History of Boone County, Missouri., Part 18

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1220

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They were, therefore, in no state of mind to recognize the obliga- tions of the treaties of 1815, 1822 and 1825, or properly to appre- ciate the efforts of the United States to maintain peaceable relations with them. Moreover the Sacs and Foxes possessed no original right, even in contemplation of Indian ideas of justice, to any portion of the Rock River country or any other portion of Illinois. They were simply intruders on the country of the Santeaus and Iowas.

Nevertheless, blinded by prejudice and fired by a spirit of revenge for imaginary wrongs, the Sacs and Foxes claimed the right to occupy a part of the country on Rock River, although by a treaty made " with the chiefs, warriors and head men of the Sac and Fox tribes " at Fort Armstrong [Rock Island ], on September 3d, 1822, the coun- try for a valuable consideration was transferred to the United States, and had been settled by its citizens.

Frequent collisions with the inhabitants were the consequence. In 1831 these aggressions were so serious, and preparations for open hostilities so threatening, that a considerable force of Illinois militia were called into the field, This formidable array alarmed the savages into an agreement to retire to their own lands west of the Mississippi.

It was not long, however, before a party of the same Indians com- mitted a flagrant outrage, almost under the guns of Fort Crawford, upon a band of friendly Menomonie Indians encamped in the village of Prairie du Chien. Twenty-five of these Indians were wantonly murdered and many others wounded.

Fearing that the Sacs and Foxes would renew their attacks upon the settlements on our frontier, and determined that the murderers of

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

the Menomonies should be surrendered, or captured, for punishment, on the 7th of March, 1832, Brigadier-General Atkinson was ordered to ascend the Mississippi, with a large detachment of the regular troops at Jefferson Barracks, to chastise the Indians, who, under Black Hawk and the Prophet, had violated their treaty with the United States by removing east of the Mississippi and invading with fire and scalping-knife the unprotected frontier settlements of Illinois.

To the demand for the surrender of the murderers of the Meno- monies no attention was paid ; on the contrary, the murderers and their adherents under Black Hawk re-crossed the Mississippi, and in hostile array established themselves on Rock River. This was in May, 1832.

A bloody engagement near Dixon's Ferry on the 14th of the month rendered peace hopeless. Keokuk was the legitimate chief of the tribe, but, although he controlled a majority, the temptations of war and plunder were too strong for those who followed the track of Black Hawk.

The proximity of these hostilities to the Missouri frontier caused Governor John Miller to adopt precautionary measures to avert the calamities of an invasion, which seemed imminent. Therefore, in May, 1832, he ordered Major-General Richard Gentry, of Columbia, Missouri (of whom James S. Rollins, Caleb S. Stone and Calvin L. Perry were aids-de-camp), to raise, without delay, one thousand vol- unteers for the defence of the frontiers of the State, to be in readiness to start at a moment's warning.

Accordingly, on the 29th of May, 1832, orders were issued by Gen- eral Gentry to Brigadier-Generals Benjamin Means, commanding the seventh, Jonathan Riggs, eighth, and Jesse T. Wood, ninth brigade, third division, to raise the required quota, the first named four and each of the last three hundred men, each man " to keep in readiness a horse, with the necessary equipment, and a rifle, in good order, with an ample supply of ammunition," etc. : -

GENERAL ORDER BY GEN. GENTRY.

COLUMBIA, June 25, 1832.

In a general order directed to me by the executive of the State of Missouri, under date of May 25, 1832, wherein I am required to raise and organize one thousand mounted volunteers, for the defence of the northern frontier, from the Third Division of militia, under my command, and to organize them into regiments of five hundred each.

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

I have, in pursuance of said order, made, by lot, the following organization, viz .: The five companies of volunteers raised in the county of Boone, the two companies raised in the county of Callaway, and the two companies in the county of Montgomery shall compose the First Regiment; the two companies raised in the county of Marion, remaining company in the county of Ralls, the remaining company in the county of Pike, the company from the county of Monroe, the two companies from the county of Lincoln, and the two companies from the county of St. Charles, shall compose the Second Regiment. The companies comprising the First Regiment have been organ- ized by lot, in the following manner, to wit:

The company commanded by Patrick Ewing, of Callaway, is the first. The company commanded by Thomas D. Grant, of Boone, the second.

The company commanded by Parker Dudley, of Montgomery, the third.

The company commanded by David M. Hickman, of Boone, the fourth.

The company commanded by John Jamison, of Callaway, the fifth.

The company commanded by Thomas Griffith, of Montgomery, the sixth. .

The company commanded by Sinclair Kirtley, of Boone, the seventh.

The company commanded by Elijah P. Dale, of Boone, the eighth.

The company commanded by Michael Woods, of Boone, the ninth.

And the companies composing the Second Regiment in the following manner, to wit:

The company commanded by William Carson, of Marion, is the first.

The company commanded by David Wielock, of Marion, the second.

The company commanded by Thomas Barby, of Monroe, the fourth. The company commanded by John Ralls, of Ralls, the fifth.

The company commanded by John Pittman, of St. Charles, the sixth. The company commanded by John S. Besser, of Lincoln, the seventh. The company commanded by of Lincoln, the eighth.

The company commanded by Felix Scott, of St. Charles, the ninth.

" The captains commanding companies will cause elections to be held in their respective companies on the following days, to wit: Those belonging to the First Regi- ment on the 4th, and those belonging to the Second Regiment on 12th of July next, for the purpose of electing a Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel and Major to each regiment, at such places as the several officers commanding companies may designate - and make return to me of the whole number of votes given to each candidate for the several offices, without delay. RICHARD GENTRY,

Maj. Gen. comm'g 3d Division Missouri Militia.

Seven companies were at once raised in Boone County, and others in Callaway, Montgomery, St. Charles, Lincoln, Pike, Marion, Ralls, Clay,1 and Monroe.

The Columbia Intelligencer of June 16, 1832, says : " In Gen. Jesse T. Wood's brigade, composed of the counties of Boone and Callaway, on which a requisition was made for 300 volunteers, such

1 Several companies were ordered out in Clay; marched northward to the Iowa line, and thence into the Grand River country. They were absent about four weeks. It is not known to the writer who commanded them. Two companies were raised in Ralls - one, commanded by Captain Richard Matson, was in active service ; the other, John Ralls in command, was held in reserve, but was never ordered into service.

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

was the enthusiasm and promptitude of our citizens that on Thursday last 400 offered their services, being 100 more than was required. They were immediately organized into seven companies, and held themselves in readiness to march on receipt of orders."

Two companies of mounted volunteers, under the command of Capt. David M. Hickman, of Boone, and Capt. John Jamison, of Callaway, detailed by order of Governor Miller, to relieve the two companies on duty on the frontier, after camping one or two days in the vicinity of Columbia, took up the line of March on Monday, July 9, 1832, for their point of destination, and equipped for thirty days of duty. The whole under command of Major Thomas Conyers, with orders to march to the mouth of the Des Moines, and to range from thence to the headwaters of Salt River and on towards the main Chariton. This detachment, accompanied by General Gentry in person, at once took up the line of march for the northern frontier ; arrived at Pal- myra July 10th, and at Fort Pike five days afterwards. This fort was built by Captain Richard Mace, of the Ralls County " Volunteer Rangers," and was situated ten miles from the mouth of the Des Moines, in what is now Clark county.

Officers of First Regiment : Austin A. King, Colonel ; Jesse B. Dale, Lieutenant-Colonel ; Thomas W. Conyers, Major.

Finding " the wars and rumors of wars " much exaggerated, and that no hostile Indians had crossed into Missouri, General Gentry ordered work to be discontinued on Fort Matson, sixty-five miles from Fort Pike and within eight miles of the Chariton, and left for Columbia, where he arrived on the 19th of July. Major Conyers' detachment was left at Fort Pike (to quote General Gentry's re- port to the Governor), with " something like 40 barrels of flour, 2 hogsheads of bacon, 4 barrels of whiskey and 100 bushels of corn."

On Thursday, August 2, 1832, the company of volunteers under command of Capt. Sinclair Kirtley left Columbia for Fort Pike, to relieve the company under Capt. Hickman, whose tour of duty would expire in a few days. Being thus relieved, Capt. Hickman's company reached Columbia on Tuesday, August 14th. Colonel Austin A. King marched the detachment to Fort Pike and conducted those who- were relieved to their homes. Major Conyers was retained in com- mand of the fort.

The Indian war having terminated, all the troops stationed on the frontier were withdrawn, by order of the Governor, and accordingly

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

returned to their homes. Captain Kirtley's company reached Colum- bia on Saturday, September 22, and were disbanded.

But it did not thus, or at this time, end in Illinois. For nearly a' year afterwards it was continued at various points in the territory now occupied by the States of Iowa and Illinois, till the decisive battle on the Mississippi, near the mouth of Bad-Ax River, August 2d, 1833, when the troops under Generals Atkinson, Dodge, Henry, Posey and Alexander overtook and defeated Black Hawk with great slaughter, entirely broke his power and ended the war. While the battle waxed warm Black Hawk stole off up the river, but on the 27th of August, 1833, he was captured by two Winnebagoes and delivered to the United States officers at Prairie du Chien. He was well treated and carried in triumph through a great part of the United States, after which he was permitted to return to his people.

Black Hawk died at the village of his tribe on the Des Moines River, in Davis county, Iowa, October 3d, 1838, aged about 70 years. The only mound over the grave was some puncheons, split out and set over his grave and then sodded over with blue grass, making a ridge about four feet high. A flag-staff, some twenty feet high, was planted at his head, on which was a silk flag, which hung there until the wind wore it out. He was buried in a suit of military clothes, made to order and given to him when in Washington City by Gen. Jackson, with hat, sword, gold epaulets, etc. Enclosing all was a strong circu- lar picket fence, twelve feet high. His body remained here until July, 1839, when it was carried off by a certain Dr. Turner, then living at Lexington, Van Buren County, Iowa. It is said the bones were carried to Alton, Illinois, to be mounted with wire. Black Hawk's sons, when they heard of this desecration of their father's grave, were very indignant and complained of it to Governor Lucas, of Iowa Territory, and his excellency caused the bones to be brought back to Burlington in the fall of 1839 or the spring of 1840. When the sons came to take possession of them, it seems that finding them safely stored " in a good dry place," they left them there. The bones were subsequently placed in the collection of the Burlington Geolog- ical and Historical Society, and it is certain that they perished in the fire which destroyed the building and all the Society's collections in 1855.

COURT MARTIAL FOR THE TRIAL OF GEN. MEANS.

On Thursday, December 6, 1832, a court martial assembled in Columbia for the trial of Brig .- Gen. Benjamin Means, of the 7th

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

Brigade, 7th Division Missouri Militia, on sundry charges and specifi- cations preferred against him. The following officers composed the court : -

Brig .- Gen. Jesse T. Wood, 9th Brigade, President ..

Brig .- Gen. Jonathan Riggs, 8th Brigade.

Col. Thomas D. Grant, 31st Regiment. Col. William Talbot, 15th Regiment.

Lieut .- Col. Jesse B. Dale, 26th Regiment.

Lieut .- Col. Jesse Barnett, 31st Regiment.

Maj. John Barclay, 31st Regiment.

Lieut .- Col. James Culberson, 18th Regiment.

Maj. Abel M. Conner, 18th Regiment. . .

Maj. Henry Watts, 11th Regiment.

Maj. Addison McPheeters, 20th Regiment.

Maj. Thomas W. Conyers, Inspector of 9th Brigade.

Maj. Overton Harris, Quartermaster of 3d Division.

Austin A. King, Judge Advocate.

James Jackson, Provost Marshal.

The trial originated in alleged misconduct of Gen. Means during the Black Hawk war, and was for the examination of the following charges : 1. Disobedience of order. 2. Unofficerlike conduct. 3. Unofficerlike and ungentlemanly conduct. 4. Mutiny. 5. Mutinous conduct. We are not informed as to the specifications ; but after a long and laborious investigation, which closed on December 19, the court found him not guilty, which finding was approved by Maj .- Gen. Richard Gentry, Caleb S. Stone, Aid-de-camp, and he was honorably discharged.

WASHINGTON IRVING VISITS COLUMBIA.

Washington Irving arrived in Columbia on Wednesday, September 19, 1832, and remained until the next day, when he resumed his jour- ney for the Osage country. The Intelligencer says : " He expressed the greatest surprise and admiration of what he had already seen of Missouri, having previously formed somewhat different views of the country. In his manners, Mr. Irving is unostentatious, affable and gentlemanly. He will, no doubt, acquire a valuable fund of materials in his progress, for interesting works or sketches, which, ere long, we may have the gratification of perusing."

POPULATION OF BOONE COUNTY.

The population of Boone county in 1832 was as follows : Whites, 6,221 ; slaves, 2,248. Total, 8,469. Voters, 1,476.

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

PIONEER THEATER.

Primitive and frugal as were the habits of life of the Boone county pioneers, it is in evidence that they quite early gave attention to edu- cation and were not unmindful of the attractions of the drama. Almost simultaneously with the establishment of good school houses (whether the one had any influence upon the introduction of the other we shall not argue), came the theater. No doubt the first theatre and histrionic corps which challenged public patronage in Columbia, were unpretentous and almost wholly destitute of the aids and appli- ances and attractive scenery and gorgeously painted drop curtains of later days. It was, nevertheless, a theater, and developed the amateur native talent of. the times. . The pioneer theater of Columbia made its debut on the night of Christmas day, 1832, in the play " Pizarro ; or, the Death of Rolla," concluding with the laughable farce of "My Uncle." Complimented and encouraged, no doubt, by the patronage and plaudits of an appreciative public, the amateur troupe were encouraged to strut the stage again, and, therefore, on Monday even- ing, February 25, 1833, Mr. E. Scott's benefit was given by the rendi- tion of the much admired comedy of " She Stoops to Conquer ; or, the Mistakes of a Night," concluding with the laughable farce of " The Boarding House." Tickets, 50 cents ; children and servants half- price.

On October 21, 1833, a semi-weekly line of mail stages between St. Louis via St. Charles, Fulton, Columbia, and Fayette was let.

COLUMBIA FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

[From the Missouri Intelligencer of April 20, 1833.]

A STATEMENT

Of all monies received and paid out by the Board of Trustees of the town of Columbia.

Total amount received from all sources within the year ending this day $305 82

Total amount paid out within the same period 305 70

Balance in the treasury

RECAPITULATION.

Balance in the treasury on the first day of September, 1832 $141 50

Amount received since that period

140 82

$282 32

Amount paid for digging and walling the public cistern on Broadway $98 00

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY:

Amount paid for conducting the water, for timbers, and for other work and materials towards completing the same . 56 61 . Amount paid in discharge of a note executed by a former Board of Trustees . 5 75

Amount paid for walling one of the public wells

4 69

Amount paid in part consideration for the public fountain on Eighth Street .

50 00

Amount paid for publishing an advertisement in the Missouri Intelligencer

2 00

Amount paid for flagging, curbing, and boxing four of the public wells . 40 00

Amount paid for a large trough which is to be connected with the public fountain and reservoir on Eighth Street 8 00

Amount paid the collector (his commission for collecting)

17 15

$282 20

Balance in treasury

COLUMBIA, April 1, 1833.

WILLIAM CORNELIUS, Chairman B. T.

STARS, STARS, STARS - A METEORIC PHENOMENON.

Between three and four o'clock on Wednesday morning, November 13, 1833, there occurred in Boone County and throughout the whole country a meteoric phenomenon, the splendor of which never passed from the memory of those who witnessed it. It was called, in pop- ular language, a falling of the stars. In the firmament above, and all around the horizon, thicker than the stars themselves, - which were on that morning uncommonly bright and beautiful, - were beheld innumerable balls of fire of a whitish, pallid color, rushing down and across the sky, drawing after them long, luminous traces which clothed the whole heavens in awful majesty, and gave to the air and earth a pale and death-like appearance. An inconceivable number of meteors or falling stars shot across and downward from the heavens, as though the whole framework of the blue and cloudless arch above had been shaken. These small and luminous bodies had the appearance of fly- ing or floating with great rapidity in every direction, occasioning the greatest wonder among the beholders, mingled with fear and conster- nation. Some described them as the slow and sparse descent of large flakes of snow, and that each flake - some smaller, some larger in size, from accidental aggregation or otherwise-take fire in their passage, and, fusing like a bombshell before bursting, leave a long train of lurid light, and that thousands of these, or as many as were within the range of vision, continued to descend and scatter and be- come extinct before they reached the earth. It was a radiating rain

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

of fire, in meteoric particles of the greatest brilliancy. In some parts of the country the shower of meteors continued until near sunrise, when, it is supposed, they " paled their ineffectual fires " only before the greater brilliancy of the sun.

Yon heaven, through its glorious spheres, Is full of fiery eyes, And the mysterious meteor bears Its lightning thro' the skies.

'Tis night! 'tis moonless night ! but still The earth is bright as day ; And you can see, on yonder hill, The Autumn of foliage play.

Nature ! mysterious are Thy ways, From firmament to flower, The fragrant leaf, the meteor's rays, Proclaim a Godhead's power.

FIRST PAPER MILL WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

As early as 1823 the subject of a paper mill in Missouri engaged the attention of some of its citizens, and in the Franklin Intelligencer of April 8, of that year, there is an editorial calling attention to the importance of the enterprise. It was not, however, until 1834, more than ten years after the first agitation of the subject, that a paper mill was established in the State. In 1833 David S. Lamme, John W. Keiser & Co. established a steam flouring mill at what is now known as " Rockbridge Mills," called by that name because there is at the place a natural bridge, six miles southwest of Columbia. In January, 1834, this firm gave public notice that they were making arrangements for the manufacture of paper, their intention being to establish at that place a paper mill, and that they would pay for good clean linen and cotton rags three cents per pound, and for woollen ten, and jeans rags one cent per pound. The paper mill was owned by David S. and William Lamme, John W. Keiser and Thos. J. Cox. Near the close of 1834 the mill commenced the manufacture of printing paper, and the Intelligencer of the last week of that year was issued on paper made by this mill. The machinery was entirely new " and the whole establishment on an extensive scale." The St. Louis Republican, in the fall of 1835, was printed on paper manufactured by the Boone County mill, and the proprietors of the Republican announced that " the paper will compare advantageously with, if, indeed, it be not superior to, any manufactured west of the mountains."

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

Nevertheless, the enterprise was not remunerative and the paper mill had but a temporary existence.

GEORGE C. BINGHAM, " THE MISSOURI ARTIST."

Among the earliest achievements by George C. Bingham as a portrait painter were accomplished in Columbia, where, in 1835, he opened his studio and painted the portraits of a number of citizens. Many of these specimens of art are yet extant in the county, and among them a portrait of the late Judge David Todd, which, a few years since, was presented to the State University by G. W. Samuel, of St. Joseph, and which now hangs in the chapel of the institution.

THE FIRST AGRICULTURAL FAIR IN MISSOURI, OCTOBER, 1835.

It is not generally known, perhaps not known at all to a single citizen of Boone County, or of the State, that agricultural fairs in Missouri had their origin in this county. This important and valuable agency in the improvement of the cattle, horses, mules, hogs and sheep of this State was a coinage of the brain of Boone County farmers ; and in October, 1835, in a very plain and unpretentious manner the enterprise was inaugurated.

The Agricultural Society owned no grounds, had erected no amphi- theater or prepared a ring for the exhibition of stock; and neither the exhibitors, judges nor spectators had the tedium of the occasion relieved by a band of music. The place of exhibition was then a woodland, or pasture, in the eastern suburbs of the town, and a short distance northeast of Samuels's pork-house and near the present res- idences of Rev. H. B. Watson and Mrs. Emma Anderson.

Those were the primitive days of the county, and the methods of the people were primitive ; and doubtless it will be added by those who read the following award of premiums, that the stock was prim- itive. Although the officers of the Fair - Abraham J. Williams, President, and A. W. Turner, Secretary - very innocently felicitated themselves on the conviction that " the stock exhibited would bear a comparison with any of our older sister States," we suspect that the hogs, sheep, cattle, mules and horses then exhibited would present rather a sorry spectacle if brought in competition with the stock of this day. No doubt the hogs, although they may have been fatted for the fair, were of the " hazel-splitter " variety, with sharp backs, long legs, snouts and tails. The cattle, mules and horses, and perhaps

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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.

sheep, were doubtless more respectable, but none of them are re- ported as of illustrious lineage, with long pedigrees in the American Herd Book.

The officers of the society, in making an official announcement of the premiums awarded, deemed it a matter worthy of special mention as " a novelty in our country," that there was on exhibition " a suck- ing colt, broke to all the domestic uses of man, dressed off with the gay attire of a stallion, and plated and trained as the courser." These officers, it is worthy of special record, prophetically said, " the ball of improvement is rolling through our country." No doubt the ball then and there started gave impulse to the improvement of all kinds of stock which through the succeeding years, from that period to the present, has influenced our farmers to place Boone County, in the character of its stock, in the front rank of the counties of the Commonwealth.

[From the Columbia Intelligencer of October 24. 1835.]

STOCK FAIR.

At a stock fair of the Boone County Agricultural Society, held at Columbia on the sixteenth and seventeenth days of October, 1835, the following stock were exhibited for premiums of a silver cup, worth $10 :-

HOGS

[William Stone, Alfred Basye and William Provinės, judges. ] Samuel Kennan - one sow pig, and one black sow. The black sow took the certificate. David M. Hickman - one boar and one sow. The sow took the certificate.

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History of Boone County, Missouri., Part 18

Author: Publication date: 1882 Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1220

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1220