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 29
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During the summer of 1867 numerous Indian raids upon Kan- sas settlers were made. Along the line of the Pacific railroad the savage were especially mischievous. In June the Cheyennes, Kiowas and Arapahoes joined together to attack the frontier set- tlements. The camp at Fort Haiker was among the places
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assailed. Governor Crawford tendered the services of a battalion to General Sherman to aid in putting down the insurrection. The offer was accepted, and 358 men of the Eighteenth Kansas cavalry under Col. II. L. Moore, were mustered into the service of the United States for four months. This battalion, acting in conjunc- tion with a force under Major Elliott of the Seventh United States cavalry, drove the savages into Colorado. In the southern part of the state the Wichita and Osage tribes committed a few petty outrages, but troops were stationed at Fort Larned and other points to hold the Indians in check.
Although no state officers were to be elected in 1867, the con- stitutional amendments aroused a wide-spread interest, and a heavy vote was polled. Two of three amendments were lost : The one on the question of striking the word "white" from the constitution, by vote of 19,421 to 10,483; and that granting the right of suffrage to women, by a vote of 19,857 to 9,070. The amendment restricting the elective franchise was carried, 16,860 votes being cast for it to 12,165 against it.
The eighth state legislature met at Topeka, January 14, 1868, and continued in session until the third of March. George W. Smith, of Lawrence, was elected speaker of the house, the lieu- tenant-governor again presiding over the senate. There were ordered issued state house bonds for one hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars, penitentiary bonds. for fifty thousand dollars, and insane asylum bonds for twenty thousand dollars. Gove and Wallace counties were created, and the county of Crawford was organized, the organization to date from January 1, 1868. Two volumes of laws-one called the General Statutes and the other called Special Laws-where ordered published.
On the twenty-fifth of March the Republicans met in conven- tion at Topeka to select delegates to the presidential convention. Resolutions instructing the delegates to support Gen. U. S. Grant for president, and declaring Sen. S. C. Pomeroy, of Kansas, the first choice for vice-president were adopted. The arraignment of President Johnson by the national house of representatives was approved; and thanks were extended to Secretary Stanton for maintaining "the majesty of the law and the rights of the people against the attempted invasion of a faithless and wicked Exec- ntive."
Delegates to the Democratic national convention were selected by a state convention at Topeka, on the twenty-sixth of February. The platform adopted deplored the unhappy differences between the Radical party in congress and the president ; declared in favor
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of guaranteeing to each state a Republican form of government under the control of the white race; demanded an equal and uniform system of taxation and an equal and uniform currency.
Both parties held conventions later in the season to nominate candidates for the various state offices. The Democrats met on the twenty-ninth of July and nominated the following ticket : Governor, George W. Glick ; lieutenant-governor, Maxwell MeCas- lin ; secretary of state, Wilson Shannon, Jr .; auditor, Gottlieb Schauble; treasurer, Adam Brenner; attorney-general, Ross Bums; superintendent of public instruction, Archibald Beatty; supreme judge, W. R. Wagstaff ; member of congress, Charles W. Blair. The nomination of Seymour and Blair for president and vice-president was ratified, and resolutions favoring the payment of the bonded debt according to the terms of its creation, calling in the National bank currency and issuing greenbacks in its place, and demanding the speedy removal of the Indians from the state, were adopted.
On September 9, the Republican nominating convention met at Topeka. James M. Harvey was named for governor on the fifth ballot ; C. V. Eskridge, lieutenant-governor ; Thomas Moonlight, secretary ; Alois Thoman, auditor; George Graham, treasurer; Addison Danford, attorney-general; Peter McVicar, superinten- dent; Daniel M. Valentine, supreme judge, and Sidney Clarke, member of congress. The platform endorsed the work of the national convention in the nomination of Grant and Colfax; and reviewed the record of the Republican party in the enactment of a homestead law, the development of the Pacific railroad system, the adoption of the Fourteenth amendment, and the passage of the eight hour law. Thanks were extended to congress, partic- ularly to one senator and a representative from Kansas, for the arraignment of Andrew Johnson for "high treason and misde- meanors in office."
At the election, November 3, the entire Republican ticket was successful. The highest vote received by any of the Republican presidential electors was 30,028; and the highest by any of the Democrats, 13,620. For governor, Harvey received 29,795 and Glick 13,809. The Republicans also elected an overwhelming majority in both branches of the legislature.
Troubles with the Indians in 1868 were more serious than in any of the preceding years. During the year 1867 treaties with several of the Kansas tribes, with a view to removing them to reservations outside the state, were made. Some of these treaties, made as early as February, 1867, had not been ratified by the
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United States senate at the beginning of the year 1868. From this cause and others, the Indians grew dissatisfied at the long delay, and were ready to commit almost any deviltry that sug- gested itself. In October, 1867, Generals Sherman, Harney and Terry met the representative chiefs of the Kiowas, Comanches, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes, on Medicine Lodge creek, and con- cluded a treaty with them, by which these tribes were furnished with arms and ammunition for their hunting expeditions. Early in 1868 this treaty was broken by the Indians. Nearly 500 Chey- ennes crossed over into Kansas, raided the country almost to the center of the state, and left a trail of robbery and murder behind them.
A treaty with the Osage Indians, by which they sold eight mil- lion acres of their lands in southern Kansas to the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad Company at twenty cents an acre, was made May 27, 1868. An act of congress enabled set- tlers to buy these lands of the railroad company. When the Indians saw the whites coming in and taking possession of the country, they grew sick of their bargain and began harassing the settlers.
Another source of dissatisfaction among the Indians was the construction of the Pacific railroad, but, to quote General Sher- man, "It has always been difficult to discover the exact truth con- cerning the cause of a rupture with any Indians. They never give notice beforehand of a war-like intention, and the first notice comes after their rifles and lances have done much bloody work. All intercourse then necessarily ceases, and the original cause soon becomes buried in after events."
This would certainly apply to Kansas in the summer of 1868. In August, while one party of Cheyennes were drawing arms at Fort Larned in accordance with the treaty of the preceding Octo- ber, another party was pillaging farms, burning homes and slaughtering settlers in Republic, Ottawa and Mitchell counties. All along the upper portions of the Republican and Solomon valleys, raids were of daily occurrence. Governor Crawford made a hurried tour of investigation through the stricken territory. When he learned the actual condition of affairs, he telegraphed the president, offering to furnish all the volunteers necessary to reduce the Indians to a state of subjection. "The savage devils have been intolerable," said the governor in his - message, "and must and shall be driven out of the state."
In August, General Sheridan directed the forcible removal of IV - 20
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the marauding bands to their reservations, and sent General Sully with instructions to carry out the order and destroy everything belonging to the Indians, even to their families, if necessary. To co-operate with General Sully, Governor Crawford issued a call for five companies of cavalry to serve for three months. Only a few days elapsed before the quota was filled, each man furnishing his own horse, arms, and accoutrements, the war department pro- viding the rations. Troops were soon stationed at Salina, Lake Sibley, Marion Center, and various points in the valley of the Solomon. General Sully took nine companies of cavalry, scoured the country south of the Arkansas and routed the Cheyennes and Arapahoes at different points where they had gathered.
In September Col. G. A. Forsythe was sent out with a company of scouts to watch the movements of the Indians. On the 17th he was attacked by about 700 warriors on the head waters of the Republican river. Colonel Forsythe was twice wounded; Lien- tenant Beecher and four men were killed, and fifteen men were wounded. The Indians were finally repulsed with a loss of thirty- five killed. The number wounded could not be ascertained. The figliting continued for eight days, when Forsythe was rescued by troops sent from Fort Wallace.
Finding more troops necessary to overawe the Comanches and Kiowas, General Sherman asked the governor of Kansas to raise a regiment of volunteer cavalry. A call was issued by Governor Crawford on the 10th of October, and in ten days a full regiment of 1,200 men was mustered in at Topeka for six months service. On November 4, Governor Crawford resigned his position as gov- ernor of the state and took command of the regiment, which was known as the Nineteenth Kansas cavalry. The next day the regi- ment left Topeka and on the 28th joined General Sheridan. They were constantly on the move from that time until December 24, when the Indians capitulated. The regiment continued in the service until the following April, when it was mustered out at Fort Ilays.
When Governor Crawford resigned, Lieut. Gov. Nehemiah Green succeeded to the office. He was a methodist minister, an able, conscientious executive and served until the inauguration of Governor Harvey on the 12th day of January, 1869.
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EVENTS IN KANSAS FROM 1869 TO 1889.
CHAPTER V
Events from 1869 to 1889
J AMES MADISON HARVEY, the fourth state governor of Kansas, was born in Monroe county, Va., September 21, 1833. Hle received the major part of his education in the common schools of Indiana, Illinois and lowa, and fitted himself for the work of a surveyor and civil engineer. In 1859 he settled upon a farm in Riley county, Kan., where he continued to reside until the breaking out of the Civil war. During the war he served as captain in the Fourth and Tenth regiments, Kansas volunteer infantry. Upon being mustered out in 1865, he was elected a member of the lower house of the Kansas legislature, and in 1866 was re-elected. In 1867-68 he was a member of the state senate, and while serving in this capacity was nominated for governor on the Republican ticket, and elected. He was re-elected in 1870 by a largely increased majority. Two years after retiring from the office of governor, he was elected to the office of United States senator, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Alex. Caldwell, and served until March 4, 1877. In all his public career he was looked upon as a conscientious, painstaking servant of the people. He died at his Riley county home, April 15, 1894.
In his message to the ninth legislature, Governor Harvey announced that the state had more than 600 miles of railroad in operation, and that work was being actively pushed on several lines. The Eastern division of the Union Pacific, extending from Wyandotte and Leavenworth to Sheridan, headed the list with 405 miles. The Central division between Atchison and Water- ville in Marshall county, was next with 100 miles. Bonds to the amount of seventy thousand dollars to be used in completing the east wing of the capitol which had been begun in 1866, were authorized to be issued. Besides these bonds other issues were ordered as follows: Seventy-five thousand dollars to defray the
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expenses of the Indian war of 1868; fourteen thousand dollars to pay for raising and organizing the Nineteenth regiment, and one hundred thousand dollars to provide a military contingent fund for the protection of the frontier. Acts creating commis- sions to audit the Price raid and Curtis expedition claims, and providing for the adjustment of losses growing out of the Indian raids of 1867-68 were also passed.
By an act of congress, April 10, sections sixteen and thirty-six in the Osage lands ceded by the treaty of September 29, 1865, were given to the Kansas school fund. This added more than 220,000 acres to the school lands of the state.
For some time a dispute regarding the titles to the "Neutral Lands" in Cherokee and Crawford counties had been brewing. It culminated in open riots in the spring of 1869. The treaty of July 19, 1866, gave the government the power to sell the lands in a body at one dollar an acre. On the 30th of August of that year, James Harlan, then secretary of the interior, sold to the American Emigrant Company, of Connecticut, at that price, all the lands not occupied by actual settlers. The next day Harlan was succeeded by O. H. Browning, who procured an opinion from the attorney-general that the Harlan sale was illegal and there- fore void. Browning then sold the lands to James F. Joy, repre- senting the Missouri River, Fort Scott and Gulf railroad. This contract was made October 9, 1867, but was canceled April 27, 1868, when a supplemental contract was made with the Cherokees, and the American Emigrant Company assigned its contract to Joy. The agreement and supplemental treaty were confirmed by the United States senate in June following, and Joy came into possession. Settlers continued to locate on the tract after the treaty of 1866; they understood that they could purchase their lands for one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. These were the ones whose titles were called into question. Early in the spring of 1869 the railroad was surveyed through the tract, and a land office was opened at Columbus. The prices and methods of the railroad company were not satisfactory to the settlers, how- ever, and the "Land League" or "Neutral Land Home-Protecting Corps" was organized to contest the company's claims. In April an engineering party was attached by adherents of the Land League. Their instruments were broken, and their wagons were burned. Another party of settlers raided the land office and ordered the agent to decamp. The office of the Girard Press and a page number of ties that had been delivered along the line of the proposed road were burned.
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EVENTS IN KANSAS FROM 1869 TO 1889.
Matters daily grew more serious. The civil authorities were unable to control the situation. In May the sheriffs of Crawford and Cherokee counties joined in a request to Governor Harvey to send troops to the scene of the difficulty. As the treaty with the Indians and the sale to Joy had both been made by the United States, the governor called upon General Schofield, commanding the department, to send Federal soldiers there under instructions "to take no part in the controversy as to titles butt assist the civil authorities to maintain peace and protect persons and property." These instructions were followed, the troops taking sides with neither of the contestants. They remained there for nearly four years, the road being built under military protection.
The question was before congress several times. In 1869 a committee of the house reported that "all settlers after the treaty of 1866 were trespassers." A minority report, favorable to the settlers, was adopted by the house, but was smothered in the senate. The case was finally settled by a decision of the United States supreme court, in December, 1872, declaring the validity of Joy's title.
According to the census of 1870, the population of Kansas was 364,399, an increase of over 200 per cent since the census of 1860. Prospects were brighter than at any time during the preceding decade. Most of the Indians had been removed to reservations outside the state, the institutions were in a healthful condition, and the future was full of promise.
On the 11th of January the tenth legislature with C. V. Esk- ridge president of the senate and Jacob Stotler speaker of the house was convened. Very little important legislation was enacted during the session. The Fifteenth amendment to the Federal constitution was ratified; a normal school was ordered located at Leavenworth; and the city of Lawrence was author- ized to issue one hundred thousand dollars in bonds for the aid of the state university. The session lasted until the 3d of March. This was the first legislature to meet in the new capitol, the east wing of which had been turned over to the state on Christmas day, 1869, ready for occupancy.
Interest in the political campaign of 1870 centered in the defeat or re-election of Sidney Clarke for representative in congress. Owing to the position taken by Clarke on the Neutral Land titles. there was considerable opposition to his candidacy. When the Republican state convention met, September 8, Clarke was defeated, the nominee being D. P. Lowe. Governor Harvey, Auditor Thoman, and Superintendent McCarthy were re-nomi-
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nated. The rest of the ticket was as follows: Lieutenant-gover- nor, P. P. Elder; secretary, W. Il. Smallwood; treasurer, Josiah E. Hayes; attorney-general, A. L. Williams; supreme judge, David J. Brewer. The platform endorsed the administra- tion of President Grant as "patriotic, honest and economical;" expressed sympathy with the German people in the war with France; demanded the full protection of settler's rights in the distribution of public lands and the reservation of sections sixteen and thirty-six for educational purposes.
The Democratic convention was held at Topeka on the 15th of September. Isaac Sharp was nominated for governor; A. J. Allen, lieutenant-governor; C. C. Duncan, secretary of state; Hardin McMahon, auditor; S. C. Gephart, treasurer; A. W. Rucker, attorney-general; T. S. Murray, superintendent; Rob- ert M. Ruggles, supreme judge, and R. C. Foster, for congress. There was adopted a long platform, the principal features of which were as follows: Demands for the speedy restoration of all the states to equality and self-government ; the substitution of treas- ury notes for national bank currency ; reduction or abolition of the internal revenue taxes; payment of the national debt according to the laws creating it ; no more land grants to railroads; shorter sessions of the legislature ; and a thorough reform in all branches of government. The entire Republican ticket was elected in November. For governor, Harvey received 40,666 votes ; Sharp, 20,469, and W. R. Langhlin, who ran as a workingmen's candi late, 108.
Considerable excitement resulted from the work of a vigilance committee at Douglas, Butler county, in the latter part of the year. For some time that part of the state had been infested with horse thieves and murderers. On the night of November 8, the com- mittee hung Jack Corbin and Lewis Booth and shot and killed James Smith. A few weeks later Mike Drea, William Quimby, Doctor Morris and his son were hung by the mob. The adjutant- general went to the county seat with the intention of calling out the militia, bitt found it unnecessary. The membership of the committee was never ascertained.
Governor Harvey's second term began with the assembling of the eleventh legislature, January 10, 1871. At the same time P. P. Elder was inaugurated lieutenant-governor. B. F. Simpson became speaker of the house. The session lasted until March. An act redistricting the state for legislative purposes on the basis of thirty three senators and one hundred representatives was passed. Other acts established an insurance department, provided
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EVENTS IN KANSAS FROM 1869 TO 1889.
for adjustment of losses on the frontier, and authorized certain cities to issue bonds.
January 25, the two houses met in joint session to elect a United States senator to succeed F. G. Ross. Alexander Caldwell received 87 votes ; Samuel J. Crawford, 34, and Wilson Shan - non, 2. February 3, Senator Caldwell gave a banquet at Leaven- worth to the members of the legislature. At the time of his elec- tion Senator Caldwell was not quite forty-one years of age. Dur- ing the Mexican War he served in his father's company. From 1861 to 1870 he was engaged in transporting military supplies to the frontier and building railroads in Kansas. He resigned his position as senator in 1873, and engaged in the manufacture of wagons and farm implements, and in banking.
During the year threatened invasions of the Indians led to the organization and equipment of five companies of militia. They were not calleil into service, because Gen. John Pope,at Governor Harvey's request, placed United States troops along the frontier, and the Indians retired to their reservations.
Open charges of bribery, in the elections of United States senators in 1867 and 1871, having been made in some of the news- papers, the legislature of 1872 appointed a committee to investi- gate. A few days before the final adjournment, this committee reported that sixty-four witnesses had been examined, but that a "full and complete exposition of these high crimes is the incessant labor of months instead of the few days we have had." The report contained the following rather significant remark : "Men who have been guilty of giving or taking a bribe, or in anywise connected therewith, as a general rule do not hesitate to hide their own and confederates' infamy behind the less odious crime of perjury."
Among the acts passed during the session were thirty-eight relating to the issue of municipal bonds ; appropriating fifty thou- sand dollars to the state university ; creating a state board of agri- culture ; increasing the salaries of state officers and judges of the supreme court ; and providing for the sale of the normal school lands. The legislature was in session from January 9 to March 2. Lieutenant Governor Elder presided over the senate, and Speaker S. A. Cobb, over the house.
In the political campaign of 1872, the Republican party became divided. One wing, calling themselves Liberal Republicans, was opposed to the renomination of President Grant. The regular Republicans held a state convention at Lawrence on the zist of February and selected ten delegates to the national convention to
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be held at Philadelphia in June. These delegates were instructed to support General Grant for renomination.
April 10, the Liberal Republicans met at Topeka with a large attendance. Ex-Governor Crawford presided over the conven- tion. One hundred and ten delegates were appointed to attend the Cincinnati Liberal Convention. Among them were S. J. Crawford, M. J. Parrott and E. G. Ross.
A convention of Democrats met at Topeka June 11, selected delegates to the national convention, and adopted a resolution that "the delegates this day accredited to the National Convention at Baltimore are hereby instructed that it is the desire of the Democ- racy of Kansas that the National Council of the party shall not place a ticket in the field, but that it shall, in the interest of the country, and to the end that a shameless administration shall be driven from power, give its sanction to, and its powerful voice in favor of, the nominees and platform of the Cincinnati Conven- tion. And our delegates are instructed to vote and act in accord- ance with these resolutions."
Two Republican conventions were held on the 4th of Sep- tember : One at Topeka for the nomination of state officers, and one at Lawrence to select three candidates for Congressmen at Large* and presidential electors. At Topeka, Thomas A. Osborn was nominated for governor on the tenth ballot ; Elias S. Stover, for lieutenant-governor, and Daniel W. Wilder, for auditor. For the other places on the ticket, the then incumbents of the office were renominated. The Lawrence convention named D. P. Lowe, William A. Phillips, and Stephen A. Cobb for congressional candidates.
On the 11th of September both the Liberal Republicans and the Democrats held conventions at Topeka. Although they met separately, they worked in conjunction for the nomination of a ticket. A conference committee was appointed to arrange a division of the offices. This committee reported in favor of giving the Liberals the candidates for governor, two congressmen, three presidential electors, treasurer, auditor and superintendent of public instruction, and the Democrats the rest. Both con- ventions ratified the work of the committee. The Liberals nominated Thaddeus H. Walker for governor; R. B. Mitchell, M. J. Parrott and N. A. Adams for congressmen ; C. H. Pratt for auditor . M. S. Beach for treasurer, and L. J. Sawyer for super- intendent. The Democrats named for their portion of the ticket
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