USA > Missouri > Howard County > History of Howard and Chariton Counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most official authentic and private sources, including a history of its townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 48
USA > Missouri > Chariton County > History of Howard and Chariton Counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most official authentic and private sources, including a history of its townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 48
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
In raiments nn-potted, Stand the true and the brave.
" Shall we, the frail worldings, Who yet live and wait - Shall we sit in judgment, Or cry out in hate, While a Father above us, A Father all wise, Calls back His loved childreu From earth to the skies?
"Forgive us, forgive us, Dear Father above! Bring back to our conscience The heart beat of love; And while we are weeping For our loved ones to-day, Let us tenderly cherish The Blue and the Gray." 36
534
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHIARITON COUNTIES.
A RECORD OF BLOODY DEEDS.
The following pages constitute the darkest portion of the history of Chariton county ; the darkest, because they tell of the cold-blooded butchery of innocent victims by men who were devoid of the common instincts of humanity ; by men who distinguished themselves by their acts of unparalleled brutality ; by men whose names are immortally linked with an infamy as odious and execrable as ever disgraced the annals of any country. Men of low, brutish instincts and ignoble aspirations are unfortunately found in all wars ; in fact, a war without its Kirks and its Hessbriggs is something that has never yet existed, even in the most civilized countries.
Horatio Philpott was an early settler, coming to the county in 1837 from Kentucky, but formerly from Virginia. He came out first horseback. and bought his farm, and then returned with his family and slaves in 1837. Here he raised a large family. Twelve of his children lived to be grown. Their names, in the order of their ages, were Permelia, Hezekiah, David, Elizabeth, Columbus, Lafayette. Barton, Francis, Belle, Ferdinand and Laura. Mr. Philpott owned and operated a mill on the east fork of the Chariton river for many years. He, during the civil war of 1861, like nearly all of his neigh- bors, was a Southern sympathizer. He was, however, a quiet and inoffensive man, never thrusting his opinions upon others who dif- fered with him, and, at the same time, never concealing his views, when called upon to express them.
About the close of the war, and in the month of October, 1864, while Mr. Philpott, who was then an old man, nearly seventy years of age, was sitting quietly with his family, four men dressed in Fed- eral uniforms, came to his house. Mr. Philpott had been in his orchard during the ferenoon of the day, and had gathered and brought in some apples in a bucket. Of these the soldiers ate freely, and left the house. About an hour afterwards they returned and asked the old gentleman to go out with them. He went with them without saying a word, his daughter, Belle, following along behind him. After reaching the yard fence, the soldiers told her to go back to the house. She told them that she would, and remarked, " I will trust father in your hands." After a few moments had elapsed, gun shots were heard in the direction in which the soldiers had taken him. Mrs. Susan Hogan. a neighbor of Mr. Philpott, happened to be standing
535
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
at her window, about a quarter of a mile distant, and saw the soldiers who had the old man in charge. Some three or four hundred yards from Philpott's house there were three hundred soldiers, known as " Putnam's militia," who came from the direction of Macon county, sitting on their horses. The four soldiers mentioned were a portion of this command, the men all being under the command of Colonel Keutzner. As soon as the old man was taken to the place where these men were waiting, they immediately shot him. When his family and neighbors reached him they found on his person five gunshot wounds and two bayonet thrusts. Two of the gunshot wounds were in the head, and the others, together with the bayonet thrusts, were in the breast. These men, after having been treated kindly at the house, and after partaking of the old man's hospitality. had the meanness, brutality, and cowardice to murder him in cold blood ; an old man, whose sands of life had nearly run.
Dr. James Brummall was killed the same day, and by the same parties. Among the soldiers was said to have been one or two of his neighbors, who boasted in the town of Roanoke after the bloody deed had been committed. that they had killed Dr. Brummal. The doctor, like his friend Philpott, was an old man and a Southern sympathizer, but was quiet and highly respected by all who knew him. The soldiers had gone to his house looking for him ; he had, however, gone to a neighbor's house and was returning home when they met him in a woodland. Seeing them, he ran and secreted himself in a brush pile, but they had seen him and gave pursuit. They found him and made him come out and then shot him. The doctor was one of the earliest settlers in this portion of Chariton county. He left two sons, James and Bascom, who are still living in the county.
Jesse Rodgers, another aged man, was killed by the same parties. He was, at the time he was shot, a short distance from his home, dig- ging roots for medieal purposes for his family. They shot him and endeavored to prevent the neighbors from burying him. Claiborne F. Warsaw and Ned Jackson, the latter colored, were digging his grave when the soldiers returned and drove them away ; the result was, two or three days passed before the body was interred. Mr. Rodgers left a large family.
Theophilus Edwards was another vietim of this remorseless and brutal horde of soldiers, whose vandal tracks could be traced in the blood of their innocent and aged victims all along the line of their march through the county. Edwards was met in the road by them,
536
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
when returning home and killed. His form was already bowed with the weights of nearly three-score years and ten, and if left to his family, he could have survived but a few more years at most.
One of the most remarkable feats of bravery and one of the most Christianized and magnanimous deeds that marked the history of those ill-fated times, was the hanging of James Stark. James was a mere boy about seventeen years of age. For this act of heroism the world is indebted to a modest, yet gallant captain who was at the time serving his country in the command of a squad of militia-a band of men, who like their noble leader, were inspired by pure love of country in all they did. If a horse was pressed into service, if a dwelling with its contents was burned to the ground ; if a man was robbed, if a woman was raped, if an unoffending citizen was killed; in fact, it all the crimes known to The catalogue were perpetrated by this band of heroes, they were committed by them in the name of patriotism. They fought aged and maimed men, and little boys, from principle, and not from a desire to shed innocent blood ; they robbed and plundered from principle, not that they had any desire to possess what did not belong to them. They acted so exclusively from un- selfish motives, when fighting for their country, that it would be entirely consistent with their characters as soldiers when dead, to in- scribe upon their tomb the following beautiful inscription :-
" How sleep the brave, who sink to rest, By all their country's wishes blest ! When spring, with dewy fingers cold, Return- to deck their hallow'd mould, She there shall dress a sweeter sod Than fancy's feet have ever trod. By fairy hands their knell is rung, 'By forms unseen their dirge is sung ; There Ilonor comes, a pilgrim gray, To bless the turf that wraps their clay ; And freedom shall awhile repair, To dwell, a weeping hermit, there."
This captain of militia had been sent into the county, with from thirty to tifty men, with the ostensible purpose of suppressing bushwhackers. James Stark, Sr., was a Southern sympa- thizer. This captain and his men went to Stark's house and called for the old man. He was not at home. The family was asked where Stark could be found, but no one conld teil anything about him. Determined not to be disappointed in their
537
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
evil purpose, they took the boy James to the woods and hung him to a tree to make him tell the whereabouts of his father. They hung him several times, but the boy protested, telling them that he did not know. They finally determined to take his life and after swinging him up the last time they went off and left him hanging. His body was found the second or third day afterwards, by a small boy, who was ont hunting cows. It was taken down by M. L. Hurt and Ahner Hinnel, who gave it decent sepulture.
Robert Carmon was killed September 22d, 1864, by guerillas, un- der the command of two noted cut-throats and robbers -- Threldkill and Todd.
The guerillas, numbering about one hundred, came into Keytes- ville after daylight on the morning of the 22d and surrounded the court-house, which was occupied at the time by Captain Berry Owens with forty or fifty militiamen. The militia surrendered, some of them, it is said, joining the bushwhackers. Mr. Carmon, who was there at the time, was placed under arrest by Todd.
Hon. Andrew Mackay, one of the prominent citizens of the town, did all he could to save Carmon's life. Carmon, after his arrest, was taken by Todd's men to Mackay's hotel, where some of the party had ordered their breakfast. Mr. Mackay had an interview with Todd in reference to saving Carmon, and had presented matters in such a light to the guerillas, that he was going to order Carmon's release, and went out of the room to give orders to that effeet. Upon going to the front portion of the house, where Carmon was held a prisoner, it was aseertained that two or three of Todd's men had already started out of town with Carmon, Mackay and Todd, however, each started horseback in the direction the men had taken, but had not proceeded far, when they met two of the bushwhackers returning to town. These men informed them that the prisoner had been shot and that Carmon's body was then lying in the road beyond Mr. Mackay's house. When the body was found, it was noticed that Carmon had been shot through the temple, this being the only wound he received. Carmon was a native of Pennsylvania. At the time of his death he was sheriff of Chariton county, was a Union man, conservative in his views and highly esteemed.
William Young, another Union man, was arrested and shot at the same time with Carmon. Young bad, by his extreme views and his aets as a partisan, rendered himself obnoxious to his neighbors, a great majority of whom were Southern sympathizers. His death,
538
HISTORY OF BROWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
therefore, was not so generally regretted by the community in which he lived as the death of Sheriff Carmon.
Young attempted to get away from his murderers by running through the woods ; they, however, shot him before he had proceeded very far.
TRUE TO HIS PRINCIPLES.
George H. Fawks was a soldier in the Confederate army, having enlisted under the call of Governor C. F. Jackson in 1861. He was badly wounded at the battle of Wilson's ereek, being shot through the left breast. After recovering from his wound he rejoined his command at the battle of Pea Ridge. Serving his time out, he came home, but thinking it unsafe to remain, he joined the command of Colonel Poindexter, who soon disbanded his men. Young Fawks again returned home to await an opportunity to go South. Being at Joseph Wayland's, about two miles from his home, he was surprised and taken a prisoner by Captain Thomas Gilstrap from Macon City, who returned to Macon City and gave Fawks into the hands of General Merrill, who had him put under a strong guard and informed that he would be shot next morning at ten o'clock. He had friends in the militia, who did all they could in his behalf, and were promised Fawk's release, provided he would be sworn into the service with the militia. This, he indignantly refused to do, saying that he could never deny his principles. He was accordingly shot, without even the semblance of a trial. Fawks was just twenty-one years old.
William R. Redding was another unfortunate victim of this whole- sale butchery upon the part of the militia. He, like many others whose lives were taken for opinion's sake, was a man of some wealth and influence in the community where he lived. Redding's body was found by Doctor Dewey, the next day after he was killed, about a half mile from his home in the timber. He had been shot through the head and robbed, and it is supposed from the circumstances, that have since come to light. that he was taken to the woods by the militia, and there made to get his money, which bad been buried for safe-keeping, and then killed. Redding was the father-in-law of Wm. E. Hill, of Keytesville.
JOHN LEONARD.
Among the darkest deeds of human atrocity perpetrated in Chari- ton county during the civil war of 1861, by mere claiming to be
539
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
soldiers, was the murder of the boy, JJohn Leonard. In fact, the circumstances of his taking off, the reckless, cold blooded, heartless, cruel manner, in which he was made to forfeit his young life, stamps the crime as among the blackest in all the annals of time, and his assassins as among the foulest and most inhuman wretches that ever imbrued their hands in the blood of their fellow-beings.
John Leonard was about seventeen years of age, and had acted as a guide, as it was claimed, to a squad of bushwhackers. Whether he was forced to do this, or did it voluntarily, we are not informed. It makes no difference in his case. This, however, was the offence with which the boy was charged. He was arrested by soldiers stationed at Brunswick and taken to that place. This was during the winter, when the rivers and streams were covered with ice. While a prisoner at Brunswick, it was determined by those having the boy in charge that he should be put to death, but just how to dispose of him, they did not know, until it was suggested, that he should be drowned in the river. They accordingly took their victim, it is said, to Grand river, and having broken the ice, they thrust the boy under, by main force, and held him there until life became extinct. It is stated, that one of his murderers afterwards said, when relating the facts in refer- ence to the matter, that " the boy squealed like a pig when they were putting him under the ice."
"All murders past, do stand excused in this, - And this so sole, and so unmatchable, Shall prove a deadly bloodshed, but a jest, Exampled by this heinous spectacle."
Abner Finnell was killed in 1864 by the militia.
Moses Hurt, an old man, was killed the same year, a little while before Finnell. Hurt left a large family.
Peter Fox, George Veal, De Jarnett, and Jennings were killed, and were all citizens of Keytesville township. George Veal was hung to a tree in Bridge Street, in Keytesville.
Judge John J. Flood was shot in 1864 in his own door. John T. McAshan, of Brunswick, was taken to the river and shot while stand- ing upon the bank, and his body thrown into that stream. The men who shot Flood and MeAshen had partaken of their hospitality the night before. Pixley was shot and killed on the road between his house and Brunswick, and his face, when his body was found, had been partially eaten by hogs. Franklin was killed in Brunswick and his
540
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
body thrown into William C. Applegate's yard. John J. Morley was another victim. Dr. Sour's was among the first men killed in Salis- bury township. Parkenhammer, Charles Jenson, a man by the name of MeDonald, and a negro who worked at Hurt's tobacco factory, were among the men who were killed by bushwhackers.
We did not succeed in getting the names of all the non-combatants, who were killed in the county during the war, but was told that the number of persons, including men and boys, amounted to about tifty- five. This harvest of death was something like the bloody assizes, memorable in English history and inaugurated by Jeffreys after the defeat and capture of Monmouth and Argyle. These American Jef- freys, like their infamous prototype across the sea, left some of their victims dangling in mid-air, where they hung until their bodies were devoured by the beasts and birds of prey -no one daring to give them even the semblance of a decent burial. The difference, if any, between the English tyrant and the American butchers seems to have been in favor of the former, as he went through the fairce of a trial before taking the blood of his victims, while the latter shot them down like dogs wherever they could be found, without trial, judge or jury.
: ยท -
CHAPTER XIV.
OLD SETTLER'S REUNIONS.
They meet at the Fair Grounds at Keytesville in 1877-1881-Biographical Sketch of Chas. J. Cabell - His address at the Old Settlers Reunion, in 1877 - Names of Old Settiers-A Poem by an Old Settler -
OLD SETTLER'S REUNIONS.
There has been no meeting, which could be distinctively called an Old Settler's Reunion. During the progress of the Fair, hell at Keytesville in 1877, a number of the carliest and oldest settlers were in attendance. These were called together by a committee selected for that purpose and were feasted and toasted, after which Major Daniel Ashby, one of the pioneers of the county addressed the audi- ence and Chas. J. Cabell, read an interesting paper upon the early settlement of the county, which we give in full.
The old pioneers present on that occasion were :
Major Daniel Ashby, aged 86 years, came to the county October 11, 1818.
John Sportsman, aged 76 years ; came November 12, 1822. N. N. Grubbs, aged 69 years ; came in November, 1833.
John P. Williams, aged 68 years ; came in October, 1819. Chas. J. Cabell, aged 65 years ; eame in October, 1818.
William Heryford, aged 59 years, came April 14, 1818. J. T. Doxey, aged 59 years ; came in November, 1820.
Certain prizes were offered to the old settlers -to those who had been living in the country the longest. No man could enter the list for the prize, without he had been a resident for forty years continu- ously. At a Fair held at Keytesville in October, 1881, there was another assembling of old pioneers. John P. Williams was awarded a cane, the oldest settler in the county, he having been here at that time sixty-two years. A china tea-set, was given to Mrs. Samuel
(541)
542
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
Dinsmore as the oldest lady resident, having resided here sixty-four years, coming in 1817.
Before giving the address of Charles J. Cabell, we shall first pre- sent a brief sketch of his life, which was taken from The Weekly Brunswicker bearing date October 20th, 1882.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF CHAS. J. CABELL.
who departed. this life at his residence in Brunswick on the 10th day of October, 1882. after a brief but painful illness. He was born April 26, 1813, at Ashland, Fayette county, Kentucky, and was in the seven- tieth year of his age. Mr. Cabell's father. Edward Blair Cabell, was of an old family of Virginia and born in Prince Edward county. His mother was Harriett F. Monroe, daughter of Joseph Jones Monroe and neiee of President James Monroe from the county of Albermarle. The sis- ter of Edward B. Cabell married Mr. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, and was the mother of the late John Cabell Breckenridge, formerly Vice- President of the United States.
In 1818, when but five years of age, Mr. Cabell came with his father to Missouri and settled at Old Chariton, in the county of Howard and the territory of Missouri. His subsequent life was an epitome of the history of Chariton and of the State. He was familiar in early life with that primitive phase of Western society which evolves all that is good, true, manly and honest in human nature.
It may be said Mr. Cabell had known our country since the Indian, the bear, and the squatter held it peacefully and harmoniously in pos- session. He was familiar with the habits of simplicity and hardihood, the hospitality and honesty of early squatter life from his childhood. and early imbibed a love and admiration for the poetry and romance it afforded. In after life, Mr. Cabell, in the social circle delighted to tell of the adventures and scenes of this primitive phase of squatter life. His memory and heart delighted to dwell with that innocent past, when men were pure and honest, and lived with nature and walked with " nature's God." Much of the early history of the men and circumstances of that period, has been preserved by him, in written and oral sketches, which will perpetuate what ought most to be remembered, but was most liable to be forgotten of the manly race who peopled the territory of the early State of Missouri.
In 1818, Missouri was a territory of which William Clark was Governor, and the counties of St. Charles, Howard aud Ray, extended
543
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
from the Missouri river to the lowa line, In 1820 the State was ad- mitted into the Union amid a storm of sectional strife and bitterness, and shortly after the counties were carved into smaller municipalities, and when the county of Chariton was organized, Mr. Edward B. Cabell was appointed clerk of the Circuit Court. This position he held for nearly thirty years, and to within a few years before his death, which occurred in 1850, at Brunswick. Charles J. Cabell was reared in this county till a time of life necessary to be sent to the schools which could afford the higher academie instruction, and in the mean time had acquired such of the rudiments as the primitive country schools could afford. He was sent to Kentucky where he completed his studies at Augusta College, an institution which has furnished some of its brightest alumni to Missouri, of which General Doniphan was the first graduate, and where General Bela M. Ilughes, now of Col- orado, was Mr. Cabell's classmate. In 1837, Charles J. Cabell married at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, Susan B. daughter of Thos. Allen, Esq., then the clerk of the county court of Mercer county, Kentucky, who with a widowed daughter, and Mrs. Charles Hammond and three sons settled in Leadville, Colorado, constituted his family. With his wife, he settled in Missouri and studied law. For this profession he had little taste, and his love for higher mathematics led him to engage in the business of surveying and engineering. In 1848, he went South with his family to Louisiana, and engaged under contract with the sur- veyor general in surveying. This occupation requiring skill, patience, and great exactness, as well as physical labor and perseverance, was just suited to his taste and habits. For ten years he was in the field, tracing old Spanish lines and surveys through swamps and cane breaks, establishing old and obliterated corners, and extending the surveys into the then unoccupied lands. The faithfulness and ac- curacy with which this work was done have prevented many lawsuits, and established permanently the rights of parties. The arduous labors of these years yielded to Mr. Cabell as their fruit, a modest competence, and with his earnings he established himself in case and comfort on his farm, north of Brunswick. Devoted to hospitality and the educational comfort of his children, Mr. Cabell, in competeney and content remained on his farm till the war broke out. It is needless to say mueh of means and his estate was lost during the war. In 1864 he was in Louisville, Kentucky, because the unsettled and dangerous state of things at home rendered it necessary for him to leave Missouri. Mr. Cabell joined the Christian church and was immersed by Elder
544
HISTORY OF HOWARD AND CHARITON COUNTIES.
Thomas P. Haley. His family had already been received into that communion, most of them by Elder Haley.
The consisteney and integrity of Mr. Cabell's life, both as a Chris- tian and a citizen, is best evidenced in the esteem in which he was held by his neighbors who knew him best and longest. They came to his funeral and testified their love and respect at his grave. Old and venerable citizens from various parts of the county, and his neighbors immediately contiguous eame to sympathize with his mourning family and sustain them in their sorrow ; he was buried with his children in the cemetery at Brunswick.
THE ADDRESS.
The following is the admirable address delivered by Mr. Cabell in the presence of the old pioneers. It is replete with the names of early settlers, and is invaluable as a document of future reference :-
" History deals in epochs - and we are here to give our reminiscences of an epoch in the history of Chariton county, extending from the year 1818 to about 1830-a period of twelve years. Removals, deaths, fires, and other causes have had their influence in moulding the history of this period, a matter of pure tradition. But we hope to reduce it to such certainty that our children may be correctly informed con- eerning it. In the month of October, 1818, my father, Edward B. Cabell, with his family, Captain W. W. Monroe and family, Daniel Duvall and family, reached the town of Chariton and united their des- tinies with the people of what is now the county of Chariton. My parents now sleep beneath its soil.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.