History of Bourbon County, Kansas

In preparing this book I have departed in many particulars from the ordinary course and established custom of compilers of county histories. I have endeavored to give the causes which led up to our early troubles, and to delineate, to some extent, the public sentiment and feeling of given periods. I have kept in touch with the various Territorial Governments, Administrations, Legislatures and prominent public men, in order that the reader may have an intelligent understanding of the situation. I have intended this book to be of refreshing interest to the old settler, and to be especially interesting and instructive to the young men and women of Bourbon County.

 

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I. — Louisiana Purchase — Missouri Territory — Missouri Compromise — Platte Purchase — Santa Fe Trail - Cherokee Neutral Lands — New York Indian Lands 8

CHAPTER II. — Fort Scott Located — Colonel H. T. Wilson - Sergeant John Hamilton — Military Road Completed — Barracks Erected — Relics of a Past Era 17

CHAPTER III. — Annexation of Texas - Mexican War — Wilmot Proviso — Compromise of 1850 21

CHAPTER IV. - 1853-Post of Fort Scott Abandoned - Some of the Early Settlers of Bourbon County - Time from 1854 to 1855 — Description of Frontier Life — Climate — Indian Summer 29

CHAPTER V. — 1854 — Mill of the Gods - Kansas - Nebraska Bill — Kansas Territory Organized 33

CHAPTER VI. - 1854 - First Governor - First Elections - First Fraud — First Legislature — Bogus Statutes — Samples of Legislation — Government Buildings Sold 42

CHAPTER VII. — 1855 — Bourbon County Organized First County Officers — Neutral Lands in Bourbon County — Fort Scott Incorporated as a Town — More Elections — Second Governor — Political Atmosphere of Bourbon County 53

CHAPTER VIII. - 1856 - Tone of Pro-slavery Papers-Topeka Constitution - Trouble Commences - Texas Rangers - Expedition to Middle Creek - Topeka Legislature - Governor Shannon Resigns — Governor Geary Appointed — Territorial Legislators for Bourbon County- Close of 1856 60 CHAPTER IX. — 1857 — Bourbon County Officials — New Towns — Sprattsville — Mapleton — Rayville - Means of Communication 64

CHAPTER X. — 1857— Some More Politics — Dred Scott Decision — Slaves in Bourbon County — Governor Geary Resigns — Governor Walker Appointed — More Immigrants — Fort Scott Town Company — U. S. Officers — Tenderfeet — Free State Hotel 77

CHAPTER XI. — 1857 — Public Sentiment — Lecompton Constitution — Election of October 5, 1857 — More Trouble — Squatter's Court — Protective Society 86

CHAPTER XII. — 1857 — The Conservatives — U. S. Troops at Fort Scott — First Election on Lecompton Constitution — Close of 1857 90

CHAPTER XIII. — 1858 — The Second Election on Lecompton Constitution — First Newspaper Established - First Grand Ball — Trouble Begins Again — Object Lesson in Surgery — Origin of Jayhawker 96

CHAPTER XIV. — 1858— First Manufactory in Fort Scott- Marmaton Town Company — Uniontown — Leavenworth Constitution — English Bill — Jayhawking Reduced to Plain Stealing — Fight with U. S. Troops 104

CHAPTER XV. — 1858 — Some Old Settlers of 1858 — Improvements Begin — Border Ruffians have an Inning — Marais des Cygnes Murder — Efforts at Capture — Effects on the Border — Feeling Against Fort Scott 114

CHAPTER XVI. — 1858 — Public Meeting — Election by "Tailment"— Meeting at Rayville — Protocol of Peace — Montgomery Sized Up 119

CHAPTER XVII. — 1858 — Some More Arrivals — After the Amnesty — Improvements Continue — Exit Lecompton Constitution — Kansas is Free 125

CHAPTER XVIII. — 1858 — Territorial Election - Governor Denver Resigns — Samuel Medary Appointed — Amnesty Broken — Ben Rice Arrested — Meeting at Rayville — Release of Rice — Death of John H. Little 133

CHAPTER XIX. — 1859 — Militia Organized — Jayhawkers Captured — Lawrence and Fort Scott get Acquainted — Amnesty Law — County Seat Moved— Preparing for Another Constitution — An All Around Good Year 141

CHAPTER XX. — 1859 — Delegates to Wyandotte Convention — Big 4th of July — Grand Ball — Fort Scott Democrat Revived — Vote on the Wyandotte Constitution — Other Election Items 146 CHAPTER XXI. — 1860 — Legislature Meets — Dayton Incorporated — Fort Scott Town Company Incorporated — Fort Scott Incorporated as a City — First City Election — County Election — Last Border Difficulties — Law Inaugurated 151

CHAPTER XXII. — 1860 — Arts of Peace — Population — First Fair Association — N. Y. Indian Lands — Neutral Lands — Troops Arrive — Land Sales — The Great Drouth 160

CHAPTER XXIII. — 1861 — Kansas Admitted — State Government — City Affairs — Impending Crisis — Public Meetings — War — War Feeling in Bourbon County — First Troops Organized 168

CHAPTER XXIV. — 1862— Fort Lincoln Fortified — Troops Concentrated — Battle of Drywood — 6th Kansas — Fort Scott a Military Post — More Politics 174

CHAPTER XXV. — 1862 — Movement of Troops — Various Items — Fall Elections 178

CHAPTER XXVI. — 1863 - County Seat Returned to Fort Scott — City Hall — Elections — County Officers 182

CHAPTER XXVII. — 1864 — Political Feeling — Fortifications — Raids on Drywood — Railroads — Politics — Price Raid — Raids by Guerillas — Marmaton Massacre — Fort Scott in Suspense — Public Meeting — General Election 198

CHAPTER XXVIII. — 1865 — Lincoln — City Election — Muster Out — The Schools— Business and Improvements — Fall Election — Statistics — Population — The Close 210

 

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One of the most important events in the history of the United States was the purchase of Louisiana Territory from the Republic of France. The treaty of cession was concluded at Paris on the 30th day of April, 1803, by and between the ministers of President Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of France. The far-reaching effects of this cession on the future of the whole civilized world, and its immense advantages to the United States as a Nation, can scarcely be realized. By this acquisition the United States added to its territory 1,160,577 square miles to the 820,680 square miles of the original thirteen colonies, for which it paid a sum amounting to less than twenty million dollars. By this acquisition it added a grand inter-oceanic zone, reaching down from the rugged coast of the North Pacific to the crescent shore of the Gulf; down from the regions of eternal snows to the clime of eternal flowers.