USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 54
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General Doniphan was a Union man during the Civil War of 1861-5, and a leading and valuable member of the State convention called in February, 1861, to consider the then existing relations between the govern- ment of the United States and the people of Missouri and other States. He was also one of the peace commissioners who met in Washington in 1861, and when introduced to President Lincoln, the President said: "And this is the Colonel Doniphan, who made the
wild march against the Comanches and Mex- icans. You are the only man I ever met whose appearance came up to my prior ex- pectations."
A state of war existing between Mexico and the United States on account of the annexation of Texas, in May, 1846, Governor John C. Edwards, of Missouri, called for vol- unteers to join the "Army of the West," a military expedition to Santa Fe under Gen- eral Stephen W. Kearney. The response was immediate, and in less than a month mounted volunteers in excess of the regiment wanted rendezvoused at Fort Leavenworth. The regiment was organized by the election of Alexander W. Doniphan, colonel; C. F. Ruff, lieutenant colonel, and William Gilpin, major. A battalion of light artillery from St. Louis under Captains R. A. Weightman and A. W. Fisher, with Major M. L. Clark as its field officer, and numbering 250 men, battal- ions of infantry of 145 men from Cole and Platte Counties, commanded by Captains Murphy and Augney; "Laclede Rangers" from St. Louis, Captain Thomas B. Hudson, attached to the First Dragoons, whose strength was 300, composed the entire force of General Kearney, of the First Dragoons, United States Army-1,658 men, with twelve six-pound and four twelve-pound cannon. We can not in this brief paper follow Kear- ney and Doniphan through the great soli- tudes between Fort Leavenworth and Santa Fe, which place they reached on August 18, 1846, nor Doniphan's march against the Navajo Indians previous to his heroic and victorious descent upon Brazito and Sacra- mento, General Kearney being on duty in California. Suffice it, that the battle of Brazito, or "Little Arm," of the Rio del Norte on Christmas day, December 25, 1846, on a level prairie bordering on the river, was fought by Colonel Doniphan, and was very disastrous to the Mexicans, 1,100 strong, un- der General Ponce de Leon. Missouri troops, 800. The Mexicans were defeated with a loss of sixty-one killed-among them General Ponce de Leon-five prisoners and 150 wounded; Missourians, eight wounded ; none killed. The Mexicans were completely routed and dispersed. Two days afterward Colonel Doniphan took possession of El Paso without resistance.
On February 28, 1847, Colonel Doniphan, with 924 men and ten pieces of artillery,
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fought and vanquished, in the pass of the Sacramento, 4,000 Mexicans under Major General Jose A. Heredias, aided by General Garcia Conde, former Mexican minister of war. The battle lasted more than three hours, resulting in a Mexican loss of 304 men killed on the field, forty prisoners, among whom was Brigadier General Cuilta, and 500 wounded; also eighteen pieces of artillery, $6,000 in specie, 50,000 head of sheep, 1,500 head of cattle, 100 mules, twenty wagons, etc. Americans killed, one-Major Samuel C. Owens, of Independence, who voluntarily and with courage amounting to rashness, charged upon a redoubt and received a cannon or rifle shot which instantly killed both him and his horse ; wounded, eleven. The rout of the Mexicans was complete, and they retreated precipitately to Durango and disappeared among the ranchos and villages.
But Colonel Doniphan did not follow the example of Hannibal after the battle of Can- nae, who loitered on the plains of Italy when he might have entered Rome in triumph. On the contrary, he immediately followed up his successes by ordering the next morning (March 1, 1847) Lieutenant Colonel D. D. Mitchell, with 150 men, under Captains John W. Reid and R. A. Weightman, and a section of artillery, to take formal possession of the city of Chihuahua, the capital, and occupy it in the name of the government of the United States. On the approach of Mitchell's force the Mexicans fled from the city, and he en- tered and occupied it without resistance. On the morning of the next day Colonel Doni- phan, with his entire army, and with colors gaily glittering in the breeze, triumphantly entered the Mexican capital to the tune of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and fired a salute of twenty-eight guns in the public square.
Colonel Doniphan had been ordered by General Kearney to report to Brigadier Gen- eral Wool at Chihuahua, and hoped to find him there, but instead received the intelli- gence that he, and General Taylor also, were shut up at Saltillo, and hotly beleaguered by Santa Anna with an overwhelming force. This, however, turned out to be untrue, and in a few days he heard of Taylor's great vic- tory at Buena Vista, and not long afterward of the battle of Cerro Gordo. Nevertheless, Doniphan believed it his duty to report to General Wool, wherever he might be found, and render him all the assistance in his
power. Therefore, on the 20th of March he dispatched an express to Saltillo, hoping thereby to find General Wool, and open communication with the "army of occu- pation" under General Taylor. By this ex- press, consisting of J. L. Collins, interpreter and bearer of dispatches, and thirteen others -among whom was Captain John T. Hughes. author of "Doniphan's Expedition"-he sent an official report of the battle of Sacramento. Saltillo was nearly 700 miles from Chihuahua and the country intervening was occupied by the enemy, thus rendering the duty of Doni- phan's express extremely difficult and dan- gerous. Yet they accomplished it in safety, reaching Saltillo on the 2d of April. Doni- phan's official report, the only writing that could have betrayed them to the Mexicans, was sewed up in the pad of the saddle of one ot the soldiers. General Wool was at Saltillo, and on the 9th of April the express left on its return trip to Chihuahua, bearing orders to Colonel Doniphan at once to march to that place. On the return trip the express was re- enforced by Captain Pike, of the Arkansas Cavalry, with twenty-six men, among them Mr. Gregg, author of "Commerce of the Prairies." They reached Chihuahua on April 23d, and on the 25th the battalion of artillery commenced the march, followed on the 28th by the balance of Doniphan's com- mand. We can not record the incidents of the march to Santa Rosalea, Guajuquilla, Santa Bernada, Hacienda Cadenas, Palayo, San Sebastian, San Juan, El Paso, City of Parras (where Colonel Doniphan received a communication from General Wool), Encan- tada (near the battlefield of Buena Vista), and other places, to Saltillo, which Doni- phan's command reached on May 22, 1847, and were reviewed by General Wool. The ten Mexican cannon captured at Sacramento Doniphan's regiment was permitted to retain as trophies of its victory. These were after- ward presented to the State of Missouri. The Missouri troops, Colonel Doniphan leading them, left Saltillo for General Taylor's camp near Monterey, which they reached on May 27th, were received with demonstrations of the warmest enthusiasm, and were reviewed by General Taylor. Colonel Doniphan's com- mand then took up the line of march for home, via Camargo, to the mouth of the river, off Brazos Island, where it embarked on the sailship "Republic" for New Orleans, which
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Feln Doniphan
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was reached on June 15, 1847, thus complet- ing a grand march of nearly 4,000 miles by land and water through the Mexican republic, and winning for its commander the honorable title of "Xenophon of the Mexican War."
After being mustered for payment and dis- charge on the 22d-28th of June, they left for St. Louis in detached parties, generally ar- riving, however, about July Ist.
In anticipation of their arrival, the citizens of St. Louis had made arrangements for a royal reception and a warm welcome. These were tendered on July 2d. The bells of the city chimed their sweetest music, companies of military with brass bands, two battalions of German Dragoons and Fusileers, the St. Louis Grays and Montgomery Guards, with thousands and thousands of citizens on foot and in carriages, crowded the streets, and marched to Lucas Park, under the command of Colonel Thornton T. Grimsley, chief mar- shal. Here Senator Thomas H. Benton de- livered the speech of welcome, a speech of more than an hour in length, and eliciting frequent and enthusiastic applause. Among other things (addressing Colonel Doniphan and hundreds of his soldiers who were pres- ent), he said: "Your march and exploits have been the most wonderful of the age. * * Ten pieces of cannons rolled through the streets of Chihuahua to arrest your march, are now rolled through the streets of St. Louis to greet your triumphal return. * *
* Many standards, all pierced with bullets while waving over the heads of the enemy at the Sacramento, now wave at the head of your column. To crown the whole, to make public and private happiness go to- gether, to spare the cypress where the laurel hangs in clusters, this long and perilous march presents an incredibly small list of comrades lost-almost all returned, and the joy of families resounds, intermingled with the applause of the State."
When Colonel Doniphan rose to respond, the applause of the vast multitude was deaf- ening, and well calculated to overwhelm a soldier fresh from fields of carnage and vic- tory. His speech was equal to the occasion, modest, replete with encomium of the self- sacrifice, patience under trial and privations, and bravery of his troops in battle. Round after round of applause followed it-and Doniphan and his brave Missourians left for their homes, there to be greeted by the warm
welcome, joyousness and benedictions of their wives, children and friends.
WM. F. SWITZLER.
Doniphan, John, legislator, lawyer and historian, is a man to whom one invariably looks when seeking for in- formation concerning the early history of the grand old Commonwealth, or in matters of general State information with which he is so conversant and familiar. He was born July 12, 1826, in Brown County, Ohio, and traces an ancestral record that has been marked by distinction and honor from the earliest member of the family of whom definite facts are known. John Doni- phan's parents were Thomas Smith and Re- becca (Frazee) Doniphan. His mother's father was an old pioneer who went to Ken- tucky from Pennsylvania and who was at Washington, Kentucky, with Simon Kenton, a pioneer, whose experiences and deeds of daring and trials of hardship have often been told. Mr. Frazee lived to be over ninety- seven years of age. The genealogical record of the Doniphan family reveals the fact that its members are descended from a Spaniard who was knighted by Phillip the Second for gallantry in the Moorish wars. The name of this Spaniard was Don Alphonso Iphan, which was reduced and anglicized to Doni- phan. The son of the Spanish ancestor mar- ried a Scotch heiress, Margaret Mott, and settled in the northern neck of Virginia in about 1650. They had a son whose name was Mott Doniphan, a vestryman in the Church of Prince George County, Virginia, for many years. His son, Alexander Doni- phan, was the father of Joseph Doniphan, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Joseph Doniphan and Chief Justice Mar- shall were schoolmates in Virginia. Jos- eph served in the Virginia militia, and in 1779 he went to Kentucky and taught school at Boonesboro. Returning to Virginia, he mar- ried Anne Smith, the daughter of Thomas Smith, a captain in the Virginia Light Horse. Their oldest son was named Thomas Smith Doniphan. The family removed to Kentucky in 1791. Thomas Doniphan, the father of the present John Doniphan, was a surgeon and captain in the War of 1812. In 1818 he went to Ohio and took up his resi- dence there in order that he might set free the negroes in his employ. Each colored per-
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son who had called him "Master" was given to understand that he was henceforth to be a free man, and for each a cabin was erected, in addition to the presentation of a horse and $50 in cash. The sons of Thomas Doniphan were John and James, both of whom were born in Brown County, Ohio. John acquired his literary education at the Franklin Acad- emy, Germantown, Kentucky, and then at- tended law school at Louisville. He was graduated in 1848. While he was quite young, having reached the immature age of fifteen years, John's father died and the young man was thrown upon his own re- sources. He proved equal to the condition that followed the loss of a father's watchful care. He was apprenticed as a printer at Maysville, Kentucky, and as soon as possible he began to read law. In 1848, the year of his completion of the required legal course, he came to Missouri and located at Liberty. He remained there but a few months, removing to Weston, Platte County, the following year. There he practiced his profession until after the Civil War, when he went to St. Joseph, and he is the oldest lawyer in continuous service now practicing at the Buchanan County bar. Judge Doni- phan was the first president of the Weston, Atchison & St. Joseph Railroad, now the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad, and for ten years was attorney for the corporation. He resigned that position in 1870 in order that he might assist in build- ing the Atchison branch of the Chicago & Southwestern. In 1872 he was elected at- torney for the St. Joseph & Denver City Railroad, now the St. Joseph & Grand Is- land, and held this position of responsibility for fifteen years.
In 1862, John Doniphan was elected lieu- tenant colonel of the Thirty-ninth Missouri Militia and was in active service from that time until the close of the war. Colonel Doniphan was for eight years a member of the board of managers of State Hospital for Insane, No. 2, located at St. Joseph. In 1854 he was elected to the State Legislature as a Whig to represent Platte County, a Demo- cratic stronghold that generally rolled up a Democratic majority of 600. Colonel Doni- phan received a majority of 106 votes, a most remarkable tribute to his worth as a man and an evidence of the confidence the people of his county had in him. He was
the first Whig ever sent to the Legis- ture from Platte County under a contest. Colonel Doniphan served in the State Senate four years, and also served with distinction and great legal honor on the bench of the court of common pleas. In 1898, without solicitation on his part, Judge Doniphan was given the Democratic nomination for po- lice judge of St. Joseph, and was elected by a comfortable majority. Judge Doniphan has always taken an active part in political affairs, and during his years of fruitful pub- lic service was first a Whig and then a Democrat. He is in possession of a good reputation as an orator, and his voice has been heard on many a stump and platform in advocacy of the views he believed were right and against that which he considered wrong and not for the best interests of the people. He was an active campaigner against the test oath and other obnoxious features of the Drake Constitution, and lifted his voice on many important occasions when the good judgment of careful men and the in- spiring influence of true patriots were in demand. Judge Doniphan is one of the most prominent Odd Fellows in Missouri, and lias been grand master and grand representa- tive in that order. November 18, 1852, he was married to Fannie Thornton, a daughter of Colonel John Thornton, a pioneer of Clay County, Missouri. Colonel Thornton was born in 1786, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, of English ancestry. In his thirtieth year he removed to Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, and in 1818 he went to Howard County. Two years later he settled near Liberty. The county of Ray was formed soon afterward, and he was appointed judge of that county. In 1822, when Clay County was formed, he was appointed county judge. With the ex- ception of one term he represented his coun- ty in the State Legislature from 1824 to 1838, and was Speaker of the House of Represen- tatives in 1828 and 1830. It is generally be- lieved that Colonel Thornton would have been a United States Senator from Missouri had it not been for his advocacy of the nulli- fication doctrine of John C. Calhoun. Thomas Benton made war upon Colonel Thornton and came out on top. In 1820 Colonel Thornton married Elizabeth Trigg, a daugh- ter of General Stephen Trigg, of Howard County. She was a niece of Colonel Stephen Trigg, who was killed at the Blue Lick, and
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also of General Clark, of Kentucky, a near relative of George R. Clark, as well as of Paul Jones. Colonel Thornton was a pioneer in western Missouri, and the story is told that his first three children were born in three different counties, although all in the same log house. This house was located near Lib- erty, and that territory was first Howard, then Ray and finally Clay County, within three or four years. Colonel Thornton had eight children. The oldest daughter mar- ried General Alexander W. Doniphan, the second Captain O. P. Moss, the third Wil- liam Morton, the fourth James H. Baldwin, the fifth Robert W. Donnell, the sixth John Doniphan and the seventh L. M. Lamson. The only son was John C. C. Thornton, who was a lieutenant colonel of the regiment commanded by John T. Hughes, in the Civil War, under General Sterling Price, and who died recently in Montana, after establishing a reputation as a successful miner and busi- ness man. To Judge and Mrs. Doniphan three sons have been born, all of them de- ceased. Mrs. Doniphan is known as one of the philanthropic women of St. Joseph, and she always takes an active part in charitable work, in addition to being identified with a number of the leading social organizations of the city.
Doniphan's Expedition .- The fam- ous march of Colonel Alexander W. Doni- phan with his force of 850 Missourians from Santa Fe into, and through, northern Mex- ico, in the Mexican War. The term is frequently applied to the army which started from Fort Leavenworth, commanded by Gen- eral Stephen Kearney, and marched to Santa Fe, where it divided, General Kearney, with 400 men, going to California, while the main body under Doniphan started south on the brilliant campaign of marches, battles and victories which, in the popular conception, associated Doniphan's name with the whole enterprise. The campaign against Mexico, as devised by the war department at Washing- ton, comprised, in addition to the operations of General Taylor and General Scott, an army under General Wool, sent into northern Mex- ico from Texas, and an army marching from Fort Leavenworth across the plains through New Mexico to .Santa Fe, and thence southward to a junction with General Wool in the vicinity of Chihuahua, end-
ing with the capture of that city by the united commands. The force which assembled at Fort Leavenworth and took the name of the "Army of the West," was composed of Colonel A. W. Doniphan's mounted regiment, with C. F. Ruff for lieu- tenant colonel, and William Gilpin for major-806 men and 30 officers; Major M. L. Clark's battalion of light artil- lery, with Captain A. W. Fisher under him, 220 men and 12 officers; Augney's bat- talion, two companies, under Captain W. Z. Augney and Captain William S. Murphy, 148 men and 7 officers; a portion of the First Regiment United States Dragoons, under Major E. V. Sumner, together with the Laclede Rangers, Captain Thomas B. Hud- son-Sumner's command, with Hudson's company, showing 420 men and 16 officers- and the whole army consisting of 1,659 men, with sixteen pieces of artillery. Doniphan's regiment was made up of companies raised in the counties of Jackson, Lafayette, Clay, Saline, Franklin, Cole, Howard and Calla- way; Captain Murphy's command was raised in Platte, and Captain Augney's in Platte and Cole; and Clark's battalion and Hudson's Laclede Rangers were from St. Louis. Some- time after the arrival of the army at Santa Fe, Lieutenant Colonel Ruff, of Doniphan's regiment, resigned, and Captain Jackson was chosen to take his place. The second lieu- tenant of Captain Murphy's company of Aug- ney's battalion, from Platte County, was George R. Gibson, a young man of liberal education and adventurous spirit, who kept a diary of the expedition from the beginning, and this has been constantly consulted in the preparation of the following sketch. The "Army of the West" started from Fort Leav- enworth on the 29th of June, 1846, and took up its march across the plains, a barren and inhospitable region, scarce of herbage, with the blazing summer sun aggravated by the reflection of the treeless wastes that stretched from horizon to horizon. It was a region unexplored and known only to hunt- ers and trappers, without marked roads, and not infrequently the army was forced to wan- der in search of a camping ground where wood and water could be found, and on sev- eral occasions it was visited by sand stormis that caused excessive discomfort. Sore mouths were common among the troops, the lips swollen and parched, the tongue slimy
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and swollen, and articulation difficult; and this suffering was increased by the saline and alkaline water, which, for several days at a time, was the only kind to be had. On the 28th of July, a month out from Fort Leaven- worth, the faint line of the Rocky Mountains, with Pike's Peak towering up in majesty, was seen at a distance of a hundred miles, and the whole army united in a shout as a mark of respect to a mountain destined to become famous at a later day. At Bent's Fort, a halt was made for three days to rest and re- fresh the men. The troops bore the hard- ships cheerfully and bravely, and on the 18th of August the journey of fifty-two days and 918 miles was ended and the army entered Santa Fe without resistance. The peaceful occupation had not been expected. As the army approached Santa Fe it met rumors, brought in by the inhabitants, that General Armijo, who was in command of the country, was making preparations to resist, and on the 14th of August a messenger from the Mexican general met General Kearney, and delivered a letter in which he was formally notified that he might prepare for battle at Begas, a village nine miles ahead. General Kearney halted in a low place somewhat shielded from the hot sun, and rested his men for several hours, while the artillery was com- ing up to open the expected engagement ; but when Begas was reached there was no enemy to be seen, and General Kearney assembled the inhabitants and made a speech claiming the country as a part of the United States ter- ritory, and promising them protection. The oath of allegiance was administered to the principal citizens-and after this ceremony a rumor came in that Armijo was posted at the pass, two miles further on, through which the route lay. The army was formed in line of battle, the regulars in front, followed by the volunteer infantry. When within a mile of the gap, the regulars were ordered to charge through the gap, which was narrow, and the infantry to scale the high, steep, rocky em- inence on either side of it. The troops effected the movement with admirable spirit, expecting to be resisted ; but no enemy was there, and none had been there, and then it came out that the whole movement had been arranged by the commander to try the mettle of the troops. The place was a very strong one and capable of being easily defended, and as no attempt was made to oppose the expe-
dition there, it was inferred that none would be made at Santa Fe. At San Miguel a halt was made, the citizens of the town assembled, and a similar ceremony to that at Begas was performed, the oath of allegiance being ad- ministered to the alcalde, and the people assured of protection against the Indians. At San Miguel, Kearney received his com- mission as brigadier general, having, up to that time only acted as such. On the 17th the army camped on Pecos River, almost in sight of Santa Fe, and General Kearney issued an order declaring all the country east of the Rio Grande to be United States ter- ritory, and the people to be citizens of the United States, and warning the troops against maltreating the New Mexicans, un- der pain of severe punishment, Next day at 5 o'clock the army halted on an eminence overlooking the city and, leaving the artillery in position there, marched into the plaza, the regulars in front, and the infantry following. The stars and stripes were hoisted from the palace, and as it fluttered to the breeze the artillery fired a salute of thirteen guns. The taking possession of the ancient capital, after a march of nearly 1,000 miles through an unknown region, was disappointingly tame and undramatic. The troops expected to take the city, of course, but not without a fight ; but as they marched into the plaza not a hostile soldier was to be seen, and even the citizens kept out of sight, leaving the invaders all to themselves. At first it looked as if they had captured a deserted city, for many of the inhabitants had fled to the moun- tains, and those who remained carefully avoided appearing on the streets. At dark the troops were marched back to the height occupied by the artillery, where they camped for the night, the unromantic conditions be- ing greatly aggravated by the failure of the trains to arrive, making it necessary for the men, who had already gone without their dinner, to go without their supper also. Next day General Kearney took possession of the palace and public offices, administering the oath of allegiance to the officials and allowing them to continue in their duties. A delegation of Pueblo Indians waited on him and proffered their allegiance, and, the first terror inspired by the invaders having been dissipated by the exemplary conduct of the men and the assurances of the commander, the citizens who had fled returned, and the
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