The History of Pettis County, Missouri, History of Sedalia, Part 44

Author: Demuth, I. MacDonald
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: [n.p.]
Number of Pages: 1148

USA > Missouri > Pettis County > Sedalia > The History of Pettis County, Missouri, History of Sedalia > Part 44

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Sedalia is the county seat of Pettis County, almost the central county of Missouri, which is the fifth State in the Union, in population, wealth and progress. The county has an area of 672 square miles, and contains 446,- 289 acres.

The county was first settled in 1822, and it now contains 35,000 inhab- itants.

The Missouri Pacific Railroad, main line, runs through it from east to west. This main line runs a distance of about 300 miles, between St. Louis and the Mississippi River on the east, and Kansas City and the Missouri River, on the west; Sedalia to Kansas City, 96 miles; Sedalia to St. Louis, 189.

The Kansas & Texas Division of the Gould combination, formerly the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, runs through it from northeast to southwest, from Hannibal, Missouri, on the Mississippi River, to Denison, in Northern Texas, a distance of 576 miles. From Sedalia to Hannibal the distance is 143 miles; from Sedalia to Denison, 433 miles. The Lex- ington Branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad runs from the southeast to the northwest, from Sedalia to Lexington, Mo., on the Missouri River, a distance of fifty-two miles. The Sedalia, Warsaw and Southern Division (narrow gauge railway) of the Missouri Pacific Railroad runs due south from Sedalia to Warsaw, Mo., on the Osage River, a distance of about forty-five miles.

The site of the city is a high, rolling prairie, and the area covered by it at present is about two miles square. The water runs from it in all direc-

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tions. Three miles north is the Big Muddy stream, and an expanse of woodland; two miles and a half south is Flat Creek, and a similar area of woodland. To the west two miles and a half is Brushy Creek, and a nar- row area of woodland. The natural drainage of the town is excellent; the general surface of the ground occupied by it is so level that no fill or excavation is required in the grading of streets, beyond the height or depth of from two to seven feet.

The history of Sedalia must be divided, in accordance with the actual facts and the logic of events, into three separate periods. The first is the period from the date of the first laying out of Sedalia, the original town, November 30, 1857, to the erection of the first buildings. The second is from this date to the close of the war, in 1865; and the third is from the close of the war, when the town really began to grow up with rapidity and solidity, to the present time, July 1, 1882. The first period might very properly be divided into two sub-periods-from 1857, when the formal plat of the town was filed, until January 17, 1861, when the Mis- souri Pacific Railroad ran the first passenger train into Sedalia. In justice and reality the date of the founding of the town ought to be fixed as January, 1861, when the Missouri Pacific Railroad arrived at the place and fixed the destiny of the town beyond peradventure. The second period of the first division would be from 1861 to the close of the war.

During the first sub-period the town existed only on paper. Nov. 30, 1857, Gen. George R. Smith filed for record the plat of a town called Sed- ville. The town was given the name of Sedville, in honor of Gen. Smith's youngest daughter, Sarah E. Smith, still living, whose pet or nick-name was "Sed.," an inexplicable corruption of Sarah or Sallie. The plat of Sedville included about 160 acres of prairie land lying north of the present line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, between Georgetown and the present city of Sedalia. From Nov. 30, 1857, to Oct. 16, 1860, the town existed still only on paper. The only houses within or very near the present city limits of Sedalia, were those of Wm. Rutledge, located somewhere near the stream that runs through the northern suburbs; the farm resi- dence of Gen. Smith, then situated near what is now the corner of Seventh street and Washington avenue, and the farm residence of Col. D. W. Bouldin, between the present city and Georgetown. It must be borne in mind that Georgetown was at that time a flourishing town of 1,500 inhab- itants and the county seat of Pettis County. Ira E. Barnes, then a resi- dent of Georgetown, in those years when he visited the family of Gen. Smith, used to gather strawberries with the daughters of Gen. Smith, both of whom are now living, amidst the prairie grass and flowers, where now stand the stateliest buildings. Mr. W. P. Jackson, another old set- tler, still a hale, active and vigorous man, says that the prairie was alive with game, and that all up and down Pearl River there were large pools

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filled with splendid fish. There was an unusually large pool, or pond, on the square now occupied by the City Hall, and that it extended clear across the line of the present Second street, between Osage and Kentucky. Some of the walnut trees which are now growing on the place of C. M. A. Chaney, corner of Lafayette and Sixth streets, have grown from wal- nuts planted by the hands of the late Mrs. George R. Smith. The only other important fact, having a direct bearing upon the history of the city, is the fact that for several years previous to the lay- ing out of Sedalia, and after its location, Gen. Smith had been laboring strenuously to make the people of Georgetown and Pettis County, and in fact all Central Missouri, see the advantages of having the line of the road located in this section. The detached account of his labors together with a history of the Pacific Railroad will be found in the biographical sketch of Gen. Geo. R. Smith.

CHAPTER II .- FROM 1860 TO 1865.

Sedalia Prior to and During the War from 1860 to 1865-When Sedalia was laid out and by Whom-The First Lots Sold-The First Houses Built-The First Hotel-The Arrival of the Missouri Pacific Railroad in January, 1861-Its Significance -- The War Makes it the Terminus of the Line-A Picture of Sedalia as it was in May, 1861-The War-The First Union Troops Raised-The First Bloodshed in the County-The Names of Sedalia Soldiers-Interesting Local Sights and Scenes -- Biography of Gen. Geo. R. Smith, and History of the Pacific Railroad-A full Description of the Capture of Sedalia by Gen. Jeff. Thompson -- Anecdotes and Tragedies.

On October 16, 1860, Gen. Geo. R. Smith and Col. David W. Bouldin filed the plat of a town which they called Sedalia. This town plat included all of the original town plat of Sedville, and in addition, a large section of land extending from the present line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad as far south as the present Third street. The name Sedalia was probably chosen because the original "Sed" could be united to the more euphonious termination "alia", like Van-dalia, Cent-ralia, et cetera. Lots were sold in the original Sedville in 1858, the first to Eward Powell, and the deed recorded Sept. 4, 1858. On March 2, 1859, next year, Dr. W. L. Felix sold to Col. D. W. Bouldin an undivided one-fourth interest in a large tract of land north of the present line of the Missouri Pacific Rail- road, which included the original plat of Sedville. It was in October, 1860, that there was the first public sale of lots in Sedalia, and this was really the beginning of the town. A large number of lots were sold, most of them, except those on Main street, north of the railroad line. It was soon after this sale of lots began, that the first buildings were erected and the town became such in reality. The town plat of Sedalia was surveyed by Mr. Mentor Thomson, who is still living in the city, and is president

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of the Sedalia Savings Bank. He was assisted by Richard Hulland, now dead.

In 1860, John Hodges had a small store and country postoffice at the point where the old well is, north of the Garrison House. The first house built after this was erected in the fall of 1860, by Jacob Skinner, at a point one block west of Ohio street, and about one block north of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. It is still standing at this time, June 30, 1882. The third house was erected by Richard Hulland, not far from it. Mr. B. H. Offutt, still living, kept the first hotel, which was located just north of the present Garrison House, and owned by General Smith. The next hotel was also located near the present site of the Garrison House, and kept by a Mr. Maiden. It was called the Sedalia House. It was burned in 1866. About three months after the erection of the first few houses the Missouri Pacific Railroad line reached the place, and the first passenger train arrived about January 17, 1861.

This is one of the great epochs in the history of the city. A railroad meant everything; it meant immediate development and growth; it united the beautiful, unbroken prairie land with New York City and the Atlan- tic Ocean. It made it a part of the railroad country of the Union. During the temporary stoppage of the railroad at Tipton, forty-five miles east, at Syracuse, twenty-five miles east, and at Otterville, eighteen miles east, large business houses had been established temporarily, because, wherever the railroad stopped, there, for the time being, was the great depot and head- quarters, outside of Boonville, on the Missouri, from which the great southwest, then without a foot of railroad, received its supplies; and where the great Overland Stage Line had its eastern headquarters in Missouri. The writer can remember when, in 1860, the then thriving railroad termini, first Tipton, then Syracuse, then Otterville, and Smith- ton, were crowded with wagons of every description, and with goods in immense quantity, brought there by the railroad, and taken thence by wagon trains to the west and southwest. As soon as the railroad left each of these towns the big houses and the great trade, the hum and excitement of business left them, and rolled on, like a tide, with the thun- der of the iron horse, to the next terminus. When the railroad reached Sedalia, those who lived in this vicinity, and still live here, can remember that there was a genuine rush for Sedalia, like that made for some rich mining district in the far west. The name of the town was attractive in sound, and novel as well, in a region filled with towns with old, staid, prac- tical, every day names. The novelty and euphony of the name seemed to be significant of a new era in Central Missouri, and it has proven so.

The large stores and establishments at Otterville and Syracuse were moved to Sedalia, not only the stocks, but in many cases the buildings or portions of them, or the timber. Houses and portions of them were

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brought from Georgetown on wagons, and just as soon as a man could get anything to protect goods, that would pass muster for a house, he began business. In 1861, just before the railroad got to Sedalia, the supplies for the Southwest Expedition were brought by rail to Smithton, and that was about the last time that it had, what would be called in the expressive slang of the present day, "a business boom." As soon as the railroad reached Sedalia it became at once the depot of the Overland Stage Line and the headquarters for supplies, as the other towns where the line had paused for a time had been. Here, in a few weeks after the railroad had reached the point, the trains of wagons loaded. Just when the excite- ment and rush was at its height, war was declared. In one respect this was a misfortune to them; in another, it was an immense advantage. It delayed the active and vigorous work of building the town for the four years that the war continued. On the other hand it held at the place the terminus of the railroad for nearly three years. Men had time to estab- lish a trade; the citizens of the vicinity had time to realize the immense advantages to be derived from a railroad; the thousands upon thousands of Federal troops which were stationed here for weeks and months had among them shrewd and observant men who saw the beauties and the richness, and the brilliant possibilities of the country. Many of them remained here long enough to get clear, distinct, and lasting impressions, and if they did not return here themselves, when war's harsh voice was hushed, and gentle peace was singing lullabies, their descriptions of the. land, and the town, and the people, induced others to return or made a picture for the man seeking a home and a business to think over. It is not necessary to poetize over this matter, though there is room for it; but the most practical, hardheaded business man can see in a moment that this is a fact. Instances could be cited of at least half a dozen property owners of the present day who first saw Sedalia during the war. One man who did, now has over $10,000 of property in the city. This is an important fact in the history of Sedalia, and it is one that people have only now begun to recognize.

To clearly understand what Sedalia was just after the railroad arrived here, it will be necessary to draw a rough picture of the place. For the correctness of the picture the historian relies somewhat upon his own memory as to the appearance of the spot, when first viewed in the spring of 1862, but chiefly upon the still, clear and vigorous memories of a dozen or more of the very first settlers and actual business men of 1861. Out- side of the three or four houses mentioned heretofore, the town was con- fined to the two blocks between Ohio and Kentucky street, the store buildings all being on the present Main street. Between the date of Jan. 1, 1861, and May 1, 1861, quite a number of buildings went up, and many of them were in process of erection at the same time. On March 9,

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1861, the store of C. F. Lohman & Co. opened its doors for business, on the northwest corner of Main and Kentucky streets. Jacob Nussberger and Henry Vitt were in charge of the house. Ben B. Lyon, Sr., and his son, Ben B. Lyon, Jr., were clerks in the house. Jno. L. Hall was for three months a member of the firm and in the house a short time. When the house was opened the prairie grass around the store was high enough to reach to a man's feet when on horseback. The sum of $999 was paid for that lot then. Five doors west of them, and on the spot now occupied by H. H. Dix's marble store, was a small frame storeroom occupied by John A. Reed. Just east of C. F. Lohman's building was a small store- room run by Wm. Gundlefinger, now cashier of a St. Louis bank. Still further east of these two buildings, on the corner of Osage and Main, was the large store and commission house of Cloney, Crawford & Co. This house and storeroom covered three lots. Thos. W. Cloney, now cashier of the Sedalia Savings Bank, was an active member of the firm. " Uncle" Tom Millett, still a vigorous old man and a resident of the city, was the porter of the establishment. Just north of the last mentioned house was the Missouri Pacific Railroad depot.

The next house east was on the northeast corner of Osage and Main, on the spot where now stands the Sedalia Savings Bank, a small store run by David Phillips. About three doors east, where Jos. K. Yeater & Co.'s store now is, was a small store room, a grocery owned by [Wm. Nichols and Mr. J. R. Barrett, who is still a wealthy resident of this city. Chas. Lesher also had a small frame shanty on the square, in which he had a photograph or art gallery. Next to him, on the same spot now occupied by Bard & Miller, was the drug store of William E. Bard. On the northwest corner of Ohio and Main streets was a large grocery house run by Dr. Logan Clark. Just across the street from it, on the northeast corner of Ohio and Main, was the general commission house of W. G. Wear & Son. On the south side of Main between Ohio and Kentucky were the following business houses:

Southeast corner of Osage and Main, David Hancock's store; west corner of Osage and Main, Roderick Gallie and Samuel Ford's butcher shop; three or four doors west of the corner, James G. Tesch, groceries and liquors; five or six doors west of Tesch, was the store of William and Theo. Bloess; next, Bixby & Houx's store, tinware and hardware; one door west, on the present site of Rod Gallie's grocery store, was the large dry goods and grocery store of William Beck. These were the principal houses on Main street, and constituted the business portion of the town. Capt. F. L. Parker, who died recently at Parsons, Kan., had a livery stable on the north side of what is now the Garrison House Park. Northwest of him were the stables of the Overland Stage Line, and near him a small hotel. During the year Richard Hulland and a

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number of other parties put up small box houses on the rising ground near the corner of Lamine and St. Louis streets. There was an old log house o cupied by negroes, on the present site of Gauss' lumber yard. On the corner where stands the city hall there was a dense growth of willows on the banks of Pearl River and in a swampy spot. The deer came up there to drink just before the railroad arrived in the town. There may have been a few railroad shanties, stables and outhouses. There was not a business house south of Main street, east of the corner of Ohio or west of the one on the corner of Kentucky. This was all that then constituted the town where now stands the " Queen of the Prairies," the model city of Central Missouri, with a population in her limits and suburbs of 15,000 ; real and personal property in the county, valued by the assessment of 1882, at $7,782,954, but worth really one-third more or $10,377,272.

But the war had advanced with such intenseness and rapidity that after the first three months all improvements stopped; and, as an old resident of that town says, " not a nail was driven after the 1st of May, 1861."

When the railroad first came business was very active here; the trade from the southwest, which had hitherto been held by Boonville, had begun to come to Sedalia, and for a brief period of three months or three months and a half, the streets presented a scene of unusual activity, and the amount of goods handled was very large.

It was then "the Bullwhacker," the individual who drove the six yoke of oxen attached to an enormous wagon for the transportation of goods to the southwest, was in his full glory; the broad-rimmed, slouched hat was the popular head covering, bread and bacon the favorite diet, and whisky and New Orleans molasses mixed, the only drink that men of mettle would touch. A revolver in those days was as sure to be found on a man's person as a lead pencil and a memorandum book are now-a-days. Among the very first residents of the city, and the first business men, were William E. Bard, Maj. William Beck, Wm. and Theodore Bloess, Jacob Nussberger, Henry Vitt, Ben. B. Lyon, Sr., Ben B. Lyon, Jr., Roderick Gallie, Dr. Logan Clark, Jno. L. Hall, Thomas W. Cloney, Enos Cor- dell, Jno. R. Barrett, Gabriel Vogler, Wm. B. Riley, James G. Tesch, Robt. G. Barnhart, Thomas Millett, Tim Finnerty, Uncle Rafe Quinlean. and R. T. Miller. All the above, but Theo. Bloess, who is a resident of St. Louis, and Ben. B. Lyon, Sr., who is dead, are still alive, and residents of the city.

In 1862, Abraham Meyer came here. Adam Ittel came in 1863. Elias Laupheimer came before '63. Louis Kumm was in business in '63. O. A. Crandall was here in '63, one of the earliest lawyers.

Dr. R. T. Miller had an interest in the drug store of W. E. Bard, from 1861 to date. Quite a number of men who were residents in '62-3, have moved away or are dead.

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At the close of the year 1861 the town did not contain, all told, from the best information that can be gained three hundred bona fide residents, and not over twenty-five families, all of which resided north of the Mis- souri Pacific Railroad, with the exception of two or three. There were, in all, only about twenty or twenty-five business houses. There were no churches or schools within the city limits.

It was during the latter part of the summer of 1861, after the arrival of troops, that a huge cattle corral, or yard, was built on the ground just south of the alley in the rear of Smith's hall. It covered about five acres.

Pearl River was then a prairie stream. There was a lofty, thick hedge fence running along Massachusetts street, and another along the present Third street. A man could have stood at the present site of the Garrison House and struck with a stone nine-tenths of the houses in the town.

Now that a pencil picture has been given of the town, brief mention must be made of some events which transpired then, incident to the war, and directly or indirectly a part of the history of Sedalia. The feeling of bitterness between the Unionists and Secessionists of this county was at that time very intense. It is only war that can produce such a change of feeling in a short time. People who had been friends for years, after the lapse of six weeks referred to each other as "damned Yankees," and "infernal rebels." War took progress by the throat and choked her into silence. The history of the city cannot be disconnected from that of the county, because Sedalia soon became the real center of the county and the great place of resort.

It was made a military post early in 1861. It must be remembered that there is very little written or printed data that can easily be procured, upon which to base the history of events and persons of this first year of the city's life. The historian is compelled to rely on the memories of living persons, and their memories are not all alike and some times do not agree. These discrepancies in memory fortunately do not affect any very essential facts.

It was during the months of April, May and June, 1861, that the first military companies, then properly denominated as "home guards, " were organized. The first company, was raised in Georgetown by Capt. Samuel Montgomery and the first one in Sedalia by Capt. F. L. Parker. Dr. J. M. Fox organized the first Confederate company.

After the two first Union Home Guard companies were organized, Capt. Montgomery, who was the father of General Bacon Montgomery, a resident of this city, and Capt. Parker went to Boonville and got their arms. Capt. D. M. Williams and Maj. J. C. Wood, late circuit clerk, also raised companies for the Confederate side.

There is some difference of opinion as to what regular Union troops first

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entered Sedalia. In 1861 Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, just before, and on his way to, the battle of Wilson Creek, passed through the city and camped one night on Flat Creek. This was in the latter part of June or the first part of July and after the first battle of Boonville.

The next troops which came into the city and went to Lexington were the famous " Mulligan's Brigade."

In the fall of 1861, Gen. Franz Siegel and a large force were present in the city. Mr. Jacob Nussberger, who knew Gen. Siegel in Germany, met the latter at Jefferson City, and was induced to come with him and act as a guide and give points about the town and the county and people, which were of great value to an officer in a new country and surrounded on all sides by enemies. After Col. Mulligan's men had gone to Lexing- ton, the next troops which appeared were the First Illinois Cavalry, Col. Marshall in command. During the presence of this regiment in Sedalia and Georgetown, and during one of their scouting, foraging expeditions, occurred the first blood shed in the county and in the near vicinity of Sedalia.

Mr. Elijah Magoffin was a wealthy farmer who resided about one mile west of the present town of Hughesville. He was a famous hunter, a dead shot, but withal a very quiet man and possessed of the most determined courage. He was known as a pronounced southern man. In August, 1861, a squad of Marshall's cavalry was in Georgetown. Magoffin was in town the same day. It was noised around the town that the soldiers were going to arrest Magoffin. He was in a drug store and four or five soldiers on horse-back came toward it. Magoffin, it seems, thought they were coming for him. He appeared at the front. of the store with a double barrelled shot-gun. As the soldiers approached, he rested his gun over a horse-rack in front of it and fired upon the squad. One trooper tumbled from his horse dead. A second he wounded mortally. Magoffin was afterwards captured in the old Kidd hotel. His own fate, four years afterwards, was no less tragic, and it may be a note of interest to'mention it here: He was with Shelby's command in a small town in Arkansas, just before the close of the war. He had gone through many short fights, imprisonment in Alton military prison, from which he, his son, B. Magoffin, now a resident of this county, his son Elijah, a resident of Saline county, and Major J. C. Wood, now a resident of Sedalia, had escaped, together with many other of the vicissitudes of war. Two men, one a friend of Magoffin, got into a fight in a bar-room in the town where the Confederates were then stationed. Magoffin interfered to prevent blood-shed. One of the men made a lunge at Magoffin with a huge bowie knife, split Magoffin's heart in two, and killed him instantly. Magoffin's son, Elijah, followed his father's slayer for six hundred miles,

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The History of Pettis County, Missouri, History of Sedalia, Part 44

Author: Demuth, I. MacDonald Publication date: 1882 Publisher: [n.p.] Number of Pages: 1148

Author: Demuth, I. MacDonald
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: [n.p.]
Number of Pages: 1148