History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas, Part 3

Author: Duncan, L. Wallace (Lew Wallace), b. 1861. cn; Scott, Charles F., b. 1860
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Iola, Kan. : Iola Register
Number of Pages: 1066

USA > Kansas > Woodson County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 3
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 3

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

HISTORY OF ALLEN AND

manfully against overwhelming disaster. When one crop failed another was tried, each to meet with no better success than the first." It was a heart-breaking experience, and those who passed through it cannot speak of it even now without a shudder. It is no wonder that many of the settlers perhaps a majority of them, went back to their former homes, and that few of those who went ever returned. Those who remained suffered the extremest privation, and many of them were rescued from actual starvation only by the timely arrival of supplies sent out by the numerous "Kansas Aid" societies which were organized throughout the East. There have been hard times in Kansas since then; but compared with 1860 there has never been a year that was not one of abundance and good cheer.

This year the county was divided for the first time into commissioner districts. The board elected at the special election in March were only to hold until the general election in November, at which time the following persons were elected commissioners: Henry Doren, H. D. Parsons and D. B. Stewart, with Yancy Martin assessor,-the other county officers holding over. J. W. Scott was re-elected representative, Watson Stewart holding over in the Council. An attempt was made during this year to build a jail at Humboldt. Specifications were adopted by the county board and pro- posals received; but the times were unpropitious and nothing farther was done. The first regular census was taken this year and gave Allen county a population of 3120. The number of cattle reported was 5043, swine 2060, horses 951, mules 50 and sheep 710. This census was taken in June and shows a much larger population than remained at the end of the year.

The following winter was very severe, and notwithstanding the "aid" received, much suffering was experienced, especially by those who were compelled to make long trips after relief goods. These were mostly dis- tributed from Atchison through S. C. Pomeroy. afterwards United States Senator, and the journey, often made with ox teams, requiring a week or ten days, sometimes through the fiercest storms, was only rendered endura- ble by the absolute necessity of the case.

It was during this darkest period of her history, when the hearts of the bravest of her pioneers were heavy within them and the "Ad Astra" of the motto emblazoned on her shield seemed a bitter mockery, that Kansas was ushered into the sisterhood of States. The bill for her admission was signed by President Buchanan on the twenty-ninth day of January, 1861, and the Territorial Period was brought to a close.

WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.

The War Period

As soon as the news of the breaking out of the Rebellion reached Allen County nearly all the able-bodied men hastened to enlist in defense of the Union. In 1861 the Iola Battalion was formed, and from the county were three companies, commanded by Captains Coleman, Flesher, and Killen, which served in the Ninth Kansas. In the Tenth Kansas Regi- ment were two companies, one commanded by Capt. W. C. Jones, and the other by Capt. N. B. Blanton.

The county being on the southern border of the State, it was consid- ered in danger of invasion from the Missouri guerrillas and the hostile Indians of the Territory. The scene of most of the military operations in. the county were in and about Humboldt. In the summer of 1861 a company was organized there with N. B. Blanton, Captain; S. J. Stewart, First Lieutenant. J. H. Signor was afterward Second Lieutenant. Capt. Isaac Tibbets organized a company of infantry, and Capt. I. N. Phillips a company of Cavalry. During the same summer a regiment was organized in Allen and Woodson counties. . Orlin Thurston was Colonel; James Kennar, Lieutenant Colonel; and N. S. Goss, Major. This was the Sev- enth Kansas Regiment, for the defense of Kansas, and was under the com- mand of Gen. J. H Lane. While this regiment was with Lane in Missouri there were but very few men left at home to protect the settlements, and the most of the farming and other work for the maintenance of the families of the soldiers was done by the women and children.

SACKING OF HUMBOLDT .- While the Allen County soldiers were away with Lane, a raid was made on the unprotected settlement of Humboldt on September eight, 1861 by a band of Missouri guerrillas, Cherokee Indians, and Osage half-breed Indians, under command of Captains Matthews and Livingstone. Matthews had been a trader among the Indians, had married an Osage squaw, and lived where Oswego now is. He had great influence among the Osages and incited them to take sides with the Southern Con- federacy. At Humboldt they sacked the stores and dwellings, carrying off all the money and valuables they could find without resistance, all the men being absent.

BURNING OF HUMBOLDT .- At the time of the raid in September, Dr. George A. Miller was absent trying to obtain authority to organize a company of Home Guards. He succeeded in this, and on his return or- ganized a company of infantrymen in the town, which was composed of old men, boys, and a few of the militiamen who had returned to Humboldt as soon as they learned of the raid, to help protect their defenseless families. A company of cavalry was also organized in the neighborhood, composed

HISTORY OF ALLEN AND

of farmers, and commanded by Capt. Henry Dudley. These companies accompanied by Col. J. G. Blunt, went in pursuit of the guerrillas, and succeeded in overtaking them, when a skirmish took place, during which the outlaw, Capt. Matthews was killed. The Home Gnards returned, and for several days the cavalry was sent out regularly as a scouting party, it being feared that another attack would be made on the town. The infantry remained at home and were always upon guard. Soon, however, there appearing to be no danger, the cavalry were allowed to return to their homes. Late in the afternoon of the Fourteenth of October, 1861, a body of Rebel Cavalry under command of Col. Talbott, dashed into Humboldt. The Home Guards, comprising less than 1oo men, were taken completely by surprise, and it was impossible for Capt. Miller to get them together. The town was soon filled with armed men, who kept up a continual firing of guns and pistols. A few of the men by running succeeded in making their escape, but the others were soon captured and placed under guard. It was supposed they would all be shot by the outlaws and the Indians who accompanied them. The only resistance offered was by Capt. Miller and Charles Baland. The Captain finally gave up his arms, pleading that the women and children might be saved, even though he expected to be murdered. The town was then set on fire, but before this was done, the Rebel officer ordered his men to allow the women and children to remove their valuables and household goods from their dwellings, and even ordered them to assist. The rebel officers claimed that Humboldt was burned in retaliation for the burning of Osceola, by Gen. Lane, and the killing of Matthews. Nearly all the buildings were then set on fire. The churches were saved, also the Masonic Hall. Of the other buildings not set on fire was the house of Dr. Wm. Wakefield, who, when he saw that he was in the power of the enemy, invited the officers to take supper with him. Among them was Capt. Livingstone. A few other houses were saved where there were women too sick to be moved. Among these was the residence of Col. Thurston, whose wife was unwell, and Mrs. Goodin, the wife of Hon. J. R. Goodin, who sent her to bed and told the Rebels she was too sick to be moved. The land office and court house building was set on fire, but after the departure of the Rebels the fire was extinguished, but not until many valuable papers among the records were destroyed. Coffey's store was set on fire, but the Rebels had in their excitement poured out a barrel of black molasses, thinking it to be tar, and this did not burn very well, besides which Mrs. Coffey had just been wash- ing, and the wet clothes were thrown over the burning portion, extinguish- ing the fire. The raiders did not stay long, departing early in the evening. The men they had captured were taken a short distance and then released. They returned in time to help save some of the burning buildings. During the entire time the women behaved nobly. By their coolness they suc- ceeded in making the invaders believe au armed force was on the way from Iola, therefore they hastened their departure. The land office had just been opened, with J. C. Burnett, Register. He managed to speak to his sister, Miss Kate Burnett, now Mrs. S. N. Simpson, telling her to save

WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.

$25,000.00 in land warrants that were in the office. Obtaining permission to go to the office for a candle, she secured the warrants and dropped them on the prairie in the high grass Judge J. R. Goodin and his wife had been absent all day, gathering wild grapes, and were just approaching the town from the west. The Judge jumped out of the vehicle and told his wife to drive away, but instead of this she went to Mrs. Thurston's resi- dence and aided in saving it. Numerous other heroic acts were performed by the women. The better portion of the town was entirely destroyed.

There were only a few buildings left, and some of these were badly dam- aged by the fire. The only man killed was a farmer, Seachrist, who was running away trying to save his mules. He was ordered to stop, but not doing so, he was shot and fatally wounded. All the horses that could be found were taken by the Rebels. Besides this but little property was stolen, and outside the town no damage whatever was done. The Rebel force numbered 331 men who were all well mounted and thoroughly armed.

After the burning of Humboldt it was considered to be in danger, and a military post was established there. There were no events of note until the Price raid in 1864, The militia of the county was organized into a battalion, known as the Allen County Battalion, and was composed of six companies, three from Iola and the northern part of the county, two from Humboldt, and one from the extreme southern part of the county. The officers were: C. P. Twiss, Colonel; Watson Stewart, Major. Among the Captains were J. M. Moore and G. DeWitt of Humboldt, and D. C. New- man, of the southern part of the county. This regiment comprised all of the able bodied men in the county, between the ages of sixteen and sixty years. The militia force of the entire Neosho Valley were commanded by Major General J. B. Scott, of LeRoy, and under him the Allen County Battalion was ordered to Fort Scott. At the military post of Humboldt a block house was built, and a small force of the eleventh Kansas stationed there under command of Major Haas. Besides this force, Captains Moore, De Witt and Newman, under command of Major Watson Stewart, were left to protect the town against invasion. All remained at Humboldt except Captain Newman's company, which acted as scouts and was stationed at Big Creek. Major Haas ordered this company to come to Humboldt, which Captain Newman refused to do. This gave rise to considerable difficulty between the two officers. Major Haas had charge of the govern- ment supplies of rations, etc., which he refused to issue to the Big Creek company until it should remove to Humboldt. The stores were kept at the German Church, in charge of a Sergeant. Newman's company being out of rations Major Stewart made a requisition on the post commander for five day's rations for the company which was refused. Major Stewart then ordered the Captain to help himself to the rations and receipt to the Ser- geant. This was done, upon which Major Haas ordered Major Stewart and Captain Newman under arrest. It was impossible, however, to carry out this order, as the militia all took sides with their own officers. After the militia disbanded Captain Newman was arrested but was released the

HISTORY OF ALLEN AND

next day. After the companies under Major Stewart had remained in camp three weeks they were ordered to Ft. Scott, leaving Captain Newman and his company, and a few colored men under Captain E. Gilbert at the Humboldt post. During the entire period of the war there were a great many loyal Indians scattered over the county, they having been driven from the Indian Territory by the Indians who were in sympathy with the rebels.

WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.

Thirty five Dears of Peace

Nearly all the early settlers of Allen county were young men and women, full of energy and ambition and hope, and with the return of peace they came back to the long deserted towns, to the weed grown farms, and bravely set themselves to build up the waste places, to repair the ravages of war and enforced neglect. With them came hundreds of other, many of them ex-Union soldiers, attracted by the heroic record the State had made duing the war and in the long period of border warfare that preceded it, and by the opportunity to secure free homes under the homestead and pre- emption laws. With ceaseless industry and indomitable pluck the old settlers and the new comers applied themselves to the herculean task of subduing the fertile but rebellious soil and building up schools and churches and all the institutions of a free, self-governing community. The statistics presented elsewhere show the rapidity with which this work was accomplished.

. As in most of the other counties of Kansas, one of the first things to engage the attention and excite the feeling of the people was a fight over the county seat. As has been already stated, Cofachique was designated as the first county seat by the legislature which organized the county. The first Free State legislature removed the county seat to Humboldt, and it remained there until after the war. It had to fight for the honor, however, almost from the beginning. The first battle occurred March 25, 1860, when the matter was submitted to a vote of the people, Iola being the principal competitor. Humboldt people proved to be the best voters, however, casting (so the envious Iolans declared at the time) twice as many votes as they had legal electors. The returns showed 562 votes for Humboldt, 331 for Iola, 72 for Vernon, 4 for Center, and 2 for Cofachique, so Humboldt retained the prize. For the next four or five years, the people had other things to think of. But as soon as the war was over the agitation was resumed and on May 10 of that year another election was held resulting as follows: Iola 243, Geneva 35, Humboldt 2 and Vernon 2. The county seat was accordingly removed to Iola, where it has since remained. Prior to this last election the legislature had moved the south line of the county some four miles north of the original location, thus throwing into Neosho county a considerable territory whose settlers would otherwise have voted for Humboldt. This fact, together with the fact that the southern part of the county was not so thickly settled as the northern portion and that a considerable number of the citizen of Humboldt and vicinity had not yet returned from the army, doubtless accounted for the large preponderance of the votes in favor of Iola. The contest engendered a great deal of bitter-

HISTORY OF ALLEN AND

ness at the time and the feeling continued for many years afterwards. It gradually abated, however, and now, happily, little if any of the old antagonism remains.

When the county seat was removed to Iola 100 lots were donated by the town company to the county to aid in the erection of public buildings.

In July, 1866, bonds were voted to raise funds to procure a court house, and a frame building, located at the soutliwest corner of Washing- ton and Jackson avenues, where Shannon's hardware store now stands, was purchased from George J. Eldridge and fitted up for the use of the county officers. This building was used until 1877 when the present court house was bought for $1800 and the old one sold for $500 to the school district.

In 1868 $10,000 in bonds were voted to build a jail, and the stone structure still in use was erected the following year at a cost of $8400.

In November, 1871, a tax was voted of $5000 to purchase and fit up a poor farm. On February 12, 1872, a tract of land consisting of 160 acres in Carlyle township was bought from David Funkhouser for twenty-five dollars an acre, and Dr. J. W. Driscoll was installed as the first keeper.

The most notable event of the years immediately following the war was the coming of the railroads. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas was the first to arrive, building down the right bank of the Neosho and reaching Humboldt April 2, 1870. To secure this road the city of Humboldt voted $75,000 in bonds and a few of its citizens bought for $13,000 160 acres of land (a fairly good price considering the fact that there were then thousands of acres of land in the county to be had from the Government for the taking!)in order to pro- vide the road with depot facilities and right of way. The price was not thought to be too great, however, for the luxury of a railroad, and the com- pletion of the track was celebrated with elaborate rejoicings. A few months later the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston. (now the Southern Kansas division of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe) railroad entered the county from the north, and its arrival also was celebrated at Iola and at Humboldt with much "pomp and circumstance". and there was no sugges- tion that the $125,000 in bonds which the county had voted to secure it was" too high a price to pay.

Those were "the good old days" in Allen county. New settlers were coming in every day, money was plenty, crops for the most part were good and prices high. Various manufacturing enterprises were undertaken, the most notable of which perhaps was the King's Iron Bridge Company, to secure which the city of Iola voted $100,000 in bonds. Nobody seemed to think it incongruous or impossible that an industry which must import from long distances at high rates of freight both its fuel and its raw material and which was to manufacture a product for which there was no market, should be located here. And so the Company went to work in the summer of 187 1 built enormous shops (now constituting the first floor of the main building of Works No. I of the Lanyon Zinc Company) brought in and set up expensive machinery and actually built a bridge or two. It failed, of course, and after a year or two moved its machinery to Topeka where another bonus was secured. But it made things hum at Iola while it lasted.

WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.

For awhile town lots were held at enormous prices, and land adjoining the town was sold at figures which were not reached again for nearly thirty years. Of course the bottom fell out when the shops were removed, and the only pleasant thing to remember now in connection with the King's Iron Bridge Company is that the courts declared the $100,000 bonds voted to secure it forfeited, and that the building which it erected was of material assistance a quarter of a century later in securing the location of an industry which is a benefit and a pride to the entire county.

The collapse of the local boom resulting from the withdrawal of the Bridge Company was followed by the general panic of 1873, and that was followed by the drouth and the grasshoppers,-one disaster following hard upon the heels of another. The people would have soon recovered from the collapse of the boom, if the panic had not struck them; the panic would not have hurt them much, if the drouth had not come; the drouth would soon have been forgotten if it had not been for the grasshoppers. But col- lapse and panic and drouth and grasshoppers all together hit us hard, bringing a long period of business prostration and actual destitution that will never be forgotten by those who passed through it. Only one other period in the history of the county can be compared with it, and that was the year of the terrible drouth, 1860, and that was worse only because there were fewer people and they felt more keenly their isolation and distress.

As has been already stated, the collapse of the boom, the panic and the drouth, although bad enough, could have been endured. It was the grasshoppers that brought the people to their knees, helpless and well nigh hopeless. These pests appeared first in August, 1874. Coming in countless miriads, their gossamer wings fairly veiling the sun in their flight, they settled down upon the fields and within a month the scanty crop that remained after the unusual drouth of the summer was devoured. Not the green things only, such as the melons, pumpkins and all the veg- etables of the garden, but the dry blades of the standing corn and all the other field crops were destroyed. One who has not seen it cannot conceive how completely this avalanche of locusts swept the country of everything in the nature of vegetation. The result was that hundreds of families found themselves facing the winter with nothing to support the lives of themselves or of their animals. And so many of them sold their property for the little it would bring under such circumstances and left the county, while many others were forced to the humiliating necessity of accepting the "Aid" that came in response to the call that went out from Kansas for help. Societies were organized for the relief of the needy, and the county commissioners appointed Robert Cook and I. C. Cuppy to go to Ohio and Indiana and solicit food and clothing. Some of the later settlers in Allen county think they have occasionally seen hard times here; but they dont know anything about it! In Iola the small frame building (then one of the largest in town, ) owned by J. W. Scott on the corner now occupied by DeClute's clothing store, was rented by the commissioners for use as an "aid depot," and the writer of this remember well how the dejected farmers, driving scrawny horses, hitched often with rope harness to dilapidated wagons, used to

HISTORY OF ALLEN AND

drive up to that store through the dreary fall and winter of 1874 to have the little jag of "aid," as it was called, doled out to them, shamefacedly carry- ing home the few pounds of beans and corn meal and bacon that was to keep their families from starvation. That is what the old settlers mean when they talk about hard times! There was only one alleviation, and that was the prairie chickens! Whether they came because of the food supply furnished by the grasshoppers, or whether they were sent as the quail were sent to the famishing Israelites in the wilderness it is not the province of sober history to speculate upon; but that they did come, and in unprecedented numbers, is indisputable. And they were exterminated! The people having nothing else to do, and in desperate need of the food they supplied and of the money they commanded on the market, trapped and shot them ceaselessly and without mercy. That was the beginning of the end of the prairie chickens in Allen county.

In the spring of 1875, the people, those that were left, plowed and planted as usual, but the grasshoppers reaped. The eggs that had been deposited in the ground in the fall hatched out in relays through the spring and early summer, so that whenever a fresh crop appeared, there was a fresh army of grasshoppers ready for it. Having no wings the young 'hop- pers swept on foot over the country, leaving behind them-dust! The wheat, the corn, even the prairie grass, every green blade of any kind, went into the insatiable maw of this remorseless army. All through the spring and into the summer this continued, and the people were in despair. And then, one day, early in June, there was a shimmer of gossamer wings in the sun- light, as there had been the August before. The army was departing. Whither it went is as little known as whence it came. By the middle of the month the last of the innumerable host had disappeared. The people plowed and planted again, and providence smiled on their courage and per- severance. The early and the later rains came in their season, and the crops raised were so phenomenal that in the plenty of 1875, the want of 1874 was well-nigh forgotten.

In a self-governing community, economic conditions always influence strongly the political action of the people. Sometimes with, but oftener without reason, the party in power is held responsible for good times or for bad. It is secure if times are good; and it is very insecure if times are bad. And so it happened in Allen County. From its organization, the county had been strongly Republican, and that party retained power al- most without an effort, until the panic and the drouth and the grasshop- pers came. And then, not perhaps because it caused these calamities to come, but because it was in power when they came-it had much trouble. Those who had been its strongest leaders, and many who had been its staunchest supporters in the prosperous days, deserted it. There was a time, in 1874, when some, even of those who remained true to it, were so dis- mayed by the opposition against it, that they advised against putting a Re- publican ticket in the field. This timid counsel was rejected, and the bat- tle was fought, but after it was over, all the Republican party had left was honor and two minor county officers, the nearest to total defeat ever suf-

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History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas, Part 3

Author: Duncan, L. Wallace (Lew Wallace), b. 1861. cn; Scott, Charles F., b. 1860 Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Iola, Kan. : Iola Register Number of Pages: 1066

Author: Duncan, L. Wallace (Lew Wallace), b. 1861. cn; Scott, Charles F., b. 1860
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Iola, Kan. : Iola Register
Number of Pages: 1066