Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I, Part 34

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1074

USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 34

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Bowman-Glover.

In 1883 Frank J. Bowman challenged John M. Glover,-both of them St. Louis lawyers. He began the correspondence by demanding an apology from

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Glover for epithets such as "You lied, you rogue," "You are a scamp," "Shut your mouth," and the like, which he said Glover had applied to him in various cases where they had appeared on opposite sides. Glover replied, "That what- ever language I may have used toward you upon the various occasions referred to was fully justified by the provocations at the time." He declined to apolo- gize. The negotiations which followed were notable chiefly because of the prominent citizens of St. Louis who became more or less interested. Bowman selected Celsus Price and R. S. MacDonald as his friends and put in Price's hands a challenge. Price waited upon Glover and asked him to name his friends. Glover selected Captain Silas Bent and T. T. Gantt. Gerard B. Allen and Ed- win Harrison were asked by friends of Mr. Bowman and Mr. Glover to submit a plan of adjustment. While negotiations were supposed to be in progress, Glover complicated the situation by swearing out a warrant against Bowman charg- ing him with having committed perjury in certain testimony given about the St. Louis Times. It was proposed to arbitrate the differences between the two lawyers. Mr. Bowman's friends selected General D. M. Frost as their arbi- trator. George A. Madill was asked to act as arbitrator on the part of Mr. Glover but declined. The gentleman who had suggested arbitration finally gave up the effort to bring it about. The formal challenge was delivered to Glover, who declined to take any notice of it. This affair between Bowman and Glover constituted the last chapter in the history of the code in Missouri. The letters were drawn up with much form. All of the usual technicalities were observed. Glover gave as his reason for ignoring the challenge that it was backdated about eight days before the delivery and secondly that the offenses complained of by Bowman were some of them months old when the challenge was received and that he had sworn out a warrant charging Bowman with a felony before the challenge.

Vest on the Code.

During his memorable oration upon Benton at the time of the unveiling of a statue in Statuary Hall at Washington Senator George G. Vest offered this palliating view of the Lucas duel :

"All this sounds to us now as semi-barbarous, and yet if we carry ourselves back to the age in which this event occurred and place ourselves in the position public men then held, it will, I think, charitably be admitted that, entertaining the opinion he did and in the community he lived, Benton could hardly have done anything else. Dueling was then an institution. No man could remain in public or social life without ostracism who refused what they called a challenge to the field of honor. All the distinguished men of the United States fought duels. When Randolph and Clay fought, in sight of this Capitol, members of the Cabinet and members of the Senate and House of Representatives, among whom was Colonel Benton, were present as spectators. Jackson had killed his adversary in a duel. Houston had fought a duel and wounded his opponent severely. Davy Crockett acknowledged the obligations of the duello and participated in it; and it was not until Hamilton fell before the deadly pistol of Aaron Burr that even the people of the con- servative, God-fearing North came to a full realization of the terrible nature of this institution."

CHAPTER IX

A LAND OF PROMISE

Gottfried Duden's Vision-A Center of German Culture-The Book Which Fascinated Europe-Teutonic Infusion Planned to Assimilate Anglo-Saxon-The Giessen Society -- Father Muench-A Missouri Mecca-The Critics to Blame-Goebel's Story of the Featherbeds-Duden's Vivid Local Color-Cash Needed Only for Taxes-An Apology for Slavery-Akademikers and Latiniers-Why Gustavus Koerner Chose Illinois-The Hermann Colony-A Hard Winter-Herman Steines' Diary-Dr. Bek's Valuable Contributions-Engelmann's Investigation-Missouri's Foremost Scientist- Wislizenus' Explorations-Enno Sander and Frans Sigel, Revolutionists-Missouri, Land of Religions Freedom-The Lutherans-Constructive Work of the Walthers- Concordia College Founded-Pure Lutheran Theology-Pioneer German Journalism- The Ansciger and the Know Nothings-Germanism Fades Into Americanism- The Mallinckrodts and the Kaysers-What Defeated Secession of Missouri-Polish and Hungarian Exiles-Emigres of Guadeloupe-Dr. Adam Hammer-German Family Influence for Good-Dr. Niccolls' Tribute to German Churches-Unselfish Devotion to Public Education-The Icarians-Etienne Cabet and the Communists-Various Colony Experiments-William Keil's Bethel-Socialism in Dallas County-The Town of Liberal -Prosperity of the Mennonites.

If a little city could be founded, for the purpose of making it the center of culture for the Germans in America, then there would soon arise a rejuvenated Germania, and the European German would then find in America a second Fatherland, just as the British have it. Would that in Germany a lively interest might develop for this project. 'No plan of the present time promises so much to the individual and to every one as a plan of founding such a nursery for German culture in western North America, and especially in the lands west of the Mississippi. It would make the new world at once a home to the German, and would add to the gifts of nature those things which must always emanate from man to himself. There is no cause for fear that any kind of political hindrance or envy on the part of the Americans would oppose such an enterprise .- Gottfried Duden's Report of a Residence in Missouri during the Years 1824, 1825, 1826, 1827.

The vision of a German state within Missouri came during the first decade. Gottfried Duden saw it. In 1827, after several years of life in Missouri de- voted to study of conditions which had bearing on immigration from Germany, Duden wrote :

"Along the Missouri there is still room for millions of beautiful plantations, not to speak of the other rivers at all. The great fertility of the soil, its enormous expanse, the mild climate, the splendid waterways, the absolute freedom of intercourse in a territory of many thousand square miles, the absolute safety of person and property, the very low rate of taxation,-these are the things which must be regarded as the real foundation of the fortunate position of the Americans. If it were desired to embellish the picture still further, it would only be necessary to remind the reader of the rich forests, the super- abundance of coal, salt, iron, lead, copper, saltpeter, and other minerals; of the inclination of almost all the inhabitants to utilize the natural advantages; of the river navigation which even now begins to flourish ; and finally of the absence of all European prejudices in regard to rank, to trade and to physical work."

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Duden's narrative of his life in Missouri and his advice to Germans to mi- grate were in the familiar form of thirty-six letters apparently written to a friend. These letters were printed in a book of which three editions were pub- lished. Dr. William G. Bek, whose translation of the book appeared in the Missouri Historical Review of the State Historical Society during 1919, says, "his skillful pen mingled fact and fiction, interwove experience and imagination, pictured the freedom of the forest and of democratic institutions in contrast with the social restrictions and political embarrassments of Europe. This sin- gular book passed through three editions and many thousands of Germans pon -- dered over its contents. When the rulers of the then politically disrupted German states refused to give their subjects the freedom and aid to which they felt entitled, innumerable resolutions were made to cross the ocean and build for the present and for future generations happy homes in the far-famed Missouri."

Duden's book, Dr. Bek says, was "the direct cause of the great German im- migration into Missouri during the thirties and forties." Almost until the Civil war there were some of philosophic thought who contemplated a theory. that the Teutonic infusion might assimilate the Anglo-Saxon in Missouri, or at least in St. Louis, and parts of Missouri. In three years from 1848 to 1850, the arrivals of Germans in Missouri numbered 34,418. Kossuth, the Hun- garian patriot, visited St. Louis in 1852. One of his companions wrote a book on Kossuth's travels in the United States. He incorporated this paragraph on the possibilities of the strength and virility of the German influence in St. Louis :

"With Mr. Cobb, the editor of an industrial and statistical monthly in St. Louis, we had a long conversation on poetry, art and the future of America. He is a great admirer of Goethe and has the most sanguine expectations as to the future of his country, and especially of the West. He compared the citizens of the United States with the Romans, who had organized the countries under their sway, who had civilized the people, who had introduced art and literature amongst the barbarians, and had assimilated the provinces to Rome. Mr. Pulsky remarked that the Germans had not yet given up the idea that the West might become their inheritance, and that the power of assimilating other races to themselves is perhaps not so strong in the Anglo-Saxons as it is generally thought. The admirer of Goethe replied in good earnest, 'It is not impossible that the Germans may overrun us. The Goths and Vandals likewise defeated Rome when it seemed most powerful.' "

Response to Duden's fascinating narrative was quick and strong. The first edition of his book. was printed in 1829. It bore a title which, after the custom of the period, left little blank space on the page. Dr. Bek translated the title in this way :

"A Report of a Journey to the Western States of North America, and a Residence of several Years on the Missouri (during the years 1824, 1825, 1826, 1827), dealing with the Question of Emigration and Excess of population : or Life in the Interior of the United States and its Significance for the economic and political Condition of the People of Europe :- presented-

(a) In a Collection of Letters.

(b) In a special Treatise concerning the political Condition of the North American Free-States.

Friedrich Muench

Dr. George J. Engelmann

Gen. Franz Sigel

Gen. P. J. Osterhaus

REPRESENTATIVE GERMANS OF MISSOURI

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A LAND OF PROMISE

By Gottfried Duden.

Printed at Elberfeld in the Year 1829 by Sam Lucas, at the author's Cost."

The Giessen Society.

In 1834, came the Giessen society, 500 strong. Developing Duden's ideas, the plan of the Giessen leaders was to found a German state which should be settled by great numbers who would follow. These members of the Giessen society came from all parts of Germany. The first 500 were organized in two divisions, headed by Friedrich Muench and Paul Follenius. Prompting the emigration from Germany was much more than an ordinary desire for change or physical betterment. Here was the ardent aspiration for political freedom which Duden had pictured so forcibly as existing in Missouri. These Giesseners were men and women with ideals. The leaders were men of higher education. "Akademikers" they were called. They had belonged to patriotic organizations at the universities. They had labored in the old country among the masses to arouse ambition for self government. Friedrich Muench was a pastor, with a love for philosophy and for politics. Follenius was a lawyer. He had married Muench's sister. Having obtained quite a following, Muench and Follenius or- ganized the society and started with the first society of 500. They had gone so far with their plan for a German state in Missouri as to frame a set of laws to govern the colony. But gradually this plan of exclusive occupation of ter- ritory was abandoned. A commission sent over in advance had reported favorably on Missouri as offering the most inviting opportunities for settle- ment. One division of the party under Follenius came by way of New Orleans. Muench led his people to Baltimore and down the Ohio.

The Latin Settlement.

At St. Louis, after much consultation the plan of a united colony was given up. The division under Follenius had encountered cholera and had lost many members. Expenses had been heavier than was expected. Muench and Fol- lenius gave from their own funds to replenish a depleted common treasury and made a distribution as equitable as possible. The society disbanded at St. Louis. Some of the members became residents of the city and attained prom- inence. Others went into St. Louis, St. Charles and Warren counties and ac- quired homesteads. Warren county, from which Duden had written his glow- ing accounts of country life in America, was chosen by Muench, Follenius and a few others, and there they formed their "Latin Settlement," always cultivat- ing close relationship with St. Louis. They maintained through newspapers, through books and through correspondence an influence which drew to Mis- souri multitudes of German immigrants. They introduced the vineyards which they hoped to see transform the hillsides along the Missouri into another Rhine country. Sons and daughters of these first German pioneers sought the city. Friedrich Muench was a frequent contributor to the German press of St. Louis. When he came here he was received with profound respect and was known as "Father Muench." He was the type of patriarch, tall with a strong nose and Vol. I-20

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piercing eyes and a great bushy head of hair. His influence among the Ger- mans of St. Louis was strong.

Duden's Hill, a Missouri Mecca.

The Pisgah from which Duden viewed his promised land for German im- migrants was a peaklike elevation in Warren county, near Lake creek. "Du- den's Hill" it is still called. Tradition has it that Duden went often to this hill and while overlooking the country roundabout wrote some of his fascinat- ing descriptive letters which were "read with wild enthusiasm among the edu- cated classes in Germany." The quotation is from an article by Gert Goebel which appeared in the Westliche Post on the 10th of November, 1893. Goebel was for two terms a state senator. He lived in Franklin county and wrote a book the title of which translated was "Longer than a Lifetime in Missouri." Goebel said that many of those who were influenced by Duden's book to come to Missouri settled near where Duden had made his home while he was writ- ing the letters. Friedrich Muench and Paul Follenius took farms adjacent to Duden's Hill. Other German settlers made pilgrimages to the Duden farm. Hermann Steines told in his diary, under date of May 26, 1833, of a visit to the Duden farm. Dr. Bek has translated this reference :

"From there we finally went to the adjoining farm of Gottfried Duden, of Remschied, Germany, full of a certain yearning and with beating hearts. Now we stood on this his- toric spot. We saw the hut in which he had lived, the half finished log house, the shaded walk to the spring, Lake creek, the courtyard, the field and finally the forest so fantastically described by Duden. Everything was now very much neglected. The fence had decayed and in great part had fallen down, the field was full of weeds, and there was no more any garden. Maný a German has been at that place in the last four or six years, in order to see where and how that one lived, who with magic power had lured hordes of sons of Germany from their dearly beloved, but oppressed and mistreated fatherland, who with magic pen had clothed this wilderness with such a pleasing and attractive garment, and who had banished the fears of those who thought this to be a country of Indians and wild beasts. After we had tasted the water of the spring and of Lake creek, we went into the hut and recited some passages from Duden's letters which we carried with us."

The Featherbeds Were Needed.

Some of those who acted quickly on "Duden's Report" were not reverently appreciative. They expected too much. The first winter that Duden spent in Missouri was exceptionally mild, such as old residents can recall. Duden wrote in his letter of February 20, 1825 :

"I, myself, have not noticed any winter. The forests never did lose their green garb entirely. Snow did not fall at all, and the frost was so slight that fire was needed only in mornings and evenings. However, they say that such weather is out of the ordinary . and that the month of January is usually rather unpleasant. They say, however, that the winter rarely begins earlier than January and that about the middle of February naviga- tion on the river is free again, and no ice is seen on the stream. The Missouri and the Mississippi freeze over so solid at times that large freight wagons can pass over them. This would not happen if the masses of ice did not come from the far northern regions. I am told that such a covering of ice stays no longer than a week at a time. The American autumn is universally praised, and I must say that from August on there was, almost uninterruptedly, the most beautiful weather for traveling."

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Gert Goebel said that the critics of Duden failed to read carefully and were largely to blame for being misled in their expectations :

""I have known German immigrants who were so carried away by the reading of Duden's book that they would not think of taking along their featherbeds. They said it was nonsense to bother with featherbeds when they were going to a Sicilian climate. Fortunately, the attachment which the women have for such articles, triumphed over the delusion of the men, for in a short time the gentler sex had cause to rejoice because of their apparent naivete."

Duden's Word Paintings of Missouri.

These are some of the things which Duden told of Missouri in the late twenties :

"A small family requires no more than four or five acres of land to begin with. Half an acre suffices for garden vegetables, another half acre for wheat, after which there are left three or four acres for maize. The maize is the farmer's main crop. One might call it the nurse of the growing population. It serves all domestic animals as food. The meal made of it, when cooked, with milk, furnishes a very nourishing, wholesome and palatable food. If it is kneaded with the boiled pulp of the pumpkin a kind of bread can be made of it which I prefer to wheat bread, especially if the dough has been made to ferment. The baking is done in covered iron pots, which are placed beside the hearth and are covered entirely with burning coals. In most of the households fresh bread is baked every day, which is not so much of a burden, since there are always supplies of burning coals on the spacious hearth. There are a great many varieties of maize here. Those with white or yellow kernels are the most common. Besides these varieties there are those of red, blue, and red and blue spotted kernels, and finally a kind whose kernels are transparent like pearls. The stalks become very high, ten, fifteen, indeed twenty feet high.

"The garden supplies the best kitchen vegetables. Peas and beans prosper beyond expectation. Of the beans, only the finer varieties are raised. In order not to have to supply sticks for the beans and to make special beds for them they are planted in the maize fields, where the high stalks of the maize furnish support for the vines. All these things thrive simultaneously, without the least fertilizer, and indeed after twenty years just as well as during the first year. Cucumbers and melons are grown each year in great abundance without any special attention being given them. The sweet potato is also a fine vegetable. When prepared by steaming, its taste resembles that of the finest chestnut.

"During the second year, after the land is cleared, cotton can be grown; north of the Missouri, however, only for family use. It is the endeavor of the American farmer not to spend any money for food and drink, nor for clothing (finery alone excepted). For this reason he grows flax and hemp and keeps a small flock of sheep. The spinning wheel is nowhere lacking, and if the household does not own a loom, the housewife or one of the daughters goes, from time to time, to one of the neighbors who does possess one.

Cash Only Needed for Taxes.

"Cash is needed only for the paying of taxes. These are, however, so insignificant, that they hardly come into consideration. Land acquired from the government is entirely free for five years. During the present year one-fourth of a per cent is due as a state tax on the value of all real estate, on all full grown livestock and on articles of luxury, to which class gold watches belong, and in addition to this a small sum is asked to defray the expenses of the county. Capital is untaxed. Taxable property is evaluated so low that a tax of six dollars is indicative of a considerable amount of property. Aside from the above obligations the farmer has no burdens whatever. He can send his produce to the Atlantic ocean or to the Gulf of Mexico without the least tax or inspection. In Ger- many it will be an item of surprise to learn that here in Missouri the assessor as well as

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the collector is obliged to hunt up the people. No one is obliged to take his money to the collector. altho. this is usually done upon the latter's kindly request.

"For the comfort of the settler I should ask nothing except a better dwelling house. The conception of the ordinary European in regard to expense which would be involved in furnishing such a better dwelling is in the most striking contrast to the conditions actually existing. Keep in mind that the dwelling house which I should like to see improved is intended solely as a residence of the people themselves, and that the out- houses, which cost almost nothing, assist materially in making life comfortable. For fifty dollars more than half a dozen outhouses, such as kitchen, smokehouse, shed, barn and stable, could be erected, and that by day labor, which, by the way, is not the most inex- pensive way of getting help. A comfortable frame house costs from two to three hundred dollars. For five or six hundred dollars a brick house could be built, which in the seaboard towns would cost four times as much. If the planter owns two slaves he need do nothing but supervise their work, and the housewife will have no cause to complain about the work in the house. Beer, too, could easily be brewed here, since great quantities of hops are found in the woods. The apple and peach orchards, which are lacking at no farmhouse, furnish cider and brandy. Altho a very good brandy is also made of maize, that of apples and peaches is nevertheless preferred. I have tasted old brandy made of maize, a gallon of which costs thirty cents, and it was equal to the best French brandy. But even without slaves the American farmer lives in a condition that by far surpasses that of the German peasant who commands the same amount of wealth."

Slavery Not Unconditionally Criticised.

Duden devoted a large part of one letter to slavery, as he found it in Mis- souri. "The attitude which this German took toward slavery," said Dr. Bek, by way of comment, "is rather interesting when it is remembered that the Ger- man immigrants that followed in his wake were, as a class, so strenuously op- posed to the practice of this institution." Duden was accompanied to this country by Louis Eversman whom he describes as the son of the chief super- intendent of mines-at Berlin. Eversman took a farm adjoining that in which Duden invested, married an American woman and became one of the first, if not the first, of the few German slaveholders in Missouri.

Duden not only represented the material advantage of slave labor in Mis- souri, as he saw it, but reached the conclusion that the slaves in Missouri were better off than they would be if freed. He presented the situation on a par- allel with that of the cartoonist of 1820 who pictured the negro dancing with glee, when Congress passed the act of admission, because slaves were "per- mitted to live in such a fine country as Missouri."

"The result of my investigation," Duden said, "is such that I cannot uncon- ditionally criticise or blame a European, who lives in a slave state, if he de- sires to keep slaves. It must always depend upon the master whether his pur- chase is a fortune or misfortune for the bondsman. The European who comes to America may very well dismiss the idea from his mind, that the black pop- ulation might be set free with impunity."

"How many men there are in Germany who have a capital of from 4,000 to 6,000 thaler (a thaler then was about seventy-five cents) without any prospect of using it except to consume it by and by! Such a sum, however, is more than abundant for the happy life of a whole family on the banks of the Missouri, even though 800 to 1,000 thaler should be deduced as traveling expense, provided the proper guidance is not wanting. With the above sum an immigrant could purchase two adult slaves, a man and a woman, which would cost him 1,200 thaler, and could establish himself in such a manner that he could

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Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I, Part 34

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939 Publication date: 1921 Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 1074

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1074