USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 14
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THOMAS EWING, JR., Brigadier-General.
Headquarters Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis, August 29, 1863.
His Excellency Thomas Carney,
Governor of Kansas:
Governor: I have forwarded a copy of your letter of the 24th to the War Department, and requested the President to appoint a court of inquiry, with full powers to investigate all matters touching military affairs in Kansas, and have urged it strongly. I have no doubt the court will be appointed, and that the responsibility of the sad calamity which has befallen Lawrence will be placed where it properly belongs. Be assured that nothing in my power shall be omitted to visit just vengeance upon all who are in any way guilty of the horrible crime. and to secure Kansas against anything of the kind in future. Mean- while let me urge upon you the importance of mollifying the just anger by your leaving it to the United States troops to execute the vengeance which they so justly demand. It needs no argument to convince you of the necessity of this course; without it there would be no end of retaliation on either side, and utter desolation on both sides of the border would be the result.
Anything you may require in the way of arms for your militia and complete outfit for your new regiment of volunteers shall be furnished at once. Immediately upon the receipt of your letter I ordered three thousand stands of arms to be shipped to you at once, and to-day have ordered some horses for the Fifteenth Regiment. The arms are not of the best class, but are the very best I have, and are perfectly ser- viceable.
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Permit me to suggest that your militia should be thoroughly organ- ized throughout the state, and that every town should have arms in store, under a small guard, sufficient to arm the militia of the town. The arms can be easily supplied by the General Government. Without such organization, no town in Missouri or Kansas near the border is safe unless it be occupied by United States troops, and to occupy them all you will perceive is utterly impossible with the force under my com- mand. To entirely prevent the assemblage of such bands of desperate outlaws as that under Quantrill, in the summer season, is simply impos- sible without five times my present force. In a state like Kansas, where everybody is loyal, such a state of things could not exist ; but when half or more of the people are disloyal, of all shades, as in west- ern Missouri, and consequently cannot be permitted to carry arms, whether willingly or unwillingly, they are the servants of these brigands and are entirely at their mercy. If they resist their demands or inform upon them, it is at the peril of their lives. I do not wish to extenuate in any degree the crimes of those who are responsible for these inhuman acts; they shall suffer the fullest penalty ; but I simply state what at a moment's reflection will convince you are facts, to show the necessity for full preparation on your part to assist me in preventing the recur- rence of any calamity like that which befell Lawrence.
I am informed that a meeting was held in Leavenworth a few days ago, in which it was resolved that the people should meet at Paola, on the 8th of September, for the purpose of entering Missouri, to recover their stolen property. If this was the only result of such expe- dition, or if their vengeance could be limited to those who are actually guilty, there would be no objection to it; but it is a simple matter of course that the action of such an irresponsible organization of enraged citizens would be indiscriminate retaliation upon innocent and guilty alike. You cannot expect me to permit anything of this sort ; my pres- ent duty requires me to prevent it at all hazards and by all the means in my power. But I hope a few days of reflection will show the popular leaders in Kansas the folly and wickedness of such retaliation, and cause them to be abandoned. I shall confidently rely upon your power- ful influence to prevent any such action on the part of the people of Kansas as will force me into the painful position of having to oppose them in any degree. particularly by force.
Be assured, Governor, of my earnest desire to do all in my power
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
to promote the peace and security of Kansas. I shall be glad at all times to know your views and wishes touching your state.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General.
May 3-11, 1863 .- Scout in Cass and Bates Counties, Mo. Report of Col. Edward Lynde, Ninth Kansas Cavalry.
Paola, May 11, 1863.
Sir: I have the honor to report that, on the 3d instant, I left camp with small detachments from Companies A, D, E, F. and K, of this regiment, for a scout in Cass and Bates counties, Missouri. I scoured Cass county and found no enemy; then returned into Bates county, and when about 10 miles north of Butler received your letters of instruc- tions, dated Fort Leavenworth, 1863; also your letter dated Fort Leavenworth, May 5, directing Company D, Captain (Charles F.) Coleman, to move his company from Rockville to Butler, Mo., which was immediately complied with. I moved on to the Osage, intending to cross to Hog Island, but found the river too high, and did not cross; then turned east, and on the morning of the 8th, on Double Branches, found a gang of Bushwhackers, under Jackman and Marchbanks, Quantrill having left on the night of the 6th instant for Henry county, Missouri, with 40 men. We found Jackman and March- banks with about 20 men, who fled by ones and twos. and then escaped. except 7, who were reported killed by my soldiers. I found county rapidly filling up by bushwhackers' families, who are returning from the South under the impression that Price is coming up, and had again taken possession, with their stock. This stream, called the Double Branches, is their rendezvous, and has been since the outbreak of this rebellion : but four loyal families live on it, and they are doubtful. About fifty or sixty families inhabit that country bordering on that stream. I notified them to leave and go south of the Arkansas river. A great part of them positively refused. I burned eleven houses inhabited by bushwhackers' families, and drove off all the stock except that belong. ing to the reported loyal persons. We broke up four camps of bush whackers and pursued them to the eastern side of Bates county. 1 think for the present no danger need be apprehended from that quar- ter. I will keep a close watch, for I am satisfied they intend to organize
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a force somewhere in that country; I think in Henry county. About 24 persons were wounded.
Since the fall of Vicksburg, and the breaking up of large parts of Price's and Marmaduke's armies, great numbers of Rebel soldiers, whose families live in western Missouri, have returned, and being unable or unwilling to live at home, have joined the bands of guerrillas infesting the border. Companies which before this summer mustered but 20 or 30 have now grown to 50 or 100. All the people of the country, through fear or favor, feed them, and rarely any give information about them, thus practically their friends, and being familiar with fastnesses of a country wonderfully adapted by nature to guerrilla warfare, they have been generally able to elude the most energetic pursuit. When assem- bled in a body of several hundred, they scattered before an inferior force; and when our troops scattered in pursuit, they reassembled to fall on an exposed squad, or a weakened post, or defenseless strip of the border. I have had seven stations on the line from which patrols have each day traversed every foot of the border for 90 miles. The troops you have been able to spare me out of the small forces withheld by you from the armies of Generals Grant, Steele, and Blunt, numbering less than 3,000 officers and men for duty, and having over twenty-five sep- arate stations or fields of operation throughout the district, have worked hard and (until this raid) successfully in hunting down the guerrilla and protecting the stations and the border. They have killed more than 100 of them in petty skirmishes and engagements between the 18th of June and the 20 instant.
On the 25th instant I issued an order* requiring all residents of the counties of Jackson, Cass, Bates, and that part of Vernon included in this district, except those within one mile of the limits of the military stations and the garrisoned towns, and those north of Brush creek and west of Big Blue, to remove from their present places of residence within fifteen days from that date; those who prove their loyalty to be allowed to move out of the district or to any military station in it, or to any part of Kansas west of the border counties; all others to move out of the district. When the war broke out, the district to which this order applies was peopled by a community three-fourths of whom were intensely disloyal. The avowed loyalists have been driven from their farms long since, and their houses and improvements generally de- stroyed. They are living in Kansas, and at military stations in Mis-
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souri, unable to return to their homes. None remain on their farms but Rebels and neutral families; and practically the conditions of their tenure is that they shall feed, clothe, and shelter the guerrillas, furnish them information, and deceive or withhold information from us. The exceptions are few, perhaps twenty families in those parts of the coun- ties to which the order applies. Two-thirds of those who left their families on the border and went to the Rebel armies have returned. They dared not stay at home, and no matter what terms of amnesty may be granted, they can never live in the country except as brigands ; and so long as their families and associates remain, they will stay until the last man is killed, to ravage every neighborhood of the border. With your approval, I was about adopting, before this raid, measures for the removal of the families of the guerrillas and of known Rebels, under which two-thirds of the families affected by this order would have been compelled to go. That order would have been most difficult of execution, and not half so effectual as this. Though this measure may seem too severe, I believe it will prove not inhuman, but merciful, to the noncombatants affected by it. Those who prove their loyalty will find houses enough at the stations and will not be allowed to suffer for want of food. Among them are but few dissatisfied with the order. notwithstanding the present hardship it imposes. Among the Union refugees it is regarded as the best assurance they have ever had of a return to their homes and permanent peace there. To obtain the full military advantages of this removal of the people, I have ordered the destruction of all grain and hay, in shed or in the field, not near enough to military stations for removal there. I have also ordered from the towns occupied as military stations a large number of persons, either openly or secretly disloyal, to prevent the guerrillas getting informa- tion of the townspeople, which they will no longer be able to get of the farmers. The execution of these orders will possibly lead to a still fiercer and more active struggle, requiring the best use of the addi- tional troops the general commanding has sent me, but will soon result, though with much unmerited loss and suffering, in putting an end to this savage border war.
I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
THOMAS EWING, JR.,
Brigadier-General.
* See Ewing to Schofield August 25, 1863, Part II, pp. 139. 140.
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
September 27-28, 1863-Scout in Bates County, Mo. Report of Col. Edward Lynde, Ninth Kansas Cavalry.
Headquarters Troops on the Border,
Trading Post, Kans., September 28, 1863-11 p. m.
Sir: A dispatch is just in from Captain (G. F.) Earl, in command of scouts that left yesterday to scour Bates county, Missouri. The captain says he met a small party at the crossing of Marais des Cygnes, south of Butler : killed 4 of them, and had 2 mnen wounded; the colonel escaped. He afterward found the trail of about 40, and followed it on to the Miami, and there learned, by some women living on that stream, that Marchbanks, with 40 men, passed up on to Grand river yesterday. The captain also writes that quite a number of families still inhabit the houses in the timber, and that the town of Butler is entirely burned. I shall take measures to have all the families removed at once. I think by the last of the week I can give you a definite account of all this part of your district.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
E. LYNDE,
Colonel Ninth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, Commanding. Assistant Adjutant-General. District of the Border.
Butler. Bates County, Mo., April 12, 1862. Capt. Lucien J. Barnes,
Assistant Adjutant-General :
The detachments under Captains Leffingwell and Caldwell returned with their prisoners (34) this evening. One of the jayhawkers was killed by a rifle shot in attempting an escape, and one of our men was captured, but was retaken after being robbed of horse. saddle, arms, and clothing, except shirt and drawers. Most of these men are of the worst, and ought to be shot or hung. The whole wooded country of the Marais des Cygnes, Osage, and their tributaries is full of them.
I shall move three columns early next week by different routes from this point and Clinton, making Montevallo. Vernon county, the point of junction. We shall not be able to get any fight out of them. We can only chase them down. Very few arms are captured. They imme- (liately throw them away when close pressed. I have no instruction what to do with captured horses. I am obliged to use many to remount
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my men. The high speed and mud break down our own and make them for the time unserviceable. But there are many of no use for cavalry, if they were needed. I beg instructions what to do with them. I must also remind you again of our need of effective arms. It is important that we act now with energy. In a short time the foliage will place us at a great disadvantage. I only regret that the weather is so bad.
Very truly, your obedient servant,
FITZ HENRY WARREN, Colonel, Commanding Cavalry.
September 22, 1861 .- Skirmish at, and Destruction of, Osceola, Mo. Report of Brig. Gen. James H. Lane, Commanding Kansas Brigade.
Camp Montgomery, West Point, September 24, 1861.
Sir: Your dispatch of September 18 is this moment received. My brigade is now marching to this point from Osceola, where I have been on a forced march, expecting to cut off the enemy's train of ammuni- tion. The enemy ambushed the approaches to the town, and after hav- ing been driven from them by the advance under Colonels Montgomery and Weer, they took refuge in the buildings of the town to annoy us. We were compelled to shell them out, and in doing so the place was burned to ashes, with an immense amount of stores of all descriptions. There were 15 or 20 of them killed and wounded; we lost none. Full particulars will be furnished you hereafter .*
* Further reports not found, but see Plumly to Scott, October 3, post. Remainder of above letter in the general correspondence, post.
Headquarters Kansas Brigade,
Camp Montgomery, West Point, Mo., September 14, 1861. Commandant of Post, Kansas City :
We have moved this far with our limited force, clearing our front and rear as far as practicable, for the purpose of co-operating with the force under your command and the column under Colonel Peabody. We have been unable to hear anything from either column. Can you give us any information as to either column? If Peabody has been driven back, Kansas City should be largely re-enforced, and a column (II)
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
moved down the border until we get into communication. The enemy yesterday were concentrating at Rose Hill, intending, I think, to pre- vent a junction of Peabody's command and my men and as a flank movement upon Kansas City, and should be met by a counter-move- ment, as I have suggested.
I started a dispatch to Captain Prince last night, which he will get to-day, communicating the same information and making the same suggestion. I have a force actually engaged at Forts Scott and Lin- coln and Barnesville, and am now starting a small force at the Trading Post, and occupying this place with 700 cavalry, 700 infantry, and two pieces of artillery. Yesterday I cleared out Butler, and Parkville with my cavalry about 20 miles.
You are now posted as to my command and of my movements; reciprocate by letting me hear from your column and Colonel Pea- body's at the earliest possible moment.
J. H. LANE, Commanding Kansas Brigade.
Headquarters Kansas Brigade, Camp Montgomery, West Point, September 17, 1861.
Capt. W. E. Prince,
First U. S. Infantry, Commanding Fort Leavenworth : Sir : * * I am here within 24 miles of Harrisonville, and there is nothing in the way of forming a junction with any troops that may be moved upon that point. You will find enclosed Colonel Blunt's report of what he is doing south and Captain Hayes' and Lieutenant- Colonel Moore's reports of the forces at Fort Lincoln and Barnesville.
I very much doubt the policy of forming a junction which will require my moving farther north than Harrisonville. There is nothing in Jackson county in the way of a force moving from Kansas City on Harrisonville. If a column could move from there while I am moving upon it through Butler, we might catch some of the cowardly guerrillas between us and the border, while, if I move up the border and form a junction near Kansas City and then move on Harrisonville, the effect would be to herd the enemy, as Sigel did at Carthage and Lyon did at Springfield.
Can you not induce Captain Reno to send me down a 12 pounder?
.
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I am told you have one. I have as brave and skillful artillery officers as there are in the world.
J. H. LANE.
Headquarters Kansas Brigade,
Camp Montgomery, West Point, September 24, 1861.
Major-General Fremont,
Commanding Western Department, Saint Louis:
Sir : * Although Lexington has fallen since your order of September 18, I propose to move on Kansas City, there to form a junction with General Sturgis. I will be able to move with about 700 cavalry, 500 infantry, 100 artillery, with a battery of two 6-pounder howitzers and two 12-pound mountain howitzers. I will leave here Fri- day morning, September 27, at 5 o'clock a. m., and will reach Kansas City, Sunday, 29th.
I will leave at Fort Scott Major Judson's command of about 800 men, about 100 men at Fort Lincoln, and an irregular force which I have had organized and placed in forts all along the southern and east- ern border. Inclosed you will see all that has transpired at those points .*
You will see by the reports I inclose that rumors are rife that there is a force moving on southern Kansas. If such is the case, God only knows what is to become of Kansas when we move on Kansas City.
I hope, as you have now opened communication with me, to hear from you frequently. I trust you will approve the march on Osceola and its destruction. It was the depot of the traitors for southern Mis- souri. The movement was intended, first, to destroy the ammunitions train ; second, as a demonstration for the relief of Peabody ; third, hop- ing to hear of a force moving from Sedalia; and fourth, a covered movement I suppose we would have to make to the north. Our march east was through Papinsville, Prairie City, down the south side of the Osage, returning through Pleasant Gap and Butler to this point.
I inclose you a printed copy of a proclamation * which I have issued, which it is hoped will meet your approbation.
But for the misfortune at Lexington this part of Missouri was safe.
* Not found.
J. H. LANE.
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* Portion of this letter omitted above appears as report of skir- mish, September 22 at Osceola, Mo., p. 161.
May 18, 1863-Affair at Hog Island, Bates County, Mo. Report of Col. Edward Lynde, Ninth Kansas Cavalry.
Paola, Kansas, May 26, 1863.
Sir: I have the honor to report that Captain (C. F.) Coleman, with a small detachment from Companies F and K, made a descent on . Hog Island, in the southern part of Bates county, Missouri, last week, and found about 300 Rebels, who had erected light breastworks, and were preparing for defense. They were attacked by Captain Cole- man's detachment and routed, leaving 3 killed and 5 wounded, but no prisoners. Coleman had 1 man killed. The detachment also destroyed about 2,000 pounds of bacon, and a quantity of corn the Rebels had gathered on the island. The Rebels scattered and fled to Henry county. I have adopted the plan of hiding a few men in the bushes to watch for the Butternuts that infest our border, and have sent two small detachments back into the country to watch the route they seem to travel in going west. I hope in a few days to be able to give you an account of a good haul, but I have not enough troops at these head- quarters to do so well as I might, if another company was here.
Captain (John F.) Stewart, of Company C, has not reported yet, and I have no knowledge of any troops at Olathe. If it would meet your approbation, I would change some of the companies, and station them a little different from what they are. I think they would be more effective: but I shall not do so without your consent. Would it not be possible to send two companies of infantry down here, and let them be divided between these stations, and they can hold the place and take care of the Government stores, and then all the mounted troops can be in motion? It would help very much.
I am, captain, respectfully, your obedient servant,
E. LYNDE, Colonel Commanding.
Report of Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, U. S. Army, Commanding De- partment of the Missouri.
Headquarters Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis, Mo., September 14, 1863.
Colonel: I have the honor to forward herewith, for the informa- tion of the General-in-chief. Brigadier-General Ewing's report of the
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burning of Lawrence, Kans., and massacre of its inhabitants, and of the operations of his troops in the pursuit and punishment of the Rebels and assassins who committed the atrocious deed.
Immediately after his return from the pursuit of Quantrill, on the 25th of August, General Ewing issued an order depopulating certain counties, and destroying all forage and subsistence therein. The rea- sons which led him to adopt this severe measure are given in his report.
The people of Kansas were, very naturally, intensely excited over the destruction of one of their fairest towns, and the murder of a large number of its unarmed citizens, and many of them called loudly for vengeance, not only upon the perpetrators of the horrible crime, but also upon all the people residing in the western counties of Missouri, and who were assumed to be greatly unjust to the people of Kansas, in general, to say that they shared in this desire for indiscriminate vengeance; but there were not wanting unprincipled leaders to fan the flame of popular excitement and goad the people to madness, in the hope of thereby accomplishing their own selfish ends.
On the 26th of August, a mass meeting was held in the city of Leavenworth at which it was resolved that the people should meet at Paola, on the 8th of September, armed and supplied for a campaign of fifteen days, for the purpose of entering Missouri to search for their stolen property and retaliate upon the people of Missouri for the out- rages committed in Kansas. This meeting was addressed by some of the leading men of Kansas in the most violent and inflammatory man- ner, and the temper of these leaders and of their followers was such there seemed to be great danger of an indiscriminate slaughter of the people in western Missouri, or of a collision with the troops, under General Ewing, in their efforts to prevent it. Under these circum- stances, I determined to visit Kansas and western Missouri, for the purpose of settling the difficulty, if possible, and also for the purpose of gaining more accurate information of the condition of the border counties of Missouri, and thus making myself able to judge of the wisdom and necessity of the severe measures which had been adopted by General Ewing.
I arrived at Leavenworth City on the 2d of September, and obtained an interview with the Governor of the state and other promi- nent citizens. I found the Governor and his supporters opposed to all unauthorized movement on the part of the people of Kansas, and will- ing to co-operate with me in restoring quiet, and in providing for future
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security. I then sought and obtained an interview with the Hon. J. H. Lane, United States senator, who was the recognized leader of those engaged in the Paola movement. Mr. Lane explained to me his views of the necessity, as he believed, of making a large portion of western Missouri a desert waste, in order that Kansas might be secured against future invasion. He proposed to tender to the district commander the services of all the armed citizens of Kansas to aid in executing this policy. This, I informed him, was impossible; that what- ever measures of this kind it might be necessary to adopt must be executed by United States troops ; that irresponsible citizens could not be intrusted with the discharge of such duties. He then insisted that the people who might assemble at Paola should be permitted to enter Missouri "in search of their stolen property," and desire to place them under my command he (General Lane) pledging himself that they should strictly confine themselves to such search, abstaining entirely from all unlawful acts. General Lane professed entire confidence in his ability to control, absolutely, the enraged citizens who might volun- teer in such enterprise. I assured Mr. Lane that nothing would afford me greater pleasure than to do all in my power to assist the outraged and despoiled people to recover their property as well as to punish their despoilers ; but that the search proposed would be fruitless, because all the valuable property which had not already been recovered from those of the robbers who had been slain had been carried by the others far beyond the border counties, and that I had not the slightest faith in his ability to control a mass of people who might choose to assemble under a call which promised the finest possible opportunity for plun- der. General Lane desired me to consider the matter fully, and inform him, as soon as possible, of my decision, saying if I decided not to allow the people the "right" which they claimed, he would appeal to the President. It was not difficult to discover that so absurd a propo- sition as that of Mr. Lane could not have been made in good faith, nor had I much difficulty in detecting the true object which was pro- posed to be accomplished ; which was to obtain, if possible, my consent to accept the services of all who might meet at Paola, and then take them into Missouri under my command, when I, of course, would be held responsible for the murder and robbery which must necessarily ensue.
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