USA > Kansas > A history of Kansas > Part 16
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The casualties of the Twentieth regiment to the 13th of May, 1899, one year from the date of muster, show the severity of their service. Three commissioned officers and twenty-seven enlisted men were killed in action, twenty-nine
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KANSAS IN THE WAR.
enlisted men died from disease, and nine commissioned offi- cers and ninety-eight enlisted men were wounded in action.
When the record closed, the Twentieth was still obeying the last order of its gallant young officer, who fell at Caloocan : "Keep going, but move steadily." Crowding through the dense jungle, under the blaze of a tropical sun, obeying every order, suffering, but not cast down, uphold- ing the honor of their country and their State.
466. Home-Coming of the Twenty-Third .- On the 10th of March, 1899, the Twenty-Third arrived at Leaven- worth. They came by transport from Cuba to Newport News, and were four days on the road between Newport News and Leavenworth. As the men dropped from the cars and fell in by companies, it was remarked that their six months in service had made them soldiers. The colored regiment met with an enthusiastic reception from their own people, who lavished upon them every attention. In a short time they were mustered out, and merged into the community of citizens.
467. Kansas Proud of Her Boys .- Kansas followed with pride and interest the movements of her soldiers. Many of them belonged to the first generation of Kansas, the first-born of the State; many were the sons of soldiers. the inheritors of brave traditions. In the enrollment of the Kansas soldier, with his descriptive list was given the name of his nearest relative. Kansas, the State, stood next in order to the kinsman.
The dead were brought home from beyond the wide seas and buried with honor, or laid in their graves in a distant land with the soldiers' last farewell.
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
SUMMARY.
1. Kansas sympathized with the Cubans and supported the Government of the United States.
2. On the 18th of April a company of eighty-nine men was offered for the war, and the services of the Kansas National Guards were tendered.
3. Enlisting students of the senior classes of the State University, and of the State Normal School were given their diplomas in advance of graduation.
4. Major J. K. Hudson was commissioned a Brigadier-General, United States Volunteers.
5. First Kansas Regiment enrolled for war with Spain was nun- bered the Twentieth, and commanded by Colonel Fred Funston.
6. The Twenty-First, Colonel Fitch; Twenty-Second, Colonel Lindsey, were mustered.
7. The Twentieth left for San Francisco, the Twenty-First for Camp Thomas, Chickamauga, and the Twenty-Second for Camp Alger.
8. Two battalions of colored troops were raised-designated the Twenty-Third Regiment; under command of Lieutenant- Colonel Beck departed for Santiago.
9. After the signing of the protocol, the Twenty-First, Twenty- Second and Twenty-Third were mustered out.
10 In October the Twentieth sailed for Manila. The Twentieth first engaged in the battle of Caloocan-Lieutenant Alford killed.
11. Colonel Funston promoted to be Brigadier-General.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
EVENTS OF 1899.
468. Special Session .- The close of the year 1898, and the opening of 1899, found a special session of the Legislature assembled, which had been convened by Gover- nor Leedy on December 21, 1898, to adopt legislation regulating railroad companies, and for other purposes. There was some discussion in regard to the validity of this special session, which was, however, established by the State Supreme Court in the following February.
469. Inauguration. - William E. Stanley was inaugurated Governor of Kansas on the 9th of January, 1899. The retirement of the outgoing State administration was marked by many courtesies extended to their successors.
470. The Legislature of 1899 .- The Legislature of 1899 met in regular session on the 10th of January, with Lieu- tenant-Governor Richter as President of Governor William E. Stanley. the Senate, while Hon. S. J. Osborn was chosen Speaker of the House.
471. Provisions for State Buildings .- The session was largely occupied in the consideration of local measures. The principal public acts were those providing for a tax levy sufficient to complete the State House, which had been
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thirty-three years in building, and to build a third State Insane Asylum, and providing a commission to select the site.
472. Traveling Libraries .- The Legislature granted an appropriation of $2,000 to aid, for two years, in the work of the Traveling Libraries, and provided for the appointment of a commission of three persons, who, together with the State Librarian and President of the Kansas State Social Science Federation of Clubs, shall have the management of the traveling library department of the State Library. This commission may send out temporarily, from the State Library, such books as may be selected for the purpose by the directors, and any books given or bought for such traveling libraries, to any library in the State, or to any community or organization not yet having an established library. Under the provisions of the Act, the libraries, averaging fifty books in number, are sent out from the State Library to the communi- ties, neighborhoods and organizations applying for them, and, when read, are returned to be again dispatched. A large number of books have been donated by women's clubs and by individuals.
473. The Federation ; Kansas Women .- The Kansas State Social Sei- ence Federation of Clubs, with whom Mrs. Harriet Cushing. originated this plan for the distribution of good literature, was the outgrowth of the Social Science Club of Kansas and western Missouri, the initial meeting of which was held at Leavenworth, May 18, 1881, under the suggestion of the late Mrs. Harriet Cushing, of Leavenworth, and Mrs. Mary T. Gray, of Kansas City, Kan. The women
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of Kansas have, from the first, been a power for good in the State, and largely through their organizations they made possible the success of the State at the great expositions at Phila- delphia and Chicago. This faculty for organization has given Kansas between three and four hundred women's clubs, devoted to the enitivation and the ele- vation of women, and the safety, well- being and improvement of the State.
474 .. Enrollment at Kansas Uni- versity .- The Kansas State University, Mrs. Mary T. Gray. which sent forty-one men to the war, opened its term in February, 1899, with a larger enrollment than ever before. The annual catalogue of 1899, showed an enrollment of 1,044 students.
475. Funeral of Lieutenant Alford .- On the 22d of April occurred, at Lawrence, the funeral of Lieutenant Alford, whose remains were brought from Manila and buried in his native city. He was the first to fall in the Philippine campaign of the Twentieth Kansas Regiment.
476. Kansas Shipment .- In 1898 Kansas shipped corn to California. In 1899 a feature of the State com- merce was the shipment of trainloads of cotton from Independence.
477. Colonel Thomas Moonlight .- Colonel Thomas Moonlight died in Leavenworth on the 7th of February, 1899. He was born in Forfarshire, Scotland, and came early in life to the United States. The Civil War found him a disbanded sergeant of the "old regular army," living on a farm near Leavenworth. He entered the Union
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volunteer army and raised a battery. He was soon raised to the colonelcy of a regiment, and served through the war with much distinction. In 1868 he was elected Secretary of State of Kansas, and re-elected in 1870. He filled, later in life, the positions of Governor of Wyoming, and United States Minister to Bolivia.
478. Period of Prosperity .- The late spring of 1899, in which this record of the life of Kansas closed, found the State in the midst of war, and yet in the midst of peace. The political contests, which had been sharp and severe for some years, and marked with mutations of fortune, had taught Kansas people that the State was safe in the hands of its honest citizens, without regard to their party desig- nations, and there was prevailing "an era of good feeling." The losses sustained in the collapse following the boom of 1887 had been largely made up. A singular feature of the recovery in the "boom towns," which, in their speculative days, had scattered their houses over a great area, was their practical consolidation. Houses which had stood in empty desolation in the midst of boundless "additions," were removed nearer to the actual center of population, renovated and repaired, and became again places of business and the homes of men.
479. Payment of Indebtedness .- The discharge of the heavy public and private indebtedness of Kansas was going on at a rate that surprised financial authorities, but the explanation was found in the great natural resources of the State. When asked how Kansas in seven years paid off more than $100,000,000 of debt, it was answered that, in those seven years, Kansas produced four billion dollars' worth of farm products and live stock.
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EVENTS OF 1899.
The 30th of May, 1899, forty-five years from the day President Pierce signed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, Kansas found that she was gathering and not scattering abroad, and had gained, withal, that wisdom which is better than fine gold.
480. Text-Book Commission .- The Legislature of 1897 passed the Text-Book Law in the interest of uniformity and economy. The commission was at first temporary, and took cognizance of a limited range of books. The Legisla- ture of 1899 extended the life and powers of the commis- sion; gave into its charge the selection of books, charts, maps, a history of Kansas, globes, and a primer, for use in the schools. £ The original commission consisted of Hon. Wm. Stryker, State Superintendent, ex-officio Chair- man; W. J. Hurd, Holton, Secretary, and seven members. Two of the original members, Messrs. D. O. McCray and N. MeDonald, retired, and the commission now consists of Hon. Frank Nelson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Chairman ex-officio, and W. J. Hurd, Holton; S. W. Black, Pittsburg; A. V. Jewett, Abilene; S. J. Hale, La Crosse; Professor Frank Smith, Lawrence; Professor J. W. Spindler, Winfield; Professor S. M. Nees, Independence, and A. H. Lupfer, Larned. The Text-Book Law has, since its enactment, served its purpose in securing uniformity of instruction, and relieving the people of a considerable pecuniary burden.
481. A Kansas Prison .- The Legislature of 1899 granted a large appropriation to purchase for the State Penitentiary a plant for the manufacture of binding twine, being the second penitentiary in the country to enter upon this manufacture. The Kansas penitentiary was established
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in the earliest days of the government and grew with the growing proportions of the State. The officer who estab- lished the system of government and discipline of the prison and who longest continued in its direction was Major Henry Hopkins. The successors of Major Hopkins built upon the foundations he laid, with such faithfulness, that the prison has known few escapes, no revolts, and few com- plaints concerning the firm but humane treatment of the prisoners. The prison was one of the first to dispense generally with the hideous and humiliating uniform of stripes, so that the modern prison has assumed more the appearance of a large and well-ordered manufactory.
SUMMARY.
1. A special session of the Legislature was called for railroad legislation and other purposes.
2. W. E. Stanley inaugurated Governor.
3. A tax levy was provided, sufficient to complete the State House and build an insane asylum.
4. Provisions were made for the establishment and maintenance of public traveling libraries.
5. The funeral of Lieutenant Alford occurred at Lawrence, April 22, 1899.
6. Colonel Thomas Moonlight died at Leavenworth, February 7, 1899.
7. The powers of the Text-Book Commission were extended and enlarged.
CHAPTER XXXIX. 11
A CHAPTER ON CAPITOLS.
482. Kansas Capitols. A history of the various edi- fices which have been used from time to time for Kansas capitols, Territorial and State, would serve as a thread on which to string a political history of Kansas, and, more- over, a sketch of the material progress of the country.
483. Fort Leavenworth .- The first capital of Kansas, the first executive office, at least, was at Fort Leavenworth. Here, in obedience to his instructions from Washington, came Andrew H. Reeder, first Governor of Kansas Terri- tory. He was assigned quarters in a brick building on the west side of the parade. The executive office was in a stone building belonging to the quartermaster's depart- ment. It was furnished with republican simplicity. Here the Governor, who had taken the oath of office in Wash- ington, administered the obligation to his associates in the . Territorial Government as they, one after another, arrived. Here he issued commissions and proclamations, and on one occasion held court as a justice of the peace.
484. Shawnee Mission .- After fifty days' experience at Fort Leavenworth, Governor Reeder, on the 24th of November, 1854, removed the seat of Government to the Shawnee Manual Labor School, commonly called the Shaw- nee Mission, located one mile from the Missouri line, two and one-half miles from Westport, Mo., and seven miles from Kansas City.
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
The mission had been established in 1830, and had con- tinned as it was begun under the Superintendency of Reverend Thomas Johnson. It fell, at the division of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to the Methodist Church, South. Somewhat reluctantly, Reverend Mr. Johnson and his wife received as guests the Governor and the larger number of the Territorial officers, and saw the mission appropriated in part as the capitol of Kansas. The winter of 1854-55 passed quietly at the Mission. The Governor and his associates doubtless watching with interest the operations of the Mission, which was then at the height of its pros- perity, with between 200 and 300 Indian boys and girls in attendance, who studied their books, and, besides, labored on the fine farm of 1,900 acres, and worked in the shops and the mill. The Territorial officers boarded with the Mission family, as later on did many of the members and officers of the Legislature.
485. Pawnee .- April 14, 1855, Governor Reeder con; vened the Territorial Legislature at Pawnee, a "laid-out town" near Fort Riley. There was little at Pawnee, except a stone house built "on the spur of the moment," the ruins of which are still visible. Yet that stone house was the first "capitol building" of Kansas. The Legislature refused to remain at Pawnee, and re-located at Shawnee Mission. Pawnee came to immediate grief. The site was declared to be within the military reservation of Fort Riley, and the settlers were removed by the soldiers.
486. Shawnee Mission .- The Legislature, ensconced at the Shawnee Mission, proceeded to perform the acts which acquired for it the title, with the Free State people, of the "Bogus Legislature."
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A CHAPTER ON CAPITOLS.
Governor Reeder remained with it officially but a short time, only four days, at the end of which he informed the body that he had been removed. He remained a short time longer as a spectator.
The schoolroom and the chapel of the Mission became the halls of the Territorial Council and House of Repre- sentatives. To Shawnee Mission came the second Terri- torial Governor of Kansas, Wilson Shannon, and the executive office was maintained there until the spring of 1856.
The buildings of the Shawnee Mission yet remain much in outward shape as in their days of education and legisla- tion, but in all else the scene has changed. There is nanght of stir or movement now. A beautiful spring wells up near the highway, and runs a little stream across the yard of one of the buildings, where passing travelers stop and drink, but the place is lost to all its ancient uses, and the stillness all about is as profound as that which rests on the little wall-enclosed cemetery, which crowns the slope near by. The scene of a part of the "Kansas struggle" may be reached by an easy walk from Rosedale.
487. Lecompton Chosen .- A joint session of the Legislature in August, 1855, located the permanent capital at Lecompton. The successful contestant did not secure the prize without a struggle. Not only did Leavenworth and Lawrence enter the arena, but St. Bernard, Tecumseh, Whitehead, Kickapoo and One Hundred and Ten.
The second Territorial Legislature which assembled at Lecompton, January 12th, met in a frame house, which had been built for its occupancy by Mr. William Nace. The national administration, however, was determined on Lecompton as a capital, and Congress made a liberal appro-
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
priation for a capitol building, which rose only to the height of the foundation, but was sufficient to consume the appropriation. The foundation was afterwards occupied by the building of Lane University. The frame house on Elm street was the meeting place of the Lecompton Con- stitutional Convention, which gave the structure the name of Constitutional Hall. The second Legislature held its entire session at Lecompton, but the third Legislature, which entertained different political convictions, adjourned to Lawrence, which was thereafter virtually the capital, the successive Legislatures meeting at Lecompton, and adjourn- ing at once to Lawrence.
488. In Lawrence .- Lawrence furnished two "capitols" in which the Legislature met. One is described by the local historian as the "new briek building, just south of the Eldridge House," of which the two houses occupied the second and third floors, the other was "the old conerete building on Massachusetts street, north of Winthrop." In Lawrence met, in 1861, the last of the Territorial Legis- latures.
489. Topeka .- The first State Legislature met in Topeka, the temporary and soon to-be-voted permanent, seat of Government.
The "Ritchie Block," the "Gale Block," and the Con- gregational and Methodist churches served as the meeting places of the two branches of the Legislature, of the Supreme Court, and the officers of the State. "Constitution Hall" was a structure on Kansas avenue, which had wit- nessed five meetings of the Legislature under the Topeka Constitution. By contract with citizens of Topeka, this structure was incorporated into a more commodious edifice
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A CHAPTER ON CAPITOLS.
in which met the Legislature of 1864, and its successors till 1870.
490. History of Capitol Building .- During thirty- three years the capitol of Kansas has been growing. The ground was given by the Topeka Town Association in 1862. In 1866 the Legislature provided for the erection of the east wing of the capitol building. On the 17th of October of that year the corner stone was laid. The wing was so far completed that it was occupied by the State officers in December, 1869. The legislative halls were first occupied for the session of 1870. The Legislature of 1879 provided for the erection of the west wing. The House of Repre- sentatives occupied the unfinished new hall for the session of 1881, and the State offices in that wing became occupied during that year. The Legislature of 1883 provided for commencing work on the foundation of the central portion of the building. The structure was so far completed as to admit of a temporary finishing of rooms in the basement of the south wing, and their occupancy in 1892. The Legisla- tures of 1891 and 1893 made but very slight appropriations for the capitol building, and the work became practically suspended until it was resumed under the appropriations of the Legislature of 1895. The capitol still remains an illus- tration of the history of the State, "still achieving, still pursuing." Succeeding the line of temporary structures- frame, stone, brick and concrete-which served to house the executive, judicial and legislative departments of the government of Kansas for sixteen years, the growth of the present capitol has reflected the growth of the material State.
Year by year the halls have stretched away; inviting porticoes have reached forward; columns have arisen, and
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last, the high dome has mounted upward. The interior has exhibited modern improvements and inventions, from gas to electricity. The structure is not completed, any more than Kansas is completed. But, as Kansas lives longer and learns more, the beneficial progress leaves its impress on the capitol in the shaped and fashioned stone, and steel and bronze, "from turret to foundation stone."
While the edifice has been rising, widening, extending, the prairie acres around it have been embraced in the trans- formation scene of which Kansas has been the stage. The Capitol Square, twenty years ago, furnished one of the first marked observances of "Arbor Day" in Kansas. On the proclamation of the Mayor of Topeka, Major Thomas G. Anderson, the people of Topeka, young and old, gathered between noon and sunset and planted around the Capitol a thousand trees.
[NOTE .- The facts in this chapter are derived from "The Story of the Capitol," contributed by Judge F. G. Adams, Secretary of the State Historical Society, to the Topeka Mail and Breeze of March 22, 1896.]
SUMMARY.
1. The first Territorial Government of Kansas was quartered at a fort.
2. The second home of the Government was at a mission.
3. Pawnee a capital for a day.
4. Lecompton and Lawrence offered rival attractions.
5. Topeka became the permanent home, and the State builds its own house.
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CHAPTER XL.
MAN AND NATURE.
491. Opinion of Captain Pike .- Captain Zebulon Montgomery Pike, when he looked over Kansas, in 1806, did not believe it, or the greater part of it, an agricultural, or even a habitable country.
After he had seen a good stretch of eastern and upper central Kansas, and had descended into the western valley of the Arkansas, he said: "In the western traverse of Louisiana the following general observations may be made: From the Missouri to the head of the Osage river, a distance in a straight line of probably 300 miles, the country will admit of a numerous, extensive and compact population; from thence, on the rivers La Plate, Arkansas and Kansas, and their various branches, it appears to me only possible to introduce a limited population. The inhabitants would find it most to their advantage to pay their attention to the raising of cattle, horses, sheep and goats, all of which they can raise in abundance, the earth producing spon- taneously sufficient for their support, both in winter and summer, by which means their herds might become immensely numerous, but the wood now in the country would not be sufficient for a moderate population more than fifteen years, and then it would be out of the question to use any of it in manufactories, consequently their houses would be of mud bricks (like those in New Spain), but,
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
possibly, time may make the discovery of coal mines, which would render the country habitable." The opinion of Pike, of Kansas, was the earlier explorer's account of high prairie country. Major Stoddard, in his description of the newly acquired province of Upper Louisiana, expresses his doubt if the country forty miles from St. Louis can be cultivated on account of the absence of timber for fencing.
492. Indian Territory Limits .- The Government of the United States in defining, in 1830, the limits of the Indian Territory, did not give any certain western boundary. The Territory was to stretch back from the Missouri river, or the Missouri and Arkansas line for 200 miles, or "as far as the country is habitable."
Pike, in his journeyings in portions of Kansas, now cov- ered by fields and pastures and orchards, speaks of travel- ing over "salines," wastes, and deserts, sterile and "weari- some heaths." As he saw it, so it appeared to those who came after him, and so the country was platted in the early maps as "The Great American Desert."
493. Coal .- The only possibility that Pike admits of mistake in his calculation, is, that "the discovery of coal may make the country habitable." Otherwise the country must remain at best a range, its people herdsmen and shepherds, after the fashion of those inhabiting New Spain.
In the word "discovery" has been found the key to the situation. Man has discovered coal in Kansas, and it has been discovered east, south and west of Kansas. That was the first discovery the "actual settler" made in Kansas- coal, and it has been found in increased quantities since, and the country has grown more and more habitable, and inhabited.
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It has been estimated that the coal underlying the coun- ties of Bourbon, Crawford, Cherokee and Osage, is equal to 5,000,000,000 eords of wood, or a forest that would cover half the surface of Kansas. This discovery has been made by man sinee Pike was here.
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