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 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112
1
2
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MISSOURI.
and in the bitterest contests of war, the visor was never lifted save to let the soft summer breezes kiss the death damps from his brow. The fame of the proud Castilian had spread among the powers of Europe. The clank of his armorial steel had but lately been heard within the marble courts of Granada, and as the last sigh of the Moor lingered amid the music of Alhambra's fountains, across the waters of a vast, unknown ocean, a Te Deum was being chanted by the discoverers of a new world.
Immediately all eyes were turned, and Spain began the first act of the great drama of American colonization. The heart that never bent but to the yoke of love, was fired by the ambition of new conquests. But the battle for "virtue " was no longer the incentive of the soul. Affluence had blighted. In every mind was the colossal spectre of power, and in every breast the lustful greed for gold, and the flow of feeling was as rest- less as the changing currents of the restless main.
To influences such as these are due the early Spanish discoveries in America; and knight-errantry boldly crossed the mighty Mississippi and first set its foot within the borders of our own Missouri. The settlement would have been easy had they not driven the links of oppression deep into the quivering flesh of submission.
Among those who had won bright laurels at Granada was Juan Ponce de Leon. He had distinguished himself in every campaign-had seen Boabdil, the last of the turbaned kings, driven from the palaces of his fathers, and had ridden through the streets of the Moorish capital, while above flew the banners of Ferdinand and Isabella. Accompanying Colum- bus upon his second voyage, he saw new and matchless wonders, and the wild scenes and romantic stories intoxicated his soul with love of adventure.
He listened with beating heart to the Indian's marvelous tales of gold, and soon became a firm believer in the wierd tradition that in some favored isle of the Bahamas flowed a fountain of eternal youth. This was the prize most to be coveted! The fires of his vigorous manhood had begun to burn low, and the shadows of the long night crept close beside him.
Returning to Spain, with Columbus, he spent years in equipping an expedition of his own. Upon this he lavished his wealth, and on March 3, 1512, set sail with three ships in search of the fabled fountain. The waters of the briny deep were crossed with buoyant heart. The Bahamas were explored with but one mad desire. He drank of the waters of every spring, and bathed his weary form in the cooling liquid of every lake and river. But from no depth did he rise up renewed, and youth was still but a dream of the past. But the bimini of his dis- ordered fancy must live! So with his deluded followers he beat about to the westward, and the quest of youth eternal went on, while the heart quailed and the eye grew dim amid the countless dangers of the unknown.
ยท
3
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MISSOURI.
Suddenly, after days upon the sea, land was descried to the west. A long, low line of coast stretched sinuously beside them, while the inland was rich with tangled wildwood, and blushed with tropic flowers. The heart of the weary chief gave a quick bound of joy. This flowerland must contain the object of his ceaseless vigil. After coasting about for a time, he left a follower to continue the search, and returned to Spain to receive a commission to colonize the newly discovered island, which he had named Florida. On the following year he was repulsed by the Indians, and again returned to Spain.
Having been appointed governor of Florida, after long waiting, he set sail in 1521, in a last attempt to colonize his territory, and to slake his thirst at the waters of the fabled fountain. But alas, they had no sooner landed, than the hostile savages engaged them in a conflict in which the brave Ponce de Leon was mortally wounded, and was carried to his ship to die.
Such is the romantic story ! Such the reckless wanderings and strange vicissitudes of the gallant cavalier of the cross-Juan Ponce de Leon. The only result of all his labors was the accidental finding of the main land, for the famous fountain still flowed only in the sunlit isle of some dreamer's heaven.
Hernando De Soto, born in 1500, early distinguished himself in literary studies, and in the accomplishments of knighthood. He was a true fol- lower of the Legion of Honor, and the motive of all his early exploits was to win new renown for his order, and gain new lands upon which he might elevate the cross and float the royal ensign of his country. He was of a poor but noble and ancient family.
In 1519, he accompanied Davila, governor of Darien, to America. Here he opposed the oppressive policy of this man, and though he was his benefactor, withdrew from his service. In 1528, he explored the coast of Guatemala and Yucatan. During this voyage his heart was first tainted with the lust for treasure, and his ear first startled by the whisperings of an El Dorado away to the northwest, where untold riches lay "thick as leaves in Vallambrosa. "
In 1532 De Soto joined Pizarro in his expedition to conquer Peru. He soon won for himself the second place in command. To his undaunted courage and untiring energy, together with his ambition and his intellect, is due in a large measure the success of the enterprise. With but a few followers he penetrated the mountains and discovered the great national road leading to the Peruvian capital. He was sent by Pizarro as ambas- sador to the inca Ata Luallpa and arranged the meeting at which the fam- ous monarch was taken prisoner by the ruthless Spaniard, and bitterly did he oppose the conduct which received the mighty ransom and failed to set the kingly captive free. In all the prominent engagements he won ripe fame,
4
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MISSOURI.
and after becoming the hero of the battle which gave Cuzco to the enemy and completed the downfall of Aztec civilization, he rode proudly through its streets and first beheld the famous temples to the sun, resplendent with gold and gems, the accumulated wealth of centuries and the labor of count- less hands.
Reaching Spain with a fortune of $500,000 he married the daughter of Davila, his first love, and was flattered at the courts of the Emperor Charles V. But the mad passion for wealth had consumed his soul and he soon undertook the conquest of Florida.
This fleet was the most splendid that had ever yet crossed the Atlantic. It carried the flower of Spanish chivalry and was full of promise. Scarf and plume of the richest dye, helmet and shield glittering with deep trac- ings of gold, lance and spear of finest temper, caparisoned steeds, banner and pennon and flag floating the arms of the crown, and the characters of the cross, filled the heart of De Soto with pride, and his glamoured vision saw the new El Dorado yielding its vast riches as by the wand of en- chantment. Alas, how futile are human expectations!
Touching at Havana, and leaving there the ladies who had accompa- nied him, De Soto proceeded to the northwest and anchored in Tampa bay, May 25, 1539. Landing, he at once sustained reverses from the hostile Indians. Ever and anon he could hear of the rich country to the north- west that fired his cupidity and made him resolve upon new enterprises and fresh explorations. He was constantly deluded by the Indians, whose policy it was to lead him in wrong directions, and thus by hidden ambush and sudden charge, overwhelm and defeat him.
Determining upon a long march into the interior, the intrepid warrior sent back all the ships to Havana, and with a small band of devoted fol- lowers marched fearlessly into the interminable swamps and forests that closed around.
Thus began a series of weary wanderings through tangled undergrowth and wild morass, where death and disease stalked before and behind. But the star of hope never set. The first winter was passed by the Flint river. Directed then to the northwest, and again to the south, the region of Mobile was reached where, in a sanguinary battle, the Spaniards lost sixty men and forty horses. The news now came ,of fresh supplies from the return- ing ships, but unconquerable pride allowed no tidings of the sad fortunes. to reach them. The second winter was passed in the country of the Chick- asaws. In the spring the savages burned their camp and again the num- ber was diminished, this time by the flames; and ere the march again began the malaria had stricken down half the remainder. But still the Elysian land lay just beyond, and with fresh tidings from the northwest, the weary journey commenced.
It was the last sad act of the tragedy. Everywhere about them, in
5
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MISSOURI.
darksome forests and dense undergrowth, in swamp and river and lake, in the dank grasses, and among the poisoned flowers, lurked the terrible fevers. Sometimes the woods would bristle with the dusky forms of their foes, and often at night when seated about the camp-fire an arrow whist- ling from the darkness would lay a comrade low in death. The men were sick and faint. Seven days had they marched through increasing dangers trusting in the to-morrow, when at last they found themselves upon the banks of a mighty stream which the Indians called Monarch of Waters.
Thus was the Mississippi discovered.
Crossing the river, De Soto and his warriors followed its western bank to the northward, reaching a region now known as New Madrid, in the month of June 1541.
And thus was the first foot-print planted in Missouri.
Another winter full of hardships was passed, and still the vague wan- derings and the vain search. The hot springs of Arkansas were mistaken for the fountain so long sought by the deluded De Leon. But nowhere gold ! Wearily they turned toward the flowing river they had left behind. Few, very few, were they in numbers. Hungered and destitute, they gave little token of the flaunting colors and gay trappings with which they set out. And as they sank down upon the banks of the vast stream they had found, the broken-hearted De Soto lay sick with the deadly fever. He who had squandered half a million that he might be richer, wanted now the comforts of life. And the valiant cavalier of the Emperor Charles died in the heart of the boundless wilderness his match- less courage had pierced. The Indians believed him to be a son of the sun. To conceal his death, his soldiers buried him at midnight by the torches burning dim and low, beneath the dark breast of the waters flow- ing swift and silent to the sea.
For one hundred and thirty years the river rolls ever to the gulf. For more than a century and a quarter the seasons come and go, and the story of the fierce invader lives only in tradition. The Indian mother croons softly to her child, the hunter roams at will, flowers bloom and fevers waste, but no European's voice breaks the silence of the wilderness, in the vast valley whose center is Missouri. .
6
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MISSOURI.
CHAPTER II.
Colonizing powers in America-Marquette-His Mission-Joliet-Expedition to ascertain the direction of the Mississippi-Discovery of the Missouri river.
By the year 1673, Spain, France and England had established sturdy colonies on American soil. Spain came for riches, France to win converts to the company of Jesus, England to worship under a free sky. Spain had Florida and the Indies; France, Canada; and England the Plymouth colo- nies. All were battling for existence and striving to push their settle- ments into the interior. Neither the sands of Florida, nor the rocks of New England, nor the arid wastes of Labrador offered the most inviting prospects, but necessity had made them hold fast to their original foot- holds. The three powers labored for the supremacy.
Spain was the oldest and knew the art of colonizing by hard experience. England succeeded by the power of indomitable will. France moved on without check by her power of assimilating the savage to her own belief, and the erection of mission posts.
Canada included settlements upon all the great lakes and the river St. Lawrence, as well as along the coast.
In 1666, at the age of twenty-nine years, James Marquette, a missionary, sailed for the French province in America. He was a holy man, working under the light of universal. love for the enlightenment of the darkened. He found a boundless field spread out before him. Great conquests at hand for the glory of the company of Christ.
He began his work by learning the languages of the Indian tribes around the great lakes, that his teaching might be effectual. His heart was filled with the scheme of redemption for these benighted races. An immense unfathomed country everywhere touched their borders. Ever and anon, a legend came up from the south of the broad valleys and quiet streams. It seemed the land for plenty and peace, where the banner of the cross might float forever. From station to station we find him moving toward the interior, and as he taught the listening savages of the glories of the church, in his mind the purpose was forming of an attempt to rend the veil of the unknown in front of them, and in the limitless province of the new France, build high the mighty love of his Savior.
In 1671 we find him erecting a chapel at the mission of St. Ignatius, at Mackinaw. His youth had been passed in the beautiful cathedral city of Laon, and here in the infinity of the Occident he clung close to the faith of his fathers. Sacred devotion! The life of Marquette flowed on in an endless song of labor! Writing to the superior of the Jesuits in Canada, of his new field at St. Ignatius, he said: "I am ready to leave it
7
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MISSOURI.
in the hands of another missionary, to go on your order to seek new nations toward the South Sea, who are still unknown to us, and to teach them of our great God, whom they have hitherto not known."
But where was the mysterious river of the north, of which the savages spoke in awe and terror? Was it not the upper Mississippi, that flowed through the Happy Valley, in which he wished to plant the church of the Most High? But the man of God could only wait and trust that some unforeseen way would open.
The government of Canada now saw the utility of sending out an exploring party. Sieur Joliet, a man of great prudence and much experi- ence among the Indians, was chosen to command, and commissioned to ascertain the direction of the Mississippi. Father Marquette was appointed to accompany him as missionary. Father Marquette proved the soul of the work.
On the 17th of May, 1673, the two men with five boatmen, set out on their perilous voyage. Following the chain of the great lakes, and carry- ing their canoes across the portage, they at last launched them on the Wisconsin. Borne down by its current they floated into the broad Mis- sissippi on the 17th of June. Unutterable gladness filled the soul of the reverent Marquette, but he gave vent to his emotions only in prayer and thanksgiving. It is said he called it the river of the Conception.
But here the Indians dissuaded them from continuing their journey. They told them the myths concerning the noble stream-of the hostile tribes to the southward, of the huge monsters that infested the swamps-of the hideous gorgon at its mouth that swallowed all that approached. The brave hearts were not shaken by these incredible tales. Above them was the cross, and away to the south lay the calm waters of an unknown sea, whose coasts were skirted by the luxuriant lands of the tropic. The com- fort of the ensuing glory nerved them as they trusted their frail barks to the force of the current.
Descending, they reached the mouth of the Illinois, and lower down the mouth of the Missouri, which Marquette named in Indian language Peki- tononi, meaning Muddy Waters.
The stillness was again broken! The territory of our State was again visited and the great highway which was to give it shape and being had a name.
Marquette and Joliet went as far down as the mouth of the Arkansas, when, being convinced that they were only about three days journey from the sea, they retraced their steps, ascended the Illinois, and in September of the same year reached home, having traversed a distance of twenty-five hundred miles.
Marquette soon after returned to the region of the Illinois, to preach to
8
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MISSOURI.
the heathen, when he sickened, and, on attempting to go home, died. Of his grave there is now no trace.
The warp and woof of history is woven of slender threads. Over its march the lives of men are strewn, fluttering and faint as autumn leaves, and where once the soul wrapped about it the mantle of immortal glory-across the desolate pathway of time, now fall but shadows futile, and dim as twilight after day.
CHAPTER III.
Expedition of La Salle-Louisiana-Cruzat-Company of the West-Changes in Govern- ment-Ste. Genevieve-St. Louis.
As yet we have only isolated facts pointing unerringly to the final settle- ment of Missouri. Still they are worthy of our notice.
Another great exploration belonging to this epoch of discovery remains to be delineated. Then we shall be able to trace rapidly and in a general manner the progress of settlement to the time when St. Louis from its commercial importance becomes the chief center of historic interest.
Robert La Salle was born in Rouen, in France, in the year 1635. Early in life he renounced his inheritance and entered a school of the Jesuits. In 1667 he embarked for Canada, with the purpose of acquiring fortune by traffic in furs with the Indians, and fame by the new territories he might make known in the infinite lands of the west.
His energy, his firmness, and his intelligence, early acquired, of Indian languages, stamped his every effort a success. He soon became wealthy, and returning to France was granted a title of nobility and given the exclusive right of all trade with the five nations, and the ownership of a large tract of land about Fort Frontenac. Thus complimented he returned to America to resume his labors.
At this time the news of the wonderful exploit of Marquette and Joliet reached his ears. Immediately he formed the resolution of completing the voyage of the Mississippi to its mouth, and also of establishing settlements and trading posts in the southwest. He lost no time in communicating his project to the governor of Canada, and was advised by him to make known his plans to the crown, and ask assistance. For this purpose he again sought France; was successful, and in 1678 left La Rochelle, France, with Tonti, a veteran commander, as lieutenant, and thirty men, and arrived at Quebec safely in September.
Here he was joined by Louis Hennepin, a man desirous of distinguish- ing himself by bold discovery, but who eventually proved to be a graceless imposter. Great preparations were made; a bark of sixty tons was launched on the Niagara river, and by a circuitous route of the lakes reached Green Bay. Finally the party reached the banks of the Illinois,
9
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MISSOURI.
when news came to La Salle that his estates had been sold in his absence, and financial ruin was imminent. Amid these forebodings of trouble a fort was erected, the site of which is known to-day, called Creve Couer, the Broken Heart. Tonti was placed in command of this. Hennepin was commissioned to ascend the Mississippi, and La Salle, with three fol- lowers, returned on foot to Fort Frontenac.
A year was spent in readjusting his affairs and collecting a force with which to complete his labor. But by February 6, 1682, he had descended the Illinois to its junction with the Mississippi, and begun the descent of the latter. His voyage downward has been thus described: "As he advanced, he noted the mouth of the Missouri, built a fort near that of the Ohio, and a cabin on the first Chickasaw bluff, raised the cross by the Arkansas, planted the arms of France near the gulf of Mexico, took possession in the name of France of the whole valley, and, on April 9, entered the Gulf of Mexico, founded the fort of St. Louis, and gave to the adjacent lands the name of Louisiana."
This is the first authentic notice of the Missouri river, though Mar- quette had proceeded far below it, and the first complete passage from the lakes to the gulf.
La Salle returned to France. In August, 1684, set sail for the mouth of the Mississippi with a commission to colonize, went beyond the mouth and landed in Texas, became harassed and bewildered, and while attempting to gain the region of the Illinois, was shot by the treachery of one of his own men.
Formal possession had been taken of a vast tract yet undefined, but occupying both sides of the mighty river. In this territory was to arise a dispute between the English and French powers as to boundaries. The French were to be the first colonizers because of their power of assimi- lating with the Indians.
In 1699 D'Iberville founded the first colony, near the mouth of the Mis- sissippi, and gradually the French pushed their trading posts up the banks of the great river. The rich gold-fields were yet untouched, and many were the futile efforts to find them. This feverish search did much toward opening up the country.
In the year 1705 the French are said to have organized an expedition to explore the Missouri in quest of gold and silver. No valuable minerals were found, and history merely alludes to the projection of the plan.
. France now became harassed by wars. Attention was drawn from the budding colonies in the new world. Men and money were thrown into the breach that had been created at home. But it was thought that the province in the west would eventually prove the bonanza of the king- dom. Neglect must not lose them the prize. It must be secured in case of the defeat of the mother country.
10
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MISSOURI.
In order to fortify himself, Louis XIV conveyed the territory of Louis- iana, in 1712, by letters patent to Anthony Cruzat. The conditions were' that all the profits of all commerce were to be Cruzat's; that the laws and customs of France were to be the laws and usages of the province. The country included under the grant of the charter embraced that on both sides of the river now designated as Louisiana, Mississippi, Ten- nessee, Arkansas and Missouri, with much wider boundaries than at pres- ent. Cruzat now sent out as governor, M. de la Motte.
In spirit he was a true follower of Ponce de Leon and De Soto. He believed that the bosom of the earth but hid one vast mass of precious mineral, and that somewhere in his province lay the approach. His dreams of wealth were more faubulous than eastern tale or myth of the gods. Legitimate commerce was neglected in mad projects of prospect- ing and mining, and in a few years this would-be Croesus had involved Cruzat in financial ruin. M. de la Motte was deposed and successive gov- ernors appointed with no change for the better, and in 1717, Cruzat returned the grant to the crown.
The charter was then transferred to the Company of the West, at the head of which was the famous John Law, the master spirit of all money conjurers, who organized under this Company of the West one of the most gigantic money swindles which the world has ever seen, known in history as the " Mississippi Bubble." A bank was organized under the existent laws, whose vast capital stock lay in the lands of Louisiana. In this stock the financial world saw an immense speculation. Should the expectations of the province of gold be realized, untold dividends would be declared. The poor and the rich alike were caught by the glare, and it is stated that the stock rose to twenty times its value. When the " bubble " bursted there were no dividends-and the lands they had never seen. Wm. F. Switz- ler, in his History of Missouri, quotes this paragraph from Amos Stod- dard, as illustrative of the magnitude of the scheme:
" The Mississippi scheme was no less bold in its conception than disastrous in its consequences. It seized within its grasp, the bank, the mint, all the trading companies, and all the revenues of the kingdom. The object was to employ this vast capital in opening the rich mines of Louisiana, and in cultivating its fertile soil, in carrying on the whole commerce of the nation, and in managing its revenues. The company created three hundred thousand shares at five hundred livres each, all of which were sold in market, and before the completion of the sales they rose to an enormous height. The amount of stock thus created, without taking the rise into calculation, amounted to sixteen hundred and seventy-seven mill- ions, five hundred thousand livres, or three hundred and ten millions, six hundred and forty-eight thousand, one hundred and forty-eight dollars!"
The loss of wealth thus entailed (and it was upon all classes) is almost beyond conception, though in the matter of colonization, the wild extrav- aganza gave great impetus.
The banks of the Mississippi began to bristle with life. Small parties
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.