USA > Kansas > A history of Kansas > Part 6
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The field officers and several companies being assigned to the command of the Second Kansas Cavalry. During 1861, the Kansas regiments and batteries were rapidly filled.
144. Additional Regiments .- Shortly after the battle of Wilson's creek, it was reported that General Price had organized a column for a demonstration against Fort Scott. This increased the interest in the organization of the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Kansas Regiments, of which, on the day of Wilson's creek, scarcely a battalion for each had been recruited. The companies in Southern Kansas were ordered to rendezvous at Fort Scott, and most of the companies in Northern Kansas were General Rob't B. Mitchell. equipped at Fort Leavenworth. Many Union men from Missouri attempted, and some succeeded in reaching an asylum in Kansas. These enlisted in numbers in the forming Kansas regiments.
By the middle of August, what came to be known as Lane's Kansas Brigade, composed of the Third Kansas Infantry, Colonel Montgomery; the Fourth Kansas Infantry, Colonel Weer; the Fifth Cavalry, Colonel Hampton P. Johnson; the Sixth Cavalry, Colonel Wm. R. Judson; and the Seventh Cavalry, Colonel Chas. R. Jennison, numbered in all about 2,500 men. The brigade was gener- ally collected at Fort Scott. To the brigade was attached the First Kansas Battery.
145. General Price's Advance .- On the 1st of Sep- tember, General Price's Confederate advance, under General Rains, had reached Drywood, twelve miles east of Fort
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Scott, and a scouting party came in and drove off a herd of United States mules, grazing within two miles of the post. This piece of audacity led to the advance of a Union force, under Colonels Jennison and Johnson, and a sharp skirmish at Drywood.
After this came various movements, including the with- drawal of the Union forces from Fort Scott in the direction of the Little Osage, and the throwing up of the work known as Fort Lincoln. In the midst of the preparations for defense came the intelligence that General Price had abandoned his proposed invasion of Kansas, and had marched in the direction of Lexington.
146. Kansas Troops in Missouri .- General Price accomplished his march to the Missouri, and forced the surrender of Colonel Mulligan and 2,500 men at Lexington. The Kansas brigade operated on the left flank of the enemy. Colonel Judson broke up the Missouri maranders, who had invaded the neutral lands, and the brigade advanced into Missouri, fought at Morristown, where Colonel Hampton P. Johnson, of the Fifth Kansas Cavalry, was killed, and on the 23rd of September, attacked Osceola, where a quantity of supplies had been accumulated for General Price's Colonel W. A. Phillips. army. These were burned, and also Osceola. The Kansas Brigade moved to Kansas City, arriving on the 30th of September, and at Fort Scott on the 15th of November.
147. Service of the Indians .- In the early days of 1862, over 6,000 Indians in the Indian Territory, who
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adhered to the Government of the United States, drew together and fought the Indians who had joined the Confederacy, and several regiments of Texas Cavalry. In the dead of winter, and in the midst of a driving snow- storm, the loyal Indians, with their aged chief, Hopoeith- leyohola, fell back into Kansas. In their camps, on Fall River, they suffered greatly during the winter, but in the spring three mounted regiments were organized from these Indians. They were officered from Kansas regiments, many of the officers being from the Tenth Kansas, and later served in an Indian brigade commanded by Colonel William A. Phillips.
148. Consolidation of Forces .- In March, 1862, the Third Kansas Infantry and the Fourth Kansas Infantry, and a portion of the Fifth Kansas Cavalry, were consolidated at Paola as the Tenth A. Carter Wilder. Kansas Infantry. Colonel Mongomery, of the Third, was transferred to the Second South Carolina Regiment, and Colonel Weer, of the Fourth, assumed the command of the new organization. The numbers "Third " and "Fourth " do not again appear in Kansas military history.
In May, 1862, the First, Seventh and Eighth Kansas Regiments left Leavenworth for Corinth, Miss.
149. Colored Soldiers .- In November, the First Kan- sas colored regiment was organized at Fort Lincoln, near Fort Scott. Kansas now had soldiers white, red and black.
150. Battle of Prairie Grove .- On the 5th of Decem- ber, 1862, General James G. Blunt "marched to the sound of the firing," joined his force to the already battling army
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of General Herron, and fought till the sun went down on the battle of Prairie Grove, Ark. On this field were gath- ered the largest number of Kansas troops, up to that time ever drawn together, there being represented the Sixth and Ninth, the Tenth and Eleventh and Thirteenth Regiments, and the Second Kansas Cav- alry. The guns of three Kansas batteries, commanded by Smith, Tenney and Stock- ton, did excellent service.
Within the year, Blunt defeated the enemy at Newtonia, Old Fort Wayne, Gov. Thomas Carney. and Cane Hill, and closed it with the capture of Van Buren.
151. Second State Election .- In November, 1862, occurred the second State election in Kansas. Thomas Carney was chosen Governor, with Thomas A. Osborn, Lieutenant-Governor; W. H. H. Lawrence, Secretary of State; Asa Hairgrove, Auditor; William Spriggs, State Treasurer; Warren W. Guthrie, Attorney General; Isaac T. Goodnow, Superintendent of Public Instruction; John H. Watson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; Lawrence D. Bailey, Associate Justice. A. Carter Wilder was elected Representative in Congress.
Judge L. D. Bailey.
152. Strife in Indian Territory .- In 1863, the Kansas fighting was transferred to the Indian Territory. Colonel William A. Phillips with his Indians, fought Colonel Coffey at Fort Gibson, which has been
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changed to Fort Blunt. Colonel James M. Williams, with the First Kansas, colored, 800 strong, and 300 Indians, defeated General Stand Watie at Cabin creek.
SUMMARY.
1. The census of 1860 gave Kansas 143,643 inhabitants.
2. Kansas furnished a surplus of 3,433 men during the Civil War.
3. Kansas lost more soldiers per 1,000 than any other State in the Union.
4. The First and Second Kansas fight at Wilson's Creek.
5. The "Kansas Brigade" campaigned in Missouri.
6. Indian and colored troops gave their services to Kansas.
7. Kansas troops fought at Prairie Grove, Ark.
8. Second State election, November, 1862. Thomas Carney the econd Governor.
Monument of Maj. E. A. Ogden, Ft. Riley.
CHAPTER XVII.
QUANTRELL'S RAID.
153. Kansas' Position .- Kansas, during the war, was exposed to three species of invasion and calamity: first, to the hostile approach of the regular forces of the Con- federacy; second, to the raids of Indians; and, third, to the attacks of guerillas, irregular troops, the scourge and curse of war. These predatory rangers, whose occupation was robbery, and whose pastime was murder, broke in many times. The places chosen were those without defences or garrison, where it was possible to plunder and kill with comparative safety. The most appalling of these disasters was Quantrell's raid on Lawrence, on the morning of the 21st of August, 1863.
154. Recorders of the Event .- The story of the Quantrell raid has been written many times. No dire event in Kansas history has been described with more painful care. Rev. Dr. Richard Cordley, still of Lawrence, whose congre- gation was filled with death, and who said the first hurried prayers over the thronged and crowded corpses, wrote one of the first accounts of the tragedy. Mr. Hovey A. Lowman, a journalist, wrote another. After many years, Dr. Cordley, in his "History of Lawrence," has retold the strange eventful story, and Mr. John Speer, who was a witness and a sufferer, two of his sons being murdered, has of recent years, in his "Life of James H. Lane," referred to the destruction, though shrinking from entering into the awful details.
155. Attack a Surprise .- Now aging people, who talk over the Quantrell raid, as they still do, have not ceased to
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
wonder at it, that a town which had served as a rendezvous for troops through the war, should, on that morning, have had at hand no single armed military organization for its defense, and that an attacking force of between 300 or 400 men
RUINS OF ELDRIDGE HOUSE LAWRENCE,KANSAS
Eldridge House Ruins.
should have ridden through forty miles of settled country from the Missouri border, without a single messenger reaching the doomed place with word of warning. At one point a Federal force was passed by the guerillas, and their character made ont, and word was sent to Kansas City, but not to Lawrence. It was five o'clock in the still, summer morning when drowsy Lawrence was wakened by vengeful yells, the crash of revolvers, and the pattering hoof of horses. There was no defence. There were no defenders. The soldiers in the town were but a small body of recruits who were in camp, but had not yet received arms. These were nearly destroyed
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by what might be called a single volley. The militia com- pany of the place had stored their arms in their armory, and could not reach each other or their arms.
156. The Massacre. - There was first the hurried murder of the charge, the guerillas firing on whoever they saw as they rode past, and afterward the deliberate and painstaking massacre, house by house, and man by man, which lasted for four hours. As is often the case in seasons of terror, as ยท in shipwrecks, the women displayed the highest courage, struggling with their bare hands to save their houses from the flames, their sons and husbands from the swarming mur- derers. The town was robbed and burned, the black smoke rising in a great cloud in the still air. The Eldridge House, the successor of the old Free State Hotel, burned in 1856, was specially devoted to the flames. The safeguard given the guests and inmates of this hotel by Quantrell himself, was the one ray of mercy that illumined the darkness of the time. These were protected while he remained in the town. The guerillas, loaded with plunder, left unmolested. They avoided places that looked defensible, and a few Union soldiers on the north side of the river, firing across the stream, kept the neighborhood near the river bank cleared of enemies. There was no seeking for a combat. Those who were killed were non-combatants who died without an opportunity for defense. As the enemy drew off, General Lane and Lieutenant John K. Rankin gathered a handful of men, and pursued, but only sufficient in force to keep the enemy moving.
157. Estimate of the Killed .- To this day the count of the dead and wounded on that fatal day varies. Mr. Speer estimates that 183 men and boys were killed. Dr.
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Cordley says: "The number killed can never be exactly known. As nearly as ean be ascertained there were 142. This included the missing who never returned, two or three. A few of the wounded died later, and possibly some were killed who were never heard of. One hundred and fifty would not be far out of the way for the whole number. It is estimated that the raid made eighty widows and 250 orphans."
The inscription on the citizens' memorial monument, raised in 1895 in Oak Hill cemetery, reads: "Dedicated to the memory of the 150 citizens, who, defenceless, fell victims to the inhuman ferocity of border guerillas, led by the infamous Quantrell in his raid upon Lawrence, August 21, 1863."
158. The Burial .- Nearly a week was filled with the gathering up and burial of the dead. Fifty-three bodies were laid in one trench.
On the Sunday following the massaere, there was held in the old stone Congregational Church a service by the pastor, Rev. Dr. Cordley, and Rev. G. C. Morse of Emporia, whose brother-in-law, Judge Carpenter, was among the slain. There was no sermon, but instead there was read the Psalm: "Oh God, the heathen are come into their inheritance. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and 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."
159. Loss and Help .- The aggregate of loss of prop- erty would be hard to reach. "As careful an estimate as could be made," says the early and late historian, "'was about $1,500,000." To the stricken city and its people, Kansas, though war scourged and poor, displayed
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the utmost generosity, and help came from far as well as near.
160. Massacre near Baxter Springs .- On October 6, 1863, occurred the massacre of Blunt's staff, near Baxter Springs. General Blunt and his escort were attacked by 600 guerillas under Quantrell. Eighty of the party, with which were several civil- ians, were killed. General Blunt and fif- teen men held off the foe and escaped. The guerillas attacked a small post near, called Fort Blair, but were beaten off with loss.
161. Battle of Pine Bluff .- On the 25th of October, Colonel Powell Clayton, with the Fifth Kansas Cavalry and the Gen. James G. Blunt. First Indiana Cavalry, successfully defended Pine Bluff, Ark., against a superior Confederate force under General Marmaduke.
162. Battle of Poison Springs .- Kansas troops took part in the ill-fated Camden expedition under General Steele, and portions of the Sixth, Second and Fourteenth Kansas Cavalry and 500 men of the First Kansas, colored, with two howitzers of the Sixth Cavalry, were engaged at the battle of Poison Springs, Ark., and later in the severe fight at Jenkins Ferry, at the crossing of the Saline river.
SUMMARY.
1. Kansas endangered on all sides.
2. Quantrell's raid adds a dark chapter to the history.
3. The Kansas troops are engaged with varying fortune in Arkansas and the Indian Territory.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE CLOSING SCENE.
163. The Situation-Confederate .- In 1864, in con- sequence of the failure of General Banks' Red river expedi- tion, and of General Steele's Camden expedition, the Confederate situation in Louisiana, the Indian Territory and Arkansas became temporarily improved. The Con- federate armies were strengthened in arms, clothing, and even artillery, by captures made in the campaigns men- tioned. General Sterling Price was reported to have 10,000 veteran troops in a good state of equipment, and his ranks were nearly doubled, in numbers, at least, by a severe con- scription in Arkansas.
164. Union Situation .- During the summer of 1864, the Union forces in Arkansas were principally concentrated in Little Rock and Fort Smith. In September, 1864, when the rumors of a move northward on the part of General Price began to thicken, the forces available for the defence of western Missouri and Kansas were scattered. General Curtis had taken the field against the Indians, and was operating from Fort Kearney, and General Blunt had assumed command of the district of Upper Arkansas, and was in pursuit of the Indians beyond Fort Larned.
Major-General Sykes, U. S. A., was in command at Lawrence of a small and scattered force of Kansas troops which was charged with the duty of keeping up communi-
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THE CLOSING SCENE.
cations and supplies with Forts Gibson and Smith, and the forces in southeastern Kansas, which lines were threatened by the enterprising General Gano.
165. General Price Moves Northward .- General Price crossed the Arkansas at Dardanelle, between Little Rock and Fort Smith. His army was divided into three divisions commanded by Generals Fagan, Marmaduke, and Shelby. Among the generals of brigade and colonels were nearly all the surviving officers who had fought west of the Missis- sippi and north of Louisiana from 1861 to 1864. The number of the Confederates at the crossing of the Arkansas was estimated at 18,000 men. As General Price's main body moved northward, the forces under General Gano, Colonel Brooks, Major Buck Brown; and the Cherokee, Stand Watie, manifested much activity as if to distract the attention of the Union commanders. After Price entered Missouri his force received large acces- sions.
166. Major Hopkins' Train Cap- tured .- Colonel Blair, at Fort Scott, received early dispatches from Colonel Wattles, of the Second Indian regiment at Fort Gibson, stating that Gano, Cooper, and Maxey were moving as if to cross the Arkansas, and that Price had 15,000 men. On the 12th of Sep- Gen. Chas. W. Blair. tember the escort of a large supply train consisting of 610 cavalry and infantry, White and Indian, commanded by Major Henry Hopkins, was attacked at Cabin Creek, Cherokee Nation, by 2,500 of the enemy under General Gano, and the train captured and burned. It was a very serious loss.
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
167. General Ewing's Retreat .- In the meantime, General Rosecrans, commanding at St. Louis, seemed uncertain as to the strength and direction of the enemy's movement. But there was no longer room for doubt after the 24th of September, and General Thomas Ewing pro- ceeded to Pilot Knob, where he was attacked, on the 27th of September, by Price's army. General Ewing made a steady defence, but finally blew up his magazine at Pilot Knob, and fell back, and from this point Kansas names begin to figure in the history.
The rear guard of the little column was placed under command of Major General Thos. Ewing. Williams of the Tenth Kansas. The pursuing column was checked from time to time, and at last General Ewing reached Rolla, where the infantry of his force remained in garrison, and the cavalry marched with General McNeil to Jefferson City. It is believed that General Ewing's resistance saved St. Louis.
168. Concentration of Forces .- On the 2d of October General Rosecrans reported to General Curtis that Price was moving westward, and the concentration of Kansas militia began at Olathe. A force of 6,000 men was col- lected at Jefferson City, of which 4,000 were cavalry, com- posing the Provisional Cavalry Division under General Alfred Pleasonton.
169. Call for Volunteers .- On the 8th of October, Governor Carney issued his proclamation calling out the "men of Kansas," and announcing Major-General Deitzler as commander-in-chief. This officer ordered the men to
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THE CLOSING SCENE.
rendezvous at Atchison, under Brigadier-General Byron Sherry; at Olathe, under Brigadier-General M. S. Grant; and at Paola under Brigadier-General S. N. Wood.
170. The Response .- The response of the "men of Kansas" was immediate. Says Adjutant-General Holliday in his report: "Never was appeal for help answered so promptly. In most instances, on the next day, or the second, after the receipt of the proclamation at regimental headquarters, the regiment itself in full force was on the march for the rendezvous."
The whole number of Kansas militia who appeared for active service exceeded 16,000 men. Many of the officers serving in the militia had seen service in the volunteers. The Twenty-third Regiment, 550 men, raised in Wyandotte, chose as its commander, the veteran, Colonel William Weer.
171. Battle of Lexington .- On the receipt of the news that Price had passed Jefferson City, and occupied Lex- ington, General Blunt relieved General Sykes at Olathe. On the 16th of October, 1864, General Blunt moved to Lexington with two brigades of cavalry. General Blunt, early on his arrival, inspected the position with his aides, Hon. James H. Lane and Lieutenant-Colonel Burris. On the approach of Price's advance the fight was opened by a portion of the Fifteenth Kansas under Lieutenant-Colonel Hoyt. As the column fell back before the overwhelming mass of the enemy, the movement was covered by the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, Colonel Moonlight, with four howitzers, the Third Wisconsin Cavalry battalion, and Companies A and D of the Sixteenth Kansas; a company of Missouri enrolled militia under Captain Grover, and a small body of Kansas State militia. As the little column
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
was flanked by the enemy it would fall back and form another line, thus keeping up a fight for six miles, 2,000 against 28,000. In the darkness the command fell back toward Independence, bivouacking a few miles from the Little Blue. At sunrise, Colonel Moonlight was left to defend the bridge at the Little Blue while possible, and the balance of the division fell back on Independence.
172. Battle of the Little Blue .- In the morning began the battle of the Little Blue. There were ready Colonel Moonlight with 600 men and four mountain howitzers, and then came Colonel James H. Ford (for whom the Kansas Ford county is named), and the Second Colorado Cavalry, under Major Nelson H. Smith (destined to die that day, and to give his name to Smith county), and Lieutenant- Colonel Sam Walker, the old "Border Troubles" fighter, and the Colorado Battery, Captain MeLain, and then came np the Fourth, Twelfth, and Nineteenth Kansas militia regiments, and then it was fire the bridge, and fall back slowly and fight the enemy, who came swarming through the shallow stream. After this hard work, General Blunt came on the field and formed a new line, which did not contain over 2,500 men. Then there was fighting, eight hours of it in all, and our little army was back at Inde- pendence. There were 600 men to begin, and 2,500 to close, and a loss of about 200.
173. Battle of the Big Blue .- The entire force under General Curtis rested on the west bank of the Big Blue, on the road leading from Independence to Kansas City, on the night of October 21, 1864. The transportation was sent back to Kansas City, where, and at Wyandotte, guns were fired during the night to warn the militia. Among the
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THE CLOSING SCENE.
troops on the Blue was the Sixth Kansas State militia, commanded by Colonel James Montgomery, who, during much of the war, had been away on the Atlantic Coast and in Florida commanding a colored regiment. Before all who camped that night along the winding stream, there lay a troubled day.
The Big Blue may be crossed only at fords, and the battle of the 21st consisted largely of the attack and defence of these fords. The point that became most famous during the day was Byrom's ford. Here the enemy, after a heavy . fight, succeeded in crossing, and the Union forces were crowded back toward Colonel James Montgomery. Westport, but in turn the Confederates were themselves pressed back. At sundown General Joe Shelby had retired to the line of the BIne and the Union troops to Westport.
The tragedy of the day was the overwhelming of the Second Kansas State Militia, Colonel Veale, supporting a single gun at the Mocabee farm. The desperate fight around the gun resulted in a loss to the battalion of thirty killed, fifty wounded and 102 captured.
The command was from Shawnee county. The dead, at the close of the war, were interred in the city cemetery at Topeka, and a stately monument has been reared to mark their resting place by their comrade, G. G. Gage.
174. Movements Before Westport .- At 4 o'clock on Saturday evening, the 22d, the left and centre of the Union army fell back to Kansas City and were placed in the intrenchments there. General Curtis faced the foe with his volunteers in Westport and his militia in Kansas City. The
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HISTORY OF KANSAS.
Confederate line ran along the Blue from Byrom's ford to beyond Russell's ford.
General Pleasonton, spoken of before as being at Jefferson City with the Provisional Division of Cavalry, had followed after Price's army, and, attacking the enemy's rear division, had occupied Independence. Three brigades, Sanborn's, Brown's and Winslow's were on the road to Byrom's ford; McNeil with another brigade was moving toward Hickman's mill, and, beside, 10,000 infantry under Major-General A. J. Smith were moving from Lexington to Independence.
175. Battle of Westport .- At five o'clock on the fate- ful Sunday morning, the brigade of Colonel Blair, consisting of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Tenth and Nineteenth Kansas State Militia, moved out of the intrenchments with the Ninth Wisconsin Battery and the Kansas Colored Battery. The First, Third and Fourth Brigades, under Colonels Jenni- son, Moonlight and Ford were already moving. Soon the battle was resumed. There were charges and countercharges; hand to hand combats in some instances. Fights stubborn behind the stone walls, and fights rapid to carry them. The artillery everywhere firing from every point of vantage, the guns sometimes in danger and saved by a rush, and finally Colonel Thos. Moonlight. a general movement forward. Eighteen brass Parrott guns and thirteen howitzers opened at once on the lines of the enemy, who were falling back bravely and steadily. There was great cheering; the militia came pouring into the field and the open prairie was reached, when a heavy column of cavalry emerged from the timber
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THE CLOSING SCENE.
and deployed abont a mile to the east, and Pleasonton charged.
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