USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. IV > Part 27
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On June 20, the Second Kansas infantry with the following officers was accepted for United States service: Colonel, Robert B. Mitchell ; lieutenant-colonel, Charles W. Blair ; major, William F. Cloud. One third of the regiment was killed or wounded at Wilson's creek, but the men stood to their work like veterans. The regiment was mustered ont October 31, 1861. After being mustered out it was reorganized as the Second Kansas cavalry, with Robert B. Mitchell, colonel; Owen A. Bassett, lieutenant- colonel and Charles W. Blair, major. As a cavalry regiment the Second served until the close of the war.
The Fifth Kansas cavalry was mustered in on the 17th of July. Hamilton P. Johnson was its first colonel; Jolm Ritchie, lieuten- ant-colonel, and James H. Summers, major. This regiment was mainly engaged in the military operations in Missouri and Arkansas and served until the spring of 1865.
About the last of July or the first of August, the Sixth cavalry was organized for the defense of southeastern Kansas. It was officered as follows: Colonel, William R. Judson; lientenant- colonel, Lewis R. Jewell; major, William T. Campbell.
The Seventh cavalry was mustered in on the 28th of October. At that time Charles R. Jennison was colonel, Daniel R. Anthony, lieutenant-colonel, and Thomas P. Herrick, major. The regiment was first assigned to duty in the department of the Missouri, but was later transferred to the army of the Tennessee. It was the first regiment in that district to re-enlist as veterans, which it did on January 1, 1864.
The Eighth infantry was organized in the late summer and early autumn of 1861. When it was mustered in, the officers were
*Both these companies were at that time part of The First Kansas volunteer Infantry.
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Henry W. Wessels, colonel; John A. Martin, lieutenant-colonel, and Edward F. Schneider, major. It was engaged in the battles of Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Atlanta, and various others in the southeast.
On March 27, 1862, the Ninth cavalry was mustered in. Edward Lynde was colonel; Charles S. Clarke, lieutenant-colonel, and James M. Pomeroy, major. The operations of this regiment were confined to the department of the Missouri. When Quantrell, the guerrilla leader, raided Lawrence, in August, 1863, two companies of the Ninth Kansas cavalry were the first troops to start in pursuit.
The Tenth Kansas was an infantry regiment. It was mustered into the service of the United States in July, 1862, and was made up of parts of the old Third, Fourth and Fifth regiments con- solidated. The colonel of the Tenth Kansas was none other than James Montgomery, the noted free-state leader, whose fighting qualities had been thoroughly tested during the border troubles in southeastern Kansas. James G. Blunt was lieutenant-colonel and Otis B. Gunn, major. The greater part of the service of this regiment was with the army of the Tennessee.
Immediately following the Tenth infantry, the Eleventh cavalry and the Twelfth infantry were organized. The officers of the Eleventh were, colonel, Thomas Ewing, Jr .; lieutenant-colonel, Thomas Moonlight; major, Preston B. Plumb. The Twelfth regiment was officered by Charles W. Adams, colonel ; Josiah E. Hayes, lieutenant-colonel and Thomas H. Kennedy, major, Both of these regiments were assigned to duty in the department of the Missouri, where they continued until the expiration of their terms of enlistment.
A little later in the season the Thirteenth infantry, with Thomas M. Bowen, colonel; John B. Wheeler, lieutenant-colonel, and Caleb A. Woodworth, major, was organized. This regiment was also assigned to duty in the Southwest.
The Fourteenth cavalry-Charles W. Blair, colonel; John G. Brown, lieutenant-colonel, and Daniel II. David, major-was recruited in the spring of 1863, by General Blunt. It operated chiefly in Missouri and Arkansas. Charles R. Jennison, who had seen service as colonel of the Seventh, became colonel of the Fifteenth cavalry, which was organized the time of the Quan- trell raid. George H. Hoyt was lieutenant-colonel, and Robert Il. Hunt, major.
The Sixteenth cavalry and the Seventeenth infantry, both, entered the service too late to achieve much glory, being organ-
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ized during the summer and fall of 1864. Werter R. Davis was colonel of the Sixteenth; Samuel Waker, lieutenant-colonel, and James A. Price major .* In September, 1862, the First Colored infantry, with James M. Williams, colonel; Jolin Bowles, lieuten- ant-colonel, and Richard G. Ward, major, was organized. The Second Colored infantry was mustered in August 11, 1863, at Fort Scott, Samuel J. Crawford, afterward governor of Kansas, was colonel of the regiment; Horatio Knowles, lieutenant-colonel, and James H. Gilpatrick, major. It was in the Camden expedition led by General Steele.
Besides the infantry and cavalry regiments enumerated, Kan- sas furnished three batteries of light artillery. The First battery, under Capt. Thomas Bickerton, was mustered in July 24, 1861; the Second, under Capt. Edward A. Smith, September 10, 1862, and the Third, under Capt. Henry Hopkins, was organ- ized in 1861 for an expedition against New Mexico, and was known at "Hopkins' Kansas Battery." About 3,000 friendly Indians were also enlisted. During the war, Kansas was called upon to furnish 16,654 men. She furnished 20,097, thus hav- ing a surplus to her credit of 3, 343 men-three whole regiments more than her quota. Every man was a volunteer in the high- est acceptation of the term. Not a man was drafted from Kan- sas ; not a man joined the army for the sake of a bounty, because neither state, county nor municipality offered any inducements in that way for men to enlist. They were actuated solely by patri- otic motives, their only hope of reward being the preservation of the Union.
On the 22d of May, 1801, a Republican state convention was held at Topeka. M. F. Conway was nominated for congress, and a state central committee was appointed. In October the following petition was presented to that committee:
"We, the undersigned citizens, suffering in common with oth- ers from the impotency or malice of the present State Executive; and earnestly desiring a State Government that will in a patri- otic and energetic manner defend our people from invasion- knowing that by the plain and emphatic provisions of the State Constitution the term of our State officers expires on the first day of January, and that the legislative enactment continuing the State officers beyond that time is null and void, and that there is not sufficient time, before the election, to hold a nomi- nating convention, do respectfully pray your honorable body to
.No complete roster, or record of muster-out, of the Seventeenth regiment could be found.
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nominate a full state ticket of efficient Union men, without ref- erence to their political antecedents-men who will conduct the state government with reference to the good of the whole coun- try, and not upon mere personal grounds." This was an irregu- lar and illegal proceeding originating with men who sought to have more power in the goverment of the state. The military record of Kansas up to this time would seem sufficient to refute the plea set forth in the petition and to indicate the animus of the document. The movement met well deserved defeat.
In response to this petition the committee nominated George A. Crawford for governor; Joseph L. Speer for lieutenant-gover- nor; J. W. Robinson for secretary of state, Sammel A. Stinson for attorney-general; 11. R. Dutton for treasurer; James R. McClure for auditor, and H. D. Preston for superintendent of public instruction.
The election on the 5th of November was for treasurer, attor- ney general, and members of the legislature, to fill vacancies caused by enlistments, and to decide the location of the state capital. No candidates except those presented by the Repub- lican state committee were nominated for other offices. H. R. Dutton was elected treasurer, and Samuel A. Stinson attorney general, without opposition. For a state capital Topeka received 7,996 votes; Lawrence, 5,291, and all the other towns voted for, 1,184. Topeka was therefore declared the capital. An amend- ment to the state constitution was ratified by a vote of 3,733 to 3,343. It gave to banking institutions the power to issue cir- culating notes of as small a denomination as one dollar, instead of five dollars as provided by the original constitution. The state canvassers refused to count the votes cast for the "Crawford ticket," so that the election of state officers went over to the regu- lar election of 1862.
On January 14, 1862, the second state legislature met at Topeka. Joseph P. Root again presided over the senate, and A. R. Banks was chosen secretary. In the house M. S. Adams was elected speaker and John Francis, chief clerk. The princi- pal work of this session was the compilation of the laws into the codes of civil and criminal procedure. A homestead exemp- tion law was passed; Greenwood county was organized and the name of Breckenridge county was changed to that of Lyon. The first legislature authorized the sale of state bonds to the amount of one hundred fifty thousand dollars, to provide for current expenses. On the tath of February, 1862, a committee of the house reported on the negotiations of these bonds and recom-
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mended the impeachment of the governor, secretary and auditor of state. The legislature adjourned on the 6th of March, and on the 2d of June the senate met as a court of impeachment. Ex-Governors Shannon and Stanton and N. P. Case appeared as counsel for the state officials, and Attorney General Stinson, Azel Spaulding. Davies Wilson, and W. R. Wagstaff for the prosecution. The officers were charged with high misdemean- ors in entering into an agreement with one Robert S. Stevens for the negotiation and sale of the state bonds. It seems that Ste- vens was given power to sell the bonds for sixty per cent of their face value: that he actually sold some fifty-six thousand dollars worth of the bonds for eighty-five per cent of the face value, but only turned sixty per cent of the proceeds into the state treasury. Secretary Robinson and Auditor Hillyer were found guilty. The senate then voted to remove both officials from office. In the case of Robinson, the vote stood 18 to 3, and in the case of Hillyer, 18 to 2. Governor Robinson was acquitted. September 17, 1862, the Republican party met in convention at Topeka and nominated the following state ticket : Governor, Thomas Carney; lieutenant governor, Thomas A. Osborn ; secretary, W. W. H. Lawrence ; auditor, Asa Hairgrove ; treasurer, William Spriggs ; attorney general, Warren W. Guth- rie; superintendent of public instruction, Isaac T. Goodnow; supreme judges, John H. Watson and Lawrence D. Bailey ; mem- ber of congress, A. C. Wilder. The convention adopted a plat- form endorsing the administration of President Lincoln, demand- ing a vigorous prosecution of the war, and expressing full con- fidence in the nominees of the convention.
A Union state convention met at Lawrence September 29 and nominated W. R. Wagstaff for governor; John J. Ingalls, lieutenant governor ; James Humphrey, secretary of state; N. S. Goss, auditor ; David I .. Lakin, treasurer ; Louis Carpenter, attor- ney general; E. D. Brown, superintendent of public instruction ; Willard P. Gambell and E. S. Lowman, justices of the supreme court, and Marcus J. Parrott, representative in congress. In the platform it was declared that "the condition of our country and state imperatively demands that all good and loyal citizens should, without distinction of party, unite in supporting the National Government. That the people, absorbed in the dan- gers which menace the country and the state, have neglected and abandoned old political organizations, and these organiza- tious have become the exponents of the schemes and ambition of demagogues and cliques. . That recent events in
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our own State have demonstrated the danger and disgrace attend- ant upon the active continuance of party organizations at this time. .
. That the people of Kansas love their liberties too dearly, and prize the elective franchise too highly, tamely to submit to the threatened attempt to control the coming elec- tion by violence from any quarter. Against corruption we will appeal to the honesty and integrity of the people; but at the sac- rifice of life itself we will defend the purity and the freedom of the ballot box from armed interference."
The Democrats held a convention at Topeka, on the Ist of October. No nominations were made, but a platform declar- ing that the Democratic party stood where it always had-on the constitution and laws of the land, and recommended the nomination of Democratic candidates for the state legislature in every county was adopted. At the election, November 4, the Republican candidates were all elected. For governor, Thomas Carney received 10,090 votes, to 5,463 for W. R. Wagstaff. The total vote for the other candidates was about 1,000 less than that for governor, but the proportions were about the same.
Thomas Carney, second state governor of Kansas, was born in Delaware county, O., August 20, 1827. When he was four years old, his father died, and from that time until he reached manhood Thomas lived and labored upon a farm. His education was mainly obtained in the common schools. In 1852 he went to Cincinnati where he secured a position as a clerk in a store. Later he became a partner, the firm being known as Carney, Scrift Co. Failing health compelled him to give up a mercan- tile life, and in 1857 he retired from the firm, removed to Illi- nois, and engaged in farming. His next change of location took him to Leavenworth, Kan., where he opened a dry goods store and in a short time built up a good business. His commercial training proved of great benefit to him during his term as gov- ernor, and enabled him to place the state's credit on a solid foot- ing, though he advanced his private means to pay interest on the public debt. He died at Leavenworth in 1880.
On the 13th of Jannary, 1863, the third session of the state legislature was convened at Topeka. Lient. Gov. Thomas A. Osborn was president of the senate and Josiah Kellogg, speaker of the house. The session lasted until March 3, and several important laws were enacted. Among them were acts providing for the location, establishment and government of the state edu- cational, charitable and penal institutions.
By the act of congress, January 29, 1861, seventy-two sections
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of land were granted to the state as an endowment for a state university. The legislature of 1861 accepted this grant, as well as the other conditions imposed by the act of admission, and passed an act to locate the university at Manhattan, but it was vetoed by . Governor Robinson. When the legislature of 1863 inet, the people of Lawrence submitted a proposition to donate a site of forty acres and an endowment of fifteen thousand dol- lars in money, in consideration of the location of the state uni- versity at that city. The proposition was accepted, and on the 20th of February, Governor Carney approved an act authorizing him to appoint three commissioners to select a site near Law- rence. S. M. Thorp, Josiah Miller and I. T. Goodnow were appointed. It was further provided that the fifteen thousand dollars endowment should be paid into the state treasury within six months from the time the act became operative; if not, the university should be located at Emporia. Some trouble was experienced in raising the money, and as a last resort the busi- ness men of Lawrence united in giving a note for five thousand dollars to make up the amount. This note was accepted, and on the 2d of November the governor issued a proclamation declar- ing the institution located at Lawrence.
By what is known as the Morrill Act, passed by congress in 1862, Kansas was entitled to 90,000 acres of land for the sup- port of an agricultural college. She promptly accepted the proposition, through her legislature, which passed an act on the 16th of February, locating the agricultural college at Man- hattan, in Riley county, provided the Bluemont Central College Association would make over to the state in fee simple the site of their institution there. This was done, and the college was established at Manhattan.
By the act of March 3, the state normal school was located at Emporia. The salt spring lands granted by congress-about 40,000 acres-were set apart as a perpetual endowment for the school. The institution, with L. B. Kellogg, principal, and eighteen students in attendance, was opened in February, 1865. Ninety were enrolled the second year, and from that time the school has gone steadily forward, its popularity increasing every year.
On the 2d of March, William Chestnut, of Miami county, I. Hiner, of Anderson, and James Hanway, of Franklin, were appointed commissioners to select a site, at or near Osawatomic, for an insane asylum.
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The legislature of 1861 appointed M. S. Adams and Charles Starns, of Leavenworth county, and C. S. Lambdin, of Butler connty, a commission to locate a state penitentiary in Leavenworth county. In due time they reported the selection of a site, and on the 21st of February, 1863, an act providing for the erection of suitable buildings and prescribing rules for the management of the prison was passed ..
The situation of Kansas during the Cvil war was a hazardous one. Its geographical position rendered the state liable to inva- sion by regular Confederate forces from Missouri and Arkan- sas. On the south were tribes of hostile Indians that were a constant menace, while all along the castern border were bands of guerrillas that interpreted war as a license to kill unoffend- ing civilians and pillage the country. Several times some of these predatory gangs crossed the boundary, fell upon some unsuspecting or defenceless place, murdered the citizens, phun- dered the homes, and then made their escape before aid could be summoned. One of the worst of these bands was led by a man named Quantrell, a name that throughout the southwest became a synonym for rapine, arson and murder. In March, 1862, this notorious desperado and a few of his men made a raid upon the town of . Aubrey, in Johnson county, and killed three of the citizens. On the 7th of September, the town of Olathe was raided by a large force of men under Quantrell. Every store in the town was robbed, the newspaper offices of the Mirror and the Herald were destroyed, and seven men were killed. About a month later he made another incursion into John- son county, killed three men and burned several buildings. Near the town of Shawnee the gang met two teamsters with wagons loaded with goods. The men were shot and the wagons driven away.
Quantrell's success in these petty undertakings no doubt emboldened him to plan a foray into Kansas on a larger scale. At sunset on the 20th of August, 1863, he crossed the state line with from 300 to 400 men. The objective point was Lawrence, forty miles in the interior. All night they rode, and at five o'clock on the morning of the 21st the people of Lawrence were aroused from their peaceful slumbers by the reports of fire arms and the yells of the bandits. After the first impetuous charge the invaders settled down to a systematic search for, and delib- crate mas acre of, every man that could be found. Stores were plunder al, then set on fire. Altogether about seventy- five busi- ness houses and one hundred dwellings were burned. The
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Eldridge House, the leading hotel of the place, standing upon the site of the old Free State Hotel, which was burned by Sher- iff Jones in 1856, went up in flames. Several churches were likewise destroyed. The value of the property stolen and burned was estimated at two million dollars. Between nine and ten o'clock the guerrillas withdrew, and, laden with' plunder, rode complacently back to Missouri.
No resistance was offered, because there was no one to resist. Lawrence had been, ever since the beginning of the war, a ren- dezvous for soldiers. Several of the Kansas regiments had been organized there. But that morning there was no military force there except a few unarmed recruits. The arms belonging to the militia were stored in the armory, and before the men could be assembled the armory was in possession of the enemy.
The actual number killed was never definitely ascertained. Lowman says 143 were left dead in the streets, and about thirty were desperately wounded. Some of these afterward died. . Speer estimated the number at 183. On Memorial day, 1895, a monument, bearing the following inscription, was dedicated in Oak Hill cemetery :
"Dedicated to the memory of the 150 citizens, who, defence- less, fell victims to the inhuman ferocity of border guerrillas, led by the infamous Quantrell in his raid upon Lawrence, August 21, 1863."
It is probable that the number given in that inscription is approximately correct. For three days after the massacre the survivors were employed in burying the dead. One trench was made the recipient of fifty-three charred and mangled bodies. This assault upon Lawrence and the wholesale murder of unarmed men have been characterized as "the most atrocious outrage of the war."
Gen. James H. Lane and Lieut. John K. Rankin hurriedly raised a small company of men and started in pursuit .* But their force was so small, and the guerrillas had so much the start, that nothing was accomplished. The first newspaper ac- count of the affair was published in the Leavenworth Conserva- tive. It was thence telegraphed all over the country and spon- taneous offerings for the benefit of the victims came from far and near. At Leavenworth, the day after the raid, ten thousand dol- lars was raised in a few hours for the relief of Lawrence. In
*Some of the Kansas historians say bane was six miles from Lawrence, at the head of a body of Kansas troops, when the raid was made, but no good an- Thority for such a statement bas been found.
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extenuation of Quantrell's brutal assault upon a defenceless city, it has been claimed that the act was one of retaliation for Lane's burning of Osceola, Mo., the year before.
After his descent upon Lawrence Quantrell remained quiet for a time, recruiting his forces. Ilis next movement in Kansas was at Baxter Springs, in the extreme southeastern corner of the state, where he attacked General Blunt and his escort on the way to Fort Smith. The affair is thus described by Horace Greeley, in his "American Conflict :"
"General Blunt, having been on business to Kansas, was re- turning to Fort Smith, when he was struck, near Baxter's Springs, Cherokee Nation, by Quantrell, with six hundred guer- rillas, and most of his small escort were killed or disabled; among the eighty killed-nearly all after they had been captured -were Maj. H. Z. Curtis, son of Maj. Gen. S. R. Curtis, and several civilians. ** *. General Blunt, rallying some fif- teen of his guard, escaped capture and death by great coolness and courage; their persistency in boldly fighting creating a belief that they were the van of a heavy force. A considerable train that accompanied them was sacked and burned. The attack was made very near the little post known as Fort Blair, which was next assailed; but its defenders, though few, were brave, and well led by Lieutenant Pond, Third Wisconsin Cavalry, who beat the enemy off, inflicting a loss of eleven killed and many more wounded. General Blunt and his remnant of escort kept the prairie till night, then made their way to the post. They had not ventured thither before, apprehending that it had been taken."
On August 23rd., an order was issued by Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr., from Kansas City, Mo., to the citizens of eastern Kansas and western Missouri residing in this department to remove from their places of residence within fifteen days from the date of the order. Those living within one mile of the limits of Independ- ence, Hickman's Hill, Pleasant Hill, and Harrisonville, and those in Kaw township, Jackson county "north of this creek and west of the Big Blue embracing Kansas City and Westport," were ex- empt from this order. Also, those who within this time prove their loyalty to the satisfaction of the commanding officer at the nearest military station were allowed to remain. Other severe measures in regard to the confiscation of property were con- tained in this order. As a result of these extreme measures a con ation, largely in the nature of an indignation meeting, met at Paola, the county seat of Miami county, on the eighth of Sep- tember, Lieut-Gov. Thomas A. Osborn presiding. Resolutions
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