Buchanan County, Missouri - Chapter 1 (1 of 2 so headed), 1900

HERNANDO DE SOTO. - THE NAME OF MISSOURI. - EARLY SETTLEMENTS. - FRENCH AND SPANISH RULE. - LOUISIANA PURCHASE. - TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT. - ADMITTED AS A STATE. - FIRST REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS. - GOVERNORS McNAIR, BATES, MILLER, DUNKLIN, BOGGS, REYNOLDS, EDWARDS, KING, PRICE, POLK, HANCOCK JACKSON, AND STEWART. - 1541 TO 1857.

The first white man to put foot on the soil of Missouri was Hernando de Soto, the Spaniard. This was in 1541. He led a small band of soldiers of fortune as far north as the region now known as New Madrid County, and then moved west across the Ozark Mountains and went into Arkansas. He sought gold, but finding none, returned to the Mississippi and died. He was buried at midnight in the river he had discovered, and his priests chanted over his body the first requiem ever heard in the Mississippi Valley. The Indians believed him to be the son of the sun, who could not die, and his body was consigned to the waters to conceal his death and keep the Indians in awe.

The Spanish, however, did not colonize Missouri. In 1662 Robert Cavalier de la Salle, a Frenchman from Quebec, came down the Mississippi and took possession of the whole country in the name of Louis XIV., the reigning King of France. Within the next fifty years various settlements were projected, all in the interest of gold and silver mining. It is said that in 1705 a prospecting party of Frenchmen ascended the Missouri River as far as where Kansas City is now located.

In his school history, Perry S. Rader of Brunswick states that this river was first called Pek-i-ta-nou-i by Marquette, which is an Indian word meaning "muddy water." About 1712, says Mr. Rader, it was first called Missouri, from the name of a tribe of Indians who inhabited the country at its mouth and along a considerable portion of its banks. There is no authority, according to Mr. Rader, for the often-repeated assertion that "Missouri means muddy." This definition of the word was given to it after the name of the river was changed from Pekitanoui to Missouri.

The first place settled in Missouri was Ste. Genevieve, in about [735, and the next settlement of consequence was St. Louis. The latter place owes its existence to Pierre Laclede Ligueste, more generally known in history as Pierre Laclede.

The first settlement north of the Missouri River was at St. Charles, called Village des Cotes (Village of the Hills) then, and most of the Indian wars and adventures which figure in the early history of the state occurred in this vicinity.

When France lost Canada she gave up all her possessions in America. Canada and the country east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans, went to England in 1763. and Spain was indemnified for losses in the war with the territory west of the river, which included Missouri. Spanish governors ruled until 1800, when Louisiana was transferred to France, through the efforts of the first Napoleon, who had planned a monarchy in the new world, lloth the people of the United States and the government of England objected to this. Negotiations were opened bv President Jefferson for the Louisiana purchase. Napoleon, who was getting into close quarters, accepted an offer of $15,000,000, and the country was ceded to the United States. The French had not yet taken possession. On March 9, 1804, the American troops crossed the Mississippi and entered St. Louis, where Don Carlos Delassus, the Spanish commandant, delivered Upper Louisiana to Captain Amos Stoddard of the United States army, who received it as the agent of France and transferred it to himself as the aent of the United States. By this transaction Missouri was under the flags of three nations in as many consecutive days.

Congress divided Louisiana into two parts soon after the transfer. All that is now within the State of Louisiana was called the Territory of New Orleans, the rest was called the District of Louisiana. The district was attached, for administrative purposes, to the then Territory of Indiana, whose governor was General William Henry Harrison. This was unsatisfactory, and upon a petition from the people the territory was separated from Indiana and given a governor and three judges.

The first governor appointed under the new order of things was General James Wilkinson, who was succeeded by General Merriwether Lewis, of the famous Lewis-and-Clark expedition. General Lewis committed suicide in Tennessee in 1809, while on his way to Washington, and President Madison appointed General Benjamin Howard of Lexington, Ky., to succeed him.

In 1812 Congress passed a law by which Louisiana was raised from a second-grade to a first-grade territory, with a governor and general assembly, and its name was changed to Missouri.

Governor Howard resigned in 1812, and was succeeded bv Captain William Clark, the companion of General Lewis in their exploration, and who was known as "Redhead" by the Indians, over whom he exercised great influence. Captain Clark was the first and only governor of the Territory of Missouri. Edward Hempstead of St. Louis was elected the first delegate to Congress from the new territory, and was the first delegate to that body from west of the Mississippi River. He was succeeded in 1815 by Rufus Easton, and he, in 1817, by John Scott, who served until Missouri became a state.

The first general assembly of the new territory met on December 7, 1812, at St. Louis, in the house of Joseph Robidoux, the father of the founder of St. Joseph.

In 1818 Missouri applied for admission to the Lrnion as a state. Two years of bitter controversy ensued, which convulsed the country and threatened the dissolution of the Lrnion. This controversy followed a resolution introduced into Congress which intended to prohibit slavery in Missouri. The momentous question was finally settled by the adoption of the "Missouri Compromise/' which forbade slavery in all that portion of the Louisiana purchase lying north of 36 degrees 30 minutes, except in Missouri, and on July 19, 1820, the law passed admitting Missouri to the Lhiion.

A convention to frame a constitution had already been called, and the constitution then adopted remained without material change until 1865. The population of Missouri in 1820 was 66,000, of which number 10,000 were slaves.

Captain Clark and Alexander McNair were rival candidates for the first gubernatorial honors of the new state. McNair was elected, with William H. Ashley of St. Louis as lieutenant-governor. Governor McNair served four years. He was a Pennsylvanian by birth and had been United States commissary at St. Louis for a number of years before he was elected governor. He died in 1826.

The first general assembly of the state, composed of fourteen senators and forty-three representatives, met at St. Louis in September of 1820, and elected David Barton and Thomas H. Benton United States senators. John Scott was the first congressman, the state being entitled to but one member of the lower house at that time. Scott had been the territorial delegate, and was an able man.

Until 1851 the judges of the supreme court were appointed bv the governor. The first members of the supreme court were Mathias McGirk of Montgomery County, John I). Cook of Cape Girardeau, and John Rice Jones of Pike.

At its first session the legislature organized the following ten counties : Boone, Callaway, Chariton, Cole, Gasconade. Lafayette. Perry, Ralls, Ray, and Saline.

The second governor was Frederick Bates, who died before completing his first year of service. Benjamin Reeves, the lieutenant-governor, having resigned shortly after his election, the executive office fell to the president pro tern, of the senate, Abraham J. Williams of Columbia, who at once called a special election, which brought John Miller of Howard County to the head of the administration. Governor Miller was elected in 1828, with Daniel Dunklin of Potosi as lieutenant-governor.

Spencer Pettis was the second congressman. He was killed in a duel on Bloody Island by Major Biddle. In his canvass he had sharply criticized Major Biddle's brother, president of the United States Bank, for which Major Biddle severely chastised him. Mr. Pettis issued a challenge, and both combatants were killed. This was in 1831. William H. Ashley was elected to succeed Mr. Pettis.

Daniel Dunklin was elected governor in 1832. He resigned one month before the expiration of his term to become surveyorgeneral of Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois. He was an ardent advocate of the public school and did much toward the erection of the system in this state.

Lilburn W. Boggs of Jackson County, the Democratic candidate, was elected to succeed Governor Dunklin, with Franklin Cannon of Cape Girardeau as lieutenant-governor. William II. Ashley of St. Louis, a Whig, who had been his opponent, was elected to Congress in the same year.

It was during the administration of Governor Boggs that the Mormon troubles occurred. The part taken by the governor caused an attempt upon his life. He was shot at Independence in 1841. Three bullets lodged in the victim's neck and head ; another passed through and came out at the mouth. Nevertheless, Governor Boggs recovered, and died in California in 1861. Peter Rockwell, a Mormon, was charged with the crime, but was acquitted, the evidence being insufficient.

Thomas Reynolds of Howard County, a Democrat, was elected governor in 1840, with Meredith M. Marmaduke of Saline County as lieutenant-governor. The presidential campaign of this year was attended with deep interest in Missouri, as in other states. The Whig candidate was General William Henry Harrison of Indiana, and the Democratic candidate was Martin Van Buren. Harrison was called the "log cabin candidate." The contest was called the cabin, coon skin and hard cider campaign," and the emblems were displayed in reality at the public meetings.

At this election the Whigs for the first time assumed a distinct organization in Missouri. Before that some Whigs had been prominent in politics, and had been elected to important offices, but they were chosen often on account of their personal popularity and worth, rather than because of their politics. But for the next twelve years the party made bold and aggressive campaigns at every election, although at no time did they gain control of the state.

Governor Reynolds committed suicide at the executive mansion on February 9, 1844, whereupon Lieutenant-Governor Marmaduke took charge and served until the 20th of November.

John C. Edwards of Cole County was elected governor in 1844, with James Young, of Lafayette County, as lieutenant-governor. There were then, as now, two factions in the Democratic party of Missouri, and they were divided then, as now, upon the money question. One faction, which favored silver and gold money, headed by Senator Benton, had nominated and elected Governor Edwards. The other faction favored a liberal use of paper money and opposed the re-election of Senator Benton.

In 1848 Austin A. King, of Ray County, Democrat, was elected governor over James S. Rollins, of Boone, a Whig. Thomas L. Price, of Cole County, was elected lieutenant-governor. Mr. King, who, prior to his nomination for governor, had been judge of the Fifth judicial circuit, held the first term of court in Buchanan County. When the war broke out he denounced the secession movement and was elected to Congress by the Union party in 1862. He -died in 1870 at Richmond.

of the nation, both as a soldier in the war with Mexico and as a brilliant leader of Confederate forces during the rebellion After the war he embarked in business in St. Louis, and died there in 1867.

Trusten Polk, a St. Louis lawyer of great ability, was elected governor in 1856, as the Democratic candidate, over Robert C. Ewing, the "American," or "Know-Nothing," candidate. He served less than a month, however, having been elected by the legislature to the United States senate, from which body he and his colleague were expelled by the Republican members early in the war, for disloyal utterances. He died in St. Louis in 1876.