded.
Can anyone say this has been desirable?
There is a peaceful way of settling these questions — the way adopted by
government until a recent period. The bloody code has grown out of the
new policy in regard to the government of territories.
We have a means provided for the expression of our belief in regard to
slavery — through the ballot box — as the peaceful method provided by the
constitution.
You who object to Republicans say you are for the Union, and you greatly
fear the success of the Republicans would destroy the Union. Why?
Do the Republicans declare against the Union? Nothing like it. Your own
statement is that if the Black Republicans elect a president, you won't stand
it. You will break up the Union.
That will be your act, not ours. To justify it, you must show that our policy
gives you just cause for such desperate action. Can you do that?
When you attempt it, you will find that our policy is exactly the policy of
the men who made the Union. Nothing more and nothing less.
While you elect a president, we submit — neither breaking nor attempting
to break up the Union. If we shall constitutionally elect a president, it will
be our duty to see that you submit.
Old John Brown has just been executed for treason against a state. We
cannot object, even though he agreed with us in thinking slavery wrong.
That cannot excuse violence, bloodshed and treason. It could avail him nothing
that he might think himself right.
So, if we constitutionally elect a President, and therefore you undertake
to destroy the Union, it will be our duty to deal with you as John Brown has
been dealt with.
We shall try to do our duty.
We hope and believe that in no section will a majority so act as to render
such extreme measures necessary.
Ladies and gentlemen, I appeal to you all — opponents as well as friends —
to think soberly and maturely on all these questions, and never fail to cast
your vote.
LEAVENWORTH
You are, as yet, the people of a territory, but you probably will soon be the
people of a state of the Union. Then you will be in possession of new privileges,
and new duties will be upon you.
You will have to bear a part in all that pertains to the administration of the
National government. That government, from the beginning, has had, has now,
and must continue to have a policy in relation to domestic slavery.
It cannot, if it would, be without a policy on that subject. And that policy
must, of necessity, take one of two directions. It must deal with the institu-
tion as being wrong, or not being wrong.
The early action of the general government upon the question — in relation
to the foreign slave trade, the basis of federal representation, the prohibition
of slavery in the federal territories, and the Fugitives slave clause in the Con-
442 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
stitution, was based upon the idea of slavery being wrong. The government
tolerated slavery so far, and only so far, as the necessity of its actual presence
required.
The policy of the Kansas-Nebraska act, about which so much has been said,
was based on the opposite idea — that is, the idea that slavery is not wrong.
You, the people of Kansas, furnish the example of the first application of
this new policy. At the end of about five years, after having almost continual
struggles, fire and bloodshed, over this very question, and after having framed
several state constitutions, you have at last secured a Free-State constitution,
under which you will probably be admitted into the Union.
At the end of all this difficulty, you have attained what we in the old
Northwest territory attained without any difficulty at all. Compare, or rather
contrast, the actual working of the new policy with that of the old, and say
whether, after all, the old way — the way adopted by Washington and his
compeers — was not the better way.
This new policy has proved false to all its promises — namely, to end slavery
agitation, and to afford greater control of their affairs to the people of the
territories.
You have already had, I think, five governors, and yet, although their doings
in their respective days, were of some little interest to you, it is doubtful whether
you now even remember the names of half of them.
They are all gone (all but the last) leaving without a trace upon your soil,
or having done a single act which can, in the least degree, help or hurt you —
in all the indefinite future before you. This is the size of the governor
question.
Now, how is it with the slavery question? If your first settlers had so far
decided in favor of slavery, as to have got 5,000 slaves planted on your soil,
you could, by no moral possibility, have adopted a Free-State constitution.
Their owners would be influential men whose property it would be impos-
sible to destroy. If you freed the slaves, you would not know what to do
with them. You would not wish to keep them as underlings, and could not
elevate them to social and political equality.
You could not send them away. Neither the slave states nor the free states
would let you send them there. All of the rest of your property would not
pay for sending them to Liberia. You could more easily have disposed of
not five, but five hundred governors.
Which is the greater — this or the governor question? Which could more
safely be entrusted to the first few people to settle a territory?
The Fathers did not seek to interfere with slavery where it existed, but to
prevent its extension. This is the policy of the Republican party of today.
WTe must not disturb slavery in the states where it exists, because the
Constitution and the peace of the country both forbid us. But we must, by a
national policy, prevent the spread of slavery into the new states, or free states,
because the Constitution does not forbid us, and the general welfare does
require the prevention.
We must prevent these things being done either by Congress or the courts.
The people — the people — are the rightful masters of both Congress and the
courts — not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who
pervert it.
LINCOLN'S VISIT TO KANSAS 443
Senator Douglas has assured us of a great line, a line ordained of God —
a line on one side of which slave labor alone could be employed, and on the
other only free labor could be utilized.
It may be that the Missouri river was the line suggested by Douglas. If
the line was ordained of God, it ought to be plain and palpable — though I
have never been able to put my finger on it.
The attempt to identify the Republican party with the John Brown business
is simply an electioneering dodge. I have yet to find the first Republican who
endorsed Brown's proposed insurrection. If there was one, I would invite
him to step out of the ranks and correct his politics.
It is imperative that the races be kept distinct. Because I do not wish to
hold a Negro woman as a slave, it does not follow that I want her for a wife.
Such flimsy diatribes, as the political arguments over "amalgamation," have
been perpetrated by the Democracy to divert the public mind from the real
issue — the extension or nonextension of slavery — its localization or nationali-
zation.
The aims and principles of the Republican party harmonize with the teach-
ings of those by whom the Government was founded, and their predominance
is essential to the proper development of the country, to its progress and glory,
to the salvation of the Union and the perpetuity of Free Institutions.
Bypaths of Kansas History
AN EARLY DAY BEATNIK
From The Kansas News, Emporia, January 8, 1859.
COOL. — A gentleman entered our office a few days since, and stated that
he would like to subscribe for the paper for forty days, provided we would
change the day of publication and "prent his'n on Monday," and also pro-
vided he could pay his subscription in instalments of ten cents at a time,
as he did not wish to risk a large amount of cash in our hands. We thought
that "rather cool."
P. S. Since writing the above, we found out that the individual alluded to,
wanted to pay his subscription in frozen pumpkins.
"HOME, SWEET HOME"
From the Topeka Tribune, quoted in the Emporia News, August
20, 1859.
Mr. Ingham, of Topeka, and several others returned from a trip to the Gold
Mines on Saturday evening last. Mr. Ingham brought a few specimens of the
metal back, but is of [the] opinion that the mines will not pay as well as staying
at home with one's wife, when the sweets and comforts of home are necessary
to the enjoyment of married men, and we dare say, the returned husband will
be duly appreciated by an anxious and affectionate wife.
Too MUCH FREEDOM WITH RELIGION
From The Weekly Free Press, Atchison, February 15, 1868.
A man was expelled from the Methodist church at Junction City the other
day for having obtained admission on forged papers.
FROZEN RIVERS
From the Wyandott Herald, February 29, 1872.
On the 5th day of November the Kansas river froze over at this point [present
Kansas City], and on the 22d of the same month the Missouri was closed. Both
rivers remained in this condition until Friday last, the 23d day of February.
The former river remaining closed for the period of 110 days, and the latter
for the period of 93 days; being a much longer period of time for the Ice King
to hold his sway than ever before since the settlement of the country by the
whites.
EXIT THE BUFFALO
From the Wabaunsee County News, Alma, November 20, 1872.
South of the Arkansas river 2,000 men are engaged in shooting buffalo
for their hides alone.
(444)
Kansas History as Published in the Press
"Kansas City's Hannibal Bridge: Western Town-booming and
Eastern Capital," by Charles N. Glabb, comprised the March, 1959,
number of The Trail Guide, Independence, Mo., published by the
Kansas City posse of the Westerners.
Elizabeth Barnes* column, "Historic Johnson County/' has con-
tinued to appear regularly in the Johnson County Herald, Overland
Park. Among subjects covered during the past year were: "Corinth
Community — the Church/' March 5, 1959; "Corinth Community —
the Cemetery/' March 12; baseball in the Kansas City area, March
19, 26; "Santa Fe Trade Based in N. E. Johnson County," April 2,
16, 23, 30, May 7; "Corinth Community School," May 14; biographi-
cal sketch of Thomas C. Porter family, July 2; and "Story of Oxford
and New Santa Fe [Mo.]/' August 6, 13, 20.
Dr. B. E. Ebel, Redlands, Calif., a native of Hillsboro, is author
of a series of articles on the history of Hillsboro, beginning in the
Hillsboro Star-Journal, March 5, 1959. Founded in 1879 by John
G. Hill, the town was first called Hill City.
Histories of the Greeley Evangelical United Brethren church
were published in the Garnett Review, March 9, and Anderson
Countian, April 2, 1959. Organization of the church was completed
in June, 1859, and a building erected the following year.
Among historical articles appearing in the Hays Daily News in
recent months were: "Lawlessness at Ellis 63 Years Ago Led to
All-Feminine City Government/' by Kittie Dale, March 22, 1959;
"Early Tests for Gold and Oil in [Ellis] County Brought Excitement
and Disappointment," March 29; "Legend of Old Mulvey Hall at
Ellis Grows Five Years After Last Dance," by Kittie Dale, May 10;
"Yocemento Once Held Great Promise but Idea of Founders [Ce-
ment Plant] Born Too Soon," May 24; "Two Ellis Old Timers
[Howard C. Raynesford and August Schutte] Map and Mark Butter-
field Overland Despatch Trail," May 31; "Hays City Fourth of July
Celebration 81 Years Ago Enlivened by Soldiers," July 3; "Bat
Masterson Favored City Over Prairie in Later Years/' September 6;
"Harper's Magazine Files Yield Account of Old Fort Hays' Trials
With Indians," November 1.
McPherson county's first courthouse, built around 1870, was the
subject of an article in the Lindsborg News-Record, March 30,
(445)
446 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
1959. On June 15 the News-Record printed a history of the Holm-
berg-Johnson Blacksmith and Wagon Shop of Lindsborg. The shop
was built in 1874.
"The Pony Express, Heroic Effort— Tragic End," by Raymond W.
Settle, appeared in the April, 1959, issue of the Utah Historical
Quarterly, Salt Lake City.
In observance of the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the
present building of the Council Grove Methodist church, the Coun-
cil Grove Republican published a brief history of the church, April
1, 1959. The congregation's history goes back to 1855 when the
Methodist Church, South, organized a church in Council Grove.
On April 1, 1959, the El Dorado Times, published a page-length
sketch of the Rogler family of Chase county. The article was writ-
ten by Austin Showman and first published in the Weekly Star
Farmer, Kansas City, Mo., August 10, 1955. Charles W. Rogler
settled on a tract of land near present Matfield Green in 1859. The
tract, now several thousand acres, is presently owned and oper-
ated by Henry and Wayne Rogler, son and grandson of Charles.
The Times, May 30, printed a letter written by Mrs. Pearl B. Harsh,
giving a sketch of her father, Henry Brandley, who came to Kan-
sas with Charles Rogler, and likewise, was a Chase county pioneer.
Among articles of a historical nature in the Colby Press-Tribune
in recent months were: a Thomas county history, by Ernest Snell,
April 16, 20, 1959; history of Colby and the Cooper Hotel, Colby,
May 21; and an article on the Colby Christian church, August 3.
Histories of the First Baptist church of Oswego appeared in the
Oswego Democrat, April 24 and May 1, 1959. The church was
organized April 28, 1869.
Mary Liz Montgomery's column, "Incidentally . . .," in the
Junction City Weekly Union, April 30, 1959, included a history of
the Lyon creek community south of Junction City. The first
settlers in the area arrived in 1856. The Lyona Methodist church
was organized April 10, 1859. A sketch of the church appeared in
the Abilene Reflector-Chronicle, April 16.
"Cowboys Had Own Paper," by Mary Einsel, a history of The
Kansas Cowboy, Dodge City, was printed in the Hutchinson News,
May 3, 1959. Don Kendall reviewed central Kansas history and
noted towns celebrating anniversaries in an article published in the
News, May 31.
KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 447
Ninety-year-old Mrs. H. W. Todd, Independence, was the sub-
ject of a biographical sketch by Wilma Schweitzer in the Inde-
pendence Daily Reporter, May 3, 1959. On May 10 the Reporter
published an article, by Ed Guilinger, on Mount Hope Cemetery,
of Independence, and its sexton, C. R. Hibbens. A short sketch,
by Guilinger, of the old Wilson county courthouse, built in 1886,
was printed May 31. An article by Lily B. Rozar on the Dalton
gang appeared in the November 22 issue.
Included in the May 13, 1959, issue of the Concordia Blade-
Empire was a three-page history of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Con-
cordia. The Sisters arrived in Concordia and established a school
in 1884.
One hundred years ago, through the efforts of Lt. J. E. B. Stuart of
Fort Riley, the Episcopal Church of the Covenant in Junction City
was built, according to a history of the church by Kent Stuart in the
Pittsburg Sun, May 21, and the Junction City Weekly Union, May
28, 1959.
The Southwest Daily Times, Liberal, published a history of the
city's library in the issue of May 23, 1959. The library was started
in 1903 with the establishment of a reading room. The present
building, commenced in 1953, was recently completed with the ad-
dition of two new wings.
Early history of the military post of Fort Scott was briefly sketched
in the Fort Scott Tribune, May 30, 1959. A section devoted to the
history of the Fort Scott area was published in the Tribune, Septem-
ber 4. Of particular interest were articles and pictures of the Fort
Blair blockhouse, built in 1862-1863, which has been restored and
was rededicated September 7.
A history of the Grandview Methodist church, near Arkansas City,
was printed in the Arkansas City Daily Traveler, June 3, 1959. The
original church building was dedicated June 13, 1909.
A history of Earlton, Neosho county, by Emma Barnes Frazier,
was printed in the Thayer News and the St. Paul Journal, June 4,
1959.
On June 6, 1959, the Clay Center Dispatch began publication of
the diary of Thomas J. Ingham in series form. The diary describes
Ingham's journey from Pennsylvania to Clay county in 1859.
The German Evangelical Lutheran Zion church of Junction City
was organized June 9, 1884, according to a history of the church,
448 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
now called the Zion United Church of Christ, in the Junction City
Weekly Union, June 11, 1959.
On June 11, 1959, the Mullinville News began publication of a
series of articles on the history of Mullinville by Mrs. Marilla Alford
Blau. The town was started in 1884 by Alfred A. Mullin.
A history of the Americus United Presbyterian church appeared
in the Emporia Gazette, June 18, and in the Emporia Weekly
Gazette, July 2, 1959. The congregation was organized March 15,
1859, by the Rev. J. N. Smith.
"A Half Century at Hicks Chapel Church/* a history of the Hicks
Chapel Methodist church, Cowley county, by Mrs. Dwight Mosier,
was published in three parts in the Cedar Vale Messenger, June 18,
25, and July 2, 1959.
The Hanover News, June 19, 1959, printed a history of the Horse-
shoe Farmers Band of near Hanover. The band was organized in
1909 with 15 members.
The lola Register, June 25, 1959, printed a history of the Carlyle
Presbyterian church in observance of the church's 100th anniversary.
A Sunday School was started in 1858 and on June 27, 1859, the
church was organized.
In 1889 the Burns German Methodist church, now known as the
Ebenezer church, southwest of Burns, was organized. A three-
column history of the church was published in the Burns News, July
3, 1959.
The Topeka Capital-Journal, July 5, 1959, printed an article by
Lucille T. Kohler on Mrs. L. D. Whittemore, who 'lias been called
the mother of art at Washburn and in Topeka/' Mrs. Whittemore's
presentation of "Living Pictures/' representing the works of the
masters with living persons, in 1913 and 1915, was a feature of the
article.
"Early Days in Bucklin . . ./' a series by Mrs. F. A. Gresham,
began appearing in the Bucklin Banner, July 9, 1959. Bucklin's be-
ginning was in 1887 when all the buildings from Colcord and Corbitt
were moved to a location on the railroad.
The Attica Independent published a 32-page souvenir edition
July 9, 1959, in observance of Attica's 75th anniversary. The town's
history and anniversary celebration were featured.
"Pioneer Days in Scott County, Kansas" is the title of a history
by Mrs. E. W. Vaughn, published serially in the News Chronicle,
KANSAS HISTORY IN THE PRESS 449
Scott City, beginning July 9, 1959. Mrs. Vaughn's parents, the N.
H. Baileys, homesteaded in Scott county in 1885.
A 24-page jubilee edition was published by The Clark County
Clipper, Ashland, August 6, 1959, in observance of the 75th anni-
versaries of Ashland and the Clipper.
August 12, 1959, marked the 50th anniversary of the St. Stanislaus
parish at Ingalls. A history of the parish appeared in the Jacksonian,
Cimarron, August 6, 1959. As early as the 1880*8 priests occasionally
visited the area. Mass was offered in the homes until completion of
the building in 1909.
Articles by Russ Hyatt in recent issues of the Wichita Beacon in-
cluded: "Historic West Kansas Timepiece Restored to Mark Time
at Newton," and "Pioneer Effort to Build Town Recalled in Story of
Lake City/' August 9, 1959, and "Bohemians on Border [Sumner and
Harper Counties] Overlooked by Historians/' August 23.
On the occasion of the completion of its 96th year, the Enterprise-
Chronicle, Burlingame, September 3, 1959, printed a review of the
years since its beginning. The newspaper was founded by Marshall
M. Murdock as the Osage County Chronicle.
"Cigar Factories and Four Papers on Marysville Scene in 1902-
03," by Gordon S. Hohn, appeared in the Marysville Advocate, Sep-
tember 3, 1959. A history of the Bigelow Methodist church, by Mrs.
Chas. Walls, was printed in the Advocate, September 10. The
church, established in 1887, will soon be a victim of the Turtle Creek
dam reservoir.
On September 3, 1959, the Junction City Union published an
article by Mrs. Wilber M. Brucker, which included a historical
sketch of Fort Riley.
Caney's early history as recalled by Ollie Smith, its senior native
citizen, was printed in the Caney Chronicle, September 24, 1959.
The town celebrated its 90th anniversary in 1959.
Clearwater was incorporated in 1884 but the history of the area
goes back to the 1860's, according to a column-length history of the
town in the Clearwater News, October 1, 1959.
Some of the early history of Fort Lamed was reviewed in the
Tiller and Toiler, Larned, October 22, 1959. The fort was estab-
lished 100 years ago by Maj. Henry W. Wessells.
29—961
Kansas Historical Notes
An Old Abilene Town Company has been formed to construct a
replica of early Abilene. Work is well under way with a number
of buildings completed. Henry B. Jameson is president of the or-
ganization. William A. Guilfoyle is first vice-president; Dorothy
Bath, secretary; Charles Stapf, treasurer; and Charles Cruse, Holly
Callahan, H. W. Keel, Dale Snider, and Dr. Tracy Conklin, honorary
vice-presidents.
Officers of the Finney County Historical Society, elected April 14,
1959, are: C. H. Cleaver, president; A. M. Fleming, first vice-presi-
dent; Damon Cobb, second vice-president; Claudine Lindner, secre-
tary; and Mrs. Cecil Wristen, treasurer.
Hillsboro observed its 75th anniversary with a celebration June
7-10, 1959. Featured event of the program was a historical pageant
entitled "Glimpses of Our Heritage/'
"Pageant of the Prairie/' was the feature of Coldwater's diamond
jubilee celebration, August 29-September 2, 1959. Other events in-
cluded a parade, union religious service, and chuck-wagon break-
fast.
Re-elected as officers of the Chase County Historical Society at the
society's annual meeting in Cottonwood Falls, September 5, 1959,
were: Charles O. Gaines, president; Paul B. Wood, vice-president;
George Dawson, treasurer; and Mrs. Ruth Conner, historian. Whitt
Laughridge is the newly elected secretary. The executive committee
consists of Mrs. Conner, Mrs. Ida Vinson, Mrs. Helen Austin, Be-
atrice Hays, Hugh K. Campbell, and R. Z. Blackburn.
L. W. Hubbell was re-elected president of the Hodgeman County
Historical Society at a meeting September 10, 1959, in Jetmore. Bert
Brumfield was elected vice-president; Nina Lupfer, secretary; and
Mrs. Muriel Eichman, treasurer. Directors chosen were: Margaret
Raser, Lula Jones, Lida Benge, and J. W. Lang.
On September 13, 1959, the Fort Wallace Memorial Association
placed a marker at the site of the massacre of the John German
family by Cheyenne Indians in September, 1874, near present Rus-
sell Springs. At a meeting in Wallace, November 5, members of the
association discussed plans for increased activity in the preservation
of western Kansas history, including a new museum to be located
near Wallace. E. M. Beougher, Grinnell, is president of the associa-
tion.
(450)
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 451
Harold O. Taylor is the new president of the Crawford County
Historical Society, elected at the society's annual meeting, in Pitts-
burg, September 29, 1959. Other officers include: Robert O. Karr,
vice-president; Mrs. Ethel Atkinson, secretary; and Mrs. J. W. Black,
treasurer. T. E. Davis, Belle Provorse, Vivian Walker, and Mrs.
Hugh Friel were named directors. Fred W. Brinkerhoff, Pittsburg
publisher, was the principal speaker.
Officers of the Lane County Historical Society, elected at a meet-
ing in Dighton, October 12, 1959, are: Bill Pike, president; Mrs.
Roy Hagans, vice-president; Mrs. Joe Hanna, secretary; Mrs. Dale
Jewett, treasurer; and Roy Hagans, Mrs. J. E. Mowery, and Walter
Herndon, members of the board. Herndon was the retiring presi-
dent.
New directors of the Allen County Historical Society, elected at
the annual meeting, October 13, 1959, in lola, are: J. Glenn Dicker-
son, Mrs. Ruth Growl, and Lillian Johnson. Directors re-elected
were: Col. R. L. Thompson, Spencer Gard, Angelo Scott, Mary
Ruth Carpenter, and Mary Hankins. Judge Gard is president of the
society.
B. H. Oesterreich, Woodbine, was re-elected president, and Mrs.
Viola Ehrsam, Enterprise, first vice-president, of the Dickinson
County Historical Society at a meeting in the Lyona Methodist
church, October 22, 1959. Elmer Sellin, Abilene, was named secre-
tary.
Robert Hanson was elected president of the Cloud County His-
torical Society at the annual meeting, October 26, 1959, in Con-
cordia. Ernest W. Powell was chosen vice-president; Mrs. Raymond
A. Hanson, recording secretary; Mrs. Sid Knapp, membership secre-
tary; Ernest F. Swanson, treasurer; and Dr. Leo Haughey, Robert B.
Wilson, Leo Paulsen, George Palmer, and Mrs. Wilfred Trembley,
directors. Martin Van De Mark was the retiring president.
The Thomas County Historical Society was organized at a meeting
in Colby, November 12, 1959. Carl G. Eddy was elected president
of the new society. Other officers are: W. D. Ferguson, vice-presi-
dent; Jessie Dimmitt, secretary; Bertha Louis, treasurer; and Harry
Eicher, Lulu Hutchinson, and Esther Sewell, directors. Ed
Beougher, Grinnell, was the principal speaker.
Election of officers was held by the Ottawa County Historical
Society in Minneapolis, November 14, 1959. Ray Halberstadt was
452 KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
elected president; A. R. Miller, vice-president; Mrs. Ray Halberstadt,
secretary; Mrs. Fred Jagger, treasurer; Mrs. Zella Heald, reporter;
and Louis Ballou, Rolla Geisen, and Paul Wilkins, directors.
Abraham Lincoln's Kansas tour of 1859 was re-enacted December
5, 1959, with Rolla Clymer, El Dorado publisher, playing the part
of Lincoln. For further information on the 1959 tour and the text
of Clymer's talks, see pp. 438-443.
For significant accomplishment in the field of preservation, the
Chase County Historical Society was presented a citation by the
Jackson County (Missouri) Historical Society at the annual dinner
of the Jackson county society in Kansas City, Mo., December 8, 1959.
The award was presented to the Chase county society for its work in
restoring the Chase county courthouse.
Recently elected officers of the Leavenworth County Historical
Society are: James E. Fussell, president; Helen Yoakum, first vice-
president; Hans Frienmuth, second vice-president; Mrs. Gorman
Hunt, secretary; and Col. Ralph B. Stewart, treasurer. Directors of
the society are: D. R. Anthony, III, E. Bert Collard, Sr., Ella V.
Carroll, Mrs. Carl Behrle, Mrs. Minnie Mae Maier, Julius Waldstein,
and A. W. Johnson.
American Airlines has recently published a 47-page booklet en-
titled History Below the Jet Trails, for distribution to passengers
traveling between St. Louis and Los Angeles. Written by the Rev.
John Francis Bannon, S. J., the booklet tells of those who traveled
the route in an earlier day — Indians, soldiers, pioneers, prospectors,
traders — and something of the history of the land in the shadow of
the jet planes.
A 44-page pamphlet presenting the story of the early life of Fort
Hays and Hays City was published in May, 1959, by the Old Fort
Hays Historical Association, Inc. Fort Hays, established October 11,
1865, was first called Fort Fletcher.
Travel Memories From America, by Carl Johan Nyvall, originally
published in 1876, has been translated and edited by E. Gustav
Johnson, and published in a 126-page volume by the Covenant Press,
Chicago, in 1959. Nyvall, a Swedish evangelist, visited America in
1875-1876, spending part of the time with his former countrymen in
Kansas.
KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 45$
Roy S. Bloss is the author of a 159-page volume entitled Pony Ex-
press— the Great Gamble, recently published by Howell-North Press,
Berkeley, Calif.
They Seek a Country is the title of a 222-page work by David V»
Wiebe, printed by the Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, Hills-
boro, in 1959. It is the story of the Mennonite migrations and their
pioneer settlements, especially those in Kansas.
The Fighting Parson, a 284-page biography of Col. John M. Chiv-
ington, by Reginald S. Craig, was published by the Westernlore
Press, Los Angeles, in 1959. Chivington is best known for his part
in the Sand Creek massacre against the Cheyenne Indians in 1864.
Dale L. Morgan edited, and Fred A. Rosenstock of the Old West
Publishing Co., recently published The Overland Diary of James A.
Pritchard From Kentucky to California in 1849. The 221-page vol-
ume also includes a biography of Pritchard by Hugh Pritchard Wil-
liamson.
Great Train Robberies of the West, a 310-page work by Eugene
B. Block, was published by Coward-McCann, Inc., New York, in
1959.
Errata, Volume XXV
Page 11, lines 19 and 20, A. J. Isaacs should be A. J. Isacks.
Page 113, line 7, Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Kingman should be Mr. and Mrs.
R. H. Kingman.
(454)
Index to Volume XXV
Abbott, Capt. Walter E 345
Abell, Mrs. George, Clark co 366
Abilene. See Old Abilene Town
Company (1959).
Abilene Reflector-Chronicle: article in,
noted 446
Ackerman, Theodore, Russell: banker. . 364
Adams, Rev. Charles J.: at Wichita. . . 9 In
Agricultural History, Urbana, 111.: ar-
ticles in, noted 363
Airplanes: article "U. S. Army and Air
Force Wings Over Kansas" 129- 157
334- 360
— at Army airfields in Kansas, World
War II (photographs) facing 337
— -B-17's, B-24's, and B-29's, at Forbes,
noted 142, 144
—B-24's, at Liberal 337
— B-25, notes on 139- 141
— B-26, notes on 137, 140
— B-29, groups trained at Pratt . . . 346, 347
personnel trained at
Great Bend 150- 153
photograph of Super
Fortresses facing 128
units at Smoky Hill, history
of 347, 348
— B-47, jet bomber crews trained at
Wichita 340
— Douglas C-54 ( photograph ).. facing 337
— helicopters at Marshall Air Force
Base 345
— training planes (photograph), facing 337
— Vultee BT-13 (photograph). . .facing 337
— World War I types, note on 342
Aitchison, Robert T., Wichita, 117, 121, 123
Allen, Frank: donor 116
Allen, Otis, Shawnee co 127
Allen County Historical Society: 1959
meeting, notes on 368, 451
Allyn, Mrs. C. Fannie: at Fort Scott. . 402
Alma Signal-Enterprise: articles in,
noted 252
Altman, Capt. James E.: at Walker
Field 357
Amaranth: discussed 269
American Airlines: booklet published
by, noted 452
American Baptist Home Mission Society, 411
American Bible Society: S. Y. Lum an
agent for 40
American Home Missionary Society,
New York . 110, 323, 415, 416, 418- 420
— Kansas efforts 1854-1858 (the Rev.
S. Y. Lum's letters) 39-67, 172- 196
— notes on 40, 41n
— Rev. S. Y. Lum a missionary for. .39, 40
American Indian Mission Association:
formed, 1842 411
American Missionary Association: in
Kansas, 1857 187
— note on 187n
Americus: United Presbyterian church
history, noted 448
Anderson, Bill and Jim: raids, 1862,
noted 294
Anderson, George L., Lawrence 123
— article by, noted 363
Anderson, John Byars: buyer of K. P.
stock 13
Anderson, S., of California: killed,
1860 378
Anderson Countian, Garnett: articles in,
noted 126, 445
Andover Band of Congregationalists . . . 425
Ansdell, Fred, Jamestown 255
Anthony, Daniel R., Leavemvorth . 123
— Civil War activities, noted, 292, 294, 295
Anthony, Daniel R., Ill, Leavenworth . . 452
Anthony Republican: article in, noted, 254
Archaeological surveys: in 1958,
notes on 112
Arkansas City: population loss,
1893-94, noted 31
— role in Cherokee strip opening,
notes on 20, 22-25, 27- 31
Arkansas City Daily Traveler: article in,
noted 447
Armstrong, Silas (Wyandotte Indian). . 5
Arnold, Gen. H. H. ("Hap") 351
— at Fort Riley 341, 342
— part in "Salina Blitz" noted 348n
— recollections, noted 341
Arnold, Mrs. Philip, Clark co 366
Arrington, William, of California:
killed, 1860 378
Arthur, Mrs. Elizabeth Barr 252
Ash Point, Nemaha co.: Pony Express
stop 371
Ashland, Riley co.: comment on, 1857, 188
Atchison, David Rice: town named for, 185
Atchison: S. Y. Lum's comments on. . . 185
— tables of distances to the gold mines
(1859) from facing 160 and 161
— telegraph office in, 1859 36
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad:
donor 112
Atherton, John G., Lyon co 255
Atkinson, Mrs. Ethel, Crawford co 451
Atkinson, W. R 400
Attica: 75th anniversary, noted 448
Attica Independent: souvenir edition,
1959, noted 448
Atwood Citizen-Patriot: article in,
noted 254
Aubrey, Johnson co.: raid, 1862, noted, 293
Augusta Historical Society: 1959
officers, listed 127
Austin, Mrs. Helen, Chase co 450
B
Bader, Ernest B., Topeka 368
Badger, Rev. Milton, New York 40
— S. Y. Lum's letters to
(1855-58) ..44-47, 172-177, 180- 198
Bailey, N. H., Scott co.: pioneer of
1885 449
Bailey, Roy F., Salina 123
Baker, Wallace, Protection: donor. ... 112
Baker University, Baldwin: founding,
noted 435
Baldridge, Rev. B. L.: at Leavenworth,
1861 321
Baldwin, Mrs. Nellie, Osborne: donor. 114
Baldwin, Prof. S. S.: lecturer on spir-
itualism 267
Baldwin: historical marker for, noted. 106
Baldwin Ledger: special edition, 1959,
noted 374
Ballhagen, Lloyd: article by, noted. . 253
(455)
456
GENERAL INDEX
Ballinger, Mrs. Ethel, Ozawkie: donor, 112
Ballou, Don D., Kansas City: donor. . 114
Ballou, Louis, Ottawa co 452
"Band of Hope": note on 323
Bands. See Horseshoe Farmers Band.
Bannon, Rev. John Francis, S. J.: book-
let by, noted 452
Baptist Church: 1862 resolution, noted, 413
— split in, 1845, notes on 411
Baptists, East Kansas Association of. . 435
—formation of, 1858 411, 420
— report, 1858, noted 432
Baptists, Southern: in Kansas, notes on, 411
Barker, Mrs. C. T., Liberal: donor. . . Ill
Barlow, Capt. Robert V.: Air Medal
winner 140
Barnes, Mrs. Charles, El Dorado:
killed, 1893 27
Barnes, Elizabeth, Johnson co.: column
by, noted 252, 445
Barnes, Mrs. Lela: treasurer, Historical
Society 117, 119, 120
Barnes Chief: article in, noted 252
Barr, Frank, Wichita 122, 124
Barstow, Col. William A., of Wisconsin, 293
Bartlett, Alison Barbour 5, 13
Barton County Bank, Great Bend: data
on, given Historical Society 109
Basye, Ruby: article by, noted 126
Bates, Edward: U. S. attorney general, 294
Bates, Mrs. Norma Comer: donor. ... 116
Bath, Dorothy, Abilene 450
Battle Canyon, battle of, 1878: article
on, noted 253
Baugher, Charles A., Ellis 123
Baughman, Robert W., Liberal 123
Baxter Springs massacre, 1863: noted, 296
Beaton, Jack, Wyandotte 10
Beatty, Mrs. Marion, Topeka 128
Bebermeyer, Harold, Harper 368
Beck, Capt. Francis J.: at Marshall
Field 343
Beck, Will T., Holton 104, 119- 123
— article on Campbell College by,
noted 365
Beckman, Rev. Peter, Atchison 366
Beebe, George: acting ter. governor. . 287
Beecher, Henry Ward: W. S. White's
comments on lectures of 200
Beeler, Ness co.: historical marker for
G. W. Carver at, noted 106
Beezley, George F., Girard 123
Behrle, Mrs. Carl, Leavenworth co 452
Bell, Alvis, Pawnee co.: article on,
noted 364
Bell, Mrs. Olive, Topeka: donor 112
Bell, Mrs. Ross, Clark co 366
Belleville Telescope: articles in, noted, 364
Belmont, Doniphan co 110
Beloit Daily Call 256
Benge, Lida, Hodgeman co 450
Bennett, Al, Atchison 438
Benoit, Theresa and Armond: article
by, noted 254
Benson, E. A., Kansas City: donor. ... Ill
Benson, J. Leland, Topeka: donor. . . . 114
Bentley, Roderick, Shields: donor. ... 112
Beougher, Edward M.,
Grinnell 123, 450, 451
Berger, William E., Emporia 121
Berglund, Mr. and Mrs. V. E 117
Berryman, Jerome, II (grandson of
Rev. Jerome C.) 117
Berryman, Jerome C.,
Ashland 120, 122, 124
Bethel College, North Newton: Kauff-
man Museum article, noted 366
Bickerton, Thomas: a captain, 1861 . . 290
Big Blue, battle of the, 1864: noted. . 298
Big Blue river: 1854 settlement on,
noted 45
Big Springs: comment on, 1857 187
Bigelow, Marshall co.: Methodist
church history, noted 449
Bill, Edward E., Garden City: donor. . Ill
"Bird Song, The": poem by
E. F. Ware 270, 271
Bishop, Mrs. Ellis, Ottawa co 366
Bittmann, Mrs. R. R 130
Black, Mrs. J. W., Crawford co 451
Blackburn, Forrest R.: newspaper di-
vision head, Historical Society 117
Blackburn, R. Z., Chase co 450
Blair, Col. Francis P 289
Blake, Mrs. Henry, Sr., Topeka:
donor Ill, 112, 114
Blanchard, Rev. Ira D 411
Blankenship, John, Smith co.: family
experiences, noted 363
Blau, Mrs. Marilla Alford: articles by,
noted 448
Block, Eugene B.: book by, noted. . . 453
Blood, Rev. Charles 426
— quoted 319, 320, 322, 329, 330
— work in Kansas, 1854-58, notes on . . 43
45, 53, 188
Bloss, Roy S.: book by, noted 453
Blue, Alexander 161, 162
Blue, Charles 161, 162
Blue, Daniel: and brothers,
story of 161, 162
Blue, Mrs. James V., Topeka 128
Bluejacket, Charles: Edna Williams a
relative of 117
Bluemont Central College, Manhattan. 435
Blunt, Gen. James G. . . . 293-296, 298, 299
Bodwell, Rev. Lewis, Topeka 187, 332
333, 418, 420, 421, 426, 428
— involved in controversy,
1859-60 420, 421
— photograph facing 320
—quoted. . . .316, 322, 329, 415, 430, 431
Boeing Airplane Company 339
Bohemians in Kansas:
article on, noted 449
Bolitho, Bob, Harper 368
Bonner, Thomas Neville: book The
Kansas Doctor by, note on 256
Books: list of additions to the Society's
library, 1957-58 229- 250
Booth, John Wilkes 300
Border Queen Museum, Caldwell: 1959
show, noted 367
Border Queen Museum Association:
1958 meeting, note on 127
Border troubles: 1854-58, S. Y. Lum's
comments on 48-51, 58, 59, 64- 67
172-178, 184, 192, 193
— 1860. See under Bourbon co.
Bourbon county: border troubles, 1860,
notes on 286, 287
Bowers, Mrs. Eugene L., Topeka:
donor 112
Bowlby family: manuscript of, micro-
filmed 110
Bowlus, Thomas H., lola 123
Bowman, Bishop Thomas 198
Boyd, Mrs. Frank W., Mankato 128
— donor Ill
Boyd, Mrs. McDill, Phillipsburg 128
Boyer, Bill, Scott co 368
Boyer, John A., Scott co 368
Bradshaw, Alfred B., Turon: reminis-
cences, noted 108
Bradstreet, Mrs. Myrtle: article by,
noted 253
Bramick, Mrs. Floyd: donor 116
Brandley, Henry, Chase co.: biograph-
ical sketch, noted 446
Branson, Jacob: rescue, noted 66n
Brant, Maj. Gen. G. C.: letter,
quoted 137, 138
GENERAL INDEX
457
Bray, Walter: killed in mine, 1916 ... 396
Brereton, Lt. Gen. Lewis H. 351
Brewer, Myron: death, noted 377
Brey, Mrs. Claude, Ozawkie: donor. . 112
Brigham, Maj. Herman C.: at Marshall
Field 343
Brigham, Mrs. Lalla Maloy: death,
noted 104
— note on 104
Brinkerhoff, Fred W.,
Pittsburg 121-123, 451
— commemoration of Lincoln's Kansas
visit proposed by 438
Brinkley, Dr. John R.: F. W. Schru-
ben's thesis on, noted 108
Britton, Mrs. Lloyd, Edwards co 367
Brock, Roland F., Goodland: bio-
graphical data 121, 122
— death, noted 104
— memorial to 121, 122
— note on 104
Brodrick, Lynn R.: death, noted.... 104
— note on 104
Broughton, Clay co.: article on, noted, 254
— earlier names of, noted 254
Brown, Mrs. D. J., Rochester, N. Y.:
donor 112
Brown, Mrs. Dale, Delphos: donor. . . 114
Brown, Mrs. E. B., Denison 110
Brown, John: Lincoln's remarks on
execution of, quoted 285
— Montgomery's attempt to rescue fol-
lowers of, noted 286
— note on Harper's Ferry insurrection, 284
— song "John Brown's body," note on, 291
Brown, John, Jr.: a captain in 7th
Kan. cav 292
Brown, Rev. John S., Lawrence: family
letters, given to Historical Society. . 109
Brown, Mrs. Paul G., Riley co 127
Brown, R. G., Finney co 255
Brown, Rev. Solomon, Lyon co.: bio-
graphical sketch, noted 364
Brownback, Mr. and Mrs. J. L 117
Brownville, Neb.: telegraph line in,
1860 38
Brucker, Mrs. Wilber M.: article by,
noted 449
Brumfield, Bert, Hodgeman co 450
Brush, Doug, Downs: articles by,
noted 363
Bryan, Rev. J. E.: note on 408
Buchanan, Pres. James 288
Buck, Myrtle, Lyon co 255
Bucklin, Ford co.: series of articles on,
noted 448
Bucklin Banner: articles in, noted .... 448
Buckman, Maj. John F.: in Kansas . . 350
Buckmaster, Mrs. Maurene, Topeka:
donor 114
Buffalo: article on slaughter of, noted, 365
— item on killing of, 1872 444
Bulkley, Roy, Topeka 128
Bump, Col. Arthur L.: at Liberal, 337, 338
Bundy, Mrs. Jo, Rice co 368
Burchfiel, Rev. J. R.: in Harper co.. . . 254
Burge, David: slave owner 412
Burlington: comment on, 1857 191
— drunkenness in, 1861, note on 323
Burns, Marion co.: German Methodist
church history, noted 448
Burns News: article in, noted 448
Bushnell, Horace 424
Butcher, Mrs. Maclure, Neodesha:
donor 112
Butcher, Dr. Thomas P., Emporia 255
Butler, Rev. Pardee 185, 412
— outrages on, 1855, 1856, noted. . . . 414
— photograph facing 320
Butler, Mo 292
Butler County Historical Society: offi-
cers, 1959, listed 128
Butterfield Overland Despatch: map-
ping and marking of route of, noted, 445
Butterfield Overland Mail 379
Byington, W. C., Winchester: donor. . 112
"Bypaths of Kansas
History" 125, 251, 361, 362, 444
Cabin Creek, I. T., battle of, 1863:
noted . 296
Cahill, Lt. Col. William A.: at Walker
Field 357
Caldwell: population loss, 1893-94. . . 31
— role in Cherokee strip opening,
notes on 20, 22, 23, 25-27, 29, 31
Gale, Cowley co 20, 31
Calhoun, Harold, Bourbon co. . . 368
Calkins, Maj. Elias A., of
Wisconsin 293 294
Callahan, Holly, Abilene 450
Calnan, C. C., Troy 438
Camp Lincoln, Bourbon co 290
Camp Supply: land reserved for, 1893,
noted 21
Campbell, Hugh K., Chase co 450
Campbell, Mrs. Minnie, Topeka: donor, 112
Campbell College: article on, noted . . . 365
Campbellites: in Ashland, 1857, noted, 188
Candee, Brig. Gen. Robert C.: in
Kansas 351
Caney, Montgomery co.: history, noted, 449
Caney Chronicle: article in, noted .... 449
Cannibalism: story of Blue brothers,
1859 161, 162
Cannon, E. C., Phillipsburg: donor.... 112
Capper, Arthur, estate of: donor 112
Carey, James C., Manhattan 127
— article by, noted 363
Carlyle, Allen co.: Presbyterian church
history, noted 448
Carman, C. M., Independence 334
Carman, J. Neale: "Critique of Car-
ruth's Articles on Foreign Settlements
in Kansas," article by 386- 390
— note on 386n
Carney, Thomas: elected senator 297
— governor 298, 299
Carpenter, Mary Ruth, Allen co., 368, 451
Carroll, Ella V., Leavenworth co 452
Carroll, Col. Joseph F.: at Strother
Field 354, 355
— quoted 355
Carruth, Gorton V., Pleasantville, N. Y.,
donor 114
Carruth, William Herbert: J. N. Car-
man's critique on foreign settlements,
articles of 386- 390
Carson Valley, Calif.: Indian troubles
in 377- 380
Carter, Mrs. J. O., Garden City 128
Cartwright, Rev. Peter 425
Carver, George Washington: historical
marker for, noted 106
— in Ottawa co., paper on, noted 366
Casement, Dan D.: and Wm. A. White
on govt. regulation, article on, noted, 363
Catharine, Ellis co.: article on, noted. . 364
Cawker City Ledger: article in, noted, 363
Cedar Vale Messenger: articles in,
noted 254, 448
Centennial Commission. See Kansas
(state) Centennial Commission.
Central Overland California & Pike's
Peak Express 371, 382
458
GENERAL INDEX
Central Pacific railroad 2, 9
Centropolis, Franklin co.: Christian
church history, noted 253
— notes on, 1857 189, 190
Cessna, Mr. and Mrs. Eldon W., El
Segundo, Calif.: donors 112
Chadborn, G. L., Kansas City: donor, 115
Chaffee, Mrs. Harry, Topeka 128
Chambers, Lloyd, Clearwater 123
Chandler, C. J., Wichita 123
Chanute, Tribune: article in, noted. . . 253
Chapman, Berlin B., Stillwater, Okla.:
donor Ill
Charlson, Sam C.,
Manhattan 110, 122, 124, 127
Chase, Mrs. Eugene: donor 116
Chase County Historical Society:
award for courthouse restoration,
noted 452
— 1959 meeting, note on 450
Chattanooga, Tenn., battle of, 1863:
noted 297
Cheney Sentinel: 1894-1940, micro-
filmed Ill
Cherokee county: St. Peter Lutheran
church history, noted 252
Cherokee Indians: interest in 1893
"run" noted 23
Cherokee strip: campers awaiting open-
ing of, 1893 (photograph) . .facing 17
— preparation for the "run," 1893
(photograph) facing 16
— role of southern Kansas towns in
opening of (Jean C. Lough's
article) 17- 31
— tragedies of the opening, noted, 26, 27
— verse of song the "boomers" sang. . 26
Cherokee Town Site Trust Company. . 28
Cheyenne Indians: battle, 1878, with
U. S. troops, article on, noted 253
— thesis on Little Wolf's northern band
of, noted 108
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific rail-
road: train in Cherokee strip
"robbed" 1893, noted 24
Chicago Theological Seminary 110
Chickamauga, Ga., battle of, 1963:
noted 296
Chilocco Indian Industrial School. ... 21
Chinese: treatment of, 1880's, noted. . 103
Chivington, John M.: R. S. Craig's
book on, noted 453
Chouteau, Fred (grandson of Cyprian), 117
Chouteau's Island: article on Fourth
of July, 1880, on, noted 365
Chrisman, Mrs. Charles F., Jackson
Heights, N. Y.: donor 112
Christian, Clark, Clyde 255
Christian Church ( Disciples of Christ ):
in territorial Kansas, note on 412
— Western Christian University of,
noted 254
Christmas: at Marysville, 1858,
article on, noted 254
"Chronology of Kansas Political and
Military Events, 1859-1865, A", 283- 300
Civil War: and Kansas events,
chronology of 287- 300
— effect on religion in Kansas
discussed 329-333, 407- 417
— Kansas' contribution, note on 300
— nurses, book on, noted 256
Clark, Dr. Howard C., Wichita 367
Clark, John G.: "Mark W. Delahay:
Peripatetic Politician," article
by 301- 312
— note on 301n
Clark, Dr. Orville R., Topeka: donor. . 112
Clark, Ralph, Wyandotte co 128
Clark County Clipper, The, Ashland:
jubilee edition, 1959, noted 449
Clark County Historical Society:
1959 meeting, note on 366
Clarke, Gen. : in command,
Pacific division, 1860 378
Clarke, Adna G., Jr., Honolulu:
donor 112, 114
Clarke, Philo H.: telegrapher 32
Clarke, Sidney: provost marshal 296
Clarkson, Mrs. Martina, Harper:
donor 112
Clay Center Dispatch: articles in,
noted 252, 254
— Ingham diary in, noted 447
Clayton, Powell: Civil War colonel. . . 297
Clearwater, Sedgwick co.: history,
noted 449
Clearwater News: article in, noted. . . . 449
Cleaver, C. H., Finney co 450
Cleveland, Pres. Grover 20
Cleveland, Marshall: note on 293
Cloud County Historical Society: 1959
meetings, notes on 255, 451
dowry, Robert C., Leavenworth:
telegraph office supt 36, 38
Clymer, Rolla A.,
El Dorado 121, 123, 128
— role of Lincoln played by 438, 452
Coal: strip-mined in Linn co.,
noted 399
Cobb, Damon, Finney co 255, 450
Cobb, David R.: quoted 321
Cobb, Mrs. George C., Rutland, Vt.:
donor 109
Cochran, Elizabeth, Pittsburg 123
Coder, Robert O., Kearny co 366
Coe, Rev. David B., New York 40
— S. Y. Lum's letters to, 1855 54- 65
Coffeyville Army Air Field:
history 130- 134
Coffin, George W.: article by, noted. . 364
Coker, Jessy Mae: donor facing 16
Colby, Thomas co.: Christian church
history, noted 446
— Cooper Hotel history, noted 446
—plat, 1887, of, given Historical
Society 115
Colby Press-Tribune: articles in,
noted 446
Cold Spring, Doniphan co.: Pony
Express station 370, 371
Coldwater: diamond jubilee, 1959,
note on 450
Coleman, Franklin: killer of Dow,
notes on 66
Collamer, Sen. Jacob, of Vermont. . . . 287
Collard, E. Bert, Sr.,
Leavenworth co 452
College of Emporia 114
Collinson, Mrs. W. B., Topeka:
donor 112
Colonial Dames 117
— National Society of, donor 108
— Wichita Town Committee of,
donor 108
Coltrane, V. A.: donor 116
Concordia Blade-Empire: articles in,
noted 126, 447
Concordia Kansan: article in, noted. . 126
Cone, Mrs. Harold, Topeka 255
Congregational Church: early Kansas
churches, notes on 39, 40
— in Kansas, 1854-65, note on 434
— missionary papers microfilmed 110
— S. Y. Lum's letters
(1854-58) on 40-67, 172- 196
— stand on slavery 413
Congregational Ministers and Churches,
General Association of: 1958
meeting, note on 420
—note on, 1857 433, 434
Conklin, Dr. Tracy, Abilene 450
Connecticut Kansas Colony 187
GENERAL INDEX
459
Conner, Mrs. Ruth, Chase co 450
Connolly, Mrs. Emma, Bourbon co. . . . 368
Conway, Martin F.: congressman. . . . 289
Cook, Brig. Gen. Orval 348n
Cook, Roy, Pleasanton 397
Cook, Van, Joplin, Mo 394
Coon creek, battle of, 1848: article
on, noted 364
Cooper, Capt. J. M.: at Dodge City. . 136
Coover, C. R., Kinsley: article by,
noted 364
Copeland, Charles P., Russell:
banker 364
Corbett, Boston: biographical data,
noted 126
— marker at homestead site, noted. . . . 126
Cordley, Rev. Richard,
Lawrence 332, 416, 417, 428, 431
— illness, 1857, noted 193
— losses in Quantrill raid, noted 333
— photograph facing 320
— quoted . . . .317, 318, 326, 330, 331, 432
Corporation farming in Kansas: Emy K.
Miller's thesis on, noted 108
Correll, Charles M.,
Manhattan 104, 114, 119-122, 124
Correll, Mrs. Charles M., Manhattan . . 127
Cost of living: in 1854-'55, notes
— in 1857, notes on ........ ' 194
Cotton, Corlett J., Lawrence 123
Cottonwood station, Washington co.:
Pony Express stop 371, 372
Council Grove: Methodist church his-
tory, noted ... 446
— Rose of Lima Catholic church his-
tory, noted 253
Council Grove Republican: articles in,
noted 253, 364, 446
Courtney, Mrs. Gerald J., Topeka:
donor 112
Courtright, Alfaretta: article by, noted, 254
Cowboy newspaper (Dodge City): arti-
cle on, noted 446
Cowley county: Grandview Methodist
church history, noted 447
— Hicks Chapel Methodist church his-
tory, noted 448
Craig, Reginald S.: book on J. M.
Chivington by, noted 453
Grain, John, Bourbon co. 368
Crane, Dr. Franklin Loomis: papers of
given Historical Society 110
— portrait, given Historical Society .. 112
Crane, Mrs. Franklin Loomis: portrait,
given Historical Society 112
Crase, Mrs. Frank, Finney co 255
Crawford, Berry, Topeka: donor 112
Crawford, Mrs. Roy, Topeka:
„ donor 108, 112
Crawford, Samuel J.: governor 14
Crawford County Historical Society:
1959 meetings, notes on, 366, 367, 451
Creighton, Edward, St. Joseph, Mo.:
surveyor 37
Cron, F. H., El Dorado 123
Crosby, Mrs. Warren M., Jr., Topeka:
donor 112
Crowl, Mrs. Ruth, Allen co 451
Cruise, John D., Wyandotte: quoted
on Hallett murder 10
Cruse, Charles, Abilene 450
Cuba, Republic co.: article on, noted, 364
Curtis, Gen. Samuel R 293, 297- 299
Czechs in Kansas: notes on ....388, 390
Daily Inquirer, Leavenworth: notes
on 293, 294, 296
Daisy, Annette: colony organizer,
1893 . 24
Dale, Mrs. Clarence: cocompiler Nico-
demus history 365
Dale, Lt. Col. Jack C.: at Marshall
Field 343
Dale, Kittie: articles by, noted 445
Daltpn and Morrow: Linn co. lead
mine operators 394
Dalton gang: and Starr gang, in Chero-
kee strip 24, 25
— article on, noted 447
Damar, Rooks co.: article on, noted. . 254
Dana, Charles A.: letters by, given
Historical Society 109
Danes in Kansas: notes on, 387, 389, 390
Dannett, Sylvia, G. L.: book by, noted, 256
Danville, Harper co.: Immaculate Con-
ception Catholic church history,
noted 254
Darlow, , Linn co.: co-owner of
lead mine 395
Darnell, Charles, Wamego: and wife,
donors HI, 112
Darwinism 199
Daughters of American Colonists 117
— Elizabeth Knapp chapter, Manhat-
tan : donor 108
— Kansas Society: donor 108
Daughters of 1812 117
Daughters of the American Revolution, 117
— Kansas Society: donor 108
Davies, Anne Jones (Mrs. John), Osage
co.: diary data given Historical So-
ciety HO
Davies, John, Osage co.: note on 110
Davies, Priscilla, Denver, Colo.: donor, 110
Davis, Mrs. Edwin W., Topeka: donor, 112
Davis, Rev. I. F.: at Wichita 9 In, 92
Davis, Capt. John J.: at Marshall Air
Force Base 345
Davis, T. E., Crawford co 367, 451
Davis, W. W., Lawrence 122, 124
Davison, Mrs. Flora E., Kansas City,
Mo.: donor 112
Dawson, George, Chase co 450
Dawson, John S., Topeka . . 104, 121, 123
Day, Mrs. Lyndon, Topeka: donor. . 112
Dayhoff, Mrs. Jessie Adee, Ottawa co., 127
DeBolt, Capt. R. E . 135
Deitzler, George W 293, 298
Delahay, Mark W 293
— in Kansas ter. politics, J. G. Clark's
article on 301- 312
— painting of (reproduction) . .facing 304
Delaware, Leavenworth co.: note on,
1857 184
Delaware, The (locomotive) 7
Delaware Indians: telegraph line im-
peded by 34
DeLew, Rev. Dr. L.: at Wichita 9 In
Delker, Esther, Chapman: donor 112
Delplace, John 396
Democratic party: in territorial Kan-
sas, comment on 301
— state convention, 1859, noted 284
1860, noted 286
1862, noted 295
1864, noted 297
Denious, Jess C.: efforts for army air
field, noted 135
460
GENERAL INDEX
Denious, Jess C., Jr., Dodge
City 114, 122, 124
Dennis, Mrs. Glenn, Clark co 366
Dennis, Rev. L. B 409
Denver, Gen, James 291, 293
Deragowski, Mrs. Robert, Scott co.. . . 368
Devers, Gen. Jacob L 351
Dickerson, A. W., Bourbon co 368
Dickerson, J. Glenn, Allen co 451
Dickhut, Mrs. C. W., Scott co 368
Dickinson County Historical Museum,
Abilene 114
Dickinson County Historical Society:
1959 meeting, note on 451
Dightqn Herald: article in, noted .... 253
Dimmitt, Jessie, Thomas co 451
Disciples of Christ. See Christian
Church.
Dittman, Lt. Col. Henry: at Hering-
ton 155, 157
Dixon, George: injured in mine acci-
dent 396
Dixon, Leo B., Hanston 110
Dobbin, Dr. B. M.: pamphlet by,
noted 256
Dobson, Mrs. Harry, Wichita: donor, 109
Dobson, W. A., Scott co 368
Docking, George, Lawrence 123
— and wife: at Society's annual meet-
ing 121
Doctor, The Kansas: book by T. N.
Bonner, note on 256
Dodderidge, Russell: donor 116
Dodge, Gen. Grenville M.: at Fort
Leavenworth 299
Dodge, Jonas: quoted 319
Dodge City: in 1880, article on, noted, 364
Dodge City Army Air Field:
history 135- 138
Dodge City Daily Globe: articles in,
noted 252
Dolbee, Cora: papers of, given His-
torical Society 109
Donalson, Israel B.: U. S. marshal, 176n
Dongle, Vern, and sons, Soldier: don-
ors 112
Doniphan: comment on, 1857 185
Dorr, Col. H. W.: at Strother Field . 354
Douglas, Stephen A.: M. W. Dela-
hay's backing of, discussed 306
— political activities, 1858, comment
on 305, 306
Dow, Charles W.: killing of, note on, 66
Downs: as a railroad center, articles on,
noted 363
Downs News: articles in, noted 363
Drake, Samuel: agent for C. M.
Stebbins 33
Dry Wood, battle of, 1861: noted .. 290
Dunn, Mrs. Chester, Oxford 128
Dunn, Lt. Col. Frank E.: at Coffey-
ville . 133
Duran, Lupe, Teseque Pueblo, N. M.:
donor 112
Durant, Thomas C.: vice-pres., U. P.
railroad 12, 15
Dwight Library: donor 116
Eaker, Lt. Gen. Ira C 351
Eakle, George, Bourbon co. . 368
Earhart, Arrold R., Topeka: donor. . . 112
Earlton, Neosho co.: history, noted. . 447
Eastham, Mrs. Lavilla, McPherson:
donor HI
Ebel, Dr. B. E., Redlands, Calif: arti-
cles by, noted 445
Ebright, Homer K., Baldwin 123
Eckdall, Mrs. Ella Funston, Emporia:
donor HI
Eckdall, Frank F., Emporia . 123
Eddy, Carl G., Thomas co 451
Eddy, Elizabeth Ann Berryman, To-
peka: papers, microfilmed HO
Edmunds, Sarah Emma: Civil War
_ spy • • 256
Edson, Rev. E. H.: at
Wichita 91n, 204- 207
Edwards, Mabel, Emporia 255
Edwards, Mary and A. Blanche, Abi-
lene: donors m
Edwards county: article on develop-
ment of education in, noted 365
Edwards County Historical Society:
1959 meeting, note on 367
Egan, Col. John W.: at Dodge City. . 147
Ehrsam, Mrs. Viola, Enterprise 451
Eicher, Harry, Thomas co 451
Eichman, Mrs. Muriel, Hodgeman co., 450
Eighth Kansas infantry: notes
on 291, 292, 294, 296, 297
Einsel, Mary: article by, noted 446
Eisenhower, Gen. Dwight D 351
Eisenhower Museum, Abilene 114
El Dorado Times: article in, noted .... 446
Election: Nov., 1854, comment on. . . 50
— Mar., 1855, comment on 58
— June, 1859, note on . 307
—1862, noted 295
Eleventh Kansas regiment: notes
on 294, 295, 299
Elliot, A. K., of California: killed,
1860 378
Ellis, Bob, Topeka: donor 114
Ellis, Mulvey Hall, article on, noted, 445
— women in city govt., 1896, article
on, noted 445
Ellis county: pioneer life article, noted, 364
Ellis County Farmer, Hays: articles
in, noted 126, 365
Elwood: Pony Express station at. ... 370
Emory, Col. William H.: at Fort
Leavenworth 289
Emporia: comment on, 1857.... 191, 192
Emporia Gazette: articles in,
noted 126, 364, 448
— old press of, given Lyon Co. Hist.
Society 255
Emporia Weekly Gazette: article in,
noted 448
Engle, Mrs. C. H., Topeka: donor. . . 114
Enterprise-Chronicle, Burlingame: his-
tory, noted 449
Eskelund, Foster, Kearny co 366
Eudora: centennial booklet, noted. . . . 108
Eureka: New York Emigration co.
site, 1854 45
Eustace, Dr. E. W., Lebanon: donor. . 112
Euwer, Elmer E., Goodland 123
Evans, Mrs. Merle, Finney co 255
Eves, Joseph M., Kearny co 366
Evving, Thomas, Jr 292, 295, 296, 299
Fager, Emory, Overbrook 128
Fager, Maurice E., Topeka 112
Fairfax Field, Kansas City:
history 138- 141
Fairport, Russell co.: history, noted. . 254
Fallin, Mrs. J. P., Wichita 128
Fant, William, Finney co 255
Farley, Alan W., Kansas City . . . 123, 128
— cocompiler imprints list 106
—donor HI, 114
— note on In
— president, Historical Society. . . .104, 117
120, 121, 123
— "Samuel Hallett and the Union Pa-
cific Railway Company in Kansas,"
article by . . l- 16
GENERAL INDEX
461
Farman, D. S., Manhattan: donor. . . . 112
Farrell, F. D., Manhattan 121, 123
Fatzer, Hubert, Edwards co 365
Fearing, O. K., JeweU co 367
Ferguson, Mrs. Earl, Valley Falls:
donor 112
Ferguson, W. D., Thomas co 451
Ferris, Col. Carlisle I.: at Coffey-
ville 131, 133
Field, R. E., Wichita: Leader editor. . 90
Fifteenth Kansas cavalry: notes
on 296, 297
Fifth Kansas cavalry:
notes on 290, 297, 298
Filinger, George A., Riley co 127
Filley, Giles F., St. Louis, Mo.:
merchant 11, 13
Finney County Historical Society: 1959
meeting, note on 255
—officers, 1959-60, listed 450
First Colorado regiment: defeat, 1862,
noted 293
First Indian regiment: note on 293
First Kansas battery: mustered 290
First Kansas Colored regiment:
notes on 295, 296
First Kansas infantry: losses, 1861,
noted 331n
—notes on, 289, 290, 292, 294, 296, 297
"First Kansas Lead Mines, The": article
by W. H. Schoewe 391- 401
Fischer, Ed.: recollections, noted. . . . 364
Fisher, Harry, Bourbon co 368
Fisher, Rev. Hugh Dunn 422, 423
— escape in Quantrill raid, noted . . 333n
— photograph facing 320
— quoted 321
Fitch, Sen. Graham N., of Indiana . . . 287
Fleming, A. M., Finney co 450
Fleming, John, of California: killed,
1860 378
Floods in Kansas: data on, given His-
torical Society 110
Flora, Snowden D wight, Topeka:
donor 110
Folklore of Kansas: P. J. Wy art's thesis
on, noted 108
Forbes, Mai. Daniel H., Jr.: Air Force
base named for 144
— note on 144n
Forbes Air Force Base: history. . .142- 145
Ford, Evelyn, Topeka 128
Forehand, Maj. William: at Marshall
Field 343
Foreign settlements in Kansas: article
on Bohemians, noted 449
— J. N. Carman's critique on Carruth's
articles of the 1890's 386- 390
Foresman, Rev. J. 0 408
Fort Blah-: article on, noted 447
—attacked, 1863 296
Fort Harker: establishment, noted. . . . 297
Fort Hays: articles on, noted 126, 445
— pamphlet history, noted 452
Fort Hays Museum: article on, noted. . 126
Fort Kearny, South Pass and Honey
Lake wagon road, 1857-59: data on,
microfilmed 110
Fort Leavenworth: telegraph service,
1859, at 35
Fort Leavenworth Museum: article on,
noted 367
— Lincoln buggy in, noted 438
Fort Riley: article on, noted 449
— mention of, 1857 188
— photographs, given Historical
Society 114
— see, also, Marshall Air Force Base.
Fort Riley Historical Society 367
Fort Riley Museum: article on, noted, 367
Fort Scott (military post): early his-
tory, article on, noted 447
— re-established, 1863 296
Fort Scott and Bourbon County His-
torical Society: reorganization, note
on 368
Fort Scott Foundry 261
Fort Scott Monitor: E. F. Ware's "The
Washerwoman's Song" published
in 258
Fort Scott Tribune: articles in,
noted 447
Fort Wallace Memorial Association:
German family massacre site marked
by 450
Fort Zarah: establishment, noted 298
Foster, Ivy: donor 116
Fourteenth Kansas cavalry: notes on. . 296
Fourth Kansas regiment: note on. ... 290
Fourth of July: at Salina, 1860, noted, 169
— in 1880, on Chouteau's Island, noted, 365
Fox, Mrs. Philip, Evanston, 111.:
donor Ill, 112
Franklin county: Salem Hall school
history, noted 365
Frazier, Emma Barnes: article by,
noted 447
Fredonia: courthouse, article on, noted, 447
Free-State prisoners, 1856: S. Y. Lum's
comments on 177
Fremont, John C.: connections with
U. P., E. D., noted 3, 8
— explorations, 1840's, noted 160
French Canadians: in Rooks co., noted, 254
French in Kansas: lead miners in Linn
co. area, in 1840's, note on 392
— notes on 389, 390
Friel, Mrs. Hugh, Crawford co 451
Frienmuth, Hans, Leavenworth co.. . . 452
"Frogtown," Nemaha co 371
Frontier and pioneer life. See Pioneer
life.
Frontier Guard: Delahay an officer in, 311
— notes on 288
Fry, Maj. William J.: at Fairfax Field, 139
Fry(e), John: Pony Express rider. . . 382
Fuller, Thomas W., Wichita 367
Funk, John M., Wyandotte: mayor. . . 10
Funston, Barbara, Mill Valley, Calif.:
donor 112, 116
Funston, Frederick: relics of, given
Historical Society 116
Furnas, Robert: head of First Indian
regt 293
Fussell, James E., Leavenworth co. . . . 452
Gaffney, Henry, Jr., Irvington, N. J.:
donor Ill
Gaines, Charles O., Chase co 450
Galena (lead ore): in the Pleasanton
area, data on 397, 398
— specimen (photograph) facing 401
Galloway, Mrs. Wilber, Shawnee co. . . 127
Game: in 1873, note on 251
Gano, Richard M.: Confederate general, 298
Card, Spencer A., lola 123, 368, 451
Garden City Army Air Field: his-
tory 145- 149
Garden City Municipal Airport: used
by Army, 1943 147
Gardiner, Dorothy: editor 363
Gardiner, Marshall G., Leavenworth. . . 438
— article by, noted 367
Gardner, Alexander: photographs (at
Wyandotte) by,
reproduced. . .frontispiece and facing iv
462
GENERAL INDEX
Gardner, Johnson co.: centennial book-
let, noted 108
—sacked, 1861 291
Garnett Review: article in, noted. . . . 445
"Gateways to the Promised Land":
Jean C. Lough's article 32- 38
Gauch, Mrs. Fred W., Kansas City:
donor 112
Geary, John W.: territorial governor. . 303
Geary, Mrs. Meta Howard, Wichita:
donor Ill, 112
Geary county: Lyon creek community
article, noted 446
Geisen, Rolla, Ottawa co 452
Geneva, Allen co.: economic situation,
1861 326
Geology: of the Pleasanton lead mining
area 396- 401
George Eastman House, Rochester,
N. Y 114
German family: massacre site marked,
1959, note on 450
German Methodists: note on, 1861. . . 410
Germans in Kansas: notes on settle-
ments of 387- 390
Gibler, Rev. : at Wichita 209
Gibler, Paul, Claflin 114
Gibson, Mrs. Roy, Chanute 128
Giles, Capt. Benjamin F.: in Kansas. . 350
Gillespie, Alexander: "strip" claim lost
by 28
Gillespie, Amy, Finney co 255
Gillett, Mrs. Elton, Jewell co 367
Gilpin, Mrs. Edna Piazzek, Phoenix,
Ariz.: donor Ill, 112
Gilson, Mrs. F. L., Emporia 255
Glabb, Charles N.: article by, noted. . 445
Glandon, Mrs. Clyde, Wyandotte co. . . 128
Gold rush (1859-60): routes used by
gold seekers discussed 158- 171
— tables of distances from Atchison to
the mines facing 160, 161
— use of the Smoky Hill route, C. W.
Gower's article on 158- 171
Goode, Rev. William H 409, 423
Goodhue, Mr. and Mrs. R. A., San Ga-
briel, Calif 110
Goodykoontz, C. B 430
Gormbo, John, of California: killed,
1860 378
Governor's office, Topeka: donor. ... 112
Gower, Calvin W.: note on 158n
— "The Pike's Peak Gold Rush and the
Smoky Hill Route, 1859-1860," arti-
cle by 158- 171
Graham, James S.: letter, 1858, noted, 159n
Granada, Nemaha co.: note on 371
Grant, Emma, Cedar Vale: biographi-
cal sketch, noted 254
Grant, Gen. U. S 299
Grasshopper Falls: mentioned, 1857.. 189
Great Bend: Trinity Lutheran church
histories, noted 126
Great Bend Army Air Field: his-
tory 149- 153
— photographs between 144, 145
Great Bend Herald-Press: article in,
noted 126
Great Bend Tribune: article in, noted . . 126
Greathouse, J. E., Finney co 255
Greeley: Evangelical U. B. church his-
tories, noted 445
Green, Henry T.: 1860 expedition
of 169- 171
— note on 169
Green, Sen. James S., of Missouri 287
Gresham, Mrs. F. A., Bucklin: articles
by, noted 448
Griffing, Ward C., Riley co 127
Grimsley, Ben, Garden City 145
Grinnell, Harold C., Cedar Point:
donor .112
Guide books: of 1859, noted 159
Guilf oyle, William A., Abilene 450
Guilinger, Ed: articles by, noted . . . 447
Guittard, George, Marshall co... 362, 371
Guittard's: Pony Express station 371
Gunn, Otis Berthoude: surveyor. 3
Guthrie, Okla.: food shortages, 1893,
noted 22
— Negro colony, 1893, noted 24
H
Hagans, Mrs. Asa, Melvern: donor. . 112
Hagans, Mrs. Roy, Lane co 451
Haines, Joe D., Riley co 127
Haines, Stella B., Augusta 127
Haise family, Russell: donors Ill
Halberstadt, Ray, Ottawa co. . . 366, 451
Halberstadt, Mrs. Ray, Ottawa co. . . 452
Hale, Harold L., Topeka: donor 113
Hale, John K., Wyandotte 13
Hall, Dale W., Topeka: donor .... 113
Hall, Fred, Topeka 123
Hall, Standish, Wichita 122, 124
Hallett, Ann Eliza (Mrs. Samuel), 12, 13
15, 16
Hallett, John L 12
Hallett, Samuel: and the U. P. rail-
road in Kansas, A. W. Farley's ar-
ticle on 1-16
—killed by Talcott 10, 11
— note on family of 12
— photograph facing 1
Hallett, Thomas 12
Hamilton, R. L., Beloit 123
Hampden, Coffey co.: note on .... 191
Handy, Brig. Gen. Roger M 156
Hankins, Mary, Allen co 451
Hanna, Rev. J. T.: at Wichita 91
Hanna, Mrs. Joe, Lane co 451
Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad .... 2, 5
— telegraph line on right-of-way of . . 37
Hanover News: article in, noted .... 448
Hanson, Harry E., Wyandotte co 128
Hanson, Mrs. Raymond A., James-
town 255, 451
Hanson, Robert H., Jamestown . . 255, 451
Hanst, Maj. Charles E.: at Fairfax
Field 139
Harding, Mrs. R. C., Wamego: donor, 113
Hardy, Mr. and Mrs. Harry A 117
Harlan, James, of Iowa 13- 15
Harney, Gen. William S 287
Harper, Mrs. Jesse C., Ashland .... 123
Harper, Rev. W. F.: at Wichita, 9 In, 96
Harper Advocate: article in, noted . . 254
Harper City Historical Society: or-
ganized 368
Harper county: Burchfiel Methodist
church history, noted 254
Harris, William L 411
Harrison, H. C., Brandon, Vt.: papers
of, given Historical Society 109
Harsen, Rev. J. P.: at Wichita .... 9 In
93, 197, 198, 208
Harsh, Mrs. Pearl B.: letter by, noted, 446
Hartland, Kearny co.: article on,
noted 364
Harvey, Mrs. A. M., Topeka 123
Harvin, Lt. Col. Charles B.: at Coffey-
ville 133
Haskins, Joe (part Sioux Indian) .... 98
Haucke, Frank, Council Grove .... 104
119- 123
Haucke, Mrs. Frank, Council Grove:
donor 113
Haughey, Dr. Leo, Concordia . . . 255, 451
Haven, Grace, Council Grove: donor, 113
Haven, Reno co.: Congregational
church histories, noted 253
Haven Journal: article in, noted .... 253
GENERAL INDEX
463
Hawkins, W., of California: killed,
1860 378
Hawley, Lorene Anderson (Mrs.
George): cocompiler imprints list, 106
Hawn, Frederick 395, 400
Haworth, Erasmus 393, 399, 401
Hays, Beatrice, Chase co , 450
Hays, Col. Jack: in California, 1860, 379
Hays: Catholic church history, noted, 126
— Fourth of July, 1878, article on,
noted 445
— pamphlet history, noted 452
Hays Daily News: articles
in, noted 254, 364, 445
Haywood, C. Robert, Winfield 366
Heald, Mrs. Zella, Ottawa co 452
Heflin, Mrs. Ralph W., Pearland, Tex.:
donor Ill, 113, 114
Hegler, Ben F., Wichita 122, 124
Heilmann, Charles E., Butler co 128
Heizer, Chester, Caldwell: donor. ... 113
Hemphill, Harry, Paola: donor 115
Hereford, Mrs. Bessie, Topeka: donor, 113
Herington: St. Paul Lutheran church
history, noted 253
Herington Advertiser-Times: articles in,
noted 126, 253
Herington Army Air Field:
history 153- 157
Heritage of Kansas, Emporia, article in,
noted 363
Herndpn, Walter, Lane co 451
Herneison, Wayne, Wamego: donor . . 112
Herron, Mrs. Iva, Edwards co 367
Hewitt, Rev. J. D.: at
Wichita 91n, 93, 211, 213
— quoted 93
Hibbens, C. R., Independence: article
on, noted 447
Hickman, Russell K.: article by, noted, 369
Hicks, Virginia P., Kearny co 366
High Plains Journal, Dodge City: ar-
ticles in, noted 364, 365
Highland University, Highland 435
Hildt, George H.: quoted 320, 321
Hill, John G., Marion co.: Hillsboro
founder 445
Hill, Rev. Timothy: quoted, 1855... 436
Hill City, Marion co.: note on 445
Hillsboro, Marion co.: Dr. B. E. Ebel's
history, noted 445
— 75th anniversary, noted 450
Hillsboro Star-Journal: articles in,
noted 445
Hillyer, George S.: impeached,
1862 292, 294
Hinman, Ralph S., Jr.: article by,
noted 252
— editorial (1958), noted, and quoted, 252
Historical markers: erected, 1959,
noted 106, 450
Historical Society, Organizing a Local:
C. M. Silvestro's booklet, noted .... 256
History: political and military, 1859-
1865, a chronology 283- 300
Hodgeman County Historical Society:
1959 meeting, note on 450
Hodges, Frank, Olathe 123
Hodgson, Art, Rice co 368
Hodgson, Rev. T. S.: at Wichita. ... 9 In
Hohn, Gordon S., Marshall co.: articles
by, noted 363, 449
Holden, Bernice: article by, noted. . . 365
Hollenberg ranch house: a Pony Ex-
press station 371, 372
Holmberg-Johnson Blacksmith and
Wagon Shop, Lindsborg: article on,
noted 446
Holmstrom, John, Riley co 127
Holton Recorder: article in, noted . . . 365
Home Missionary, The: comment on . . 419
Hood, Dr. Leroy, Garden City 255
Hoole, William Stanley: quoted 320
Hope Dispatch: note on press used by, 255
Horgas, Lt. Col. Maurice: at Hering-
ton 157
Hornsby, Brig. Gen. A.: letter, quoted, 148
Horses: use in Cherokee strip opening,
notes on 22, 23, 25- 27
Horseshoe Farmers Band, Washington
co.: history, noted 448
Hough, Lela, Topeka 128
Houghton, Alan B.: booklet by, noted, 256
How, John, St. Louis, Mo.: mer-
chant 11, 13
Howard County Ledger, Longton: 1871
issue given Historical Society .... 114
Howard Courier-Citizen: article in,
noted 254
Hoyt, Mrs. Hobart, Lyons 128
Hubbell, L. W., Hodgeman co 450
Huck, Mrs. Kenneth, Clark co 366
Hudson, Florence, Augusta 127
Hudson, Tom, Harper 368
Huffman, Mrs. Frank, Topeka 128
Hughs, Mrs. Gay, Ashland 366
Humboldt, Allen co.: burned, 1861.. 291
Humboldt Union: article in, noted . . . 253
Hunnewell, Sumner co.: cowtown in
early 1890's 19
— role in Cherokee strip opening,
noted 19, 22, 23, 25, 31
Hunt, Mrs. Gorman, Leavenworth co., 452
Hunter, Maj. Gen. David: Head, Dept.
of Kansas 291
Hunter, Sen. Robert, of Virginia 286
Huntington, Jeanette P., Rochester,
N. Y. ... ... 404
Huntoon, Mary, Topeka facing 368
Hurst, Margaret O., Kearny co 366
Hurst, Melvin, Bourbon co 368
Hurt, Wesley R., Vermillion, S. D.:
donor 113
Hutchinson, Rev. G. W.: at Centropolis, 253
Hutchinson, Lulu, Thomas co 451
Hutchinson News: articles in, noted, 253
366, 446
Huxman, Walter A., Topeka: donor. . Ill
Hyatt, Russ, Wichita: articles by,
noted 449
HyattviUe: mentioned, 1857 191
latan, Mo.: rebel flag captured at. ... 289
Illinois State Historical Library: donor, 114
Illinois State Register, Springfield, 111. . . 303
Independence: Mount Hope Cemetery,
article on, noted 447
Independence Army Air Field 129
— history 334- 336
Independence Daily Reporter: articles
in, noted 253, 447
Indian battle, 1878. See under Battle
Canyon.
Indian territory: Kansas troops in,
1862 294
Indian troubles: A. B. Houghton's
booklet on Mitchell co. raid, noted . 256
— in California, 1860 377- 380
— raid of 1878, article on, noted 254
Indianola: reference to, 1857 189
Indians, loyal: refugees in Kansas,
1862 292
Ingalls, Ann Downs, Shokan, N. Y 109
Ingalls, John James: three letters by,
given Historical Society 109
Ingalls: St. Stanislaus parish history,
noted 449
Ingham, , Topeka 444
Ingham, Thomas J., Clay co.: diary
( 1859 ) noted 447
lola Register: article in, noted 448
Iowa Point: reference to, 1857 186
464
GENERAL INDEX
Ironquill. See Ware, Eugene Fitch.
"Ironquill's 'The Washerwoman's
Song* ": article by J. C. Malin, 257- 282
Isacks, Andrew Jackson 11
Italians in Kansas: noted 390
Jacks, John W., of Missouri: Perry,
Okla. newspaper planned by 21
Jackson County (Mo.) Historical So-
ciety: award to Chase co. society,
noted 452
Jacksonian, Cimarron: article in,
noted 449
Jacobs, Mrs. Minnie, Council Grove:
donor 113, 116
Jader, Dr. , of California: killed,
1860 378
aeger, E. W., Hope: donor 112
agger, Mrs. Fred, Ottawa co 452
ameson, Henry B., Abilene 450
ameson, Tom: burned to death, 1893, 27
amieson, W. F.: "spiritualist" 267
arboe, A. M., Topeka: donor 113
jenista, Harry, Caldwell 127
Jenkins, Mrs. Elsie, Edwards co 367
Jenkins' Ferry, Ark., battle of, 1864:
noted 297
Jennings, J. B., St. Joseph, Mo.: tele-
graph interests, noted 37
iennison, Charles R 290
ent, J. S., Cedar Vale 254
ewell County Historical Society: or-
ganization, noted 367
ewett, Mrs. Dale, Lane Co 451
obes, Charles: killed in mine accident, 396
ohnson, A. W., Leavenworth co 452
ohnson, Pres. Andrew 13, 14
ohnson, Mrs. Bea, Kansas City 128
ohnson, Hampton P.: Civil War colo-
nel 290
Johnson, Capt. Harry A.: in Kansas. . 350
Johnson, Lillian, Allen co 451
Johnson, Oscar, McPherson co.: man-
ager of colony bound for Cherokee
strip 24
Johnson, R. Kitt: death, noted 377
Johnson, Ruby: article by, noted. . . . 252
Johnson, Rev. Thomas 409, 410
— quoted on loyalty to Union 413
— slave owner 412
Johnson, Mrs. Virginia A., Gardner:
donor 113
Johnson county: Corinth community
history, noted 445
— Linwood church and cemetery his-
tory, noted 252
— Quantrill raids in, 1862, noted ... 295
Johnson County Herald, Overland Park:
articles in, noted 252, 445
— history, noted 252
—1942-1956 file microfilmed Ill
Johnston, William Crane, Jr.: thesis by,
noted I58n
Jones, Mrs. Carl, Topeka: donor. ... 113
Jones, Maj. Dale C.: at Marshall Field, 343
Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Elwood 117
Jones, George, of California: killed by
Indians, 1860 378
Jones, Horace, Lyons 122, 124
Jones, Lucina, Emporia 255
Jones, Lula, Hodgeman co 450
Jones, Paul, Rice co 368
Jones, Samuel J.: arrest of Branson,
noted 66n
Jones, Taylor, Finney co 255
Jones, Russell & Co., Leavenworth:
comment on enterprises of. ... 372- 374
Jordan, Dean L., Sr., Abilene: donor. . 113
Judson, Col. William R.: head Sixth
Kansas regt 291
Judy, Bradley, Jewell co 367
umbo lead mine, Linn co.: account
of 393, 394
Junction City: 1862 raid on newspa-
per, noted 293
— Episcopal Church of the Covenant,
article on, noted 447
— German Evangelical Lutheran Zion
church history, noted 447, 448
— Zion United Church of Christ, article
on, noted 448
Junction City Union: article in, noted, 449
Junction City Weekly Union: articles
in, noted 447
K
Kambach, Mrs. Frank, Shawnee co. . . . 255
Kampschroeder, Mrs. Jean Norris, Gar-
den City 122, 124
Kansapolis: reference to, 1857 189
Kansas (ter.) Legislature: 1860,
notes on 285, 286
— 1861, notes on 287, 288
Kansas (state): capital, located at
Topeka, 1861 291
— Centennial commission 438
1958 work of, noted 106
— Legislature, 1862, notes on. . .292, 293
1863, notes on 296
1864, notes on 297
1865, notes on 299
— Militia, reorganized, 1862 295
— Printing Plant, Topeka: donor 113
Kansas: books, list of additions to the
Society's library, 1957-58 .... 229- 235
— congressional steps leading to ad-
mission as state, listed 287, 288
— early pictures of, notes on Il4
— hard times in, 1861 326, 327
— post card views of, given Historical
Society 114
Kansas Association of Teachers of His-
tory and Social Science: 1959 meet-
ing, note on 366
Kansas brigade 291
Kansas Central Railroad Company. . . 2
Kansas Chief, Troy: article in, noted. . 363
Kansas City: Fairfax Field
history 138- 141
Kansas City, Mo.: first telegraph,
1858 34, 35
— Hannibal bridge, article on, noted, 445
Kansas City Labor Bulletin: 1940-1957
file microfilmed Ill
Kansas Cowboy, The, Dodge City:
article on, noted 446
Kansas Free Fair, 1958: Historical So-
ciety display, note on 112
Kansas Frontier News, Junction City:
office destroyed, 1862 293
"Kansas Historical Notes" . . 127, 128, 255
256, 366-368, 450- 453
"Kansas History as Published in the
Press", 126, 252-254, 363-365, 445- 449
Kansas Imprints, 1854-1876: a supple-
ment, note on 106
Kansas Indians: G. W. Coffin's article
on, noted 364
Kansas Pacific railroad [including the
U. P., Eastern Division, which be-
came the K. P. Railway Co.}: con-
struction, 1863-64, data on 6, 7
— 1864 excursion, noted 7
— history, 1862-1865 1- 16
— "Samuel Hallett and the Union Pa-
cific Railway Company in Kansas,"
article by Alan W. Farley 1- 16
— three photographs at Wyandotte,
1867 facing iv
and frontispiece
GENERAL INDEX
465
Kansas river: frozen over at Wyan-
dotte for 110 days, 1872 444
— Wyandotte bridge construction, 1867
(photograph) frontispiece
Kansas State Historical Society: annual
meeting, 1958, proceedings. ... 121- 123
— appropriations and budget requests, 105
— archives division report,
1957-58 106, 107
— display at Kansas Free Fair, note on, 112
— executive committee report . . . 1958, 119
— First Capitol report, 1957-58 116
— Funston Home report, 1957-58 116
— Kansas Historical Quarterly, The,
note on 105
— Kaw Mission report, 1957-58 116
— library, additions to, 1957-58 . . 229- 250
report, 1957-58 107- 109
— manuscript division report, 1957-58, 111
— mirror, note on, 1958 106
— museum report, 1957-58 Ill- 113
— newspaper and census divisions re-
port, 1957-58 113, 114
— nominating committee report, 1957-
58 ...... .... 120
— photographs and maps report,
1957-58 114, 115
— presidential address, 1958 1- 16
— publications and special projects re-
port, 1957-58 105, 106
— research subjects, 1957-58 115
— secretary's report, 1957-58. . . . 104- 117
— Shawnee Mission report, 1957-58 . 117
— treasurer's report, 1957-58. ... 117-119
Kansas State Temperance Society: 1861
meeting, noted 323
Kansas Valley Times, The: first Ross-
ville paper 363
Karr, Robert O., Crawford co 451
Kassebaum, Mrs. Lulu, Rossville: ar-
ticles by, noted 365
Kaul, Robert H., Wamego 122, 124
Kaw River Telegraph Co.: incorpo-
rated, 1855 33
Kearny county: a history of, planned, 127
— early-day storms article, noted. . . . 364
— Prairie Range school history, noted. . 363
Kearny County Historical Society:
county historical project, noted 127
— 1959 meeting, note on 366
Keel, H. W., Abilene 450
Keller, Erwin, Topeka 127
— and wife, donors 112
Kelley, Robert S., Atchison: editor. .. 185n
Kellogg, Royal S.: letter by, noted. . . 254
Kelly, Rev. Barney: at
Wichita 91n, 93, 95
Kelly, Father Gregory: at Danville. . . . 254
Kelly, Rev. John: at
Wichita 209-211, 221
Kemper, Bishop Jackson 417
Kendall, Don: article by, noted 446
Kendall, Hamilton co.: article on,
noted 364
Kennekuk, Atchison co.: Pony Express
station 371
Kenny, Mrs. B. Gage, Lincoln: donor. . 113
Kibbe, , Hickory Point 409
Kickapoo, Brown co.: Pony Express
station 371
Kickapoo, Leavenworth co.: M. E.
Church South conference of 1856
at 407, 410, 437
Kilroy, Ed, Rice co 368
Kingman, Robert H., Topeka 127
— and wife: donors 113
Kingman, W. A., Springfield, Mo.:
donor 113
Kingman: 75th anniversary, noted. . . . 127
Kinley, C. L., Augusta: donor 113
Kinsley Mercury: articles in,
noted 364, 365
— 1899-1956 file microfilmed Ill
Kiowa: population loss, 1893-94.... 31
— role in Cherokee strip opening, noted, 20
22, 31
Kirby, Rev. John: at Wichita. ... 91- 93
Kirk, Harold, Scott co 368
Knapp, Dallas W., Coffeyville 123
Knapp, Mrs. Sidney, Concordia. . 255, 451
Knezswich, M., of California: killed,
1860 378
Knight, Rev. Richard: Hampden
colonist 191, 425
Knox, Mrs. C. B., Manhattan 127
Koch, William E., Manhattan .... 123, 127
Kotterman, Mrs. Eugene 123
"Kriterion": poem by E. F. Ware, 277, 278
notes on 274, 277- 282
Kyle, Col. Reuben, Jr.: at Pratt 347
Laird, Lem, Harper 368
Lake City, Barber (?) co.: article on,
noted 449
Lakin, Kearny co.: article on, noted. . 365
Lakin Independent: article in, noted 363
Landes, H. R., Topeka: donor. . Ill, 115
Landon, Alfred M.: papers of, given
Historical Society ... . 109
Landrith, Mrs. O. H., Enid, Okla.:
donor Ill
Lane, James H 294, 302
— a general 289- 292
— a Lincoln supporter, 1860 311
— campaigner for Fremont, 1856. . . . 303
— interest in Doniphan, noted 185
— Kansas route of U. P. influenced
by 7, 12
— M. W. Delahay an associate of ... 303
307, 308, 311
— military commission resigned 292
— U. S. senator 288, 290, 299, 311
Lane, Vincent J 7
Lane County Historical Society: 1959
meeting, note on 451
Lane's brigade 291, 293
Lang, J. W., Hodgeman co 450
Langsdorf, Edgar: asst. secretary, His-
torical Society 104, 117
Laramie creek, Nemaha co 371
Large, Mrs. Lucy M., Lecompton:
donor 113
Larimer, William, Jr., Denver, Colo... 160
Larson, Oscar: donor 116
Larzelere, Alfred, Doniphan co.: arti-
cle on, noted 363
Lauer, Col. Ford V.: at Liberal 338
Laughridge, White, Chase co 450
Lauterbach, August W., Colby. . 122, 124
— donor 115
Lawrence, Ewing, Wichita 367
Lawrence: Congregational church of
1857, described 431
— descriptive notes, 1854 41, 46, 52
1855 63, 64
—1854-1858, S. Y. Lum's letters
from 40-67, 172- 196
— Emigrant Aid Co. sawmill, 1854,
notes on 48
— hard times in, 1861 326, 327
— Plymouth Congregational Church,
first service, noted 39
S. Y. Lum's reports (1854-58)
on 40-67, 172-196 passim
— photographs of, given Historical So-
ciety 114
— "Pioneer Boarding House" of 1854,
note on 42
30—961
466
GENERAL INDEX
Lawrence: public school history ar-
ticles, noted 252, 253
— QuantriU raid 296
— recovery from QuantriU raid, note
on 333
— Second Congregational church, note
on 416
— Unitarian church, S. Y. Lum's com-
ments on 1855-57. . . 61, 173, 180, 182
— Western Bakery daybook pages
(1861) given Historical Society. . . . 109
Lawrence, sack of, 1856: S. Y. Lum's
comment on 176
Lawrence citizens: petition to Hallett
& Co., 1863, noted 7
Lawrence Journal-World: articles in,
noted 253
Leach, Mrs. Richard W., Evanston,
111.: donor 114
Lead mines in Kansas: Linn
county's Jumbo mine
(photographs) between 400, 401
— maps and diagram of Linn co.
area facing 400
— W. H. Schoewe's article on the early
mines 391- 401
Lead ore: specimen
(photograph) facing 401
Leahy, David D., Wichita: his story
of Ware's "The Washerwoman's
Song" 266
Lear, Gen. Ben 344
Learned, Edward: interest in U. P.,
E. D., noted 14, 15
Leavenworth: boom period, 1860's,
noted 4
— churches, 1861, statistics of . . . 418, 419
— comment on, 1854 45
— 1859-60 support for Smoky Hill route
by 159, 162- 171
— general situation in, 1860, dis-
cussed 320
1862, discussed 324
— loss of U. P., E. D. line by, notes
on 4, 5
— rebel newspaper, 1862, notes
on 293, 294, 296
— religious needs, 1857, noted 184
— telegraph in, 1859 35
Leavenworth, Sisters of Charity of: his-
tory, noted 256
Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express:
comment on 372, 373
Leavenworth County Historical So-
ciety: officers, 1959-60, listed .... 452
Leavenworth Daily Inquirer: notes
on 293, 294, 296
Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western
Railroad Company: history 2, 3
8- 10
Lecompton: religious needs, 1857,
noted 183, 186, 187
Lecompton constitution: M. W. Del-
ahay quoted on defeat of 305
Lecompton constitution movement: C.
W. Trow's thesis on, noted 108
Lee, Rt. Rev. Henry W., of Iowa 418
Lee, Col. Robert E 284
Lees, Raymond, Wyandotte co 128
LeMay, Maj. Gen. Curtis E 156, 351
LeRoy: comment on, 1857 191
Leuenberger, Fritz, Jr., Topeka: donor, 109
Liberal: library history, noted 447
Liberal Army Air Field: history, 336- 339
Liberal League, Wichita 200, 204
Liggett, Rev. J. D., Leavenworth, 418, 419
— quoted 318, 320, 323, 324
327,330, 331
Lillard, Thomas M., Topeka 104
119-122, 124
Lilleston, W. F., Wichita 123
Lincoln, Abraham: assassination
noted 300
—at Philadelphia, Feb. 22, 1861, 283, 288
— his ties to M. W. Delahay discussed, 312
— Kansas "speeches" of 439- 443
— M. W. Delahay a friend and pro-
moter of 301- 312
— photograph (clean-shaven,
ca, 1859) facing 256
—speech, Feb. 22, 1861, quoted, 283, 284
— visit to Kansas, chronology of .... 285
notes on facing 257 and 438
observance of centennial of .... 438
sponsored by Delahay .... 307, 308
tour of 1859 re-enacted, note on, 452
Lincoln College, Topeka 434
Lindner, Mrs. Claudine, Finney
co 255, 450
Lindquist, Emory Kempton,
Wichita 122, 124
— "The Letters of the Rev. Samuel
Young Lum, Pioneer Kansas Mis-
sionary, 1854-1858," edited
by 39-67, 172- 190
— notes on 39n, 172n, 313n, 407n
— "Religion in Kansas During the Era
of the Civil War," article by, 313- 333
407- 437
Lindsborg: Holmberg- Johnson shop,
article on, noted 446
Lindsborg News-Record: articles in,
noted 445, 446
Lines, Charles B., Wabaunsee 427
Lingenfelser, Rev. Angelus, Atchison, 123
Linn county: first state militia regt.
raised in 288
— history of lead mining in .... 391- 399
— Jumbo lead mine
(photographs) between 400, 401
— lead mine area maps, and
diagram facing 400
— Mine creek settlers driven out, 1861, 291
Liquor problem: in Lawrence, 1855,
notes on 65
Litchfield, Lewis L.: death, 1855,
noted 56
Little Blue, battle of the, 1864: noted, 298
Locknane, David M., Nemaha co. . . 371
Locknane creek, Nemaha co 371
Log Chain station: on Pony Express
route 371
Long, Richard M., Wichita: president,
Historical Society 120, 121, 123
Lorenson, Jacob, Saginaw, Mich.: sui-
cide attempt, noted 30
Lose, Harry F., Topeka 123
Loucks, C. A., Kearny co 127
Lough, Mrs. Jean C.: "Gateway to the
Promised Land," article by .... 17- 31
— note on 17n
Loughmiller, Mrs. Laura, Topeka:
donor Ill, 113
Louis, Bertha, Thomas co 451
Love, Leon: pseudonym of T. M.
Nichol 260, 262, 263
Lovejoy, Rev. Charles H.:
photograph facing 321
Lovejoy, Julia Louisa (Mrs. Chas. H.):
comment on 424
— quoted 317, 325, 429, 436, 437
Lovewell, Mrs. P. A., Topeka: donor. . 113
Lucifer, the Light-Bearer, Chicago, 111.:
1897-1907 file microfilmed Ill
Lum, Caroline Keep (Mrs.
S. Y.) 39, 63, 195
Lum, Rev. Samuel Young 418, 419
— and wife, to Kansas, 1854 39, 40
— biographical sketch 39, 40
—death of chUd of, 1855 60, 63
—letters, 1854-1858 (edited by E. K.
Lindquist) 39-67, 172- 196
GENERAL INDEX
467
Lum, Rev. Samuel Young,
photograph facing, 321
— quoted 313-315, 327, 328
Lungren, Maurice C.: thesis by, noted, 108
Lupfer, Nina, Hodgeman co 450
Luther, Rev. J. H 411
Lykins, Rev. Johnston 411
Lynch, B. M.: slave owner 412
Lyon, Capt. Nathaniel: 1861 activi-
ties 289, 290
Lyon county: guerrilla raids in, 1862,
noted 294
— O. W. Mosher's column on history
of, noted 126
Lyon County Historical Society 126
— 1959 meeting, notes on 255
Lyon creek community, Dickinson co.:
article on, noted 446
Lyona, Dickinson co 451
— Methodist church history, noted. . . . 446
M
McAfee, Rev. Josiah B.: slavery stand
noted 414
McArthur, Mrs. Vernon E., Hutchinson, 123
— donor 113
McBee, John: and family, history of,
noted 254
McBratney, Robert 185n
McCain, James A., Manhattan 123
McCall, Florence, Salina: donor .... 113
McCallum, Gen. Daniel Craig[?] .... 14
McClintock, W. H.: injured in mine
blast 396
McConnell, Thomas L., Fred, Jr., and
Edwin M.: air base at Wichita
named for 341
McConnell Air Force Base: his-
tory 339- 341
McCoy, Rev. Isaac 411
McDowell, George 12
McDowell, James H.: L. P. & W. presi-
dent 3
McDowell, William C.: L.P.&W.
president 8, 9
Mace, Col. Harold L.: at Coffey-
ville 335
McFarland, Helen M., Topeka 123
McGee, Peter, Delphos: biographical
sketch, noted 366
McGill, Mrs. Charles, Paola: donor. . 114
McGinley, Joseph P 130
McGrew, Mrs. William E., Kansas City, 123
Mclnerney, Dr. William, Abilene:
donor 112
Macintosh, William, of California:
killed by Indians, 1860 378
McKeen, R. A., Independence 334
McKeever, Dr. Duncan C., Houston,
Tex.: donor 113, 114
McLeod, Charles, of California: killed,
1860 378
McNoughton, O., of California: killed
by Indians, 1860 378
McPherson: first courthouse, articles on,
noted 445, 446
McVicar, Rev. Peter 416
— "Band of Hope" organizer 323
— photograph facing 321
Madison, Mrs. Sarah E.: article by,
noted 364
Mahoney, Elmo, Dorrance 114
Maier, Mrs. Minnie Mae, Leavenworth
co 452
Majors, Alexander: steamboat named
for 6
Majors, Russell & Co.: Pony Express
firm . .381
Malin, James C., Lawrence 121, 123
— "Eugene Ware's Concern About a
Woman, a Child, and God," article
by 402- 406
— "Ironquill's 'The Washerwoman's
Song,' " article by 257- 282
— notes on 257n, 402n
— "William Sutton White, Swedenborg-
ian Publicist," article by (parts two
and three) 68-103, 197- 228
Malone, James, Gem 123
Manhattan: in 1857, mentioned 188
Manhattan Town Association: records
(1855-1877) microfilmed 110
Manlove, , Fort Scott: editor.... 265
Manshardt, Mrs. F. M., Topeka:
donor 113
Maple Hill, Wabaunsee co.: articles on
history of, noted 252
Mapleton: in 1857, mentioned. . . 191
Maranville, Lea, Ness City 122, 124
Marble, G. W., Bourbon co 368
Mariadahl, Pottawatomie co.: Lutheran
church history, note on 252
Marion county: Ebenezer church his-
tory, noted 448
Marion Record: 1875-1900 file micro-
filmed Ill
Marquart Music Co., Topeka: donor. . 113
Marshall, Brig. Gen. Francis C.: air
base named for 342
— death, noted 342
Marshall, Francis J., Marysville 254
Marshall Air Force Base: history, 341- 345
Marshall county: Pleasant Ridge school,
Dist. No. 59, history, noted 363
Martin, Donald F. (grandson of George
W.) *. 122
Martin, John A.: provost marshal at
Leavenworth 293
Martin, Col. Kenneth R.: in Kansas. . . 352
Marysville: in 1902-03, article on,
noted 449
— mail service, 1860's, items on 362
— Pony Express station 371
photograph frontispiece, Winter
issue.
Marysville Advocate: articles in, noted, 254
363, 449
Masons, A. F. &A.: Shawnee lodge
history, noted 252
Masterson, Bat: article on, noted 445
Mather, William D.: thesis on Chey-
ennes by, noted 108
Matson, Simon E.: articles by, noted. . 126
Matthews, Cecil, Edwards co 367
Matthews, John: rebel activities, noted, 290
Matthews, William: captain, 1864... 298
Maus, Pearl, Topeka: donor Ill
Mayhew, Mrs. Patricia Solander,
Wichita 123
Meade, Col. Donald E.: at Strother
Field 355
Meade, E. R.: attorney for E. Learned, 14
Meade, Lakin, Topeka: donor 113
Means, Hugh, Lawrence 122, 124
Mechem, Kirke, Lindsborg. . 117, 121, 123
Medary, Samuel: governor 286, 287
Medbury, Col. : surveyor 3
Medford, David F.: and troops, cap-
tured, 1864 298
Medill, Mrs. Harold, Independence 128
Medler, M. A., Pittsburg 394
Meeker, Rev. Jotham 411
Meier, Adolphus, St. Louis, Mo.: mer-
chant 11, 13
Mendez, Roy, Topeka: donor 113
Menninger, Mrs. Grace, Topeka 255
— donor 113
468
GENERAL INDEX
Menninger, Karl, Topeka 123
Mennonites: D. V. Wiebe's story of,
noted 453
— notes on settlements of 387
Mercer, Rev. L. P., Chicago 85
Meredith, Henry, of California: death,
noted 378
Merriam, D. F 400
Messick, B. F., Topeka: donor.. 113, 114
Methodist Episcopal Church: devotion
to Union cause noted 413, 414
— early days in Kansas, notes on. .407- 411
— Kansas conference, 1856, notes
on 410, 435
1865, note on 428
— split in the church, 1844, noted. . . . 407
Methodist Episcopal Church South:
created, 1845 407
— effect of Civil War on Kansas min-
isters of 407- 409
— Kansas Mission Conference, 1856,
notes on 407, 410, 437
1861, note on 408
— return to Kansas 1866, noted 409
Meyer, Fred W., Jewell co 367
Meyer, Henry A., Evansville, Ind.:
donor Ill
Meyers, Andy J.: story by, noted. ... 364
Meyers, Maj. Gen. B. E. 348n
Miami county: 1958 ownership map
of, given Historical Society 115
Military events: and politics, 1859-
1865, a chronology of 283- 300
Militia. See Kansas (state) Militia.
Miller, A. R., Ottawa co 452
— paper by, noted 366
Miller, Emy K.: thesis by, micro-
filmed 108
Miller, Mrs. Esther Pennock, Topeka:
donor 113
Miller, Mr. and Mrs. Henry W., Dela-
van: donors 113
Miller, Karl, Dodge City 123
Miller, Rev. M. J., Leavenworth. .430, 436
— quoted 316, 329
Miller, Nyle H.: secretary, Historical
Society 117, 127
— talks by, noted 127, 255, 367
Miller, Solomon: comment on E. F.
Ware 278n, 279n
Mills, Robert, Baltimore, Md.: note on, 1
— quoted on need for overland railroad, 1
Mine Creek, battle of, 1864: notes
on 284, 299
Mining of metals: first in Kansas,
noted 391
Minneapolis: Negro families in, paper
on, noted 366
Missouri and Western Telegraph Com-
pany 38
Missouri river: frozen over at Wyan-
dotte for 93 days, 1872 444
— map, 1878-81, noted 115
Mitchell, Robert: a brigadier gen-
eral 293
Mitchell county: Indian raids, booklet
by A. B. Houghton on, noted 256
Mohl, Evangeline Louise: book by,
note on 368
Moneka: notes on, 1857 190
Monkiewicz, Maj. Witold B.: in
Kansas 352
Montfort, Rev. F. P.: quoted,
1856 315, 316, 328, 329
Montgomery, Marshal Sir Bernard L. . . 351
Montgomery, James 288
— attempt to rescue John Brown's men,
noted 296
— Civil War activities, noted 296
— head of Third Kansas regt 290
Montgomery, John D., Junction
City 116, 122, 124
Montgomery, Mary Liz, Junction City:
column by, noted 446
Montgomery, Maj. Gen. Richard:
plaque honoring, note on 129
Montgomery, Maj. Gen.
Richard M 129, 130
— in Kansas, note on 129
Montgomery county: name origin. . . 129
Moonlight, Thomas: Civil War soldier, 290
— defeated at battle of Little Blue. . . 298
Moore, Bessie, Auburn 127
Moore, Mrs. Myrtle, Harper co.: article
by, noted 254
Moore, Russell, Wichita 123
Moore family, Ellis co.: article on,
noted 126
Morgan, Dale L.: editor J. A. Pritchard
diary, noted 453
Morgan, Maj. Robert K.: note
on 347n
Mormonism: W. S. White's comments
on 98- 101
Morris, Warren, Lyon co 255
Morse, Rev. Grosvenor C 332
— at Emjioria, 1857 192- 194
Mosher, Orville W., Emporia 255
— column by, noted 126, 364
Mosier, Mrs. Dwight, Cowley co.: arti-
cle by, noted 448
Mosman, Lt. Col. O. J.: in Kansas, 352
Motz, Frank, Hays: death, noted.... 104
— note on 104, 105
Motz, Mrs. Frank, Hays 114
Mound City: Ladies' Enterprise Asso-
ciation 427
— United Brethern Chtirch, note on. . . 427
Mowery, Mrs. J. E., Lane co 451
Mudge, Benjamin F.,
Manhattan .391, 392, 395
Mueller, Harrie S., Wichita 123
Mullen, Maj. Peter V.: death, noted, 352
— in Kansas 352
Mullendore, Carl, Howard: donor.... 113
Mullin, Alfred A., Kiowa co.: town
founded by 448
Mullin ville: historical articles on,
noted 448
Mullinville News: articles in, noted, 448
Murdock, Marshall M.: Burlingame
paper founded by 449
— comment on 90
Murphy, Franklin D., Lawrence .... 123
Murray, Audrey, Harper 368
Murray, Lenore, Harper 368
Murrow, Capt. James B., Jr.: in
Kansas 352
Myers, C. W., & Co., Topeka: ledgers
(1903-08) given Historical Society, 109
Myers, Mrs. Lillian (McBee): article
by, noted 254
N
Naples (111.) Post 302
Napper, Mrs. Laura (Knight): article
by, noted 254
Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas:
1959 meeting, notes on 128
Natoma, Osborne co.: Presbyterian
church history, noted 253
Natoma-Luray Independent: article in,
noted 253
Nebraska City, Neb.: telegraph line,
1860 38
Neff, Morris N., Jr., Wichita 367
Negroes: refugees in Kansas, 1862,
notes on 415- 417
— state convention, 1864, noted 298
— to Cherokee strip, 1893, noted. ... 24
GENERAL INDEX
469
Nellans, Mrs. Pearl, Portland, Ore.:
donor 113
Nelson, Lt. Col. J. F.: at Pratt 346
Nelson, Maj. Victor E.: at Marshall
Field 343
Nemaha Courier, Seneca: issues of
1863-65 given Historical Society. . . 114
Neosho City: mention of, 1857. . . . 191
Nevada Mining Company 396
New Church, Missouri-Kansas associa-
tion of 84
New England Emigrant Aid Company:
aid to religion in Kansas, noted 325, 326
New Santa Fe, Mo.: articles on, noted, 445
New York Emigration Company. . 45, 49
New York State Historical Society:
donor 114
News-Chronicle, Scott City: articles in,
noted 253, 448, 449
Newspapers, Kansas weekly: thesis on
editorials in, noted 108
Newton: historic clock, article on,
noted 449
Newtonia, Mo., battle of, 1864: noted, 299
Niccum, Norman, Tecumseh: donor. . 114
Nichol, Thomas M., Fort Scott: his
poems discussed 260-264, 267
—notes on 261, 262, 267
— "The Washerwoman's Friend," poem
by 260, 261
Nickell, Maj. Gen. Joe 116
Nicodemus, Graham co.: article on,
noted 365
Ninth Kansas cavalry: organized. ... 291
— notes on 293
Ninth Wisconsin regiment: at Fort
Leavenworth 292
Norwegians in Kansas: noted . . .387- 390
Noyes, Rev. Daniel P., New York. ... 40
— S. Y. Lum's letter to, 1857 .... 194, 195
Nute, Rev. Ephraim: to Lawrence,
1855 61
— Unitarian efforts, noted 182
Nye, Agnes, Harper 368
Nyvall, Carl Johan: book by, note on, 452
O
Oberg, Maj. Alfred: at Fairfax Field. . 140
Obrecht, R. C., Shawnee co 127
Occidental Telegraph Co.: incorpo-
rated, 1855 33
O'Donnell, Brig. Gen. Emmett 156
Oesterreich, B. H., Woodbine 451
Offerle, Harry, Edwards co 367
Ogden: reference to, 1857 188
Ohio City: note on, 1857 190
O'Howell, Rev. D. C 408
Oklahoma. See Cherokee strip.
Oklahoma City Air Technical Service
Command 148, 340
Olathe: Quantrill raid, 1862, noted . 295
Olathe Naval Air Station 141, 352
O'Laughlin, "Uncle John," Nemaha
co. 371
Old Abilene Town Company: note
on 450
Old Fort Hays Historical Association,
Inc.: pamphlet published by, noted, 452
Oldfield, Col. Charles B.: at Dodge
City 137
O'Loughlin, Jennie Ross: articles by,
noted 365
Olson, Col. Jergan B.: at Dodge
City 147, 148
Omaha, Neb.: telegraph line in, 1860, 38
Omer, Maj. George, Jr., Fort Riley:
donor 114
Once A Week, Lawrence: 1883 issue
given Historical Society 114
Orlando, Okla.: role in Cherokee strip
opening, notes on 23, 28
Ormsby, Maj. : and men, am-
bushed 1860 378, 379
Osage City Free Press: 1875-1916 file
microfilmed Ill
Osage County Chronicle, Burlingame. . 449
Osawatomie: in early 1855, comment
on 58
Osborne, Mrs. Elizabeth, Newton, Mo.:
burned, 1893 27
Osborne: views of (1890's), given His-
torical Society 114
Osborne County Farmer, Osborne: arti-
cle in, noted 253
Osceola, Mo.: burned, 1861. . 291
Oskaloosa Independent: 1870-1900 file
microfilmed Ill
Oswego, Labette co.: First Baptist
church history, noted 446
Oswego Democrat: article in, noted. . . 446
Ottawa county: views of, given Histori-
cal Society 114
Ottawa County Historical Society:
donor Ill
— 1958 meeting, note on 127
—1959 meetings, notes on . . 366, 451, 452
Ottawa Herald: article in, noted . . . 253
Ottawa University: chartered, 1860. . . 435
Ottumwa: Western Christian University
at, 1863 436
Overland journey: of Mary Smith, to
Colo, ter., 1866, noted 363
Overland Stage Company: mail service,
1860's, items on 362
Owen, Arthur K., Topeka 122, 124
Owen, Mrs. E. M., Lawrence .... 122, 124
Owen, Jennie Small, Topeka: donor. . Ill
Owen, Lyle, Tulsa, Okla.: donor Ill
Owens, Mrs. Claude, Finney co 255
Oxford, Johnson co.: articles on, noted, 445
Pacific railroad of Missouri 2
Page, Euphemia, Topeka 127
Paige, (lecturer): at
Wichita 198, 199
Paine, Rev. Rodney, Burlington:
quoted 323, 422
Painter, Maj. Harold: at Hering-
ton 153- 155
"Palace, The": poem by E. F.
Ware 279, 280
Palmer, George, Miltonvale 451
Palmer, Mrs. George, Miltonvale 255
Palmer, Dr. H. Preston, Scott co 368
Palmer, William J.: secretary-treasurer,
U. P., E. D 15
Pantle, Alberta: compiler "Recent Ad-
ditions to the Library" 229
— librarian, Historical Society. . . 117- 250
Papinsville, Mo 292
Paris, Linn co.: mention of, 1857. . . . 191
Parker, Rev. Roswell Davenport. ... 193
415, 416
— photograph facing 321
— quoted 326, 330-332, 432
Parker, Mrs. Thomas T., Phoenix, Ariz.:
donor 109
Parrott, Marcus: delegate to con-
gress 284, 288
— with Lincoln, 1859 285
Parsons, Rev. J. U.: at Ogden 188
Patton, Gen. George S 344
Paulsen, Leo, Jamestown 255, 451
Payne, David L.: Oklahoma
"boomer" 18
Payne, Mrs. L. F., Manhattan . . . 122, 124
Payne, Rev. Rodney: at Burlington.. 191
470
GENERAL INDEX
Peabody, Rev. Adams: at Wichita... 83
Peffley, D. P., Fort Scott: quoted on
N. C. McFarland letter 275, 276
Pellegrino, John 393, 396
Pendleton, Capt. Robert P.: flights by,
noted 140
People of Kansas: character of early
settlers discussed 313- 322
Perkins, Col. Nicholas T.: at Coffey-
ville 133, 134
Perrings, Mrs. Myra, Topeka: donor, 113
Perry, John D., St. Louis: banker, 8, 11
— president of U. P., E. D. .8, 11- 15
Perry, Okla.: expected (1893) to be
"the" Cherokee strip city 21
— note on creation of, 1893 28
Peterson, Mrs. E. G., Edwards co. . . 367
Pettit, John: chief justice, K. T 287
Phelps, A. O. (lecturer): at
Wichita 201, 204
— S. W. White's comments on
lectures of 201- 204
Phillips, William A.: Civil War
colonel 297
Philosophers of Kansas: J. C. Malin's
article (parts two and three) on
W. S. White 68-103, 197- 228
Pickett, Mrs. A. G., Topeka: donor. . . 113
Pierce, Francis L.: article by, noted, 365
Pierce, Bishop George Foster, of
Georgia 407, 437
Pike, Bill, Lane co 451
Pike, Mrs. Cecil, Clark co 366
Pike, Lt. Col. Glenn M.: at Great
Bend 150
Pike's Peak gold rush: and the Smoky
Hill route, 1859-1860, C. W. Gow-
er's article on 158- 171
Pine Bluff, Ark., battle of, 1863:
noted 297
Pioneer life: 1854-1858, S. Y. Lum's
letters 40-67 passim and 172-196 passim
Pittsburg Sun: article in, noted 447
Pitzer, Rev. A. W.: at Leavenworth, 321
Platte area: addition to Kansas pro-
posed 287
Platte route to the gold mines .... 158, 163
— table of distances from Atchison,
1859 facing 160
Pleasant Hill: 1855 plat of, given His-
torical Society 114
Pleasant Springs, Nemaha co.: Pony
Express stop 371
Plows: T. M. Nichol's "Kansas Clip-
per inventions, note on 261
Plumb, Preston B.: Civil War
activities 294
Politics: and military events, 1859-
1865, a chronology of 283- 300
— in territorial Kansas, M. W. Delahay's
role 301- 312
Pomeroy, Samuel Clarke 62, 326
— aid to S. Y. Lum, noted 40, 41
— an Atchison promoter 185
— U. S. senator 288, 290, 311
Ponca Town Company 28
Pony Express: data on Kansas
stations 370- 372
— Indian troubles 377- 380
— items from 1860 newspapers
on 372- 385
— map of Kansas portion of
route facing 369
— Marysville station (photograph)
frontispiece, Winter issue.
— note on 286
— note on planned 1960 rerun of 369
— R. S. Bloss' book on, noted 453
— R. W. Settle's article on, noted. . . . 446
— Seneca station (photograph)
frontispiece, Winter issue.
Pony Express: table of distances on
Kansas route 370
— time table 375
Pony Express rider: reproduction of a
painting facing 368
"Pony Express Rides Again" 369- 385
Poole, Elder : at Wichita 213
Porter, Mrs. George W., Topeka: estate
of, donor 113
Porter, Thomas C.: and family, article
on, noted 445
Post, Rev. J. C.: at Wichita 9 In
Postal service: in the 1860's, items on, 362
Potosi, Linn co.: notes on 392
— raided, 1861 292
Potosi Town Company: incorporation,
noted 392
Pottawatomie Manual Labor School. . 411
Powell, Ernest W., Cloud co 451
Prairie City: "college" at, 1857 189
— note on, 1857 189
Pratt, Caleb, Douglas co 288
Pratt, Rev. John G 411
Pratt Army Air Field: history. . . 345- 347
— mosaic map of facing 144
— photographs between 144, 145
and facing 145
Presbyterian Church: slavery issue in
Kansas, noted 412
— See, also, United Presbyterian Church
of N. A.
Price raid, 1864: notes on 298, 299
Prichard, Mrs. J. R., Bourbon co 368
Pritchard, James A.: overland diary
(1849) of, noted 453
Probasco, Burt, Pleasanton 394
Probasco, Mack, Pleasanton 393, 394
397, 398
Probasco, Ted, Pleasanton 394
Protestant Episcopal Church: 1859
convention in Kansas, note on 435
— in Kansas territory, notes on 417
Provorse, Belle, Crawford co 451
Pugh, James K., Lane co.: and family,
article on, noted 253
Quantrill raid(s): in 1862, noted 293- 295
— in Johnson co 293, 295
— on Baxter Springs 296
— on Lawrence, notes on 332, 333
Queendale, Wabaunsee co 187
Quesada, Lt. Gen. Elwood R 351
Quindaro: Hallett's murderer a resi-
dent of 11
—notes on, 1857 181, 184, 185
— telegraph office in, 1858 35
Railroads: locomotive (Kansas Pacific)
of 1860's (photograph) facing iv
Rains, Gen. James S 290
Ralston, Mrs. Ralph, Augusta 127
Ramsay, Olivia T., Kearny co 366
Ramsey, Ray B., Topeka: donor 113
Randall, Wayne, Osage City 128
Rankin, Charles C., Lawrence 123
Raser, Margaret, Hodgeman co 450
Raupp, Mrs. Mabel Moore: article by,
noted 126
Ray, Earl, Riley co 127
Raynesford, Howard C., Ellis .... 123, 445
— cocompiler Nicodemus history 365
"Real, The": poem by E. F. Ware, 267, 268
Ream, Cora E., Kansas City, Mo.: es-
tate of, donor 113
Redpath, James: editor 185n
Reed, Clyde M., Jr., Parsons 123
GENERAL INDEX
471
Reed, Lt. Col. Elliott H.: in Kan-
sas 352
Reeder, Andrew H 302
Reid, Capt. Theodore C.: at Great
Bend 149
"Religion in Kansas During the Era of
the Civil War," article by E. K.
Lindquist 313-333, 407- 437
Reno, Capt. J. L.: at Fort Leaven-
worth ... 289
Republic county: 1888 blizzard, article
on, noted 364
Republican party: convention in Kan-
sas, 1859, noted 284
1860, noted 286
— organized in Kansas, 1859 307
— state convention, 1862, noted 295
1864, noted 297, 298
Republican Union party: state conven-
tion, 1864, noted 298
Reser, Mrs. C. H., Hamilton 122, 124
— donor 113
Reveal, Clarence: donor 116
Rhoads, R. H.: KIDC employee. . . . 145
Rice, Rev. Cyrus R.: note on 408
Rice, Margaret Larzelere: article by,
noted 363
Rice County Historical Society: organi-
zation, note on 368
Rich, Lee: president Fort Riley His-
torical Society 367
Richards, Charles R., Detroit, Mich.:
donor 113
Richards, Walter M., Emporia ... 122, 124
Richardson, Elmo, Lawrence: donor. . Ill
Richardson, Myrtle, Edwards co 367
Richardson, Ned, Topeka: donor. ... 113
Richie, Helen: WASP, and flying rec-
ord noted 139
Richmond. Robert W.: state archivist, 117
Riegle, Wilford, Emporia. .. 121, 122, 124
Riggs, Edward: killed in mine, 1916 . 396
Riley county: pioneer roads and trails
map given Historical Society by. . . 115
Riley County Historical Society 114
— officers, 1959, listed 127
Ripley, John, Topeka 255
— <lonor 113
— talk by, noted 121
Rising, N. H., Nemaha co.: note on. . 371
Ritchie, John: Civil War soldier 290
Robbins, Richard W., Pratt 122, 124
Roberts, Larry W., Wichita 367
Roberts, William Y 302
Robinson, Charles 302
— first state governor 288
— investigated, 1862 292, 294
— prisoner, 1856 177n, 303
— Unitarian church leader 325
Robinson, Rev. H. P.: at Grasshopper
Falls 331
Robinson, John W.: impeached,
1862 292, 294
Robinson, Mrs. Sara T. D 177, 428
Robinson, W. Stitt, Lawrence 366
Robinson, Mrs. William I., Wichita. 367
Robley, T. F., Fort Scott 405
Rockwood, Col. R. C.: at Liberal. . 337
Rodkey, Clyde K., Manhattan 123
Roe, Dr. , Pittsburg 394
Rogers, Mrs. ( evangelist ) : at
Wichita, 1882 210
Rogler, Charles W., Chase co.: pioneer
of 1859 446
Rogler, Henry, Chase co 446
Rogler, Wayne, Matfield Green . . . 123, 446
Rogler family, Chase co.: article on,
noted 446
Rooks County Record, Stockton: article
in, noted 254
Rooney, Capt. Laurence J.: in Kansas, 352
Root, Lt. Col. Charles B.: at Dodge
City 137
Root, Mrs. Eliza Abbott: clothing of,
given Historical Society 112
Root, George A.: article by, noted. . . . 369
Rosa, Joseph G., Ruislip, Middlesex,
England: donor Ill
Rosecrans, Gen. William S 299
Rosecrans Field, St. Joseph, Mo 139
Rosenstock, Fred A.: publisher 453
Ross, Edmund G 294
Ross, Steele & Company, Montreal,
Canada 4, 9
Rossville: Mrs. L. Kassebaum's history
of, noted 365
— newspaper history, noted 363
Rothrock, Elder : wounded,
1863 ! . . 333n
Rowley, Pat, Wichita 367
Rozar, Lily B.: articles by, noted, 253, 447
Rupp, Mrs. Jane C., Lincolnville . . 122, 124
Ruppenthal, J. C., Russell 114, 123
Ruppenthal, Mrs. J. C., Russell: donor, 113
Russell, Green. See Russell, William
Green.
Russell, Joe (grandson of Rev. Jerome
C. Berryman) 117
Russell, John W., Leavenworth 372
Russell, Robert (grandson of Rev.
Jerome C. Berryman) 117
Russell, William Green: 1860 Smoky
Hill expedition of 165- 167
Russell, William H., Leavenworth: note
on 382
— Pony Express started by 372
Russell county: historical data, noted. . 254
— photographs of, given Historical So-
ciety 114
Russell, Majors & Waddell: backers of
telegraph line 33
Russell Daily News: article in, noted. . 364
Russell Record: articles in, noted. . . . 254
Russell State Bank: article on, noted. . 364
Russian-Germans in Kansas: note on. . 388
Rust, Mrs. Lucile, Manhattan. . . . 128
Ruttledge, Leslie: donor 116
St. Benedict's College, Atchison 114
St. Francis: S. E. Matson's articles on,
noted 126
St. Francis Herald: articles in, noted. . 126
St. John, John P.: at Wichita, 1880. . 93
St. Joseph, Mo.: gold rush travel from,
noted 158, 167
— starting point of Pony Express. .374, 375
— telegraph lines in, 1859 37
St. Paul Journal: article in, noted. . . . 447
Salina: centennial booklet, noted. . . . 108
— Fourth of July, 1860, noted 169
Salyer, Mrs. Paul, Clark co 366
Sanborn, Gen. John B 299
Santa Fe trade: articles on, noted, 365, 445
Santa Fe trail: article on, noted .... 126
— Dodge City Daily Globe section on,
noted 252
— route to the gold mines. .158, 159, 163
Sargent, U. F., Fort Scott: editor, 262- 264
Savonburg, Allen co.: Evan. Mission
Covenant church history, noted. . . 253
Scandinavians: colony in Cherokee
strip planned by 24
Scheald, Andrew, of California: killed,
1860 378
Schenck, Leland, Topeka 255
Schilling, Col. David C.: air base
named for 349
— biographical note 349n
Schilling Air Force Base: history, 347- 349
472
GENERAL INDEX
Schmidt, Heinle, Dodge City: column
by, noted 364
Schoen, Mrs. Harm: article by, noted, 363
Schoewe, Walter H. "The First Kansas
Lead Mines," article by 391- 401
— note on 391n
Schofield, Gen. John M 296
Schruben, Francis W.: thesis by, mi-
crofilmed 108
Schutte, August, Ellis co 445
Schwegler, Mrs. R. A., Lawrence:
donor 113
Schweitzer, Wilma: article by, noted. . 447
Science and technology: W. S. White's
philosophy in regard to 214- 221
Scipio, Anderson co.: St. Boniface
Catholic church history, noted 126
Scott, Angelo, lola, 121, 122, 124, 368, 451
Scott, Harvey D., of Indiana 14
Scott, Gen. Winfield 287
Scott county: Battle Canyon site a
county park 253
— 1878 Indian battle, article on, noted, 253
— Mrs. E. W. Vaughn's history of pio-
neer days in, noted 448, 449
Scott County Historical Society 253
— 1959 meeting, note on 368
Scudder, "Capt." : agent for C. M.
Stebbins 33
Sears Roebuck & Co., Topeka: donors, 113
Second Indian regiment: organized. . 294
Second Kansas battery: organized. . . . 295
Second Kansas regiment: notes
on 289-293, 297, 331n
Sedalia, Mo.: railroad terminal, 1861, 2
Sedgwick, O. LeRoy, Rossville: editor, 363
SeUin, Elmer, Abilene 451
Seneca, Nemaha co.: marker for Pony
Express, noted 371
— Pony Express station at 371
photograph frontispiece, Winter
issue.
Senne, Rev. Martin: at Herington. . . 253
Settle, Raymond W.: Pony Express ar-
ticle by, noted 446
Seventeenth Kansas regiment: notes
on 298
Seventh Kansas cavalry: notes
on 291, 292, 294, 297
Seward, William H.: Kansas Republi-
cans for, 1860 309
Sewell, Esther, Thomas co 451
Shahan, Mrs. Paul, Marion 114
Shannon, Wilson: territorial governor, 303
Shaw, Rev. James 319, 422, 430
Shaw, Joseph C., Topeka 123
Shawn ee County Historical Society:
1958 meeting, note on 127
— 1959 meeting, note on 255
Shawnee County Reporter, Rossville:
articles in, noted 363, 365
Shawnee Methodist Mission: article on,
noted 253
Shawnee Mission Indian Historical So-
ciety 117
Shawnee State Savings Bank: history,
noted 252
Shelton, Rev. T. J.: at Wichita 9 In
— note on 91n
Shemwell, Ocie: donor 116
Shepherd, Rev. Paul: in Kansas
1856-57 187
Sherman Air Force Base: history, 349- 352
Shoemaker, Robert M.: his company
employed to build Kansas Pacific. . . 15
Showman, Austin: article by, noted. . 446
Shriver, Mrs. Esther, Augusta 127
Shupe, Roy, Clark co 366
Siebenthal, C. E 400
Silvestro, Clement M.: booklet by,
noted 256
Simerwell, Rev. Robert 411
Simmons, Mrs. India Harris: articles
.by, noted 363, 364
Simons, Dolph, Lawrence 123
Simpson, Lt. Col. James H 14
Sioux Indians: religious beliefs, noted, 98
Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth:
history, noted 256
Sisters of St. Joseph: in Concordia, ar-
ticle on, noted 447
Sixteenth Kansas cavalry 299
Sixth Kansas cavalry : notes on ... 290, 293
Sixth Kansas infantry 298
Slagg, Mrs. C. M., Manhattan 123
Slavery issue: among Kansas church
denominations discussed, 407-437 passim
Slavin, Maj. Gen. Nicolai V 351
Slavs in Kansas: noted 387
Sloan, E. R., Topeka 120, 122, 124
Smelley, Col. James M.: at Coffey-
ville . 134
Smelser, Mary M., Lawrence .... 122, 124
Smith, Hoke 23
Smith, Rev. J. N.: at Emporia, 1859, 448
Smith, John E., Seneca: hotelkeeper, 371
Smith, Mrs. Lena, Clark co 366
Smith, Lena M., Princeton, Ind.:
donor 114
Smith, Louis R., Shawnee co 127
Smith, Mary, New York: donor.. 108, 114
Smith, Mary, Sheffield, Ohio: overland
journey, 1866, noted 363
Smith, Mary Alice, Abilene: donor. . 113
Smith, Mary G., Kearny co 368
Smith, Ollie, Caney: recollections,
noted 449
Smith County Historical Society: 1959
meeting, note on 255
Smith County Pioneer, Smith Center, 114
Smoky Hill Air Force Base: history . 150
347- 349
— photographs facing 128
between 144, 145, facing 145, and
facing 336.
Smoky Hill expedition: of Green
Russell, 1860 165- 167
— of H. T. Green, 1860 169- 171
Smoky Hill route (1859-1860): and
the Pike's Peak gold rush, C. W.
Gower's article on 158- 181
— table of distances facing 161
Smoot, Russell & Company: backers of
telegraph line 33
Snavely, Col. Eugene H.: at Marshall
Field 343
Snell, Ernest, Thomas co.: article by,
noted 446
Snider, Dale, Abilene 450
Snowden, Richard, of California: killed,
1860 378
Snyder, E. R.: article by, noted 365
Snyder, Mr. and Mrs. W. V., Berryton:
donors 113
Snyder, Webb: and family, article on,
noted 364, 365
Socolofsky, Homer, Manhattan. .. 114, 127
— bibliography edited by, noted 108
Sohl, Stanley, Topeka: donor 113
— museum director, Historical
Society 104, 117
Soley, : death, 1859, noted 162
Somers, John G., Newton 123
Sommers, Col. Charles: at Liberal... 338
Song: "John Brown's Body," note on. . 291
"Song, The": poem by E. F.
Ware 270, 271
Sorenson, Lt. Col. Blair M.: in Kansas, 350
GENERAL INDEX
473
Souders, Floyd, Cheney 114, 128
Southern Baptist Convention 411
Southern Baptist Convention, Board of
Domestic Missions of the 412
Southern Baptists: in Kansas, notes on, 411
Southern Kansan, Lawrence: 1886
issue given Historical Society 114
Southwest Daily Times, The, Liberal:
articles in, noted 126, 447
Sparks, Rev. R. H.: at Wichita . . 91n
Spear, W. S., of California: lolled,
1860 378
Speer, Mr. and Mrs. Albert, Topeka:
donors 113
Spencer, Herbert: his philosophical
ideas, and works discussed 81- 83
Spencer, Rev. Joab: 1860 troubles of,
noted 407, 408
Spillman, C. H., St. Joseph, Mo.: tele-
graph office of, noted 37
Splitlog, Matthias (Wyandotte Indian), 5
Stanley, Rev. E. J.: quoted 409
Stanley, Mrs. William E., Wichita:
donor Ill, 113
Stapf , Charles, Abilene 450
Starr gang. See Dalton-Starr gang.
Stateler, Rev. L. B 409
Stead, Lt. Col. Charles B.: at
Herington 155
Steamboat(s): Alexander Majors. ... 6
— Emilie 7
— New Sam Gaty, rebel flag on,
lowered 288
Stebbins, Charles M.: account of his
telegraph line 32- 38
Stephens, Tack, Clark co 366
Stewart, Capt. : in California,
1860 379
Stewart, Donald, Independence 123
Stewart, Mrs. James G., Topeka . . 122, 124
Stewart, John E.: Civil War soldier. . . 290
Stewart, Col. Ralph B., Leavenworth. . 452
Stile, Doyle, Caldwell 127
Still, Rev. Abraham 409
Stilwell, Gen. Joseph W 344
Stockton, E. A.: injured in mine blast, 396
Stone, Arthur, Finney co 255
Stone, Clifford W., Butler co 128
Stone, Rev. Hiram 321, 417
Stone, James C., Leavenworth: U. P.,
E. D. stock sold by 8, 11
Storrs, Rev. Sylvester D.: at Quin-
daro 193, 329
Straley, Mrs. Fred, Topeka: donor. . 113
Stratton, Mrs. Clif, Topeka: donor... 108
Stringfellow, Dr. John H 185
Strother, Capt. Donald R.: air field
named for 353
— biographical note 353n
Strother Army Air Field: history 353- 356
Stuart, Lt. J. E. B.: Junction City
church efforts, noted 447
Stuart, Kent D.: articles by
noted 367, 447
Sturgis, Maj. Samuel D.: activities,
1861, noted 289- 291
Stutzman, Mrs. Claude R., Kansas City, 128
Sully, Capt. Alfred: 1861 activities,
noted 289
Sunder, John E.: note on 32n
— "Telegraph Beginnings in Kansas,"
article by 32- 38
Swallow, G. C. 395, 397, 398
Swan, Capt. Wilson B.: in Kansas . . 352
Swanson, Ernest F., Cloud co 255, 451
Swanzey, Mrs. E. E., Abilene: donor, 111
Swedenborg, Emanuel: biographical
sketch 68, 69
Swedenborg Foundation: gift to Wich-
ita Library Assn., noted 84
31—961
Swedenborg theology: summary of, 69- 81
Swedes in Kansas: C. J. Nyvall's book,
note on 452
— notes on 387, 388, 390
Sweet, Annie B., Topeka 127
— donor 113
Syracuse, Doniphan co.: Pony Express
station 370, 371
Tabor, Milton, Topeka 127
Talcott, Orlando: murderer of Samuel
Hallett 10, 11
Tall tales: article on, noted 363
Tate, Lenora B., Kearny co 366
Tatum, M. L., Edwards co 367
Taylor, Harold O., Crawford co 451
Taylor, James E., Sharon
Springs 120, 122, 124
Tecumseh: comment on, 1854 49
1857 187
"Telegraph Beginnings in Kansas": ar-
ticle by John E. Sunder 32- 38
Telegraph in Kansas: history (J. E.
Sunder's article) 32- 38
Telegraph office: at Wyandotte, 1863, 6
Temperance: early steps in Kansas, 322, 323
— Methodist action in early Kansas, 322, 323
Templar, George, Arkansas City 123
Templeton, Etta, Topeka: donor. ... 114
Tenth Kansas infantry: note on 290
"Text, The": poem by E. F. Ware, 272, 273
Thayer Neios: article in, noted 447
Third Indian regiment: organized . . . 295
Third Kansas battery: notes on. .291, 293
Third Kansas regiment 290, 292
Thirteenth Kansas regiment 295
Thirteenth Wisconsin regiment .292, 294
Thomas, Ailine, Merriam: donor Ill
Thomas, E. A., Topeka 120, 123
Thomas, Vivian P., Kearny co 366
Thomas, Rev. W., Delaware City. .411, 420
Thomas county: historical article,
noted 446
Thomas County Historical Society:
organization, note on 451
Thompson, Frederick, Jr., Caldwell . . . 127
Thompson, Col. R. L., Allen co 451
Thomson, Capt. Dorr, Hutchinson:
donor 113
Thorpe, Edgar R.: article by, noted. . 364
Throckmorton, Mrs. J. R., Hays:
donor Ill
Tibbets, Col. Paul W., Jr. 142
Tiller and Toiler, Lamed: article in,
noted 449
Tillotson, Mrs. J. C., Norton 128
Tindell, Mrs. Elsa M., Burlingame:
donor 113
Tinker, Maj. Clarence L.: at Fort
Riley, 1920's 341
— note on 341, 342
Tinkham, C. C., Topeka 114
Titus, Henry T.: S. Y. Lum's comment
on 178
Todd, Mrs. H. W., Independence:
biographical sketch, noted 447
Tomlinson, William P.: at Lawrence,
1858 321
Topeka: comment on, 1857 187
— Constitution Hall described. . . 430, 431
— Free Congregational Church, 1856,
noted 39, 61n
— photographs, given Historical Society, 114
— S. Y. Lum's notes on, 1854. . . .44, 48
53, 54
— Sabbath school celebration, 1862,
note on 416
— state capital located at, 1861 291
— theater programs, gift of, noted . . . 108
474
GENERAL INDEX
Topeka Capital- Journal: article in,
noted 448
Topeka Commonwealth: 1869-1888
file microfilmed Ill
Topeka constitution: elected officials,
noted 302
Topeka State Journal: 1943-1946 and
1949-1957 files microfilmed Ill
Topeka Town Association 110
Torkelson, Dr. D. E., Bourbon co 368
Townsley, Will, Great Bend 123
Trace, Mrs. Carl F., Topeka:
donor 110, 114
Tracy, John F., Atchison: telegraph
office of, noted 36
Trading Post, Linn co.: Price's army
at, 1864 299
Trail Guide, The, Independence, Mo.:
article in, noted 445
Train robberies: E. B. Block's book
on, noted 453
Trans-World Airlines: Kansas City
shops, noted 141
Trautwine, John Hannibal: diary
(1873) given Historical Society. . . . 109
Trembley, Mrs. Wilfred, Cloud co 451
Trow, Clifford Wayne: thesis by,
noted 108
Trowbridge, Harry M., Wyandotte co. . . 128
Trowbridge, Mrs. Harry M., Wyandotte
co 123, 128
Trower, Mr. and Mrs. Chester, Topeka:
donor 113
Troy: Pony Express station at 370
Trueblood, Alva Curtis: letters, and
diary (1860's) microfilmed 110
Truman, Harry S.: flight to Washing-
ton, Nov., 1944, noted 140
Trumbull, Lyman 306, 309
Turner, J. D., Independence 334
Turner, Dr. J. E. Caldwell 127, 367
Turner, Mrs. W. V., and sons, Las
Vegas, Nev.: donors Ill
Tweedman, Neil L.: donor 116
Twelfth Kansas regiment: notes on. . . 295
Twelfth Wisconsin regiment 294
Twentieth Kansas regiment: pictures of,
given Historical Society 114
U
Ulrich, Jacob, Douglas co.: house
burned, 1863 333n
Ulsh, Henry, Doniphan co. . . . . 361
Underbill, Col. Edward H.: at Liberal, 338
Union Pacific railroad: created 2
Union Pacific Railway Co., Eastern Di-
vision. See Kansas Pacific railroad.
Unitarian Church: reference to .... 192
United Domestic Missionary Society of
New York: note on 40n
United Presbyterian Church of N. A.:
Synod of the Plains history (by Dr.
B. M. Dobbin), noted 256
United States: Air Force, Kansas air
fields and bases, article
on 129- 157
and 334-360 passim
Fairfax (Kansas City)
history 138- 141
Forbes (Topeka) history, 142- 145
McConnell (Wichita)
history 339- 341
Marshall (Fort Riley)
history 341- 345
Schilling (Salina)
history 347- 349
Sherman (Fort Leavenworth)
history 349- 352
United States: Army Air Forces, Kan-
sas air fields, article on ... 129- 157
article on 129- 157
and 334-360 passim
Coffeyville, history 130- 134
Dodge City, history .... 135- 138
photograph of Free French
fliers at facing 336
Garden City, history 145- 149
Great Bend, history 149- 153
photographs, between 144, 145
Herington, history 153- 157
Independence, history .... 334- 336
Liberal, history 336- 339
Pratt, history 345- 347
mosaic map of facing 144
photographs between 144, 145
and facing 145
Smoky Hill (Salina), his-
tory 150, 347- 349
photographs facing 128
between 144, 145, facing
145, and facing 336.
Strother (Cowley co.), his-
tory 353- 356
Walker (Ellis co.), his-
tory . 356- 360
— District Court for Kansas: M. W.
Delahay appointed judge, 1863 ... 311
— Surveyor General for Kansas: M. W.
Delahay appointed as, 1861 311
"U. S. Army and Air Force Wings
Over Kansas": article on 129- 157
334- 360
Unruh, Mrs. R. T., Kinsley 128
Usher, John P.: his Union Pacific in-
terests, noted 13, 14
— secretary of the interior. .4, 8, 13, 411
Utah Historical Quarterly, Salt Lake
City: article in, noted 446
Vail, Rev. A. L.: at Wichita, 91n, 93, 199
Vail, Bishop Thomas Hub-
bard 206, 207, 418
Valentine, L. F., Clay Center: ar-
ticle by, noted 254
Valley Falls: Rev. O. L. Woodford at,
1857 183n
Van De Mark, Martin V. B., Con-
cordia 122, 124, 255, 451
Vang, Mrs. Mary Cole, Edwards co. . . 367
Van Vleit, : Pony Express mes-
senger 374
Vaughn, Mrs. E. W., Scott co.: ar-
ticles by, noted 448, 449
Veitch, Isaac M.: telegraph interest,
noted 33
Vinson, Mrs. Ida, Chase co 450
Vin Zant, Mrs. Larry E., Wichita 128
Virginia (111.) Observer 301, 302
Voigts, Herman J., Mission: reminis-
cences, noted 252
von der Heiden, Mrs. W. H., New-
ton 123
Vore, Earl, Bourbon co 368
Wabaunsee: First Church of Christ
(Congregational), notes on 39, 187
W
WAC's: at Herington .. . 155
Wade, Sen. Edward 286
Wagner, W. H.: travel notes of 1859,
microfilmed 110
Wahwasseck, Jim, Topeka: donor. . . 113
Wakarusa War (1855): S. Y. Lum's
account 66, 67
GENERAL INDEX
475
Walbourn, Edwin J., El Dorado 366
Walddy, Louis, Americus: donor. ... 113
Waldstein, Julius, Leavenworth co. . . . 452
Walker, Mrs. Florence, Clark co 366
Walker, Mrs. Ida M., Norton 123
Walker, Samuel, Lawrence 288
— major, Fifth Kansas regt 298
Walker, Vivian, Crawford co 451
Walker Army Air Field (Ellis co.):
history 356- 360
Wallace, James W., Scott co 368
Wallbridge, Caroline K., Topeka:
donor 110
Walls, Mrs. Charles, Bigelow: article
by, noted 449
Walters, R. F 400
Ward, Mrs. Duane McQueen, Peabody:
donor 112
Ward, Rev. William H.: at Oska-
loosa 425, 426
Ware, Abigail (dau. of E. F.) 405
Ware, Amelia (dau. of E. F.) 405n
Ware, Eugene Fitch: comment on,
1867 402
— his comments on women 402, 403
— his concern about a woman, a child
and God (J. C. Malin's article
on) 402- 406
— his philosophy discussed 269- 282
— "Kriterion," poem by 277, 278
notes on 274, 277- 282
— marriage, noted 404
— "The Palace," poem by 279, 280
— photograph facing 272
— "The Real," poem by 267, 268
— discussed 268- 270
— reply to N. C. McFarland's
letter 277, 278
— "The Song," poem by 270, 271
— "The Text," poem by 272, 273
— "The Washerwoman's Song," poem
by 257, 258
J. C. Malin's article on. . . .257- 282
J. C. Malin's conclusions on, 405, 406
Ware, Jeanette P. (Mrs. E. F.): mar-
riage, noted 404
Wark, George H., Caney 122, 124
Wark, Rev. Homer: diaries, given His-
torical Society 109
Wark, Mrs. Homer, Topeka: donor. . 109
Warneke, John Adam and Barbara: ar-
ticle on descendants of, noted 126
Washabaugh, Mrs. Lillie, Natoma ... 128
Washburn University, Topeka: donor, 113
"Washerwoman's Friend, The": poem
by T. M. Nichol 260, 361
"Washerwoman's Song, The": poem by
E. F. Ware 257, 258
WASP's: at Dodge City 137, 148
—at Fairfax Field 139
Waters, R. H., Bourbon co 368
Watie, Stand: force of, defeated, 1863, 296
Watson, Mrs. Charles H., Evanston,
111.: donor Ill
Watson, Maj. Harry E.: at Fairfax
Field 139
Wayne, A. R.: pioneer of 1855 392
Webb, Thomas H.: quoted, 1854 433
"Webb Scrapbooks": remounting,
noted 107
Weekly Star Farmer, Kansas City, Mo.:
article in, noted . 446
Weer, Col. William 294
Weidman, Mr. and Mrs. J. D., Topeka:
donors 113
Wells, William, of Brown and Graham
cos 251
Wellsville Globe: article in, noted. . . 365
Welsh in Kansas: notes on 387, 390
Wendell, Walter W., Topeka: donor.. 113
Wendling, George E.: at Wichita, 198, 199
Werner, Morris, Manhattan: donor. ... 115
Wessells, Maj. Henry W.: Fort Larned
founder 449
Western Christian University, Ottumwa, 436
Western Union: C. M. Stebbins' tele-
graph lines controlled by. . . .32, 37, 38
Westerners, Kansas City Posse of the. . 123
Westerners Brand Book, The, New
York 363
Westport, Mo., battle of, 1864: noted, 299
Wheeler, 2d Lt. Glenn M.: at Walker
Field 357
Whig party 302
Whisky Point, Geary co 291
White, Mr. and Mrs. Ben E., Bonner
Springs: donor 113
White, Mary Francis: article by, noted, 363
White, William Allen: and Dan Case-
ment on govt. regulation, article on,
noted 363
White, William Suttpn: comment on. . 90
— J. C. Malin's article on (parts two
and three) 68-103, 197- 228
White Cloud: reference to, 1857... 186
Whitfield, John W.: delegate to con-
gress 50
Whitney, Rev. E. W.: in Doniphan
co 418, 426
Whittemore, Mrs. L. D., Topeka: ar-
ticle on, noted 448
Whittle, Rev. Francis M., Louisville,
Ky 417
Wichita: Historical Wichita board,
note on 367
— impact of agricultural developments
on banking in, article on, noted. . . . 363
— Methodist church, lecture series,
1879-81, notes on 198, 199
revival, 1877, noted 207
— "New Church" history (in J. C.
Malin's article on W. S. White) 83
84, 89
— W. S. White's criticisms of ministers,
1870's-1880's, notes on 89- 97
Wichita Air Force Base: renamed Mc-
Connell Air Force Base 341
Wichita Beacon: articles in,
noted 252, 449
— Wm. S. White's editorship of,
notes on 84, 89-103 passim
Wichita Eagle: 1953-1957 file micro-
filmed Ill
Wichita Library Association: note on. . 227
Wichita Municipal Airport: Air Force
connection, notes on 339- 341
Wichita Secular Union 200
Widder, Mrs. George, Kansas City. . . . 128
Wiebe, David V.: Mennonite history
by, noted 453
Wigginton, Joy, Butler co 128
Wilder, Daniel W 293
— quoted on N. C. McFarland letter. . 275
Wiley, R. D., Melvern: donor 113
Wilhelm, F. B., Independence: mayor, 334
Wilkins, Paul, Ottawa co 452
Will Rogers Army Air Field, Oklahoma
City, Olda 134
Willbrandt, Mary, Washington: donor, 113
Willes, S. J., Lawrence 171n
William Allen White Foundation 255
Williams, Charles A., Bentley . . . 122, 124
Williams, Edna: relative of Charles
Bluejacket 117
Williams, Frances R.: article by, noted, 254
Williams, Maj. H. H.: head Third
Kansas regt 292
Williams, James M.: Civil War
colonel 290, 296
Williamson, Hugh Pritchard 453
476
GENERAL INDEX
Wilmeth, Roscoe: archaeological survey,
1958, noted 112
Wilson, Mrs. Albert, Edwards co 365
Wilson, Mrs. Alice Gordon, Topeka:
donor 108, 111, 113, 114
Wilson, Bruce, Riley co 127
Wilson, Capt. Glen C.: at Liberal 337
Wilson, Brig. Gen. James C.: at
Schilling Air Force Base 349
Wilson, Capt. R. S.: at Marshall Field, 343
Wilson, Robert B., Concordia. . . .255, 451
Wilson county: courthouse article,
noted 447
Wilson's creek, battle of, 1861: noted, 290
Winburn, Lt. Col. Temple F.: at
Independence 335
Winchester, Mrs. Jessie, Edwards co., 367
Wind: and the "short grass voice". . . . 251
"Wings Over Kansas, U. S. Army and
Air Force": article on, 129-157, 334- 360
Wise, Louis A., Lawrence 109
Wogan, Hilton, Bourbon co 368
Woman's Kansas Day Club: 1959
meeting, notes on 128
Women: Annette Daisy's "colony,"
1893, noted 24
Women's Air Force Service Pilots.
See WASP's.
Womer, Parley Paul: ms. of, given
Historical Society 110
Womer, Mrs. Parley Paul: donor 110
Wood, Paul B., Chase co 450
Wood, Samuel Newitt: a Branson
rescuer, noted 66n
Woodford, Rev. O. L.: to Kansas,
1857 183, 185, 189
Woodring, Harry H., Topeka 123
Woodson county: map, ca. 1910, given
Historical Society 115
Woodward, Mrs. Louise S., Eskridge:
donor 112
Wristen, Mrs. Cecil, Finney co 450
Wyandotte: comment on, 1857 185
— 1869 lithograph copy, given
Historical Society 115
— Garno House 10
— McAlpin's Hall 7, 8
— telegraph office, 1858 35
1863, noted 6
— Union Pacific, E. D., construction,
1863, notes on 6
offices moved to 5
photographs (by Gardner,
1867) facing iv, and frontispiece.
Wyandotte, The (locomotive):
note on 6, 7
Wyandotte constitution: notes on, 284, 286
Wyandotte County Historical Society:
1959 meeting, note on 128
Wyatt, P. J.: Kansas folklore thesis by,
noted . 108
Yingling, Dean, Topeka 128
Yoakum, Helen, Leavenworth co 452
Yocemento, Ellis co.: article on, noted, 445
Yok, Elder William S., of South
Carolina 412
Young, Walker, CaldweU 127
Zartman, Lt. Col. Paul A.: at
Coffeyville 134
Zeidler, Mr. and Mrs. William J.,
Topeka: donors 113
Zeitler, Mr. and Mrs. Blodwen Williams,
Ft. Madison, Iowa: donors ... .111, 114
Zeller, Hazel, Wyandotte co 128
Ziebolz, Mr. and Mrs. J. I., Ness City. . 114
Zimmerman, Mrs. J. F., Valley Falls:
donor . .113
PRINTED IN
THE STATE PRINTING PLANT
TOPEKA. KANSAS
1960
28-961
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