USA > Kansas > Bourbon County > History of Bourbon County, Kansas. To the close of 1865 > Part 4
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THE SECOND GOVERNOR.
Wilson Shannon of Ohio, was appointed to succeed Governor Reeder. He arrived at Shawnee Mission and
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POLITICAL ATMOSPHERE.
1855]
assumed the duties of his office on the 7th of Septem- ber, 1855, a few days after the adjournment of the Bogus Legislature.
Governor Shannon had nothing to do with the elec- tion of March 30th, 1855, and was, of course, in no way responsible for the action of either faction; and, although surrounded exclusively by Pro-slavery men, bravely endeavored, during his short administration, to do his duty as he saw it.
POLITICAL ATMOSPHERE OF BOURBON COUNTY.
The situation of Bourbon County during the years 1855, 1856 and 1857 was peculiar. It was different from that of any other county or portion of the Terri- tory. The county was away down in the southeast, isolated, and as yet out of the line and track of immi- gration, and as yet out of the way of the partisan troubles which held full sway in the country further north. There were some men-their number could be counted on your fingers-drifted in during these years, who hung around here more or less, who were of the very worst class; border ruffians themselves, and leaders above all others of that ultra, uncompromising Pro- slavery element whose politics was simply extermination -extermination of Free State sentiment-extermina- tion of Free State men, if that were necessary. These were men like Dr. Hamilton, Captain G. A. Hamilton, Alvin Hamilton, W. B. Brockett, G. W. Jones, G. W. Clark. E. Greenwood, Sheriff Ben Hill and others. But few of these inade any pretense to citizenship, but
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[1855
HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY.
made Fort Scott one of their many stopping places or headquarters. Their followers-their "men"-were of that class they, themselves, called "poor white trash." They were never able to own a slave and never expected to be. They were that grade of men who saw everything through the diseased perceptions of an incomplete nature and a smothered intelligence. The men from the South who came here as bona fide settlers to make homes for themselves and families were of a different grade. They were Pro-slavery, and desired as a political question, that Kansas should come into the Union as a slave State. They were thoroughly imbued with the principles of Squatter Sovereignty, but had no more idea or design of a criminal crusade in order to accomplish their political ends than did Stephen A. Douglas himself. They staid here law abiding men during this first war; they staid here good Union men during the Union war, and lived and died among us under the flag of Clay and Benton, either the one or the otlier of whom had been their household god since the days of their youth.
As for the Northern men, a few of whom were now finding their way into this county, they, also, were in some sense different from their brethren further north. They came without "aid" or other influence, except the desire to build up a home. They came very generally from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. They were Free State men and finally voted for a Free State Constitution. But they were not anti-slavery in the sense of being Abolitionists. They did not want slavery; they did not want free negroes; they simply
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POLITICAL ATMOSPHERE.
1855]
did not want any "nigger"' at all. Many of them were Democrats; many were Republicans; but they had no desire to interfere with the "peculiar institution" of the South further than to keep it out of Kansas. They came here to make Kansas a State and to make it free.
It is not within the scope and design of this work to detail the historical incidents and the public acts of historical men or notorious characters outside of Bour- bon County, except insofar as they concern or affect, directly or indirectly our own local history. So far, an attempt has been made to keep in touch with the prom- inent men of those times, the animus of political parties and the social bias of the contending forces.
It may be possible that the accurate and complete history of our State can only be thus prepared, block by block, and the checquered and mosaic tablet be handed down to the future as the "History of Kansas."
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY.
[1856
CHAPTER VIII.
TONE OF PRO-SLAVERY PAPERS
HE year 1856 opened in the northeastern part of the Territory and along the Kaw valley, in turmoil, violence and murder. Armed factions were almost daily coming into the conflict. The Free State men were being armed and drilled for defense. The Pro-slavery men were being reinforced from South Carolina, Alabama and the entire South, for the openly declared purpose of overawing the Free State inen by violence and murder.
One sample of the tone of their newspapers at that time is here given. The Kickapoo Pioneer, in speak- ing of Free State immigrants, said :
"It is this class of men that have congregated at Lawrence, and it is this class of men that Kansas must get rid of. And we know of no better method * than to meet in Kansas and kill off this God-forsaken class of humanity as soon as they place their feet upon our soil."
Bourbon County had as yet but little of this disorder and violence. But the disturbing elements were to come in very soon, and peace bid farewell for many years.
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TOPEKA CONSTITUTION.
1856]
THE TOPEKA CONSTITUTION.
The first political move of the year 1856 was the election of officers under the Topeka Constitution, which took place January 15. Charles Robinson was the leading candidate for Governor, and M. W. Delahay for Congress. W. R. Griffith of Bourbon County, was voted for as State Auditor, but received less votes than G. A. Cutler for that office. Griffith was also a member of this Constitutional Convention.
The Topeka Constitution was not recognized by Congress. The Legislature elected under it never had any practical existence, nor was it expected to have, or probably, intended to have. The conventions of Aug- ust 14 and September 15; the elections of October 9, December 15 and January 15, the Constitutional Con- vention and the Topeka Constitution, were intended by the Free-State leaders to serve-like toys given to im- patient children-to occupy the minds of our Free-State men ; to solidify the growing "Anti-Pro-slavery" elements of all shades in the North, and by publishing to the world their platformns, resolutions and constitutions, to furnish educating exponents of the principles, policy and design of the Free-State party.
As was expected, some of the ultra Abolitionists were dissatisfied. The word "white" was not eliminated from the new Constitution ; its tone was for peaceful solution, instead of for the aggravation of conflict as they desired. They kicked over the traces, but they were simply "cut out" and driven away.
The Free-State leaders at this time-among them
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY. [1856
Charles Robinson, A. H. Reeder, M. J. Parrott, Joel K. Goodin, M. W. Delahay-were strong men. The Con- vention and the Legislature elected under it were composed of good and true men. They raised here the first signal light of Freedom, against which were already breaking the black, seething waves of disunion.
TROUBLE COMMENCES.
The first invasion into Bourbon County by the Pro- slavery men occurred in the spring of 1856. A party of about thirty South Carolinians, headed by G. W. Jonés, came in and stopped temporarily in Fort Scott. Under pretense of looking for homes, these men visited most of the settlers in the county, ascertained where they were from and their politics, what property they had, and their means of defense, and made a complete list of all the Free-State inen. Then, later in the season, about July, the Free-State men were again visited, and were told they must leave the Territory. A system of espionage, intimidation and arrest was commenced. Their stock was driven off; their cabins fired into in the dead of night, and they were often taken under pretended arrest to Fort Scott, where they would be advised that it was a much healthier country further north for their class. The object was to so harass and intimidate them that they would leave their claims and such property as could not be easily moved, and get out of the Territory, which the Pro- slavery people had decided was their own by right, not of discovery, but "non-intervention," and "Squatter
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TROUBLE COMMENCES.
1856]
Sovereignty." The matter was actually presented to the masses of the South in the light that, as the re- strictive compromise law had been wiped out, this was slave territory; Free-State men were interlopers, and had no more rights here than they had in South Caro- lina. A Free-State man would not be allowed to live in South Carolina ; why should he be here?
Anyway, their plans worked well. The Free-State men were not strong enough then for resistance or defense, and most of them left. This was in execution of the concerted plans of Major Buford and his lieu- tenant, G. W. Jones, who had arrived on the 7th of April, at Westport, Missouri, with a large body of armed men, some three hundred in number, from Ala- bama, Georgia and South Carolina. Buford was a kind of brigadier general in the army of invasion, and had charge of the border, with the instructions, among others, to search all steamboats coming up the Missouri river, for Free-State passengers, and all emigrant wag- ons coming from the East and North.
TEXAS RANGERS-EXPEDITION TO MIDDLE CREEK.
Late in the summer of this year a squad of fellows came into Bourbon County from the south, who called themselves "Texas Rangers." They were all well armed and mounted, and wore spurs as big as a tin plate. Their saddles were of the regulation Texas pattern, with immense saddle blankets, with the "Lone Star" worked in the corner.
Altogether, they were a very "fierce and warlike
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY. [1856
people," and wanted to go right into the business im- mediately. So, after laying around town two or three days whetting up their bowie knives and running bullets they got some of G. W. Jones' South Caro- linians, added a few of the fellows who lived in Fort Scott, and away they went, headed for Osawatomie, to rout out John Brown. The company was under con- mand of Win. Barnes, G. W. Jones and Jesse Davis. They got up as far as Middle Creek in Linn County where, about August 25th, they were met by Captains Shore and Anderson with a company of Free State men of about the same number. After a lively skirmish, in which three or four volleys were exchanged, they let go and skedaddled back to Fort Scott, pushing on their bridle-reins and with saddle-blankets flying. They had such big stories to tell about being closely pur- sued by 2,000 yankees, who would soon be on them to burn and murder, that everybody in town, men, women and children, dogs and niggers, took to the woods and laid out all night. It is said the Texas Rangers never stopped till they got back to Red River. Geo. W. Jones buried himself in the wilds of Buck Run.
One of the recruits from Fort Scott on this expedi- tion was a inan named Kline, who had just started a newspaper which he called the "Southern Kansan." He had issued only two numbers of it when he felt a call to help "advance the banner of the holy crusade." He laid down the "shooting stick" to take up the shooting iron. But it was an unlucky exchange, for, at the first fire of "leads," the "devil" fired him into
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BOURBON COUNTY LEGISLATORS.
1856]
the "hell-box," and he remained in "pi" forever.
This was the only report in the "remark" column of their muster-roll.
THE TOPEKA LEGISLATURE.
The Legislature elected under the Topeka Constitu- tion met first on the 4th of March, and adjourned to meet at Topeka on the 4th of July, 1856. At that date they assembled and attempted to open a session, but they were met by Col. Sumner of the regular army, who ordered them to disperse.
SHANNON RESIGNS-GEARY APPOINTED.
Governor Wilson Shannon, who had now been in office several months, became distasteful to the Admin- istration and the Pro-slavery party, and retired from office on the 21st of August, 1856.
Secretary Woodson, an implement of the Pro-slavery people, became acting Governor until John W. Geary of Pennsylvania, was appointed, and assumed the office in September following.
TERRITORIAL LEGISLATORS FOR BOURBON COUNTY.
On October 6th, 1856, an election was held for mem- bers of the second Territorial Legislature, which was to meet the following January. In this county there were to be two members elected. There were three candidates in the field, who received votes as follows : B. Brantly, 176 votes; W. W. Spratt, 127 votes; R. G.
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY. [1856
Roberts, 60 votes. Brantley and Spratt were declared elected.
These inen were Pro-slavery. The Free State men had nearly all been driven out, as has been stated, and what few were left had neither disposition or opportu- nity to vote. The Pro-slavery people also voted at this election for J. W. Whitfield for Delegate to Congress, and voted for calling a Constitutional Convention.
The closing hour of 1856 was the darkest hour for freedom in Kansas. Its closing day marked the first year of the preliminary struggle of the civil war. The lines were being drawn and public sentiment solidified throughout the Nation by the co-efficients of intoler- ance, prejudice and hate.
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NEW TOWNS.
1857]
CHAPTER IX.
BOURBON COUNTY OFFICIALS.
HE county officers at the beginning of 1857 re- mained about as they had been in 1856. A. Horn- beck was County Treasurer. The same Board of County Commissioners, and B. F. Hill was still Sheriff. The full representation in the Legislature was: Blake Little in the Council, W. W. Spratt and B. Brantley in the House. Blake Little had been elected to succeed William Barbee, who died sometime before. Mr. Little was quite an old man, and always regarded as a good citizen. He was Pro-slavery in politics. His son John H. and daughter Mary were living at Fort Scott with him. He left here in 1859 and went to Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
NEW TOWNS.
The second session of the Territorial Legislature was convened at Lecompton on the 12th of January. Among the laws passed was an act incorporating the town of Sprattsville in Bourbon County, an act establishing a State road from Barnesville to Cofachique. Spratts- ville was near where Dayton now is. It never advanced in "growth and population" further than the survey
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY. [1857
stakes for corner lots. It perished. It was located by W. W. Spratt, who was that year in the Legislature.
The dense population in this connty at that time seemed to require the "building up" of more towns. Already foundations for future cities were being laid, which in the near future were to become "busy marts of trade," "manufacturing and railroad centers;" have the machine shops and vote bonds, and have a mac- adam tax, and a cracker factory. The probable location of the depot was another question of vast moment. It must not be so located that it would draw business to one point of the town at the expense of another. That must be guarded against. Everyone with a piece of land suitable for an "addition" said he would guard against it if it took half the land he had.
All these things were within the vision of the found- ers, although the nearest railroad was yet two hundred miles away.
MAPLETON LOCATED.
Mapleton was first located in May, 1857. The Town Company were J. C. Burnett, E. P. Higby, Mr. Morton, B. B. Newton, S. W. Cheever and D. Scott. This Company soon afterwards abandoned the town project and was dissolved.
Afterwards a new Company was organized by Wın. Baker, Dr. S. O. Himoe, A. Wilson, John Hawk, James Huffnagle and M. E. Hudson. This Company first called the town Eldora, but after a time the name was changed back to Mapleton. Dr. S. O. Himoe was
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MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.
1857]
appointed the first Postmaster on October 15th, 1857. E. P. Higby was appointed early in 1858 and continued the Postmaster for more than thirty years. E. Green- field established the first store in 1858.
Mapleton has always been a prominent place in this county. It is located in the beautiful valley of the Osage, surrounded by an agricultural country unsur- passed, and a thrifty, intelligent people.
RAYVILLE.
Rayville, of which considerable will be said here- after, was located by the two Ray brothers. It was on the Osage, about half way between the points now known as Ft. Lincoln and Mapleton. Rayville never became a great manufacturing center, either; but they manu- factured some Bourbon County history there. It had at one time a store and a postoffice. But it finally per- . ished, also, and was laid "under the sod and the dew" by the side of Sprattsville. It was too near Mapleton.
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.
The means the people of Bourbon County then had for mail facilities and communication with the outside world were decidedly limited. They had a stage line established between Fort Scott and Jefferson City, Mo., and the stage, an old bob-tailed "jerky," such as is now to be seen only in "Wild West shows," made the trip once a week; that is, when the creeks were not up and there was no other preventing providence. This line brought in the Eastern mail, and its arrival and depart-
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY.
[1857
ure were important events. Col. Arnett was the local agent, and he conducted the business with characteristic flourish. Three times a week they had a horseback mail from Westpoint, Montevallo and Sarcoxie, Mo., Baxter Springs, Osage Mission and Cofachique. These radiating lines indicated the importance already at- tached to Fort Scott as a distributing point. All freight came on ox-wagons from Kansas City, Mo., down the old military road.
There were then but three saw mills in the county: one on the Little Osage, near the future site of Fort Lincoln; one on the same stream above Sprattsville, and one on the Marmaton six miles west of Fort Scott. There was an abundant growtli of black walnut, syca- more, cottonwood, oak, coffee bean, linn, etc., along the Little Osage, Mill Creek, Marmaton and Drywood.
GOOD BASS FISHING ON MILL CREEK.
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MORE POLITICS.
1857]
CHAPTER X.
MORE POLITICS.
HE Territorial Legislature in February, 1857, passed an act dividing the Territory into three judicial districts. The first step in the Lecompton Constitution movement was taken February 19th by the Legislature passing an act providing for the election of delegates to a convention to frame a State Constitution. The act provided for a census to be taken, on the basis of which the Governor was to apportion among the precincts the sixty delegates to the Convention. The delegates were to be elected on the second Monday in June, which was the 15th, and were to meet at Lecompton on the first Monday in September. Governor Geary vetoed the bill, but the Legislature passed it over the veto, by a nearly unani- mous vote.
On the 4th of March, 1857, James Buchanan became President.
In his Inaugural Address he said :
"Congress is neither to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and conduct their own domestic institutions in their own
5
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY. [1857
way. As a natural consequence, Congress has also prescribed, that when the Territory of Kansas shall be admitted as a State, it shall be received into the Union with or without slavery, as the Constitution inay prescribe at the time of admission. A difference of opinion has arisen in regard to the time when the people of a Territory shall decide this question for themselves. This is happily a matter of but little importance, and besides it is a judicial question, which legitimately belongs to the Supreme Court of the United States, before whom it is now pending and will, it is understood, be speedily and finally settled."
Two days afterward the Supreme Court handed down the decision in the Dred Scott case. The gist of that decision is this: The Missouri Compromise, so far as it excluded slavery from the Louisiana Purchase, north of 36. 30° was unconstitutional; that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery from any portion of the Federal territory, nor to authorize the inhabitants thereof to do so; that negroes are not citizens, and have no rights as such. Or, in other words, that Kansas was de jure Slave Territory, as it was de facto.
"Jeems" evidently knew on the 4th of March what that decision was to be as well as he did on the 6th.
SLAVES IN BOURBON COUNTY.
At this time there were in Fort Scott and Bourbon County about thirty negro slaves, owned by various families from the slave States. They were legally held as such under the Dred Scott decision. Kansas was slave Territory.
Slaves were bought and sold in this county as late as
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1857] GEARY RESIGNS-WALKER APPOINTED.
August, 1857. The records of the county show that Wiley Patterson purchased a negro woman slave of James M. Rucker for $500.00 at that date.
GOV. GEARY RESIGNS-GOV. WALKER APPOINTED.
Early in March, 1857, Governor Geary sent his res- ignation in a letter to St. Louis, the nearest telegraph station, to be telegraphed from there to Washington. He followed it himself soon after, and left the Terri- tory somewhat hastily.
"He tuck his hat and lef' very sudden Like he gwine to run away,"
Geary was a good man. He took office a Pro-slavery man, but he misunderstood what the Administration and the leading Pro-slavery men in Kansas wanted. He based his policy on the principles of justice and the protection of all persons in their rights. That was not what they wanted. They were also mistaken in their man, and by denying him of all means of self- protection in the matter of troops, etc., and by personal assault and attempts at assassination, they finally drove him from the Territory.
The Administration then concluded to put in a Southern man for Governor, and Robert J. Walker was appointed on the 26th of March. Walker, it is true, was born in Pennsylvania, but he had spent the years of his manhood in Mississippi. F. P. Stanton was appointed Secretary and came first, in April, and took charge as Acting Governor,
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY.
[1857
MORE IMMIGRANTS.
Bourbon County had now began to attract more attention and become better known to the people of the East and North. The few settlers who had found their way down here "writ back." While their letters did not bear any very encouraging word about the state of political affairs or the peaceful condition of the people, they did tell of a beautiful country, genial skies, a spring that opened in March instead of May, and an opportunity for getting land enough so that "John" and "Mary" could both have a farm when they "come of age."
Fort Scott had also become one of the noted points in the new Territory, and many young men were attracted here to make this the starting point for their future. A few who came were unfitted for the life of pioneers. They generally came from the cities, and as much on what they called a tour of adventure as anything. But they found that even at the best hotel the bed consisted of a straw tick and a buffalo robe, the bath room was the Marinaton, and the means of washing the face and hands were at the bottom of the back stairs in a tin basin with hard water and soft soap. They might have withstood all these luxuries, but when they came to the dinner table that jarred 'em loose. The "menu" consisted of cornbread, bacon, fried potatoes and corn coffee with "long sweetnin'. After wrestling with those delicacies for a short time they would generally conclude they had seen enough of the "border troubles" and skip back home fully
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MORE IMMIGRANTS.
1857]
determined to "go with their States" and let Kansas go Free Trade and Woman's Rights if it wanted to, or go to any other place, they were going home where they could get some of "mother's cooking."
During the fall of 1856 and the winter and spring of 1857, there were also coming in from the slave States- aside from the followers of Buford-a large contingent of men, who were good citizens where they came from, and remained here to the end, good citizens and good men. The country knew none better.
Biographies and biographical sketches of the old settlers cannot be given in this volume. Their biog- raphies would furnish material for a much larger book than this. It inay some day be prepared. An attempt will be made in this book to give a slight sketch or mention only of the more prominent men who took hold of the throttle valve and helped turn on steam.
Among those who came in this spring were the following :
Dr. John H. Couch, with his family, arrived May 30, 1857. Dr. Couch was born in Lexington, Kentucky, April 8, 1827. He obtained a fine collegiate and med- cal education in that State, and went from there to Monroe, Wisconsin, where he married Miss Lillis Andrick. He was a strong Democrat and never hesi- tated to vigorously denounce what he thought wrong in his party, or any other. His heart was big. Many and inany are the persons who have occasion to remember his kind professional services, given without hope of fee or reward.
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