USA > Missouri > A History of Northeast Missouri, Volume I > Part 8
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In college, in high school, in the grades, in the rural schools the women are doing a great work, not only in purely intellectual work, but in that broader and deeper influence radiating from a womanhood of culture and high ideals. Not only do women predominate as instructors, but they are encroaching in other fields, there being no less than four- teen women county superintendents of public schools. The work that women are doing is a growth, a development, a result, harking back to the foundation laid by their pioneer grandmothers.
The pioneer woman who looked after a large family, and a goodly number of slaves, with weaving and spinning, and cooking and sewing all proceeding under her able direction, was endowed generously with executive ability, and explains in great measure the women doctors, law- yers, editors, farmers, real estate dealers, women in public office that there are today. It is mental activity expressed in a different way, in alignment with the trend of the times. There are few vocations in which women are not creditably engaged. She fills many county offices with an efficiency not in any measure inferior to work done by men. At the present time there is a woman in Missouri running for the office of coroner, but this is probably an exposition more of nerve than of brains.
It is impossible to tell what women have done for Northeast Missouri. The historical perspective is too short. They have come such a short way. It can not be said that they have come to this present estate along the primrose path of dalliance. Instead it has been over jagged stones, through primeval forests, over sunblistered plains, up from pioneer darkness to a sunlight of industrial plentitude, of broad culture, of almost opulent ease. The formulation of the modern has been on the strong, simple, sturdy lines of the pioneer and explains why the women walk as those who are free. Her broad-minded independence, her lack of snobbishness, her democracy, is a gift from a day when poverty was
44
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
not a stigma, but solely the condition of the times, as plentitude is the condition of the present.
A POLYGLOT COMPOSITE
The women of Northeast Missouri today are a polyglot composite. English, German, Scotch, Irish, have gone into the "melting pot." Also the brawn of the backwoodsman, the brain of the intellectual, the breed- ing of the aristocrat. The result is a woman nobly evolved, rich in honor, in love loyalty ; splendid mothers, women of wit and resource, of brains and ready adaptation to circumstances; woman who can herself perform the work of her own household, and entertain high dignitaries with equal grace. She is a creature of merged heredities, culled from many countries. Many atavistic traits, sometime of manner, sometime of person, some- time racial, have given her a diversified quality, interesting to ethnolo-
F
SOME WOMEN NEWSPAPER WRITERS IN NORTHEAST MISSOURI From left to right-Miss Florence LaTurno, Miss Wilhelmina Long, Miss Frances Nise. Miss Cannie R. Quinn, Mrs. S. E. Lee, Miss Mary Alice Hudson, Miss Mabel Couch, Miss Bertha Reid, Miss Malvina Lindsay, Miss Sara Lockwood.
gists, and curious, bewildering, perplexing, charming and exciting the admiration of those privileged to know her. In the same family one daughter may with haughty grace and proud carriage surround herself with the atmosphere of an old world court where an ancestor moved proudly among its courtiers, another has the housewifely instincts of her Plymouth forbears, while yet a third scorning the ways of the protected, side by side with her lord treads joyously in the course of empires, to western ranch, or Canadian plains, or the gold fields of Alaska.
As yet no high conspicuous deeds, no names of immortal luster have been produced in Northeast Missouri. The average woman is educated, cultured, domestic, religious, a club woman, and vastly interested in the live issues of the day, in every problem of public interest that means the betterment of conditions, and the development of public benefits. Her methods may lack a certain virile quality, but her ultimate success ex- cuses this. In a certain county the young ladies are vitally interested in good roads, and have issued an edict that every gentleman to be eligible
45
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
to a place on their calling list should possess a certificate of membership in an active good roads organization. What veteran diplomat could transcend the subtle craft of that?
While energy has been expended in education, in literature, in jour- nalism, sculpture, politics, religion, missions, the lecture field, but few names have emerged from the crowd. Indeed the glory of Northeast Missouri is the splendid type of her average woman, who finds in wife- hood and motherhood the full tide of her acquirements and her natural endowments. A modern high priestess of the home, keeping safe and secure the sweet, sane, everydayness of life out of which grows the pos- sibility of all goodness and all greatness. Add to these basic virtues her full acceptance of Victor Hugo's apothegm that "There is in the world no more important function than being charming," and it must be acknowledged that she has rendered the greatest possible service to her state. It may be said without fear of refutation that in its process of evolution, the fine type of womanhood generated in Virginia, and deflected to Kentucky, has been perfected here in Northeast Missouri.
CHAPTER IV IN THE TIME OF CIVIL WAR By Floyd C. Shoemaker, Columbia, Assistant Librarian of the State Historical Society of Missouri."
It is the purpose of this chapter to give a brief account of the Civil war in Northeast Missouri. The term Northeast Missouri will be taken to include all that part of this state which lies north of the Missouri river and east of the western boundary of Linn county. The shortness of this chapter will forbid a treatment of this subject by individual counties and will not permit of any detailed account of either campaigns or battles. Many engagements and executions which took place during the war and which are matters of common knowledge to the inhabitants of this section will be but slightly touched upon owing to the necessity of economizing space. It is to be regretted that so little accurate infor- mation relating to the Civil war in Northeast Missouri can be obtained today by the historian. For example, it would seem to be a small affair to ascertain the exact number of soldiers contributed by this section to the northern and southern armies, but as far as can be learned no accurate figures have yet been produced to settle this point.
The Civil war has opened up a mine of material for the historian, biographer and novelist. To read the bare facts of that struggle will cause the last three score years to roll away and place one in the midst of civil strife. The states that furnish the longest, fiercest and most embittered account are the "border states." Several things made the conflict more oppressive in these states than in the other commonwealths : First, their position, lying between the north and south, secured for them the battlefield; second, their population, more or less divided in sentiment during the war, made possible the most cruel and most pro- longed kind of warfare; third, and closely related to the first fact, these states because of their importance became the "bone of contention" for both north and south.
All of these facts are peculiarly applicable to Missouri and the events of the four years, 1861-1865, in this state bear witness to the above state- ments. That portion of this state which is designated in this chapter as Northeast Missouri, is a perfect picture of conditions as they existed in
* In this chapter it was thought advisable not to burden the reader with foot notes stating the page references of statements made. Although this will detract from the apparent value of the article as a work of historical research, it does not make it any the less accurate in fact.
The material consulted in preparing the chapter was :- first, general works on Missouri history and county histories; second, treatises on the Civil war in Missouri; third, Missouri official publications, especially the reports of the adjutant-general, messages of the governors and reports of legislative committees; and fourth, United States census reports.
It is a courtesy due the State Historical Society of Missouri, located in Colum- bia, to state that this chapter was prepared wholly from material forming part of that institution's great collection on Missouri history.
46
47
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
many parts of this commonwealth during the Civil war. In some respects person and property were better off here than in other parts of Missouri, while in many ways both fared worse in this section than elsewhere. Northeast Missouri gave thousands of men to both sides, and most of her sons achieved honor, while some became leaders of the highest note on the field of war. If it were possible here, nothing would be more delightful and entertaining than compiling biographical sketches of men like Sterling Price, Odon Guitar, Generals Harris and Green, Colonel Porter and a score of others from this section. Northeast Mis- souri can well be proud of both the quantity and quality of the soldiers she sent to the front.
MISSOURI A BORDER STATE
Before considering the war proper in Northeast Missouri, it might be well to state by way of introduction a few general facts setting forth : First, the importance of Missouri as a "border state," her position, population, and character of her people as regards color and nativity ; second, the distribution of free and slave in Northeast Missouri; third, the general character of the war in this section; and fourth, the political conditions leading up to the war.
The importance of Missouri as a "border state" was of the greatest significance. Her peculiar position alone would have made her a typical "bone of contention" for both the north and south. Nearly surrounded as she was on three sides by the free territory of Illinois, Iowa and Kansas, Missouri was eagerly sought for by the north and as anxiously desired by the south. As regards area, Missouri ranked ahead of all the states east of or bordering on the Mississippi except Minnesota; while among the slave states she was excelled by Texas alone in this respect. Still more important was Missouri from the standpoint of population in 1860.
GROWTH IN POPULATION, 1810-1860
Missouri's almost phenomenal growth in population from 1810 to 1860 can be partly appreciated from the following facts based on the appended table taken from the United States census report of 1860. According to this report of 1860, Missouri's population in 1810 was, whites, 17,227, free colored, 607, slaves, 3,011, total, 20,845; in 1820, about the time of Missouri's admission into the Union, Missouri ranked 23d among the other states; in 1830, 21st; in 1840, 16th; in 1850, 13th; and in 1860, 8th in total population but 7th in white population. The following table will perhaps give some idea of the rapid growth of popu- lation in this state during a half century of growth.
The rate of increase, by decades, previous to the Civil war, was as follows :
Year
White
Free Col.
Slave
Total
1810
17,227
607
3,011
20.845
1820
55,988
347
10,222
66,557
1830
114,795
569
25,091
140,455
1840
323,888
1,574
58,240
383,702
185
592,004
2,618
87.422
682,044
1860
. 1,063,489
3,572
114,931
1,182,012
48
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Year
White
Free Col.
Slave
Total
Rank
1810
1820
225.00%
42.83
239.48%
289.43%
23
1830
105.03%
63.97%
145.46%
110.94%
21
1840
182.14%
176.62%
132.11%
173.18%
16
1850
82.78%
66.32%
50.10%
77.75℃
13
1860
79.64%
36.44%
31.47%
73.30%
8
Total rate of increase from 1810 to 1860: whites, 6073.38% ; free- colored, 488.47% ; slaves, 3717.03%; total, 5570.48%.
Among the fifteen slave states, including Delaware, Missouri ranked first in total white population and in total population was surpassed only by Virginia. But what is equally important to the war historian is the strength of a nation's war-population, i. e., the males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years. In this respect Missouri easily led all her sister southern states, having 232,781 white males between those ages, or more than Virginia-her nearest competitor-and Florida and Dela- ware combined.
While Missouri ranked first in white population among slave states. she held only eleventh place as regards the number of slaves the latter being 114,931 out of a total population of 1,182,012 or in other words only 934 per cent of Missouri's total population in 1860 consisted of slaves.
As to the character of Missouri's white population a very interesting fact or two is brought to light especially as regards nativity. In 1860 only 160,541 persons or 131/2 per cent of Missouri's population were of foreign birth-slightly over one-half of these being Germans, who had settled in St. Louis and the surrounding counties to the west and north, about one-fourth of the foreign born were Irish, and the remaining one- fourth of various nationalities. Of the 906,540 white persons of native birth, i. e., born in the United States, over one-half were native Missou- rians and over three-fourths were of southern birth, i. e., born in a slave state-principally in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. At this point it should be noted how this free and slave population of Mis- souri was distributed in the section under consideration.
The total population of Northeast Missouri in 1860 was 309,232 as compared with 181,894 in 1850. This was a gain of 70 per cent as compared with the gain of 73.3 per cent all over the state during that decade. During the same period the white population of Northeast Mis- souri increased from 145,674 to 254,190 or 741/2 per cent as compared with the gain of 79.6 per cent over the state as a whole. The slave popu- lation of Northeast Missouri in 1850 was 35,843 and in 1860 had risen to 46,021 or a gain of only 28 2/5 per cent as compared with the gain of 311/2 per cent over the state. From these figures obtained from the United States census reports of 1850 and 1860, it is clearly seen that although slavery was increasing absolutely in actual number of slaves, it was going backward relatively, i. e., as compared with increase of either the total or free population of Missouri. Nor is this all, for when one compares the ratio of the slave population to the total population in 1850 and then in 1860, the decline of slavery as an institution is quite apparent. In 1850 the slaves constituted 123/4 per cent of Missouri's population, while in 1860 they constituted only 93/4 per cent; in Northeast Missouri the per- centage in 1850 was 1934, while in 1860 it was only 143/4. Notwithstand- ing the fact that this northeast section of Missouri had seen a decrease in the ratio of her slave population to her total population between 1850 and 1860, she still contained about 41 per cent of the slaves in Missouri
* Decrease.
49
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
-a position she also occupied in 1860. Out of the sixteen counties in Missouri which in 1860 had each a slave population of over twenty- five hundred, nine of these were of this section and these nine held 33,824 slaves or nearly 30 per cent of the total slave population of the state and 731/2 per cent of the slave population of all Northeast Missouri. The nine counties that held such unique position were Boone, Callaway, Howard, Monroe, Pike, Chariton, Lincoln, Marion and Randolph. At this point it might be interesting as well as instructive to note the rela- tive position of the several counties in this section on this question of population. For this purpose the following table is given, which is taken from the United States census reports of 1850 and 1860. It will be necessary to refer to this table several times in the succeeding pages of this article.
NORTHEAST MISSOURI BY COUNTIES
1850 CENSUS
W. 2,283
8
51
2,342
Audrain
3,048
1
457
3,506
Boone.
11,300
13
3,666
14,979
Callaway
9,895
25
3,907
13,827
Chariton.
5,685
51
1,778
7,514
Clark.
5,013
10
504
5,527
Howard.
9,039
40
4,890
13,969
Knox.
2,626
2
266
2,894
Lewis.
5,357
15
1,206
6,578
Lincoln.
7,389
5
2,027
9,421
Linn. .
3,679
2
377
4,058
Macon.
6,262
303
6,565
Marion.
9,322
76
2,832
12,230
Monroe
8,461
32
2,048
10,541
Montgomery.
4,449
3
1,037
5,489
Pike. .
10,299
35
3,275
13,609
Putnam.
1,617
19
1,636
Ralls.
4,775
8
1,368
6,151
Randolph.
7,262
21
2,156
9,439
St. Charles.
9,492
13
1,949
11,454
Schuyler.
3,230
2
55
3,287
Scotland.
3,631
151
3,782
Shelby.
3,744
11
498
4,253
Sullivan.
2,895
88
2,983
Warren.
4,921
4
935
5,860
Total.
145,674
377
35,843
181,894
Total for Missouri. . 592,004
2,618
87,422
682,044
1860 CENSUS
W.
F. C.
S.
Total
Adair. .
8,436
9
86
8,531
Audrain.
6,909
1,166
8,075
Boone.
14,399
53
5,034
19,486
Callaway.
12,895
31
4,523
17,449
Chariton.
9,672
51
2,839
12,562
Clark. .
11,216
13
455
11,684
Vel 1-4
F. C.
S.
Total
Adair.
1
50
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Howard.
9,986
74
5,886
15,946
Knox.
8,436
7
284
8,727
Lewis.
10,983
24
1,279
12,286
Lincoln.
11,347
23
2,840
14,210
Linn. .
8,509
26
577
9,112
Macon.
13,673
13
660
14,346
Marion.
15,732
89
3,017
18,838
Monroe.
11,722
42
3,021
14,785
Montgomery.
8,061
10
1,647
9,718
Pike. .
14,302
60
. 4,055
18,417
Putnam.
9,176
31
9,207
Ralls.
6,788
13
1,791
8,592
Randolph.
8,777
11
2,619
11,407
St. Charles.
14,313
29
2,181
16,523
Schuyler.
6,658
39
6,607
Scotland.
8,742
131
8,873
Shelby.
6,565
12
724
7,301
Sullivan.
9,095
1
102
9,198
Warren.
7,798
7
1,034
8,839
Total.
254,190
598
46,021
309,232
Total for Missouri. 1,063,509
3,572
114,931
1,182,012
(Note :- W-White; F. C .- free colored; S-slave.)
NATURE OF THE WAR IN NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The general character of the war in Northeast Missouri was deter- mined by the nature of the country, transportation facilities, charac- ter of the population as regards both nativity and density, the number of Union troops, largely imported from Iowa and Illinois, and finally the needs of the Confederacy. As a result of these factors the Union and her forces strove to accomplish the following in the order enumer- ated: First, guard the Missouri river and prevent the southern men from the northern part of this state from crossing on their way to join the southern army; to guard and keep intact the two railroads of northern Missouri, i. e., the Hannibal and St. Joseph and the North Missouri (now the Wabash) as a means of transporting troops and provisions of war across and into the state; second, to prevent the
. enlisting and organizing of southern troops in this section; third, to occupy and thereby intimidate by means of Union troops the strong slave counties. The South and her leaders in this state held the fol- lowing objects in view and strove to bring about their realization : First, the enlistment of troops for Price and the Confederacy ; second, the harassing of the Union troops in this section by striking sudden blows where least expected and capturing towns; third, and closely related to (2) the destruction of railroads, bridges and trains. The above state- ments hold true during 1861-1862, after that the warfare in this sec- tion degenerated into petty bushwhacking with such guerrilla fiends as Bill Anderson and Quantrell as leaders, who respected neither south- erners nor northerners. While the withdrawal of many of the Union troops made this kind of warfare possible, the forces of the North that remained did little besides trying to put down this robbing and mur- dering. Sometimes these bands by uniting made up a considerable force and engaged in open fight with the Federal troops as was the case at Fayette and near Centralia in 1864, but usually the bands were
51
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
too small for attacking a large force and preyed upon isolated com- munities and individuals.
POLITICAL CONDITIONS IN 1860
The year 1860 saw one of the most divided political contests in Missouri history. In the August election for governor there were four men in the field representing four different factions: First, the Douglas- Democratic candidate for governor was Claiborne F. Jackson-the author of the famous "Jackson Resolutions" of the later '40s; second, the Bell-Everett or Union candidate was Sample Orr; third, the Breck- enridge-Democratic candidate was Hancock Jackson; and fourth, the Republican candidate was James B. Gardenhire. The vote resulted in the election of Claiborne F. Jackson. This contest if it showed anything regarding the position Missouri took on the national questions of slavery in the territories and secession indicated clearly that she favored neither northern nor southern radicalism but was overwhelmingly conservative
EDWARD BATES
and would choose the middle ground. And in this respect the vote of Northeast Missouri was even more pronounced than the rest of the state, for while this section cast between one-third and one-fourth of the state vote for Claiborne F. Jackson and Orr, she gave Hancock Jackson only one-fifth of his total vote and Gardenhire a little over one-seventh of his. (Over one-half of Gardenhire's vote in Northeast Missouri was cast in the strong German county of St. Charles.)
When the November presidential election took place. Missouri still adhered to her attitude taken in August-for she alone of all the states cast her electoral vote for Douglas, the conservative Democratic candi- date. At the same time she cast nearly an equal individual vote for Bell, the Union candidate, and for Breckenridge and Lincoln but a little over one-fourth the total vote of the state. In this election Northeast Missouri gave Bell 1,604 more votes than she cast for Douglas, while on the other hand she gave Breckenridge over one-fourth of his total state vote and Lincoln not quite one-seventh of his total state vote. The following table indicates well the position taken by the individual counties on this important election. Thus it will be seen at a glance that the
.
52
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
large slave counties in this section-the very ones that could reasonably be expected to have gone overwhelmingly for Breckenridge-either went for Bell or for Douglas. The only county in Northeast Missouri in which Breckenridge received more votes than any other candidate was the county of Sullivan, which in 1860 had only 102 slaves or about one- ninetieth of its population. Of the six great slave counties, each with a slave population of over 3,000, three cast typical "landslide" votes for Bell and three for Bell and Douglas. Even Marion county, known as the "South Carolina of Missouri," cast three times as many votes for Bell and also for Douglas as for Breckenridge-being excelled in the latter by both Sullivan and Clark, (the latter having only 455 slaves).
Northeast Missouri like the remainder of the state was simply not radical but was essentially conservative, and on the whole vastly pre- ferred the Union in spite of the binding ties of blood and interest.
VOTE FOR GOVERNOR, FIRST MONDAY IN AUGUST, 1861
Sample Hancock James B.
Claiborne F. Jackson
Orr .
Jackson Gardenhire
Adair
822
504
4
. .
Audrain
615
677
47
...
Boone
1066
1522
68
..
Callaway
1080
1321'
94
1
Chariton
639
548
124
8
Clark
807
769
74
103
Howard
1099
743
28
1
Knox
844
526
3
8
Lewis
1018
848
101
::
:
Lincoln
885
634
307
13
Linn
796
668
7
19
Macon
1424
484
115
Marion
1409
1322
149
2
Monroe
998
1059
117
1
Montgomery
597
652
14
34
Pike
1548
1388
50
3
Putnam
728
350
118
8
Ralls
616
647
9
1
Randolph
828
852
183
.
St. Charles
829
7.74
60
466
Schuyler
500
298
124
4
Shelby
621
576
95
91
Scotland
792
493
19
108
Sullivan
678
326
259
29
Warren
630
287
32
18
Total
21,869
18,262
2,201
918
Total Vote in Missouri 74,446
66,583
11,415
6,135
VOTE FOR PRESIDENT, IN NOVEMBER, 1860
Bell- Douglas Brecken- Lincoln
Everett
ridge
Adair
293
616
339
185
Audrian
580
289
206
1
Boone .
1671
578
652
12
Callaway
1306
839
472
15
Chariton
608
692
295
1
Clark
752
542
497
277
-
53
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Howard
920
939
247
1
Knox
520
687
301
161
Lewis
833
468
597
43
Lincoln
725
806
396
3
Linn
546
521
219
105
Macon
655
1176
414
134
Marion
1386
1240
432
235
Monroe
1086
680
408
8
Montgomery
658
612
83
45
Pike .
1300
1117
420
15
Putnam
369
590
246
111
Ralls
585
391
149
1
Randolph
821
360
520
:
St. Charles
619
832
64
534
Schuyler
267
455
251
14
Shelby
702
476
293
90
Scotland
436
741
187
197
Sullivan
373
557
575
83
Warren
307
510
89
95
Total
18,318
16,714
8,352
2,366
Total Vote in Missouri 58,373
58,801
31,317 17,026
On December 31, 1860, the 21st General Assembly convened in Jeffer- son City-just ten days before South Carolina seceded by ordinance from the Union. As had been expected this legislature was composed of four political parties-three of which were nearly equal in strength and none in control. The senate, with a membership of thirty-three, held fifteen Breckenridge-Democrats; ten Douglas-Democrats; seven Bell- Everett Unionists; and one Republican; the house, with a membership of 132,. held forty-seven Breckenridge-Democrats; thirty-seven Bell- Everett Unionists; thirty-six Douglas-Democrats; and twelve Repub- licans.
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