USA > Missouri > Johnson County > The history of Johnson County, Missouri : including a reliable history of the townships, cities, and towns, together with a map of the county; a condensed history of Missouri; the state constitution; an abstract of the most important laws etc > Part 14
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In the front of the picture, armed men, with sabres drawn and pistols leveled, are hurrying the terror-stricken families toward their sad march. In the endeavor to save a few of the necessaries of their journey and their long cherished household treasures, all is turmoil and confusion. Desper- ate robberies are being committed. Here, a father with infinite rage and nobleness, resents some heartless cruelty or wanton insult, and his sob- bing child is torn from his bosom, and death becomes his portion. Lovers are torn ruthlessly asunder. Maidens and mothers are hiding in tears from the gaze of the spoilers. There, a neglected child is trampled beneath the feet of horses. Here, rests the lifeless body of the brave. In the background, the prairies sweep away to the horizon. The sky is aflame with the reflected fires of burning dwelling and barn, and in the distance is seen the slow moving train of wagons bearing impoverished and dis- honored people away from home and happiness.
This, though not the desolation of an Acadia, fills the heart with hor- ror. The final verdict of history has not yet been written. Those who suffered and those who oppressed, still live. Few, and those only after the lapse of years, have attempted to defend the " order." The pic- ture still lives, and its truthfulness is undisputed. In the coming years, those who look upon it must pass the sentence, and those who feel its power to-day cannot fail to foreshadow what that will be.
Shelby's raid was made from the Indian territory through southwes- tern Missouri on to Boonville, where great plundering was committed. Thence, he retreated to Arrow Rock, where, on the 12th and 13th of October, Gen. E. B. Brown, with a force of militia, dispersed his com- mand, (about 2500 men,) killing, wounding and taking prisoner about 300.
The Missouri legislature held an adjourned session in November of this year, during which an election was held for United States senators to fill the unexpired terms occasioned by the expulsion of Trusten Polk and Waldo P. Johnson. For the term ending in 1867, B. Gratz Brown was chosen, and for that ending in 1869, John B. Henderson. James O. Broad- head received sixty-six votes for the short term and John S. Phelps forty- four for the long term.
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CHAPTER XIX.
The Years 1864 and 1865-Death of Gov. Gamble-General Election-The Order of Rose- crans-Revising Convention-The Drake Constitution-" Iron Clad" Oath-Effect of the Adoption of the Constitution-Price's Raid-Centralia Massacre-State Debt.
The events of 1864 and 1865 are so inseparably connected, and espe- cially is this true of civil proceedings, that we shall in this chapter bring our narrative down to the close of the war.
On the 31st of January, 1864, Gov. Gamble died, in the 67th year of his age. He was a man noted for his conservative views and his honest, unswerving pursuit of what he believed to be right. Lieut .- Gov. Hall succeeded to the office.
The legislature which was in session at the beginning of the year, passed a bill providing for the call of a convention to revise the organic law of the state. The delegates to this convention were to be elected at the ensuing November election or general election. At the same time the people were to vote on the proposition as to whether they desired a con- vention called or not. If the proposition carried, then the delegates were to assemble; otherwise they were not.
The action of the state convention in 1863, providing for a system of gradual emancipation (see previous chapter) was bitterly opposed by the radical or unconditional union party. The presidential election, therefore, of 1864, was bitter in the extreme, and the prospect of a revision of the law caused intense interest in the election of delegates to the convention to be created for that purpose. .
Gen. Rosecrans, who had been placed in charge of the department of Missouri, issued, a short time previous to the election, an order, from which we take the following pointed extracts, showing how the radical party gained power:
The laws of the state declare who may vote, and prescribe the times and places of voting; but, in the present disturbed condition of the country, the civil power is too weak effectually to enforce the execution of those laws, or adequately pun- ish offenders. Wherefore, in compliance with his duty as a citizen and depart- ment commander and with the wishes of all true citizens, and in aid of the law, the general commanding orders as follows:
Those, and only those, who have the qualifications, and who take the oath pre- scribed by the state, shall vote.
From the terms of the oath, it is manifest that it was the intention of the Mis- souri state convention that no person should vote who, since the 17th day of December, 1861, has wilfully taken up arms or levied war against the United States, or against the provisional government of the state of Missouri. This excludes from the right of voting all who, since that date, have been in the rebel army or navy anywhere, and all who, since that date, have been anywhere engaged in guerrilla marauding or bushwhacking. If, therefore, any such person offer to vote, his vote may be challenged, and he shall be immediately arrested.
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The laws of the state provide that those of its citizens who are in the army, shall not thereby lose the privilege of voting, provided the voting is done in the manner prescribed. The commanding general, therefore, directs that, on the day of election, every practicable facility be afforded for taking, in camp, or on the field, the vote of citizens of Missouri who may then be in any company of Mis- souri volunteers or militia, in the service of the United States or the state. *
The commanding general earnestly invokes the zealous and active aid of . all law abiding citizens, on the day of said election, in preserving the peace at the polls, and preventing illegal voting; and he hopes that every newspaper in this state will see proper to publish this order continuously in every issue until the day of the next election.
The consequence of such an order can readily be seen. There was almost universal victory for the radicals. The radical or unconditional union candidate, Thomas C. Fletcher, was elected over Thos. L. Price, by about 41,125 majority ; the majority in favor of holding a convention to revise the law, was 37,793; three-fourths of the members of said convention were radicals; the general assembly was largely radical, and in eighty counties the radicals completely won the day.
The convention thus elected assembled January 6, 1865, in the Mercantile Library Hall, St. Louis. Arnold Krekel, of St. Charles, was elected president, and Charles D. Drake, vice-president. The vital issue of the day was at once attacked, and on the 11th of the same month, the fol- lowing " ordinance of emancipation " was presented by a committee:
Be it ordained by the people of the state of Missouri in convention assembled, That hereafter in this state, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servi- tude, except in punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly con- victed; and all persons held to service or labor as slaves, are hereby declared free.
Various amendments were offered, which, however, after debate were rejected. The final vote of adoption stood, ayes 59; noes 4; absent 2. The official record shows that "the announcement of the vote was received with loud applause and the waving of handkerchiefs and swing- ing of hats."
As soon as the vote was announced, the following resolution was adopted:
Resolved, That a copy of the ordinance passed by this convention, freeing all persons in the state heretofore held as slaves, signed by the president aud attested by the secretary, as a true copy, be, and the same shall be placed in the hands of a special messenger to transmit to the governor of the state, at Jeffer- son City; and when received by him, he is requested to issue his proclamation, stating that by an irrevocable act of the convention, slavery is abolished in the state of Missouri, now and forever.
A motion was afterward made, but tabled, to pay loyal owners for their slaves. Another was also made to submit the action of the convention to the people; tabled by forty-four to nine. Perhaps the magnitude of this measure will be better realized when it is stated that the census of 1860, . showed 114,931 slaves in Missouri.
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On the 11th, as requested, Gov. Fletcher issued a proclamation declar- ing " that henceforth and forever, no person within the jurisdiction of the state shall be subject to any abridgement of liberty, except such as the law shall prescribe for the common good, or know any master but God."
But the work of the convention did not here cease. Armed with power, sweeping "reforms were instituted-and as a final result a new constitu- tión, known as the "Drake Constitution," (Drake being the leader in the house), was adopted and submitted to the people. Without attempting a discussion of the various articles of this code, it will be sufficient here to give the main sections as adopted.
The portions of the bill of rights occasioning debate were as follows:
That no person can, on account of color, be disqualified as a witness, or be dis- abled to contract, otherwise than as others are disabled, or be prevented from acquiring, holding, and transmitting property, or be liable to any other punish- ment for any offense than that imposed upon others for a like offense, or be restricted in the exercise of religious worship, or be hindered in acquiring educa- tion, or be subjected in law to any other restraints or disqualifications, in regard to any personal rights, than such as are laid upon others under like circum- stances. * *
That this state shall ever remain a member of the American union; that the people thereof are a part of the American nation, and that all attempts, from whatever source or upon whatever pretext, to dissolve said union or to sever said nation, ought to be resisted with the whole power of the state. That every citi- zen of this state owes paramount allegiance to the constitution and government of the United States, and that no law or ordinance of this state in contravention thereof can have any binding force. *
* *. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences; that no person can, on account of his religious opinion, be ren- dered ineligible to any office of trust or profit in this state, nor be disqualified from testifying. *
Only the wording and scope occasioned debate. There was, it is true, a small minority in the convention who questioned the "right" even of the body to frame such an instrument as a new constitution, when only called for the purpose of amending, and who desired the "apprenticing of all slaves emancipated between the ages of 12 and 21," and who desired to strike out the word "ever," in the section which we give next, and insert in its place, " since the 17th of December, 1861," but their conservatism was without effect. Section 3, article 2, regarding elective franchise, was as follows:
SECTION 3. At any election held by the people under this constitution, or in pursuance of any law of this state, or under any ordinance or by-law of any municipal corporation, no person shall be deemed a qualified voter who has ever been in armed hostility to the United States, or to the lawful authorities thereof, or to the government of this state; or has ever given aid, comfort, countenance or support to persons engaged in any such hostility; or has ever, in any manner, adhered to the enemies, foreign or domestic, of the United States, either by con- tributing to them, or by unlawfully sending within their lines, money, goods, letters or information; or has ever disloyally held communication with such
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enemies; or has ever advised or aided any person to enter the service of such enemies; or has ever, by act or word, manifested his adherence to the cause of such enemies, or his desire for their triumph over the arms of the United States, or his sympathy with those engaged in exciting or carrying on rebellion against the United States; or has ever, except under overpowering compulsion, sub- mitted to the authority, or been in the service of the so-called " Confederate States of America;" or has ever left this state, and gone within the lines of the armies of the so-called " Confederate States of America," with the purpose of adhering to said states or armies; or has ever been a member of, or connected with, any order, society or organization inimical to the government of the United States, or to the government of this state; or has ever been engaged in guerrilla warfare against loyal inhabitants of the United States, or in that description of marauding commonly known as " bushwhacking;" or has ever knowingly and willingly harbored, aided or countenanced any person so engaged; or has ever come into, or left this state for the purpose of avoiding enrollment for or draft into the military service of the United States; or has ever, with a view to avoid enrollment in the militia of this state, or to escape the performance of duty therein, or for any other purpose, enrolled himself, or authorized himself to be enrolled, by or before any officer, as disloyal, or as a southern sympathizer, or in any other terms indicating his disaffection to the government of the United States in its contest with rebellion, or his sympathy with those engaged in such rebellion; or, having ever voted at any election by the people in this state, or in any other of the United States, or in any of their territories, or under the United States, shall thereafter have sought or received, under claim of alienage, the protection of any foreign government, through any consul or other officer thereof, in order to secure exemption from military duty in the militia of this state, or in the army of the United States; nor shall any such person be capable of holding in this state, any office of honor, trust or profit uncer its authority; or being an officer, councilman, director, trustee or other manager of any corpora- tion, public or private, now existing, or hereafter established by its authority; or of acting as professor or teacher in any educational institution, or in any com- mon or other school; or of holding any real estate or other property in trust for the use of any church, religious society or congregation. But the foregoing pro- visions in relation to acts done against the United States, shall not apply to any person not a citizen thereof, who shall have committed such acts while in the service of some foreign country at war with the United States, and who has since such acts, been naturalized, or may hereafter be naturalized, under the laws of the United States; and the oath of'loyalty hereinafter prescribed, when taken by any such person, shall be considered as taken in such sense.
Succeeding sections went still farther, invading almost every business and profession with the necessity of subscribing, before continuing therein, to the oath of loyalty, which read thus:
I, A. B., do solemnly swear, that I am well acquainted with the terms of the third section of the second article of the constitution of the state of Missouri, adopted in the year 1865, and have carefully considered the same; that I have never, directly or indirectly, done any of the acts in said section specified; that I have always been truly and loyally on the side of the United States, against all enemies thereof, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States, and will support the constitution and laws thereof, as the supreme law of the land, any law or ordinance of any state to the contrary not- withstanding; that I will, to the best of my ability, protect and defend the union of the United States, and not allow the same to be broken up and dissolved, or the government thereof to be destroyed oroverthrown, under any circumstances,
1
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if in my power to prevent it; that I will support the constitution of the state of Missouri; and that I make this oath without mental reservation or evasion, and hold it to be binding on me.
It was provided that no voter should be qualified to vote for, or against, the constitution unless registered under the above oath. The most rigid lines were drawn around the manner of registration, and it was also ordained that " every person holding any office of honor, trust, or profit under the constitution or laws thereof, under any municipal corporation, or any of the other offices, positions or trusts mentioned in the third sec- tion of this article (Art. 2,) shall take and subscribe the said oath," under penalty of having his office declared vacant.
On April 8, the constitution was adopted as a whole, and on the 10th, the convention adjourned. On the final vote on the constitution, there were 38 ayes, 13 noes, 11 absent, 42 sick.
Time went on, and in the midst of bitterness and hatred, the constitu- tion came before the people. The total vote cast was 85,578, and the constitution was adopted by a majority of 1,862 votes. These figures are astounding, when it is remembered that in 1864 the vote for president in the state was 104,428. At this time the war was practically at an end, and the federal troops had largely withdrawn from the state, only a suffi- cient force remaining to guard the government property, and beat down the few marauding parties that still continued to commit depredations. The resolution of the convention, passed February 15, "that slavery should be abolished and disloyalty disfranchised," had been effected. The only power reserved was that the legislature might "initiate constitutional amendments" by a majority vote, these to be afterward ratified by the people.
The constitution went into effect, by proclamation of the governor, in July. Certain officers of public trust having been " deposed," the supreme court judges and the judges of other superior courts, and having refused to acknowledge the legality by which successors were appointed, military force was called into use to make them vacate. Exciting scenes occurred and soon throughout the state there was universal lack of harmony in the execution of the laws, and the utmost confusion in many of the walks of life, and especially among the professions. Thousands of people, and non- combatants too, were disfranchised. The most natural result that could come from such a state of affairs, would be the formation of a party decry- ing the constitution, and liberal and conservative in spirit. Such a result did come in the party desiring universal amnesty and enfranchisement.
Turning now to the military operations of 1864, we find no great move- ments commanding our attention. Late in January, Gen. Schofield was displaced in command by Gen. Rosecrans. The disaffected spirits who roamed the borders, still held a high carnival of plunder and death-the
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guerrilla warfare had not ceased. Who can explain it ? Allowing now, the destitution of every right, where is the principle that sanctions deeds of horror and blood that chill the heart ? The hot passion has died out, and in the clear, cold calm of to-day, there is no answer.
The most important event and that only which approaches a campaign, was Gen. Price's raid into the state in September and October. Entering southeastern Missouri from Arkansas, (after having joined Shelby) with about twenty thousand men, Gen. Price marched to Pilot Knob half way to St. Louis, without show of opposition.
The federal forces in the state at this time were scattered-guarding the more important cities of the state. The design of Price appearing to be to march on St. Louis, Gen Rosecrans had concentrated at this point, as rapidly as possible, the troops within the state, and had also received six thousand troops destined to have joined Sherman in Georgia. So swiftly, however, did Gen. Price move, that he found at Pilot Knob but a single brigade under Gen. H. S. Ewing, which, after a valiant defense, spiked its guns, blew up the magazine, and fled under cover of night. The retreating force, after a rapid march, was met at Harrison by Shelby. Holding their position for thirty hours and being then reinforced by cav- alry under Colonel Beveridge, Shelby withdrew, and the march continued to Rolla.
Gen. Price, after making a feint of attacking St. Louis, marching within forty miles of the city, then turned and appeared before Jefferson City October 7. Meantime reinforcements had poured into the latter place, and the citizens had been aroused. Finding it so well guarded, Price, though he had surrounded it in a semicircular line, with the wings touch- ing the Missouri river, and had planted batteries on the heights, deemed an attack inadvisable. He therefore " sent his trains westward and fol- lowed with his whole army," burning bridges behind him to impede his pursuers. On October 8, Shelby and John B. Clark, Jr., captured a fed- eral force at Glasgow. On the 20th of October, Gen. Price met Blunt's Kansas troops under Gen. Curtis, at Little Blue Creek, and after a sharp contest drove them back and pushed on to Independence; failing here to receive expected reinforcements, and pressed hard by Pleasonton, Price moved southward and soon crossed into Arkansas.
On Friday, September 23, 1864, a train of government wagons, loaded with subsistence stores, ammunition and private property, and guarded by an escort of Missouri state militia under Capt. McFadin, while passing from Sturgeon to Rocheport, in Boone county, was charged upon at nightfall, when only seven miles from the latter place, by the notorious Bill Anderson, a desperado of the most savage character, the escort put to flight, the train robbed and then fired, and eleven federal soldiers left dead upon the ground.
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The most shocking outrage of the year was committed at Centralia, Mo., on the 27th of the same month. The details of the affair are too sickening for perusal, and throughout the state mention of the "Centralia massacre" still causes, and indeed must ever cause, a thrill of horror. Suffice it to say here that Anderson, with some three or four hundred men, after committing various wanton acts of cruelty and robbery in the village, robbing the passengers of a stage coach and railroad train, shot down in cold blood twenty-three federal soldiers, and when charged a few miles from the place by Maj. Johnson with an inferior force, succeeded in slaughtering 140 of his men.
After committing many deeds of arson and murder, Anderson was killed on the 27th of October, 1864, in a fight near Albany, a village about ten miles from Richmond. His force at this time was about 300 men, and was completely routed.
Save this predatory warfare, the war in Missouri practically closed with Gen. Price's raid. In December Gen. Rosecrans was succeeded in com- mand of the department of Missouri by Gen. Grenville M. Dodge, of Iowa. After the adoption of the "Drake constitution " in July, 1865, there was only a war of opinions. Lee having on April 9th surrendered, troops were rapidly withdrawn from the state, and though the " constitution," as we have said, was the cause of untold rancor and bitterness, still over all floated once more the song of peace.
The student and reader observes in the history of the war many things wholly different in character from the events elsewhere transpiring in the country. He observes power abused on the one hand and the despera- tion of a cruel despair on the other. He sees a state divided, as the nation was divided, and neither northern nor southern. He beholds a war which for savagery was unapproached in other states. He witnesses the pro- mulgation of orders unlike those sent forth in any other quarter; and, lastly, at its close, he sees a radical, uncompromising element holding the reins of government, untouched by any feeling of consideration and con- servatism, and as relentless as fate.
· It would not be proper to close this account of 1865, without some show- ing of the financial condition of the state at that time. We take the fol- lowing resume from Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia for the year: " On November 1, the total receipts into the treasury for the fiscal year, ending September 30, 1865, were $2,463,909.03, and total expenditures $1,854,- 661.77; leaving a balance in the treasury of $609,247.26, of which balance $105,535.28 was in currency, and $503,711.98 in union military bonds, and other issues of the state. The total bonded debt of the state, exclusive of bonds loaned the several railroads, was $602,000, of which amount $402,- 000 matured in 1862 and 1863. For these matured bonds, in pursuance of an act of January 2, 1864, new bonds, having twenty years to run, to
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