Johnson County, Missouri - Chapter 7, 1881

Chapter 7

Settlement of St. Charles County - Villages to the Westward - "Boone's Lick" - Daniel Boone - Indian Border Warfare - Rangers and Forts - New Madrid Earthquakes - Act of Congress for the Relief of Sufferers.

The city of St. Charles, west of St. Louis, though settled as early as 1769, contained, in 1791, only about fourteen houses. Blanchette, its founder? was commandant until his death, in 1793. This small post afterward gave a name to the " District of St. Charles," which comprised, at one time, all the lands between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, extending to the Pacific ocean. The " district " was in reality the county, which has been reduced to its present size by repeated losses of territory, occasioned in creating other counties.

When the purchase of Louisiana was completed, in 1804, and immigra¬ tion to the "Far West" began, settlements were pushed up the Missouri river. These early settlers suffered much from the repeated depredations of the Indians. St. Charles county was the seat of this Indian warfare - culminating, as it did, in the terrible massacres of 1812. Up to this period, the Indians, though tempted by large presents from the British, main¬ tained a comparatively peaceful attitude.

In 1807 a settlement was made by a few American colonists, upon Loutre Island, in the Missouri river, just below the present town of Her¬ mann. In 1808 a settlement war effected in Callaway county, by the French, called Cote Saus Dessein. At this point were fought some of the hardest battles of the Indian war. It was a thriving settlement, and situ¬ ated equidistant from St. Charles and the Boone's Lick country.

Historical Sketch Of Missouri

While sugar was almost unknown to the hardy pioneers of this primi¬ tive time, salt was a necessity. It was shipped from Kentucky and New Orleans to St. Louis by river, and from that point was sold over the coun¬ try by traveling traders. The enormous profits charged, made the price of the article very high.

Early in the present century, Colonel Boone, (the celebrated Boone of history), while on a hunting expedition from his home near St. Charles, discovered the salt springs of the region afterward known as " Boone's ufactured salt, which they floated down to the settlements in " hollow syc¬ amore logs, daubed at the ends with clay. " The many expeditions to this point in quest of the valuable article of food, and the great increase of the traffic created a settlement and caused the first highroad to be opened in the west, called Boone's Lick road. This afterward became greatly traveled by emigrants.

Having been brought now to notice Daniel Boone , it will not be a digression to give here, the main points of his life, and to relate especially his connection with Missouri.

Daniel Boone was born in Pennsylvania, in 1734. At an early age he exhibited great skill in hunting, was daring and brave, and soon won local celebrity. When eighteen years of age his father removed to North Car¬ olina. While residing here, Daniel married Rebecca Bryan. After extended explorations in the region of the Kentucky river, Boone with his brother and their families, removed from the Yadkin river in North Carolina to Kentucky. From this time, until the admission of Kentucky into the Union as a State, the history of Daniel Boone is indissolubly knit with that of Kentucky. The brave hunter's lad developed into a shrewd, sagacious, hardy and resolute, dauntless man. After perils and adven¬ tures and misfortunes, such as no other western pioneer experienced, Boone, in 1790 moved to Virginia, thence in 1795 to Missouri, then Upper Louisiana. Zenon Trudeau offered to him as an inducement to this change of residence, a large tract of land. After his removal he received this grant according to promise, and by a contract to bring to St. Charles " district " one hundred American families, he afterward received ten thousand arpents of land in the same region. In 1800, he was appointed commandant of the Femme Osage or St. Charles " district. " The author¬ ities requiring much of his time to be devoted to his office, Boone neglected to have the proper entries for his land made. This afterwards was the source of much trouble. His title being declared invalid, he petitioned to Congress for his lands, and only succeeded in obtaining them after long deliberation by the committees of that body. The petition is a curious piece of writing, and thoroughly shows the slight monetary value placed upon western acres.

To the Senate and Representatives of the United States , in Congress assem¬ bled. The petition of Daniel Boone , at present an inhabitant of the ter¬ ritory of Louisiana, respectfully showeth:

That your petitioner has spent a long life in exploring the wilds of North America; and, has by his own personal exertions, been greatly instrumental in opening the road to civilization in the immense territories now attached to the United States, and, in some instances, matured into independent states. An ardent thirst for discovery, united with a desire to benefit a rising family, has impelled him to encounter the numerous hardships, privations, difficulties and dangers to which he has unavoidably been exposed. How far his desire for dis¬ covery has been extended, and what consequences have resulted from his labors, are, at this time, unnecessary to be stated. But, while your petitioner has thus opened the way to thousands, to countries possessed of every natural advantage, and although he may have gratified his thirst for discovery, he has to lament that he has not derived those personal advantages which his exertions would seem to have merited. He has secured but a scanty portion of that immeasurable terri¬ tory over which his discoveries have extended, and his family have reason to regret that their interest had not been more the great object of his discoveries. Your petitioner has nothing to demand from the justice of his country, but he respectfully suggests, that it might be deemed an act of grateful remembrance, if his country, amidst their bounties, would so far gratify his last wish, as to grant him some reasonable portion of land within the territory of Louisiana. He is the more induced to this request, as the favorite pittance of soil to which Jie considered he had acquired a title under the Spanish government, has been wrested from him by a construction of the existing laws not in his contempla¬ tion, and beyond his foresight. Your petitioner is not disposed to murmer or complain; but conscious of the value and extent of his services, he solicits some evidence of their liberality. He approaches the august assemblage of his fellow citizens with a confidence inspired by that spirit which has led him so often to the deep recesses of the wilds of America; and he flatters himself that he, with his family, will be induced to acknowledge that the United States knows how to appreciate and encourage the efforts of her citizens, in enterprises of magnitude from which proportionate public good may be derived.

Daniel Boone and his son established a town called Missouriton near the Missouri river, which at one time promised to become the capital of the territory. When this failed, it went down. The changing currents of the muddy river have long since obliterated every trace of this village. After serving gallantly in the war of 1811-12, against the Indians, then resting calmly during a peaceful interval of years, Daniel Boone died September 26, 1820.

He is to be remembered as the fioneer of the west, the most noted of the early American settlers in the "District" of Louisiana, and the owner of the first stone house erected in Missouri.

As the years passed on from 1804, the murders became more frequent along the frontier in Missouri. At last the Indians, growing bold, com¬ mitted such outrages as to call for forces, armed and equipped, to protect the settlers. In the summer of 1811 Gov. Clark repaired in person to the scenes of devastation. A company of rangers, composed of the most hardy woodmen, was organized and the country scoured. This for a time produced quiet. In the month of May, 1812, a meeting of the chiefs was had in St. Louis for the purpose of accompanying Gov. Clark to Wash¬ ington that an adjustment of rights might be had. Hostilities during their absence almost ceased. But the baleful spirit of the great Tecumseh still influenced large numbers, and when the chiefs returned the horrible sur¬ prises again began. An armed force was now despatched. Mistaking the overtures of the Indians to be friendly, the party was surprised and suffered a severe defeat. The best protection was the companies of ran¬ gers, who, like the minute men of the revolution, stood ready upon the slightest alarm. While these aggressive measures were being taken, those at home were quietly building forts to shield the defenceless women and children. About fifteen of these were built. They were always situ¬ ated upon eminences commanding such open views as to virtually thwart the marauders. Eventually this means caused a subsidence of the troubles.

"These forts were all built after the same general plan, viz.: In the form of a parallelogram, with the block-houses at the four comers, and the intervening spaces filled with log-cabins and palisades. They would not have withstood the fire of artillery, but afforded ample protection against rifles and muskets. None of them, however, were ever attacked by the Indians, for their number and convenient locations, with the constant watchfulness of the rangers, afforded the savages no opportunity of doing any very serious damage."

Notwithstanding all these precautions, the most shocking and brutal murders were committed from time to time. In the annals of the pioneers of Missouri are treasured some of the most hideous deeds that occur in the history of the American savage. The unconscious victim is often murdered in sleep. Whether at the hearthstone or at the plow the danger was ever present. No large bands of Indians infested the district. The solitary demon, prowling stealthily in the wilderness, was the dreaded foe. All work was accomplished under the cover of armed sentinels pacing to and fro.

But the war of extermination in the west, as in the east, had com¬ menced, and at this hour the end of the struggle is not yet. The happy hunting grounds are filled with civilized life, and upon the continent where once he roamed at will, the red man of the north has now no resting place.

While these events were transpiring in the northern part of Missouri, in the southeastern part were occurring others that filled the inhabitants with dread and consternation. They were wrought by no human hand, but the direful forces at work were full of disaster. We refer to the earthquakes of New Madrid.

During the years 1811 and 1812 the whole of southeast Missouri was convulsed by the most terrible shocks. The people had been accustomed to slight undulations of the surface, but the vast upheavals of this period were never effaced from their memories.

It would be impossible to describe the scene. Large tracts of land were suddenly washed into the river, lakes, miles in circumference, were the creation of an hour, swamps and great basins of water became dry land, and everywhere the earth yawned with ghastly fissures. The face of the whole country became changed. People sought safety from falling debris by living in tents. Trees were felled upon which they rested, while the earth opened beneath.

Strangest phenomena filled the heavens. One evening the southern hori¬ zon was lit up with flashes of vivid fire. The night was luminious. The terrific grandeur was only destroyed by the horrible danger. At last when quiet came over the face of the earth, wildest confusion alone marked the hour. Villages had been lost, estates could not be recog¬ nized.

So great and far reaching was this calamity that congress passed an act of relief for the sufferers, by which tracts of land equal to their former possessions were granted them in any uninhabited portion of the territory.