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PRESIDENT'S DWELLING.
UNIVERSITY HALL ..
OBSERVATORY. SCIENCE HALL. STATE UNIVERSITY, AT COLUMBIA, BOONE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
HISTORY
1674
OF
SALINE COUNTY, MISSOURI,
CAREFULLY WRITTEN AND COMPILED
FROM THE
MOST AUTHENTIC OFFICIAL AND PRIVATE SOURCES,
INCLUDING A HISTORY OF ITS
Townships, Cities, Towns and Villages,
TOGETHER WITH
A CONDENSED HISTORY OF MISSOURI; THE STATE CONSTITUTION; A MILITARY RECORD OF ITS VOLUNTEERS IN EITHER ARMY OF THE GREAT CIVIL WAR; GENERAL AND LOCAL STATISTICS; MISCELLANY; REMINISCENCES, GRAVE, TRAGIC AND HUMOROUS; BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT MEN AND CITIZENS IDENTIFIED WITH THE INTERESTS OF THE COUNTY.
ILLUSTRATED.
ST. LOUIS: MISSOURI HISTORICAL COMPANY. 1881.
F472 . SE5MG
STANDS
WE
H & SALUS
UNITED
MVIDED WE FALL
I' LEXESTO.
POPULI
SUPREMA
MDCCCXX
2191
1
PREFACE.
This history is what the people of Saline county have made it. But for their co-operation it never would or could have been written. It is they who dictated what should be printed in it, by furnishing all the data, facts, and details which go to compose its make-up. The labor of col- lating, compiling, and putting these items in shape for the printer, has been almost wholly mechanical. No attempt has been made at high rhetorical passages or flights, and many of the periods are quite roughly rounded, the tales humbly adorned, and the morals very bluntly pointed. If the people had furnished less information there would have been less in the book; if what they did give had been of a different character, that in the book would not be what it now is.
No pretension of literary excellence is made for this history, save that it delivers a round, unvarnished tale, void of invention and imagination, and confined to statements made in language that all can understand, even if they do not admire, and printed in type that all can read. If the writers of this history have ever so many accomplishments, word-painting is cer- tainly not one of them. Neither has the mantle of Prescott or of Motley, not to mention Gibbon or Macaulay, fallen upon the shoulders of the scribes who have prepared this book, as will be evident upon inspec- tion, comparison, and contemplation.
The obligations of the historians, as well as the publishers, to the people of the county for assistance rendered, are so many and so great, that no attempt will be made to discharge them. In 1876, Mr. Jerrold Letcher, son of Hon. Wm. H. Letcher, attempted the laudable scheme of prepar- ing a history of Saline county, and spent some months in collecting information, data, etc. From his note books, and from the papers and memoranda, collected by him, much of the early history of the county contained in this volume, has been derived or adapted. Since Mr. Letcher's labors, many of the old settlers, whom he interviewed, have died, and certain information obtained from them, if not gained by Mr. Letcher could not now be learned. It may therefore be seen, and in some sense understood, how much we are all indebted to Mr. Letcher.
6
PREFACE.
To the old settlers who have been waited upon, to the citizens who have been visited by the representatives of the publishers, to the editors of the county newspapers, especially to the editorial force of the Saline County Progress, and individually to Mr. R. S. Sandidge, of that paper, and to his contemporary, Mr. J. M. Yantis, of the Democrat; to Rev. Tutt, Dr. M. T. Chastain, and Maj. John W. Bryant, of Marshall; to Dr. Dunlap, of Miami; to Thos. Edwards. Esq., to Gen. John S. Marmaduke, Hon. John F. Philips, Col. W. F. Switzler, of Columbia, and to all, and singular the people of the county who have assisted in making the book what it is, much credit is due, and many thanks are tendered.
That the book is not what it should be, is freely admitted; that it is what it reasonably can be, is claimed. To give a detailed history of Saline county would require a volume twice the size of this, and twice the. time spent in its preparation. Much matter that had been collected and prepared for publication has been discarded, much has been re-written, everything condensed. The paradox may be asserted that while there has been condensation there is yet repetition, since the township histories contain much that has been stated in the first chapters; and mayhap in some instances these statements do not agree. The last statements are given with the first, and the reader can draw his own conclusions, for it is not the province of the writers hereof to impeach the testimony of any one of the reputable citizens of Saline county, renowned as they are, and have always been, for devotion to the principles of truth and veracity.
The biographical department is made up from the statements of the parties in interest themselves, and consequently the sketches therein made may be relied upon as to accuracy. No better opportunity to become acquainted with the lives and fortunes of Saline county's best citizens has ever been presented to the public. This department is regarded as one of the most prominent features of the history, and much attention has been bestowed upon it, and much space given it.
In the day when Macaulay's New Zealander shall sit upon the broken arches of London bridge and sketch the ruins of St. Paul's-when America shall have taken the station among the nations of the earth to which she shall be entitled-when Saline county shall have become what it will be, a rich and magnificent province-when where now are towns there shall be cities, and where now are villages there shall be towns-where now are waste places there shall be blossom and grain-in that day, another
7
PREFACE.
historian shall write another history of Saline county for another people. But in that day this modest, imperfect history shall be alive; for it will pass from posterity to posterity, from generation to generation, and treas- ured as a most valuable heirloom by those who revere the memory of their ancestry and their native land.
The deeds of the men who first came to the river bottoms of Saline county, and in time turned under the blossoms of its prairies with their wooden plows, cannot be too well remembered, cannot be too often told. The achievements of those who came next after the first pioneers, the statesmen, the warriors, the planters who have given to the country not only its notoriety, its fame and its glory, but its material prosperity as well- these ought never to be forgotten. Their works do follow them. The schools they established, the churches they built, the institutions they founded, the battles they fought, should be remembered. These things this history purports to record-imperfectly, but after a fashion that is better than none.
In hope that they have discharged their duty at least to the partial satis- faction of those who shall read this volume in this year, as well as those who shall read it in the far-off years to come, the writers hereof lay their pens aside with regret that they were not able to do their work better, but with a consciousness that they have done as best they could.
MISSOURI HISTORICAL COMPANY.
Witten zat
nberg & Sorber, Eng, St. Louis.
BOARDING HOUSE.
MINERAL HALL.
STATE SCHOOL OF MINES AND METALLURGY, AT ROLLA, PHELPS COUNTY, MO.
History of the State of Missouri. 1
PART I .- HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL.
INTRODUCTORY.
When a book is written, it is presumed that the writer had some object in view and some end to achieve by his labor in collecting the material and writing the book; and it is right that he should put himself on good terms with his readers at the outset by making a brief, but frank and honest statement of his object, plan and purpose in the book which he offers to public patronage. The writer of this History of Missouri has aimed to embody in a brief space the greatest amount of solid and reliable information about things which directly hinge and center upon or within the territory of this State-this international commonwealth, which holds by right divine the royal prerogative of a destiny imperial and grand, if she can acquire or develop human brain and muscle adequate to utilize wisely, honorably and energetically her magnificent natural resources, both of commercial position and of agricultural and mineral wealth. The writer's desire and effort has been to present nothing which would not be read with deep interest by every intelligent citizen of Missouri at the present time; and also stand as a permanent body of information, at once useful and reliable for future reference. Discussion of theories, problems or doubtful matters has been avoided; solid facts have been diligently sought after; and the narrative has been made to embody as many facts and events as possible without falling into the dry-bones method of mere statistical tables. In fact, the limit of space allotted him has compelled the writer to condense, epitomize, shorten up-and therefore continually to repress his desire to embellish the narrative with the graces of rhetoric and the glow of an exuberant and fervid enthusiasm. This, however, secures to the reader more facts within the same space.
In preparing this work more than a hundred volumes have been con- sulted, to collate incidents and authenticate dates and facts, besides much matter gathered from original sources and not before embraced in anv 1
10
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI.
book. It is not presumed that there are no mistakes or errors of state- ment herein made; but it is believed that there are fewer of such lapses than commonly occur with the same amount of data in similar works. The classification of topics is an attempt to give them a consecutive and consistent relative place and order in the book, for convenience of inci- dental reference or of selective reading.
PRE-HISTORIC MISSOURI.
THE MOUND-BUILDERS, ETC.
Every State has a pre-historic history-that is, remains and relics are found which show that the land was inhabited by a race or races of men long before its discovery and occupation by a race sufficiently advanced in the arts of civilization to preserve a written record of their own observations and doings. It is now well established that every portion of the United States was inhabited by a race of men grouped under the general name of "Mound-builders," who preceded the modern hunter tribes called "Indians." It further appears, from all the evidence accumu- lated, that the Mound-builders were a race that made permanent settle- ments, and built earthworks of considerable extent for defense against enemies, both man and beast; also for sepulture, for religious rites, and for memorial art; it is also evident that they cultivated the soil to some extent, made rude textile fabrics and clay pottery, and wrought imple- ments of domestic use, ornaments, charms, toys, pipes, etc., and weapons of war and of the chase, from flint, porphyry, jasper, hornstone, granite, slate, and other varieties of rocks; also from horn, bone, shells, and other animal products; and from native copper. But they had no knowledge of iron, nor any art of smelting copper; they merely took small pieces of the native ore and hammered it cold with their stone tools until it took some rude shape of utility, and then they scoured and polished it to its utmost brilliancy; and it is altogether probable that these articles were only possessed by the chieftains or ruling families. Plates of mica are also found among their remains, with holes for suspension on cords around the neck or body; and lumps of galena or lead ore sometimes occur, but these must have been valued merely as trinkets or charms, because of their lustre. Remains of this people are found frequently both on the bluff's and bottom lands of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and, in many States, far inland, also.
The first mention of such remains in Missouri is made by a U. S.
13
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI. .
was in old time a town there, with streets, squares, and houses built with stone foundations and mud walls. He also mentions the ruins of an ancient stone building described to him by Gen. Ashley, as situated on a high cliff on the west side of the Gasconade river. And another one said to be in Pike county, is thus described: " It presents the dilapidated remains of a building constructed of rough, unhewn stones, fifty-six feet long and twenty-two broad, embracing several divisions and chambers. The walls are from two to five feet high. Eighty rods eastward of this structure is found a smaller one of similar construction. The narrow apartments are said to be arched with stone, one course overlapping the other, after the manner of the edifices of Central America."
I. Dille, Esq., of Newark, Ohio, reported that he had examined some of these pre-historic town ruins, in the vicinity of Mine-la-Motte and Fredericktown, in Madison county, Missouri. He speaks of them as groups of small tumuli, and says: "I have concluded they are the remains of mud houses. They are always arranged in straight lines, with broad streets intervening between them, crossing each other at right angles. The distance apart varies in different groups, but it is always uniform in the same group. I have counted upwards of two hundred of these mounds in a single group. Arrow heads of jasper and agate, and axes of sienite and porphyry have been found in their vicinity." *
Mounds or other pre-historic structures have been found on Spencer's creek in Ralls county; on Cedar creek in Boone county ; on Crow's Fork and other places in Callaway county: near Berger Station in Franklin county; near Miami in Saline county; on Blackwater river in John- son county; on Salt river in Pike county; on Prairie Fork in Mont- gomery county; near New Madrid; and in many other parts of the State.
The class of ancient ruins, partly built of stone, said to exist in Clay, Crawford, Pike and Gasconade counties, Missouri, are not found further north, but are frequent enough further south, and are supposed to indicate a transitional period in the development of architectural knowledge and skill, from the grotesque earth-mounds of Wisconsin to the well-finished adobe structures of New Mexico, and the grander stone ruins of Yucatan. But, no matter what theory we adopt with regard to these pre-historic relics, the present citizens of Missouri can rest assured that a different race of human beings lived and flourished all over this region of country, hundreds-yes, thousands of years ago, and that they were markedly different in their modes of life from our modern Indians.
* Many large and costly works have been published by scientists, devoted to the general subject of Pre-Historic Man; but of cheap and popular works for the general reader, the best are Foster's "Pre-Historic Races of the United States"; and Baldwin's "Ancient America".
14
' HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI.
And there are at least two discoveries known which show that these people were here before the extinction of the mastodon, or great American elephant. In the "Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences," 1857, Dr. Kock reports that in the year 1839 he dug up in Gasconade county [as that county then was] the bones of a mastodon, near the Bourbeuse river. The skeleton of this gigantic creature was buried in such a position as to show that it had got its hind legs down in a bog so deeply that it could not climb out, although its fore feet were on dry ground. The natives had attacked it with their flint arrows and spears, most of which were found in a broken condition; but they had finally managed to build a big fire so close to its head as to burn it to death, the head-bones and tusks being found all burnt to coals. The account of this discovery was first printed in the Philadelphia Presbyterian, Jan. 12, 1839, and copied into the " American Journal of Science " the same year. The authenticity of the incident has been disputed, on the assumed ground that man did not exist as long ago as when the mastodon roamed over these pre-historic plains; but science now has indisputable evidence that nian existed even in the Tertiary age of the geological scale, ( see note to chart in chapter on Geology ) long before the glacial epoch; hence that objection has no force at present.
Dr. Koch further reports that about a year after unearthing the Gas- conade county monster, he again found in the bottom land of the Pom- me-de-Terre river, in Benton county, a nearly complete skeleton of the great extinct beast called Missourium, with arrow-heads under it in such a way as to show beyond question that they were made and used while the animal was alive. This skeleton is now in the British Museum. "
Human footprints have been found in the rocks at De Soto in Jefferson county, also in Gasconade county, and at St. Louis. H. R. Schoolcraft, in his book of travels in the Mississippi river country in 1821, said of these footprints: "The impressions in the stone are, to all appearance, those of a man standing in an erect posture, with the left foot a little advanced, and the heels drawn in. The distance between the heels, by accurate measurement, is 62 inches and between the extremities of the toes 133 inches. The length of these tracks is 104 inches; across the toes 43 inches as spread out, and but 2} at the heel."
Our eminent U. S. Senator, Thomas H. Benton, wrote a letter April 29th, 1822, in which he says: "The prints of the human feet which you mention, I have seen hundreds of times. They were on the uncovered limestone rock in front of the town of St. Louis. The prints were seen when the country was first settled, and had the same appearance then as now. No tradition can tell anything about them. They look as old as the rock. have the same fine polish which the attrition of the
* See Foster's "Pre-Historic Races of the United States," pp. 62-3-4-5-6.
11
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI.
exploring expedition under Major S. H. Long, in 1819. This expedition went in the first steamboat that ever puffed and paddled its way against the swift, muddy current of the Missouri river; # the boat was named " Western Engineer," but it had a double stern-wheel, or two wheels, one of them named in large letters, "James Monroe," and the other "John C. Calhoun," in honor of the then President and Secretary of War. This steamer had to stop at St. Louis for some repairs; and two members of the expedition, Messrs. Thomas Say and T. R. Peale, improved the time by surveying a group of twenty-seven ancient mounds which occu- pied ground that is now all covered over by the modern city of St. Louis. This occurred in June, 1819; Mr. Say prepared a map of the mounds and a brief account of them, and this appears to be the first authentic record of such ancient works within the territory now constituting the State of Missouri; his notes on these mounds were published in 1823, in the report of Major Long's expedition, but his map of them was never published until 1862, when it appeared on page 387 of the " Smithsonian Report " for the year 1861. In his account Mr. Say says:
" Tumuli and other remains of the labors of nations of Indians (?) that inhabited this region many ages since are remarkably numerous about St. Louis. Those tumuli immediately northward of the town and within a short distance of it, are twenty-seven in number, of various forms and magnitudes, arranged nearly in a line from north to south. The common form is an oblong square, and they all stand on the second bank of the
river. * It seems probable these piles of earth were raised as cemeteries, or they may have supported altars for religious cer- emonies."
It was from these mounds that St. Louis derived her pseudonym of the " Mound City"; but this name is now almost entirely obsolete, since the city has risen up to claim the prouder title of "Inter-Metropolis of North America". When the largest one of the mounds was leveled some skeletons were found, and some thick discs with holes through them; they had probably served as beads, and were wrought from shells of a spe- cies of fresh water clam or mussel. Numerous specimens of wrought flints were found between St. Louis and Carondelet, in 1860; and in 1861 an ancient flint shovel was dug up while building military earthworks.
In Mississippi county, in the southeastern corner of the State, there is a group of mounds covering ten acres, in section 6, t. 24, r. 17, varying from ten to thirty feet in height. About 1855 these mounds were explored by two gentlemen from Chicago, and they found some pottery, with men represented upon its sides; one figure appeared to be a priest or some official personage, as shown by his head-dress, and the other
* Campbell's History of Howard County says: "May 28th. 1819, the first steamboat- the 'Independence,' Capt. Nelson, time from St. Louis, including all stops, twelve days- landed at Franklin on her way up the [ Missouri] river." Thus it seems that Major Long's boat was really the second one to go up, although in most histories it is mentioned as the st-and it was the first that went up any great distance.
12
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI.
represented a captive bound with thongs. Both figures showed the peculiar contour of head and features which marks the mound-builder race.
In December, 1868, some laborers engaged in grading Sixth street, in East St. Louis, dug up a nest of unused flint hoes or shovels, and another deposit of shells with string-holes worked in them, and another deposit of boulders of flint and greenstone, ready to make more tools or weapons from. These deposits were on high ground, and about half-way between two ancient mounds.
In 1876 or 1877 some ancient mounds were discovered on the banks of the Missouri river near Kansas City. They were in groups of three and five together, at different points for five miles up and down the river. Some were built entirely of earth, and some had a rude stone chamber or vault inside, but covered with earth so that all looked alike outside. They were of an irregular oval shape, from four to six feet high, and had heavy growths of timber on top. Mr. W. H. R. Lykins, of Kansas City, noticed a burr-oak tree five feet in diameter, growing on top of one of them, and the decayed stump of a black walnut of about the same size, on another. In describing the exploration of some of these mounds Mr. Lykins gives some points that will be of interest to every one. He says:
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