F 474 MS3 US Copy 1 2^< 1812 -1912 WESTPORT 1812—1912. Commemorating the Centennial of the Santa Fe Trail. Westport's History from its beginning as a frontier post until its annexation to Kansas City. Westport's many springs and pasture lands made it the ideal outfit- ting point for the over- land traffic. The profits from the sale of this booklet will be devoted to the Pioneer Monument Fund. The Monument will be erected on the Santa Fe Trail at the site of the City Hall of Westport. o- PRESS OF FRANKLIN HUDSON PUBLISHING COMPANY. KANSAS CITY, MO. ^Wt'^Wf^ Manuscript Submitted to the Editorial Committee; Prof. William T. Longshore, Rev. Father James T. Walsh. Rev. George P. Baity, Prof. Stephen A Underwood, Col. William McKendery Johnson, Copyriglated 1912, By Franklin Hudson Publishing Co. Kansas City, Mo. ^V' £CI.A319636 1 / . . The Wcstpork Improvement Association, Incd., Ltd. IN CHARGE OF SANTA FE TRAIL AND BATTLE OF WBSTPORT REUNION AND CARNIVAL. Mill Cklek Parkway, South of Westport Avenue, August 31st to September Sth, inclusive, 191?. Given under the auspices of the Westport Improvement Associa- tion, The Kansas City Historical Society, The Daughters of the American Revolution, The Daughters of the Confederacy, The National Old Trails Road Association. For the benefit of the Pio- neer Monument Fund on Santa Fe Trail at the Site of City Hall in Westnort. Claude Manlove, Charles Kenison, James E. Trogdon, John Tobin; Advisory Board. E. W. Lawson, T. P. Mavs, W. H. Wolpers, M. J. Bender, W. F. Lacaff, Albert N. Doerschuk, John Halcro, John F. Wiedenmann. Executive Committee. John Tobin, | E. W. Lawson, James E. Trogdon, M. J. Beuder, Albert N. Doerschuk, Sec'y. W. F. Lacaff, Finance Committee. Charles Kenison, John F. Wiedenmann. Director of Publicity. Albert N. Doerschuk. T. P. Mays, General Manager. James E. Trogdon, Attorney. Hon. R. J. Ingraham, Ex-Mayor of Westport, Counsel. E. C. Faris, .4 rchitect. Directors of Ceremony Santa Fe Trail licunion. Miss Elizabeth Gentry, Samuel P. Chiles, Col. William M. Johnson, L. A. Allen, William Z. Hickman, Napoleon Boone. Directors of Ceremony Battle of Westport Jieuaion. Mrs. Eoma J. Wornall, Major H. J. Vivian, Col. John F. Kichards, Virgil Dresser, Col. P. I. Bonebrake, Gen. Milton ]\Ioore. Entertainment CommittilEs. ^Vestport Improvement Association. John T. Davis, J. H. West, J. W. Hunt, P. S. Pollard, Fred A. Pope, J. W. Berry, Joseph Esterley, Doctor G. H. Donaldson, W. F. Mayberry, John E. ]\Iinturn, W. W. Richardson. Tlie National United States Daughters of 1812, James Kearney Chapter. Mrs. Allen L. Porter, Mrs. Eylaud Todlmnter, Mrs. A. S. Bnckhanan, Miss Margery Betts, Mrs. Ernest Estes, » Mrs. Florence Dove, Mrs. Thomas B. Tomb, Mrs. H. W. Crane, Miss Edith Wornall, Mrs. S. H. Anderson, Mrs. Hunter Meriwether. Lincoln Circle^ No. 19, Daughters of the G. A. E. Mrs. Augusta Perkins, Mrs. Harriet Howe, Mrs. Helen Skelly, Mrs. Mary Trumble, Mrs. Olive Stone, Mrs. H. Morris, Miss Anna Burns, Mrs. Mary E. Dew, Mrs. W. H. Brundridge, Mrs. Sarah Morris. Descendants of Old Settlers of Westport. Mrs. Julia Mastin, Mrs, Lizzie Schoepf ^lynalt. Mrs. A. Waskey Goslyn, Mrs. Virginia Havs Asburv, Mrs. Mollie Dixon Tobin, Mrs. Allen B. H.'McGee, " Mrs. Wm. S. Cowherd, Mrs. Thos. P. Allen Morris. Mrs. Eosa Becker Hahn, IMrs. Katie Stegmiller Gregg, Mrs. Ida Wright Boone, Mrs. Mollie Waldo Smith, Mrs, Joseph Sautter, Mrs. Louisa Esslinger Michael. Mrs, A. Krueger, ^Irs. Lizzie Emmons ]\IcConnell, Miss Sarah Heyl, 'Sirs. Herman Hedding Wiedenmann. 6 iJescrttdanis uf l:>oldiers of tlie Mexican War. Mrs. W. K. Bradbury, Mrs. Oscar H. Davis, Mrs. James Lobb, Mrs. W. A. Kule, Miss Beriiice Peacock, Claude Boland, Mable Hunter Quarles, Mrs. M. H. Danieron, Dr. W. L. Campbell, Hon Koland Hughes. Daughters of ike American Revolution. Mrs. Edward Greorge, Mrs. W. J. Anderson, Mrs. Milton Welsh, ^Irs. Thomas Hedriek, Mrs. W. B. La Force, Mrs. F. L. La Force, Mrs. :\lark Salisbury, Mrs. E. C. Ellis, Mrs. Koland Proctor, Mrs. K. B. Fullerton, .\Lrs. Eoland Winch. National Old Trails Road Association. Hon. J. M. Lowe, Mrs. T. S. Pidge, Frank A. Davis, Mrs. J. H. Austin, Mrs. John Van Brunt, Mrs. Selden Pobertson, ^Irs. F. D. Crabbs, Mrs. Irvin Flournoy, ]\Irs. W. T. Kemper, Miss Elizabeth Gentry. Daugliicrs of the Confederacy. Mrs. Herbert A. Longan, Mrs. Thomas Wood Parry, ^Irs. Hugh Miller, Mrs. R. K. Johnson, Mrs. Blake L. Woodson, Mrs. L. G. Buford, Mrs. W. S. Clagett, Mrs. W. Hays Pfahler, Mrs. S. E. Wornall, Miss Lucie Meriwether. Kansas City Historical Society. Henry C. Flower, Mrs. J. F. Binnie, Mrs. W. B. Thayer, J. M. Greenwood, Mrs. I. M. Eidge, Mrs. Frank ILagerman, Mrs. Hal Gaylord, Judge Henrv C. McDougal, A. M. Allen, Dr. W. L. Campbell, Mrs. Langston Bacon, Dr. Geo. W. Davis, W. J. Anderson, Hon. E. L. Scarritt. Committee on Reproduction of Battle of Westport. Col. George P. Gross, Chairman. Hon. William P. Borland, Judge John C. Gage, Col. John F. Philips, Mrs. Julia Simpson, Mrs. Homer Peed, Col. John C. Moore. Loyal Legion. Col. C. F. jVlorse, Dr. E. W. ScliaulHer, Col. John F. Philips. Capt. M. B. Wright, Dr. David R. Porter, Col. John Conover, Hon. Chas. W. Clark, Francis D. Askew, Esq. Major. Wm. Warner. Geo. H. Devol, Esq. Missouri Society Sons of the Revolution. Charles Ozarah Pugsley, Alfred Darah Rider, Jay M. Lee, Arthur C. Cowan, Harry Thomas Abernathy Edwin M. Clendening, Frank Edwin Holland, William R. Jacques, Charles Davis Parker, Harry Perrv Wright. THE SEAL OF WESTPORT. Taken from an authentic map of early Westport. MUNUMEiNT-BUiLDliNG AND MAHKING THE TRAIL. Over the entrance of the Old Santa F6 Trail road into the uld city of Santa Fe the citizens of Santa Fe have erected a beautiful arch, and the markers from Old Franklin to older Santa Fe have been provided by the legislative appropriations of the respective States through which the trail passes in Missouri, Kansas, I'olorado and New Mexico. In 1911 the old settlers and citizens of the city of Den- ver, Colorado, in grand reunion assembled, unveiled the '"Kit" Carson Monument in the civic center of Denver. It is a wonder- ful piece of the sculptor's art. The old scout on a running horse crowns the monument. The hunter, trapper, and miner form a very pretentious pedestal for him, but they too rest upon a magnificent pedestal of Colorado marble, rising tier on tier to a commanding height. ''Meet me on the trail" is the slogan of the Westerner as they meet in old settlers' reunion now to mark with suitable emblems in stone and bronze the important points along the wav. There was something in the well-equipped wagon train that re- minds us of the Anglo-Saxon slogan, "As we journey through life let us live by the way." The marker at Westport, Missouri, as designed by the West- port Improvement Association, is to be one of the most appropri- ate and befitting monuments erected along the Trail. It expresses the fact that Westport was the chief outfitting point for the caravan wagon trade. This Santa Fe Trail and Battle of West- port Eeunion and Carnival is held foi the sole purpose of start- ing a Pioneer Monument Fund to secure the Westport marker, which is to be five yoke of oxen, life size in stone, a full-sized prairie schooner with wagon-master and bull-whackers and the faithful dog in the rear. This souvenir booklet is sold for the benefit of that fund. The Westport Improvement Association is a volunteer or- ganization of enterprising business men of the Westport district of Kansas City, Missouri. They are the trustees of this Pioneer Monument Fund. The AVestport Avenue Bank is the custodian of the ]\Ionument Fund. This is a movement in which every loyal Missourian should join with love and harmony. THE OLD SAXTA FE TRAIL. Paeticularly Its Developaiext by the Sons OF Missouri. A hundred years is the brief day of man. Tfiis article only briefly leads u]) to the day of the Missouri pioneers — through the history of the centuries when this trail belonged lirst to the Amer- ican Indians, then the Spanish by exploration, followed by the French in actual possession until early in the lirst years of the nineteenth century. But it is chiefly devoted to the span of the last one hundred years, in which time our Missouri history has been so closely identified with the commerce of the prairies. In 1812, just one century ago, the first pack-mule train started from Old Franklin, Missouri, to the much older city of Santa Fe. The Westport Santa Fe Trail Eeunion is a centennial reunion for the lovers and descendants of the trails- men. We attempt to span 1812 to 1912 with authentic data. Santa Fe is claimed to be the oldest town in the United States. When the Spanish entered New Mexico, about the year 1542, they found a vefy large Pueblo town on the present site of Santa Fe and learned that its prior existence extended far back into the vanished centuries according to the history of New ^Mexico published by the Church in 1600. Bancroft stales that by proclamation of the King of Spain, it took the name of ''Villa of Santa Fe" and was first officially mentioned on the ;^d of J.on- uary, 1G17. Others record that the first immigration to New ]\Iexico was under Don Juan de Orante about 1597 and the vear after Santa Fe was settled. That it is very much older than any of the cities on the plains is unquestioned. To date, the origin of the Santa Fe Trail would be giving history to whom honor- which our ancestors had to do began in the early part of the nineteenth century, when the United States made the Louisiana Purchase. Marquette explored all this land for the French in 1673 and Lonis XTV. took possession in 1682. It afterwards belonged again to Spain, but by the terms of the definite treaty of San lidefonso, October 1, 1800, Napoleon, First Consul of France, received what is known in history as the Louisiana Territory. Pobert. E. Livingston, on the part of the United States of America, and Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Eepublic 10 of France, in 1803 entered into a treaty by means of whith the United States came into possession of this territory. "Sturdy are the Saxon faces As they move along the line.'"' First as trappers, then as traders, came the western jiio- neers. Early in the nineteenth century a more or less demand caused the trading-post to take on the military aspect of an out- post fort. The American Hag always protects the demand of commerce — ^so the Government in 180-i built United States forts for the protection against Indian attacks on the trading-posis. The Lewis and Clark fort-guilding expedition started from St. Louis and gave Fort Clark to the vicinity; of Westport. The first decade in the history of the commercial development at the mouth of the Kaw has almost eluded us, but a hundred years ago we know that not only a; fort, Imt a little outpost port was in operation here in what is now being remembered as Westport Landing, but was then called the "Town of Kansas," having been so named by the French. Missouri has been particularly identified with the Old Santa Fe Trail since 1812. The wonderful adventures of William Becknell's pack-mule train that started over the plains en route for Santa Fe that year mark the beginning of the century that we are now celebrating. Beeknell disposed of his goods at such an advantage that he made several subsequent tours. The "Franklin Company"' was soon not alone in this adventure. Many merchants from Illinois and St. Louis sent their wares up the Missouri in crude boats and senti them by pack to Santa Fe. One half-decade of very brisk business followed in which the Mexicans came our wav with their packs quite often, but usu- ally carried their wares down the river in canoes to the larger market afforded them at St. Louis. They always left their mules here until they returned with their loads from the East. Missouri has a verv great claim to the literature and history of the Old Santa Fe Trail. With the commerce of the prairies her freighters began to flourish, and they held supreme trans- portation dominion during the gold fever of 1849. In 1813 the name of the Louisiana Territorv was changed to the Missouri Territory. During the next half-decade com- merce sprang up like magic. The power political wa« vested in a territorial government. Volumne I. of the Territorial Laws of Missouri contained all gen- eral laws that governed the frontiersman. 11 "in IBlxJ L'apt. Wm. Beckneilj who had been ou a trading expedition witli the Comanche Indians in the summer of 1811, organized a pack-mule train to start from Old Franklin, Mis- souri, en route for Santa F6. The incidents of this trip were notable because, when the party arrived at 'The Caches' on the upper Arkansas, Becknell, who was in reality a man of the then 'frontier,' bold, plucky, and endoM^ed with excellent sense, con- ceived the idea of striking directly across the country for Santa Fe through a region absolutely unexplored, with nothing but the N^orth Star and an unreliable pocket compass to guide him. There was a total absence of water and their sufferings were most horrible. They would have perished had not a super- annuated buffalo, that had Just come from the Cimarron River, appeared in sight. He was quickly killed and the water from his stomach consumed by the men. They followed the trail of the animal back to the river, but after filling their canteens and re- freshing their animals, they decided to go back to the Arkansas and take the highway and the safe way along the water-sheds." — Inman's "Old Santo Fr Trail." "As early as 1815, August P. Chouteau and his partner, with a large number of trappers and hunters, went out to the valley of the upper Arkansas for the purpose of trading with the Indians. The island on which Chouteau established his trading- post, and which bears his name even to this day, ic in the Arkan- sas River, on the bouhdary line of the United States and Mex- ico. While occupying the island, Chouteau and his old hunters and trappers were attacked by three hundred Indians, whom they repulsed with the loss of thirty killed and wounded. Thes? Indians afterwards declared that it was the most fatal affair in which they were ever engaged. It was their first acquaintance with American guns." In 1821 Missouri became a State in the Union. The next year after Missouri became a State "The Sons ofi Franklin," masters of the vehicle idea, routed the first wagon train over the Santa Fe Trail. They blazed the way for the four-wheeled wagon to old Santa Fe — and most wonderful were their experi- ences on the trip. William Becknell in 1821 was again notably connected with the enterprise, when wheeled vehicles were introduced in the in- terests of commerce. Col. IMarmaduke, of Missouri, later of Confederate fame, was of the party. This caravan train carried merchandise. Prior to this Indians had been in the main friend- ly to thei trailsmen, who usually traveled alone and sought to be friendly with them. There were notable exceptions of course. Captain Becknell is regarded as "the Father of the Santa F6 12 Trail." Franklin, Missouri, is called "the Cradle of the Trail." ComjTierical Westport, where we meet in tliis reunion, was, after 1833, tlie outfitting - point for the frontiersmen. Old Franklin is 187 miles east below the mouth of the Kaw on the Missouri River, opposite the present site of Boonville, Missouri. Nothing remains to mark the old town site now, it having been washed into the river in 1828. The old Harris House hotel r.t Westporf was a famous point on the Santa Ye Trail ; it is a part of all the pioneer his- tory that has been; it figured in the romance of Mamie Bernard and her Spanish husband, Epifano Aguirre. As Mamie could not speak Spanish and Aguirre could not speak English, they invited an interpreter to go on their wedding journey to Mexico. ]\[rs. Jessie Benton Fremont lived for months at a time at the Harris FTouse in Westport, where her distinguished hus- band had domiciled her at the nearest possible point to him while he was exploring the western half of the continent. Gen- eral John C. Fremont was a frequent visitor at W'estport between exploring trips for the Government. The old Harris House hotel i*^ a monument to the early West and to all that it sheltered, '^s Benton, Fremont, Boone. Hays, pioneer on the Oregon Trail. Doniphan, Kearney, Car- son, Bent, Bridger. and Aubrev : to Washington Irving. English lords, Spanish grandees, and l\Iexican and Civil War heroes made their headquartersi here. It should stand always as a historical apset. not alone to Westport, but to Missouri and the entire West. It is already the most speaking living monument on the Santa Fe Trail, and will in another hundred years be to Kansas City and the entire West what Old South Church is now to Boston. From a letter by Wm. Becknell to the editor at Sibley, l\Tis- sonri, September 1, 1821 : "Our company crossed the Missouri River near Arrow Rock Ferry and encamped about six miles west. WHien we arrived at Fort Osage we wrote some letters, purchased some medicine, and arranged some affairs that we thought neces- sary previous to leaving the cnnflnes of civilization. The coun- try for several davs' travel from Fort Osage is verv handsomelv situated, being higfh prairie, exceedingly fertile, but timber is unfoT^tunately scarce." Another, November 13th: "^^e meet a number of Spanish troops, much to our satisfaction. Their reception fullv convinces us of their hospitable disnosition and friendly feelings. We en- camped with them that nicht and the next day abont ten o'clock arrived at the village of St. Michael." 13 Again, the 15th: "We arrived at Santa Fe and were received with apparent pleasure and joy. The da}- after my arrival I accepted an invitation to visit tlie Governor, whom I found very well informed and gentlemanly in manners. He asked many questions concerning my country, its people, their manner of living, etc." But the adventures of the "Franklin Company'' in 1821, as they started on their return trip, which n^.ade the Caravan Trail famous, probably introduced the idea of the necessity and econ- omy of the ox, who was to share in the glory of the pioneers. Horses and mules were so coveted by the Indians and Mexicans that the mild-eyed ox was chosen as a substitute. The best source of information concerning the Trail is Dr. Joseph Gregg's "Commerce of the Prairie," published in 1844, which is really a classic; and Col. Henry Inman's "Old Santa Fe Trail," published in 1899. Buffalo Bill wrote the preface and declared it was a truthful story of most absorbing interest. Chap- ter five of this book relates the vinnderful adventures of the Franklin Company in 1828. In 1828 a company of young Missourians started from Franklin to Santa Fe. They were *o disastrously encountered by the Indians that never again the commercial wagon train noved over the Trail without military escort. In the spring of 1829 Major Bennett Eiley, of the United States Army, with four companies of the Sixth Regular Infantrv, marched over the Trail from Missouri to Santa Fe as militarv escort, protecting the caravans. Captain Cook's journals and ^fajor TJiley's reports to the Secretary of War are splendid references. For a little over the next half-decade the troops protected the caravan trains; thus the flag followed the commerce over the early trail. Much has been said of the advent of the ox upon the Trail and the appropriateness of the schooner drawn, by five yoke, which i?; to mark the Trail at Westpnrt. The American Army in- trodiucd him' first upon the Trail. "Dear old ox, how came you here? You 've ])lowed the fields for many a year. You 've been knocked and kicked and stood abuse. And now come for the trailsman's use. Where is the ox. the mild-eyed cvme Who helped to develop land and clime? What ! you say : — 'The noble steers Pas^fd away with the pioneers.' " 15 Long liefore old Teciimseh Sherman inarched his blue-coats to the sea, opening a national highway tJirough the South, Gen- eral Zachary Taylor's reinforcement*, under General Doniphan, marched from Forf Leavenworth to Santa Fe to defend fh-' southern boundary of the United States. This Army of the West, of which so little has licen written on its chronicles, made a great national highway, which is now being" marked from Kansas City to Xew Mexico. In the early forties the Mexican: began again to move caravans under their major doiiM or wagon-master, over the Trail to Westport. More or less native hatred had existed between the Texans and the ]\[exicans, and Governor Manuel Aemijc had imposed heavy impost duties, whicii had served to increase the hostile feelings ancl decrease the wagon Train traffi • over the Trail; accordingly, when they started out their own wagon caravans, the report that the Texans had organized ma- rauding bands of robbers to waylay them caused them to ask the protection of the United States troops through Federal territory. Indian hostilities broke out about this time, and the Trail for vears was a veritable battle-ground, until the railroads sui>- planted the traffic by supplanting the pioneer caravan train. To The Star: You ask for "Joe Bowers." I write just as I heard it s\nig forty years ago on the "Trail" in the West. It may not have the verbiage as when first written, but it is exact as it was then sung bv the "mule-drivers" and the "hull-whackers'" of those times. — J. M. C. Joe Bowers. I 'II tell you all ahout me, .\iid how I came to roam, .\n(l lo leave my dear old mother. So far away from home. Mv name it is Joe Bowers. I 've got a brother Ike ; 1 came from old Missouri, Came all the way from "Pike." There I courted a young lady By the name of Sally Black ; I axed would she have me, She said it was a "whack." 16 But, "First/' said she, "Joe Bowers, Before we hitch for life, You ought to get a little home. To take j-our little wife." "Well, now/' said I, "my Sally, It is just for your sake, I '11 go to California, And there I '11 raise a stake." ''Why, bless your soul/' said Sally, 'Ton are the chap to win, But I 'm afraid you may returr. With pockets full of tin." Then I remarked to Sally, "It 's time for me to go. And T hope that you'll rememl)er Your loving-hearted Joe.'' Sal threw her arms around me. And then began to bawl. Said I, "Fareweirto Sally, Farewell to one and all.'" When I got to California I hadn't nary red ; T had such sheepish feelings That I wished that T was dead. But at last I got to mining. And was striking my happiest lick; I pounded at the boulders. Just like ten thousand brick. 'Twas then T made a happy strike. And 'was fixing to come home To claim my dearest Sally, And never more to roam. But then I got a letter, It was from brother 7ke : It came from Old Missouri. It came all the wav from Pike. 17 Well, it had the darndest news That ever one did hear; Said Sally had maraied a butcher, And that the butcher had red hair. And it had some other news That nearly made me swear : Said Sally had a baby, And it, too, had red hair. Whether boy child or girl. The letter never said ; Just said Sally had a baby. And that its cussed head was red. Now I 've told you all ab' makers, etc. The demand for furniture other than the home- made kind of the pioneers brought cabinet-makers to Westport. The business houses of Westport were first situated, for the most part, on a little stream that flowed through town in a south- easterly direction, crossing the present Westport Avenue near Mill Street. Along the banks of the stream, inside of town limits and without, were excellent springs that were convenient to the townspeople and travelers. ^lany of these springs were known by name. West|)ort's first tavern was owned by Daniel Yoacham sit- uated near the junction of Westport Ave. and Mill Street. The hostelry was a gathering-place for trappers, hunters, traders, Indians, and soldiers. The second tavern wasi established by A. B. H. McGee, at Westport Avenue and Penn Street. In 21 1847 Mr. McCree sold out to John (Jnekj Hurnt, whu cDuducLed the Harris House there until 18G4. Jauies H. Hunter was the first saddler and afterwards a suLceisful ujerchant. Robert Johnson operated the tannery and was the owner of the first brick house west of Independence. Mrs. James Holloway was a tailoress and made weddmg garments for the .\oung meu. I he leading physicians were: Dr. H. F. Hereford, Dr. Joel ll Mor- ris, Dr. J. P. Stone, Dr. David Waldo, Dr. Parker, and Dr. A. B. Earle, also postn. aster. Park Lee was an early attorney. The bread-making business was also profitable in WesLjort. A. M. Eisile's bakery-, near the present northeast corner of Wtstpi.n Avenue and Mill Street, made him a small fortune and he Imiit one of the best two-story residences in town. Among tlie large land-holders from the Government of that period were CJeoige Harper, Capt. David Waldo (of the Mexican War), Boone Hays (grandson of Daniel Boone, pioneer on the Oregon Trail, on which he lies buried), Jesse Thomas, Dave Self, Sam Poteei. and James Yeager. The Government established a post-office near the site of West-port in 1832, giving it the name of Shawnee. The name in two years was changed to Westport. The first postmaster was Dr. Johnston Lykins, and the second was John C. McCoy. ^lail was carried from Hidependenee to Westport once a vceek on horseback. A road was built across the State from St. Louis to Westport in 1839 and mail was* brought by stage twice a week. The principal tread-mill was situated on Brush Creek near the crossing of Wornall road, and one on Indian Creek near the State line. James H. McGee owned a corn-cracker; near where Westport Avenue crosses Mill Street a large water-])ower iniil. owned Ijy Johnson and Robert Hnll, was situated near by. William Parish and J. H. McGee operated a small distillery and brewery near the present site of Allen School. This ground w s bought by the School Board in ISfiS. One of the first large ship- ments of goods sent to Westport was for the firm of Meservey & Webb in Santa Fe. Boone & Bernard, of Westport, acting as agents, received the goods at the Westport Landing and engaged wagons and teams for the overland transportation. The caravan required to haul this one consignment of goods consisted of sixtv- three wagons, each carrying about 0.000 pounds and drawn bv six yoke of oxen. Westport had an extensive trade with Santa Fe in 1849. when the California immigration began, greatly increasing the business. It is estimated that -10,000 immigrants bought outfits in Westport in 1849 and 1850. Companies of persons from all 22 parts of tlie country came to Westport to organize caravans for journeys across the plains. Almost every type of man in tlic West could be seen on the streets of Westport. Westport was a market for cattle, mules, horses, harness, tents, saddles, and all other equipment needed for travel. In the town's early days Westport Avenue was lined with various out- fitting establishments from a point east of Broadway to Mill Street. Similar stores and shops were situated on Penn Street THOMAS J. GOFORTH First Mayor of the Town of Westport. from Fortieth to Forty-third streets. Gold and silver bullion could be seen piled on the streets of Westport, being re-consigned and re-shipped at this point. The outfitting business was con- ducted on a cash basis and money was plentiful. When the im- migrant trade was at its height the prairies around Westport were dotted with tents and wagons and had the appearance of the camp of a great army. These are the names of some of the successful business men and firms of Westport: Kearney & Bernard; A. G. Boone; J. M. and J. Hunter; Baker & Street; William Dillon; 23 S. F. and W. H. Keller; S. C. Koby; J. Ix. Hamilton; ¥. Gallup; Frederick Esslinger; Edward Price; Henry Sager; Francis Booth; r. D. Elkms; F. G. Ewing; W. M. Chick; Colvin Smiih and Alfred Warlield. Between 1855 and 186U \A'estport reached the zenith oi Us prosperity. Westport was incorporated February 13, 1857. Its lirst mayor was Thomas J. Goforth. Shawnee Mission, in Kansas three miles south of Westport, was closely identified with the early history of the town, Tlie Rev. Thomas Johnson, founder of the mission, was intiuiately associated with Isaac McCoy, Dr. Lykins, and other residents of Westport. Thomas Johnson established the iirst mission school for Shawnee Indians in 1839, in the town of Shawnee, in John- son County, Kansas. The school liad twenty-seven pupils in 1835, and the church had a membership of seventy^-four Shaw- nee Indians. The mission was removed to the location three miles from Westport in 1839, where the Government had given a grant of 2,240 acres. Large buiklings were erected on the new site and a manual training school established that continued in operation until 1862. Francis Parkmau, the historian, came to Jackson County in May, 1846, and to Westport to equip an out- fit for the "Western journey. He gave a description of Westport in his book, 'The Oregon Trail." When Westport was^ established tlie principal steamboat land- ing in Jackson County was at Blue Mills and Wayne City, six miles below Independence. The Westport merchants found this landing inconvenient, as the trip could not be made down and l)ack in one day ; so they had their freight brought ashore farther up the river. About this time John C. McCoy had the stock of goods for his store brought ashore above Chouteau's warehouse, in 1832, from the steamboat John Jlancoclc, and a regular landing was established at the river bank where Grand Avenue reaches the river. This was the beginning of "AVestport Landing.*" that afterwards de- veloped into Kansas City. 24 8TEAMB0ATING IN THE SANTA FE TlLUl, DAYS. A set of gilded deer horns were the trophies of speed. Tlie arbitrary rule of the river was that the fastest boat wore the horns. The trophies had to be at once surrendered by the cap- tain of the boat oiit-si3eoded. Lt has been suggested lluu this may account for so many of them going on the shoal.-. Here follows the sum and substance of an article contributul for this booklet by the Kansas Citv Hislorical Societv. written by Dr. W. L. Campbell : 'Tn Westport's golden age of ihe Santa Ee I'rail, freighting in the decade preceding the outbreak of the Civil War, the freight for Santa Fe was brought up the ^lissouri Eiver from St. Louis in the steamboats, landed at the Kansas City levee, and thence carried west on wagons. The road or trail from tlie levee ran from Delaware Street along the northern foot oi' the blutf that is still standing, till ihe trail reached the phicc wh^rc' Grand Avenue now is, and then it turned southward along the eastern foot of the same bluff and toward Westport, cutting acros, land where now is the market square of Kansas City. The writer's father was a freighter — solely a freighter. He never alternated this with any other pursuit, such as merchandising. Some of the other freighters did alternate. At the decline of freighting he retired. "Between the years 1850 and ISHO, steamboating was at its best on the Missouri River, and in 1857, 729 boats arrived at Kansas City. Innmense profits were made in the busines-. Some of these boats were named after plainsir.en. Among these were the F. X. Aiibrry, a side-wheel boat liuilt by Captain Thomas H. Brierly in 1853. At the top of the pilot-house was the gildfd figure of a rider on a galloping horse, representing Aubrey on a famous ride from Santa Fe to Independence. The Aubrey was sunk near Herman, Missouri, in 1860. and her machinery was taken off the wreck and mounted on the Arai^o. The Aubrey. although a fast boat, was not the fastest one Captain Brierly ever commanded. Either the Morning Star or the Polar Star could pass the Aubrey, although the Aubrey was one of the 'liehtning line packets,' as they were in that day called. At different times Captain Brierly was captain on each of these steamers. 25 "The Kit (Jarson, uaiued after tlie noted plainsmau, burned at the levee in St. Louis in 1849. Captain N. J. Eaton was in command. "A side- wheel boat was built m 1860, and called the Mxnk, l)eing painted tlie color of that animal. The Mink 'took a sheer' on the Missouri Riven near the mouth of Grand lUver, and run- ning into the bank, by escaping from the pilot's control, leaked and sank. The Mink was raised and painted white, and called the Alexander Majors, after one of the pioneer freighters of Westport. The Majors was a medium-sized boat. It burned at the levee in St. Louis in 1866. The Majors was a good average boat, but not a floating palace like the Morning Star or Polar Star or Aubrey. "The W. H. Bussell, a large side-wheel passenger boat that discharged much freight at Kansas City, was named after a Santa Fe freighter and a partner of Alexander Majors. It was built and owned by Captain Joseph Kinney. "The Amazon, commanded and owned by Captain P. M. Chouteau, of Kansas City, carried) many a ton of Santa Fe freight. The Amazon belonged in the palace class, and was 253 feet long and 32 feet beam. The Amazon snagged and sank in the Missouri River, three miles from its mouth, one night in 1856, and the place is still called 'Amazon Bend.' Captain Ash- ley Hopkins, a brother-in-law of Captain Chouteau, owned and ran the Asa Wilgus, alfeo a heavy carrier of Santa Fe freight. The Asa Wilgus sank at Bates' woodyard, near Herman, in 1860. The magnificent A. B. Chambers, owned by Captain Alexander Gilham, who lived in the old-fashioned house still standing at 1315 McGee Street, sank below the wreck of the Amazon and between Amazon Bend and the mouth of the Missouri River. September 24, 1860. The Chambers was 225 feet long and 33 feet beam. The Cora, named by Captain Joseph Kinney, of Old Franklin, Missouri, in honor of his daughter, lies in what is known as 'Cora Chute,' not far from the Chambers and the Amazon. Captain Kinney made $50,000 profit in one trip from St. Louis to Fort Benton, ]\Iontana, with the Cora. "The A. B. Chambers was named after an editor of the St. Louis Bepvhlic, whose daughter, Mrs. Lizzie Chambers Hull, now of St. Louis, was awarded the $500 prize in 1911 for composing the State song, "Missouri." The larg^er steamer, Sam Gaty, named after the St. Louis foundryman. whose picture is in the rooms of the St. Louis Historical Society, lies in the 'Nigger Bend' above Arrow Rock, Missouri, and is the boat that brought back to Kansas City, after a temporary absence in war-time, the family of Col. Kersey Coates. The Coates family originally 26 caiue tu Kansas City un Llie Williatu Campbell, a boat named after llie writer's uucle. i lie steamer was eonimanded by Cap- tain William Jildds (pronounced Eads), tlie man who brought John J. lugalls to Kansas City on the palatial steamer Duncan ^. Carter. The wreck of the Carter lies hidden from view near St. Aubert, Missouri. A member of our Keception Committee^ Mr. James Goodin, of 11"^1 Prospect Avenue, owued the stern-wheel steamer Fire Canoe, tliat sank November 13, 1851), in Kaw Bend in the Missouri I'iver, in view of Kansas City, Kansas, then Wyandotte. J' ire Canoe was the Indian name for steamboat, and the boat was bound for Fort Leaven- worth with a load of coal from Lexington. The bell of the Fire Canoe was removed from the wreck and placed on the Gilliss House, a hotel on the Kansas City kvee, the object being to ca^l people to their meals, a custom extrait in that day. The Gilliss House subsequently became a ri\a! of the Harris House in bid- ding for patronage. 'Tn 1832 the Joh^i Hancock, laden with a stock of mer- chandise for John C. McCoy's big store at Westport, arrived first at the levee. Concerning the John Hancock there is not a par- agraph in any history of Kansas City or ^lissouri, although much has been written of the Independence, that landed at Old Franklin in 1819. The Hancock was a side-wheel, single-engiut' Ijoat, and Ijelonged to a type of river craft that was extinct be- fore the halcyon days of steamboating. These old-fasLioned sin- gle engines would now be regarded as a curiosity. Instead of managing the engine with a lever or throttle, the engineer used crow-bars. There were no wires, bells nor speaking-tubes con- necting the pilot-house with the engine-room, and the pilot shouted his orders to the engineer. jSTo wonder there were wrecks. Xotwithstanding that the Jolin Hancock was named after a dead man, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the boat lived for eight years after 1832. To name a boat after a deceased person is a direct violation of a superstition among steamboat- men, and is said to be a certain harbinger of ill luck to the boat. The John Hancock sank in Brick House Bend, between the old town of St. Charles and the mouth of the Missouri Eiver, in the year of 1840, and no living man can to-day point out the exact spot where the Hancock lies buried." There is no place in the State of ^lissouri where civic pride is greater than in that portion of the Greater Kansas City known as Westport. From its earliest history Westport has stood for commerce, culture, and improvement. It is a distinctive com- munitv, discriminating, unique, distinguished for its social and 27 intellectual supremacy and its beautiful homes. It is a residence district vvitii a personality, hospitable, progressive. From its homes radiate a grace and culture that bespeak purity and sense in women, honor, intelligence, and gallantry in men. There IS an air of Southern aristocracy about the place. Who can conceive how far-reaching the influence of this district, with the Westport Improvement Association in the fiehi ? There is hope for greater and grander work than merely the building of monuments in stone to the memory of our worthy pioneers, though this in itself is commendable. As we enter the twentieth century, and with the field-gla^s of memor}', aided by the pen-products of the pioneers, try lo survey the past hundred years, we realize that volumes and vol- umes of history have been lost to us forever. Each span of a hundred years curls up into a century cycle and, like a finished volume, is laid upon the shelf. The Westport Improvement Association in 1912, with a courageous look into the future, has a mission. The Kansas City Historical Society, with headquar- ters in historic Westport, should be the recording angel. Westport Landing in 18-12. 28 DO^vTIPHAX'S EXPEDITION. By Hon. Roland Hughes. Doniphan's Expedition was the most important event in American history since the War for Independence and the adop- tion of tlie Constitution. The expedition itself was as remark- able as the results accomplished. There is no other military ex- pedition in history that compares with it. It started practically from Westport. At the time this military movement was organized and car- ried out there were no settlements (except Indians) west of the Missouri Eiver, and no organized government except the Mex- ican Grovernment, which prevailed over all the territory not in- cluded in the Louisiana Purchase and Texas, and lying west of the ^[issouri Eiver. After the Louisiana Purchase, the expanding importance of the United States excited the envy of the European powers, es- pecially England and Spain; and they both viewed with jealous eyes the dominating spirit and commercial enterprise of our peo- ple. Both these powers were unremitting in their endeavors, by intrigue and diplomacy, to involve the United States and Mexico in war and thus use the Mexican power to curb the aspiring soirit and growing importance of the people of the ITnited States. This was psne'-iallv so after the secession of Texas from Mexico and its admission as a State into the American Union. This event and the occuoation of the strip of disnuted ter- ritory between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande by the American Army under Greneral Taylor was made the ground for declaration of war bv the Mexican Oovernment against the United States in April, 1846. At this time the Mexican territory extended as far north (or orobablv farther) as the northern line of California, and, as be- fore stated, included all of the country not included in the Louis- iana Purchase. The War Deoartment determined to send an armv from Port Leavenworth to Santa Fe to operate against this portion of the Mexican territor\\ which was designed to start from Port Leavenworth, a cantonment of the American Army, M'hich had been established bv Captain Henrv Leavenworth w 1827. 29 In pursuance of this plan John F. Edwards, Governor of Missouri, about the rniddle of May, 1846, issued a proclamation calling for volunteers to rendezvous at Fort IjC^venworth, and thus create the "Army of the West," as it was to be known. This exjsedition was to be conducted by Col. Stephen W. Kearney, of the First Dragoons of the United States Army, who was a very skillful and able officer. It was arranged that the companies should assemble at Fort Leavenworth and be lettered in the order of their arrival. The first company to arrive, and which was afterwards known as (^'ompany A, was the compan\ from Jackson County, whose captain was David Waldo, of In- dependence, and whose lieutenant was John Keid. David I Clayton and Henry I. Chiles were second lieutenants. James Peacock, of Independence, was also in this expedition, but not in this company. He was in the company from Laj Fayette County, known as Company B, and whose captain was William P. Walton. Captain John W. Peid, who afterwards lived in Kansas City, was also in this expedition, but with Company D from Saline Countj^, and he was captain of that company and served with great distinction and gallantry during the whole war. Another distinguished citizen of Jackson County in this expedition was Samuel C. Owens, who was circuit clerk of this county from to , and who at thi< time was engaged in the freighting business to Chihuahua. "When the traders were organized into' two companies he was taken into this expedition, and after the array passed El Paso was elected major of the battalion, and was the first man killed in the BatHe of Sacramento, about sixteen miles tin? sidr of the city of Chihuahua. After the companies were organized at Fort Leavenworth, the.y elected Alex. W. Doniphan, of Lihertv, colonel, and this expedition has always been known in history as "Doniphan's Expedition." The first company to respond to this call of Cfovernor Ed- wards and arrive at the place of rendezvous marched through the town of Westport to Leavenworth. The regimental officers were : A. W. Doniphan Colonel Congreve Jackson Lieutenant-Colonel Charles F. Puff Second Lieutenant William Gilpin Major James A. De Courcy Adjutant Thomas M. Morton 4 cting Surgeon George Penn .4 rfing Surgeon .30 W. B. D. Moore Acting Surgeon I. F. Morton Acting Surgeon James Lea Quartermaster F. C. Hnghee Sergeant Nieholaa Snider Bugler This command commenced its march from Fort Leaven- worth on the 6th day of June, 1846, and took almost a due south course across the Kansas prairies to the Kansas River, where the}^ arrived about noon of June 30th. They crossed the Kansas River at the mouth of the Wakarusa Creek. There was a Shaw- nee Indian by the name of Paschal Fish, who owned some ferry- boats there. He was a cousin to old Tecumseh and the Prophet. This place was known as "Fish's Ferry." This Shawnee Indian lived about a mile south of the river, on a road leading to West- port, and kept a tavern there. The army remained at this place, after crossing the river, until the 2d day of July, because there is a letter extant written by the colonel from this point to his excellency John F. Ed- wards, Grovernor of Missouri, and dated "Headquarters Army of the West, Camp at Fish's Ferry on Kansas River, July 2, 1846." From this point the army struck the Santa Fe Trail at the nearest practicable point. This little army of Missouri bov.s marched across an un- known countr\' to Santa Fe. from Santa Fe to El Paso, from El Paso to Chihuahua, from Chihuahua through the State of Durango in Mexico, and from there across the Mexican Republic to Saltillo, where it united its forces with those of General Wool. More than three thousand miles they marched through the e.i- emy's country without any effort to keep up communication with any base of supplier, and with the perfect knowledge that if they ever met with a solitarv reverse, not a man of them would live to tell the tale. When thev arrived at Santa Fe they took possession of the G-overnor's palace, erected the Stars and Stripes, and by a mili- tarv proclamation annexed all of ^ew Mexico, Arizona, N"evada, and part of Utah and California to the TTnited States: brought in the chief men of the country and had them take the oath r/f alleeiance t.o the United States Government; and bv this same militarv proclamation made all the inhabitants of that countn- citiens of the United States. After having taken possession of the countrv and estabh>b- ing a civil government. General Sterling Price was left with a m garrison at Santa Fe to administer the affairs of the new terri- tory, and Col. Kearney and Col. Doniphan separated their com- mands. Col. Kearney marched across the country west to the Pacific Coast to take possession of California and hold it under military rule. Col. Doniphan marched down the Eio Grande and before reaching El Paso fought the Battle of Erazito. where he defeated the Mexican Army, which retreated ahead of him to El Paso and crossed the river there. Col. Doniphan, not being able to overtake the Mexicans in their retreat, followed on to El Paso, where he crossed the Rio Grande and took up the march to Chihuahua. After winning the Battle of Sacra- mento, he took possession of the city of Chihuahua with his little army, and after having opened communication with Gen. Wool, who was then at Saltillo, established a civil government at Chihuahua, and marched into the State of Durango with his armv, and from there across the countrv, where it was united witli Gen. Wool at Saltillo. Xenophon's Anabasis is regarded in history as the most wonderful expedition on record. The ten thousand Greeks marched a thousand miles, were defeated and returned with al' lost save honor; dejected and broken in spirit. Doniphan's Ex- ])edition marched more than three thousand miles, never lost a baitle, and returned home full of honors and crowned with vic- tory, and added an empire to their Government. They accom- plished more and said Tess about it than any set of men known in history. The importance of this expedition and its great accomplish- ment does not consist alone in the tremendous things which it did and the almost limitless expanse of territorv which it added to the United States, but the imn^ediate effect of this expedition ii]ion the Mexican War was to require the Mexican Government to divide its army, sending one division thereof to meet this ck liedition and thus enable Gen. Taylor to win the Battle of Buena A'^ista. Avhere it was decided once for all that Anglo-Saxon civili- zation, and not Latin civilization, should dominate the American Continent, and thus gave to the United States the foundation for becoming one of the great and influential powers of the world. Wlien the company that went out from Jackson Countv re- turned to their homes in Julv. 1847, and on the ?Pth dav of that month, the good people of Tndenendence and vicinitv gave a public dinner and reception to the returning companv, on which occasion thev were welcomed home in a speech bv S. IT. Woodson, after which Mrs. Buchanan delivered the following 32 COL. ALEXANDER W. DONIPHAN. oration and preeented Col. Doniphar with a laurel wreath, ''the gift of beauty to valor," "Eespected Friends: — Long had the world edioed to the voice of Fame when her brazen trumpet spoke of the glorier' i-f Greece and Eome. The sun looked proudly down upon T..cr- mopylse when Leonidas had won a name bright and gloriou? as his own golden beams. The soft air of the Italian clime glowed as the splendor of a Eoman triumph flashed through the Eternal City. But the mantle of Desolation now wraps the mouldering pillars of Athens and of Eome, and Fame, deserting her ancient haunts, now fills our own fair land with the matchless deeds of her heroic sons. Like the diamond in the recesses of the mine, lay for centuries the land of Columbia. Like that diamond when art's transforming fingers have polished its peerless lustre, it now shines the most resplendent gem in the coronal of nations. "The records of the Eevolution, tnat dazzling picture in the temple of Historj^, presents us with the astonishing sight of men whose feet had never trodden the strict paths of military dis- cipline, defying, conquering the trained ranks of the "British Army, whose trade is war. Nor did their patriotism, their en- ergy, die with the Fathers of the Eevolution — their spirit lives in their sons. "The star which represents Missouri shone not on the ban- ner that shadowed the^ venerated heaa of Washington. But the unrivaled deeds of the ^lissouri Volunteers have added such bril- liancy to its beairs that even he whose hand laid the corner- stone of the teiiipic of American liberty, and placed on its fin- ished shrines the rescued flag of his country, woidd feel proud to give the star of l\rissouri a place nicidst the time-hoiior.'d. the far-famed 'old thirteen.' The Spartan, the Athenian, the Eoman, who offered on the altar of Mars the most brilliant sacri- fices, were trained even from their infancy in all the arts of war. The service of the bloody god wa« to them the business of life, aye, even its pastime; their verv droams were full of the tumult of battle: liut they who hewed asunder with their good swords the chains of a British tyrant, and thev who have rendered the names of Brazito and Sacramento watchwords to rouse the valor of succeeding ages, hurried from the quiet labors of the field, the peaceful halls of justice, the cell of the student, and the familiar hearth of horn®, to swell the ranks of the defenders of their native land. 34 ''Volunteers of Missouri : — In the history of your coun- try, nd brighter page can be found than that which records your own bright deeds. Many of you had never welcomed the morn- ing light without the sunshine of a mother's smile to make it brighter; many of you had known the cares and hardships of life only in name ; still you left the home of your childhood and encountered perils and sufferings that would make the cheek of a Roman soldier turn pale; and encountered them so gallantly that Time in his vast calendar of centuries can show none more bravely, more freely borne. "We welcome you back to your home. The triumph which hailed the return of the Csesars, to whose war-chariot was chained the known world, is not ours to give; nor do you need it. A prouder triumph than Eome could bestow is yours, in thp undying fame of your proud achievements. But if the welcome of hearts filled with warm love and well-merited admiration, hearts best known and longest tried, be a triumph, it is your.-; in the fullest extent. "The torrent of eloquence to which you have just listened, thei rich feast that awaits 3^ou, are the tributes of j^oiir own sex; but we, the fairer part of creation, must offer ours also. "CoLOXEL Poxiphan: — In the name of the ladies who sur- round me, I bestow on you this laurel wreath — in every age and every clime the gift of beauty to valor. In placing it on the brow of him who now kneels to receive it, I place it on the brows of all who followed where so brave, s» dauntless a com- mander led. It is true that around the laurel wreath is twined every association of orenuis, glory, and valor, but I feel assured that it was never placed on a brow more worthy to receive it than his on which it now rests — the Hero of Sacratmento." I herewith append a roster of the Jackson County Com- pany, from which it will be seen that many of the descendants of these gallant men are still living in this county. Many of them have achieved fame and fortune in other lands. I do not know of any survivors of this company that live in this county. An attempt to give an account of the subsecfuent history of the members of this famousi company or that of their descend- ants would extend this article beyond a reasonable limit. Roster of Company A. (Jackson County.) David Waldo Captain John Eeid First Lieutenant David I. Clayton Second Lieutenant Henry I. Chiles. Second Lieutenant 35 Simeon Oldham Second Lieutenant John S. Webb First Sergeant Richard B. Buckner Sergeant Samuel S. White Sergeant Richard Simpson Sergeant James Munday Corporal Thos. Moore Corporal Jesse Frierson Corporal William E. Bush Corporal Lemuel Jepson Bugler Chas. Miller Bugler Joseph W. Hamilton Farrier Privates. And, Francis L. Gilpin, William Asbury, Squire Gibson, John R. Bean, Samuel Greenwood. Fontleroy D. Berry, Frank Hamilton, Christoi-lier C. Boswell, William Haines, Michael T). Bush, William D. Hildebrand, Levi Burton, William T. Jones, David A. Burton, Beverly I. Jenks, Christopbei- Bowland, James Johnson, Waldo P. Clift, James H. , Killbuck, Washington Cog-swell, William King, Walter Copeland, William L. Knighton, Porry Copeland, Anthony N". Lucas, John T. Cox, James ' Lucas, James A. Carlton, Ezekiel Lacy, I. E. Cannon, William N". Latz, Benjamin Campbell, John E. Lindsay, Alfred 0. Clavd^on, James E. Lillard, Morgan Capell. Britten Lemmons, Benjamin Capell, John L Lemmons, Washington Chiles. Elijah J. Lewis, Richard Crabtree, Isaac Moody, Andrew J. Crensbaw, John T. Mount, Thornton A. Douglas, Oliver T. Meek, Robert G. Ells, Nathan Maim, Christopher Forrest, Lorenzo D. Maim, El son Foster, William McMurrav, John H. Flournoy, Matthew I. Massie, Thomas H. Franklin, John R. McElrath, James Fugate, Francis McKeller, John 36 Xichols, Daniel Noland, Jesse Overton, William E. Owens, James W. Pattou, John W. H. Pringle, Geo. A. Palmer, Jonathan R. Parish, Sidney G. Phelps, Richard S. Patterson, Andrew J. Patrick, Dudley Pool, James M. Powell, David I. Pollard, Samuel A. Rennick, Chatham M. Riggs, Green B. Riggs, Henry C. Riggs, William C. Ryan, Henry M. Smith, Hugh N. Sprague, Davis Sharpe, George Sharp, Leonard B. Sears, Peter A. SjDeed, James Triplett, Zela Tyler, Perry I. Vigus, John K. White, Wafer S. Wear, John Wear, James A. Wear, Abraham W. Wear, Samuel C. Watts, John S. Wilson, John C. Waller, Shelby Webb, George B. Walker, Collins Woodland, John L. Wallace, James W. Young, William M. Zellers, Henry 37 AUBKEY'S RIDE. The Yankee wins the bet and holds the trophies for speed never surpassed over the Old Santa Fe Trail. F. X. Aubre}^, a famous energetic charactei, familiar at Westport and Independence, made the most memorable horse- back trip over the Old Santa Fe Trail. In the late forties he came from New Y'ork to Independence, bought a lot of teams and started into business as a freighter. Such was his push and vim that he made two trips a season. One day, while discussing freighting and the length of time it ought to take to cover tlie distance between Independence and Santa Fe, a distance of 775 miles, Aubrey made the bold assertion that he would start alone on a single horse and push through in eight days. A dis- pute arose, and the result was that Aubrey offered a wager of $5,000 that he could start on a thoroughbred horse he had, of unusual speed and endurance, and with the liberty to Imy such horses as he might need on the way, and so remount himself as often as he had a chaHoe, and be in Independence at the Stage Station in less than eight days of twenty-four hours each, from the time he left Santa Fe. The money was covered and the wager made. Aubrey started and was in Independence, Mo., in just seven days and ten hours froin the time he said good-bye to Santa Fe; he remounted himself twice. Then a second wager "was made. The parties who had lost the $5,000 managed to make a wager of $10,000 a side with Aubrey. This time he was to go from, Santa Fe to Independence in six days. It was at the best season of the year, there were no rains, the grass was good and the Trail as hard as a pavement. Aubrey had the same liberty to remount himself as often as he could l3uy a horse that he preferred to his own; he was not per- mitted to arrange relays or post-horses in advance. He started out of^ Santa Fe on a Sunday; all he had with him to eat was a little dried beef, expecting to get food at the stage stations along the Trail. Saturday afternoon of the same week he rode into the public square at Independence, winning the race by fivo hours. He was just five dayse and nineteen hours riding the 775 miles, and had used eleven horses. He had two skirmishes with 38 the Indians and had been chased by them at the Oinjarron cross- ing of the Arkansas, and again at Pawnee Eoek. He escaped, however, with nothing worse than an arrow tlirough his arm. When he slipped from the saddle at Independence, he had not slept a wink for fifty-six hours. Bystanders asserted that he was sound asleep the instant he touched the ground. Aubrey was carried into the hotel and put to bed, and did not open his eyes again until Monday about two o'clock. He won $15,000 on these two races, and in the last one made a record for long- distance riding never surpassed. Aubrey was stabbed to death at Santa Fe by Major Weightman, in a dispute over a lie that Aubrey accused Weightman of having told. Col. Edward Haren, of Westport, saw Aubrey at Los Angeles a short time before his death. Col. Haren has recently presented to the Kansas City Historical Society a newspaper clipping concerning Aubrey's ride and wager. Judge T. E. Peacock, of Independence, said that he saw Aubrey lifted off his horse at Independence at the end oT his famous ride. 39 STERLING PRICE, Major-General C. S. A. BIOGRAPHY OF GENERAL STERLING PRIOE. By Mrs. Wili.iam Shields Clagett. States are not great, except as men make them; Men are not great, except as they do and dare. — Eugene F. Ware. To be a Missourian is a blessed heritage; to liave been a child in Missouri in the stirring days of the sixties, with the clean, unwritten page of life to be tilled with indelible and char- acter-moulding impressions, was indeed an unique jjrivilege, for it welded us just a little more as one with our State. In this the name of General Sterling Price was a strong factor. Where is the child who could forget, or cease to venerate the name of "Pap" Price, as it fell from the lips of idolized, grown-up young men of her acquaintance, wearing tiie jaunty little military cap of gray and shining brass buttons? Why, it was tlie center and circuniference of all things on earth. What cared we for Dixie Land or the happy land of Canaan, so long as Missouri was right in the front ranks with her General Sterling Price? It is said that to none of our State heroes have we accorded such generou:; and unstined praise. Yet the writer and the historian have done but little for him. Indeed, it is only within the last few years that the South's irreproachable King Arthur, Robert E. Lee, has been given his merited place in the printed page. We of the South seem to have been possessed all unconsciously of a feel- ing of smug coutentedness, and belief that such apparent worthi- ness would be reognized by the world without a blare of trumpets. We have now reached a safe distance from the field of action for a true valuation; from interests and counter-interests, to give to men from both sides their rightful place in history. Then may we expect our own beloved State will exploit one who ranked with Lee and Jackson in its memory, and the cause which he espoused. W. L. Webb, in his "Battles and Biographies of Mis- sourians," has sounded a rousing key-note. Sterling Price was born in Prince Edward Comity, Vir ginia, in 1809. His education was completed at Hampden and Sydney, and later by studying law. He came of a good, intelli- gent, and well-to-do family. In 1831 he moved with hia father's 41 faiiiily to Missouri and settled ou a farm in Ciiariton Oounty, which remained his home as long as he lived. Like most young men, he cast about in different ways for a living; first as tobacco commission merchant, a leading industry in ]\Lissouri in those days, and then hotel proprietor. His hotel is still shown in Salis- bury, Mo. In 184:0 he represented his county in the Legislature. While but little known outside of his own county and only thirty-one years old, he was made Speaker of the House. So satisfactory was he as a presiding officer that he was similarly honored the next term. From this time he was the most promi- nent man in the State, in civil and military affairs. While chair- man of the convention that framed the Constitution of our State, it is said that he suggested the motto which is and will be Missouri's for all tini.e, ''lSah(s popuji siiprema lex est," "The welfare of the people is the supreme law.'- In 184G he was elected to Congress. After serving two years, he resigned to go to the Mexican War. He offered his services to President Polk and was appointed by him lo enlist the Second Missouri Mounted A'^olunteers, with the commission of colonel. After the regiment was raised and rendezvoused at Fort Leavenworth, he declined the honor of the promotion conferred by the President, until it was voted upon by his men and he was unanimously elected by them. With this regiment he captured Taos, Nev/ Mexico. He commanded the Battle of Canada, iSTew Mexico, January 24, 1847 ; in July of the same year he was promoted to brigadier- general and later was appointed Militarv Governor of Chihuahua. On March Ifi, 1848. he won the Battle of Santa Cruz de Eosales. At the close of the war he returned with his troops to Missouri. They were accorded great consideration and open-handed hospitality. At the next general election, in 185?, General Price was elected Governor by a sweeping majority. While Governor he urged that the salary of his successor he raised. The act was passed, making it operative at once, but he never drew the balance due him. At the close of his four years of office, he retired to his farm in Chariton County, but not to retirement from public life, for he wa^ State bank commissioner from 1857 to 1861. Only four tranquil years of country life was spent before the war between the States again called him to arms. He was chairman of the Second Constitutional Conven- tion, which declared against slavery. When the Gamble Con- vention first met, he was a strong TTnion man. Genera] Price loved the Government for which he had fought and bled, but to a Virginian States' rights came first. The precipitation of Federal forces and authority into the State by the capture of 42 (Jaiiijj Jackiiuii deiermined Lim to oiier his military services to Governor Jackson in driving from tlie State such men as Lyon, and to maintain the purity of the Government by its own oi- iicials. it was not for secession. He organized a Missouri Army of mounted volunteers, called the State Guards, and was given the commission of major-general by Governcr Jackson. It was a Missouri Army and marched under the flag of Missouri. Thi;-. army fought the battles of Wilson Creek, Dry Fork, Lexington, Pea Eidge, and a score of others. It was not till after the Bat- tle of Pea Eidge in March, 1862, that the flag of Missouri was folded and that of the Stars aud Bars wat raised. General Price then became a Confederate soldier and went to tight east of the Mississippi Piver. He was made major-general in the Confederate Army. He had endeared himseif to his men auu State with lasting ties. McElroy, in his "The Struggle for Missouri," and with small leaning to the Confederate side, de- scribes him as "'white-haired, large of frame, imposing, benignant, paternal, inflexible as to what he considered principles."^ He- was of massive proportions, six feet two inches in stature. Hiir face was ruddy and was framed by silver white hair and whiskcis worn in the old English fashion. His voice, was clear and ring- ing, suited to command. Pie had the bearing and ease of r. polished gentleman. His men loved and venerated him; he lovc! and cared for them. At the Battle of Lexington he recovered nine hundreti thousand dollars from the Federal forces and returned it to the bank officials to whom it belonged. He was thanked by the Confederate Congress for ability shown in this engagement. During his Confederate service, the women of New Orleans pre- sented him with a sword costing one thousand dollars in gold. General Price, as Grand Commander, with the assistance oi' Southern sympathizers who lived in the North, organized the American Knights of the State of Missouri. About twenty-five thousand Missourians associated themselves with this order. He made a raid into the State in September, 1S64, getting as far north as Kansas City, really to the Kansas line, when he was driven back at the Battle of Westport and went south to Arkansas. His plan to secure recruits from the American Knights of Missouri had been frustrated by General Eosecrans, of the Federal forces. After the war, G*eneral Price went to Mexico and obtained from the Archduke Maximilian a grant of land near Cordova and founded a colony of ex-Confederate officers. With the downfall of Maximilian the grant became worthless, and in 1867 G^eneral Price returned to St. Louis. He 43 opened up a tobacco commission wareliouse on Commercial Street, under the name of Sterling Price. He died at his home on Chouteau Avenue, September 29, 1SG7. His remains rests in beautiful Bellefontaine, the leading cemetery of St. Louis. His wife was Miss Shepard, of Chariton County, Missouri. She died during the war. The Shepard family were originally from Albe- marle Countv, A^irgiuia. Four children, three sons and a daugh- ter, survived him: Stump, Celsus, Celeste, who married E. B. Willis, a wholesale dry goods merchant of Galveston, and Quin- tus, the only one of the immediate family now living 44 THE UFTON PIAYS BRIGADE. By Albert N. Doersohuk. Upton Hays was commissioned as a captiiin of cavalry in the Confederate Army in 1861, for the purpose of raising troops in and around Westport, to be taken south for the defense of the Confederacy. Eecrnits came in rapidly, po. that his company was soon a regiment engaged in defending property in Jackson Connty and vicinity l>elonging to Sonthern sympathizers against marauders and the Kansas invasion. His title was raised to colo- nel of the Second Missouri Cavalry, and under this he fought and won the Battle of Lone Jack, than which no more sanguinary con- flict was fought in the West. His regiment after this was much above the usual thousand men and was named a brigade, in which many men enlisted and were drilled and sent forward in com- panies to join other troops. It is estimated that mere than five thousand men joined this command as stationed in Jackson County. At the height of his career Col. Hays, in leading a charge on Wisconsin troops near Newtonia, IMissouri. was shot through the head, and thus ended the career of one of Missouri's bravest citizens. Col. ITpton Hays was a Missourian. He lived in Jackson County. He was a man that never knew an hour of fear. Per- haps no finer horseman ever rode hard ovei the prairies. He was brave, generous, trne, devoted, noble — a patriot. Is it any wonder, then, that when the rallying Imgles pounded for volun- teers. Upton Hays should gallop straight to the front? To him a forlorn hope was a sure token of victory. The Rerv- crown of Lone Jack sat w^ell above the eyes of 'Trim ^\'llO wa? the first in all that bright company.'' In hi« distresp and cha-rrin at the occiipancv of Westport by a greatly superior number of Fed- rrals at about the time of Order ^o. 11, ho with two brave comrades one fine fall afternoon, while the streets of Westport were crowded with soldiers and citizens and all things invited life, invited death bv a bold gallop to tlT^ "square" in front of the Harris House hotel, where on a tall pole was hoisted a large new silk flag, onlv recently presented to the commandant bv the loval ladies of Westport; this flag was mad.^ r^ fine silk, hard to obtain at that time, at the home of Mrs. Little; and among those surviving who helped in this labor of love arc Mrs. Susan Carter Cerhart, Susan Dillon, and "Mrs. Hank Aiken, Upton Hays cut the halliards, lowered the flag, wrapped it 45 UPTON HAYS, (^olonel 2d Missouri Cavalry, C. 8. A. around his body, and spurred out of town with derisive yells at the guards, whose lives they might easily have takeu, but humane- ly spared. Col. Hays had this liag sewed io the lining of his overcoat and wore this at the time he was >hot, and it formed a part of the shroud in which he was baried. His brigade had in it the best blood of Jackson County; had in it men who at a word would have ridden booted and spurred into eternity. And oh, so manj^, so many did ride this gait to death ! After Lone Jack three regiments marched southward rapidly. Death made sad havoc later with the commanding officer in the field, but t:» destroy and to kill is the fate of war. To show his peerless self- possession, it is known that he snapped six caps upon one re- volver before his enemies could bring a carbine to a present; this tells of his wonderful dexterity. The powder was wet, and thus in full prowess he left the field and life and all its Joys that were to him so dear. Col. Upton Hays, in addition to being a hero, was a Free Mason, and belonged to the Golden Square Lodge, No. 107, lo- cated in Westport. His wife and family underwent all the priva- tion and horrors of war at their homo at Sixty-third Street and Prospect Avenue, which was maliciously burned about 1864. His wife still lives in California. After the death of Col. Hays. Lieut. -Col. Shank succeeded in tomm.and of this brigade, which nobly acquitted itself in th(^ Rattle of Westport and in subse- quent engagements. H. J. A'ivian was major in Upton Hays's regiment; of him Jolui Kritsei'. now m;ir-bal of Taylor, Texas, who siTvcd in this com'inand. savs: "There was no better or more fearless hor^^eman or soldier in the Civil War than Major Vivian. He was tall, erect, wore a small military goatee, and distin- guished himself particularlv on the field of Lone Jack, where he was several tim.es wounded.'' "He was the hero of all the ladies: in fact, his worst trouble was to keep from getting married," says Col. George P. Hro-is. ^Tajor Vivian -till lives in Kan>;as Citv. at 2001 Campbell Street. Survivors in 1912 of men enlisted in five service of the Con- federacy at Kansas City, under the Upton Hays Brigade: Jeff Boggs, Lee's Summit, Mo., Co. E. John Brown, Oak Grove, Mo. J. M. Burrus. Kansas City, Mo., Co. B. Davis Clark, Blue Springs, Mo. Pat Costello, Buckner, Mo. Willis Duncan, Lee's Summit, ^lo. C. C. Fields, Independence. ^To.. P. P. D. l^o. H. Co. K, Maj. H. J. Vivian. 47 Charlee Duncan, Oak Grove, Mo. W. W. Fields, Independence, Mo., B. B". D. No. 3, Co. K, Maj. H. J. Vivian. J. H. George, Oak Grove, Mo., Co. D. T. A. Gill, Kansas City, Mo., Co. K, .Maj. H. J. Vivian. William Greer, Lexington, Mo. A. G. Hall, Independence, Mo., Co. II. Joseph Hahn, Oak Grove, Mo. James Hambright, Buckner, Mo., Co. E. Sam Hamilton, Greenwood, Mo., Co. E. — . ^. Harding, Oak Grove, Mo., Co. D. Alex. Holloway, Kansa.'^ City, Mo.. Co. l\, Maj. 11. J. Vivian. Jno. G. Holloway Kansas City, Mo.. Co. K, Maj. H. J. Vivian. Wm. Holloway, Kansas City. Mo.. Co. K, Maj. H. J. Vivian. Wm. Hopkins, Bine Springs. Mo., Co. B. Jno. T. House, Little Blue, Mo.. Co. K, Maj. H. J. Vivian. Wm. M. Johnson, Shawnee Mission, Kas. John Kritser, Taylor, Tex. H. V. P. Kabriek" Oak Grove, Mo. 0. H. Lewis, Lee's Summit, ^fo., Co. E. W. H. Mills, Kansas Citv, Mo., Co. K. E. A. Morre, Grain Valley, :\Io., Co. K. William ]\[uir, Lee's Summit, ^lo. Thomas Noland, Lee's Summit, "Mo. E. B. Pallett, Oak Grove, ^\o. David Scrivner, Belton, Mo., Co. E. Frank Smith, Blue Springs, .Mo., Co. B. W. T. Smith. Independence, Mo. Alfred S])ainhouer, Lone Jack, Mo., Co. G. William Sjiainhouer, Lone Jack, Mo., Co. K, Maj. H. J. Vivian. L. S. Steele, Lawrence, Kas., Co. K. Maj. Tl. ,T. Vivian. Joseph St. Clair, Blue Springs, Mo. .Tohn W. Tatum, Blue Springs, ^lo., Co. B. Thos. B. Tatum, Blue Springs, Mo., Co. B. Jno. W. Tyer, Lee's Summit. ^lo., Co. E. Jno. P. Webb. Oak Grove, Mo. F. M. Webb, Oak- Grove, Mo. J. A. Webb, Independence, Mo.. R. V. D. No. 3. Jas. S. Whitsett, Vega, Tex., Co. E. George Wiggenton, Independence, Mo., Co. B. Maj." H. j'. Vivian, 2901 Campbell St., Kansa'^ City. Mo., Co. K. ' 48 WAR OF 1812 CENTEN>sriAL YEAR. This is the centennial year of the War of 1812. One hundred years ago the United States engaged in the second great con- flict with England, and won the freedom of the seas. The Society of the Descendants of the Soldiers and Sailors engaged in the conflict have a very active organization in this city. The local chapters are collecting data concerning the use of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, when they were commercial highways in the early days of Westport. From 1812 to i912 the United Sfates has given quite as much attention to the commerce on the waters as on the land, and this period has seen the rise and fall of the Missouri River connuerce. Just a centurv since Francis Scott Kev gave to America her national air, "The Star-spangled Banner," in which the sons of the North and the sons of Dixie johi to-dav with the sons of the sea^ a united land with the freedom of the waters on rivers and seas. The centennial exercises commemorating the greatest naval battle the world has ever known are especially suggestive. Perry's flag-ship, the Niaga7-o, is being raised and tlie National Society of the Descendants of 1812 have arranged most appropriate cen- tennial services, and tlie guests from England are to be as nu- merous as the guests from America were at the unveiling of the chapel at Princeton, England, a few rears ago; the same being a memorial to the soldiers and sailors lost in this war. Tho next reunion at Westport should emphasize the idea of the port which was. in fact, the life of its municij^al existence. Why not raise the Iwats that are resting in the Missouri ? Why not run a set of lioats on the river again, and, in defiance of superstition, name them after the victors of 1812? "Don't give up the ship, boys." The river also' lias some his- tory which, in connection witli William Beclcnell's pack-mule train in 1812, is worthy of particular mention in this centennial celebration. 49 BATTLE OF WESTPOET. In May, 1864, President Lincoln, in a letter to General Eosecrans, asked him to inform tlie Government concerning" the secret organizations in Missouri that were recruiting for the Army of the Confederacy, whereupon General Eosecrans issued his famous General Order No. 107, calling upon all loyal, able- liodied men of IMissouri to enlist in the Federal Army. Early in the month of September, 1804, a rumor that Major- General Sterling Price, with the Army of the Trans-Mississi])pi, then occupying the territory of southern Arkansas, contemplated another of his famous raids through ]\Ii?souri and into Kansas, was little credited by the Federal commander, l\Iajor-General W. S. Eosecrans, then stationed at St. Louis. However, he sent east for Major-General Alfred F. Pleasanton to take the field command of all the troops in the Department of Missouri that were to take the field in opposing any movement of Price in the State. It became apparent early in October that Price was plan- ning a well-organized invasion that nmst be met with the com- bined strength of this armv and the Armv of the Border under INIajor-General Samuel E. Curtis, stationed at Fort Leavenworth. Kansas. To this end Eosecrans ordered troops numbering about 0,000 fighting men to assemble at the S^ato capital and General Pleasanton took command. Price's advance to within sight of Jefferson City was marked bv successful skirmishes and a genuine scare to the citv of St. Ijouis, the first objective point of "the hoi>o" of the Confederacy. Before this second objecHve point there was a strong un- explainable retreat, the reason for which was entombed in the brain of General Price; but this foiled the plan of Eosecrans to catch the "old fox" bv engaging him in battle around his sup- posed coveted eoal in Missouri. "WTiat actuallv happened was a maneuver by Pagan's division Avhich gave Price time tn move his forces and an immiense wagon train into a line of march, headed for the third objective point. Kansas City. Eosecrans had kept Curtis fullv informed, and in anticipation of this movement the Army of the Border fortified with extensive earthworks along the western bank of the Big Blue Eiver south to Hiclrman 50 Mills and before Kansas City; also cennecting that city with Wyandotte, Kansas, by a floating bridge. The Ten Days'" March. Characterized with an obsolete military plan of daily review, by marching the rear division to the front each morning, while the "driftwood" of Missouri, if armed, joined the ranks as fight- ing timber; if unarmed, they were mobilized with the wagon train. "The drnm" certainly sounded in the ear of all Con- federate s3Tnpathizers, and the sentiment of Alexander Hamil- ton's old favorite song was enacted. "Raw recruits from Mis- souri, Quantrill the Eaider and "Bill" Anderson, with firmed forces, joined rriee. The Confederate organizations reported for duty several thousand strong. Considerable care was taken by the Confederate leaders in the assignment of division com- manders under Prict' : ]\raj.-Gen. James F. Fagan, First Di\ison; Maj.-Gen. John S. Marmaduke, Second Division; Erig.-Gen. Joseph 0. Shelby, Third Division. The combined strength of the three divisions was about 9,000 men. Political' points mnst here be eliminated, but space is given to mention two political aspirants, Thomas C. Eeynolds, Lieu- tenant-Governor under Jackson's deposed administration and claimant to the gubernatorial seat in Missouri, was with Price's army. "The Pevnolds Manuscript," published for the first time in 1905, by Paul B. Jenkins in his book, "The Battle of West- port," is the unfinished escutcheon that the key t-o the Confed- erate plans in Missouri probably fitted. With "The Army of the Border," assigned to staff duty, was the Pepublican nominee for Governor of Kansas, Hon. S. J. Crawford, who has written a very good account of "The Bailie of Westport" in his "Kansas in the Sixties," published in 1011. Judge John F. Phillips pub- lished a good' account in the Sfar in May, 1912. Political conditions in Kansas threatened the success of Curtis to mobilize the Militia, but with his order for the troops to assemble at Kansas City, he also placed Kansas under martial law. The question was. Could he take the Militia out of the State? He did, and was awaiting Price's army, whose van en- gaged his scouts about three miles south of Lexington. The sharp little engagement caused Price to halt his whole army and Shelby's division to put his artillery in action. General Blunt, commanding the Federal scouts, then fell back to the bank of the Little Blue, eight miles east of Independence. Shelb^^s re- mark, that he "either met Blunt or the Devil," has gained great popularity. 51 JUDGE JOHN F. PHILIPS, Colonel Seventh Missouri Federal Cavalry. Ou the 20th General Curtis, at Bhmt^s request, reinforced him by ordering the Fourth Brigade, under Col, Ford, and the Independent Battery of Colorado V^:)lunteers, under Captain Mc- Lain, to join Blunt's forces. lie commanded them that they contest every inch of Price's advance, to compel him to develop an attack, thus fighting back to tlie trenches at the Big Blue Eiver. Blunt's position at the Little Blue was well chosen. An admiring aide on his staff said: "Had he been reinforced, he could have held the bridge until Grant reached Appomatox." As a last detail, he fell back, at dusk, ordering JMajor Martin An- derson and two companies of the Eleventh Kansas to haul a load of hay on the bridge, whicii was to be fired upon the approach of the Confederates. This was Fagan's day in the van of Price's army; to-morrow he would be in the rear with the train, and Major-General Mar- maduke (the flower of Southern chivalry) would lead Price's army, supported by the Tenth Missouri Cavalry, Col. Robert Law leading, reinforced by a detachment of the Third Missouri Cavalry, under Col. Greene, and the Seventh Missouri Cavalry, under Col. S. G. Kitchen. On llio dawn of this, to-morrow, Octo- ber 21st, Blunt's men would fire the bridge in the face of their splendid foe. When General Curtis came upon tlie scene at day- break, Blunt's troops were on the west side of the little stream, prepared to give battle. The brigade was dismounted and arrayed on a wooded slope. Moonlight's men and four howitzers in the center, Jennison's men on the right, the Third Wisconsin Cavalry forming his right, the Fifteenth Kansas Cavalry forming his left. Ford on ^loon- light's left, with McLain's Colorado Battery in the center of his line, the Sixteenth Kansas to tlie left of it, and the Second Col- orado at the right. While the line was waiting for the Corfederates' attack Curtis rode up and took command, and the men of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry greeted him with "Rally 'round the flag, boys." In Gen. Marmaduke's report he said his engineering com- pany improvised another bridge, but the most of his men forded the little stream and opened lire upon the Federals. General Curtis himself directed first the resistance, then an orderly re- treat. The second Colorado Cavalry lost their major-general, J. H. Smith, in this engagement. Captain G. L. Grove, Com- pany G, Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, died in the Harris House in Westport a few days later; this hotel being used as a hospital. General Curtis's personal escort numbered about forty mili- tary men. Fifteen of the forty men had their horses shot from 53 imiler tlieiii, vvlnle (JurUs so learlessly resisted tiie onsiaugkt of Marmaduke. Major K. H. Hunt, with two howitzers attached to (Jurtis's personal escort, did sojiic distinguiiihed ervice and shares with Major- General Eoss, of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, and an orderly named Bloomer^ the honor of saving a gun b) cutting the harness from the dead horses: in the act Major Hunt was struck by a piece of an exploding shell. General Marma- duke had two horses killed in this engagement while he was in the saddle. The Confederate loss is unknown. BJunt estimates the Federal loss at about 20U killed, wounded, and missing. On the 21st General Curtis received at Independence a telegram that in the Shenandoah, Sheridan had defeated Early. Messages of the news of this Federal victory were sent to all the troops; by the same messengers he also made public his determined intention to strike a decisive blow to check the invading armj in Missouri at the Big Blue the next day. General Price aisu sent a message into Kansas City, stating that he would take supper in Fort Leavenworth in two days, his chief objective point; evidently with tlie design of causing Curtis to flank him on the south and thereby weakening his force protecting the Independence road into Kansas City. The night of the "^Ist Gen- eral Curtis gave his personal attention to the fortifications at Wyandotte, moving several of the regiments, whose leaders had been instructed that they could not move them beyond the bor- ders of the State, by certain political demagogues, and, after securing as well as he could against the possible "get away'' of Price into "the borders" of Kansas, his fourth objective point, with Fort Leavenworth his ultimate aim. General Curtis rode to his field headquarters, located about where Fifteenth Street crosses the Big Blue Kiver. Along the line of this treacherous stream, from where it pours its waters into the Missouri south to Hickman Mills, was almost fifteen miles of efficient trenches, a magnificent battle-line. By felling trees the fordable places in the stream had been obstructed, and the crossings were forti- fied with reinforcedl ditches. They did not consider the ad- vantage the trees on the opposite bank were to be to their adversaries. The Position of the Men. The troops to the left of Chirtis' headquarters, extending to the Missouri Elver, were . under the general command of Maj.-Gen. G. W. Deitzler, of the ICansas jMilitia, -^oO men of the Fourth Kansas guarding the mouth of the Blue on the extreme north end; next south was the Second Kansas Colored State 54 Militia, under Captains R. J. Hinlon ami .1. \j. J^afety; next south the Sixth Kansas State Militia Keginient, cominantied by Col. Jas. Montgomery (succeeding Col. J. S. Snoddyj. The Ninth Wisconsin Battery, undrr Captain Jnnies II. Dodge and the famous Independence Colorado Batter\-, spoken of also as the Second Colorado Cavalry (whose leader was killed at the Little Blue), Major J. H. Pritcliard now in command, next in line; and completing I'nrtis's left wing was the Tenth Kansas and a section of the Second Kansas, under Lieuteuiint D, C. Knowles; south of them at Byrom's Ford, under Colonel \\. D. iMcLain, the Fourth Kansas, holding the reinforced trenclns. 1^) their right the war partners, Jennison's First Brigade an] Moonligiifs Second Brigade of Kansas \ ( lunteer Cavalrv lined v\) a< fur south as Hickman Mills Crossing, which was held by Brig.-lien. M. S.' Grant with 100 ujen and one brass howitzer. This hand- ful of men from Kansas with the gun were from the Second and Twenty-first Kansas, under Ca]»tain J. T. Burnes, of the Second Kansas. Against this splendid battle-line early in the morning Price moved his fighting force, with Shelby in the van; his ad- vance guard drove in the outposts and pickets immediately in front of Greneral Curtis's headquarters. I'rice was too ehrewd an old soldier to get his array into tbe death-trap — the Missouri Eiver on the north, Pleasanton's forces on the east, Curtis on the west with a right flank maneuver to effect the concentration of his troops; but Curtis, appreliending liis plan to miikc an at- tack on the Federal left — that attention might be drawn from his right — warned his right wing, and fell back to a position where he could watch the game; Price then massed his men along the eastern l)ank of the Big Blue in the face of the Kansas fire and did some courageous and tenacious fighting. Shelby's guns answered those of Jennison, IMoonlight, and Blair, and then the Confederate cavalry dismounted and crept up close to the water's edge; from behind trees they kept up an interesting fire, which was wdth equal energy returned by the Federals. At this point Curtis sent a message to his right wing saying to look out for an attack, because Price was making but feeble demon- strations before his left. As expected, they moved along the line little by little to the southward, evidently testing the strength of the line, hoping to capture a crossing or to drive Curtis's right wing back to the trenches at Kansas (*ity, thereby gaining West- port. Between 3 and 5 o'clock there was desperate fighting on both sides, with practically all the troops of the Confederate Army engaging with the combined Federal forces of twice their number. The routing of Marmaduke through the fields west of 55 [ndependence was going oji at the same time tliat. the "raw re- cruits" along Curtis's extreme soiitli line forsook the buttle and did a little exercising on their own lioolc. Col. A. S. Johnson'i (unlucky) Thirteenth Kansas Eegiment seemed to be flying a well-lmown motto of the '()Us, '•Bound for Kansas," instead of the flag of chivalry. They were farmers accustomed to giving orders under this motto : "Whoa there, Bill! go "long there. Buck! Bound for Kansas — dani ray luck \" But Major T. I. McKenny, inspector-general of Curtis's forces, buspecting that they were getting 'old fee!,, was in their rear, and when they ran he L-heckcd their speed with a life-and-death proposition, but allowed Ihem to fall hack in a decent order of retreat. The "gap"' they left was quickly filled by the enemy, flanking Jennison's and Moonlight's brigade and cutting off completely General M. S. Grant at the Hickman iMills crossing, who lost by capture the mm of the Second Kaii^as under him and the State's big brass gun, but made h;^- c5C?po, as did Veale and his men of the Twenty-first Kansas. Colonel Bonebrake's article published in this booklet is an account of his personal ex- perience in thisi retreat. Jennison's and Moonlight's brigade, at this unexpected break in the line, formed c[uickly aiu! marched in a parallel line westward with the onward movement of Shelby's and Fagau's forces that poured through the gap: Curtis ordered Major E. H. Hunt, his chief of artillery, io lead the mounted men of his personal escort, Company G of the Eleventh Kansas, to a posi- tion at the head of Jennison's line to check Shelby's advance toward Westport. Their attack on ^-hclby's head kept him from seizing the town Saturday evening. Marmadnke's routing, even in retreat, was sure to be of ad- vantage to Price's attack ; he could fall into line north of Fagan's forces at the Blue, and move southward with the main army. Maj.-Gen. Sterling Price had also a well-planned battle-field and a fairly good loophole for retreat toward Fort Scott. Kansas. This point offered certain advantages toward getting back through Arkansas with his "recruits" in the event of his com- plete failure, and mav justly be called "liis last resort," or sixth objective point. One company of Jennison'< artillery kept up their firing to so late an hour that Brigadier-General Shelby professed him- self "tired of its d d noise," and ordered Col. Sidney D. Jackman and Col. F. B. Gordon to go over and take it, under 56 coru-iield cover, by a tiauk uK'Jvement. They had the pleasure of obeying his order completely, and brought back also the erstwhile enthusiastic gunners and two Kansas artillery flags seized by Captains McCoy and Wood, of the Fifth Missouri, which were presented to Major-Greneral Sterling Price at the close of the day, October 22, 1864. Moonlight w^ent into camp at Shawnee Mission. Pleas- anton's Army of Pursuit that night came on through to Independ- ence and occupied the country between the town and the Big Blue River north of the territory held by Price's rear guard to the wagon train, which had been drawn up to and moved south of the "gap." Sanborn's brigade and Pleasanton's van encamped at Byrom's Ford, supported by Winslow's brigade to his north. Brown's and McN'eil's brigades camped in the open c-ountry be- tween them and the Westport road to Independence. Pleasanton had pushed ]\farmaduke's van up to the Confederate rear line south of Westport, but his rear occupied the trenches on the Big Blue, where he encamped for the night. The Confederates' council of war was not the only council that was held that night. The Wyandotte, Kansas, folk had a "pow-wow,''" and demanded cei'tain precautions to be taken by the Army of the Border for their ])rotection. At nightfall Curtis had ordered Deitzler's brigade and Blair's brigade into the ditches in front of Kansas City. Moon- light, as we have seen, was at Shawnee Mission. Jennison's lirigade was in the trenches south of Westport. Kersey Coates and his splendid body of Kansas City Home Guards spent the night in the trenches in front of Kansas City and doing out- post and picket duty in the field: many of them doing splendid messenger service, plying between the divisions of the Army of the Border with news and orders. The old Harris House at Westport was that night a Federal hospital, but it was destined in oiie short day to extend its hos- pitality to both the Blue and the Grav. The l.umane women of Westport, it is said, knew no distinction. At Gen. Curtis's headquarters for the night, the old Gilliss Hotel, there was a real council of war, oPficial ; participated in between the officers commanding the troops and the volunteer aides. While the voting men slept in the trenches in Missouri, politicians walked the floor for fear the ^filitia would not get back to Kansas bv the first Tuesdav after the first Monday in ISTovember. The oflficial council of the olficers preparatory to next day's battle was to no little extent hampered by this sort of volunteer 57 aid; wlieu Curtis was hard pressed by Senator "Jim" Lane over a point foucerning the movement of troops from tlie Kansas border, General Blunt asked him for orders. Preparations for the morning campaign had been going on all night and ammunition-wagons had supplitt! Jennison and Moonlight to the capacity of each soldier: the battle had been carefully planned. At the witching hour of three came the or- der. General Blunt, who was anxious to fight, Deitzler and Blair, taking the three roads to the southward, were to move out of the Kansas City trenches with their eo]nmands before daybreak, leaving the earthworks to be held by the Hoiue Guards; they were ordered to form the reserve. Ford's brigade on the hills just north of Westjjort had spent the night in boots and saddles, but were now ordered south of the little city to Jennison's left; the latter commander had orders to move southward to Brush Creek, to a point near where the Wornall road crosses the stream. C*ol. ^Moonlight's orders were, to go into action on the riglit of the Fedeal line south of \\'eptport. ^TcLain's Independent Bat- tery, Colorado Volunteers, with six rifled held-pieces, and the Twelfth Kansas Militia supported the line between the road that is now Troost Avenue and Ford's left. "Open the attack at daybreak all along the line" was the general order from Major- (leneral Samuel R. Curtis. The Confederate line was formed with ''Fighting Joe" Shelby in front of W.jstpi jt, Fagan east of Shelbv's division, and Marmaduke's van just east of Fagan's position, his rear-guard in the trenches at the Big Blue. When the Sabbath day peeped over the eastern horizon as the spy, the hosts along the Big Blue first met the eye. Re- versed from the scene of yesterday, tbe Confederates under Marmaduke, with his famous rear-guard, were in the trenches that the Kan^ans had deserted tlu- evening before, and Pleas- anton's army of pursuit was on the east bank and at earliest dawn opened fire, hoping to rout the guard and pass through the "gap" and crush Price's invasion. Colonel \Yinslow, whose troops had kept up firing until after midnight the night be- fore, was still in the advance, yet the colonel knew he should have fallen back at the advance of Brown, who had received tlie luidnight order to relieve him. Pleasanton was informed that someone had blundered; quick to liis saddle, the general, who was "everv inch a soldier," summoning his staff to accompany him, dashed away at full speed to the front. Brown had dis- obeyed orders. "NTo sooner had the general grasped the situation than he wos galloping away again at full speed in the direction of Brown's division. The general, who had sent him an order 58 with a reason ("because your coniniaud lias as yet done uo iiglit- iug"), now demanded of him why it was not obeyed. Tlie an- swer that Winslow had made no room for him, when thei'e was the whole State of Missouri, brought from the commanding of- ficer that most dreadful of ail orders to an officer, "To the rear," and Brown was never re-instated. Tleasanton would hear no excuse or explanation from Brown himsdf. "Who'; next in com- mand?" he asked. Colonel Philips answere''. 'vl.'" His Seventh Missouri Cavalry was then in (he field under T. T. Crittenden. '"You take eommaud of this brigade." He ordered him at once to the front and to the light; in this Pleasanton was obeying his superioi* officer, Eosecrans, who had commandod iiim by wire to vigorously push the enemy in accordance wiih the telegram that General Curt-is had sent to Poi?ecrans in Independence on the 21st. The delay of this portion of the troops was sufficent to let Marmaduke get much of the advantage, and the fight be present- ly put up showed the Kansanf. how they might have held the works the day before. Phillips led Brown's brigade against the three guns of Marmaduke that had been placed in an advantage- ous position commanding the road and the ford, and he plowed down upon the mounted men with death-dealing certainty. The Third Brigade, under Sanborn, joined Phillips and Winslow in a dismounted charge upon the works. The timb(-r v/as so thick that a mounted advance was imposi^ilile : their first attack had proven this; the ground was strewn with horses and men. ''A horrible loss," one officer reported. ''The fighting was as fierce as possible; several hundred men fell in the action.'" However, a heroic flank movement to the southward was executed while the main body was fiercely trying to cause ^Tarmaduke's evacuation of the ditches by carrying their principal attack a few hundred yards to the northward along the line of the Big Blue while the flank maneuverers fell liack to Byrom's Ford. It was successful, and not only the crossing was gained, but the Confederate line broke in several places and the I'ourteenth Cavalry, under Major- General W. Ivelley, and the Seventh, under Crittenden, waded over, with their guns above their heads in many instances, in the face of a mosti terrific fire from the gunners on the slope, where the fighting men of Marmaduke had re-arranged themselves. Over the steep west bank came the Army of Pursuit with their splendid charging force, Phillips riding aliead of the un- mounted men. At the timber edge the men lay down and re- inforcements and ammunition supplies were ordered. Across the ford came Winslow's brigade, upon the run, and formed in line 59 ill front of Philipss recliuing men. Beuteen, with reinforce- ments and ammunition supjalies^ also ruslied mto the field and formed in battle-line to the right of Vv'inslo\v"s men. The air began to thicken with bullets; ]Vrarmaduke's sharpshooters firing from behind every concei^able [jrotection, evtn climbing to the tree-tops. Crittenden's and Philips's men, now well supplied with the necessary lead, rose to the fury of the batlle, while all the men advanced in one glorious charge up the slope. Crit- tenden and Winslow were both struck in this engagement, but up the slope went the Army of Pursuit, and the men of Company A, Third Indiana, captured a flag. Several officers reported this charge as ihe hardest fought point of the day's confiiot ; around the log-cabin at the top of the slope it was a hand-to-hand engagement. Philips's, Benteen's, and Winslow's men bore surperior arms, and on a field sixty yards wide there was a perfect shower of l)ullets, which broke Marma- duke's last desperate stand. AVhen he retreated to save his guns, the Army of Pursuit advanced to meet the Army of the Border on the field of Westport and was greeted with a yell from the busy Kansans. This about one o'clock p. m. Dawn found the Army of the Trans-Mississippi ready with their commander, Maj.-Gen. Sterling T-'riee, in liis headquarters on the field; General Curtis at the old Gilliss House; troops on both sides all arrayed. ^The guns of McLain exchanged shots with Shelby's guns; as the Federal troops marched boldly into the trenches and opened a brisk fire, this was promptly returned by the ever-ready Confederates. Presently the troops in the trenches directly south of Westport with bold bravado crossed Brush Creek and from the woods on the other side charged into the open between the bluff on which Shelby had placed his fight- ing men on the timber's edge; with great valor and the fam- ous "Eebel yell," down from their stronghold the Confederates swarmed and vigorously rushed the boys in blve liack through the brush to their own side of the creek. By this time fighting was general all along the line and two or three" points were especially notable. Pagan's division east of Shelby exchanged brisk banters with Ford's command, lying across the creek in front of him; Marmaduke's van opposing the Federal line, east of what is now Troost Avenue, was shnrply encountered on the par+ of the -Fed- eral leader, with the hope of driving his van back to the Blue. Let us return to the lines in front of Westport. Both sides seemed to content themselves for some time after this first en- counter with drawing back to their respective vantage-grounds 60 and shooting at each other. This was hard on Westport, for many of Shelby's shells went over the heads of his foe into the streets; one exploded just nort of the Harris House, which was the field headquarters of the Federal officers. Now "Fighting Joe" Shelby's men advanced to attack ; they attempted to rush down from the ridge or bluffs along the creek and dash upon the left wing of the Federal lines; they were met half way in this maneuver by two regiments of Kansas Militia, who charged into the creek-bed as if to redeem themselves. They drove this attacking body back to the Confederate lines. Both sides had now made a daring dash, proving that they were very equally pitted against each other. In this left flank attempt Shelby's men got as near Fort Leavenworth, the chief objective point in the hope of the Army of the Trans-Missifcsipi, as they ever got, and the action, though repulsed, was executed. The First and JSTineteenth Kansas repulsed this attack. "We mention this because the latter was one of the latest regiments assigned by General Curtis, and he mentions this especially in his report of the day, as "raw recruits." As has been noted. Shelby's di- vision gained some ground at a point where the Wornall road crosses Brush Creek. He was the object of the second charge of the Federals, but the advance was made general all along the line. The bluffs at this place are particularly steep and the at- tacking forces were at c. di'"ib is now located. The whole Army of the Border to a man now went into earnest action and attempted to rout the enemy. The Confed- erates had lost their stronghold before Westport, and vet the 62 resistance that they put up was marked and praiseworthy ; they fought like men in the open field, but gradually lost gToimd. This break in the Confederate line, which occurred about 11a. m., weakened Marniaduke's position at Byroni's Ford, who was com- pelled to send three pieces of his arlillery to the open fields near the Country Club, in the efforts which were being made there to check the Federal onslaught. The Confederate officers saw that the success of this Federal movement was filled with danger to their position and made a determined but fruitless stand at the Wornall House; around this home occurred one of the sharp- est engagements of the day. McGee's regiment of cavalry charged against McLain's batteries; Jennison, observing this, commanded Captain Johnson, of the Fifteenth Kansas Cavalry, to join him, and these two officers led this company and two squadrons of the Second Colorado Cavalry in a fierce counter-charge against Mcttee; they met in a short, desperate man-to-man struggle, in which the Confederates lost 100 and the Federals 15 men. This was one of the bloodiest engagemenis of the Battle of Westport, and within an hour the Womall homo became a hospital for the Blue and the Gray, and the wounded men on both sides received like attention and hospitality here. The near-duel which oc- curred between IMcGee and Johnson re=uUed in the death of the one and the other was severely wounded. Brig.-Gen. ^1. Jeff Thomp-on rerorted this action as the turn of the tide against Price, and if wns well said, as the counter- charge led by Jennison with onlv one squadron of the Second Colorado routed them from their position; he then sent for re- inforcements, and the entire Kansas Artillery, being thirteen howitzers and eighteen brass Parrotted guns, moved up to his position, which was never disputed In' the Confederates. At this hour the Army of Pursuit and the Army of the Bor- der united on the field of Westnort. a co7ubined force twenty thousand strong, now confronted the Armv of the Trans-Missis- sippi and Price's invasion was near the end ; the end, we may say. so far as Missouri was concerned. 63 THE CASUALTIES OF TPTE THREE-DAYS FIGHT. There is soi.ne interesting history concerning tlie resting- place of the dead that fell at the Battle of Westport. ^lany of the Confederate soldiers have been reinterred twice since they were buried ofn] the field of battle by the Kansas City Home Guards, commanded by A. M. Allen. They were first reinterred in what was known as the Byrom's Ford Cemetery, Seventy-first Street and Troost Avenue. They remained there until they were removed to their final rosting-place in Forest Hill Cemetery. Twenty bodies of Federal dead, after the Battle of the Lit- tle Blue, were taken to Wyandotte and interred in what is known as the old Huron Place Cemetery; they werei allowed to rest there only three days, because the Indians refused to let the United States Army use the ground that was then and is now the red- man's burial-place. The bodies were in a dreadful condition, past recognition, but they were taken to Lawrence and Topeka for burial. The soldiers that reached Topeka were met by a mourning city, and a very appropriate funeral service wa-* held and the bodies placed far to the outer edge of what is now the city limits; until lately no association has ever marked these graves, but they are soon to have a suitable monument. "Who does not march, in dreams, to that old air Called 'Dixie's Land,' and see the barred flag fly Proudly 'mid smoke where battle's blinding glare Of sheeted flame shows how brave men can die? "Ye of the South built new upon the old Foundations, 'round Avhich sacred mem'ries creep; T onlv ask that you retain, unsold. Those grass-grown hillocks where dead comrades sleep." The object of the United Daughters of the Confedera-cy is to honor the memory of those who served and those who fell in the service of the Confederate States; to protect historic places of the Confederacy : to collect and preserve the material for a truthful historv of the war; to aid in erecting monmnents to the heroes of the Confederacy; to fulfill the duties of grateful kind- ness toward the survivors of the war and those dependent ^^pon 64 them, and to cherish the ties of friendship which these sacred principles impose upon the members of this Association. Nearly fifty years have passed since contending armies met in mighty conflict in and near Westport. Fields that smiled fair and green in the morning sunlight at the close of day were soaked by a crimson flood, which be- spoke the sacrifice of the lives of so many of the heroic sons of Missouri. Price, Marmaduke, and Shelby were there, and gave their best eiforts for the cause they loved so well. Then it was that Westport's women, with tender, sympathetic touch as they bent over the wounded, robbed suffering of its pangs. Nearly half a century, and to-day the Southern women of Missouri rejoice that tlie angel of peace smiles where grim- visaged war once frowned. The scars made during that awful fratricidal conflict are nearly all eft'aced, and historic old West- port hears only in memory the roar of cannon and the shriek of shot and shell. She has destroyed all traces of bitterness as she extends a welcome to her friends ; she knows no foes, because time has so mellowed hatred that it has been absorbed in fraternal love. The Avomen of the South have been ever conspicuous for their loyalty to the Southern cause. Indeed, someone has said that had it not been for the Southern women the war would never have lasted so long. To-day the United Daughters of the Confederacy, descend- ants of the Southern men and women of the sixties, are busy comforting the old soldiers who wore the gray, and minister- ing to their every need. It was for this purpose and to provide a "Home for ex- Confederates" that the association known as Daughters of the Confederacy was formed bv the women of St. Ix)uis in 1891. This was merged into the United Daughters of the Confederacv in 1898. In Fayette. Missouri, in that year, the Missouri Di- vision was formed, and this has spread until thirty-fonr active chapters are now on its roster. Kansas City Chapter, ISTo. 149, third on the list, has been particularly identified with Westport and its surroundings. In Forest Hill Cemetery stands a beautiful monument erected by this chapter, at a cost of $5,000, in memory of the Confederate Soldiers who fell in the Battle of Westport. In three graves at its base are remains of seventy-three soldiers, names unknown, but they represent the States of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Illinois. Near them is the grave of Col. Upton (Up.) Hays, of Westport, killed at the Battle of Newtonia; and 65 here also rests the body of Gen. Joseph (Joe) Urvilie .Shelby, aud none braver, more gallant, more devoted to the Southland ever lived than this adopted son of Missouri. The bodies of the seventy-three soldiers were picked up on the field of battle and interred in what was afterwards known as Byrom's Ford Cem- etery (isee supplement). The lot bought in Forest Hill Cem- etery was deeded to the Kansas (Jity Chapter, to be held in trust by it. The trustees, Mrs. Hugh Miller, ]\irs. ^Faxwell Min- ter, Mrs. J. M. Philips, and Mrs. Blake L. Woodson, hold the deed for the property. The monument stands on historic ground, for it was on that spot that General Shelby camped the night before the Battle of Westport. The United Daughters of the Confederacy of Mis- souri raised over $50,00U towards building and furnishing the Home for ex-Confederates at Higginsville, Mo. This Home is one of the most beautiful public institutions in the State, con- sisting of 3G0 acres of fertile land, with splendid brick buildings, well equipped hospital, cottages, chapels, fine barns, and is well stocked. There are in the Home at this time about 360 soldiers who wore the gray. Kansas City Chapter, No. 149, has been al- ways an active worker for that cause and it has also devoted its time to matters historical and benevolent. This chapter is a pioneer in that great association which extends now from the Atlantic to the Pacific^ and from the extreme north to the Gulf of Mexico. Wherever there are women from the Southland, they will be found Ijanded together for the purpose of keeping alive, not hostility, but the love for the old South. Kansas City Chapter has seen the birth and growth of three other cha])ters in our city : Stonewall Jackson, under the leader- ship of Mrs. Wm. S. Clagett; Eobert E. Lee, presided over by its most eapable president, Mrs. Thos. W. Parry; George Pickett, whose aflFairs are capably administered by ]\Irs. Hunter Meri- wether. Kansas City Chapter, under the able guidance of its president, j\Irs. Hugh Miller, expects to accomplish great work along historical lines in the near future, and incidentally give the Battle of Westport special study. The United Daughters of the Confederacy are earnest South- ern women, loyal to their united country, with a membership of 80,000, but cherishing and keeping alive in their hearts the memories and traditions of the life in the old South ; that ideal life when courtesy to women, honor, and integritv were inherent in the men, and modesty, gentle womanliness, and perfect mother- hood were represented l)y its women. 66 It seems the setting for this ^e^^nion could not liave been made more perfect for the Daughters of the Confederacy than that they should have Mrs. Roma J. AVornall for their State- President, around whose home cluster so many memories of that fateful October day; but many an October has come and gone,. and no more darkness reigns over the land, but the soldier from the Southland is never forgotten. The motto of the organization, 'Tjord God of hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget — ^lest we for- get," is particularly appropriate and is deeply imprinted on the heart of every Daughter of the Confederacy. MoNUMEXT Erected on the Battle Field by the Kansas. City Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy. 67 H. J. VIVIAN, Major 2d Missouri Cavalry, C. S. A. PERSO.\AX. ItEMIiS^ISCENCE OF MAJ. H. J A^VIAN OF THE LAST DAY OF THE BATTLE OF WESTPORT. On the last day of the Battle of VVestport, General Shelby gave me orders to take three hundred men and go to the ford south of Westport, telling me not to let a Federal pass there under any circumstances, and to remain there until a courier was sent for me. After having reached the ford as ordered I had the men dis- mount and deployed them along the south side of the ford They ha(| been stationed in this manner about an hour when the Fed- eral cavalry was discovered coming from Westport. Waiting quietly until they nearly reached the ford, I ordered the men to fire. The Federals fled after having returned only a few shots. In about two hours they returned within a quarter of a mile of the ford and, after a short consultation among themselves, re- treated. I have since read in Jenkins's ''History of the Battle of Westport" that they returned to the Federal headquarters with the report that it was quite impossible to cross at the ford, as Shelby was stationed down there with his full command. On the afternoon of the same day their cannon were ordered to the battle-field; they had in the meantime met an elderly man who lived in the vicinity and he had told them he would pilot them over a different road to the battle-field, thus avoiding cross- ing at the ford. After having remained at the post General Shelby had or- dered me until four-thirty in the afternoon, I deemed it neces- sary to return to headquarters for further orders, as no courier had arrived upon the scene. At this time the Federals were on every side of us, with the exception of one small space on the south. Just when we reached the top of the hill about half a mile east of the Wornall homestead the Federal regiment mounted their horses and rode parallel with us, thinking we were Fed- erals, I suppose; in the distance I recognized General Shelby by the horse he rode. [ started for him, and it was then that the Federals realized their mistake and started firing; but General Shelby, seeing the situation, soon covered my retreat. At his chance of conversation with me, he shouted: "Where in hell have you been all this time?" 69 "Yes, 'where in hell' have 1 been ? I 've been right down there on the ford where yon ordered me to go and stay until you sent a courier for me to return." "Well, didn't he come ?" "No; you didn't send any courier." "Well, I suppose the Federals killed him; if they didn't, i will have him court-martialed and shot." We then had orders from General Price, for Shelby and his men to take the rear and keep the Federals oif, as Fagan was then leaving the battle-field. The next morning General Price ordered Marmaduke in the rear to guard against the Federals, saying that Shelby and his men had worked very hard and needed a rest, and they would therefore be put in front. About eleven o'clock, as I remember, a courier can:e rushing to the front, saying that Llarmaduke had been seriously v/ounded and that General Shelby was ordered to the back, where the Fed- erals were crowding closely upon us. This so angered old Joe that he had nothing to do all the way to the loar but stand up ■in his stirrups and swear with every step of his horse. The Fed- cerals flanked in on us and a lively fight ensued. If there is any soldier who was with me that day on Brush Creek at the 'ford, I would be greatly pleased to hear from him or see him at my home. Very sincerely, your comrade and friend. Major H. J. Vivian, 2901 Campbell St., Kansas City, Mo. 70 EECOLLECTIONS OF THE SECOXD DAY'S FIGHT IN THE BATTLE OF WESTPOET. By P. I. BONEBRAKE. On tlie morning of October 22, 1864, a portion of the Sec- ond Eegiment of the Kansas State Militia, under the command of Col. Greorge W. Veal, of Topeka, was camped at the crossing of the Blue Biver known as "Hickman Mills Crossing," south of Westport, Missouri. The regiment had 300 men, cavalry, and an old howitzer. At an early hour our colonel received an order to go on a scout to Hickman Mills to ascertain if a report was true that General Price was sending his wagon train, cattle, and unarmed men in that direction to be reunited with the main body after the expected battle at Kansas City. After breakfast we mounted and proceeded to Hickman Mills. We waited until about noon and no sign of Price's train. We started on our return to Hickman Mills Cross- ing, where we met an order to return to Westport. After rest- ing awhile at the river crossing, we saddled up and started for Westport. We were hardly on the move when we met a mes- senger on a foaming horse, saying that Shelby had crossed at a lower ford and would cut us oft unless we hastened. We re- mounted and put our horses in a gallop. When we passed from the valley to the highland, we saw^ coming from the northeast a long line of cavalry, which proved to be Shelby's men. We were completely cut off from Westport. We halted opposite the Moc'kaby farm-house. On our right was an open field. We formed in line of battle in the field, with the cannon in the public road. The long line of the enemy marched up to our front and formed in line. The contest was aboat to commence between a brigade of soldiers, Shelby's men, the flower of the Confederate Western Army, and about 300 Militia, composed of lawyers, doc- tors, preachers, farmers, and others, some of whom had never fired a gun. The fight was initiated by the discharge of a shell by the old howitzer. The shell burst about 100 feet above the heads of the enemy. The following shells failed to burst and are supposed to be going yet. The musketry fire was opened all along the line. Shelby attempted to flank our position by sending a body of troops to our left. This maneuver was checked 71 by a free discharge of canister sliot. After the battle had been on about a half ani hour, we noticed by the formation and the bugle calls that the enemy were preparing for a charge. Up to tliis there was but little damage. With the usual ''Eebel yell," the charge came, and the enemy rode right over us. At the opening of the fight we were dismounted and our horses were held in the rear. AVe scattered like sheep, every man for him- self, each running for his horse. Unfortunately, the horse- holders had let the horses go, and many of the men were capt- ured. Eight here begins a portion of the story that is disagree- able to tell, even after this lapse of time, nearly half a century. The fiercest part of the enemy's charge was centered on the bat- tery consisting of about thirty men. After* the battery was use- less, the men were unarmed and surrendered. Yet twenty-four of those men were shot down. Later their remains were brought to Topeka and are honored by a beautiful monument to their memory. Let me note here that the Militia were armed with old-fash- ioned Enfield infantry, muzzle-loading rifles, siipplied with ill- fitting cartridges. The men threw them away as they ran. The men were followed as they ran and many were shot down. Lieut.- Col. H. M. Green was robbed, his outer clothing taken off, and he was then shot. The same treatment was given to Captain II. E. Bush, of Company G. The same to Lieutenant De Long. Colonel Green and Captain Bush recovered. De Long died. Fortunately there was a brushy piece of timber on the north bank of the Blue Eiver, into which many of the men ran and thus saved their lives, as the brush was so dense that the horse- men could not follow. Yet for half an hour after the battle an occasional shot was heard as some unfortunate man was found. The hatred toward the Kansas men was intensified no doubt by Gen. Ewing's Order N^o. 11 and the raids of Jennison's men at various times. As I said before, looking back almost a half- century, it seems strange that tlie issues of war should array neighbor against neighbor, sometimes even father against sons, brother against brother, sweetheart against sweetheart: making men more cruel than the beasts of the jungle. Many of Shelb/s men were from Jackson and Clay counties. Incompetence or cowardice cost the lives of more than fifty Kansans. Colonel Lowe, with a regiment of Militia, and Major Lang, with part of Jennison's regiment, stood on the hills south of the Blue, in plain sight of the trap into which the Kansans were placed, and by a demonstration could have withdrawn them. Shelby paid no attention to them, but after the battle quietly 72 went into camp near the battle-field. His mission was to form the left wing of Price'si army for the battle of the next day. Shelby held about eighty prisoners of our regiment. On Sunday morning, the 23d, they were gotten together and at- tached to Price's train of stragglers, recruits, cattle, etc., and hurriedly marched south. They were kept in this way until Fort Scott was passed. Price's main army was so hard pushed and the prisoners so much of a handicap that they were turned loose and told to shift for themselves. They were in a difficult sit- uation. They could not travel in a body, and if they scattered they would be classed either as bushwhackers or jayhawkers and shot. However, they followed the latter course, every man for himself, and in some way the most of them reached Fort Scott and were) helped to their homes. INTany thrilling stories of their escape were told by these men. T omitted to mention that Brig.-Gen. M. S. (rrant was with us a portion of the time, but withdrew early to Olathe, Kansas. It may be of some interest to hear of my personal experi- ence in the fight. WTien Shelby's men charged and rode over us, each man looked out for himself. The men who were to hold the horses let them go. I found my horse near by in a fence-comer, nearly scared to death. I mounted, jumped the fence, and started to run the road to the crossing. I soon dis- covered that some of the enemy were ahead of me and would cut me off. so I turned and ran for the timber and. jumping off my horse, ran down a small ravine; T left my pursuer, as the brush was too dense for a horseman. He left me a souvenir of the race in a pistol ball in my saddle just in front of my body. I crossed a road into an old field where the brush was thin and, leing very tired, laid down to rest. T remained there until dark- ness set in. The bugles of Shelby's men sounded the recall and I started west, keeping near the stream and the brush for safety. I had not been on the way long when I heard a voice call, ''Who comes there?" I dropped into the brush and failed to answer. Again I heard the same call, and then asked, "Who are you?'* The answer came, 'Tlopkins, of Capt. Hannum's com.pany." We then got together and traveled until, we guessed, about twelve o'clock. We laid down and slept in a haystack. At daylight we found ourselves near the road from Olathe to Westport, Later on we heard the cannonade, and that told that the "battle was on once more" and our troops still held Westport. We first went to the Harris House and found it a hospital ; the wounded of both sides were being treated by doctors and kind-hearted women. 73 Later I wandered on in the rear of the Colorado Battery, which was firing over the heads of our troops in the valley. Price's army was slowly retreating. The victory rested on the banners of the soldiers of the Union, I went on to Kansas City, where I fell in with a camp of Topekans, and Judge Martin, afterwards United States senator from Kansas, gave me some raw bacon and crackers, the first food I had had for thirty hours. Tt seemed to me the best meal I ever ate. Our little battle was the beginning of one that was fought almost continually day and night from Westport to the border of Texas. Price had organized a campaign to recruit his army and furnish supplies for it for the coming winter, and incident- ally to capture Kansas City, Tort Leavenworth, and sweep south through Kansas. The campaign ended by Price's escape to the border of Texas with a remnant of his army, in number hardly enough to constitute a good body-guard. The question has been often asked whether the results of the war justified the bloodshed and the vast expenditures of both sides. It certainly determined two questions. First, it deter- mined that we are a jSTation, and not a Confederacy. "A Union now and forever, one and inseparable." The late Alexander Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, said in a speech: "When all the States are bound together in one common head, then the nations of the earth will look with wonder at our career ; and when they hear the noise of the wheels of progress in achieve- ment and development and expansion and glory and renown, it will appear to them as the very voice of the Almighty." Second, it removed forever the sin and disgrace of slavery, which had cursed the Nation from its organization to the date of President Lincoln's proclamation. I close with the words of the immortal L^'ncoln, which are as applicable to us to-day as when they were delivered : '^ith malice toward none, with charitv for all, with firmness in the right as God has given to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the 'N'ation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphans, and to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting place among ourselves and unto all nations." The campaign was a series of blunders on the part of both the Federals and Confederates. Had Price turned south at Lex- ington, he would have been 100 miles away before Generals Pleasanton and Curtis could have united their forces and he would have saved his immense train of recruits, supplies, etc. 74 Eut his anxiety to strike Kansas City and Kansas cost him the loss of his army. The Federal Army had but little faith in its commander. At one time four brigadier-generals of his army talked to him in such language that he agreed. to take the ag- gressive and in no case fall back beyond the Kansas Eiver as he proposed. Political jealousy and insubordination characterized the Federal forces during the entire campaign, even down along the line after Price had begun his retreat. 75 SEP 9 ^9^^ THE OLD MAI^ VENERABLE. In his report of the Battle of Westport,. Major-General Sam- .uel E. Curtis, IT. S. A., mentions a God-sent guide and gives him credit for having grasped the situation correctly and furn- ished the valuable plan at the critical moment v;hen he was try- ing to rally his "Kansans" to a second attempt to charge up the slopes under the fire of Shelby's fighting m.en. Feeble and unarmed, "this aged Missouri pioneer" sought with great diffi- culty the side of the commander and explained that he knew the lay of the land; that to take his troops through a gap in the rocky ridge south of the creek was the only alternative if the men could not gain the heights before attempted that had proved so impregnable. J. L. ISTorman, volunteer aide on the stafi' of General S. E. Curtis, wrote the account of that incident of the Battle of West- port. Curtis, like a truly thankful man, offered the Mis- souri farmer a horse and bade him ride with hi? staff and lead the way ; too feeble for mounting, the veteran of many a pioneer strategy refused to ride, and when his mission was accomplished, he sank down weak with exhaustion, but in his eyes there showed the light that never fails when God in one has spoken. A mis- sion accomplished was truly evidenced, immediately by the suc- cess of the guns of the Federal troops, before which the Confed- erates fell back. This gap is some few hundred yards from where the Wornall road now crosses Brush Creek to the westward. It should be suitably marked in memory of "this aged Missouri pioneer,'"' as General Curtis calls him. 76 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 003 258 660 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS II! il 003 258 660