E 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 GIVEN AT A MEETING OF THE 
 
 ^ Colorado Commandery 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Military Order 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Loyal Legion of the United States 
 
 DENVER, COLORADO 
 SEPTEMBER 1\ 1909 
 
 BY 
 
 COMPANION 
 MAJOR HARRISON HANNAHS 
 
 Published by Order of the CommanderJ^ 
 
 Col. George R. Swallow, 
 
 Commander. 
 
 Lieut. Austin W. Hogle, 
 
 Recorder. 
 
ri;iss E517 
 Book ■Ka4 
 
 i'iii;si-;NTi;i) my 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 GIVEN AT A MEETING OF THE 
 
 Colorado Commandery 
 Military Order 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Loyal Legion of the United States 
 
 DENVER, COLORADO 
 SEPTEMBER 7. 1909 
 
 BY 
 
 COMPANION 
 MAJOR HARRISON HANNAHS 
 
 Published by Order of the Commandery. 
 
 Col. George R. Swallow, 
 
 Commander. 
 Lieut. Austin W. Hogle, 
 
 Recorder. 
 
PARADIS' PRINT 
 
 1814 Arapahoe Street 
 
 Denver, Colorado 
 
 Esq 
 
00 
 
 War's Cruelty on the Border. 
 
 ^ ''Man's inhumanity to man, 
 
 £ Makes countless thousands mourn." 
 
 General Sherman said to the Mayor of Atlanta: 
 "War is cruelty; you cannot refine it." 
 
 My experience and observation in Kansas and Mis- 
 souri, in the early days and on down through the war, 
 compels me to give unqualified assent to the sentiment 
 thus expressed by General Sherman. 
 
 The Kansas-Nebraska bill became a law May 30th, 
 1854. That law legalized slavery in the territory of 
 Kansas from which it had been excluded since 1820. 
 The Missouri border had been peaceful during all that 
 time, but now the scene suddenly shifted. Within ten 
 days after the passage of that bill the hitherto peaceful 
 border became the scene of wild fanaticism, intimidation 
 and terrorism. The struggle was on to make Kansas a 
 slave state. Freedom upon one side and slavery on the 
 other, with all the power of the national government on 
 the side of slavery. 
 
 The world will never know, nor duly appreciate 
 how much it owes to Kansas for the heroic part it played 
 in the great tragedy. 
 
 The free state men did not strive for the abolition 
 of slavery in the slave states — only to make Kansas a 
 free-state. For this they prayed ; for this they fought ; 
 for this they sacrificed. Then began the greatest conflict 
 of modern times, and history, truthfully recorded, will 
 date the beginning of the war of the rebellion, May 30th, 
 1854, the date when the Kansas-Nebraska bill became a 
 
 3 
 
law. ''Years afterward when May 30th was selected as 
 the day for tears and flowers, they who chose it uncon- 
 sciously set history to music." So Decoration Day be- 
 comes the anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. 
 
 The condition of the Missouri border from the be- 
 ginning of the conflict was unique. The fiery utterances 
 from press and platform inflamed the baser passions of 
 men and urged them on to deeds of death and destruc- 
 tion. History furnishes no parallel with which to com- 
 pare it! The flaming torch, the glistening bowie-knife 
 and the deadly revolver got in their ruinous and sanguin- 
 ary work continuously from start to finish. Human 
 passion never before in the annals of time flamed with 
 such relentless and unbridled fury. A complete history 
 of that period will never be recorded in books. It is im- 
 possible. The ashes from the torch of the incendiary are 
 silent. The thirsty ground that drank in the blood of the 
 slain cannot speak. The heavens witnessed all the 
 ghastly scenes of cruelty perpetrated in Kansas and Mis- 
 souri during the eleven years of the terrible struggle, and 
 the}' are voiceless. 
 
 Why should the conditions on the border then have 
 been any different than before the conflict began? What 
 was it that set father against son, neighbor against 
 neighbor, brother against brother? 
 
 Tf the institution of slavery was such a despotic ty- 
 rant as to require its votaries to commit every crime in 
 the category — treason, murder, arson, ad infinitum — 
 was it not high time that such a monstrosity should be 
 banished from the earth? 
 
 I might relate instances in my own experience, and 
 quote from records in my possession, cases of barbarous 
 cruelty and murder until the mind wearies at the recital ; 
 and then the half would not be told. 
 
 4 
 
I have said the struggle to make Kansas a slave 
 state began when the Kansas-Nebraska bill became a 
 law. I will now relate some instances corroborating this 
 statement. 
 
 June lo, 1854, ten days after the bill passed, a num- 
 ber of Missourians met three miles from Fort Leaven- 
 worth and - organized a Squatters' Claim Association. 
 They adopted a set of rules for their guidance. I quote 
 two of them: 
 
 1st. ''We will afford no protection to abolitionists 
 as settlers in Kansas Territory. 
 
 2nd. "That a vigilance committee of thirteen be ap- 
 pointed to decide upon all disputes. 
 
 A Missouri newspaper called The Democratic Plat- 
 form, in 1854, said : 
 
 "We are in favor of making Kansas a slave state if 
 it should require half the citizens of Missouri, musket in 
 hand, to emigrate there and even sacrificing their lives 
 to accomplish so desirable an end." Another Missouri 
 paper. Western Champion, responded — "Them's Our 
 Sentiments." The Kansas Pioneer, published at Kick- 
 apoo, April 1855, said, "The Southern character is not 
 made of material that can stand every insult offered by 
 this God-forsaken class of men, and if the virgin soil of 
 Kansas must be enriched and purified by American blood, 
 we say war to the knife and knife to the hilt and damned 
 be he who first cries, hold! enough.'' — April 14, 1855. 
 The Parkville Luminary, Geo. S. Park's paper; (Geo. S. 
 Parks was the founder of Parkville, and of Park Col- 
 lege), was destroyed and thrown into the river, because 
 the editor criticised Missourians for going over into Kan- 
 sas and voting. The men who did the job held a meeting 
 and adopted a set of resolutions, one of which was "That 
 we meet here again on this day three weeks, and if we 
 
 5 
 
find G. S. Parks or W. J. Patterson in this town then or 
 at any subsequent time, we will throw them into the Mis- 
 souri river, and if they go to Kansas to reside, we pledge 
 our honor as men to follow and hang them whenever we 
 can take them." The Annals of Platte Co., by W. M. 
 Paxton, says of Parks, *'His dust now reposes at the very 
 spot whence he was banished in life and a colossal 
 marble monument to his honor overlooks the place where 
 his press was submerged." The most pronounced and 
 active of the leaders of the pro-slavery movement in Kan- 
 sas were Benj. F. Stringfellow and David R. Atchison. 
 Atchison was U. S. Senator from Missouri when the 
 Missouri compromise was repealed, and was the power 
 behind Stephen A. Douglas, who is generally supposed 
 to have been the author of that bill. I will quote from a 
 speech made by Senator Atchison at a sale of lots in the 
 city of Atchison, Kansas, in which he said : ''Gentlemen, 
 you make a damned fuss about Douglas, but Douglas 
 don't deserve the credit of the Nebraska bill. I told 
 Douglas to introduce it. I originated it; I got Pierce 
 committed to it and all the glory belongs to me." I will 
 now quote a speech made by Benj. F. Stringfellow at St. 
 Joseph, Mo., March 26, 1855, setting forth the mean- 
 ing of squatter sovereignty in Kansas. He said 'T tell 
 ^•ou to mark every scoundrel among you that is in the 
 least tainted with free-soilism or abolitionism and exter- 
 minate him. Neither give nor take quarter from the 
 damned rascals. I propose to mark them in this house 
 and on the present occasion, so you may crush them 
 out. To those who have of qualms of conscience as to 
 violating laws, state or national, the crisis has arrived 
 when such impositions must be disregarded as your rights 
 and property are in danger and I desire one and all to 
 enter every election district in Kansas, in defiance of Gov. 
 
 6 
 
Reeder and his vile myrmidons and vote at the point of 
 the bowie-knife and revolver. Neither give nor take 
 quarter, as our cause demands it." Acting upon this ad- 
 vice at the first election for members of the legislature, 
 March 30, 1855, thousands of armed men rushed into the 
 territory from Missouri, took possession of the polls, and 
 run things to suit themselves. Electing only Missourians 
 to the legislature. Only one free state man allowed a 
 seat and he resigned ; about 300 of them camped on my 
 claim two miles south of Topeka and voted. The legis- 
 lature met and adopted the Missouri code of laws which 
 made opposition to slavery a penitentiary offense. Every 
 voter had to take an oath to support the fugitive slave 
 law and the laws of the territory. Resistance to those 
 so-called ''bogus laws" was treason. There were no 
 Republicans nor Democrats — men arranged themselves 
 on one side of the line as Free-State and on the other 
 side as Pro-Slavery — the free-state men refused to recog- 
 nize the bogus laws, would not pay taxes, would obey 
 the mandates of none of their officers. The result was 
 anarchy, the leaders of the free-state party were indicted 
 for treason, imprisoned, murdered, their homes destroyed, 
 their presses burned. 
 
 Andrew H. Reeder, appointed by President Pierce 
 the first territorial governor, in his sworn testimony be- 
 fore the congressional committee in i(S56, says: ''At the 
 election of the 30th of March more than one-third of the 
 election officers were, as I believe, pro-slavery men. An- 
 ticipating, however an invasion of illegal voters from the 
 state of Missouri, I was careful to appoint in most of the 
 districts, especially in those contiguous to Missouri, two 
 men of the free-state party and one of the pro-slavery 
 party. Notwithstanding all my efforts, however, at fair 
 and impartial action, my person and my life were contin- 
 
 7 
 
uotisly threatened from the month of November, 1854. 
 * * * The election was held on the 30th of March, as 
 ordered, and an invading force from Missouri entered the 
 territory for the purpose of voting, which although it had 
 been openly threatened, far exceeded my anticipations. 
 About the time fixed as the return day for that election a 
 majority of the persons returned as elected assembled at 
 Shawnee Mission and Westport and remained several 
 days, holding private caucuses at both places. I had fre- 
 quent conversations with them and they strenously denied 
 my right to go behind the returns made by the judges of 
 election, or investigate in any way the legality of the elec- 
 tion. A committee called upon me and presented a paper 
 signed by twenty-three or four of them to the same effect. 
 Threats of violence against my person and life, were 
 freely afloat in the community and the same threats were 
 reported to me as having been made by members-elect in 
 their private caucuses. In consequence of its being report- 
 ed to me that a number of the members in their caucuses 
 in their speeches had declared that they would take my 
 life if I persisted in taking cognizance of the complaints 
 made against the legality of the elections, I made ar- 
 rangements to assemble a small number of friends for 
 flefense, and on the morning of the 6th of April I pro- 
 ceeded to announce my decision upon the returns. Upon 
 the one side of the room were arranged the members- 
 elect, nearly if not quite all armed, and on the other side 
 about fourteen of my friends, who, with myself, were also 
 well armed." 
 
 May 5, 1856, the grand jury of Douglas county 
 recommended that the newspapers Herald of Freedom 
 and Kansas Free State and the Free State Hotel in the 
 city of Lawrence be abated as nuisances. It also indicted 
 several prominent free-state men, among them Charles 
 
 8 
 
Robinson, afterwards governor, and Gov. Andrew H. 
 Reeder, then territorial governor, for treason. May 7th, 
 two days afterward an attempt was made to arrest Gov- 
 ernor Reeder, but by the aid of friends he escaped by way 
 (^f Kansas City, disguised as an Irish deck-hand on a 
 steamboat. In the meantime Sherifif Jones had arrested 
 a number of others who had been indicted for treason 
 against the bogus laws and placed them in confine- 
 ment at Lecompton. A few days after, Atchison 
 with a large posse from Missouri camped on Mount 
 Oread, overlooking the city of Lawrence, prepared with 
 artillery to abate the alleged nuisances referred to. On 
 the 20th of May, 1856, he made a speech to the men of his 
 camp from which I quote: "Men of the South and Mis- 
 souri, I am proud of this day. I have received ofiice and 
 honor before, I have occupied the vice president's place 
 in the greatest republic the light of God's sun ever shone 
 upon, but ruffian brothers (yells) that glory, that honor 
 was nothing — it was an empty bubble compared with the 
 solid grandeur and magnificent glory of this momentous 
 occasion. Here on this beautiful prairie bluff with 
 nought but the canopy of heaven for my covering, with 
 my splendid Arabian charger for my shield, whose well 
 tried fleetness I may yet have to depend upon for my life 
 unless this day's work shall drive from our western world 
 tlie hellish emigrants and paupers, whose bellies are filled 
 with beggars' food and whose houses are stored with 
 Beecher's Bibles." This speech was reported by Dr. J. P. 
 Root, whom I knew personally and who was a political 
 prisoner in that camp at the time. The next day, May 
 21, Sheriff Jones, in obedience to the indictment of the 
 grand jury, destroyed the Free State Hotel; Herald of 
 Freedom and The Kansas Free State, Atchison firing 
 the first shot from the cannon on the bluff. During the 
 
 9 
 
burning of the block Sheriff Jones made a speech, he 
 said : ''Gentlemen — this is the happiest day of my life, I 
 assure you. I determined to make the fanatics bow be- 
 fore me in the dust and kiss the territorial laws, I've done 
 it! By God, Fve done it! " 
 
 It will be noted that the sentiments expresed by At- 
 chison, Stringfellow and others were not all political biin- 
 couibc. Inflammatory speech led on to violent deeds. 
 April 30, 1855, ^^^^ vigilance committee at Leavenworth 
 gave notice to William Phillips, an active free-state law- 
 yer in that city, to leave the territory. He refused and on 
 the 17th day of May was taken to Weston, one side of his 
 head shaved, stripped of his clothes, tarred and feathered, 
 ridden on a rail for a mile and a half and a negro auc- 
 tioneer sold him for a dollar. Stringfellow in his paper 
 at Atchison said ''Let us begin to purge ourselves of all 
 abolition emissaries who occupy our dominion and give 
 distinct notice that all who do not leave immediately for 
 the East will leave for eternity. Phillips was afterwards 
 murdered in his own home, September i, 1856, by a gang 
 of ruffians led by one Fred Emery, his blood spurting up- 
 on the garment of a bride who was the guest of the family 
 at the time. August i6th, 1855, Rev. Pardee Butler was 
 placed on a log at Atchison and shipped down the Mis- 
 souri river. He had previously declared himself a free- 
 state man. A flag was placed on the log bearing the 
 mottoes : "Eastern Aid Express ; Greeley to the rescue ; I 
 have a nigger; Rev. Mr. Butler, agent to the Under- 
 ground R. R." Butler was told not to return. He did 
 return, however, to Atchison April 30, 1856, he was 
 stripped, tarred and for want of feathers covered with 
 cotton. He escaped hanging by one vote. Stringfel- 
 low in his paper. The Squatter Sovereign, August 28, 
 1855, said: "We can tell the impertinent scoundrels of 
 
 10 
 
The Nezv York Tribune that they may exhaust an 
 ocean of ink, their Emigrant Aid Societies spend their 
 milhons and bilHons, their representatives in Congress 
 spout their heretical theories till doomsday. And his 
 excellency Franklin Pierce appoint abolitionist after 
 free-soilers as governor. Yet we will continue to tar 
 and feather, drown, lynch and hang every white-livered 
 abolitionist who dares to pollute our soil." 
 
 October 25th, 1855, Samuel Collins, free-state man 
 killed by Patrick McLaughlin at Donipan, murderer 
 not punished. 
 
 On the 2ist of November, 1855, F. M. Coleman. 
 a pro-slavery man, shot and killed C. W. Dow, a free- 
 state man, near Hickory Point, Douglas county. Dow 
 was unarmed and passing Coleman's house on his way 
 to Jacob Branson's, with whom he lived, when Coleman 
 came out and without provocation, save that he was a 
 free-state man, shot him dead. This produced intense 
 excitement, tlie free-state men held a meetino- where 
 Dow was killed. Branson attended the meeting; Sher- 
 iff Jones, instead of arresting Coleman for the murder 
 of Dow, on the night following entered Branson's cabin, 
 found him in bed, arrested him at the mouth of a revol- 
 ver. The only charge against Branson was that he at- 
 tended the indignation meeting of the free-state men. 
 As soon as the arrest of Branson was known, a party uf 
 about fifteen free-state men, led by J. B. Abbott, S. N. 
 \\'ood, S. F. Tappen, resolved on a rescue and under 
 cover of the night intercepted the sheriff and his posse 
 of fifteen. Upon Jones' approach, Abbott filed his men 
 in line across the road and called a halt, demanding the 
 release of Branson, Jones threatened to shoot Branson 
 if he moved, Abbott, with guns leveled at Jones, called 
 upon Branson to come over with them, Branson rode 
 
 11 
 
over to the side of his rescuers and Abbott and his party 
 rode on towards Lawrence. As they reached Abbott's 
 house, Mrs. Abbott came out and assisted Branson^ 
 who was an old man, quite heavy, to ahght from his 
 mule upon which he w^as riding without any saddle, and 
 led him into the house. He was very feeble and could 
 hardly walk. Jones, after threatening to bring 1,500 men 
 from Missouri within ten days and re-take Branson 
 rode off with his posse to Franklin and sent messages 
 to Colonel Boone at Westport, Mo., for men. A few 
 days thereafter from 1,500 to 2,000 men came up from 
 Missouri and camped at Franklin, a few miles from 
 Lawrence, and threw their pickets out in every direction. 
 So it was not safe for free-state men to go outside Law- 
 rence unarmed alone ; they were in danger of being shot 
 down. General Lane had command of the free-state 
 forces in Lawrence. They were short of ammunition 
 and Lane, considerably excited, said to Mrs. G. W. 
 Brown, the wife of the proprietor of The Hcrold of 
 Freedom, and Mrs. S. N. Wood, 'T do not know what 
 we are going to do, as we have not enough ammunition 
 to make a show of defense." Mrs. Brown replied that 
 her father, living about twelve miles south of Lawrence, 
 had a keg of powder and she would go after it in the 
 morning if she had a horse and buggy. Turning to 
 Mrs. Wood she said, ''Will you go with me?" and she 
 assented. Early the next morning the two brave women 
 prepared for the hazardous journey. They arranged a 
 large work basket with a large medical book and some 
 knitting work. These they placed in the rear of the 
 buggy seat and started. Tliey drove out to Blanton's 
 bridge, passing that over a mile on the other side they 
 saw two mounted scouts watching them very closely, 
 Mrs. Brown got out to adjust some part of the liarness. 
 
 12 
 
Then the men, dc)iil)tless thinking they were all right, 
 turned and rode away. About two miles further on 
 they met two men on foot. Mrs. Brown turned to them 
 and inquired how far it was to Mr. Burgess. He was 
 her father's pro-slavery neighbor from Missouri. After 
 giving them the directions they passed on, and soon 
 reached Mrs. Brown's father, Mr. Salem Gleason. 
 They borrowed of the mother two small pillow slips into 
 one of whicli they emptied the small keg of powder, 
 which Mrs. Brown tied about her person, under her out- 
 side dress. The day was cold and they both put on ex- 
 tra dresses before starting. After enjoying a good din- 
 ner they started on their return. Finding an empty 
 whisky flask they took the precaution to have it filled 
 with milk at Mrs. Gleason's and placed it on the big 
 work basket. On their way they stopped at Major Ab- 
 bott's, where Capt. J. E. Stewart and Howard Dickson 
 had buried on Major Abbott's farm some ammunition in 
 an old trunk, witli the half of a large keg of powder. 
 These were unearthed and with the help of Mrs. Abbott, 
 all but the keg of powder and two large packages was 
 adjusted about their persons. The caps and cartridges, 
 bullet molds and gun wipers were put up their sleeves, 
 in their pockets and dress waists. The bars of lead tliey 
 stood up in their stockings; the keg of powder and other 
 packages they turned over to Howard Dickson who w^as 
 going with a yoke of oxen and wagon to Lawrence. 
 Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Wood, when ready to start found 
 thev were unable to get into the buggy with all their 
 munitions of war. But Mrs. Abbott and the boy went 
 to their assistance : they drove back across the Waka- 
 rusa, when thev suddenly discovered that they were be- 
 ing closely watched by two men. Mrs. Brown said to 
 Mrs. Wood: 'They are coming." One of the men rode 
 
 13 
 
ap to the side of the bug'gy and scrutinizing it closely, he 
 said, ''Excuse me, ladies, I thought you were men. We 
 have orders to let no man pass this road to Lawrence.'^ 
 Mrs. Brown reph'ed, '*We have been out to Mrs. Burgis.'^ 
 Ihey drove very slowly on a walk, the other man rode 
 in back of the buggy, dismounted and stood with one 
 foot in the stirrup, seemingly ready to fire on them. 
 The other man seeing nothing m the buggy but the 
 bottle of milk and the big basket, went back to his com- 
 I)anion in the road. After a short consultation they 
 rode back to the boy with the ox team, whom they stop- 
 ped and searched, but finding nothing, rode away. Here 
 was strategy from start to finish, which few men could 
 have planned and carried out as successfully. The w^o- 
 men walked the horse very slowly, as if indifferent to the 
 conduct of the two men until beyond their reach, when 
 the old horse was vigorously plied with whip and away 
 tliey went at top speed into Lawrence. The anxious 
 citizens welcomed them with cheer after cheer. Here 
 again they were too heavily loaded to be able to get out 
 of the wagon alone — willing hands lifted them out and 
 assisted them into Mrs. Wood's house, where they soon 
 divested themselves of the implements of war. I relate 
 this story to give 3^ou an example of the courage and 
 heroism of the women of Kansas in those dark days — 
 days when the black cloud portentous of the impending 
 storm was hovering nigh ; days when freedom's bright 
 star was jusf twinkling in the twilight ; days when it 
 seemed that right was on the rack and wrong was on the 
 tlirone ; days when free-state men, and women too, stood 
 for the riglit as God liad given tliem to see the right, 
 in the sul:ilime faith that truth crushed to earth would 
 rise again. Excitement ran high, a hasty call was sent 
 out to the free-state men in the territory to rally at Law- 
 
 14 
 
rence. lOO men from Topeka came to Lawrence and 
 re-inforcements from other localities rushed into Law- 
 rence. General Richardson and Colonel Boone from 
 Missouri held conferences with General James H. Lane> 
 Chas. Rohinson and other leading men in Lawrence, 
 Avith Gov. Shannon and a treaty of peace was signed and 
 the threatened conflict averted. The ladies of Lawrence 
 used to meet in Mrs. S. N. Wood's little "shack" cabin, 
 "daily and nightly in one room, with its loose, open floor, 
 through which the wind would creep, to make cartridges ; 
 their nimble fingers keeping time with each heart-beat 
 for freedom, so enthusiastic were they in aiding the 
 defense of the town. Mrs. S. N. Wood, widow of 
 Samuel N. Wood, resides in Denver and has very kindly 
 aided me with valuable historical matter for this paper. 
 1 am indebted to her for much unwritten history of those 
 trying days. December 6th, 1855, Thomas W. Bar- 
 bour, free - state man was murdered. Barl^our 
 with his brother Robert and his brother - in - law, 
 Thomas Pierson, were returning home from the defense 
 of Lawrence, and when four miles south-west of Law- 
 rence, they met twelve horsemen who were going to 
 Franklin. Two of the twelve rode out from the others 
 and asked Barbour where he had been. He replied, "to 
 Lawrence" and rode on ; but the deadly bullet or bullets, 
 for there were two shots fired into his back, brought him 
 down, and as he fell to the ground he said, '*0 God! I 
 am murdered.'' He never spoke again, one ball passing 
 through his body. The men who fired the cowardly 
 shots at the unarmed Barbour were Major Geo. W. 
 Clarke. Lidian Agent, and Col. James N. Burnes (since 
 meml)er of Congress from Platte Co., Mo.) Both claim 
 the honor of the job. The report of the Congressional 
 Committee on Kansas claims, 1861, Page 17, says: "The 
 
 15 
 
chief guilt must rest on Samuel J. Jones, sherifif. He 
 said Major Clarke and Mr. Burnes both claim the credit 
 of killing that damned abolitionist and he didn't know 
 which ought to have it." Barbour's body was taken to 
 Lawrence and lay in state in the Council Chamber of 
 the Free State Hotel. Chas. Robinson and Gov. Shan- 
 non and his suite, Col. Boone of Westport, Mo., entered 
 and viewed the silent dead. The governor, as his eyes 
 fell on the rigid limbs and the death pallor of the young 
 man, who the day before was so full of hope and 
 strength, gave a perceptible shrug of the shoulders. 
 Colonel Boone, as he looked on the lifeless form, said: 
 "T did not expect such a thing as this.'' 
 
 BURIAL OF BARBOUR. 
 
 "Bear him, comrades, to his grave ; 
 Never over one more brave 
 Shall the prairie grasses weep 
 In the ages yet to come. 
 When the millions in our room. 
 What we sow in tears, shall reap. 
 
 "Bear him up the icy hill, 
 
 With the Kansas frozen still 
 
 As his noble heart, below. 
 
 And the land he came to till, 
 
 With a freeman's thews and will, 
 
 And his poor hut roofed with snow ! 
 
 "One more look of that dead face. 
 Of his murder's ghastly trace! 
 One more kiss, O widowed one! 
 Lay your left hand on his brow, 
 Lift your right hand up and vow 
 That his work shall yet be done. 
 
 "Patience, friends! The eye of God 
 Every path by murder trod 
 Watches, lidless, day and night ; 
 And the dead rnan in his shroud, 
 And his widow weeping loud, 
 And our hearts are in His sight. 
 16 
 
"Every deadly threat that swells 
 With the roar of gambling hells; 
 Every brutal jest and jeer, 
 Every wicked thought and plan 
 Of the cruel heart of man, 
 Though but whispered. He can hear ! 
 
 "We in suffering, they in crime, 
 Wait the first award of time. 
 Wait the vengeance that is due; 
 Not in vain a heart shall break. 
 Not a tear for Freedom's sake 
 Fall unheeded — God is true. 
 
 "While the flag with stars bedecked 
 Threatens where it should protect, 
 And the law shakes hands with Crime, 
 What is left us but to wait, 
 Match our patience to our fate 
 And abide the better time? 
 
 "Patience, friends ! The human heart 
 Everywhere shall take our part, 
 Everywhere for us shall pray; 
 On our side are Nature's laws, 
 And God's life is in the cause 
 That we suffer for today. 
 
 "Well to suffer is divine ; 
 
 Pass the watchword down the line. 
 
 Pass the countersign, "Endure." 
 
 Not to him who rashly dares, 
 
 But to him who nobly bears, 
 
 Is the victor's garland sure. 
 
 "Frozen earth to frozen breast. 
 Lay our slain one down to rest ; 
 Lay him down in hope and faith. 
 And above the broken sod. 
 Once again, to Freedom's God, 
 Pledge ourselves for life or death. 
 
 "That the State whose walls we lay. 
 In our blood and tears, today. 
 Shall be free from bonds of shame 
 And our goodly land untrod 
 By the feet of Slavery, shod 
 With cursing as with flame ! 
 17 
 
"Plant the Buckeye on his grave. 
 For the hunter of the slave 
 In its shadow cannot rest ; 
 And let martyr, mound and tree 
 Be our pledge and guaranty 
 Of the freedom of the West!" 
 
 ■Whittier 
 
 January 17th. 1856, Capt. Reese P. Brown, free- 
 state, murdered at Easton, Kans., by a pro-slavery mob. 
 Brown bad three cracks in his skull from a hatchet, and 
 the ruffiians spit tobacco juice in his wounds because "any- 
 thing^ would make a damned abolitionist feel better." 
 Easton is a few miles from Leavenworth. The Kick- 
 apoo Pioneer, a pro-slavery sheet, on the i8th of Jan- 
 uary, 1856, issued and extra from which I quote: *'For- 
 bearance has now indeed ceased to be a virtue, therefore 
 we call on every pro-slavery man in the land to rally to 
 the rescue. Kansas must be immediately rescued from 
 these tyrannical dogs. The Kickapoo Rangers are at 
 this moment beating to arms. Sound the bugle of war 
 over the length and breadth of the land, and" leave not 
 an abolitionist in the territory to relate their treacherous 
 and contaminating deeds. Strike your piercing rifle- 
 balls, and your glittering steel to their black and poison- 
 ous hearts." 
 
 Thomas H. Gladstone, a cousin of Wm. E. Glad- 
 stone, the premier of England, wrote a book entitled : 
 Kansas — Squatter — Life and Border Warfare in the Far 
 West. In 1856 he was correspondent of the London 
 Times. The general excitement about Kansas induced 
 him to make a tour of the territory. He says : 'T had 
 just arrived in Kansas City and shall never forget the 
 appearance of the lawless mob that poured into the place 
 (it was after the Sacking of Lawrence, May 21, 1856), 
 inflamed with drink, glutted with indulgence of the 
 
 18 
 
vilest passions, displaying with loud boasts the plunder 
 they had taken from the inhabitants and thirsting for 
 the opportunity of repeating the sack of Lawrence in 
 some other offending place." '"Having once been 
 taught that robbery and outrage, if committed in the 
 service of the South, were to be regarded as deeds of 
 loyalty and obedience, these ministers of a self-styled 
 law and order were slow to unlearn a doctrine so accept- 
 able." 
 
 Near Leavenworth on August 6th, 1856, a ruffian 
 named Fugit made a bet that he could have a Yankee 
 scalp before night. He got a horse, rode out into the 
 country a few miles and met a German named Hopps. 
 He asked if he was from Lawrence and Hopps replied 
 that he was. Fugit immediately drew his revolver and 
 Hopps fell dead. Hie dismounted, cut the scalp from 
 Hopps, tied it to a pole and returned to town with the 
 most exulting display of his achievement. When the wife 
 applied for the body, Fugit was one of a party who put 
 her on a boat and sent her down the river. Frank M. 
 Gable of Leavenworth, says life was dirt cheap in those 
 days. It was his father who first came upon the dead 
 scalped body of the man Hopps, the free-stater, who was 
 killed while on his way from Lawrence to Leavenworth, 
 1)y a pro-slavery man named Fugit. 
 
 John Speer says : ''The first night I slept upon Kan- 
 sas soil, September 26, 1854, our small party of emi- 
 grants from free states were awakened by demands of 
 where we were from and threats of expulsion, tarring 
 and feathering, hanging and drowning to every abol- 
 itionist who dared to enter Kansas. The second night 
 after reaching Lawrence we were called upon to defend 
 Rev. Th(imas J. Ferril. a methodist minister who had 
 just arrived witli his bride (Rev. Ferril was the father 
 
 19 
 
of Companion William C. Ferril, a member of this Com- 
 mandery), John Speer was a pioneer newspaper man of 
 Lawrence. He published The Kansas Tribune, which 
 was destroyed by Quantrell's gang. They also set fire to 
 Mr. Speer's house, and left it o burn, but Mrs. Speer 
 broke down the two burning doors, scraped the fire 
 into the cellar through a hole burned in the floor, and 
 saved the house. The fiends sought the life of Mr. 
 Speer, after they had brutally murdered his two sons, 
 but failed to discover the place of his concealment. He 
 wrote the life of General James H. Lane. Jo. Shelby, 
 who conducted a rope- walk in Lexington, Mo., sus- 
 pended his business March 30th, 1855, and with forty of 
 h.is hands came to Lawrence and all voted for territorial 
 officers. John Speer says he took dinner that day with 
 Shelby at Col. Sam. N. Wood's house, Mrs. Wood ex- 
 pressing some anxiety lest violence on the part of the 
 Missourians should be attempted. Shelby, in a very 
 gentlemanly manner, said, "Mrs. W'ood, no mob violence 
 is at all likely to be attempted, and if attempted will only 
 be over my dead body." Jo. Shelby afterwards became 
 a noted Confederate General and United States Marshal 
 during Cleveland's administration. Mr. Speer says : 
 ''When Jefferson Davis was at the Kansas City Exposi- 
 tion in Sei)tember, i-876, he happened to meet Gen'l Jo. 
 Shelby in the company of the ex-president of the Con- 
 federacy, and he introduced himself to Shelby with the 
 remark, "Gen'l Shelby. I took dinner with you at Sam 
 Wood's house in Lawrence, March 30th, 1855, when 
 you came up to help us vote.'' He laughed, saying, 'T 
 did take dinner at Mrs. Wood's house that day. Well, 
 Mr. Speer, we have all made great fools of ourselves 
 since that day." Mr. Speer spent the latter years of his 
 life with his daughter in Denver, where he died. He 
 
 20 
 
occasionall}' called upon me here, and we swapped 
 stories of the early days in Kansas. He always called 
 me General Order, A^o. ii. I suppose because my name 
 was signed to that Order. 
 
 Referring to Gen'l Shelby in this connection, 
 reminds me of his official report of the part taken by his 
 brigade in the battle of Prairie Grove, Ark., December 
 /th, 1862. If you will pardon the digression, I will 
 give extracts from that unicjue document, at once pictur- 
 esque and interesting. He says, ''On the evening of the 
 6th after encamping, and learning the near proximity 
 of the enemy, I doubled my guards, threw out infantry 
 skirmishes in every direction, under the charge of trusty 
 officers and lay down with the conscious satisfaction 
 that neither Federal, Kansas Jayhawker, nor Pin In- 
 dian, could surprise us. And if they came they would 
 meet with a bloody and hospitable welcome." * ^ * 
 "Upon the eventful morning of the 7th, long before the 
 full round moon had died in the lap of the dawn, long 
 before the watching stars had grown dim with age, my 
 brigade was saddled, formed and their steeds champing 
 frosted bits in the cold, keen air of a December morning, 
 ready and eager for the march. After advancing rapid- 
 ly without intermission for several hours, I struck the 
 trail, hot with the passage of many feet, reeking with 
 the foot prints of the invader." '•' * '-^ "After riding 
 hard for about an hour, my advance came full upon the 
 foe. and with the mad, fierce whoop of men who had 
 wrongs to right, and blood to avenge, they dashed on 
 and away at the pas-de-charge/' "^ * '^ "With 
 the second regiment of my brigade, I also threw forward 
 Capt. Quantrell's Company, and Elliott's battalion of 
 scouts, who joining in the wild halloa, pressed forward 
 eageily and fiercely, driving the frightened Federals 
 
 21 
 
before them like chaff before the winds of heaven. Still 
 the route continues along the bed of a creek. 
 
 Tramp, tramp, along the land they ride, 
 
 Splash, splash, along the lea. 
 The scourge is red, the spur drops blood. 
 
 The plashing pebbles flee. 
 
 The battle now began with terrific fury. All along 
 the lines the near fire of the infantry rose crash upon 
 crash, the dense smoke filling the air and the wild pow- 
 der gloom getting darker and darker. This terrible fire 
 soon rippled out in one vast, mighty wave of bullets, that 
 circled and roared like a storm at sea, varied incessantly 
 by the thunder of impatient cannon and the yell of ex- 
 ultant and furious combatants. =f= * * ;^jy gj^jj-. 
 mishers were steadily driven in, and down to meet them 
 like an avalanche our own infantry swept. They met, 
 the shock was terrible, but broken and rent, our boys 
 drove them back and followed the charge. Again and 
 again they returned to the fight, and again and again 
 were they repulsed with great slaughter. Now the en- 
 emy, gathering all his remaining strength, comes back 
 again with unbroken front and steady step. This con- 
 flict was intensely hot. Now the combat thickens all 
 along the lines, and death with its black banner on the 
 l)reese, nerves each heart and cheers them on to the 
 rough red fray. Bledsoe was there amid his guns, all 
 dirt begrimmed and ])owder blackened, plying his lurid 
 torch where balls would send or powder search. * * 
 * Night had closed the march of death, and the idle 
 breese now gave no murmur back to tell of what had 
 been passing but a few brief moments before, when — 
 
 Our bugles sang truce and the night cloud had lowered, 
 And the sentinel .stars kept their watch in the sky; 
 
 When thousands had sunk to the earth overpowered, 
 The weary to sleep, the wounded to die." 
 22 
 
Permit me to say in passing that it was my Regi- 
 ment, the nth Kansas, Col. Thomas Ewing, Jr., com- 
 manding, that formed the center of the Union Hne of 
 battle in the final charge of that day, which Gen'l Shelby 
 liere describes, supporting Rabb's battery on the left and 
 Terry's battery of lo-lb. Parrot guns on the right, and 
 I can say from experience that Shelby's graphic descrip- 
 tion of the final charge, which was just at dark, is not 
 overdrawn ! Just as the battle was hottest, I observed 
 a colored boy standing in the rear of my company. I 
 said to him, ''Where did you come from ? " Without 
 making any direct reply to my question, he jumped up 
 and down, slapping his sides with his hands, shouting, 
 ''Bress the Lord, Ise free, Ise free." 
 
 Hitherto there had been no organized effort by the 
 free-state men to resist the aggressive action of the bor- 
 der rufiians from Missouri. The scene again shifts — 
 Free- State men organize. Old John Brown joins his sons 
 on the Pottawattomie, October, 1855, and he and his four 
 sons, son-in-law and neighbors prepare to ''fight fire 
 with fire." Forbearance had ceased to be a virtue. The 
 time had passed when smitten on one cheeck to turn the 
 other cheeck. John Brown lived right in the hot bed of 
 the pro-slavery nest. May 23rd, 1856, he with his com- 
 pany of free-state men, while on their way to the defence 
 of Lawrence, were overtaken by a messenger telling of 
 outrages perpetrated on their families the night before 
 by pro-slavery men on the creek. Brown with his com- 
 pany returned by a hasty march to their homes with ven- 
 geance in his heart. He took the men who had com- 
 mitted the outrages on his family and others on the 
 creek and sent them out of the territory by way of eter- 
 nity. Six of them on the plea of "an eye for an eye and 
 a tooth for a tooth." This act put a stop for a time to 
 
 23 
 
attempts to drive out the free-state settlers. John 
 Brown's policy enabled the free-state settlers to stay and 
 by staying saved Kansas to freedom. 
 
 Lawrence, in the eyes of the pro-slavery party, was 
 Kansas — to destroy Lawrence was to destroy the free- 
 state party in Kansas. Lawrence was destroyed or be- 
 sieged three times before the Quantrell massacre, viz : 
 December, 1855, May, 1856, September, 1856. Osawa- 
 tomie was raided and robbed by 150 Missourians June 
 6th, and destroyed by 500 Missourians, August 31, 1856. 
 
 The Marais des Cygnes massacre occurred May 18, 
 1858. This tragedy has been rendered immortal by the 
 Quaker poet in his beautiful poem "Le Marais des 
 Cygne." I will quote from a paper written for the Kan- 
 sas State Historical Society by Ed. R. Smith, Mound 
 City. "Capt. Hamilton rallied about 500 men at the old 
 town of Papinsville, Mo., and marched them up to the 
 border of Kansas. As night drew on a halt was made 
 for rest and refreshments and to make final arrange- 
 ments for descent upon the unsuspecting settlers in the 
 beautiful valley surrounding the historic Trading Post. 
 The men had ridden many miles without food and blan- 
 kets and were tired and hungry, and besides they w^re 
 on the l)order of hated Kansas and were sure Capt. 
 Montgomery with his Jayhawkers could not be far away. 
 The sharp, rapid barking of a couple of coyotes in the 
 distance sent a thrill of alarm through the ranks; some 
 were sure that the howl of the wolves was signal of the 
 Jayhawkers. A panic was imminent. The more reso- 
 lute swore at the timid. Capt. Hamilton in a rage 
 mounted his horse, rode out of the mob, calling on the 
 "bloody reds" and any others to follow him. At this, 
 about thirty of the l)loodthirsty devils rode out and away 
 over the border after their cold-blooded commander. 
 
 24 
 
The remainder of the border ruffians, like the wolves of 
 the border they were, before day break on that eventful 
 May morning disappeared and were heard of no more 
 Hamilton with his cut throats rode into Trading Post 
 about nine o'clock in the morning of that bright May 
 day. He captured several prisoners there, all of whom 
 he released, except John F. Campbell, a clerk in the store 
 at the Post. With Campbell he proceeded on the road to 
 West Point, Mo. Scarcely a mile out they came up with 
 Rev. L. B. Reed, a settler, and well known to Hamilton. 
 Reed at the time was engaged in conversation with Wm. 
 A. Still well, a free-state settler from near Mound City, 
 then with his wagon and team on his way to Kansas 
 City for a load of goods. With these two was a young 
 and intelligent Irishman, Patrick Ross, whose home was 
 on the Osage river in Bourbon Co. Capturing the three 
 of them, Hamilton, with his four prisoners, moved east- 
 ward to the vicinity of his former claim. His next cap- 
 ture was Amos C. Hall, who was found sick in bed in 
 his cabin. He was ordered up and out, scarcely able to 
 stand, yet, under the excitement of threats of instant 
 deatli he was able to join the other prisoners. Thus 
 five prisoners were driven on foot to the home 
 of W'illiam Colpetzer, whose home joined that 
 of Hamilton. Colpetzer was added to the number 
 of prisoners, as he refused to run, as his wife begged 
 him to when he first saw armed men coming. Turning 
 northward a mile, Michael Robinson was captured and 
 one Charles Snyder, a former acquaintance of Robinson 
 in Illinois, then visiting at Robinson's ; thence another 
 mile northwest where an old man, William Hairgrove, 
 and his son Asa were captured while at work in their 
 cornfield. Austin W. Hall was next taken as he was 
 returning with the ''brown oxen" from Snider's black- 
 
 25 
 
smith shop. Not one of these men had arms with them, 
 with few exceptions all were well known to Hamilton 
 and many of his gang. They had never taken part in 
 the differences between free-state and pro-slavery men. 
 These unoffending men, guilty of no offense, charged 
 with no crime but that of being free-state men, were hur- 
 ried on — 
 
 "From the hearths of their cabins, 
 
 The fields of their corn, 
 Unwarned and imweaponed. 
 
 The victims were torn. 
 By the whirlwind of murder 
 
 Swooped up and swept on 
 To the low, reedy fen-lands, 
 
 The Marsh of the Swan. 
 
 Into a deep gorge of the meandering mounds, these 
 eleven victims were hastily driven, and there ordered to 
 fall in line, facing east, which they did. 
 
 "With a vain plea for mercy 
 
 No stout knee was crooked ; 
 In the mouths of the rifles 
 
 Right manly they looked." 
 
 Hamilton, without further comment, ordered his 
 men to form in front of their victims on the side of the 
 ravine and a little above them. Old man Hairgrove, 
 seeing the preparations for the murder, without a tremor 
 in his voice said : "Men, if you are going to shoot us 
 take good aim." Hamilton at this gave the order to 
 "make ready, aim, fire !" Fort Scott Brockett, at this, 
 wheeled his horse out of the line and with an oath 
 declared he "would shoot them in a fight, but, by God! 
 I'll have nothing to do with such an act as this." It 
 was with difficulty that Hamilton brought his gang 
 again into line, then again gave the order to fire, firing 
 the first shot himself. The entire eleven men in that 
 line went down before the deadly fire of their murderers. 
 
 26 
 
As soon as the smoke from the firing arose it was ob- 
 served that some of their victims were not dead. Ham- 
 iUon dismounted a portion of his gang with orders to 
 finish the job. Ending his order with ''By God, dead 
 men tell no tales." Colpetzer was not dead. He piteons- 
 ly begged to be spared to his wife and two children— a 
 pistol ball went crashing through the poor man's brain. 
 Patrick Ross was again shot, in order ''to be sure the 
 damned Irishman was dead." Others feigned death and 
 lay motionless in the blood flowing from dieir wounds. 
 Austin W. Hall was not touched in the first fire, but fell 
 with the rest and successfully feigned death. Colpetzer, 
 Ross, Stillwell and Robinson were dead. The others, 
 except A. W. Hall, were each desperately wounded. The 
 pockets of the victims were rifled of all valuables. This 
 being done, Hamilton mounted his command and rode 
 away, and to this day has not been seen or heard of by 
 any one familiar w^th this bloody crime. He may have 
 gone to that bourne from which no traveler returns. 
 
 This was but the beginning of a fearfully bloody 
 ending., The dead were gathered up and all conveyed 
 to a little cabin just north of the Post and laid on the 
 puncheon floor. There beside their dead, durinp- one 
 long, awful night, the widows and fatherless babes sat 
 in sleepless vigil. 
 
 "In the homes of their rearing 
 
 Yet warm with their Hves, 
 Ye wait the dead only, 
 
 Poor children and wives ! 
 Put out the red-forge fire, 
 
 The smith shall not come ; 
 Unyoke the brown oxen. 
 
 The ploughman lies dumb." 
 
 "Wind slow from the Swan's Marsh, 
 
 O' dreary death train; 
 With pressed lips as bloodless 
 27 
 
As lips of the slain. ' 
 
 Kiss down the young eyelids, 
 
 Smooth down the gray hairs ; 
 Let tears quench the curses 
 
 That burn through your prayers." 
 
 Such were the words of sympathy that came to the 
 stricken ones, fresh from the great heart of the Quaker 
 poet. As true as the arrow of its mark was his soul, as 
 it rose in prophecy in his beautiful poem, "Le Marais 
 des Cygnes : " 
 
 "Not in vain on the dial 
 
 The shade moves along, 
 To point the great contrasts 
 
 Of right and of wrong. 
 
 Free homes and free altars, 
 
 Free prairie and flood. 
 The reeds of the Swan's Marsh 
 
 Whose bloom is of blood. 
 
 On the lintels of Kansas 
 
 That blood shall not dry; . 
 
 Henceforth the Bad Angel 
 
 Shall harmless go by. 
 
 Henceforth to the sunset, 
 
 Unchecked on her way. 
 Shall Liberty follow 
 
 The march of the day." 
 
 At Trading Post there stands a beautiful marble 
 monument, erected to the memory of our martyred dead, 
 to the erection of which the state of Kansas contributed 
 $i.ooo. Beneath its shadow rest the ashes of Colpet- 
 zer, Campbell, Ross and Robinson. Stillwell was taken 
 to Mound City and buried there.. 
 
 Another atrocious murder was the case of Mr. Den- 
 ton, an old man, living on the Osage river. He was 
 called to his door in the night time and, without warning, 
 his body riddled with bullets. This band of cut throats 
 came from Fort Scott and their object was to intimidate 
 
 28 
 
the free-state settlers along the Osage river. These and 
 numerous other outrages on the peaceful settlers of the 
 territory roused the law-abiding men to action. General 
 James H. Lane organized an army of about 400 men 
 with headquarters at Mound City. This display of 
 force seemed to quiet the excitement for a time, but as 
 soon as Lane disbanded his force, then troubles broke 
 out afresh. Then Col. James Montgomery organized a 
 company of fearless settlers of Linn Co. and took the 
 field in defense of the lives and homes of the free-state 
 citizens. Adopting the tactics of the pro-slavery men 
 and border ruffians from Missouri, he politely informed 
 the leaders of the pro-slavery movement in that region 
 to go and not to stand on the order of their going, but to 
 go at once — and they went, some of them by way of 
 eternity. 
 
 Col. John Ritchie of Topeka was one of the prom- 
 iment men indicted for treason against the bogus terri- 
 torial laws. He had the reputation of being a good 
 shot. For that reason or some other none of the deputy 
 U. S. Marshals were anxious to risk their lives in an 
 attempt to arrest him. Meanwhile a reward of five hun- 
 dred dollars was offered for Ritchie's body, dead or 
 alive. A man ])y the name of Arms of Quindarro was 
 appointed U. S. deputy marshal, it was said, expressly 
 to bring Ritchie's body to Quindarro. Arms went to 
 Topeka determined to arrest Ritchie at all hazards. Ar- 
 riving there he secured a horse and buggy and, accom- 
 panied by a pro-slavery lawyer of that city, drove to Col. 
 Ritchie's house. Ritchie and Harvey D. Rice were en- 
 gaged in conversation at his gate when the marshal and 
 his attorney drove up. Arms said, "Ritchie, I want you 
 to go with me to Quindarro." Ritchie replied, 'T will do 
 nothing of the kind and you just go away and leave me." 
 
 29 
 
Arms began to get out of the wagon and Ritchie went 
 into his house, soon followed by the marshal. Ritchie 
 had just buckled on his revolver belt as the marshal 
 opened the door and entered the room where Ritchie 
 was standing. Arms said, "John, you better go with 
 me." Ritchie said, "I wont do it and you just leave me 
 alone." whereupon Arms, raising his revolver, said, "John, 
 life is sweet, life is dear, and the one who gets it first is 
 the best fellow." Ritchie as quick as a flash drew his 
 revolver and fired and Arms fell dead to the floor. Rit- 
 chie went into the next room where his wife and children 
 were, saying "I have killed Arms in there," and left the 
 house and w^ent and hid himself. The next day he came 
 to my home and requested to stay a few days. The U. 
 S. dragoons could be seen riding over the prairies hunt- 
 ing him. A captain and his squad, the night after the 
 killing, went to Ritchie's house and rapped on the door. 
 Mrs Ritchie replied, "What do you want?" The captain 
 said, "I want Mr. Ritchie." She said, "He is not here." 
 He said, "Open the door or I ^^ ill break it down." She 
 replied, "You open that door at your peril, I have in my 
 hands a double barrelled shot gun loaded with buckshot, 
 and if you attempt to open that door you are a dead 
 man." The captain evidently thought that "discretion 
 was the better part of valor," retired from the scene. I 
 called on Mrs. Ritchie the next day and informed her 
 where her husband was, and she related to me her exper- 
 ience with the U. S. officer. Ritchie stayed at my 
 house, much to the anxiety of my young wife who was 
 unaccustomed to such times, until the excitement had 
 subsided and we started him out on the Underground 
 railroad, the one John Brown took when he and his 
 party left the territory for the last time, to his 
 old home in Indiana. Soon after Kansas was admitted 
 
 30 
 
and the new state officers inaugurated, Ritchie return- 
 ed to Topeka and was tried before Chief Justice Thomas 
 Ewing, Jr. Ex-Governor Shannon assisting the pros- 
 ecuting attorney and Gen'l James H. Lane, defending 
 Ritchie. I attended the trial. It was a battle of the 
 giants. Ritchie was acquitted. 
 
 During the years in 1858, '9 and '60, the free-state 
 settlers gained - rapidly in numbers and consequent 
 strength. They said to the border ruffian from Mis- 
 souri, 'Tf you enter Kansas again to vote or to drive out 
 free-state settlers, you do it at your peril." The free- 
 state party began the w^ork of forming state constitu- 
 tions preparatory to admission into the Union as a free 
 state. The pro-slavery party saw plainly that their cause 
 in Kansas was lost and then — and then Sumter. 
 
 It has been my object thus far to show the nature of 
 the spirit that prevailed on the l:)order in those days and 
 what that spirit prompted men to do. It is not strange 
 that the seeds thus sown to the wind by Atchison, 
 Stringfellow and others of their kind should have pro- 
 duced the wdiirlwind. Neither is it strange that their 
 teaching should have produced such characters as Quan- 
 trell, the James boys, Tim Reeves, Dick Yeager, Bill 
 Anderson, George Todd and numerous others of their 
 like — ^' 'Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also 
 rea]).'' That same fiendish spirit that had been devel- 
 oped on the border during all the years of the struggle 
 thus far. continued in all its fury on to 1861 and on, 
 still on until right prevailed and freedom triumphed. 
 That inhuman spirit reached its climax in Quantrell's 
 raid upon Lawrence. That awful tragedy stands out 
 unique in history. I will now quote a few paragraphs 
 from a vivid description of that massacre, written a few 
 days after it occurred by Rev. R. Cordly, D. D., who 
 
 31 
 
was in Lawrence at the time whose house was burned, 
 and whom I knew personally for fifty years, as follows : 
 ''Early in the morning of August 21, 1863, Quantrell, 
 with about 300 desperadoes from Missouri, made his 
 murderous attack upon Lawrence, killing and wounding 
 190 defenseless citizens and destroyed two and a half 
 millions of property. The citizens of the ill-fated city 
 never felt more secure and never were less prepared For 
 defense than the night before the raid. Quantrell had 
 his spies in the city who kept him constantly informed 
 of the situation there before he left Missouri. It is 
 doubtful whether the world has witnessed such a scene 
 of horror, certainly not outside the annals of savage 
 warfare. History gives no parallel where an equal 
 number of desperate men, so heavily armed were let 
 loose on an unsuspecting community. The carnage 
 was much worse from the fact that citizens could not 
 believe that men could be such fiends. No one expected 
 such indiscriminate slaughter when it was known that 
 the town was in their possession, everybody expected 
 tliey would rob and burn the town, kill all soldiers they 
 could find and a few marked characters. But few ex- 
 pected a wholesale murder. Many who could have es- 
 caped, therefore, remained and were slain. For this 
 reason the colored people fared better than the whites. 
 They knew the men which slavery had made, and they 
 ran to the brush at the first alarm." A gentleman who 
 was concealed where he could see the whole, said the 
 scene presented was the most perfect realization of the 
 slang phrase — ''Hell let loose." that ever could be imag- 
 ined. Most of the men had the look of wild beasts, they 
 were dressed roughly and swore terribly. They were 
 mostly armed with a carbine and with from two to six 
 revolvers strapped around them. Dr. Cordly says : 
 
 32 
 
''We can only give a few of the incidents of the mas- 
 sacre-specimens of the whole. The scenes of horror we 
 describe must be multiplied till the amount reaches one 
 hundred and eighty, the number killed or wounded." After 
 describing several individual instances of cruelty. Dr. 
 Cordly says : "These are a specimen of cruelty to which 
 savages have never attained. But even the fiendishness 
 of these deeds was surpassed. Mr. D. W. Palmer, one 
 of the early settlers of Kansas, kept a gun shop just 
 south of the business part of the town on the main 
 street. His position prevented escape, but he and his 
 shop were spared till near the last. As a large gang of 
 drunken rebels were going out, they came upon the shop. 
 Mr. Palmer and another man were standing by the door. 
 The fiends fired upon them, wounding both, and then set 
 fire to the shop. The shop being old and of wood with- 
 out plastering burned rapidly. While it was burning, the 
 rebels took up the wounded men, bound their hands 
 together and threw them into the burning shop. A wo- 
 man, who was standing on the opposite sidewalk, says 
 she saw the poor men get up among the flames and 
 endeavor to come out, but were pushed back by the guns 
 of the torturers. The fire having consumed the l^an- 
 dages from their hands, she saw Mr. Palmer throw up 
 his hands and cry, 'O God, save us! ' and then fall life- 
 less among the embers. The fiends all this time stood 
 around the burning building shouting and chee^'ing, and 
 when the poor men fell dead, they gave a shout of tri- 
 umph and passed on. Two reliable women in full sight 
 witnessed the scene. As the scene at their entrance into 
 the city was one of the wildest, the scene after their 
 departure was one of the saddest that ever met mortal 
 gaze. Massachusetts street was one bed of embers. 
 On this one street seventy-five buildings, containing at 
 
 33, 
 
least twice that number of places of business and offices, 
 were destroyed. The dead lay all along the sidewalk, 
 many of them so burned that they could not be recog- 
 nized and could scarcely be taken up. Here and there 
 among the embers could be seen the bones of those who 
 had perished in the buildings and been consumed. On 
 two sides of another block lay seventeen dead bodies. 
 Early in the morning after the massacre our attention 
 was attracted by loud wailings. We went in the direc- 
 tion of the sound and among the ashes of a large build- 
 ing sat a woman holding in her hands the blackened 
 skull of her husband who was shot and burned in that 
 place. Her cries could be heard over the whole deso- 
 lated town and added much to the feeling of sadness 
 and horror which filled every heart." I will read no 
 more of this sickening description. 
 
 About lo a. m. Ouantrell and his gang having sat- 
 iated their thirst for blood and their greed for plunder, 
 started on their return to their secret haunts in Mis- 
 souri. On their way they took two of my valuable 
 horses from the tenant on my farm. Ouantrell was 
 overtaken by Gen'l Ewing's troops and a running fight 
 kept up until darkness closed the scene. 
 
 "Back, steed of the prairies!" 
 
 "Sweet song bird, fly back !" 
 "Wheel hither, bold vulture !" 
 
 "Gray wolf, call thy pack !" 
 "The foul human vultures 
 
 Have feasted and fled." 
 
 It is not my purpose on this occasion to give a des- 
 cription of the pursuit of Ouantrell's gang by Gen'l 
 Ewing's troops, that would require more space than is 
 alloted in this paper. The military district of the bor- 
 der, headquarters, Kansas City, Mo., eml)raced the east- 
 ern portion of Kansas, south of the Kaw river, and the 
 
 34 
 
western portion of Missouri south from Kansas City to 
 the southern border of the state. Jackson, Cass, Bates 
 and Vernon counties, all bordering on Kansas, were 
 among the richest agricultural counties of Missouri. 
 The topography of this region readily lends itself to 
 safe retreat in which the guerrillas took refuge. The 
 Sni Hills, the jungles of the Missouri river bottoms 
 were known in every part by them. Gen'l Ewing, after 
 returning from the pursuit of Quantrell, held a confer- 
 ence with his officers on the question how to rid the 
 Missouri border of these miserable devils. They had 
 no commissary, no quartermaster, no wagon trains ; they 
 subsisted off the country, compelling the inhabitants to 
 feed them. They had spies in every neighborhood. 
 As long as this condition of things existed it was im- 
 possible to expel them from the border. The only 
 course open to the general commanding seemed to be to 
 depopulate that portion of the district, thus depriving 
 them of their only source of subsistence. The result of 
 the conference was General Order No. ii, which is as 
 follows : 
 
 General Orders. 
 No. II. 
 
 Headquarters District of the Border. 
 
 Kansas City, Mo., August 25, 1863. 
 
 I. All persons living in Jackson, Cass and Bates Counties, Mo., 
 and in that part of Vernon included in this district, except those liv- 
 ing within one mile of the limits of Independence, Hickman's Mills, 
 Pleasant Hill and Harrisonville, except in that part of Kaw township, 
 Jackson County, north of Brush Creek and west of the Big Blue, 
 are hereby ordered to move from their present places of residence 
 within fifteen days from the date hereof. Those who within that 
 time establish their loyalty to the satisfaction of the commanding 
 officer of the military station nearest their present place of residence, 
 will receive from him certificates stating the fact of their loyalty, 
 and the names of the witnesses by whom it can be shown. All who 
 
 35 
 
receive such certificates will be permitted to remove to any military 
 station in this district or to any part of the State of Kansas, except 
 the counties on the Eastern border of the state. All others shall 
 remove out of this district. Officers commanding companies and de- 
 tachments, serving in the counties named, will see that this para- 
 graph is promptly obeyed. 
 
 II. All hay and grain in the field or under shelter in the dis- 
 tricts from which the inhabitants are required to move, within 
 reach of military stations, after the 9th day of September next, 
 will be taken to sub-stations and turned over to the proper officers 
 there and report of the amount so turned over made to district 
 headquarters, specifying the names of all loyal owners and the 
 amount of such produce taken from them. All grain and hay 
 found in such districts after the 9th day of September next, not 
 convenient to such stations, will be destroyed. 
 
 III. The provisions of General Order No. 10 from these head- 
 quarters will be at once vigorously executed by officers command- 
 ing in the parts of the district and at the stations not subject to 
 the operation of paragraph I of this order, and especially in the 
 towns of Independence, Westport and Kansas City. 
 
 IV. Paragraph 3, General Orders No. 10, is revoked as to 
 all who have borne arms against the government in this district 
 since the 20th of August. 
 
 By order of Brig. G^n'l Thomas Ewixg, Jr. 
 
 H. Hann.^hs, 
 Actg. Asst. Adj. General. 
 
 The al)ove order was justified 1n' General Order 
 No. TOO, Adjutant-Generars Ofifice, W^ashington, D. C. 
 Perhaps a 1)rief sketch of how this order came to be is- 
 sued may be of interest: In tlie begining of the war few, 
 if any, of tlie officers were versed in the law and usage 
 of war. In fact there was little literature on that sub- 
 ject availal)le to the volunteer officer. The result was, 
 during the early part of the war, many diverse and con- 
 flicting decisions and rulings were issued by the officers 
 in command in different departments of the army. This 
 condition led Mr. Stanton, then secretary of war, to 
 request Francis Lciber. professor of histor}' and polit- 
 
 36 
 
ical economy in Columbia College, to prepare a code of 
 instructions for the o;overnment of the army. Professor 
 Leiber prepared at great length a set of rules which was 
 submitted to a board of officers of the regular army, of 
 which Major Gen'l E. A. Hitchcock was president, and 
 approved by the President The rules thus approved 
 were issued in General Order No. lOO, Adjutant-Gen- 
 eral's Oflfice, Washington, D. C, April 24, 1863. That 
 order has been of force ever since. In justification of 
 Order No. 11, I will quote General Order 100, as fol- 
 lows: ''The commander will throw the burden of the 
 war, as much as lies within his power, on the disloyal citi- 
 zens of the revolted district, subjecting them to a stricter 
 police than the non-combatant enemies have to sufYer in 
 regular war; and if he deems it appropriate, or if his 
 government demands of him that every citizen, shall by 
 an oath of allegiance or by some other manifest act. 
 declare his fidelity to the legitimate government, he may 
 expel, transfer, imprison or fine the revolted citizens who 
 refuse to pledge themselves anew as citizens obedient to 
 the law and loyal to the government." General Order 
 No. 1 1 was enforced to the letter and in a few days 
 Quantrell and his gang sought other fields for their 
 operations. Under Order No. 1 1 every disloyal person 
 within the limits of the territory named therein was 
 driven out and every loyal person removed into the mil- 
 itary stations named in the order. It was a sad sight 
 to see these loyal men with their families pack up their 
 household effects, such as could be taken in wagons, 
 leaving their homes and going into camp at the military 
 stations. It was also sad to see the disloyal citizens go- 
 ing out, many of them not knowing where to go. I 
 never knew where many of them went ; I know some of 
 them never returned to their former homes. I never 
 
 37 
 
want to see another scene like that — *'war is cruelty, 
 you cannot refine it." It was expected, after the dis- 
 trict had been depopulated, that what was left would be 
 destroyed or ruined, hay and grain burned. But I am 
 happy to say such was not the fact. Rigid military 
 surveillance over that region preserved everything. 
 November 20, 1863, about three months after General 
 Order No. 1 1 was issued. General Order No. 20 was 
 issued under which the settlement of the depopulated 
 district was authorized, and in a short time all the loyal 
 citizens were permitted to return to their homes. The 
 men were organized into small companies, armed and 
 drilled, clothinor issued to them and were recognized as 
 state militia. The most of these men were satisfied 
 after it was all over that Order No. 1 1 was the best 
 thing for them, under the conditions. Driven off the 
 Missouri border, Quantrell with al^out thirty of his gang 
 went to Harrodsburg, Ky., to continue their guerrilla 
 warfare, and where he and some of his men soon came 
 to grief. A correspondent of the Cincinnati Enquirer 
 says he accompanied Frank James in 1903 to the graves 
 of his comrades who were buried in the Oakland church 
 vard near Louisville, Ky. This correspondent gives the 
 following account of Quantrell's death, in January, 1864: 
 ''Quantrell's men killed a farmer in Lincoln county 
 because he protested against exchanging one of his 
 horses for a jaded one of theirs. Capt. Bridgewater, 
 who was stationed at Louisville, hearing of the killing 
 of the farmer, went after the guerrillas. He found part 
 of them at the home of the widow Van Arsdale in sight 
 of Oakland church, where they had stopped for dinner. 
 While under the influence of liquor carelessly they had 
 left their guns in the front yard when they entered the 
 house, and were surprised in this condition by Capt. 
 
 38 
 
Bridgewater's men, James and George Noland, of Jack- 
 son Co., Mo., were killed. The remainder of the eano- 
 scattered. Quantrell and his party were at the honse 
 of Charles Adams, nearby. Hearing the firing he 
 detailed Frank and Jesse James and Lieutenant Rennick 
 to learn the canse. They rode to the top of a hill over 
 half a mile away to reconnoiter. Capt. Bridgewater 
 was standing on the back porch of the Adams house 
 observing the three men on horseback, rested his gun on 
 the lattice work and remarked. "Watch the man on the 
 w^iite horse," and fired. Rennick fell dead to the 
 ground. The next day Quantrell and his men were 
 overtaken by a heavy shower and they sought shelter in 
 the W^akefield barn. Capt. Terrill and his home guards, 
 who were out on a scouting expedition, trailed the raid- 
 ers to the barn and fired on them, killing two. Quan- 
 trell escaped pursued by Terrill's men across a wood- 
 land pasture until a shot near the spine felled the out- 
 law to the ground. As he lay there with uplifted hands, 
 he begged for his life. Capt. Terrill shot at his head, 
 missing it, but cutting a finger and thumb ofl' his left 
 hand. Quantrell offered Capt. Terrill his gold watcli 
 and one thousand dollars in gold, $500 down and $500 
 later on, if he would spare his life and parole him. Capt. 
 Terrill wrote the parole, took the watch and $500 gold, 
 all that Quantrell had with him, left him on the ground 
 and rode away not knowing who he was. Quantrell 
 was soon discovered and carried to the home of James 
 Wakefield where his wounds were dressed by Dr. Isaac 
 McClosky. The wound paralyzed the guerrilla from 
 waist to his feet. Frank James says he and his brother 
 Jesse rode twenty miles to see Quantrell and offered to 
 stay with him till death, but Quantrell replied that they 
 could do him no good and advised them to save them- 
 
 39 
 
selves. They bade him good bye and left him. Quan- 
 trell was taken to a Catholic hospital in Louisville, where 
 he died. Frank James says he did not see Ouantrell 
 again after he left him at Wakefield's until he attended 
 his funeral and saw his coffin lowered into the ground. 
 Lieut. Rennick and the Noland brothers were l)uried in 
 the church yard at the Oakland church. This corres- 
 pondent says he went with Frank James to the spot 
 where Lieut. Rennick was killed, and standing there, 
 Frank told this story. Postmaster W. L. Davis, of Cin- 
 cinnati, says he knew Frank James and Quantrell very 
 well in the old days. Mr. Davis resided in Spencer Co., 
 Ky., with his father Judge Davis. Mr. Davis also tells 
 the same facts reported above in regard to the circum- 
 stances of Quantrell's death and burial. During the 
 first night after Quantrell w^as wounded, Judge Davis 
 was a watcher at his bedside and Quantrell gave him a 
 locket and a lock of his hair as a keepsake. Years after 
 Quantrell's death, Mr. Scott, of Canal Dover, Ohio, a 
 friend of Mrs. Quantrell, went with her to Kentucky to 
 get proofs of his death. They called upon the superin- 
 tendent of the cemetery where he was buried and re- 
 quested that they might open his grave. He kindly fur- 
 nished men and caused the grave to be opened, and all 
 that was left of the outlaw w^as his bones and light hair. 
 Mrs. Quantrell recognized the light hair and observed 
 the absence of the bones of one finger and thumb which 
 had been shot off. She took a lock of his hair and some 
 bones and returned to her home. Mr. Scott then wrote 
 to the Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, 
 telling him that, he would send to the society the shin 
 bone and lock of hair taken from Quantrell's grave if 
 he desired, ])ut they must not l)e exhi1)ited to the public 
 until he w^as notified of Mrs. Quantrell's death. The 
 
 40 
 
old lady died a few years ago and now the ''relics" are 
 on exhibition in the archives of the Kansas State His- 
 torical Society at Topeka. 
 
 It is a singular fact worth recording, that nearly 
 all of OnantreH's gang died a violent death. In this 
 story of Quantrell's inhuman deeds, I will give only one 
 more scene as vividly described by John N. Edwards, a 
 rebel soldier, in his book entitled, ''Noted Guerrillas, or 
 The War on the Border." Ouantrell had captured 
 some Kansas soldiers in 1861, and as he always flaunted 
 the black flag, he proceeded to execute the prisoners, 
 and this is the painting by Edwards : ''The seven prison- 
 ers rode into Missouri from Shawnee town puzzled. 
 When the heavy timber along the Big Blue was reached 
 and a halt was had, they were praying. Quantrell sat 
 upon his horse looking at the Kansans, his voice was un- 
 moved, his countenance indifferent as he ordered : Bring 
 the ropes, four on one tree, three on another! All of a 
 sudden Death stands in the midst of them and was 
 recognized. One poor fellow gave a cry as piercing as 
 the neigh of a frightened horse. Two trembled and 
 trembling is the first step towards kneeling. They had 
 not talked any save among themselves up to this time, 
 Init when they saw Blunt busy with some ropes, one 
 spoke up to Ouantrell: 'Captain, just a word, the pistol 
 before the rope — a soldier's before a dog's death. As 
 for me I am ready.' Of all the seven that was the 
 youngest ; how brave he was ! The prisoners were ar- 
 ranged in line, the guerrillas opposite them. They had 
 confessed to belonging to Jennison, but denied the kill- 
 ing and burning. Quantrell hesitated a moment. His 
 blue eye searched each face from left to right and back 
 again, and then he ordered : 'Take six men. Blunt, and do 
 the work; shoot the young man and hang the balance.' 
 
 41 
 
Hurry away. The oldest man there, some white hairs 
 were in his beard, prayed audibly ; some embraced. 
 Silence and twilight, as twin ghosts, crept up the river 
 bank together. Blunt made haste and before Quantrell 
 had ridden far he heard a pistol shot. He did not even 
 look up ; it affected him no more than the tapping of a 
 woodpecker. At daylight the next morning a wood 
 chopper, going early to work, saw six stark figures 
 swinging in the early breese. At the foot of another 
 tree was a dead man and in his forehead a bullet hole." 
 This barbarous treatment of their comrades roused the 
 spirit of retaliation in the breasts of the Kansas soldier«i 
 across the border. They called seven Confederate pri- 
 soners before a drumhead court martial and sentenced 
 them to be shot to death in retaliation. Their grave.« 
 were dug and they were compelled to kneel down by the 
 edge of the grave, blindfolded, and were shot to death by 
 a detailed file of soldiers. This was war on the border 
 in 1861. 
 
 April 4, 1864, Gen'l Ewing assumed command ol 
 the St. Louis District, and I was assigned to duty on his 
 staff as acting assistant adjutant-general in charge ol 
 the office. In the fall of 1864 Gen'l Sterling Price, with 
 about 10,000 men, made a raid into Missouri. He came up 
 by way of Pilot Knob, which was in Ewing's militars 
 district. At Pilot Knob was Fort Davidson, a hex 
 agonal work mounting four 32-pounder siege guns and 
 three 24-pounder liowitzers en barbette, supplied wqth 
 an abundance of small arms and ordnance stores. Seji 
 tember 24th our scouts sent in the report to headquar 
 ters that Price with his whole army had crossed the Ime 
 into Missouri, headed towards Pilot Knob. Ewing, w^ith 
 all the available troops in his command, which was 562 
 old trooi)s and one company of raw recruits, reached 
 
 42 
 
Pilot Knob on the 26th of September, 1864, and imme- 
 diately planned to give Price a stubborn fight. He 
 knew that with the small force he had, at the best he 
 could only detain Price for a few days at Pilot Knob, 
 and until Gen'l Rosecrans could get re-inforcements 
 enough to keep Price out of St. Louis. On the 26th 
 Price's entire army of 10,000 men and 26 pieces of artil- 
 lery was camped in Arcadia Valley. On the evening 
 of the 26th, Ewing ordered Major Wilson, 3d Missouri 
 Cavalry, with a small detachment to take position in the 
 gap formed between the two mountains, Shepperd's 
 mountain and Pilot Knob, over beyond which lay 
 Price's camp. At daylight of the 27th the enemy at- 
 tacked Wilson and drove him back through the gap. 
 Ewing ordered Wilson to form his men on the side of 
 Pilot Knob mountain, and a detachment of the 14th 
 Iowa to take position on the opposite side of the gap 
 along the sides of Shepherd's mountain, thus command- 
 ing the gap from both sides, at tlie same time opening a 
 clear range of the gap from the fort, about 1,000 yards 
 distant. Here an obstinate struggle followed in which 
 the enemy lost heavily in an unsuc(!essful effort to pass 
 the defile. The four 32-pounders and the three 24- 
 pounders were hurling their deathdealing missiles in 
 fearful havoc through the gap. After two hours the 
 enemy in strong force renewed the attack and drove our 
 troops from the hillsides, and again our troops re-formed 
 and drove the enemy back through the gap. Ewing then 
 withdrew the 14th Iowa within the fort and ordered 
 Major Wilson with his detachment to fall back in front 
 of the gate to the fort. After about an hour, it then 
 being late in the afternoon, Gen'l Marmaduke's divi- 
 sion moved rapidly down Shepherd's mountain to the 
 assault: his line greatly broken by the rugged and steep 
 
 43 
 
descent and by the direct fire from the fort ; simulta- 
 neously with Marmaduke's movement, Gen'l Fagan 
 moved over Pilot Knob in stronger force and less dis- 
 turbance by our fire, rushed down on Major Wilson's 
 line, capturing- him and a number of his men. Gen'l 
 Cabell led the final assault and swept upon the plain in 
 handsome style, yelling and on the double quick. 
 Ewing opened on them at 600 yards from the fort with 
 musketry and canister from seven pieces of artillery. 
 They rushed on most gallantly, the grape and canister 
 swept them down at close range, like grain before the 
 reaper. They would close up, re-form and dash ahead 
 again until the advance reached the ditch, when the at- 
 lacking forces fled in dismay; what was thus left of 
 them able to run, for it appeared that almost half their 
 comrades lay wounded or dead on the plain. From a 
 soldier's standpoint, that charge was a magnificent 
 sight. But, O! the scene after the battle! T. W. Johnson, 
 surgeon in charge at Pilot Knob, in his official report 
 gives the rebel loss in killed and wounded at 1,500, 
 which is confirmed by later collateral testimony. Four 
 weeks after the battle there were in hospital in Ironton, 
 a few miles from Pilot Knob, Col. Thomas, chief of 
 Gen'l Pagan's staff, three majors, seven captains, twelve 
 lieutenants and 204 enlisted men, representing seven- 
 teen regiments «and four batteries (seventeen regiments 
 and four batteries gives an idea of the size of Price's 
 army) all dangerously and nearly all mortally wound- 
 ed. Their dead were buried, the slightly wounded fol- 
 lowed Price's army, and the rest of the rebel wounded 
 were sent South under Col. Raines. I have given here 
 somewhat in detail, a report of the battle of Pilot Knob 
 to place before you the probable fact that this was the 
 most sanguinary battle of the war, if not in history. 
 
 44 
 
Ewing had, all told, less than i,ooo men; the enemy's 
 loss was 1,500 — one and a half times Eunng's entire 
 force. The story of the capture of Major Wilson and 
 six of his command in this battle, and of their treatment 
 while prisoners of war and of their tragic death, is told 
 in the following order ; 
 
 General Orders. 
 No. 51. 
 
 Headqu.\rters St. Louis District. 
 
 St. Louis, Mo., October 26, 1864. 
 
 With profound sorrow the Gen'l commanding announces the 
 mournful intelligence of the murder of Maj. James Wilson, 3d Cav.. 
 Mo. State Militia, and six of his command. On the 27th day of 
 Sept. they were taken in a fair fight at Pilot Knob by Brig. Gen'l 
 Pagan's command and were subjected to every indignity which 
 malignant cowardice could invent until the first instant, when they 
 were delivered ten miles west of Union, Mo., by order of the rebel 
 field ofl:icer of the day, to the guerrilla Tom Reeves for execution. 
 Their bodies were found yesterday, and that of Maj. Wilson, though 
 riddled by bullets and mutilated from long exposure, was identified 
 by the uniform and private and official papers found upon it, as well 
 as b\- the personal recognition of his associates in service. He was 
 an oflficer of rare intelligence, zeal, courage, and judgment, and his 
 soldierly virtues were adorned by a purity, unselfishness and m- 
 tegrity of character which won the love, respect and trust alike 
 of his subordinates and superiors. When the war broke out he 
 enlisted the service a private and by that act of devotion to the 
 government severed almost all ties that bound him to family and 
 home. Comrades! Cherish the memory of his resplendent virtues, 
 follow his patriotic example and justly avenge his fiendish murder. 
 Col. J. H. Baker, commanding the Post of St. Louis, will cause 
 the bod}^ of Maj. Wilson to be received at the depot with proper 
 escort and will arrange for its burial here with military honors. 
 
 By order of Brig. Gen'l Thomas Ewing, Jr. 
 
 H. Hannahs, 
 Actg. As St. Adj. General. 
 
 Previous to the issuing of this order there were 
 rumors that Major \\'ilson and his men had ]:)een cruelly 
 
 45 
 
put to death by bushwhackers. Gen'l Ewing, greatly 
 exasperated, called the attention of Gen'l Rosecrans, 
 commanding the Department of the Missouri, to these 
 rumors, whereupon Gen'l Rosecrans issued the following- 
 order : 
 
 Special Orders. 
 No. 277. 
 
 Headquarters Department of the Missouri. 
 
 October 6, 1864. 
 From testimony which cannot be doubted, the Commanding Gen- 
 eral learns that Maj. James Wilson, 3d Cav., Mo. State Militia, and 
 six enlisted men of his command, prisoners, were turned over to the 
 guerilla Tim Reeves for execution. The provost of the department 
 will send a major and six enlisted men, prisoners of the rebel army, 
 in irons, to the military prison at Alton. 111., to be kept in military 
 confinement until the fate of Maj. Wilson and his men is known. 
 The men will receive the same treatment Maj. Wilson and his men 
 receive. The Provost Marshal Gen'l is held responsible for the 
 execution of this order. 
 
 By command of Maj. Gen'l Rosecrans. 
 
 Frank Eno, 
 Assf. Adj. Gen'l. 
 
 When the conclusive evidence of Major Wilson's 
 death was received at Gen'l Ewing's headquarters, he 
 wrote Col. Du Bois, Chief of Staff: 
 
 "There is no Confederate Maj. in our possession here, except 
 Abounded in hospital. The Commissary Gen'l of Prisoners will 
 probably not turn over one from Alton to you for execution. I 
 therefore earnestly recommend that fourteen privates of Price's 
 army be executed in retaliation. Eight for Wilson, six for his 
 murdered associates. 
 
 Thomas Ewing, Jr., 
 
 B^'ig. Gen'l. 
 
 The same day, October 25, Joseph Darr, Provost 
 Marshal, sent the following telegram : 
 
 46 
 
Headquarter Department of the Missouri. 
 Office of Provost Marshal Gen'l. 
 
 St. Louis, Mo.. October 25, 1864. 
 Col. J. V. Du Bois, Chief of Staff in the Field: 
 
 Please give directions to have the first Confederate Maj. cap- 
 tured forwarded to me without delay. It is now almost certain that 
 Maj. Wilson and his men were murdered and I propose on satis- 
 factory proof of same to shoot instantly their equivalent of rebels 
 in accordance with orders heretofore given me. If no prospect of 
 receiving a rebel major soon as prisoner, will you. as before sug- 
 gested, telegraph to the Commissary Gen'l of Prisoners to send me 
 one now under his charge, belonging to the command of any of 
 the Confederate leaders now in Missouri. 
 
 Joseph Darr, Jr., 
 Acting Provost Marshal Gen' I. 
 
 Confederate majors were not numerous about that 
 time, as none seemed to be forthcoming. There were 
 rebel officers captured in the Price raid, who were called 
 majors in their respective regiments, but when con- 
 fronted by Provost Marshal Darr, denied their rank and 
 were only captains. Failing to get his hands on a real 
 major prisoner, Darr proceeded to execute his orders 
 of retaliation as indicated in the following report : 
 
 Officer of the Provost Marshal Gen'l. 
 
 St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 29, 1864. 
 Col. J. B. Du Bois, Chief of Staff in the Field. 
 
 Col: I have the honor to inform the Commanding Gen'l that 
 on this day the following rebel soldiers, James W. Gates, 2nd Mo. 
 Cav., C. S. A.; John Nichols, 2nd Mo. Cav.. C S. A.; Chas. W. 
 Minnken, Co. A, Crabtree's Cav., C S. A. ; Geo. F. Burch, Co. B, 
 3d Mo. Cav., C. S. A. ; Harry H. Blackburn, Co. A, Coleman's 
 Regt., C. S. A., were executed by being shot to death by musketry 
 in retaliation for the murder of six men of the 3d Cav-, Mo. State 
 Militia, by Tim Reeves, guerillas, and in compliance with Special 
 Orders No. 277, paragraph 12, dated Oct. 6, 1864 I inclose report 
 on the case. 
 
 I have the honor, etc., 
 
 Joseph Darr, 
 Acting Provost Marshal Gen'l. 
 47 
 
These unfortunate men were taken from Gratiot 
 Street prison in government wagons, each man sitting 
 on his own cofiFin, to the outskirts of the city of St. 
 Louis, near one of the earth works thrown up early in 
 the war for the defense of the city. Every detail in the 
 plan for the execution of these men was perfect. Six 
 posts, each with a l^ench attached, were set firmly in the 
 ground in a line about three feet apart. The men were 
 taken from the wagons, blindfolded and seated each on 
 his bench, and arms pinioned to the post. Five paces 
 in front of them were drawn up in two ranks twenty- 
 four picked men, armed with muskets, twelve of which 
 were loaded with l^all and twelve with blank cartridges, 
 and so distributed^ that no one of the men knew whose 
 gun did the deadly work. Standing two paces in their 
 rear was the officer in command. All preparations be- 
 ing ready, the captain, in low, firm tones, gave the com- 
 mand : ready, aim, fire ! One volley, one report and six 
 men dead, the blood spurting in streams from each 
 man's heart, so accurate was the aim. As the captain 
 gave the command to fire one poor fellow cried out in 
 piteous tones, ''Boys, don't shoot." That cry has rung in 
 my ears through all the years. I stood only a few feet 
 from him. I trust it will never again be my duty to have 
 a part in such a scene. Did GenT Sherman exaggerate 
 when he said, "War is hell?" This was grim retaliation 
 under the law of war and in accordance with General 
 Order No. lOO, from which I quote as follows: ''The 
 law of war can no more dispense with retaliation than 
 can the law of nations. A reckless enemy often leaves 
 to his opponent no other means of securing himself 
 against the repetition of 1)arbarous outrages. All pris- 
 oners of war are liable to the infliction of retaliatory 
 measures." And now we come to that part of Gen'l 
 
 48 
 
Rosecrans order to execute a rebel major. Major 
 Enoch O. Wolf, one of Gen'l Marmaduke's officers, was 
 selected by Col. Darr and ordered to be shot to death 
 on Friday, November nth, in retaliation. On Novem- 
 ber 8th, three days before the day set for his execution. 
 Major Wolf wrote a very strenous letter to Gen'l Rose- 
 crans, requesting a suspension of the order. He said, 
 ''I ask it as a soldier, I ask it as a gentleman, I ask it as 
 an officer, I ask it as a member of the Masonic frater- 
 nity." In the meantime Col. Darr placed Maj. Wolf 
 in irons and proceeded with the arrangements for his 
 execution. Some friend of Major Wolf telegraphed 
 Mr. Lincoln, requesting a suspension of the order. 
 Major Wolf was to be shot on the nth and on the loth 
 the following telegraph order was received by Gen'l 
 Rosecrans : 
 
 Washington. D. C. Nov. io, 1864. 
 Maj. Gen'l Rosccrani, St. Louis, Mo. : 
 
 Suspend the execution of Maj. Wolf until further orders, and 
 meanwhile report to me the case. 
 
 A. Lincoln. 
 
 In response to this telegram Gen'l Rosecrans wrote 
 to the President a very earnest argument for the execu- 
 tion of Major Wolf, which I will not copy. Mr. Lin- 
 coln's tender heart in this, as in so many other similar 
 instances, would not consent to Major Wolf's execution. 
 Thus Major Wolf's life was spared. In compliance 
 with orders dated February 24th, 1865, Major Wolf 
 was sent to City Point for exchange. There were many 
 retaliatory orders issued on both sides during the war, 
 but few of them were ever executed. 
 
 Maj. -Gen'l Benj. F. Butter issued some noted retal- 
 iatory orders when in command in New Orleans. In 
 
 49 
 
one official report to tlie Secretary of War, dated June 
 loth, 1863, he says: ''Wm. B. Mumford, when after 
 the raising of the flag of the United States, upon the 
 United States mint by flag officer Farragut, pulled it 
 down, dragged it through the streets, followed by an ex- 
 cited mob, tore it in shreds and distributed the pieces 
 among the gamblers, assassins and murderers, his com- 
 rades, was tried, condemned and executed on Saturday 
 the 7th inst. on the spot where he committed his heinous 
 crime." Before the execution of Mumford, Gen'l But- 
 ler was threatened with assassination if he executed 
 him. Some prominent people of New Orleans sug- 
 gested to Butler that if he executed Mumford it would 
 inflame the people to deeds of murder and riot. Gen'l 
 Butler replied that it was his duty to execute the order 
 of the court, no matter how painful nor what the effect 
 would be on the people. President Davis tried in vain 
 to know if the government at Washington approved of 
 Butler's conduct in this matter. Finally he issued his 
 proclamation, from which I quote : ''Now therefore, T, 
 Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of 
 America, and in their name, do pronounce and declare 
 the said Benjamin F. Butler to be a felon deserving of 
 capital punishment I do order that he be no longer 
 considered and treated simply as a public enemy of the 
 Confederate States of America, but an outlaw and com- 
 mon enemy of mankind, and in the event of his capture 
 the officer in command of the capturing force will cause 
 him to be immediately executed by hanging, and I do 
 further order that no conmiissioned officer of the United 
 States taken captive shall he released on parole or ex- 
 changed until the said Butler shall have met with due 
 punishment for his crime. That all commissioned 
 officers in tlie command of the said Benj. F. Butler, be 
 
 50 
 
declared not entitled to be considered as soldiers engaged 
 in honorable warfare, but as robbers and criminals, 
 deserving of death ; and that they and each of them be, 
 whenever captured, reserved for execution." 
 
 There were many officers of United States cap- 
 tured after that, but none of them were held under this 
 order of President Davis, simply because they were un- 
 able to capture and execute Gen'l Butler. 
 
 In a pul^lic place in the city of New Orleans there 
 stands a granite monument in heroic size. It bears no 
 name. The broad mouth, the classic face, bespeaks the 
 name of Henry Clay. Tradition says Gen'l Butler caused 
 the following inscription to be engraved on that monu- 
 ment — the utterance of Henry Clay: 'Tf I could be in- 
 strumental in eradicating the deepest stain, slavery, from 
 the character of our country, I would not exchange the 
 proud satisfaction which I should enjoy for the honor of 
 all the triumphs ever decreed to the most successful con- 
 queror." Compare this utterance with that of David R. 
 Atchison, on Mount Oread, overlooking the city of Law- 
 rence, Kansas, in May, 1856. 
 
 The following is one of President Lincoln's retalia- 
 tory orders : 
 
 (tf.nkr.^l Orders. 
 No. 252. 
 
 Adjutant General's Office. 
 
 July 31, 1863. 
 The government of the United States will give the same pro- 
 tection to all of its soldiers; and if their enemy shall sell or en- 
 slave any one because of his color, the offense shall be punished 
 by retaliation upon the enemies' prisoners in our possession. It is 
 therefore ordered that for every soldier of the United States killed 
 in violation of the laws of war a rebel soldier shall be executed, and 
 for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery a rebel sol- 
 dier shall be placed at hard labor until the other shall be released 
 and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln. 
 51 
 
Another notable retaliatory order was in the case 
 of General W. H. F. Lee, son of General Robert E. Lee, 
 who was captured June 23, 1863, by Col. Spear, nth 
 Penn. Cav. Two officers of the Union army had been 
 captured by the enemy and sentenced to be executed as 
 spies in Richmond. The case was presented to the Pres- 
 ident and he held that they had been unjustly con- 
 demned and requested their release. The Confederate 
 government refused, whereupon he issued the following 
 order : 
 
 Washington, D. C, July 15, 1863. 
 Col. Ludlozv, Agent for the Exchange of Prisoners of War: 
 
 The President directs that you immediately place General W. 
 H. F. Lee and another officer selected by you not below the rank of 
 Captain, prisoners of war. in close confinement and under strong 
 guard, and that you notify Mr. R. Ould, Confederate Agent for 
 Exchange of Prisoners of War, that if Capt. H. W. Sawyer, ist 
 N. J. Vols. Cav., and Capt. John M. Flinn, 51st Indiana Vols., or 
 any other officers or men in the service of the United States, not 
 guilty of crimes punishable with death by the laws of war, shall be 
 executed by the enemy, the aforementioned prisoners will be im- 
 mediately hung in retaliation. It is also directed that immediately 
 on receiving official or other authentic information of the execution 
 of Capt. Sawyer and Capt. Flinn, you will proceed to hang General 
 Lee and the other rebel officer designated as hereinbefore directed, 
 and that you notify Robrt Ould, Esq., of such proceeding and assure 
 him that the Government of the United States will proceed to re- 
 taliate for every similar barbarous violation of the laws of civ- 
 ilized war. 
 
 H. W. Halleck, 
 
 General in Chief. 
 
 The sequel shows that neither of the two orders 
 was executed and the unfortunate prisoners were all 
 subsequently released. General Lee, after the war, was 
 a member of Congress and continued in the public ser- 
 vice during the remainder of his life. 
 
 Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas were 
 also the scene of terrible tragedies. Karly in I(S6t, the 
 
 52 
 
pro-slavery men began their fiendish work there. They 
 hung, shot, captured and drove from the country Union 
 men, until there was not a Union man nor a Union fam- 
 ily left at home from Batesville, Arkansas, to Rolla, Mis- 
 souri, a distance of 200 miles. I will quote from a book 
 entitled, ''A History of Southern Missouri and North- 
 ern Arkansas," by Col. Wm. Monks, who resides at 
 West Plains, Howell Co., Mo. Howell Co. is in the 
 middle of the southern tier of counties of the state. 
 Col. Monks was born in the state of Alabama and 
 moved with his father's family into Southern Missouri 
 in 1844. Col. Monks was an uncompromising Union 
 man and took the stump against secession in 1861. In 
 the public meetings held at that time inflammatory 
 speeches were made, and excitement ran high, men sat 
 in the audiences with their guns in their hands or near 
 them. He quotes from a characteristic speech of Judge 
 Wm. Price, a noted Secessionist of Springfield, known 
 as *'Wild Bill" Price. Price told the audience that the 
 lop-eared Dutch had reached Rolla and they were com- 
 plete heathen. That Abraham Lincoln had given the 
 state of Missouri to the Dutch, if they would send 
 enough of their men into the state to conquer it, and 
 that to his knowledge they had gone out into the coun- 
 try and taken men's wives and daughters and brought 
 them into their camps and that he saw them, in the pres- 
 ence of their mothers, run bayonets through their infant 
 children and hoist them up and carry them around on 
 their bayonets ; that Lincoln had offered a prize for all 
 the preachers that were in iaxor of the Soutli, and called 
 upon all men in his audience to come forward and en- 
 list to drive the lop-eared Dutch from the state. Nearly 
 all the preachers went forward and placed their names 
 on the list first. 
 
 53 
 
General McBride was appointed to command all the 
 Confederates in that region. He massed his forces at 
 West Plains and sent out orders for every Union man 
 to come into headquarters and take the oath of alle- 
 giance to the Confederate cause or he hung as high as 
 Haman. Col. Monks refused to take the oath. He 
 was arrested in the middle of the night while in hed and 
 dragged out from his family, without the privilege of 
 saying good hye to them, subjected to all manner of 
 abuse. They threatened to hang him, even attempted to 
 thrust a noose over his neck, which he resisted ; sold him 
 for a beef-cow to a gang of miserable devils who demand- 
 ed of Capt. Forshee, commander of the guard, the priv- 
 ilege of shooting him. ''Listen," they said, "Do you 
 hear the fife and drum? That is Gen'l McBride's com- 
 mand coming to kill them lop-eared Dutch. Do you 
 know what he is going to do with such men as you are? 
 Those of you we don't hang in the first fight we get in- 
 to with them lop-eared Dutch, we will make breast-works 
 out of to keep bullets off of good men." Some of the 
 men who were torturing him were his neighbors. The 
 leader of the gang said to him, *'You have just half a 
 minute to say you w^ill join the army and fight for the 
 Confederacy or go to hell, just which you please." 
 Monks replied, ''When you kill me you wont kill all the 
 Union men ; you will meet plenty of them some day, and 
 they won't be disarmed as I am now." The leader said, 
 "None of your damned foolishness, we mean business." 
 
 Capt. Forshee and all of his command were neigh- 
 bors of Monks, he knew^ them all. Monks finally es- 
 caped in a dark night during a heavy thunder storm. 
 Working his way back to Springfield he reported to 
 Gen'l Lyon, who was in command of the Union troops 
 there and told him he wanted to enlist in the army. 
 
 54 
 
Gen'l Lyon, after learning his history, told him he 
 wanted him to command a company of scouts which he 
 would organize for him, accordingly he was commis- 
 sioned as Captain and placed in command of about 
 thirty picked men. After the battle of Wilson's Creek, 
 where Gen'l Lyon was killed, the scene in the vicinity 
 was terrible to behold. That was a drawn battle. Both 
 armies retreated. Gen'l Siegel, n command of the 
 Union forces, retreated in one direction and Price in 
 another. The i)eople knew not what would be the 
 result ; men would ride around and tell their neighbors 
 that all was lost and bid their families good bye. After 
 Price learned that Siegel was not going to follow him. 
 rallied his forces and all the rebel element, divided them 
 into squads and sent them all throughout Southern Mis- 
 souri and Northern Arkansas with instructions to drive 
 out every Union man in that country. From that time, 
 ''death to Union men" was the battle cry. An old man, 
 60 years of age, by the name of James was charged with 
 grinding corn for Union men and their families. They 
 arrested him and a man by the name of Brown, and 
 another by the name of Russell and several others. 
 They took James and Brown, procured a rope, hunted 
 a long limb of a tree, rolled a big rock up to the first 
 rope, one end of which was tied to the limb, and placed a 
 noose around James' neck, stood him on the rock, then 
 rolled the rock from under his feet and left him swing- 
 ing in the air — rolled the rock to the next rope, stood 
 Browm on it, placed the noose around his neck, rolled 
 the rock out and left him swinging in the air, then rolled 
 the rock to the third rope, stood Russell on the rock and 
 just as they were about to put the noose around his 
 neck, the cry came that the home guards were right upon 
 them. They fled in great haste, leaving Russell stand- 
 
 55 
 
ing- on the rock, and James and Brown dangling in the 
 air. Russell fled for his life. The next day the wives 
 of James and Brown, with the help of a few other women, 
 buried them. They dug graves underneath the swing- 
 ing bodies, laid bed clothing in them and cut the ropes 
 and the bodies fell in the coffinless graves and were 
 covered with earth. Some of the men who were en- 
 gaged in this barbarous deed are still living in Howell 
 Co., not far from the place where this horrible scene was 
 enacted. There was an old man by the name of Rhodes, 
 80 years of age, very feeble, whose hair was white as 
 snow, who resided on the head of Bennett's Bayou, 
 Howell Co. When he heard of the murder of James and 
 Brown he said openly there was no civil war in that, 
 and that the men who did it were guilty of murder. 
 Some two weeks after the murder of James and Brown, 
 Dr. Nunly and Wm. Sapp (the latter one of the devils 
 who attempted to place a rope around Monk's neck when 
 he was a prisoner), with a posse of about twenty-five 
 men went to Rhodes' house, where he and his aged wife 
 lived alone, called him out and told him they wanted 
 him to go with them. His good wife came out, and 
 being acquainted with some of the men in the party, 
 said, "You are not going to hurt my old man." They 
 said, "We just want him to go a piece over here," and 
 ordered the old man to come along. They went about 
 a c|uarter of a mile from his house. Then they in- 
 formed him of what he had said about the men who 
 hung James and Brown. Then they shot him, cut off 
 his ears, cut out his heart. Dr. Nunly, the leader of 
 the gang, remarked that he was going to take the heart 
 home with him, pickle it, and keep it to show people how 
 a black Republican's heart looked. They left his body 
 on the ground and rode away. There were no men in 
 
 56 
 
the neighborhood that Mrs. Rhodes could get to look 
 after her husband ; although quite feeble she started out 
 in search of him. On the second day about fifty yards 
 from the road, while she was looking for him, she heard 
 hogs sciuealing and grunting as though they were eat- 
 ing something. She went to the place and found the 
 hogs were just about to commence eating the remains 
 of her husband. She drove them away and called some 
 of the women of the neighborhood. They came and 
 helped dress the body and bury him. Not a single rebel 
 put in an appearance to help the women to bury either 
 James, Brown or Rhodes. The perpetrators of these 
 horrible deeds were never arrested or condemned either 
 by civil or Confederate authorities, but as far as could be 
 learned those fiendish acts were approved as the most 
 effective means to strike terror to Union men and drive 
 them out of the state. A few days following a gang of 
 rebels arrested Benjamin Alsop, residing in the Hutton 
 Valley, who was an uncompromising Union man. They 
 took him to Little Rock, placed him in the penitentiary 
 and kept him there until Little Rock fell into the hands 
 of the Union troops, when he was exchanged. While 
 they had him a prisoner they worked him in a bark mill 
 by the side of an old mule with a strap around his breast 
 and two leather hand holds. After these devils had 
 hung, shot and captured and driven out all the Lhiion 
 men, they called a public meeting to consider what 
 should be done with their families. A committee was ap- 
 pointed to go to each Union family and notify them to 
 leave the country. They acknowledged that it was 
 harsh treatment, but if they were allowed to remain 
 their husbands would be coming back and making 
 trouble; that their property really belonged to the 
 Confederate government, but under the circumstances 
 
 57 
 
they would be permitted to take enough to carry them 
 inside the Union hues, where in all probability their 
 husbands and sons were, and then they would take care 
 of them. They would have a reasonable time to pre- 
 pare for the journey. Then if they did not leave, they 
 would be forced to do so. This produced the wildest 
 excitement among the women and children. They did 
 not know where their husbands and fathers were, even 
 if alive. Little had they thought that while the rebels 
 were chasing, hanging, shooting their men, that they too 
 would become victims of rebel hatred and forced to 
 leave house, home and property and go — they knew not 
 where. So they prepared for the journey, taking such 
 things as they most needed, with no men to assist them. 
 They went forth, some to Kansas, some to Springfield 
 and Rolla and other stations within Federal lines. 
 
 After they reached Federal lines the military com- 
 manders gave them all tlie assistance within their power, 
 some w^ere quartered in vacant houses, some in tents. 
 They had to leave home with small amount of rations, 
 and these were soon exhausted. There was suffering 
 beyond all description in all their camps. The govern- 
 ment could not feed and clothe them. They had little or 
 no money. O ! the misery, the grief no pen can des- 
 cribe. Ilie husbands and sons of some were found, 
 they had enlisted in the army, either as guides and 
 scouts or in the state militia, and their duty called them 
 away from their families, and all they could do was to 
 send 'to them the small pittance of thirteen dollars a 
 month, the purchasing power of which then was about 
 equal to five dollars before the war. Contrast the condi- 
 tion of the loyal women of Southern Missouri and North- 
 ern Arkansas witli the loyal women in the northern 
 states in 1861 and on tln'ough to the end of the war and 
 
 58 
 
I 
 
 afterwards. The women of the North sacrificed much. 
 They cheerfully gave their husbands and sons to the 
 defense of the Union. They prepared materials and 
 delicacies for the sick and wounded in hospitals, but 
 they had their comfortable homes, plenty to eat and 
 plenty to wear, kind friends to sympathize with them 
 and to cheer them. There was no enemy lurking near 
 to threaten to burn their houses or barns or destroy their 
 property. Their husbands and sons were not brutally 
 murdered by false friends and neighbors and left dang- 
 ling in the air for them to bury in coffinless graves. The 
 loyal women of the North sacrificed much, all honor to 
 them. But in comparison, think of the sacrifices of the 
 loyal women of the border. 
 
 All for their love of country and for their devotion 
 to the old flag. The above scenes narrated by Col. 
 Monks, and I have quoted only a few as specimens, 
 were all enacted in 1861, two years before General Or- 
 der No. 1 1 was issued. Where one disloyal family was 
 expelled from home by the operation of that order, 
 made necessary to protect the loyal citizens of the bor- 
 der against Quantrell's murderous raids, there were ten 
 loyal families driven out from their homes in southern 
 Missouri and northern Arkansas by a gang of cut 
 throats, who were not only seeking the life of Union 
 men, but the life of the nation itself. These loyal men 
 and women were driven out, not because they had com- 
 mitted any crime, but because they refused to swear 
 allegiance to a government founded upon the institution 
 of slavery, and because they were loyal to the Stars and 
 Stripes. 
 
 Col. Monks gives detailed accounts of the war and 
 the cruelties of war in southern Missouri and northern 
 Arkansas on through the years 1862, '63, '64 and '65. 
 
 59 
 
In the fall of 1863, Col. Livingston, ist Ne- 
 braska, was ordered to proceed with his command 
 to Batesville, Arkansas, and establish a post there. 
 Enroute he encountered bands of bushwhackers, 
 detached bodies , of rel)el troops and observed 
 that they were mostly dressed in Federal uniform. He 
 issued a general order and sent it in every direction that 
 all rebels or bushwhackers captured wearing the Federal 
 uniform would be court-martialed and shot. On arrival 
 at West Plains the advance of the command had cap- 
 tured three Confederates dressed in Federal uniform, 
 one escaped, the other two were shot. Leaving West 
 Plains, Col. Livingston proceeded on towards Bates- 
 ville. Bushwhackers and detachments of rebel troops 
 were encountered all along the route, and most of them 
 were dressed in Federal uniform. They captured sev- 
 eral prisoners who were dressed in Federal uniform 
 when captured. They were court-martialed and shot. 
 Col. Monks had the satisfaction of retaliating on some 
 of the devils who maltreated him while in their hands a 
 prisoner. In June, 1863, a detachment of about thirty 
 men of an Iowa regiment were sent out on a scout ; and 
 as they were marching along they saw approaching them 
 a body of about 250 men in Federal uniform. As they 
 approached the army salute was passed and when the 
 larger body was well along side the L^nion troops each 
 man had his man covered with a gun. They were rebel 
 troops all dressed in Federal uniform and ordered the 
 detachment to surrender. The Federals saw that they 
 were entrapped and surrendered. They were marched 
 about a quarter of a mile, dismounted and ordered to 
 strip. After they were all stripped completely naked, 
 were told to juit on the old clothes of which they had 
 divested themselves. Thus at a given signal the devils 
 
 60' 
 
fired a deadly volley into them. Then followed one of 
 the most desperate scenes ever witnessed by the eye of 
 man. The prisoners saw their doom, and those who 
 were not killed by the first volley rushed at the rebels, 
 caught them, wrested their arms from them — a most 
 desperate struggle took place, the prisoners fought like 
 tigers until the last man was killed. Several of them 
 had their throats cut with knives and were otherwise 
 mutilated. Several citizens were present and reported 
 the affair to the commander at Rolla. Col. Monks was 
 sent with his scouts and wagons to take the dead bodies 
 to Rolla for burial. He says it was the most horrible 
 scene that imagination could conceive. 
 
 There w^as a man who lived about six miles below 
 West Plains, a Union man. but who had never taken 
 active part on either side; he was a blacksmith. About 
 fifteen rebel scouts went to his house, called for their 
 dinners. Some of them had their horses shod, after 
 which they got their dinner. Then they told him they 
 wanted liim to go with them. His wife said to them, 
 'Tt can't be possible that after you have been treated so 
 kindly by him that you are going to take him prisoner? 
 You will not hurt him, will you?" They made no reply, 
 but mounted him on his horse and rode about half a 
 mile, then shot him off his horse, took his horse and 
 went on, leaving the dead man by the roadside. His 
 wife found his body and, with the assistance of some 
 neighboring women, l^rought him in and buried him. 
 About two w^eeks after this a posse of rebels came to ihe 
 house of a man named Bacon, who was a Union man, 
 but never verv active, arrested him, started west with 
 him in the direction of South Fork, left the road a short 
 distance and shot him dead. They rode on to a house 
 and ordered dinner. The woman fried some bacon ; 
 
 61 
 
after they were seated she passed the bacon to them. 
 Several of them spoke up in unison, *'\Ve don't care for 
 bacon, we have had some, but disposed of it a vShort time 
 before we reached your house." Mr. Bacon laid several 
 days where he fell and when he was found the body was 
 badly decomposed . A hole was dug near where he lay 
 and his body buried. Is there any retribution for such 
 men ? A story is told of a Universalist minister who en- 
 listed in the Union army as a Chaplain, and went to the 
 front with his regiment. After an experience of six 
 months in an active campaign he obtained a furlough 
 and visited his home. He was invited to preach in his 
 old church. In his introductory remarks he said, ''You 
 know when T was your pastor, I preached that there was 
 no hell, but since I have been down among the rebels I 
 have conie to think, that if there is no hell, that one 
 ought to be created as a military necessity." A wag in 
 the audience shouted, ''Bully for you, pastor, hire me to 
 cart coal for you." Doubtless there were a good many 
 Union people in Missouri and northern Arkansas who 
 were driven from home in 1861, who would like the job 
 of makinp- it hot for those miserable devils. 
 
 J. M. Dixon, who resides in Moody, Izard Co., 
 Arkansas, says the Union men in Izard, Fulton and 
 Independence counties, many of them, were arrested 
 and taken to the penitentiary at Little Rock. Those 
 people were robbed and plundered as long as there was 
 anything worth taking and after they had got all the 
 Union people had, commenced arresting and hanging 
 them. They arrested a young man and placed a halter 
 around his neck to hang him. He l)roke away from 
 them and ran a mile l:)efore they caught him. Then 
 they hung him to a leaning tree. Dixon says a prom- 
 inent member of the Baptist church scratched the dirt 
 
 62 
 
from under his toes in order that he might hang clear 
 of the ground. Mr. Dixon says he has seen the tree on 
 which the young man was hung. 
 
 Another brutal murder Mr. Dixon speaks of was 
 the case of Rube Hudson, a Union man, who had been 
 driven from home and returned again in the winter of 
 1865. From exposure he took sick with pneumonia. 
 The rebels heard that he was at home, they raided his 
 house. His wife had secreted him under the floor; they 
 turned everything in the house up-side down and then 
 started to go away; Hudson had a spell of coughing, 
 for he was very ill; hearing him they came back, tore 
 up the floor, found him, dragged him out and took him 
 about one hundred yards from the house; there lie was 
 beaten and hung up to compel him to tell whether other 
 Union men had returned with him; finally they hung 
 him and shot him to death. The family could hear 
 him pleading for his life; he made a special appeal to 
 one of his near neighbors, who was one of the gang, to 
 intercede for him and save him. The only consolation 
 he got was, ''You are a goner. Rube; you are a goner. 
 Rube." Having completed the job, they left him hang- 
 mg and rode away. His family cut him down and 
 buried him. He met his death for no other cause than 
 that of being a staunch Union man. Another blood- 
 curdling murder was perpetrated upon the person of 
 Minor White because he was loyal to the old flag. He 
 refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate 
 government. He was taken to the county seat of Izard 
 Co., tried on the charge of disloyalty to the stars and 
 bars, and released. Before he started home, a friend 
 told him not to go the road for the rebels would follow 
 and killed him. He replied, 'T have done nothing that 
 would be a reason for me to shun the road and sneak 
 
 63 
 
home through the woods. I am going to take the pub- 
 He highway, if I am killed." The mob that took him to 
 the county seat followed him and overtook him about 
 a mile away, shot him and otherwise mutilated his body 
 and left his dead l^ody hanging to a tree. Mr. Dixon 
 says, 'T could mention many things that were done to 
 the Union men and women in northern Arkansas that 
 make me shudder now to think of; and if I were to un- 
 dertake to relate all that came under my own observa- 
 tion, and the many incidents that took place in the coun- 
 ties mentioned, that were related to me by others who 
 are entitled to credit for honor and truth, it would fill a 
 volume." There was not a Union family left at home 
 at one time in the counties referred to. 
 
 Col. Monks says when the w^ar was over he went to 
 Rolla and got his family who were "refugees'' and 
 returned to West Plains. "But O ! what a sight. There 
 was not a single building of any kind left in the town 
 and l)ut few in the surrounding country. The rebels 
 had burned them all. The scene was heart-rending." 
 Union men and Confederates returning to places where 
 once they had happy homes, to find only the ashes and 
 the naked soil left. And their families, where were 
 they? The house gone, the family gone, property gone. 
 In many instances the wife and children returning to 
 find that the husband and father had been murdered, in 
 other cases, the husband and father had been driven out of 
 the country by the rebels and had enlisted in Union 
 army and been killed in battle. It is said that in May. 
 1866, there were but seventy-eight families living in 
 Howell County. 
 
 Col. Monks says, with the courage of heroes, they 
 went to work to relniild houses and fences and gather 
 tlie fragments of families, some members of which were 
 
 64 
 
never found, and now West Plains has a population of 
 4,000. It is an educational town with colleges, high 
 schools and churches, business houses all in a flourishing 
 condition. I can appreciate Col. Monks' description of 
 the desolate condition of the country in the region of 
 West Plains. After the battle of Prairie Grove, I was 
 left, with other disabled and wounded men in Fayette- 
 ville, Ark. Those who survived and had recovered 
 sufficiently to be moved were organized into what was 
 called a "sick train," to be taken north to Springfield, 
 Mo., w^here our command had gone into winter quarters. 
 Those who had two legs and were otherwise able had 
 to march. Those with one leg and others unable to 
 march rode in army wagons. The wagons were old. 
 disabled and condemned ; the mules and horses such as 
 had been condemned for disability, as were the harness 
 when the army fell back on Springfield. It was a 
 sickly looking outfit ; our escort was a detacliment of 
 Arkansas mounted militia, made up chiefly of Union 
 men who had been driven from their homes by the 
 rebels — under command of a captain. I ''pressed into 
 service" an "inspected and condemned" government 
 horse, found an old headstall, and "borrowed" a com- 
 fort from a bed in an. abandoned house in the village, 
 which I used for a saddle by day and a bed by night. 
 Thus equipped I followed in the wake of the train. 
 I had no rations and, being an officer, was not entitled to 
 eat of the rations of the enlisted men, but I was des- 
 perate and joined with "the boys" in singing as we 
 started on our long march, "Aren't you mighty glad to 
 get out of the Wilderness, to get out of the Wilderness, 
 down in Arkansas." After we had gone a few miles 
 a mounted officer rode up and joined me. I was the 
 only mounted man in "the column," beside the escort. 
 
 65 
 
We rode along together for a while and I observed he 
 watched me very intently; finally he said, "Were you in 
 the battle of Prairie Grove?" I replied in the affirm- 
 ative. He said, '*Do you remember being on the battle- 
 ground that night looking after some of your missing 
 men?" I said. "Yes." *'Do you remember halting at 
 a wounded man, and at his request, giving him a drink 
 of water from your canteen?" I replied, *'I did." ''And 
 you ordered an ambulance driver against his protest 
 to turn around and take the wounded man to your 
 camp." ''I did." ''Well, I am that officer and you 
 saved my life. I received a gun-shot wound in my 
 right arm, severing the main artery ; the ball carried 
 some of the cloth into the wound and with the shock 
 stopped the flow of blood. I lay on the ground for 
 several hours where you found me. The surgeon said, 
 when he dressed my wound, that if my wound had 
 not been treated when it was the wound would have 
 opened afresh, and I would have bled to death." He 
 was a Lieutenant in an Iowa regiment. 
 
 Our route was over the Old Overland Stage Lino, 
 wliich was through a quite thickly settled country be- 
 fore the war; but now we rode for hours, not seeing 
 a house or barn or fence — all burned down, the stone 
 chimneys standing as if silent sentinels guarding the 
 ashes of what was once the home of happiness. 
 
 As night began to approach, my comrade and ] 
 began to think of what we would have for rations and 
 where we could get them. Presently I observed a road 
 brandling off from ours, leading up a ravine. I suggested 
 to my comrade that we take that road for a while 
 and might find a house. We rode up the ravine about 
 a mile, when we heard a dog bark at a little distance 
 from tlie road. It was getting dark. We rode in 
 
 66 
 
that direction and soon came to a log house. I dis- 
 mounted and rapped at the door. A woman came. 1 
 asked if we could "get to stay all night." She said : 
 ''I might as well say yes, for I suppose you will stay 
 anyhow." Fortunately there was a log barn near in 
 which we sheltered our horses and gave them some corn 
 stalks for rations. We went into the house, where a 
 rousing fire was blazing in the big fireplace. After warm- 
 ing oiu'selves, I asked our hostess if I might have some 
 hot water with which to make some coffee. I had, as 
 most of my men had, a small sack of coffee, tied and 
 suspended from pants button, never to be used only 
 in cases of emergency. This was an emergency. 
 
 She soon had some boiling water for me and, get- 
 ting my tin cup, proceeded to make some coffee. Tbo 
 aroma of the coffee appealed to her and she came u]) 
 close to me and said in low tones: '*Mr., if you will 
 give me a cup of that coffee I will get you a supper 
 of corn dogger and bacon." That would be equivalent 
 to saying up in God's county ''beefsteak and coffee" 
 Of course I said yes. She got us a good meal, which 
 we enjoyed immensely. It was worth an all-day's ride 
 in the cold storm, just to see the good woman sip that 
 coffee and smack her lips as she said, 'T have not 
 had a drink of coffee since the war." We slept on the 
 floor in front of the roaring fireplace. In the morning I 
 asked to repeat the compliment. She had another drink 
 of coffee and we a good breakfast. We bade our hoc 
 tess good bye and went for our horses. 
 
 We pushed on and joined the *'Sick Column" near 
 a place called Cross Hollows. There the column was 
 halted. The escort had come upon the dead body of 
 a Union soldier, who was carrying the mail from 
 Springfield to Fayetteville. He had been shot by bush- 
 
 67 
 
whackers during the night. This so enraged the escort 
 that the Captain rode out to a httle hamlet, consisting 
 of about eight or ten houses, and about half a mile away, 
 and ordered all the women and children out of the 
 houses, together with such of their household effects 
 as they cared to save, and then set fire to every house. 
 The unfortunate women and children were gathered in 
 little groups on the snow-covered ground, watching the 
 destruction of their homes. Such is war! This was 
 retaliation, for these homes sheltered and fed the 
 bushwhackers who killed the Union soldier. 
 
 It was early in the morning and it had snowed dur- 
 ing the previous night, the ground being white. T 
 sat on my horse and saw the Captain and his men sei 
 fire to every house there. The women and children 
 standing around in the snow — some of them bare 
 footed and all of them scantily clad. The Captain said 
 to the women : 'T reckon you won't harbor any more 
 bushwhackers here.'' 
 
 As I sat on my horse and watched tlie houses go 
 up in smoke and the poor unforunate women and chil- 
 dren shivering in the morning cold, I said this is 
 cruelty and you can not refine it. Our train moved on 
 over the desolate road and for miles and miles not a 
 house nor barn nor fence to be seen — all destroyed 
 Our men had cam])ed on the site of Elk Horn tavern, 
 which was a noted hostelry on the stage route before 
 the war, but now nothing but the ashes remained. Tt 
 was in the vicinity of the battleground of Pea Ridge. 
 Our men that niglit 1)urned in their camp fire the last 
 board left of the immense stal:)les connected with the 
 tavern. No pen can describe the desolate country. 
 
 In conclusion, permit me to remark that the his- 
 torv of the A\'ar of the Reliellion is eml^odied in the 
 
lives of those who were engaged in it. I have the 
 honor, on this occasion, of addressing a representative 
 body of men who had a large share in making the his- 
 tory of that most critical period in our nation's life, 
 and I apprehend that much of that history will never be 
 written in books, but will he buried with them — and 
 the world will be so much the poorer. 
 
 ''Men's lives are chains of chances and history 
 their sum." 
 
 Paraphrasing the words of the immortal Lincoln, 
 I would say : "Fondly let us hope, fervently let us 
 pray, that the mighty scourge of war may have forever 
 passed away," and in closing, join with Whittier in the 
 desire that the time may speedily come — 
 
 "When North and South shall strive no more, 
 And all their feuds and fears be lost, 
 In Freedom's holv Penticost" 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 
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