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Charles B. Woodruff Book Fund
STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
-n
Charles B. Woodruff Book Fund
STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
A HISTORY OF MISSOURI
A HISTORY
OF
MISSOURI
FROM THE EARLIEST EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS UNTIL THE ADMIS- SION OF THE STATE INTO THE UNION
BY LOUIS HOUCK
VOLUME III
CHICAGO R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY 1908
2-17.5
COPYRIGHTED, 1908 BY LOUIS HOUCK
R. R. DONNELLRY & SONS COMPANY CHICAGO
·
CONTENTS
PAGE I
CHAPTER XXIII .
Act of Congress, 1812 - "Territory of Missouri"- Territorial Govern- ment - Legislative Council Appointed by President - House of Repre- sentatives Elected - Howard Appointed Governor - First Election in the Five Counties of the Territory, St. Charles, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, and New Madrid - Edward Hempstead Elected First Delegate to Congress - First Territorial General Assembly - Washing- ton County Organized - Laws Enacted - Judicial Circuits Established - Second and Third Territorial Assemblies - Legislative Council Made Elective - Howard County Organized - Last Territorial General As- sembly - Rufus Easton Elected Second Delegate - John Scott Elected Third Delegate - Territorial Judges and Lawyers - Common Law Introduced by Statute, 1816.
CHAPTER XXIV 34
Settlement of Spanish Land Titles - A Subject of Lively Interest - Appointment of Special Land Commissioners - Land Values En- hanced by Change of Government - Immense Land Grants Secured by Speculators - Questionable Methods Employed - Efforts of Lawyers Aided by Clients - Congressional Legislation - Personnel of Board of Land Commissioners - Secretaries Appointed by the Commission - Frugal Expenses - Confusion Concerning Rights of Lead Miners on Public Lands - Public Ownership of Lead Mines Recommended in 1805 - Correspondence with President Jefferson Concerning Public Lands - Daniel Boone's Grant - One of the Land Commissioners As- saulted - Unconfirmed Claims Made a Political Issue - Benton, Fav- oring Such Claims, Elected to United States Senate - Additional Con- gressional Legislation.
CHAPTER XXV 55
Social and Political Changes - An Era of Lawlessness - Non-ob- servance of Sunday - Noted People of Various Settlements - Pioneer Tavern-keepers - Ferries - Postal Service, Postage, Postmasters - Newspapers - Schools - Private and Public Libraries - Gambling Mania - Carrying Weapons - Duels, between MeFerron and Ogle - Graham and Farrar - Fenwick and Crittenden - Geyer and Kennerly - Benton and Lucas - Martin and Ramsay - Browne and John Smith T. - Carroll and Gentry - Berry and Leonard, etc. - Pioneer Physi- cians - Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers, Pioneers of Missouri - Notable Residents of Territorial Missouri.
CHAPTER XXVI 98
The War of 1812 - Hostility of Indians to American Settlers Incited by British Agents - Indians Supplied with Arms and Ammunition by British Agents - Indian Depredations Prior to the War - Indian Raid on Loutre Island, 1810 - Pursuing Party almost Annihilated by Indians - Friendly and Hostile Tribes - Declaration of War, and Renewed Activity of British Agents - Black Hawk Attacks Ft. Madison - Joins British Expedition - Preparations for War - Enrollment of Militia -
>
vi
CONTENTS
Roster of Officers of Militia, 1812-14 - First U. S. Recruiting Office West of the Mississippi - Indian Atrocities, 1812 - Fort-building - Narrative of Col. John Shaw - Indians more Hostile, 1813 - Citizens Resolve to Fortify St. Louis - Volunteer Companies, Expeditions and Engagements - General Howard's Expedition in Illinois - Missouri Troops Swim the Mississippi - Indian Hostilities on the Missouri River - Capture of French Trading Boat - Conflicts with Predatory Indian Bands - Captain Cooper Killed in 1814 by Indians - Troops of General Dodge Swim the Missouri River - Capture of the Miamis - General Dodge Quells a Mutiny and Prevents Massacre of Indian Captives - Death of James Callaway - Indian Attack on Roy's Fort - Explosion of the Block-house Magazine - Black Hawk's Relentless Indian War Along the Mississippi, 1814 - Disaster to Lieutenant Campbell's Expe- dition - Timely Arrival of a Gunboat - Black Hawk Repulses Major Zachary Taylor - Indians Greatly Emboldened - Black Hawk's Account of a Bloody Episode - Butchery of the Ramsay Family in St. Charles County - Five White Men Ambushed and Tomahawked - Black Hawk and Band Surrounded in the "Sinkhole"- Account of the Battle of the Sink-hole - Death of Captain Craig, and Lieutenant Spears - Black Hawk and Band Escape by Strategy - Indians on Warpath after Conclusion of Peace - Volunteer Regiment from Cape Girardeau, Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis Counties - Expedition up the Mississippi and Through Illinois - List of Forts Erected During the War of 1812 in Mis- souri Territory - Scarcity of Horses after the War.
CHAPTER XXVII 140
Increase of Population after the Cession - Lewis and Clark Expedi- tion - Glimpses of the Country along the Missouri - St. Charles - La Charette - Daniel Boone - Pike's Expedition up the Mississippi in 1805 - Portage des Sioux - The Germ of Hannibal - Pike Goes up the Missouri in 1806 - His Voyage up the Osage - No Vestige of Fort Carondelet - Lisa Operates as a Trader on the Osage then - Chouteau a trader there - H. M. Brackenridge and Bradbury on the Missouri in 1811 - Côte sans Dessein - The Boonslick Settlement - The Settle- ments south of the river - Fort Osage - G. C. Sibley - Rapid Increase of Population after the War of 1812-15 - Long's Expedition of 1819 - Goes up the Mississippi from the Mouth of the Ohio - Appearance of the Country along the River as Reported by Him - Cape Girardeau - Ste. Genevieve - Herculaneum - St. Louis - Long Goes up the Missouri - Changes on this River since the Expeditions of Lewis and Clark and Pike - Franklin - Rapid Growth of this Town. - The Cradle of the Santa Fe Trade - Chariton - Isolated Settlement and Settlers north of the Missouri, and Names of some of these Settlers - Ferry across the Missouri at Arrow Rock - Dr Sappington and his Pills - Beginning of the Export Trade on the Missouri - Flatboats Sail south from the Mis- souri with Produce.
II. St. Louis Made the Seat of Government of the Territory - Growth of St. Louis - Appearance of St. Louis - Incorporated in 1808 - Road Authorized by the Territorial Legislature to Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girar- deau and New Madrid - Opened in 1813 - Revenue of St. Louis - Fire Companies - First Street Improvements - Market House - Lisa builds the first Brickhouse - Survey of the Town by Brown - First Contested Village Election - Water Supply - Jealousy of St. Charles - Cape Girardeau laid out in 1805 by Lorimier - Road Established from there to Ste. Genevieve in 1806 - Jackson Laid out in 1815 - Appearance of Jackson in 1818 - Peck - The German Settlement on Whitewater - New Madrid - The New Madrid Harbor - Scene in, described by Flint - Decline of New Madrid - The Earthquake of 1811 - Extent of - Cause of Earthquake, Various Theories - Audubon's Notice of it -
vii
CONTENTS
Description of the Earthquake by Senator Linn - Noticed on the Kas- kaskia - At Cincinnati - Described by Bradbury - Louis Bringier's Description - The Earth Opens at Various Places - River Runs Back- ward - Lands Sink - The Description of it by Mrs. Bryant - LeSieur's Description - Flint's Observations Seven Years Afterwards of its Effects - Little Prairie Destroyed - Reelfoot Lake - Continues from Time to Time for Several Months - Effect in Cape Girardeau - Act of Con- gress for Relief - Frauds Resulting from this Act - Description of New Madrid by Nuttall in 1818 -St. Michael now Fredericktown in 1820 - Potosi - Picture of, by Schoolcraft - Large Sales of Public Lands - New Towns Founded on the Missouri and Mississippi and Names of same - Disappearance of most of these - Jefferson City Located and Made Seat of State Government - Sawmills, Tanyards - Various Industries of the Pioneer Settlers Detailed - Lead Mines - Shot Towers - Fur Trade - Banks - Early Merchants - Steamboats - Change Made by Steamboat Travel - A Question whether Boats Could Navigate the Missouri - Flint's Comparison between Keelboat and Steamboat Travel.
CHAPTER XXVIII 201
Early Protestant Ministers and Churches - Spanish Authorities Op- posed to Protestantism - Religious Qualifications Required of Immigrants - First Protestant Ministers in Spanish Territory, now Missouri - First Protestant Baptism west of the Mississippi - Religious Decadence ot early American Settlers - First German Protestant Minister in upper Louisiana on Whitewater - First Protestant church west of the Mississippi - Its Members - First Baptist church north of the Missouri river - Its Members - Pioneer Baptist Preachers and Laymen -Adventure of Elder David McLain with Indians - Rev. John Mason Peck - Peck's Ministry in St. Louis and the Territory - Peck's Observations - Baptist Congregations and Associations - Pioneer Missionary society Opposition to Missionary society - Early Ministers poorly Compensated - Noted early Baptist Preachers - Women's Mite societies - First Sabbath school at Chariton - Religious Conditions Prevailing in St. Louis and the Territory in 1812 - Distribution of Bibles - Rev. Timothy Flint - Observations of Flint - Pioneer Presbyterian Ministers - Members of first Presbyterian church west of the Mississippi - Noted early Presbyterian Ministers - Presbytery of Missouri, 1817 - Pioneer Bible societies - First Episcopal Minister at St. Louis, 1819 - Members of first Episcopal church at St. Louis - First Methodist church west of the Mississippi - Noted early Methodist Preachers - Early Methodist Circuits and Stations - First Methodist Conference, 1810.
CHAPTER XXIX 243
Rapid Growth of Population - Memorial to Erect Territory into State - Proposed Boundaries - Memorial Presented to Congress - Referred to a Select Committee - The Slavery Question - Parties Divide on Sectional Lines for the first Time in Congress - The Talmadge Amend- ment Adopted by the House - Fails in the Senate - Fifteenth Congress Adjourns without Admitting Missouri - Sixteenth Congress Meets - The Admission of Missouri Coupled with that of Maine - The Missouri Compromise - Excitement Produced by the Congressional Debates - Passage of the Enabling Act Creates Great Joy - Members of the Constitu- tional Convention Elected - A Pro-Slavery Body - Constitutional Convention Meets at St. Louis - Constitution Adopted after a Short Session - Political Preaching Adhorred at the Time - Some Provisions of the Constitution - Biographical Sketches of some of the Members of the Convention - McNair Elected First Governor -. William H. Ashley Elected First Lieutenant-Governor - State Officers Appointed by McNair
viii
CONTENTS
- Barton and Benton Elected United States Senators - Struggle of Benton to be Elected - Arms of the State - Meaning of the Arms of the State Explained - Opposition to the Admission Renewed by the Anti- Slavery Party - Clay's Compromise - The State Adopts the Declaratory Law Required by Congress - Proclamation of Monroe admitting Mis- souri dated August 10, 1821 - The Grand Destiny of the State.
ILLUSTRATIONS
ARMS AND THE GREAT SEAL OF MISSOURI
PAGE
269
AUSTIN, STEPHEN F. From a painting in the Missouri Historical
Society.
7
BABER, COL. HIRAM M. From a photograph
265
BATES, EDWARD. From a painting
17
BATES, FREDERICK. From a painting .
50
BENTON, THOMAS HART. From a painting in the Missouri Historical Society . 268
BOONE, NATHAN.
II2
BRACKENRIDGE, HENRY M. From the National Cyclopedia of Ameri- can Biography 16
CARR, WILLIAM C.
14
CHARLESS, JOSEPH. From a painting in the Missouri Historical So- ciety 65
CHOUTEAU, PIERRE, JR.
254
CHRISTY, WILLIAM. From a painting in the Missouri Historical So- ciety . . 49
CLARK, GOVERNOR WILLIAM. From a painting
3
COOK, JOHN D. From a painting
266
DAVIS, GREER W. From a photograph .
32
DODGE, GENERAL HENRY. From a painting of Catlin
.
I22
DONALDSON, WILLIAM LOWRY. From a painting .
42
DUELLING PISTOLS, PHOTOGRAPH OF. Property of Mr. Henry L. Rozier of Ste. Genevieve 76
EASTON, COL. RUFUS. From a painting in the Missouri Historical
Society
9
FARRAR, DR. BERNARD G. .
80
FIRST MAP OF SURVEY OF ST. LOUIS BY BROWN
164
GEORGE, BISHOP
. 241
GEYER, HENRY S. From a painting
.
21
GRATIOT, CHARLES. From a painting in the Missouri Historical
Society
44
GREEN, DUFF. From the National Cyclopedia of American Biog-
raphy .
258
.
HEMPSTEAD, EDWARD. From an oil painting
2
HEMPSTEAD, STEPHEN. From a painting
. 224
JONES, JOHN RICE. From a photograph
257
ix
x
ILLUSTRATIONS
LAWLESS, LUKE E. From a painting in the Missouri Historical Society
19
LEONARD, ABIEL. From a painting in the Missouri Supreme Court 28
LUCAS, J. B. C. From a painting
267
MCKENDREE, BISHOP .
240
McKENDREE CHAPEL. From a photograph .
. 235
PECK, REV. JOHN MASON. From a picture in his Life . 212
POTOSI. From Schoolcraft's View of the Lead Mines of Missouri, 1819 182
RAMSAY, GENERAL JONATHAN
263
REEVES, COL. B. H. From a painting . . 259
RIDDICK, THOMAS FIVEASH. From a painting 71
ROBINSON, DR. JAMES H. From a painting . 80
RYLAND, JUDGE JOHN F. From a photograph 31
SCOTT, ANDREW. From Fay Hempstead's "History of Arkansas" 5
SCOTT, JOHN. From a daguerreotype . 13
THOMPSON, REV. WILSON. From a picture in his Life . 209
TUCKER, NATHAN BEVERLY. From a painting IO
WALKER, JOSEPH R. From a photograph in the Missouri Historical Society 91
WATKINS, GENERAL NATHANIEL W. From a photograph
24
WELLS, ROBERT W. From a painting in the U. S. Circuit Court Room . 25
WELSH, REV. JAMES E. From a painting
212
ERRATA
On page 57 of Volume II, line 19, read " three " for "there."
HISTORY OF THE EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT OF MISSOURI
CHAPTER XXIII.
Act of Congress, 1812 - "Territory of Missouri"- Territorial Government - Legislative Council Appointed by President - House of Representatives Elected - Howard Appointed Governor - First Election in the Five Counties of the Territory, St. Charles, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, and New Madrid - Edward Hempstead Elected First Delegate to Congress - First Territorial General Assembly - Washington County Organized - Laws Enacted - Judicial Circuits Established - Second and Third Territorial Assemblies - Legislative Council Made Elective - Howard County Organized - Last Territorial General Assembly - Rufus Easton Elected Second Delegate - John Scott Elected Third Delegate - Territorial Judges and Lawyers - Common Law Introduced by Statute, 1816.
By the Act of 1812 the name of the territory was changed to "Territory of Missouri" and a territorial government established on a broader basis. Under this Act the legislative power of the territory was vested in a General Assembly consisting of a Governor, a Legislative Council and a House of Representatives. Upon this General Assembly was conferred the power to make laws, both civil and criminal, to establish inferior courts and to define their jurisdiction, prescribe the duties of the justices of the peace and other civil officers, regulate their fees and provide for the payment of the same and for the payment of all other services rendered the territory. Provision was made for the assent of the Governor to all bills and no bill or legislative Act was to be of any force without his approbation. A Legislative Council to consist of nine members, it was provided should be selected by the President of the United States by and with the advice of the Senate, out of eighteen persons nominated by the territorial House of Representatives; members of this Legislative Council to be residents of the territory and own at least 200 acres of land therein; to hold office for five years, and no person under the age of twenty-five years to be eligible. The members of the House of Representatives were to be elected for two years. Each five hundred of the free white male inhabitants was to be represented by one member until the population of the country should so increase as to return more than twenty-five
~ 2
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
members, when a different proportion was to be established. Repre- sentatives were required to be residents of the territory, to have resided in the territory one year prior to election, to be free-holders, and to have paid a territorial or county tax. It was enacted that this General Assembly should meet annually in St. Louis. The mode of proceeding to set this new government in motion was also particularly set forth. The citizens of the territory were author- ized to elect a delegate to Congress, and the Act further provided that religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, good schools and the means of education should be encouraged and provided for from the public lands of the United States in said territory, and in such manner as Congress might deem expedient.1 By the Act of 1816 that part of the law providing for the selection of a Council by the President, out of names to be submitted to him, was repealed, and the statute so amended as to provide for the election of one member to the Council from each county, and for a biennial meeting of the General Assembly instead of an annual meeting.
In a proclamation issued, as provided by this Act, Governor Howard defined the qualifications of electors, and ordered an election in the five counties of St. Charles, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau EDWARD HEMPSTEAD and New Madrid, (which before that time had been known as "districts"), on the second Monday in November, for members of the territorial House of Representatives as well as for a delegate to Congress. At this election Edward Hempstead was elected first delegate to Congress. He was a native of Connecti- cut, born at New London, June 3, 1780 and son of Stephen Hemp- stead, a soldier of the Revolutionary war. He received a clas- sical education, studied law, was admitted to the bar, practiced his profession in Rhode Island several years, but removed to upper Louisiana immediately after the acquisition of the territory. He came west on horseback as far as Vincennes, where he remained for some time, and then walked on foot from Vincennes to St. Louis, settling in St. Charles in 1805 and afterward removing to St. Louis. In 1805 he was elected Clerk of the Legislative Council; in 1806 1 Statutes at Large, vol. 2, pp. 445, 446, 447.
3
+
WILLIAM CLARK
Deputy Attorney-General for the districts of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in 1809 Attorney-General for the Territory of Louisi- ana, which position he held when elected first delegate of the Missouri Territory to Congress.
The members of the first territorial House of Representatives chosen at this election were John Pitman and Robert Spencer from St. Charles; David Musick, Bernard G. Farrar, William C. Carr and Richard Caulk from St. Louis; George Bullit, Richard S. Thomas and Israel M'Gready from Ste. Genevieve; George Fred- erick Bollinger and Stephen Byrd from Cape Girardeau, and John Schrader and Samuel Phillips from New Madrid. These repre- sentatives met at the house of Joseph Robidoux between Walnut and Elm streets on the 7th of December, 1812; the oath of office was administered by Judge John B. C. Lucas; William C. Carr was elected Speaker, and Thomas F. Riddick, Clerk pro tem. and Andrew Scott2 permanent Clerk before the close of the session. Under the Act of Congress providing for the nomination of eighteen persons from which the President of the United States was to select nine, to constitute the Council for the territory, the House proceeded to nominate eighteen per- sons and then adjourned. From the names submitted the President selected as the first territorial Council: James Flaugherty and Benjamin Emmons from St. Charles, Auguste WILLIAM CLARK Chouteau and Samuel Hammond from St. Louis, John Scott and Rev. James Maxwell from Ste. Genevieve, William Neeley and Joseph Cavender from Cape Girardeau and Joseph Hunter from New Madrid. By proclamation of Frederick Bates, Secretary of the territory and acting as Governor, (Governor Howard having resigned upon being appointed Brigadier-General) the names of the Legislative Council selected by the President were announced and the first Monday in July following fixed as the day for the meeting of the first territorial General Assembly under this Act. On the day named this legislative body accordingly met. William
? He was a brother of John Scott; in 1818 was appointed Judge of the Superior Court of the Territory of Arkansas and moved from Potosi to Arkansas Post and was the first official to arrive in the territory. Died on his farm "Scotia" in Pope county, Arkansas, March 13, 1851, aged 63 years. He married a Miss Gregoire of Ste. Genevieve.
4
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
Clark 3 had been appointed Governor of the territory and during the recess assumed the duties of his office. Friendly relations were estab- lished and maintained between the executive and this legislature.
' William Clark, a younger brother of Gen. George Rogers Clark, was born in Caroline county, Virginia, August 1, 1770, with his parents he removed to the Falls of the Ohio, now Louisville, Kentucky, in 1784, and where his brother then occupied a conspicuous position; here the family established itself on a farm which became known as "Mulberry Hill"; in 1787 at the age of 17 years he became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, his certificate of membership being signed by George Washington. In 1788 he was appointed ensign in the Regular Army, and in 1790 made a Captain of the militia by Gov. St. Clair; in 1791 he was commissioned Lieutenant in the Regular Army, and in 1796 resigned and returned to the farm. In 1803 he was requested by Merriwether Lewis, with whom he became acquainted in the army, to join him in the Expedition to the headwaters of the Missouri and the Pacific ocean; appointed by Jefferson Lieutenant in the Corps of Artillerists and thus came to participate in this great Exploration and which has forever immortalized his name with that of Lewis. Upon his return he was appointed by Jefferson Briga- dier General of the Militia of the Territory of Missouri in 1807, also Indian Agent of the United States for the territory then extending indefinitely west. In 1812 he was again appointed Brigadier-General of the Missouri militia by President Madison. After the resignation of Governor Benjamin Howard, he was appointed Governor of the Missouri Territory and this position he held until the admission of the State into the Union. In 1822 he was again appointed Indian Agent and in 1824, Surveyor-General of Missouri and Illinois and the Arkansas Territory. In 1828 he laid out the city of Paducah. He was married twice. His first wife, Julia Hancock, he married in June, 1808. She died in 1820, leaving four sons and one daughter. His second wife was the widow of Dr. John Radford, and she died in 1831, leaving him two sons and one daughter by her first husband. Clark died in 1838. He was a remarkable man and his name will remain identified with the history of the State and the west. He was a man of affairs, able, enterprising, and energetic. He negotiated many Indian treaties and his personal influence among the Indians was unbounded, and among them he was known as "Redhead "; they had faith in him, respected him, and loved him. He was one of the founders of the Missouri Fur Company in 1808. It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that he was without faults. In the Letters of Lucas we catch a sketch of his character from a hostile pen. In a letter to President John Quincy Adams he says, "This William Clark has nothing to recommend him personally, except his trip to the Pacific ocean. He knew so little of his duty as Indian agent as to be publicly concerned in Indian trade, and was actually President of a fur company and trading up the Missouri in 1808 and 1809 whilst he was Indian agent. He also kept Indian goods for sale at his store in St. Louis. It was he who had laid the plan of a military expedition from St. Louis to Prairie du Chien in 1813 and 1814; he caused a very large boat to be built which he manned with a large crew. Many of them had twenty dollars pay per month. He took care to have his nephew, Ben O'Fallon, with a boat following him as sutler, who swept all the money from the crew. He erected a fort at Prairie du Chien which was taken by the British a few months after. The latter annoyed our force at the rapids of the Mississippi with the very same artillery which they had taken from us at the Prairie du Chien, and no one was benefited by that expedition but General Clark, his nephew and com- pany. If I am correctly informed the Indian agents have generally been ap- pointed at the recommendation of General Clark. Those offices are filled with his nephews, brothers-in-law or other friends and dependents. They are mostly loitering at home and are nearly sinecure." Letters of Lucas, page 79. All of which shows that public men in those early days were not exempt from perhaps ill-natured criticism.
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