USA > Missouri > St Charles County > History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren counties, Missouri, written and comp. from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 59
USA > Missouri > Montgomery County > History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren counties, Missouri, written and comp. from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 59
USA > Missouri > Warren County > History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren counties, Missouri, written and comp. from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 59
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1 It must be borne in mind that this does not refer to the present hamlet and post- office now called Big Spring, but literally to the spring itself, on section 32-47-5.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
buried it. The Indians had scalped it and mutilated it with their tomahawks, and it presented a sad spectacle. Daniel Dougherty was a young, unmarried man, and one of the bravest and most venture- some spirits in the fort.
Rose says, in half a dozen places in his "Pioneer Families," that both episodes, the killing of Dougherty and Groom and Stew- art's adventure, happened March 7, 1815, the day Capt. Callaway was killed, but Jacob Groom's daughter, Mrs. Lurinda Snethen, in- forms the writer that she is positive, from repeated statements made by her father and others, that Capt. Callaway was killed a year after her father's perilous experience. In this she is corroborated by her husband, W. B. Snethen, who now lives at the Big Spring, and whose remarkably accurate memory is well known.
CAPT. JAMES CALLAWAY'S ILL-FATED EXPEDITION AGAINST THE INDIANS - HIS UNTIMELY DEATH AND THE TERRIBLE FATE OF FIVE OF HIS MEN.
If Mr. Rose's " Pioneer Families " had no other merit, the elaborate account it gives of the tragic fate of Capt. James Callaway ought to commend it to all who seek to be correctly informed in regard to the early history of Montgomery county. The writer has taken pains to investigate the account, and takes pleasure in stating that in but a few particulars has he ever heard or seen it disputed. The account is mainly derived, in great part literally extracted, from Mr. Rose's nar- rative, in the " Pioneer Families.".
The most serious calamity that befel the settlers during the Indian War, was the defeat of Capt. James Callaway and a portion of his company, and the death of their leader, at Loutre creek, near the line of Montgomery and Callaway counties. Capt. Callaway was a son of Flanders Callaway, and grandson of Daniel Boone, and being dis- tinguished for his intelligence, fortitude and courage, was elected to the command of a company of rangers at the commencement of the difficulties, and up to the time of his death was one of the most efficient, active, and daring scouts that the country afforded.
Capt. Callaway occupied a prominent position in the affairs of the country at that period, and many of his relatives are still living. We have inserted a sketch of his life, public services, and death, in the St., Charles county division of this work [pp. 150-159], where also an elab- orate account of his expedition against the Indians, his defeat, etc., is given. Consequently it would be useless to repeat here what has of nec- essity been already inserted. Several months after his death and burial,
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
his grave was walled in with rough stones and a flat slab was laid across the head on which was engraved the following inscription : -
CAPT JAS CALLAWAY MCH 7 1815
The slab (or at least the inscription) was prepared by Tarleton Gore, of St. Charles county, a cousin of Capt. Callaway. The inscrip- tion is plain at this day (for the writer has seen it), but time is oblit- erating it, and the lines are filling up. The grave is simply a pile of loose stones. Callaway county has frequently talked of erecting a monument over it. The county was named for the impetuous and daring ranger.
DR. MAUGHS' ACCOUNT.
The account given of the Callaway fight by Dr. M. M. Maughs, in Wetmore's Gazetteer, wherein it differs from Rose's, is most probably correct. Dr. Maughs wrote, in 1837, only 22 years after the affair, and obtained his information from Maj. Van Bibber, who buried the bodies of the slain men, and from Lewis Jones and others who were personally acquainted with the circumstances. The doctor says that Callaway and his men were out scouting when the Indians stole the horses and "accidentally fell upon their trail." This seems more probable than that they should have come all the way from Loutre island and marched 30 miles over as rough and hilly country as there is in Missouri, by " 2 o'clock p. m." The following is Dr. Maughs' account : -
In the spring of 1815 the Sacs and Foxes stole horses in the neigh- borhood of Loutre island. Some 15 rangers, commanded by Capt. James Callaway, being out on duty, accidentally fell upon their trail, and followed it. They arrived at the encampment of the Indians, at the head of Loutre creek. The horses were there, but the enemy was out, probably on some other excursion. The rangers retook the horses, and proceeded on towards the island without molestation, until they arrived at the Prairie fork, at the crossing, about 100 yards from its junction with main Loutre.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
The doctor makes no mention of the controversy between Riggs and Callaway, and then proceeds to give a description of the ambush and the fight different from that rendered by Rose. The manner of Callaway's death is especially given at variance from Rose's details : -
Capt. Callaway, wishing to relieve some of the men that were driving the horses, intimated his intention to his lieutenant, Jonathan Riggs, and at the same time requested him to take command of the company. The company then proceeded, and were crossing the creek, Captain Callaway and the horses being some distance behind, when the latter were fired on by a large body of Indians, estimated at from 80 to 100, who had lain in ambush and completely invested the pass- age, from a deep ravine (Harrison's branch) to an adjacent steep hill. Callaway, finding himself severely wounded, broke the line of the Indians, in order to join his men, calling out to them to form upon the opposite bank of the creek. His order was of no avail ; the sur- vivors sought security in flight, and Callaway, now endeavoring to make his escape, proceeded with his horse to the main creek, which could at that place only be crossed by swimming. There he was again inter- cepted by the enemy, and being mortally wounded, fell into the stream and expired.
The writer hesitates to accept the statement that Callaway " fell into the stream," as Dr. Maughs indicates he did, from the bank. That he was shot while in the water is more probable. It is doubtful if any one ever knew exactly the manner of his death. As to the men killed Dr. Maughs says : -
The names of the others who fell in the skirmish are McDermot, Hutchinson, McMullin and Gilmore. The latter was at first taken prisoner, but eventually killed by the Indians. A part of the Calla- way rangers made good their retreat to island ; the remainder to Woods' fort.
Whether or not Dr. Maughs is correct as to the names of McDer- mot and Hutchinson, which Rose gives as McDermid and Hutchings, can not be here stated; but certainly Dr. Maughs is correct in his statement that Gilmore was one of the men killed, although Rose does not mention him in his account. He, however, states that he was one of Callaway's party ; but on page 183 of " Pioneer Families," in the sketch of the Ramsey family, he says : "India Ramsey married Thomas Gilmore, who was a ranger under Capt. Callaway, and was present at his defeat ;" while on page 335 (sketch of the Gilmore family ) he says : " Thomas Gilmore, of Kentucky, settled in St. Charles county in 1808. He was a ranger in Capt. Callaway's com-
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
pany during the Indian war, and after its close settled at a noted place, which has since been known as Gilmore's Springs, in the western part of St. Charles county. He married India Ramsey, and their children were William, Thomas, all of whom except Thomas, who was killed at Callaway's defeat, settled in Callaway county from 1826 to 1830."
According to the last statement it would seem that both father and son were rangers, and the latter killed, but no attempt is here made to straighten out the " mixed up " accounts.
Maughs makes no mention of the killing of Hiram Scott, although Rose is certain of it, and it is probable that he was. This would make six killed among the whites. Capt. James Callaway, Parker Hutch- ings (or Hutchinson ) Frank McDermid (or McDermot), James Mc- Mullin (or McMillin ), Thomas Gilmore and Hiram Scott.
Rose alleges that while it is not certainly known whether or not any of the Indians were killed in the Callaway encounter, yet "one of their chiefs named Keokuk, a man of some distinction, was wounded and died shortly after." This could not have been the renowned Fox chief so well known to the student of Western history, and yet the suspicion is that an attempt is being made to claim that distinction for a dead Indian who, Rose says, "was buried in the prairie, one and one-half miles north-east of the present town of Wellsville. In 1826 his remains were taken up by Dr. Bryan and several other gen- tlemen, and upon his breast was found a large silver medal, contain- ing his name (?) his rank ( !), etc. He was evidently a giant in stature, for the jaw bone, which, with several other bones of the body, is still preserved by Mrs. Dr. Peery, of Montgomery county, will fit over the face of the largest sized man."
There is no other chief named Keokuk known in the annals of In- dian history than the famous orator chief of the Fox nation, who became so renowned for his efforts to bring about peace in the Black Hawk War of 1832. The name "Keo-kuk " signifies " watchful," and as Keokuk belonged to the Fox tribe of Indians he was often called " The Watchful Fox." His tribe was so closely allied with the Sacs that the two are usually spoken of together - "The Sacs and Foxes." They lived, hunted intermarried, and went to war together ; but in the Black Hawk War the Foxes, under Keokuk, were for peace, while the Sacs, under Black Hawk, went on the war path. Keokuk died on the reservation in Kansas, in about 1845, of bad whisky. He was a short fat man, and not at all " a giant in stature."
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
OTHER EVENTS OF THE WAR.
Jacob Quick and Isaac Best both had forts on Best's Bottom, above Loutre island, during the war. Best had a horse-mill, and his fort was a sort of block house. It is said that he had sixteen cur dogs trained to give the alarm on the approach of the Indians. One day while grinding at his mill, Best's canine sentinels sounded an alarm, attracting his attention, when he and a friend and assistant, named Callahan, sallied forth. A shot from the Indians wounded Callahan, when the two men retreated to the block house. Although Mr. Best made good use of his rifle, the Indians secured the horses and retired to the bluff. Best and Callahan abandoned the mill, took to the Mis- souri, embarked in a canoe, and paddled down the river to Fort Clem- son, where they remained until the war was over.
On the 20th of May following Callaway's defeat occurred the murder by the Indians of the wife and three children of Robert Ram- sey, two miles north-west of Marthasville, which is fully noted else- where. A few days later these Indians and some others who had re-enforced them had a series of skirmishes with the Lincoln county rangers, under Capts. Craig and Musick. At this time occurred the " sink hole fight," in which the noted Sac warrior, Black Hawk, commanded the Indians.
,
CHAPTER III.
FROM THE CLOSE OF THE INDIAN WARS TO 1820.
Close of the War of 1812 -Treaty with the Indians-List of the Principal Settlers of the County before 1820, wich their Locations, etc. - Old Lewis Jones - Early Aristrocrats - Quashquama, the Friend of the Whites -First Steamboats up the Missouri, the Independence and the Western Engineer - Organization - Pinck- ney, the First County Seat-First County Officials - The Weather in Early Days.
CLOSE OF THE WAR.
Two days after Capt. Callaway was killed, or March 9, 1815, a treaty was concluded with the Indians, by which the territory within the following limits was resigned to the whites: "Beginning at the mouth of the Kaw [Kansas] river, thence running north 140 miles, thence east to the waters of the Au-ha-ha [Salt River], which empties into the Mississippi, thence to a point opposite the mouth of the Gasconade, thence up the Missouri river, with its meanders, to the place of beginning." But some of the Indians cared nothing for - or let us hope they had heard nothing of - the treaty, and it was more than two months after it had been ratified and proclaimed when the Ramsey family were killed, and the murders took place in Lin- coln county.
Gradually, however, they left the country, but returned occasionally in small bodies, generally as hunting parties, committing no depreda- tions other than a few petty thefts. A large body of Sacs came in a few years after the war, and wintered on Loutre, two miles above Van Bibber's Lick, and near Robert Graham's. They were quite peaceable, but nevertheless the settlers did not leave many articles lying about loose.
SOME SETTLERS BEFORE 1820.
Settlers came in rather numerously for a time after the war. Ben- jamin Gammon, who had lived in the county since 1812, but who had been " forted up" during the troubles, came back to his farm in the southern part of the county in 1816. Of Mr. Gammon it is related that he built a hand-mill on his farm, which was the first in that part of the country, and it supplied his own family and his neighbors with meal for some time. The meal for his own family was generally
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
ground just before it was required for use, and he allowed two ears of corn for each individual. The grinding was done by the children, and it was said that Mr. Gammon " broke all his children at the mill."
In the fall of 1815 Maj. Isaac Van Bibber went up to Loutre Lick and put in order the Massey improvement. Robert Graham followed him in 1816, and settled a mile above. Francis Whitesides came to the neighborhood of the Lick in 1818. Ambrose Bush settled on Dry fork in 1818. Presley Anderson, Jr., located near Brush creek,. in 1817 ; he came to Warren county, in 1815, from Illinois, and oc- cupied Robert Ramsey's house, near Marthasville, soon after Ram- sey's wife and children had been murdered by the Indians. The blood of the victims was still on the floor of the house when the Anderson family moved to it, and Mrs. Anderson scrubbed it up before the furniture was put in.
William Brown settled on Clear creek, near its mouth, in 1819. He built his house under a high bluff that ran parallel with the creek, and cut his fire wood on the top of this bluff, and rolled it down to the door of his house. When the wood gave out he moved his cabin to another place, and when it gave out there he moved it again, pre- ferring to move his house rather than haul his wood.
George Bast settled in Montgomery county, in 1819, and Larkin G. Jones came the same year. Hon. Isaac Clark, of Kentucky, came also in 1819, bringing with him, it is claimed, the first set of chinaware ever brought to the county.
William Hall came from East Tennessee, and settled on Dry fork in 1817. His daughter, Dorcas, married Mark Cole, the first hatter in the county, and he also came in 1817, and located here. He made " Boss " Logan's famous hat, which was worn for twenty years. It was composed of 20 ounces of muskrat fur, mixed with 13 ounces of raocoon fur, and held an even half-bushel. The crown was 18 inches high, and the brim six inches wide. Nancy Hall, another daughter of Wm. Hall, married John R. Crawford, who built his cabin in Mont- gomery county in 1818. Among others who were present and assisted him to raise the cabin, were Daniel Boone and his sons Nathan and Jesse. Lewis Jones killed the game and cooked the dinner, and found a bee tree not far distant, from which they obtained fresh honey for their dinner. Crawford was noted for his ability to tell humor- ous yarns, and entertain a crowd.
James Beatty came in 1818, and located two miles north-west of Loutre Lick. Daniel M. Boone came in 1819 to section 28-48-6, a
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HISTORY, OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
mile or more north-west of Loutre Lick. Drury and Henry Clanton, of Tennessee, settled on Pinch branch, five miles south of Danville, in 1818.
Benj. Ellis settled on South Bear creek in 1815; he was a wheel- wright and a chairmaker, and also had a good hand mill. James Ellis settled on Bear creek, in 1819. Richard Fitzhugh came from Ten- nessee, in 1818, and settled south of Danville, on the east side of Loutre ; he and his son, Hopkins, were noted whip-sawyers, and when Danville was building, in 1834-35, they furnished a great deal of lum- ber for the citizens. Mr. Fitzhugh once had several of his ribs broken, and it is said that afterwards he subsisted almost entirely on mush and milk.
Joseph Gray came from Kentucky in 1818 and settled on Brush creek, where he died in 1830. Peter Hunter came to the county with his family and two sisters, Sarah and Elizabeth, in 1819. Joseph Howard came in 1818. Thomas Hickerson moved to the county in 1818, and settled on the west bank of Loutre, near Loutre Lick ; soon after he married Susan Van Bibber, a daughter of Maj. Isaac Van Bibber. Wm. R. Jones, a Methodist preacher, came into the Loutre Lick settlement in 1819, a single man, but the same year married Mary Whitesides.
David Knox came to the county in 1818 ; Nicholas H. Stephenson came the same year. Alexander Logan settled on South Bear creek, on the line between Warren and Montgomery, in 1818. John Mar- row located in the southern part of the county as early as 1816.
Reuben P. Pew removed with his family to the eastern or north- eastern part of the county in 1819. He built the first horse-mill in the northern part of the county; and made good flour. His boys peddled this flour on horse back, frequently going thirty miles from home ; the uniform price was one cent per pound in cash, or two cents in " trade."
Enoch Spry, married Mary A. Logan, the only sister of the Logan brothers, and settled in the southern part of the county in 1817. Soon after steamboats began to navigate the Missouri river. Mr. Spry, happening to be in the vicinity of the river one day, heard a boat blow its whistle, at which he became very much frightened, and ran home. He told his neighbors that a panther had caught a man down on the river, and he never heard any one halloo like he did. His story created so much excitement that a company was organized and went in pursuit of the " panther," which, of course, they could not find.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
LEWIS JONES
Among the others settlers in the southern part of the county, prior to 1820, was Lewis Jones, who first came to Missouri in 1802 ; he married Susannah Hays, the grand-daughter of Daniel Boone. Lewis Jones, was a famous character among the old pioneers. When Lewis and Clark passed up the river, on their famous expedition, in 1804, they came upon Lewis Jones and John Davis, who were engaged in sawing lumber with a whip-saw. The officers tried to induce Jones and Davis to accompany them, but they refused because they could not go as independent scouts, without being subject to the com- mands of any one, and resumed their sawing.
Jones came to Missouri from Kanawha county, Va., and John Davis came at the same time from Keutucky. Both were spies or scouts in the War of 1812, against the Indians in Missouri and Illinois. They were intimate friends and had many a hunting adventure together. Jones made several trips to the Rocky Mountains as a guide for fur traders and trappers.
In about 1809, Jones and Davis went on a hunting expedition up into the Platte river country and were captured by the Indians, who stripped them of their clothing, gave them an old musket with six loads of ammunition and started them back home, which they reached, after numerous incidents worthy of interest, in ten days.
When game became scarce, and hunting was no longer a paying occupation, Jones studied surveying under Prospect K. Robbins, and became one of the most efficient and correct surveyors in North Mis- souri. If any of the land owners had a dispute about a line, Jones would be sent for to decide the matter, and wherever he said the line ought to go, there it went, because they all knew he understood his business and would not make a false or incorrect survey. Lewis Jones was a great reader, and possesssed a wonderful memory. He was a close student of the Bible, but an avowed infidel and reviled and ridiculed many of the statements and teachings of that Holy vol- ume. He died as he lived, a disbeliever.
1
EARLY ARISTOCRATS.
The Talbot family were down on the Island and other families of similar influence and social position were their neighbors.
There were aristocrats in those days, as there are now. Slave- owners and men who owned plenty of horses and land were the nabobs of the land. While no men possessed extravagant fortunes
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
or vast estates, the majority of the first settlers of this county 'were as well off as many of our citizens of medium fortunes are to- day. Indeed, many of the people in various parts of the county live to-day in as comfortless and as poorly furnished cabins, eat as coarse and as scanty food, go as poorly clad, have as little money, and are as poorly informed and as unintelligent as the poorest and lowest among the pioneers of seventy years ago.
QUASHQUAMA.
The Americans had one good friend among the Sac Indians. This was the old chief, Quashquama. He opposed the War of 1812 against the Missouri settlers, and took no part in it. He was much grieved because his nation had yielded to the persuasions of the British emis- saries and joined England in the war against the United States. The British long tried to induce him to raise the tomahawk against the Americans, but he always refused. In 1810 he started for Washing- ton City to see the President, but was stopped at St. Louis by Gov. Wm. Clark. While at St. Louis on this occasion Quashquama deliv- ered the following speech, which was reduced to writing and forwarded to President Madison : -
My father, I left my home to see my great father [the President ], but, as I can not proceed to see him, I give you my hand, as to him- self. * * I have been advised several times to raise the toma- hawk. Since the last war [the Revolution] we have looked upon the Americans as friends, and shall hold you fast by the hand. The Great Spirit has not put us on earth to war with the whites. We have never struck a white man. If we go to war, it is with red flesh. Other nations have sent belts among us and urged us to go to war ; they say if we do not, that in less than eight years the Americans will drive us off our lands. * * * We have not listened to them ; our rivers, our country, have always been, and still are, open to our friends, the Americans.
Quashquama was well known to the first settlers of Montgomery county. He often passed through the settlements in the lower part of the county, and was on one or two occasions at the Loutre Lick. After the Black Hawk War, in 1832, the Sac Indians - or a great portion of them -- were removed to Kansas. The warriors were marched across the country, while the squaws and old men, under Quashquama, were sent down the Mississippi and up the Missouri in boats and canoes. Passing up the Missouri the Indians stopped at Loutre island, and Quashquama embraced the opportunity to call on
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
some old acquaintances and make some new ones. He came into the house of the widow Patton, and spent some time. He was dressed in citizen's clothes, of which fact he seemed quite proud. He was well received by the people.
Several years afterward an old Indian paddled down the Mis- souri in a canoe and landed at Loutre island. He was alone and seemed weary, broken and dejected. Wandering quietly about he occasionally seemed attracted by some location or object on which he would gaze for some moments in reflection. On the site of old Fort Clemson, he said to a citizen : " Here was a fort one time." At last he walked into Patton's house, and seating himself at the fire, said : " You don't know me. I am Quashquama. I want to cook my din- ner." Being offered a dinner with the family, he respectfully refused, and said, " I will cook my own." Then he drew from his hunting shirt a duck's egg, which he roasted in the ashes of the fire and ate.
His short and simple repast ended, the old chieftain returned to his canoe, and, as he pushed it from shore, he waved his hand and said " good-by." Then he passed away down the river, and that was the last ever seen of Quashquama by our people.
FIRST STEAMBOATS UP THE MISSOURI.
A few of the old settlers are now living in the county who remem- ber when the first steamboats passed up the Missouri. The steamer Independence, Capt. John Nelson, from Louisville, Ky., was the pio- neer steamboat in the navigation of the Missouri, and the first to enter the stream. Col. Elias Rector, Stephen Rector and others, of St. Louis, chartered her to go up the Missouri as high as the town of Old Chariton (now extinct), which stood near the mouth of the Char- iton river, two miles above Glasgow. The boat left St. Louis, May 15, 1819, and arrived at Old Franklin, Howard county, May 28, occa- sioning the wildest excitement and the greatest joy among the people.1
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