USA > Missouri > Greene County > Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I > Part 25
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A cordial reception was tendered the officers, who were led to the tent of Chief Naw-paw-i-ter, to whom the governor's message was delivered through Charley, the interpreter. The chief expressed regret in being com- pelled to move at once in such inclement weather, owing to the condition of some of his tribesmen, who were, he said, not prepared for a long journey through the snow and cold. He said there were in camp about two hundred of his people, warriors, squaws and papooses. He asked his pale-face broth- ers to give him a few days' time, that the weather might moderate, so that the women and children would not suffer. To this wish Colonel Yancey very considerately and very readily consented, giving a written permission to Chief Naw-paw-i-ter to remain with his people where he was for a few days or until the unusual cold weather had passed. The conference over the
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party was hospitably and bountifully entertained by the Indians, and the following morning the officers resumed their journey, hunting other bands of Osages, spending several days in a fruitless quest until, on their home- ward journey, they suddenly came upon a large band of Indians, composed of all the hunting parties in the southwestern part of the state. This was at a saw-mill in Barry county, about thirty-five miles southwest of Springfield. The red men seemed to be engaged in preparation for some important enter- prise. One warrior rode among his fellows brandishing his tomahawk, bow and arrows, and now and then making indecent gestures toward the whites. As thic assemblage had the general appearance of a war-council, Colonel Yancey and his aides held a council of their own to determine what should be done. He and Captain Fulbright thought it better to visit the Indians and deal cautiously with them, and induce them with fair speeches to return to their reservation, as they had with the first band. However, Colonel Cannefax did not share their views, believing the situation demanded more drastic measures, wishing to return home, get the militia regiment together as quickly as possible and then visit the Indians, prepared to enforce any de- mands that might be made upon them. His counsel was finally adopted and the party rode rapidly back to Springfield. They were not long in thoroughly arousing the entire vicinity. Rifles were repaired, cleaned and oiled, bullets were run, provisions prepared, and everything done to place the county "on a war footing." Everybody lent a helping hand, the women doing as much as the men, and in thirty-six hours over one hundred men, well armed and properly mounted, were at Ozark, on the Finley, in Christian county, con- fronting the Osages. Although the Indians were vastly superior in numbers. to the whites, they were armed chiefly with bows and arrows. They began to retreat as Colonel Yancey's regiment moved forward. They were fol- lowed rapidly, but cautiously, by the militia, and on the second evening over- took them on the west bank of the James river, near the mouth of Finley creek. The militia was at once drawn up in line less than one hundred yards from the Indians, and Colonel Yancey demanded of the chief that his men should deliver up their arms, as security against hostilities. This he refused to do for some time, but at last, seeing that he must submit or fight, he re- luctantly yiekled, and set the example by coming forward and laying his how and arrows on the ground. Most of the warriors followed his example, but some of the younger ones refused, and were compelled with difficulty to give up their arms. Some of the militia behaved very rudely toward some of the squaws. but the colonel's reprimand was so severe that no second offense occurred.
After much parley the Indians consented that their weapons should be temporarily put out of commission, so the flints were removed, naked bullets were rammed tight into the barrel of each gun, then the weapons were re-
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turned to the red men, who were compelled to resume their march toward their reservation. The two following days were bitter cold, which occa- sioned much suffering among the women and children, especially while cross- ing Oliver's prairie, where the barbed north winds had a better sweep than in the hill country. In about three days more the band reached the state line, where Colonel Yancey warned the Osages not to return again to the Ozark country, and started back with his militia to Greene county. The same day they were overtaken by a chief of the expelled tribe, who was accom- panied by a white man named Matthews, who begged them to return to at- tend a council of their chiefs, which had been called, they said, to consult with the white men. This Colonel Yancey refused to do, saying that he had no power to treat with them. Upon reaching Springfield the militia found that there was intense excitement all over the county and adjoining counties, caused by wild rumors to the effect that a general Indian war had been begun, and that the community was liable to be attacked by the savages at any moment. Not only the women and children, but many of the men of the little village of Springfield, were greatly terrified, and Major Barry, who was at that time a leading merchant and citizen here, was preparing to haul away his entire stock of goods to a place of safety, probably in one of the. caves of the county. However, no hostilities followed, and the excitement soon abated, the people being assured by the militia that there was no im- mediate danger from the Indians.
THE SARCOXIE WAR.
The Osage Indians failed to keep their promise to remain out of Mis- souri territory, and in the summer of 1837 the settlers of Greene county were again thrown into a state of great excitement through fear of an Indian invasion. The outrages perpetrated by the savages were so well known to. the pioneers that the remotest possibility of trouble with red men at once excited the gravest apprehensions, and often the wildest alarm. The Ozark country was unprotected from raids from the Indians from their reserva- tions in the Indian Territory, and often rumors were set afloat that the savages were on the war path. The Greene county people refused to take any chances whatever with the knights of the tomahawk, and agreed among themselves when they began clearing the wilderness and upturning the wild prairie sod that they would band together and immediately crush the red rovers of the forests if they made even the slightest manifestation of bad faith or crooked conduct-no cabins in ashes and scalped wives and abducted children for them. No trouble had ever been experienced with the Dela- wares, who were numerous in this section, and no one was afraid of them. But roving bands of other tribes occasionally caused alarm among the front-
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iersmen. In June, 1837, one of the bands of Senecas came up from the In- dian Territory, stole horses and other property, especially just across the lines in Polk and Dade counties, and when asked to make restitution, re- fused and made certain threatening demonstrations. A settler named Thatcher, living on Cedar creek, was visited one day by an Indian who wanted to trade "squaws" with him. He was promptly knocked down by Thatcher and driven away, but the following day while at work in his clear- ing, the white man heard a shot and felt a rifle ball whizz past his ear. He gave the alarm, and the county court of Polk county ordered Maj. L. A. Williams ( who subsequently became a prominent physician in Springfield) to take command of a company of militia, hastily raised for the purpose, and compel the Indians to leave the country. The object of the expedition was speedily accomplished, and Major Williams' company was disbanded.
Three-quarters of a century ago the laws of Missouri provided that every able-bodied man between the ages of eighteen and forty-five should enroll in the state militia and drill regularly three or four times annually. All militia officers were elected by the privates and commissioned by the governor. The Seventh Division then embraced southwest Missouri, and the militia of Greene county composed the First Brigade, while Polk and an adjoining county or two composed the Second Brigade. The first organiza- tion of these counties under this arrangement was in 1837, and the first general officers elected were as follows: Joseph Powell, major-general of the First Division; N. R. Smith, brigadier-general of the First Brigade; Abner Nall, brigadier-general of the Second Brigade.
While Major Williams was expelling the Senecas, trouble broke out anew with the Osages, a large number of which tribe had gathered near Sarcoxie, and were acting in a manner as to arouse suspicion. When de- tailed information of this fact reached General Powell he at once ordered the entire militia under his command to mobilize, and soon marched his division against the Indians, taking them by surprise. They were too over- awed by the formidable looking force of militia to offer serious resistance, and after some parleys and councils they were marched out of the state and into their own territory, and made to give solemn assurances that they would never return without permission. They stoutly persisted in their innocence of any evil intentions in coming to the Ozark country, maintaining that they were merely on a hunting and fishing expedition, and that they knew nothing of any stolen horses or other property, averring to the last that, as previously, they would continue stanch friends of the whites. After an absence of two weeks, General Powell and his division of militia marched back to Spring- field, and the Greene county troops were disbanded and permitted to return to work in their crops, and the people again permitted their "nerves" to settle, and resumed the peaceful pursuits. It was subsequently learned that
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the outbreak had been greatly exaggerated from the start. The Indians had done nothing amiss, and perhaps had no evil designs against the settlers, and all the alarm, uneasiness, mustering, marching, were unnecessary. But the Greene county troops saw enough of their commanding officer to decide that he was not the proper man to lead them against the foe, in the event of actual hostilities, General Powell being no military man, either by education or experience, and committed many breaches of military law and discipline, according to his men. Upon charges preferred by Gen. N. R. Smith, of the Greene county brigade, General Powell was afterwards tried by a military commission and dismissed from the state service, being succeeded by General Nelson, who, in turn, was succeeded by Col. Charles S. Yancey, of Greene county. It is related, too, that General Smith was lacking in military qualifi- cations himself. On one occasion a militiaman, who had seen service in the regular army, was stationed as a guard at the camp of the First Brigade, when General Smith approached and was halted by the guard, who asked him to give the countersign; "I don't know the countersign, but I am General Smith, from Springfield, and it is all right." and started on into camp, when the guard again halted him, refusing to permit him to pass without the coun- tersign.
The above account of General Powell's expedition against the Osages was long referred to by the early settlers in this locality as the "Sarcoxie war," which was one of the remarkable "wars" of history, in that it was bloodless.
GREENE COUNTY IN THE MEXICAN WAR.
There still live in Springfield several men and women enjoying the tranquility of upwards of three score and ten years who lived in this locality when the Mexican war broke out. Some of them, who were little more than children, remember the stirring events of those days most vividly-remem- ber as if they had picked up the facts at first hand, the stories that were told so often that they have come to seem like personal experiences. Those were exciting times in Greene county-in 1846-and the year following when we invaded the land of the Montezumas to fight for Texas and won California, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and a part of Wyoming. The annexation of Texas was the alleged cause of the declaration of war by Mexico against the United States in April. 1846, and the attack on American soldiers by Mexicans the ground of the retaliatory declaration by the United States, May 13, but not until the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma had been fought, on May 8th and 9th. Great excitement prevailed through- out the country, and in no state did the fires of patriotism burn more brightly than in Missouri. Not waiting for the call for volunteers, the St. Louis Legion, under Col. A. R. Easton, hastened to the scene of conflict and citi-
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zens of Greene county began to make preparations to go to the front. Dur- ing the month of May, Governor John C. Edwards called for volunteers to join the Army of the West. an expedition under Gen. Stephen W. Kearney, to Santa Fe. Fort Leavenworth was the appointed rendezvous for the volunteers, and by June 18th the full complement of companies to compose the first regiment had arrived, and there Col. Alexander Doniphan's regi- ment. the First Missouri Mounted Volunteers, was organized and was soon on the march along the historic Santa Fe trail to New Mexico. Missouri had sent into the field at that time, all told, one thousand six hundred and fifty-eight men. About a month later Sterling Price, then congressman from Missouri, resigned his seat, and in August raised a mounted regiment, one mounted extra battalion, and one extra battalion of Missouri Mormon in- fantry to reinforce the AArmy of the West. Mr. Price was made colonel, and J). D. Mitchell, lieutenant-colonel, this regiment being known as the Second Missouri Mounted Volunteer Infantry, and were soon off for the seat of conflict. There were more volunteers than could be accepted. In Septem- ber another regiment was organized at Fort Leavenworth, of which Col. Thomas Ruffin had command, but at that time its services at the front were not required. In this regiment was one company from Greene county, under Capt. A. M. Julian. Samuel A. Boak was first lieutenant. The company marched from Springfield to Leavenworth and engaged in the organization of the regiment, was disbanded and returned home after an absence of one month. The company numbered about seventy-five men. In the spring of 1847 Samuel Boak organized another company, and was made captain. It was well equipped and was a fine body of stalwart men, and left Greene county in excellent shape, followed by the best wishes of the citizens, a great crowd having assembled to see the company start on its long march. A barbecue was given on St. Louis street. about two blocks east of the public square, after which speeches were made and a flag presented by the citizens. Captain Boak was a lawyer of considerable note, and had been in partnership in the practice of his profession with John S. Phelps. He made an appro- priate response in behalf of his company. He proved to be a good officer, however, but little of him is known. He had not long been a resident of Springfield, nor did he remain long after the war. In 1849 he went to California and was killed at Marysville that fall. His company was mus- tered into the service in May, 1847, and comprised a portion of the Third Missouri Mounted Volunteers, which regiment was commanded by Col. John Ralls. This regiment followed the first and second regiments over the great plains of the Southwest and operated into the Mexican states as far as El Paso. Chihuahua and Santa Cruz de Rosales, at which latter place March 16. 1848. under Colonel Ralls, seven companies of the regiment, two com- panies of United States Dragoons, under Major Beal, and the Santa Fe
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Battalion, under Major Walker, constituting a force of about six hundred and fifty men, fought a hard battle with the Mexicans under General Freas, who were in the town and well sheltered by breastworks. The battle lasted from nine o'clock in the morning until about sundown, when the Americans charged the enemy's works and defeated the Mexicans with a loss of three hundred and thirty killed, and a great number wounded; and a large quan- tity of arms, ammunition, wagons, teams, etc., were captured. The Ameri- can troops then occupied the town, the Mexicans having surrendered a large number of prisoners, who were released the following day on parole. A few days after this battle all the American forces returned to Chihuahua, where they remained until the close of the war, except seven companies of the Third Missouri, that were stationed at Santa Cruz de Rosales, and occu- pied that post until the latter part of the year. In July, 1848, these com- panies were ordered to Independence, Missouri, and mustered out the fol- lowing October. The other three companies were stationed at Taos, New Mexico, during their term and never rejoined their regiment until they were mustered out with it, at Independence. These three companies had been under command of Major Reynolds, who died on his return, in October, 1848, at Fort Mann, on the Arkansas river, below the crossing of the Arkansas river. Conspicuous among the engagements in which the Mis- souri volunteers participated in Mexico were the battles of Bracito, Taos, Santa Cruz de Rosales, Sacramento, El Embudo and Canada. When Cap- tain Boak's company returned to Springfield, after seeing considerable hard service at the front, where it distinguished itself for bravery and courage, it was given an imposing reception and a hearty welcome. Another barbecue was given the troops at Fulbright's spring, where there was much speech making, and the veterans were lionized as heroes.
THE ONLY SURVIVOR.
Of the one hundred and nine men who left their homes in the then sparsely settled communities of Southwest Missouri in 1847 and gathered in Springfield to offer their services in answer to President Polk's call for vol- unteers to fight Mexico, only one is known to be living in 1914. He is Maj. William Marion Weaver, of Springfield, who is Greene county's sole sur- vivor of the Mexican war. He is in his eighty-fourth year, but he is more active than a great many men twenty years his junior and his constant read- ing of newspaper dispatches touching on the Mexican situation has revived the patriotism and spirit of adventure that led him to fight for his country sixty-seven years ago.
"I guess I'm too old," Major Weaver tells his friends, "but if they need me I am ready."
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Major Weaver was but seventeen years old when he enlisted for the war against Mexico. In company with the other one hundred and eight . men, representing southwest Missouri's contingent, and of which he was the youngest, he went from here to Independence, Missouri, where all were mus- tered into the Third Missouri Mounted Volunteers, Col. John Ralls com- manding Colonel Rally made him a bugler.
Hle made the march over the Santa Fe trail to Santa Fe, his regiment being under the command of Gen. Sterling Price. He took part in a number of engagements in the eastern and northern part of Mexico.
"We probably were less fortunate than the soldiers under Scott," said Major Weaver. "For we never were given a real good fight by the Mexi- cans. We had to contend with guerrillas in our campaign. The Mexicans would fire a few volleys at us and when we got into action they would fall over one another in making their getaway. There were no fortified towns between where El Paso now stands and the city of Chihuahua encountering any great resistance.
"AAbout seventy-five out of our company returned to Springfield at the close of the war. Those who found graves on Mexican soil, for the most part, died of disease. Our casualties throughout the brief war were com- paratively few. Most of those who were killed met death as a result of their venturing too far beyond our outposts. The snipers got them, just as they did the American marines at the occupation of Vera Cruz in 1914.
Major Weaver strongly advocates not only intervention in Mexico by the United States, but the establishing of a protectorate in the country, just as England did in India and Egypt.
For a number of years Major Weaver gave an annual dinner at his home here with survivors of the Mexican war as his guests. His last dinner for the veterans was given three years ago. At that time only five attended. The last of these dinners has been held. Only two or three of those who at- tended these dinners are alive and they are too feeble to travel.
Major Weaver's list of the members of Company G is believed to be the only one other than that kept by the government. It was secured from the adjutant general's office in Washington, D. C., in March. 1908, by Senator W. J. Stone, acting on the request of Major Weaver. Addresses of the mem- bers were not given, as it is contrary to the rules of the office. The roll of the company was as follows :
Captain, S. A. Boak ; first lieutenants, Robert Love. A. M. Brittingham ; first sergeant, John M. Crockett: sergeants. John Kelly, Robert A. Forbes, William I. Cannefax: corporals. A. B. Allison. C. S. Drumwright, G. M. Bedford. James I. Byrd: privates. H. A. Anthony, A. I. Adkins, William D. Anderson. Wilbert Bass_ Jessy Bird, G. W. Brittingham, M. T. Benton, Chestley Cannefax, John R. Cannefax, Mathew Cook, Enoch Cook, Abner
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Cotter, B. M. Cox, William Crabtree, Edward Coker, John Craig, Lymon Crandle, Barnet Deeds, William L. Daniel, Shadrick Dickens, Ennis Dick- son, Solomon W. Edgar, Freeman S. Greard, James Galloway, Jesse Gallo- way, Charles Galloway, Robert Hall, David Hodges, John Holland, Henry Horn, James Hughes, Jonathan Hoover, Hiram Helms, Smith Helms, Weeden Helms, Jesse Hammons, Robert Horton, William E. Hanson, Elisha Hughes, Elijah M. Harpwood, William F. Henry, Samuel E. Hamilton, William Hale. Benona Hinson. John Innmon, Henry Innmon, William L. Joyce, James Jameson, Philip Jackson, Simon Johnston, William Johnston, Hugh Jones, Andrew Johnston, James F. Kelly, Alexander Knepper, Theo- drick Layton, William C. Layton, George W. Lea, Frederick Lesser, Henry O. Lowry. James R. Long, John F. McMahan, John May, John W. Mitchel, Nicholas Misslong, John R. Maadly, Morgan Martin, Jason Mobley, Christ- ian Mitten, James Morris, James McAlley, James Oliver, William Price, A. N. Pearce, Peter P. Patterson, Philip Payne, C. A. B. Quillings, Richard A. Rickets, W. W. Reynolds, Lewis M. Russell, Elisha Swift, Nimrod Smith, Gustavus R. Scruggs, James R. Sheshane, Edmond Stephens, John W. Span, Benjamin W. Swithson, William Sims, James Stalcup, Mark Stalcup, Smith Turner, William Victor, James Walker, William M. Weaver, Solomon Yow- chum.
BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR BEGAN.
The people of Greene county received the news of the election of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in the fall of 1860, with a great deal of dissatisfaction, however not a great deal was said, the people in general being willing to abide by the results of the election, making the best they could of the situation, believing it better to be on the alert and to. await the outcome ; but there was a feeling of dark foreboding in the breasts of most, an inscrutable impending calamity, which they knew not the nature of nor how to avert. Few seemed to know their own feelings, unconditional Union men one week were secessionists the following week, and some who at first sanctioned the policy of South Carolina and other Southern states upon their withdrawal from the sisterhood of states, later declared in favor of the national government. However, no matter what their feelings were they all sincerely hoped that war might be averted, consequently they waited, a large number expressing the sentiment, "Let us wait and see what Lincoln will do." Possibly the major portion of the citizens of this county were of the opinion that the interests of Missouri were not materially different from those of the other slave-holding states, but they were in favor of waiting for the development of the policy of the new administration before taking any steps leading to the withdrawal of the state from the federal Union. While there were a great many slave-holders. the majority of them were
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known to treat with due consideration and fairness their negroes. A hard and cruel master was practically unknown, and the blacks seemed to be contented. There was a stringent law against mistreating slaves, and this law was rigidly enforced in Greene county, those who did mistreat their slaves being promptly indicted, if a complaint was made to the authorities. In February, 1861, the county court appointed M. J. Hubble, Jolin Lair and Benjamin Kite patrols for Campbell township, their duties being to keep order among the slaves for twelve months. These were the last patrols ever appointed in Greene county. A few months later a force of several thousand patrols came into the county, commanded by Capt. Nathaniel Lyon and Capt. Franz Sigel. Later others came, commanded by Sterling Price and Ben McCulloch, and the movements of these patrols were on so large a scale that the doings of the trio appointed by the county court were scarcely noted. Governor Claiborne F. Jackson called a convention in February in order to ascertain the will of the people of Missouri as to whether they favored secession or remaining by the Union, it being his opinion that the interests and destiny of the slave-holding state were the same; that the state was in favor of remaining in the Union so long as there was any hope of maintain- ing the guarantees of the constitution; but that in the event of a failure to reconcile the differences which then threatened the disruption of the Union, it would be the duty of Missouri to stand by the South, and that he was utterly opposed to the doctrine of coercion in any event. The election of delegates to this convention was held February 18, 1861. The meetings in Springfield were well attended by the Unionists. Those who favored seces- sion were in the minority, but they were outspoken. The candidates from the Nineteenth senatorial district, which included Greene, Christian, Taney, Stone and Webster counties, were Sample Orr and Littleberry Hendricks, of this county, and R. W. Jamison, of Webster county, who were "uncondi- tional Union" men, and opposed to the secession of Missouri under any cir- cumstances ; the candidates who were understood to be in favor of secession under certain emergencies were Nick F. Jones and Jabez Owen, of Greene, and T. W. Anderson. The result of the vote showed that the Union candi- dates had been selected by a large majority. a vote of four to one, each one of the Union candidates receiving a majority in Greene county of over one thousand votes. And although a number of those voting for the Union candidates afterwards became avowed secessionists, the election settled the political status of the people of this county and this district beyond any doubt, standing overwhelmingly in favor of the unconditional Union candidates. At the state convention, a few weeks later, it was decided that there was no adequate cause to impel Missouri to dissolve her connection with the federal Union, and the convention took unmistakable ground against the employ- ment of military force by the federal government to coerce the seceding
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