USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 12
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
One Samuel Scott was by the governor appointed sheriff, with other county officers, of the new county of Vernon. On October 8, 1851, in the circuit court, begun and held in the town of Papinsville, Samuel Sawyer, circuit attorney, filed an information in the nature of a quo warranto at the relation of George Douglass against the said Samuel Scott and other county officers, charging that the county of Vernon had not been legally organized and therefore the said Scott and others were unlawfully exercising authority as such officers.
A change of venue was taken from the said court to Henry county circuit court, where it was tried before Hon. Waldo P. Johnson as judge of that circuit. At the November term, 1852, Judge Johnson held that the act establishing the said Vernon county was unconsti- tutional.
An appeal was taken to the supreme court and the supreme court January term, 1853, affirmed the holding of Judge Johnson. This of course disorganized the said county of Vernon and that part of Cass and Bates counties that had been within the boundary of the pro- posed county of Vernon was again under the jurisdiction of the said counties respectively.
By act of the Legislature of February 22, 1855 the present northern boundary line of Bates county was established, thus making the two northern tiers of townships in Bates county as they are now.
By act of the Legislature, February 27, 1855, the present county of Vernon was organized with its northern boundary line the same as it is at this time. This resulted in fixing the boundary lines of Bates county as they are now.
It is novel, if not interesting, to note that had not the act of Febru- ary 17, 1851, organizing Vernon county been declared unconstitutional. Butler would have been the county seat of Vernon county. while Nevada would have been the county seat of Bates county.
UNION AND CONFEDERATE VETERANS, OLD SETTLERS OF BATES COUNTY.
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CHAPTER X.
THE BORDER WARFARE.
"KANSAS WAR"-PRO-SLAVERY SETTLERS VS. "FREE STATE MEN"-THE AGI- TATED, EXCITED PUBLIC MIND-FACTS BETWEEN LINCOLN'S ELECTION AND INAUGURATION-BORDER LAND INFLAMED-WAR REPORTS-OSAWATOMIE JOHN BROWN.
The condition which prevailed on both sides of the line between Missouri and Kansas Territory, beginning in 1854 and lasting through 1858, or say about five years, is what is referred to when the "border troubles" are mentioned. It was sometimes spoken of as the "Kansas War." But later the expression "Border Warfare" came to mnean not only that, but included the warfare carried on along the line after the Civil War had broken out, for two or three years. The original trouble grew out of the slavery question almost wholly. The pro-slavery set- tlers in Kansas Territory were determined to make Kansas Territory into a slave state; and in this they had the earnest support of the pro- slavery men in western Missouri; and substantially all Missourians in this part of the state were pro-slavery. But the vigilant "free state men" who had settled in the Territory were equally resolute to make Kansas free. The excitement grew and conditions became worse and worse until neither person nor property was safe anywhere along the border from Westport to Ft. Scott. Marauders, thieves and murderers developed ; outrages were perpetrated by both sides. There seemed to be no responsible government anywhere. Blood flowed freely. Crimes were avenged, retaliation indulged, and many harmless and innocent citizens injured and ruined, if not killed.
During all this time the war spirit was growing all over the nation and the issues joined in Kansas over the slavery question intensified and inflamed the minds of the people everywhere. Secession, disunion, began to be discussed seriously in the halls of Congress, in the news- papers, and from every stump in every political campaign. The leaders of the South, in Congress and out, held and believed that the states had a right under the Constitution to peaceably secede from the Union and
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
organize a new nation. This was denied by the Unionists of the North, and so the public mind became wonderfully agitated and excited.
Lincoln was elected in November, 1860. South Carolina seceded December 20th; then followed Mississippi. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, in January and February, 1862. The Southern Confederacy was formed at Montgomery, Alabama, February 4, 1862; and when Lincoln was inaugurated, March 4, 1862, he found seven states already out of the Union so far as forms of civil procedure could put them out; on April 13th, Ft. Sumpter was surrendered by Major Ander- son : and on the 15th, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers. From that date the Civil War was on. On January 29. 1859, Kansas was admitted to the Union with a constitution prohibiting slavery. These were the outstanding facts which had occurred between Lincoln's election in November and his inauguration the following March.
No part of the country had been more inflamed than this border land up and down the state line, of which section Bates county was near the center. The population of this county was overwhelmingly pro-slavery and for secession, disunion and the formation of the South- ern Confederacy. It became the rendezvous and hiding place of bush- whackers, marauders and irresponsible, lawless gangs who perpetrated all manner of outrages upon peaceable citizens and their property. Gangs, largely of the same general character, from Kansas, invaded this county either in retaliation or merely to plunder our citizens. The feeling was intense on both sides-the result of about six years of struggle over the Kansas free state question. Conditions were such that these bushwhackers and lawless bands could neither be controlled nor punished by the armies in the field; so after fruitless marchings to and fro by Union commands, in less or larger units, without being able to catch or kill or run out of the county this disloyal and treas- onable element, as a last resort and after mature consideration, General Thomas Ewing issued his celebrated "Order No. 11" in 1863, four days after Quantrill's sack of Lawrence, and the brutal murder of unoffending and unarmed citizens. It used to be popular to refer to this only as "Ewing's infamous order." History has approved it as wise and proper, and salutary as a war measure. The necessity was urgent and the results beneficient.
Not desiring to go into a discussion of details, possibly involving matters of opinion, it is deemed proper to give extended authentic war records from both sides touching this order, and showing conditions in Bates county during the Civil War. This generation, and the pres-
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
ent citizenship of Bates county are free from the passions of that un- happy strife ; and yet few have an opportunity to read this interesting history of or touching our county, and in order to make the official "War Reports" available to the readers of this history, we have gath- ered together from the official reports printed by the government the following :
Headquarters Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis, August 25, 1863.
Brigadier-General Ewing, Commanding District of the Border,
Kansas City, Missouri :
General: I inclose a draught of an order which I propose to issue in due time. I send it to you in order that you may make the necessary preparations for it. Such a measure will, of course, produce retaliation upon such loyal people as may be exposed to it, and they should, as far as possible, be removed to places of safety before the execution of the order is commenced or the purpose to execute it is made public. Also, it is necessary to be quite certain that you have the power to put down the Rebel bands, and prevent retaliation like that recently inflicted upon Lawrence, if, indeed, that can be regarded or was intended as an act of retaliation. My information relative to that distressing affair is too imperfect to enable me to judge accurately on this point. But it occurs to me as at least probable that the massacre and burning at Lawrence was the immediate consequence of the inauguration of the policy of removing from the border counties the slaves of rebels and the families of bushwhackers. If this is true, it would seem a strong argument against the wisdom of such policy. You are in posi- tion to judge of all this better than I can. At all events, I am pretty much convinced that the mode of carrying on the war on the border during the past two years has produced such a state of feeling that noth- ing short of total devastation of the districts which are made the haunts of guerrillas will be sufficient to put a stop to the evil. Please consider the matter fully and carefully, and give me your views in regard to the necessity for the application of such severe remedy, and of the wisdom of the method proposed. I will be guided mainly by your judgment in regard to it. If you desire the order to be issued as I have written it, or with any modifications which you may suggest, please inform me when you are ready for it.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General.
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
(Inclosure.)
A band of robbers and murderers, under the notorious Quantrill, has been for a long time harbored and fed by the disloyal people of Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties, Missouri, and have driven out or murdered nearly all the loyal people of those counties; and, finally on the of the present month these brigands, issuing suddenly from their hiding places, made a descent upon the town of Lawrence, in Kan- sas, and in the most inhuman manner sacked and burned the town, and murdered in cold blood a large number of loyal and unoffending citizens. It is manifest that all ordinary means have failed to subdue the rebellious spirit of the people of the counties named, and that they are determined to harbor and encourage a band of scoundrels whose every object is plunder and murder. This state of things cannot be permitted longer to exist, and nothing less than the most radical remedy will be sufficient to remove the evil. It is therefore ordered that the disloyal people of Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties will be given until the _. day of to remove from those counties, with such of their personal property as they may choose to carry away. At the end of the time named all houses, barns, provisions, and other property belonging to such disloyal persons, and which can be used to shelter, protect, or support the bands of robbers and murderers which infest those counties, will be destroyed or seized and appropriated to the use of the government. Property situated at or near military posts, and in or near towns which can be protected by troops so as not to be used by the bands of robbers will not be destroyed, but will be appropriated to the use of such loyal or innocent persons as may be made homeless by the acts of guerrillas or by the execution of this order. The com- manding general is aware that some innocent persons must suffer from these extreme measures, but such suffering is unavoidable, and will be made as light as possible. A district or county inhabited almost solely by Rebels cannot be permitted to be made a hiding place for robbers and murderers, from which to sally forth on their errands of rapine and death. It is sincely hoped that it will not be necessary to apply this remedy to any other portion of Missouri. But if the people of disloyal districts wish to avoid it, they must unite to prevent its neces- sity, which is clearly in their power to do.
This order will be executed by Brigadier-General Ewing. com- manding District of the Border, and such officers as he may specially detail for the purpose.
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
Headquarters District of the Border, Kansas City, Mo., August 25, 1863.
Maj .- Gen. John M. Schofield, St. Louis, Mo. :
Sir: I got in late yesterday afternoon. I send in inclosed paper General Orders No. 11, which I found it necessary to issue at once, or I would have first consulted you. The excitement in Kansas is great, and there is (or was before this order) great danger of a raid of citizens for the purpose of destroying the towns along the border. My political enemies are fanning the flames, and wish me for a burnt- offering to satisfy the just passion of the people.
If you think it best, please consider me as applying for a court of inquiry. It should be appointed by the General-in-Chief, or the Secre- tary of War. General Deitzler, of Lawrence, is the only officer of rank I think in Kansas who would be regarded as perfectly impartial. He is at Lawrence now on sick furlough, but is well enough for such duty, and knows the district.
I do not make unconditional application for the court, because I have seen no censure of any one act of mine, or omission even, except my absence from headquarters. It is all mere mob clamor, and all at Leavenworth. Besides, I do not, with my want of familiarity with the custom of the service in such matters and with the horrors of the massa- cre distressing me, feel confidence in my judgment as to the matter. I therefore ask your friendly advice and action, with the statement that if a full clearance of me, by the court, is worth anything to you, or me, or the service. I would like to have the court.
I left my headquarters to go to Leavenworth the day before the massacre, on public business. I have never taken an hour of ease or rest with anything undone which I thought necessary for the protec- tion of the border. No man, woman, or child ever suggested the idea of stationing troops permanently at Lawrence. The whole border has been patrolled night and day for 90 miles, and all the troops under my command posted and employed as well as I know how to do it. I have not the slightest doubt that any fair court would not only acquit me of all suspicion of negligence, but also give me credit for great pre- caution and some skill in my adjustment of troops. I assure you, gen- eral, I would quit the service at once if I were accused, after candid
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
investigation, of the slightest negligence or of a want of average skill in the command of the forces you have given me.
I ami, general, very respectfully, your obedient servent,
THOMAS EWING, JR., Brigadier-General. (Inclosure.)
General Orders No. 11.
Headquarters District of the Border.
Kansas City, Mo., August 25, 1863.
1. All persons living in Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties, Missouri, and in that part of Vernon included in this district, except those living within one mile of the limits of Independence, Hickman Mills, Pleasant Hill, and Harrisonville, and except those in that part of Kaw township, Jackson county, north of Brush creek and west of the Big Blue, are hereby ordered to remove from their present places of residence within fifteen days from the date hereof. Those who, within that tinie, estab- lished their loyalty to the satisfaction of the commanding officer of the military station nearest their present places of residence will receive from him certificates stating the fact of their loyalty, and the names of the witnesses by whom it can be shown. All who receive such cer- tificates will be permitted to remove to any military station in this district, or to any part of the state of Kansas, except the counties on the eastern border of the state. All others shall remove out of this dis- trict. Officers commanding companies and detachments serving in the counties named will see that this paragraph is promptly obeyed.
2. All grain and hay in the field or under shelter in the district from which the inhabitants are required to remove within reach of mili- tary stations after the 9th day of September next will be taken to such stations and turned over to the proper officers there, and report of the amount so turned over made to district headquarters, specifying the names of all loyal owners and the amount of such produce taken from them. All grain and hay found in such district after the 9th day of September next not convenient to such stations will be destroyed.
3. The provisions of General Orders No. 10, from these headquar- ters will be at once vigorously executed by officers commanding in the parts of the district and at all the stations not subject to the operation of paragraph 1 of this order, and especially in the towns of Independence, Westport, and Kansas City.
4. Paragraph 3, General Orders No. 10, is revoked as to all who
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
have borne arms against the government in this district since the 21st day of August, 1863.
By order of Brigadier-General Ewing.
H. HANNAHS, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.
Leavenworth, Kansas, August 26, 1863. His Excellency Abraham Lincoln,
President of the United States :
The result of the massacre at Lawrence has excited feeling amongst our people which make a collision between them and the military prob- able. The imbecility and incapacity of Schofield is most deplorable. Our people unanimously demand the removal of Schofield, whose policy has opened Kansas to invasion and butchery .*
A. C. WILDER. J. H. LANE.
* See Lincoln to Schofield, August 27, p. 142, and reply. August 28, p. 144.
Saint Louis, Mo., August 26, 1863. Brigadier-General Ewing, Kansas City :
I wrote you yesterday about measures to be taken in the border counties of Missouri. Do not permit irresponsible parties to enter Mis- souri for retaliation; whatever of that is to be done must be by your troops, acting under your own orders.
J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General.
Kansas City, Mo., August 26. 1863.
Maj .- Gen. John M. Schofield,
Saint Louis, Mo .:
I shall not permit any unauthorized expedition into Missouri. No citizens are in now, and none went in except with my troops. I do not much apprehend any attempt of the kind, except, perhaps, secret efforts of incendiaries to destroy Independence, Westport, or Kansas City, although the people of Kansas are mortified and exasperated, and those of the border considerably alarmed. I will have to clear out a good
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
many Rebels in Independence, Westport, and Kansas City. I need Lieutenant-Colonel Van Horn, Twenty-fifth Missouri, to command this post. Please detail him, if you can. He is now at Saint Louis. THOMAS EWING, JR., Brigadier-General.
Kansas City, Mo., August 26, 1863. Maj .- Gen. John M. Schofield.
Commanding Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis, Mo .:
My troops are still in pursuit, Quantrill's men are scattered, the worst having gone out of the border counties. At last reports we have killed from 50 to 60. I have ordered all families out of the border coun- ties of Missouri in fifteen days, allowing Union men to remain at or come to military stations or go to the interior of Kansas, and compelling all the rest to leave the district. I will destroy or take to stations all forage and substance left in those counties after date fixed for removal. I have written you the reason for issuing the order; I am sure you would approve if here. This raid has made it impossible to save any families in those counties away from the stations, for they are practically the servants and supporters of the guerrillas. I anticipate the collection on the border of a large part of the guerillas of southwestern Missouri to resist or revenge the execution of this measure. If you can send me more troops, please do so. I can use the Twenty-fifth Missouri or the Tenth Kansas to good advantage garrisoning the posts. There has been no failure to exert every possible effort to catch Quantrill, except at Paola, Friday night, when a great occasion was lost. I will see that the censure for that falls where it belongs. The charges set afloat from Leavenworth are false and malignant, so far as they apply to me and Major Plumb, and are instigated and paid for by political Quantrills. THOMAS EWING, JR .. Brigadier-General.
Washington, D. C., August 27, 1863, 8:30 a. m. General Schofield, Saint Louis:
I have just received the dispatch which follows from two very influ- ential citizens of Kansas, whose names I omit .* The severe blow they have received naturally enough makes them intemperate even without
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
there being any just cause for blame. Please do your utmost to give them future security and to punish their invaders.
A. LINCOLN.
* See Wilder and Lane to Lincoln, August 26, p. 141.
Washington, D. C., August 27, 1863, 8:30 a. m. Hon. A. C. Wilder, Hon, J. H. Lane,
Leavenworth, Kansas:
Notice of your demand for the removal of General Schofield is hereby acknowledged. A. LINCOLN.
Kansas City, Mo., August 27, 1863.
Maj .- Gen. John M. Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo .:
Quantrill's men are scattered in their fastness throughout the border counties, and are still being hunted by all available troops from all parts of the district. Many of them have abandoned their worn-out horses and gone to the brush afoot. They were all remounted at Lawrence, with horses they captured there, and they led their own horses back, packing the plundered goods. The led horses and stolen goods were nearly all abandoned in the chase before they got far into Missouri; 300 horses have already been taken by our troops, including some of those taken at Lawrence. Most of the goods and much of the money stolen have been retaken, and will, as far as possible be restored. Reports received since my dispatch of yesterday of 21 killed, making in all about 80. I think it will largely exceed 100 before any considerable part of our troops withdraw from the pursuit. No prisoners have been taken and none will be. All the houses in which Lawrence goods have been found have been destroyed, as well as all the houses of known guerrillas, wherever our troops have gone. I intend to destroy the houses of all persons in the border counties, outside of military stations, who do not remove, in obedience to my last general order, by the 9th day of Sep- tember next.
THOMAS EWING, JR., Brigadier-General.
Kansas City, Missouri, August 27, 1863. Maj .- Gen. John M. Schofield:
Reports reach me from Leavenworth that Major Anthony is endeav- oring to get up expedition into Missouri. Uncertain whether expedition
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
is to cross the Missouri river or enter southern borders, I have notified Governor Carney, whom, I have reason to know, has done nothing to quiet the excitement, warning him that I would resist such an invasion of Missouri. I have notified General Guitar and commanding officers at Liberty, and ordered provost-marshal at Leavenworth to keep com- manding officers at Weston advised. I do not apprehend serious trouble. My dispatch this morning should have read "150 horses."
THOMAS EWING, JR., Brigadier-General.
Headquarters Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis, August 28, 1863.
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States,
Washington, D. C .:
Mr. President : In reply to your telegram of the 27th, transmitting copy of one received from two influential citizens of Kansas, I beg leave to state some of the facts connected with the horrible massacre at Law- rence, and also relative to the assaults made upon me by a certain class of influential politicians.
Since the capture of Vicksburg a considerable portion of the Rebel army in the Mississippi valley has disbanded. and large numbers of men have come back to Missouri-many of them, doubtless, in the hope of being permitted to remain at their former homes in peace, while some have come under instructions to carry on a guerrilla warfare, and others, men of the worst character, become marauders on their own account, caring nothing for the Union nor for the Rebellion, except as the latter affords them a cloak for their brigandage.
Under instructions from the Rebel authorities, as I am informed and believe, considerable bands, called "Border Guards," were organized in the counties of Missouri bordering on Kansas, for the ostensible pur- pose of protecting those counties from inroads from Kansas, and pre- venting slaves of Rebels from escaping from Missouri into Kansas. These bands were unquestionably encouraged, fed, and harbored by a very considerable portion of the people in those border counties. Many of those people were in fact the families of these bushwhackers, who are brigands of the worst type. Upon the representation of General Ewing and others familiar with the facts, I became satisfied there could be no cure for the evil short of the removal from those counties of all slaves entitled to their freedom, and of the families of all men known to belong
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
to these bands, and others who were known to sympathize with them. Accordingly I directed General Ewing to adopt and carry out the policy he had indicated, warning him, however, of the retaliation which might be attempted, and that he must be fully prepared to prevent it before commencing such severe measures.
Almost immediately after it became known that such policy had been adopted, Quantrill secretly assembled from several of the border counties of Missouri about 300 of his men. They met at a preconcerted place of rendezvous, near the Kansas line, at about sunset, and imme- diately marched for Lawrence, which place they reached at daylight the next morning. They sacked and burned the town and murdered the citizens in the most barbarous manner.
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