Washington Township (part 2 of 3)

The volunteer companies numbering somewhat over 1,000 men, under their respective commanders, were all assembled at Fort Leavenworth, by the 19th day of July, 1846, and on that day held an election for field officers ; Gen. A. W. Doniphan was elected colonel; C. E. Ruff, lieutenant^colonel ; and William Gilpin, major. Colonel Ruff and Major Gilpin were West Pointers, strict disciplinarians, and on that account very unpopular with the young volunteers. The September following, Colonel Ruff resigned, and was appointed captain in the regular army. Col. Congreve Jackson> of Howard County, succeeded Colonel Ruff as lieutenant-colonel. A singular fact may here be mentioned. The Democrats, us a party, were in favor of the war against Mexico, and the Whig party opposed to the war, yet it was a Democratic war, and a Whig fight; perhaps a majority of oflScers and soldiers were Whigs; certainly Generals Scott and Taylor were W^higs, «nd but little doubt that a majority of the volunteers fro/ii Kentucky and Missouri were Whigs. Capt. 0. P. Moss's company was composed of 114 men, and ninety were Whigs and twenty-four were Democrats. Doniphan and Moss were Whigs.

Doniphan's expedition to Mexico is a matter of general history, and well known to even school children, and will not be rehearsed in these pages. Before Colonel Doniphan's regiment left Mexico for the United States, it received the following complimentary mention from Brigadier- General Wool, commanding division:

1. The general commanding takes great pleasure in expressing the gratification he has received this afternoon in meeting the Missouri volunteers. They are about to close their present temi of military service, after having rendered, in the course of the arduous duties they have been called upon to perform, a series of highly important services, crowned by decisive and glorious victories. No troops can point to a more brilliant career than those commanded by Colonel Doniphan, and none will ever hear of the battles of Bracito and Sacramento without a feeling of admiration for the men who gainod them. The State of Missouri has just cause to be proud of the achievements of the men who represented her in the army against Mexico, and she will, no doubt, receive them on their return with all the joy and satisfaction to which a due appreciation of their merits and services so justly entitles them. In bidding them adieu, the general wishes to Colonel Doniphan, his officers and men, a happy retuni to their families and homes.

About two weeks after the arrival at home of Colonel Doniphan, and the Clay County volunteers, 15th day of July, 1847, there was given a grand public reception to them, and a dinner spread in A grove a little southeast of Liberty. There was a large pi-ocession in charge of Judge James T. V. Thompson, as grand marshal. The welcoming address was delivered liy Col. Henry L. Routt, to which Colonel Doniphan responded. Other speakers addressed the vast assemblage. Hon. David R. Atchison and Judge James H. Birch.

The necrology of Company Cr John M. Finley died at E! Paso, of typhoid fever, aged 21. William Duncan died in New Mexico, at Bent*s Fort. John D. Lard was killed by Benjamin W. Marsh, at the Valverde crossing of the Rio del Norte. Marsh was tried by court-martial, but acquitted. James Wills died en route to Chihuahua, below El Paso.

After the grand reception to General Donijihan and his volunteers at Liberty, an invitation was extended to them, by Jackson County, to attend a reception in their honoi- ;it Iiulependenci'. This invitation was accepted, and on the day appointed a vast concoui'se of people assembled in a grove southwest of Independence. An elaborate repast was spread under the shade of the trees. After the sumptutous dinner, an address of welcome was delivered by the Hon. Samuel H. Woodson, and responded to by Colonel Doniphan. A poem, dedicated to Colonel Doniphan and his soldiers was then read by a Mrs. Buchanan ; at the closing of which she crowTied Colonel Doniphan with flowers. No more gaily and enjoyable day was ever experienced by the Jackson County i^eople.

Gen. Zachary Taylor's part in the war with Mexico caused him to be an exceedingly popular man, particularly with the Whigs, who were inclined to make him their candidate for President in 1848. and as this movement increased, from month to month, it was determined by them to nominate "Rough and Ready," as he was called, for that high and exalted office. Taylor was nominated for President, and Millard Fillmore, for Vice-President. At the November election in Clay County, Taylor, the Whig candidate, received 626 votes; Cass, the Democratic candidate, received 418. Taylor was elected, and the Whigs had a grand celebra/^ tion over the election of General Taylor, at Liberty, the meeting being presided over by Madison Miller. Colonel Doniphan, and others, made speeches.

Chapter Vi Events Prior To The Civil War

POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1840 - CLAY'S PREDICTION - CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OP 1846 - ELECTION OF 1845 - GREAT Fl^OOD OF 1844 - PRICES IN 1846 - DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA - SOME CLAY COUNTY 49ERS - CHOLERANECROLOGY - POLITICAL QUESTIONS OF 1850 - MEETINGS HELD - QUESTION OP SLAVERY - KNOW NOTHING PARTY - ITS PLATFORM - TROUBLES IN KANSAS - PRO SLAVERY AND FREE STATE AGITATION - KANSAS ELECTIONPRO SLAVERY MEN ORGANIZED - MEN AND MEANS FURNISHED TO MAKE KANSAS A SLAVE STATE - RAILROAD BUILDING - POLITICAL CONDITIONS IN 1S60.

From the time the Colonies secured independence from Great Britain no campaign caused so much excitement as the presidential race in the year 1840. The two great political parties were the Whigs and Democrats. William Henry Harrison, for President, and John Tyler, for Vice- President, were the candidates of the Whig party, and Martin Van Buren, for President, and Johnson, for Vice-President, were the candidates of the Democrats. Everywhere over the entire country immense meetings were held, where the political issues were discusasd, and the merits and demerits of the respective candidates were proclaimed to the people. Be it remembered there were giants in those days, and Clay County had such men. Gen. A. W. Doniphan, Maj. John Dougherty and Judge William T. Wood marshalled the Whig forces. Gen. David R. Atchison, Col. John Thornton and Capt. George Wallis led the Democrats. In the political battle that ensued at every gathering for public speaking, log cabins, barrels of hard cider, live raccoons, and other emblems of political heraldry were in evidence. The Whigs were defeated, the vote being

Van Buren, 649; Harrison, 457; Democratic majority, 192. But in 1844, in the contest for the Presidency between Henry Clay and Fi-elingheyson, the Whig candidates, and James K. Folic and George M. Dallas, the Democratic candidates, the Whigs were victorious in Clay County, the vote being Clay, 765; Polk, 552. The Whigs rallied largely to Mr. Clay, the "favorite son" of their native state. Polk and Dallas were elected.

It is related of Mr. Clay that when he first heard that James K. Polk, of Tennessee, had been nominated by the Democrats for the presidency, he was in Raleigh, North Carolina. An ardent Whig, and friend of Mr. Clay, rushing up to the gi-eat man, said, "Mr. Clay, have you heard the news? James K. Polk has been nominated by the Democrats; now you will have 'a walk-over.' " Mr. Clay looked thoughtfully at the friend, for a moment or two, and said, "I am a defeated man" ! The friend, evincing astonishment, exclaimed, "Why, Mr. Clay, do you say that you are a defeated man?" Clay responded by saying, "Because I have a record, and James K. Polk hasn't." And the result of the election proved that Mr. Clay was coirect. Never was a presidential candidate's record more viciously assailed, not even that of Woodrow Wilson's record in 1920.

Rather a unique Congressional election was held in the then Fourth district in 1846, of which Clay County was a part ; the district being composed of Clay, Platte, Davies, Linn, Grundy, Livingston, Carroll, Ray, Clinton, Caldwell, Buchanan, Holt. DeKalb. Harrison, Nodaway, Putnam, Gentry, Atkinson, Mercer, Adair, Andrew and Sullivan counties, twentytwo in number. Willard P. Hall, a well known lawyer, then a private in service in Capt. 0. P. Moss's company from Clay County, then in Mexico, had been nominated by the Democrats, in a convention at Gallatin, for Congress. Judge James H. Birch, of Clinton County, announced himself as an independent Democratic candidate. Although Judge Birch was one of the best stump orators in the state, with no little popularity with the people, he, however, in his canvas cast some reflections on the patriotic motives which induced his opponent to enter the service of his country; this contributed largely to Birch's defeat. A note from Hall, dated at Santa Fe, to the people of the congressional district, in reply to Birch's charges, proved a most effective campaign document.

The vote at this election in Clay County was as follows: Constitution of 1845 - For, 809 ; against, 211. Congre'ss - Hall, regular Democrat, 564; Birch, Independent, 463. Legislature - Coleman Younger. Whig,

498; Henry Owens, Democrat, 575. The candidates for the Legislature had no opposition. Sheriff - Samuel Hadley, Democrat, 683; H. M. Riley, Whig, 468.

The great flood in the Missouri river in 1844, is a part of the history of every county on this river in the state. No such flood since 1826 had been experienced. For days in the month of June the waters of the river extended from bluff to bluff, engulfing and destroying the crops of the farmers; scarcely a vestige of farm produce could be discovered, after the waters subsided, in the valleys near the river, from where it entered the state to its mouth, everywhere was desolation. Great distress was the result of the flood, from a pecuniary point of view, for thousands of farmers living in the river bottoms lost their all. The weather conditions were exceedingly peculiar. For weeks the days would be clear and beautiful, but when night was approaching dark clouds would arise, and by night mutterings of thunder would be heard, and at about ten o'clock rain would begin to fall in ton-ents, followed by flashes of lightning and terrific claps of thunder.

The prices of produce in the summer of 1846, in Clay County, were as follows : Wheat, 45 to 50 cents per bushel ; hemp, $2.50 per cwt. ; flour, $2 to $2.50 per bai-rel ; hams, 4 cents per pound ; dressed whole hog, 31/2 cents per pound.

Early in the year 1849, the news of the discovery of gold in California became known to the country, and great excitement was the result. Among others who determined to go to the land of gold were scores of men in Clay County. Cholera, the deadly contagion, was prevailing in certain parts of Missouri, in Clay and Jackson counties, and reports that the disease was killing hundreds of men. on the plains bound for California gold fields, did not deter a great many men of Clay County to make the journey westward to the land of promises. Among others who started for California that year were Paley Carpenter, Thomas Conington, Daniel Mosby, Dr. Henry B. Hixon, Jasper M. Hixon, W. W. Estes, Thomas Estes, Albert Davis, Taylor Dougherty, John Minter, John W. Collins, William Pixler, John Waller, James Withers, Anderson Chanslor, William Davenport, Perry Keith, Henry B. Ammons and Edward Crapster. A much greater emigration left the county in 1850. The California fever in 1849 and 1850 was so intense that reports as to the hardships to be endured in reaching the gold mines ; the numerous deaths from cholera and other diseases; the over-rated richness of the mines; the high cost of livining in California, did not abate the fever; but hundreds from the county rushed to the new EJldorado ; there to find that reports sent them before they left home were not exaggerations. This exodus of men from Clay County resulted in riches in experience, but little in the accumulation of the precious metal for the Clay Countians, who made the long journey across the plains.

Necrology of Clay County men in California, 1850. Abel King, at Weber, in January; Randolph King, at Hangtown, in February; Daniel Mosby, at Sacramento, in June; Ben Keyser, at Hangtovra, in July; Ben Clark, at Sacramento, In August; Rev. Robert James (father of Frank

McCrorey, at Weber, in November; James A. Walker, at Weber, in October; James Ellet, at Weber, in November; George W. Wallis and Samuel M. Gant, at Nevada, in November; Benj. Carpenter, at Hangtown, in October; William Morton, at Greenwood, in November; John H. Mosby, near Sacramento, of cholera ; John McCrorey, at Weber, in August ; Henry Gill, at Johnson's ranch, in September; Anderson Estes, at Nevada, in August; George Estes, at Hangtown, in August; William Homer, Samuel Mc- Kneiss, Sanford Bell, George W. HuflFaker, Washington Huffaker, two Ellises, and three Graggs, at other places and times.

Political conditions in Missouri, and in all states of the Union, in 1850, had greatly excited the people to an unusual degree. The question of the admission of California into the Union with a constitution prohibiting slavery, the passage of a fugitive slave bill by Congress; the compromise or "Omnibus Bill," and of "Personal Liberty" bills by several Northern states, intended to interfere with the operation of the fugitive slave law, were mainly the causes of this unrest. Public meetings were held in almost all sections of the state and nation. In the meetings held in the Southern states, secession was advocated. Clay County at this time was intensely loyal to the Union, and deprecated a dissolution of the states. The Liberty Tribune issued the following call for a public meeting:

"The friends of the Union of these States, without regard to party, will hold a public meeting on the fii'st Monday in May, 1850, to congratulate Messrs. Clay. Webster, Cass, and other friends of the Union in Con-

This meeting was very largely attended, by men representing all shades of political views, Whigs and Democrats, Benton and anti-Benton ; there being but few, if any, in favor of disunion. Resolutions were unanimously passed reviewing the political situation and with this resolve, "That our thanks are especially due, and are hei'eby tendei'ed to Henry' Clay, of Kentucky ; Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts ; Lewis Cass, of Michigan ; Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York, and John Bell, of Tennessee, for the noble and patriotic stand they have tr,ken in defense of the Union, and the noble spirit of compromises which they have evinced in the settlement of the agitating question of slavery."

The people of Clay County were unquestionably for the Union; but they stated in their resolutions that "We regard the Wilmot proviso and all kindred measures with the most perfect abhorrence." Ten years thereafter these "kindred measures" had become so numerous and tlireatening as to change a large majority of those participating in this meeting into ardent secessionists.

The Legislatuie of the state, in 1851, elected Hon. Henry S. Geyer, a distinguished lawj^er, of St. Louis, to be United States Senator, the vote standing: Geyer, 80; Benton, 55; Benj. F. Springfellow, 18, and 4 scattering.

From 1851 to 1860, the Whigs and The America, or as it was generally called, the "Know Nothing" party, was in the ascendency in Clay County. At this day the rising genei'ation, and many older persons, know nothing of the American or Know Nothing party, a political oi'ganization which grew mightily in its numbers from 1854 to 1856, so as to elect governors of states and members of Congress, and which was a dominator of political power in Clay County, the platfonn of the party as adopted in Missouri being practically the same in all other states, was as follows :

A full recognition of the rights of the several states, as expressed and i-eserved in the Constitution, and a careful avoidance by the general goveniment of all interference with their rights by legislative or executive action.

Obedience to the Constitution of these United States aa to the supreme law of the land, sacredly obligatory in all its parts and members - a strict construction thereof, and steadfast resistance to the spirit of innovation of its principles - avowing that in all doubtful or disputed points, it may be legally ascertained and expounded by judicial powers of the United States.

That no person should be selected for political station, whether native or foreign prince, potentate or power, or who refuses to recognize the Federal or State Constitition (each within its sphere) as paramount to all other laws or rules of political action.

Americans must rule America; and to this endnative bom citizens should be selected for all State and Federal offices in preference to natuialized citizens.

A change in the laws of naturalization, making a continued residence of twenty-one years an indispensable requisite for citizenship, and excluding all paupers and persons convicted of crime, from landing on our shores ; but no interference with the vested rights of foreigners.

An enforcement of the principle that no State or Territory can admit others than native bom citizens to the rights of suffrage, or of holding political office, unless such persons have been naturalized according to the laws of the United States.

That Congress possessed no power under the Constitution to legislate upon the subject of slavery in the States where it does or may exist, or to exclude any State from admission into the Union, because its constitution does or does not recognize the institution of slavery as a part of its social system and expressly preteiinitting any expression of opinion upon the power of Congress to establish or prohibit slavery in any territory; it is the sense of this meeting that the territories of the United States and that any influence by Congress with slavery as it exists in the District of Columbia, would be a violation of the spirit and intention of the compact by which the State of Maryland ceded the District to the United States, and a breach of the national faith.

That we will abide by and maintain the existing laws on the subject of slavery as a final and conclusive settlement of the subject on spirit, and in substance, believing this course to be the best guarantee of future peace and fraternal amity.

crats joined its ranks. The slogan of the party was that "Americans must rule America." At the first organization of the party, there was a prescriptive plank in their platform to the effect that Roman Catholics ought not to be permitted to hold office of honor, trust or profit in the government. Soon, however, this plank was eliminated. For a few years the native American party was a factor to be reckoned with, but the opposing parties. Democratic and Republican, in their respective platforms, condemned its principles, so that by degrees the party grew smaller until the election in the fall of 1860, when it ceased to exist. Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, in his race for governor of that state, gained the credit of having given the Know Nothing party its mortal wound.

The troubles in Kansas began in 1853, when the Kansas-Nebraska bill was being discussed in the halls of Congress; this bill was passed by Congress, and repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The law left to the people of the ten-itory to decide whether slavery should exist or be excluded therefrom. "The true intent and meaning of the act" as therein expressed, to be "not to legislate slavery into any state or territory, or exclude it therefrom," but to leave the people form and regulate their domestic relations as they pleased, subject only to the Constitution of the general government. The Free Soilers claimed that all public territories were to be admitted into the Union, as free States, and that slavery was tol be excluded therefrom ; on the other hand, this was denied by proslavery men ; that under the Kansas-Nebraska bill, they had the right to vote in the territory of Kansas, there being no restrictions denying them the right. The Free State men claimed only actual settlers had the right to vote in the territory. Yet it became a notorious fact that "Emigrant Aid Societies" from New England, and parts of the North, sent hundreds of men, "armed with the Bible in one hand, and a Sharp rifle in the other," as expressed by a noted Northern preacher, for no other purpose than to vote to make Kansas a free state. This was known to the people of the Southern states, and was the cause of great excitement to Missourians, and particularly so to those living in the Western part of the state, who determined if the Free State men intended to import voters into the territory, certainly the Missourians or any other persons had the right to exercise suffrage at the same polls, to determine whether the territory should be admitted as a state, with or without slavery.

of 1855, as the Kansas question. Organizations, not only in Missouri, but the Southern States, were made to take suitable action in the premises. Western Missouri was very active. The border counties on the North side of the Missouri river, next to Kansas, held meetings and men were urged to go to Kansas, and be there by March 30, 1855, for an election was to be held to choose members of the Territorial Legislatui'e. On the South side of the Missouri, and in counties bordering on Kansas, like meetings were held, and resolutions passed pledging the people to go to Kansas.

The people of Clay county were thoroughly ai'oused. A large and enthusiastic meeting assembled at the court house, and many of the best men of the country were enrolled into companies, and started for Kansas. Many who did not go in person, furnished horses, arms and provisions. Gen. David R. Atchison was the leader, chief adviser and commander of the men living in Northwest part of the state. These men crossed the river at Leavenworth, and on the day of election cast their votes at the various polling places in that section. The Missourians from the Southern and Western part of the state, south of the Missouri river, were under the leadership of Congressman Samuel H. Woodson, at Tecumseh, and points in that part of Kansas, to cast their votes. The result of this, the first, election in Kansas, was that the pro-slavery candidates were elected by an ovei^whelming majority.

A Pioneer Home

The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was completed between Hannibal and St. Joseph in the spring of 1859. It was deemed necessary to build a railroad from Kansas City to Cameron, in Clinton County, a small town located on the H. H. St. J. Railroad un.l sliortiy after tlie road had been finished between Hannibal and St. Joseph, Clay County was thoroughly canvassed requesting the people to ask the county court to subscribe $200,000 to aid in l)uilding this branch road. The most influential citizens of the county favored the project and became enthusiastic on the subject, particularly after the ablest men in the county had made speeches in its advocacy. A special election was held in June, 1860, and out of a vote of 2,032, 1,200 voted for the subscription to be made by the court. An additional sum of $25,000 was afterwards made to aid in the con- .struction of the road. Delay from one cause or another, principally on account of the diffiLulties incident to the war between the states i.ssued and this branch was not finished until 1867.

The Democrats in 1860 were divided into two factions: One faction placed in nomination Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson for President and Vice-President; the other, John C. Breckenridge and Joseph Lane for President and Vice-President. The first faction claimed they were the "regulars", while the others claimed also to be "regulars". The Republicans placed in nomination Abraham Lincohi and Hannibal Hamlin for President and Vice-President. The I'liion party, consisting of the remnants of the American or "Know Nothing" party and the disaffected of all other parties, placed in nomination John Bell and Edward Everett for President and Vice-President. Clay County gave Bell and Everett a majority of its votes. Missouri gave its electoral vote to Douglas and Johnson. Lincoln and Hamlin were elected, but did not receive a vote in Clay County.

Chapter Vii Civil War Period

BEGINNING OF WAR - ARSENAL IN CLAY COUNTY SEIZED - ARMS AND AMMUNITION TAKEN - MASS MEETING AT LIBERTY - COMPANIES ORGANIZED - GOVERNOR ISSUES ORDERS - THE ROCK CREEK AFFAIR - TROOPS TO LEXINGTONFIGHT AT BOONVILLE - CARTHAGE - BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK - SIEGE OF LEXINGTON - BLUE MILLS LANDING - FIGHT SOUTH OF LIBERTY - LEGISLATURE. MEETS AT NEOSHO - FEDERAL TROOPS AT LIBERTY - STATE GOVERNMENT REORGANIZED - SOLDIERS AT LIBERTY - CONSERVATIVE UNION MEN - RAID ON MISSOURI CITY - BUSHWHACKERS - ORDER NO. 11 - RAIDS BY EU.SHWHACKERS - END OF WAR.

The firing on Fort Sumpter, April 12, 1861, precipitated the Northern and Southern states into war. No sooner than had the President made his call for volunteers and Governor Claibonie Fox Jackson's refusal to comply with the President's demand for troops from Missouri, this state was intensely excited and in many quarters hurried preparations were made for war. In no county in the state was the excitement greater than in Clay. Immediate conference was had with the leading men whose sympathies were with the South, living in Jackson, Buchanan and other counties to seize the arsenal near Liberty and secure guns and ammunition there stored and arm volunteers for the conflict which every one could see was imminent. Accordingly, quietly and without the least publicity, armed men from Jackson County as well as men from Buchanan and other counties, on April 20, 1861, seized the arsenal, four miles south of Liberty. It has been charged that Governor Jackson gave his personal sanction to this seizure. Such was not the case. The governor knew nothing of it until after the seizure had been made. Other gentlemen of prominence were fully aware that the seizure would be made. It was the suggestion of Hon. Samuel H. Woodson that the seizure should be made and concurred in by Gen. John W. Reid and M. Jeff Thompson, and certain men at Independence, Kansas City, St. Joseph and Liberty. Col. Nat Grant, who was in charge of the arsenal at the time, was powerless to prevent the munitions of war from being taken. He could only protest. Not a gun was fired. Everything that could be used in the way of cannon, small aiTTis of every description, powder, etc., was carried away and subsequently distributed and used by companies in the Missouri State Guard and in the Confederate army. This was the first act Missouri showed aganst the United States government. This act created consternation throughout the country. Even the President was concerned and telegraphed to constituted authority for explanation. Captain Lyon in command at Jeflferson Barracks doubled his guards, fearing an attack on the arsenal at the barracks.

An inventory of the property taken was made and consisted of three six-pound cannon, mounted on carriages, twelve unmounted iron cannon, five caissons, two wagons, two forges, a lot of equipment for artillery. 1,000 rounds of artillery ammunition, mostly canister and solid shot ; 1,180 muskets, 250 rifles, 119 carbines. 100 pistols, 420 sabers, forty swords, 450,000 cartridges, 1,000 iwunds of coarse jjowder, 1,550 pounds of fine or rifle powder, large quantity of cartridge boxes, belts, scabbards and sundry articles of military equipment for army use in great quantity. Large amount of the powder was hidden in various parts of the county, in hay stacks and hay lofts, but the greater part of which reached those for whose use it was intended, the Confederates.

The first Monday following the seizure the circuit court was in session. The court took a recess in order that a political meeting could be held in the court room. The meeting assembled in great numbers. Hon. Samuel H. Woodson delivered an eloquent and impassioned address in favor of Missouri taking her stand with her sister southern states - a seces.sion speech. He was followed by Aaron Conrow, of Ray ; Dr. G. M. B. Maughs, of Jackson; John E. Pitt, of Platte; John T. Hughes, of Clinton; J. H. Adams. G. S. Withers, J. C. C. Thomton and J. W. Gillispie, of Clay. A fine secession flag was raised amid the cheers of the multitude. Resolutions were passed unanimously condemning the President's call for troops and indorsing Gov. C. F. Jackson for his reply to the call of Mr. Lincoln. One resolution was, "That in the event there should be a new convention ordered, we pledge ourselves to support no man for delegate for said convention who will not aver himself a Southern Rights man and that we will use all honorable means for the immediate secession of Missouri". A few months previous Clay County was enthusiastically for the maintenance of the Union; now that a call had been made to make war on Southern states, Clay County must give expression of its hostility to such a course and its willingness to secede from the Union. Only a very few of the better class of the people of the county did not declare themselves in favor of secession. A meeting of those opposed to secession was held the day following. Dr. William A. Morton was chainnan. Colonel Doniphan and Col. James H. Moss delivered eloquent speeches. Doniphan declared he was still for the Union, but that he could not take part in the war. Moss pleaded for the Union. Resolutions were adopted claiming "that secession was no remedy for an evil, and asserting that the true policy of Missouri at present is to maintain an independent position within the Union, holding her soil and institutions against invasion or hostile interference from any quarter".

Companies of men were organized in various parts of the county. A company of "South-Rights" men was organized in Liberty with Henry L. Routt, as captain and L. S.. Talbott, George W. Morris and John W. Gillispie as lieutenants. At Smithville a company was formed with Theodore Duncan as captain and J. E. Brooks, William Davenport and P. M. Savery, as lieutenants. In the northeast part of the county a company was officered by Prof. L. M. Lewis as captain and G. W. Mothershead, M. D. Scruggs, Richard Laffoon, as lieutenants. In Gallatin township another company was organized with G. W. Crowley, captain, Amos Stout and R. H. Stout, lieutenants. Just west of Kearney, at Gilead, a company for "home defense" was organized of which O. H. Harris was captain ; W. W. Smith and Samuel Henderson were lieutenants and Tapp Soper orderly. Another company at Liberty was organized, 0. P. Moss, captain; James H. Moss, William G. Garth and John Dunn, lieutenants. With the exception of the company of which 0. P. Moss was captain were armed with arms from the Liberty arsenal. These various companies did not all remain intact. Some of them were broken up and the men joined other companies and served in the Confederate cause. Camp Jackson, near St.

Louis was captured by General Lyon and E. P. Blair, Jr. This was a camp of Missouri State Guards, under the command of Gen. D. M. Frost. Directly thereafter the Missouri Legislature passed the famous "military bill". Governor Jackson immediately ordered several companies of the Missouri State Guai'd to come to the capital for its defense. Captain Routt's company from Liberty and Capt. Theodore Duncan from Smithville left for Jefferson City in obedience to orders, but only remained a few days, returning to their respective homes. On the 15th day of June, 1861, by orders of the governor, Capts. Routt, Duncan and Mothershead, with their companies, crossed the Missouri River at Blue Mills Landing and joined the forces under Col. Richard H. Weightman, who were in camp on the Lexington road a few miles east of Independence. Some history states that on this date a fight had ensued on Rock Creek, two miles west of Independence, between the Missouri State Guards under the command of Col. Hollaway and some regular army forces under the command of Lieutenant Stanley. No such conflict ever occurred. Colonel Holloway's men were in camp west of Independence, when receiving information that a large force of Federals had left Kansas City with the intention of attacking the State Guards, Colonel Holloway made preparations for defense and when the Federals approached the camp of the State Guard, Colonel Holloway obsen'ed that a white flag was being earned at the head of the Federal column; riding toward the Federals. Colonel Holloway was accidentally shot, mortally wounded, by one of his own men. Some one had accidentally shot his gun off, which the rank and file of Holloway's men thought was a signal to fire, when there was a general fusillade from the State Guard, mortally wounding the commanding officer. Colonel Holloway, and Bud McClanahan and slightly v/ounding Samuel Ralston. The Federals did not fire a gun but returned with the least disorder to Kansas City. While in camp east of Independence, Capt. Theodore Duncan was shot and mortally wounded, dying from the wound a few days later and was buried in Liberty. At the time Colonel Holloway was wounded he was acting instead of Brig. Gen. James S. Rains, the commander of that military division of the state, and had for his aids-de-camp, John W. Henry, afterw^ards judge of Supreme Court, Shrewsberry Dameal, Bud McClanahan and William H. Woodson, all citizens of Independence.

place. In the meantime other companies were being organized in Clay County. Capt. Thomas McCarty organized a company of infantry, with Alexander J. Calhoun, J. C. Vertress and R. P. Evans as lieutenants. This company started for Lexington, June 17th. Within a week four other companies from Clay County were on the road to Lexington - Captain Talbott's, Captain Holt's, Captain Mothershead's and Captain Crov/ley's. Captain Talbott succeeded Captain Routt in command of the "Rangers", Routt being elected to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

The Federal forces under Lyons and Sturgis had a fight at Boonville with the State Guards, compelling the latter to retreat to Lexington and other places southwest of Boonville. These Missourians were compelled to still further retreat toward the southern part of the state, but were intercepted near Carthage on the 5th day of July by a large force of Federals under command of Gen. Franz Sigel. A battle was fought, resulting in the defeat of the Federals. In this battle, Captain McCarty's company had one man killed, Albert (Dink) Withers. On the 10th day of August, the greatest, most stubbornly and sanguinary battle on Missouri soil during the war between the states was fought at Wilson's Creek. The following men from Clay County under General Price were killed : Sergts. A. W. Marshall, John W. Woods and Amos Stout; privates David Morris, John Grant (cousin of Gen. U. S. Grant), and Richard Gates. The wounded were: Capt. Thomas McCarty, seriously, and Lieut. Theodore K. Gash, James Miller, J. B. Winn, C. S. Stark, Richard Talbott, William Hymer and L. B. Thompson, more or less severely. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, the commander-in-chief of the Federal forces was killed and his army defeated. Gen. Samuel Sturgis succeeded to the command and retreated to Springfield and from that place to Rolla. This victory gave great encouragement to the people of Southern sympathy and greatly stimulated by the Federal defeats at Carthage and Wilson's Creek, many rushed to enlist before the war should be over. The Federals in the western part of the state kept remarkably quiet for quite awhile as the Confederates passed to and from Price's army with no "one to molest or make them afraid".

Clay County formed a part of Gen. A. E. Stein's military division of the state. This commander issued in August a proclamation calling upon men to enlist in his army to drive from the state the Northerners who had invaded it, which was not without results. Men were organized into companies and I'egiments in Stein's division which was in Northwest part of the state. Colonel Saunders from the extreme northwest Missouri, commanded a regiment and other regiments were organized, ready for immediate service. Col. John H. Winston, of Platte County, organized a regiment. A considerable force under the command of Col. Henry L. Routt, were encamped near Lexington. Colonel Mulligan, a Fedei^al commander with a large force had taken the Old Masonic College building at Lexington in possession and had thrown up entrenchments. The Southerners determined to capture this officer and his anny if possible. To this end the two above mentioned regiments hastened to Lexington. In Clay County, Capt. L. B. Dougherty commanded a company, with James A. Gillispie and L. A. Robertson, as lieutenants. Capt. John S. Groom and Capt. Peter C. Pixlee had also organized companies. These Clay County soldiers also repaired to Lexington, for the news had reached them that Gen. Sterling Price was marching on Lexington from Springfield. The regularly organized companies from Clay County which participated in the siege of Lexington and assisted in the capture of 2,800 Federals under Colonel Mulligan, who surrendered September 20th, were those of Captain Pixlee, Captain Groom, Capt. Gideon Thompson, L. B. Dougherty and Captain Mothershead. Other men from Clay County participated in the siege, but were attached to other commands.

The Missourians from northwest concentrated at St. Joseph for their march to Lexington, and on their march to Lexington were joined by the regiment of Colonel Winston, numbering about 3,500 men, most of them mounted, and the baggage train numl)ered over sixty wagons. They had three cannon, two six-pounders and one nine-pounder. The Federal commander of the northwest part of the state was fully aware of the movement of these Missouri troops and determined to prevent them from crossing the Missouri River and augmenting the force confronting Mulligan at Lexington. This Federal commander from the northwest rushed troops from all quarters toward Blue Mills Landing, for that was the point where the Missouri troops expected to cross the river. Colonel Winston's regiment without interference crossed the river. At Liberty, Colonel Saundures receiving infonnation that Federal troops were near and he was likely to be attacked, rapidly marched his forces in the direction of Blue Mill Landing. The Federals also were alert; they too hurried toward the Landing Before the Missourians could reach the crossing, messengers apprised the commander of the close proximity of the enemy. Colonel

Saunders secreted a large number of his men behind an embankment of a slough for at least a quarter cf a mile just west of the farm of John Beauchamp, about four miles south of Liberty. Thick underbrush between the embankment and the road prevented the Federals from observing their enemy who were in complete ambuscade. The Federals marched gaily along ; suddenly a teri'ific fire was opened upon them from the guns of the State Guards with disastrous results. The advantage was with the Stat©- Guards from the start to the close, which was of short duration, as the Federals being taken by surprise fled in haste and disorder back to Liberty. The Missourians crossed the river that day and marched to Lexington without being further hindered or molested. That night the Federals visited the field and removed nearly all their wounded. The next day they were all brought back to Liberty and taken to the William Jewell College building, which was improvised into a hospital for their accommodation. The dead, consisting of fourteen in number, were buried on the College grounds. The wounded were about eighty.

To give the reader some idea of reports of battles in those days made by officers whose duty it was to make reports of engagements, we here give reports of the killed and wounded in this affair. Colonel Saunders, commander of State Guards, in his report, dated September 21, 1861, states that he had one man killed and seventeen wounded and that the Federals admitted a loss of 150 to 200 killed, wounded and missing. Lieut.-Col. John Scott, of the 3rd Iowa Volunteers, commanding the Federals, states in his report, dated Liberty, September 18, 1861, "The loss of the enemy can not be certainly ascertained, but from accounts deemed reliable, is not less than 160, many of whom were killed". The colonel in his report does not state the loss of the Federals, but states, "I have to regret the loss of a number of brave officers and men who fell gallantly fighting at their posts. I refer to the enclosed list of killed and wounded as a part of this report."

Governor C. F. Jackson having been driven from Jefi'erson City, called the legislature to meet in Neosho on the 26th of October and on the 28th, an ordinance of secession was passed by both houses. In the Senate, only one vote was cast against the ordinance, that of Charles H. Hardin, then senator fiom Boone and Callaway district and aftei-wards governor of the state and in the House only one vote cast against the ordinance, that of Shambaugh, of Dekalb County. The Congress of the Confederacy at Rich-

Our citizens were greatly surprised on one Sunday early in December, 1861, to find a large body of soldiers under the command of Gen. B. M. Prentiss, of the regular United States army come into Liberty, where they remained until the Tuesday following. During their stay numbers of persons of Confederate proclivities were ai-rested and forced to take the oath of loyalty to the Federal government. When this general departed with his troops, returning to Leavenworth, he carried with him Judge James C. Vertrees, judge of the Probate Court, J. J. Moore, deputy sheriff, James H. Foi'd, constable, and about a dozen other prominent citizens.

Missouri state government was reorganized by ordinance of the State Convention, with Hamilton R. Gamble as provisional governor, Willard P. Hall, as lieutenant-governor, and Mordecai Oliver as secretaiy of state. It required all county officers and almost all other civil officers of the state to take an oath of loyalty to the State and National Government, which was generally deemed not improper, but there were many obnoxious provisions in the oath which a great many officers in the state would not take or subscribe to. Judge W. Dunn, of the Clay Cou7ity Circuit Court refused to subscribe to the oath and ex-governor A. King was appointed his stead. D. C. Allen, circuit attorney, would not take and subscribed to the oath, and D. P. Whitmer, of Ray County, became his successor. A. J. Calhoun, the circuit clerk, subscribed to the oath.

In March, 1862, a man claiming to be a Confederate officer, named Parker, with a few men came into Liberty and held the place for part of a day. Captain Hubbard, a I'ecruiting officer for the United States government, with about ten men, were in a house of old man Grady, which was located on the northwest coraer of Kansa.s and Leonard streets, in Liberty. Hubbard and his men were attacked and forced to surrender to Parker after a fight of an hour or two. No lives lost.

After Parker's victorious achievement, for months peace and quiet prevailed in our county, but was maired by the coming into the county of one Col. William R. Pennick with his regiment of men, principally from northwest Missouri - some were from Kansas. Penick was a resident of St. Joseph; he was of Southern birth and rearing, a native of Boone County, Missouri, a slave holder. Penick and his men were stationed in Liberty practically the whole summer. When they were gone, no set of

After about one year's service, such as it was, Penick's regiment was disbanded, as the order said, "in view of the interests of the public service".

The leader of the conservative Union men of northwest Missouri was Co!. James H. Moss, brother of Capt. Oliver P. Moss, a brother-in-law of Hon. John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky. It was Colonel Moss and the men of his regiment, composed of men from Clay and Platte Counties, who did more than all other agencies combined from 1862 to the end of the war between the states, to protect Clay and Platte Counties from marauders, thieves and villains, military and otherwise. In September, 1862, the companies of enrolled militia in Clay and Platte were organized into a regiment denominated the Forty-eighth Regiment: Colonel, James H. Moss; lieutenant-colonel, Nathaniel Grant; C. J .White, adjutant; William T. Reynolds, quartermaster; Dr. William A. Morton, surgeon, all of Clay. By reason of the very large reduction in numbers of this regiment by removals from the state and other causes, this regiment was disbanded in November, 1863. Colonel Moss retaining his commission, was instructed to reorganize effective militia of Clay, Clinton and Platte Counties, which he accordingly did and into a regiment. Eighty-second Enrolled Missouri, better known as the "Paw-Paw" militia: Colonel, James H. Moss; lieutenant-colonel, Nathaniel Grant, both of Clay; major, John M. Clark, of Platte. A book of no small dimensions could be tnithfully written, giving a history of this command during the trying times from the time of its organization to the end of the war. Its combats with thieves and "Red Legs" alone, depicted, would be a long and interesting narrative. Especially next to Colonel Moss, due credit would be given to Capt. John S. Thomason, of Clay, and Davis Johnson, of Platte, and great praise, not a modicum, to Maj. John M. Clark. It was this command that prevented Clay and Platte from being laid waste by vandals from our neighboring state of Kansas, as Jackson, Cass and a part of Bates Counties were despoiled about this period of the war by these same vandals.

On the 19th of May, 1863, a body of armed men, under the command of one Fernando Scott, who crossed the river at Sibley several days before, made a raid into Missouri City. An account of which was published in the Liberty Tribune is as follows:

"One of the residents of Missouri City came in and reported to Capt. Darius Sessions of the enrolled militia, or Lieutenant Gravenstein, of the Twenty-fifth Missouri Volunteers, that he noticed two or three suspicious characters lurking about a short distance below that place. The captam and lieutenant with not more than three or four men - all we suppose they could muster at the time for duty - went out on a scout and had not proceeded far before they were fired upon from the bnish by a body of men at least three or four times their number. Finding their little force inadequate, they were compelled to beat a hasty retreat in a somewhat northeriy direction. They were, however, hotly pursued by the bushwhackers. Captain Sessions was shot dead, several bullets, it is said, entering his body. Lieutenant Gravenstein, finding his pursuers gaining on him and escape about hopeless, turned and offered to sun-ender, but was killed on the spot without mercy. A private of the Twenty-fifth Missouri, who was wounded in the arm, found by a citizen and brought into Missouri City, was cruelly fired upon by several of these outlaws as they came rushing into town - neither his helpless condition nor the humane attentions of those around him dressing his wound, could save him. He was still alive when last heard from, but his recovery is deemed hopeless. The ruflSans broke into James Reed's store, forced open his safe, took therefrom some $170 or $180 in gold, destroyed all his valuable papers and other property. They also plundered and did considerable damage to Mr. B. W. Nowhn's store and after charging about for some time in a threatening manner, departed to the woods below the city.

"These men, those of them who came into the city, were under the leadership of Scott, a saddler who lived in Liberty some years ago, but for the past four or five years has resided in Jackson County. He is a native of Ohio. George Todd, it is said, was at hand with another squad. Their pickets were seen eariy Wednesday morning on the bluff above the lower part of Missouri City. The number of guerrillas altogether was sixteen, although at first they were supposed to number a much larger

"Captain Garth, with what forces he could hastily gather up, immediately went in pursuit but did not succeed in capturing any of them. In the absence of the militia, the citizens of Liberty turned out en masse to defend the town and it was done with a willingness and a "vim" that

"The bushwhackers were all from Jackson and other counties but three - Vondivere, Easton and James - all of whom were of Clay. Vandivere boasted in the streets of Missouri City that he killed Captain Sessions because he reported on him and wouldn't let him stay at home. The rascals, when firing on the wounded man in town, declared that when any of their men were captured they were killed and that they intended to do the same - that they asked nor gave quarter.

Mr. Benjamin Soper, residing some eight or ten miles north of Liberty, reported to headquarters on Thursday that fourteen of the above squad took possession of his farm, stationing out pickets and notifying him and his family that they were prisoners and not to leave the place. That they remained all one day and on leaving took one of his best horses and warned him it would not be good for any of his family to be caught from home that night."

Durhig the summer of 1865, Clay County was badly infested with bushwhackers, lawless soldiers and other disreputable characters, keeping peaceable and law abiding citizens in almost constant fear of losing lives and property. So great was the disturbed condition of affairs that it was deemed by the county court unsafe to attempt the collection of the county revenue m the usual manner and in the time prescribed by law, that the court by a special order of record required all tax payers of the county who had not paid their taxes up to the time of the order, July 8, 1863, be notified and enjoined to repair as soon as practicable to the office of the sheriff and ex-officio collector of the revenue, Francis R. Long, at the court house, in the city of Liberty, and pay their taxes to said collector or his deputies, and, unless they promptly respond to the order, the court will not be compelled as an act of justice to the state, the county, and the brave militia faithfully serving the cause of law and loyalty, and said collector either to call into requisition the services of said militia to enable said officers to collect said taxes or to order said defaulting tax payers to be returned as delinquents.

The troubles in Clay County were greatly augmented by the issuance of the celebrated order of Gen. Thomas Ewing, known as "Oi'der No. 11", the result of which was the depopulation of the counties of Jackson, Cass and a part of Bates, except certain towns and cities in said order desig- nated, which order, practically left the country districts of these counties open to all crimes, murder, arson, petty and grand larceny, in fine the whole catalogue of crimes. Hordes of men, many of them claiming to be soldiers from Kansas overrun this territory effected by Order No. 11; killing men, robbing and burning houses, driving off horses, mules and cattle, loading wagons with household and kitchen furniture, leaving in their wake absolute desolation. In retaliation for these acts, a considerable force of young men, the large majority of whom were the sons and relatives of those who had been murdered or plundered, whose houses had been burned or property stolen, went to Lawrence, Kansas, and there committed what is known as the "Lawrence Massacre", committing murders and other atrocious crimes. Many fai-mers in the counties effected by this infamous order, instead of going to the places designated in the order, fled from their homes and sought a refuge elsewhere, many of them coming to Clay County. The men, with their families, who came to our county, were quiet inoffensive citizens, not connected with either the Federal or Confederate army - non-combatants. The military authorities then in Clay County greeted these refugees with this order:

All persons who are leaving General Swing's district in compliance with his order (No. 11) are hereby prohibited from stopping in this county to reside. All those failing to comply with this order will be escorted

John R. Green

Among the men who went with Quanti-el from Jackson County to the City of Lawrence, were several from Clay County. It was currently believed that John D. Holt, Frank and Jesse James and Ninian (Ning) Letton were among the number. There was intense alarm in the county after the sacking of Lawrence. Many Kansans were disposed to organize, go into Missouri and seek vengeance. General Ewing being apprised of the intention of these people of Kansas, notified military officials in Missouri, who took the necessary precautions to prevent the men from canying out their designs. Troops were placed near all ferries and crossings ready and willing to meet the invaders. Ascertaining that Federal troops were

Numerous raids by bushwhackers were made in the county during the early part of 1864, and the summer of that year. A body of thieves under command of one Sanders, claiming to be a part of Jennison's regiment of Kansas, one night in the month of January, captured Missouri City, where were located a small number of enrolled militia under command of Capt. George S. Story, taking the captain and the militia prisoners. After plundering Nowlin's store of all it contained, fled before the rising of the sun. The most notorious bushwhacker with his followers of about sixty men, was Charles Fletcher Taylor, whose home was at Independence. "Fletch" Taylor, Peyto Long, of Liberty, Arch Clements and James Bissitt, of Jackson County, all bushwhackers, were charged with killing, in cold blood, one Bradley Bond, an ex-Federal soldier, who was living quietly at his home. No positive proof, however, was ever known that these men were guilty of the crime, for crime it was, the man being called to his door and murdered. A day or two afterwards Alvis Daily was working in his field, when he was shot to death. His family were notified that bushwhackers did the deed because Daily belonged to the company which killed Park Donqvan about a year before.

Lieut.-Col. J. C. C. Thornton was an officer under Col. John H. Winston, both of whom were, or had been, recruiting for Gen. Sterling Price's amjy^ Colonel Winston had been taken pi-isoner at his home in Platte County and had been confined some weeks in prison at Alton, Illinois. Colonel Thornton, with Threlkill, Fletch Taylor and their forces, about the 10th day of July, captured Platte City with Capt. Davis Johnson and his command of about 100 men. The news was carried to Liberty which created great alarm among the militia and the people generally. The night of the day the news was received every able bodied man in the town was required to be in the court house or the court house yard. Captain Kemper, the commander of the troops or militia, was taken from the Arthur House on a litter, he having been seriously wounded a few days prior thereto by bushwhackers in a fight on Fishing River. A few days thereafter Col. J. H. Ford, of a Colorado regiment, and Lieut.-Col. D. R. Anthony, of Jennison's regiment, with their respective regiments marched through Platte City to Liberty, leaving behind them death and desolation. Platte City was almost entirely destroyed by fire; peaceable and law abiding old citizens, Gragg, Reddish and others called to their doors and shot to death. A meeting was called for all citizens to be at the court house to devise ways and means to get rid of all bushwhackers in the county. The chairman of the meeting was Edward M. Samuel, a Union man of long residence in the county. The chief and only spokesman on the occasion was Colonel Ford. He commenced his remark by saying, "I don't know what to say to you damned people, etc." What good resulted from this meeting is not known. General Schofield, commanding the Missouri Military Division quickly ordered these regiments back to Leavenworth, from whence they came. They were not permitted to return through Platte County, but were taken from Liberty Landing by steamboat to Leavenworth. While the commands of Ford and Anthony were in Liberty they were turned loose upon the people and pennitted to commit the wildest excesses upon the citizens of the place; stores were robbed. They would steal whatever they could and abused the citizens without let or hindrance. The next day after the soldiery were suffeited, for the time being. Colonel Ford issued a general order that stealing, robbing and pillaging from the citizens of these counties must not be allowed.

From July to the end of the year roving bands of bushwhackers infested the county and predatory squads and larger companies of state militia roamed over the county to the unrest and constant dread of peaceable, law abiding citizens.

The news of the surrender of General Lee was a quietus to this kind of warfare. The Confederate people of Clay County became resigned to the inevitable and looked foi-ward to the future in hopes for peace.

The telegraph brought the news of the assassination of President Lincoln which was received with the greatest regret by all classes. In Liberty all stores were closed. A large meeting was held to give expression to the prevailing sentiment of sorrow. A series of resolutions were unanimously passed condemning the assassin and deploring the death of the President as a great national calamity. The committee who introduced the resolutions were composed of Col. A. J. Calhoun (cousin of John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina), Frederick Gwinner. Maj. Samuel Hardwicke and Judge John Broadhurst.

The last of the bushwhackers in Clay County were those under the command of 01. Shepherd, who on the 28th day of May, 1865, surrendered in Liberty to Lieutenant Cooper, of Captain Younger's company of state militia. They were only five in number, the other members of the band having left the county. The surrender occurred after several notes had passed between the militia lieutenant and 01. Shepherd, the commander of the bushwhackers. Those who surrendered were 01. Shepherd, who in 1868, was killed by a vigilance committee in Jackson County ; Ninian Letton, who afterwards became city marshal of Liberty, and sheriff of Clay County, James and Alfred Corum and Milton Dryden.

Chapter Viii After The Civil War

DRAKE CONSTITUTION - CLAY COUNTY SAVINGS ASSOCIATION ROBBED - DISFRANCHISEMENT - DEMOCRATS SUPPORT B. GRATZ BROWN FOR GOVERNOR - HOW THE NEGRO VOTE WAS SECURED - RESULT - THE WOODSON-McCARTY SENATORIAL, CAMPAIGN - RAILROADS - GRASSHOPPER YEAR - POLITICAL ISSUES AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS - INDUSTRIES - VALUATION - ELECTION OF 1920 - DEMOCRATS CARRY CLAY COUNTY.

The most drastic, undemocratic and objectionable document ever promulgated as a Constitution of a state, was the so-called Drake Constitution of 1865. Amied soldiers were stationed at all polling places on election day. June 6, 1865, to see that no one not loyal should cast votes against the infamous document. Thousands of men stayed away from the poles. Only 918 votes were cast in Clay County for and against the adoption of the constitution, as follows:

On the northeast comer of the public square in the city of Liberty is located a two-story brick building, originally erected by the Farmers Bank of Missouri for a branch bank, but on the 13th day of February,

1866, the lower stoiy of the building was and had been for several years, occupied as the bank of the Clay County Savings Association. On this day a band of brigands from Clay, Jackson and other counties robbed this association , of about $60,000 and escaped. At the time the bank was looted a snow was falling and continued to fall so that by the time sherifi" and his posse could go in pursuit of the outlaws it was impossible to follow the trail, the snow having obliterated or covered up their tracks. It is known that the bandits crossed the Missouri River into Jackson County the same day. Several persons believed to be implicated in the robbery were an-ested charged with the crime, but on investigation there was not sufficient proof of guilt. The Liberty Tribune in its next issue after the robbery published the following account:

"Our usually quiet city was startled last Tuesday by one of the most cold-blooded murders and heavy robberies on record. It appears that in the afternoon some ten or twelve persons rode into town and two of them went into the Clay County Savings Bank and asked the clerk, William Bird, to change a ten dollar bill and as he started to do so, they drew their revolvers on him and his father, Mr. Greenup Bird, the cashier, and made them stand quiet while they proceeded to rob the bank. After having obtained what they supposed was all, they put the clerk and cashier in the vault and no doubt thought they had locked the door and went out with their stolen treasure, mounted their horses and were joined by the balance of their gang and commenced shooting. Mr. S. H. Holmes had two shots fired at him and young George Wymore, aged about nineteen years (son of William H. Wymore), one of the most peaceable and promising young men in the county was shot and killed while standing on the opposite side of the street at the corner of the old Green house. The killing was a deliberate murder without any provocation whatever, for neither young Wymore nor any of the citizens of town, previous to the shooting, knew anything of what had taken place. Indeed, so quiet had the matter been managed, if the robbers had succeeded in locking the bank vault on the clerk and cashier and had retired quietly, it would likely have been some time before the robbery would have been discovered.

"The town was soon all excitement and as many as could procure arms and horses went in pursuit, but up to this writing nothing is knovra of the result. Our citizens exhibited a commendable willingness to do all they could to assist in the capture of the robbers and their booty.

"Thus has our city and people been grossly outraged by a band of thieves and murderers and that too, when the people thought they were in possession of pemianent peace and a worthy young man murdered, one of the most successful and ably managed monied institutions and many private individuals have been heavy losers. We hope to God, the villians may be overhauled and brought to the end of a rope. Indeed, we can not believe they will escape.

"The murderers and robbers are believed by many citizens and the officers of the bank to be a gang of bushwhacking desperadoes who stay mostly in Jackson County. But it makes no difference who they are or what they claim to be, they should be swung up in the most summary manner. Robbing and murdering must be stopped and if it requires severe medicine to do it, so be it. Desperate cases require desperate remedies, and we believe our people are in the humor to make short work of such characters in the future The people of Clay County want peace and safety and they are going to have it.

"Although the Clay County Association offered a reward of $5,000, no one was ever arrested who was convicted of the murder or robbery. The Association was temporarily suspended, but settled with all creditors by paying sixty cents on the dollar, which was satisfactory to creditors."

Under the Drake Constitution of 1865, at least thi-ee-fourths of the men of Clay County were disfranchised. The gi'eater part of them being the better class of our citizenship. Take as an example, the lawyers : only two of about fifteen lawyers, resident attorneys, were allowed to vote. The Democratic committee of the county for years were lawyers Thomas McCarty, Henry L. Routt, D. C. Allen, James E. Lincoln and William H. Woodson ; not one of whom was permitted to vote, a right, however, which was vouchsafed to any and all negro men in the county. For years before an election, all men who proposed to vote at the election must be first registered and unless they measured up to the standard of loyalty as required by the registration officers, who, in Clay County, with one or two exceptions, were invariably of the lowest class of our people they wei'e not permitted to register as voters. In 1868, a time when men were disfranchised, the vote for President was, Seymour, Democrat, 320; Grant, Republican, 291. In 1872, when there was no registration of voters, the vote in Clay County for President was, Greeley, Democrat, 2,207; Grant, Republican, 528 ; O'Conner, "straight" Democrat, 27. For governor, Woodson, Democrat, 2,472; Henderson, Republican, 527.

In 1870, the Radical Republicans of the state nominated Joseph W. McClure for governor. The Democrats declined to make a nomination for the office but recommended that all Democrats support B. Gratz Brown, the Liberal Republican candidate for that office. If Brown was elected then, in that event, notice was given by the people that no longer was registi-ation and proscription of voters wanted in this state. Great interest was manifested in the race for governor, as well as the election for minor offices. In Clay County a movement was started to secure the negro vote for Brown for governor, and for the county ticket. Every night for over a week prior to the election, the colored people, male and female were invited to come to the court house, where they were entertained with speeches by one or more of the Democratic committee, after which refreshments, oysters, etc., were served, the evening closing with a dance. The fii'st evening or two, there was but slight attendance of the colored people, but as the entertainments became more interesting and the speeches more and more convincing, the night before the election, it was believed that not a negro man or negro woman in the county had failed to put in his or her appearance, who was physically able to do so.

Colonel Woodson was chairman of the meeting with nineteen negro vice-presidents. Had the platform been larger, the colored people were assured there would have been more vice-presidents. Colonel Routt was the speaker of the evening and although he spoke for an hour and a half and although he signally failed to utter one single truth, yet his speech had a most telling effect on his audience. With tears in his eyes, Colonel Routt would have the chairman read, time and again, the iniquitous provisions of a bill the Republicans intended introducing in the Legislature of the state to become a law provided Joseph W. McClure was elected governor. The most shocking part of the bill was to levy a tax upon every colored person in the state, male and female, over the age of eighteen years in the sum of fifty dollars. The bill, when it became a law, was to take effect in thirty days after its passage. Then the assessor in every county should make the assessment and if the person so assessed did not pay the lifty dollars to the collector of the revenue xi'ilhin thirty days thereafter, the party should be arrested to answer an indictment to be preferred by the grand jury. The penalty for the non-payment was two years in the state penitentiai'y. There was a preamble to the bill explanatory to the effect, that it was to show the appreciation of the colored people to the Republican party, first, for having manumitted them and next for having given them the electoral franchise. Colonel Routt made a most pathetic appeal to his colored fellow citizens and produced a great sensation at one period of his address, when with tears streaming down his face, he cried out with agonizing voice to an old crippled colored friend who sat before him, "James Tuggles, my dear old colored friend, you with whom I played on the green in the good old state of Kentucky, where is the fifty dollars you've got to pay. Where is the fifty dollars your wife, old Aunt Nancy has got to pay; where is the fifty dollars your son, Jim. has got to pay; where is the fifty dollars your daughter, Lizzie, has got to pay?" and the colonel knowing exactly fourteen of old Jim's children, called out each of their names and inquix'ing where was the fifty dollars each one had to pay. Old Uncle Jim, looking up at the colonel, sobbing as

James Love, a former prominent educator in the county, was the Radical Republican candidate for the Legislature. Henry Smith, a prominent lawyer, was the Libera! Republican candidate against Mr. Love and was elected by receiving the solid negro vote of .the county. Had not the negro vote been cast for Smith, Love would have been elected. The St. Louis Republic commenting on the negTO vote of Clay County having been given to B. Gratz Brown for governor, among other things said: "If in the future there were any counties in Missouri anxious to get the votes of the negroes and didn't know exactly how to get them, we would suggest taking lessons from the Clay County Democratic Committee."

The old third senatorial district of this state was composed of the counties of Clay, Clinton and Platte. For many years prior, and subsequent to 1872, the custom was to alternate in the selection of a state senator. The district was verj' largely Democratic, so much so that the Republicans never even thought of making a nomination for that office. Clinton had the senator for the four years preceding 1872, and now it was Clay County's time to select a Democrat for senator, subject, of. course, to a ratification of a convention to be held later on. Before the Democratic voters of the county, there were four candidates: Col. Lewis

J. Wood, Capt. Thomas McCarty, John R. Kellar and William H. Woodson. The 2nd day of June was the day selected when a mass meeting of the Democracy of the county would be held at Liberty to select delegates to a senatorial convention. The county had been thoroughly canvassed by the different candidates, and great excitement and zeal prevailed among all the people, so much so, that when the hour arrived for the mass meeting, the public square was filled with excited men, while at the second story windows of all business houses, the women could be seen ; they too taking the most active interest in what the meeting would do. The crowd was entirely too great to get into the court house, and the meeting was organized, and held east of the court house, with Heniy L. Routt, as chairman, Judge James M. Sandusky, as Secretary, and others occupying the stone porch of the court house. To ascertain the strength of the various candidates, it was determined that all the friends of McCarty sJiould go to the northeast comer of the court house yard ; Woodson's friends to the southeast; Keller's to the southwest; Col. Wood'.s to the northwest. The friends of each candidate started to the respective stands. It was apparent that Woodson's friends were the most numerous. Col. ^Vood, seeing this, advised his friends to go over lo Woodson, which they did in a body. The McCarty followers, seeing the overwhelming numbers against them, did not all go to the place allotted them. The Kellar men were few in number. A motion was made that the various candidates be represented in the senatorial convention with their respective strength, which, aUhough defeated, was declared l.iy tb.e cliairman to be carried. The convention met at Plattsburg", Clinton County, on the day appointed. Woodson was nominated ; McCarty bolted the convention, and made the race as an independent democrat. Then commenced the most exciting and hotly contested senatorial race which ever took place in Missouri. All the old politicians in the district took sides with McCarty. and wherever McCarty made speeches, from two to half a dozen of these old "war horses" were with him, and likewise made speeches in McCarty's behalf. Meetings were held in nearly all the school houses in Clay, Clinton and Platte counties. The only speeches made in behalf of Woodson were made by himself. These political meetings continued until the night before the election in November. At Bari-y, in Clay; Parkville and Weston, in Platte, the audience would not pennit McCarty to answer Woodson; yet when the election took place, McCarty carried those precincts, and had sufficient majority in Platte

One branch, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad passes through Clay County. Originally the road was chartered before the war between the states, and was called the Kansas City, Galveston and Lake Superior. Afterward the name was changed to the Kansas City and Cameron. Afterwai'd it was merged into the Hannibal and St. Joseph, February 14, 1870, and is now known as the C. B. & Q. Railroad. This road was completed to Liberty in the fall of 1867. This enterprise was of great benefit to the county, as it gave an outlet for the produce of the county to the markets of the world, besides stimulated immigration to the county ; it created no less than six towns and villages, and added material wealth by the development of agricultural activities throughout the entire country.

The following year, 1868, the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern railroad was extended through the county. The name was changed to the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific.

Under a contract with the Hannibal and St. Joseph road, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company commenced in 1871 to run passenger and freight trains over this road, but was not allowed to take on or discharge passengers or freight in the county.

In the month of May, 1875, Clay County was devastated of almost all vegetation. Great swanns of grasshoppers made their appearance, eating every green vegetable, corn, wheat, oats, grass, and in many instances the leaves of the trees. So vast were their numbers that to war on them, to try to exterminate them, was futile. Fanners who did not have provender in their barns for their stock were compelled to take their animals to other counties, to prevent starvation, or to be at no little expense in providing food for them. Cattle were driven to counties along the Iowa line for grass. Fortunately the grasshoppers left the county in time tn replant corn, other cereals, and seeds of various kinds, so that good crops were rai.sed.

It has been well said that Missouri politics for thirty years after 1875 seem monotonous and uneventful. Year after year the Democrats carried the state in national and state elections. The nominal issues were those of the reconstniction times ; the Democrats insisted on economy and conservation and denounced the carpet bag regime in the South, the iron-clad oath, the sale of railroads, and the heavy debt in Missouri. As the party became better united, the moi-e positive leaders came to the front. Gov. John S. Phelps had sei-ved in Congress from 1844 to 1862, had commanded a regiment in the Union Army and aided Blair in the organization of the Democratic party. He was succeeded by another Union Democrat, T. T. Crittenden, and he in turn by a Confederate brigadier-general, John S. Marmaduke. With Marmaduke the older line ends and the later governors are younger men vi^ho took no part in the great struggle.

After the panic of 1873, the reconstruction issues, although nominally dominant in politics, wrere really subordinate in the minds of the people to the newer economic and social problems. Times were hard and the westerners believed, rightly or wrongly, that their troubles were due to the excessive rates and discriminations of the railroads and to a currency which enabled the East to exploit the West. In Missouri the deniand that the government remedy these evils did not lead to any considerable third party movement, but the Assembly made some attempt to regulate the railroads through a railroad commission. The demand for the free coinage of silver was generally endorsed and found one of its earliest and ablest champions at Washington in Richard P. Bland. In the '80s the revival of prosperity temporarily obscured this economic and social unrest and the Democrats maintained their unity. Governors D. R. Francis and W. J. Stone, a former member of Congress, r-r^eived substantial majorities. Francis was later a member of Cleveland's cabinet and Stone has represented Missouri in the United States Senate. Until 1903 the Democrats re-elected to the United Stxtes Senate Cockrell and Vest, first chosen in 1879, two senators who worthily continued the traditions of Benton, Henderson and Schurz.

When the panic of 1893 brought the economic issues to ihe front once more, the old parties lost their magic. The Missourians ioinod the new People's Populist party by the thousand and in the off year of 1894 in coalition with the Republicans elected a Republican superintendent of schools. Before the next national election, however, the radical or Populist wing had captured the national Democratic party. Its candidate, W. J. Bryan, swept Missouri by tremendous majorities in both 1896 and 1900, carrying with him the Democratic candidates for governor, L. V. Stephens and A. M. Dockery.

Then came the first substantial Republican victoiy since 1868. The national Democratic candidate for President, Parker, was an easterner and a consei-vative, unacceptable to the radical element in the West, while the Republican candidate, Theodore Roosevelt, apart from the cuiTency issue, which renewed prosperity was driving into the background, represented many of the reforms which the radicals desired. At the same tune there was a revolt in the Democratic party against the older leaders under J. W. Folk, who secured the nomination on the issue of refonn. The election resulted in the success of Roosevelt and Folk and the Republican candidates for the other state offices. The Repubhcans secured also a majority in the Assembly and sent William Warner to the United States Senate to succeed Cockrell. Four years later the split in the Democratic party still continued. Taft carried the state by a small majority over Bryan, H. S. Hadley, the Republican candidate, was selected governor, but the Democrats captured the other state offices and a small majority in the Assembly, which was held in 1912. The truth is that the older allegiance to the party name and party machinery has broken do\vn, the people more and more are voting intelligently on men and issues, and Missouri, today is a doubtful state.

After 1872 Missouri entered a new stage in her economic development. The good government land was all taken up and immigrants from the East went farther west in their search of cheap land. Fi'om 1890 the increase in population in the ten-year period was about one-fourth, from 1890 to 1900 it fell to one-sixth, and in the next two decades was very small. After 1880 the increase was to be found chiefly in the cities. As far as the agricultural population was concerned the state, and Clay County had reached the limit in rapid growth. The future development of the state and county must be along the lines of manufacturing and varied industries, although scientific farming is already checking the decline of agriculture.

Although the population of Clay County has not materially increased during the last two decades, yet the lines of manufactures and various industries show a very decided increase within the last five years, which inevitably must in the near future very greatly increase the population of the county. Thus far the increase in population has been in North Kansas City, and Excelsior Springs. Probably no place in the state has more manufacturing plants in course of erection, and to be erected in

1921, than North Kansas City. No question but in ten years, or less, North Kansas City will be the most populous city in the county, and composed, principally, of the operatives and families in the various manufactories and kindred industries. The assessed valuation of property in Clay County for the year 1920, is as follows:

The great issue between the two great political parties, Democratic and Republican, in 1920, was the adoption or rejection of the Covenant and League of Nations, as agreed upon by the representatives of the great nations of the world, at Versailles, France. At this election the women in almost every state were permitted to exercise the right of suffrage. Owing to a state constitutional provision the women of Georgia, at this particular election were deprived of the right to vote, yet not denied the right at any future time The Democrats, as a party, were in favor of its adoption; the Republicans were opposed to its adoption. The German- Americans, and the Roman Catholics were opposed to the measure; the foi-mer because they thought the victors, in the late world war, were too severe in their demands of the fatherland; the latter because of their dislike of Woodrow Wilson. A vote for James M. Cox, the Democratic nominee for President, was a vote in favor of the adoption of the Covenant and League of Nations, while a vote for Warren G. Harding, the Republican nominee for President, was a vote against the adoption of that measure.

Chapter Ix

Liberty is the south-central municipal township of Clay County and its present boundaries are as follows: Beginning at the northeast corner, at the northeast corner of section 15, township 52, range 31; thence south to the Missouri river; thence up the river to the mouth of Big Shoal creek; thence up and along Big Shoal creek, on the eastern bank, to the southwest corner of section 22, township 51, range 32; thence due north to the northwest corner of section 3, township 52, range 31 ; thence east to the northeast comer of section 1, same township and range; thence south one mile to the northeast corner of section 7 - 52 - 31; thence south one mile to the southeast comer of said section 7 ; thence east three miles to the beginning.

Although the country is naturally broken and hilly throughout the greater part of the township, some of the best farms in Missouri are here to be found. Without the least exaggeration some of the manor lands in Liberty are equal in point of development and improvement to many of the best estates in the famed blue grass region of Kentucky, or the much lauded farms of Central Ohio. To be sure many of the Liberty township famis have been cultivated for sixty years, but their possessors have not been slothful or unenterprising.

to stock raising, and this natural advantage is thoroughly well improved upon. The bottom lands along the Missouri are of course of the highest fertility.

As to the first settlers in what is now Liberty township, it is probable that they were Richard Hill, Robert Gilmore, James Gilmore, Samuel Gilmore and Elijah Smith, who settled on Rush creek, in the southeastern part of the township, in 1820. The two first-named Gilmores, Hill and Smith came first in the spring and built cabins and put out small crops, leaving their families down in Petite Osage bottom (commonly calleil Tete Saw) in Saline county. In the fall of the year they returned with their families.

Richard Hill settled on section 9, nearly two miles east of Liberty; the others were lower down the creek. All of these families were related. Samuel Gilmore was the father of Robert and James, and the father-in-law of Hill and Smith. Mrs. Mary Poteet, a widow lady, who was the sister of Elijah Smith, and the mother-in-law of James and Robert Gilmore, came with the party and made her home with her brother. She raised Mary Crawford, an orphan, who became the wife of Cornelius Gilliam, and was the first white woman married in Clay county.

Other settlers came in quite numerously and located in the southern portion of the township in 1821, and in 1822, when the county was organized and Liberty laid out and made the county seat, there were still other additions made to the settlements in what is now the Liberty municipal townshiiJ - then about equally divided between Gallatin and Fishing River, the two original townships of the county. Anthony Harsell said that in 1821 there was but one house north of Libei'ty - that of Jameri Hiatr, who lived a little more than a mile from town, due north (section .31 - 52 - 31), now known as the Baker farm.

Liberty Landing, on the Missouri, three and a half miles south cf the city of Liberty, was established many years ago. The site was for many years a place of importance. All merchandise for Libeiiy and other interior towns north was put off the steamboats here for many years. From 18.58 to 1862 a large hemp factory, owned and operated by Arthur, Bunis & Co., was conducted at this point. The machinery in this establishment cost about $30,000, and the firm handled thousands of tons of hemp. The business was broken up by tlie war and the machin-

Providence Missionary Baptist Church was organized Apnl 29 1848^ at the house of Peyton T. Townsend by Revs. Robert James and Franklm Griv s P N EdwLds being the first clerk. The organization commenced Sth a membership of 44 persons, but has increased until at ^-esent w t^ ine there are 190. The first church building was erected in 1850, and was des rojed by fire in Feb.-uaxy, 1880, but was rebuilt the same year at

Liberty

TOWN SITE ON LAND OF JOHN OWENS - COUNTY SEAT SELECTED - FIRST SALE OP TOWN LOTS - FIRST HOTEL AND STORES - TOWN INCORPORATED - LIBERTY IN 1846 - REINCORPORATED IN 1861 - EARLY INDUSTRIES - WATER AND LIGHT - LODGES - CHURCHES - SCHOOLS - URBAN LAKE - ODD FELLOWS HOME - ADVANTAGES OF LIBERTY - PROGRESS.

Upon the organization of Clay County, in January, 1822, the land on which the city of Liberty now stands was owned by John Owens and Charles McGee. Owens had built a house on what is now the northwest comer of Water and Mill streets some time the previous year, and kept a sort of tavern, or house of entertainment. His house was a rather large and roomy affair, and, as elsewhere stated, was used to hold the first courts in, and for other public purposes. McGee and Owens donated 25 acres to the county for county-seat purposes, which donation was accepted, and soon after the town was laid out.

The legislative act creating the county appointed John Hutchins, Henry Estes, Enos Vaughan, Wyatt Adkins and John Poage commissioners to select a "pennanent seat of government" for the county, and provided that, until such selection, courts should be held at the house of John Owens. William Powe was afterward appointed on the commission. In their report to the circuit court July 1, 1882, as a reason for their selection, the commissioners say: "That, in pursuance of the object of their appointment, they assembled together on the 20th of March last, to examine the different donations offered the county, and continued in session three days examining the sites for a town ; that after mature de- liberation and minute investigation the tract of land owned by John Owens and Charles McGee was thought best adapted for the object for which it was designed, as being more central for the population, surrounded with good and permanent springs, lying sufficiently elevated to drain off all superfluous waters, in a healthy and populous part of the county, and entirely beyond the influence of lakes, ponds, or stagnant waters of any kind ; they, therefore, unanimously agreed to accept of the proposition of Mr. Owens and Mr. McGee of a donation of 25 acres each for the use of the county."

As soon as the town was laid out, which was in the early summer of 1822, improvements began to be made. The first sale of lots was on the 4th of July, and at that time nearly all of those fronting on the public square were disposed of. But up to about 1826 there were not more than a dozen houses in the place, and these, with perhaps one exception, were log cabins.

Early hotel-keepers were Leon4rd_Sea£c^ who had a licensed taveni in the fall of 1826, and continued in the business for six or seven years; Laban Garratt, who opened a licensed tavern in December, 1827, and John Chnuncey, who began in about 1832. These hotels, or "taverns," as they were universally called, were simple affairs, but were comfortable enough, furnished plenty of good, wholesome food, and were adequate to the demands of that day.

Probably the first store in Liberty was kept by Wm. L. Smith, the county clerk, who brought up a few goods with him from Bluflfton in 1822, and sold them in his dwelling-house.

Liberty was first incoi-porated as a town by the county court May 4, 1829, on the petition of "more than two-thirds of the citizens," under the name and style of "The Inhabitants of the Town of Liberty." The following were declared to be the metes and bounds:

Beginning at the southeast corner of the northeast quarter of section 7, in the line of the New Madrid claim ; thence due west along said Madrid line to the southwest comer of said quarter section; thence due north along the line of said quarter section to the northwest comer thereof; thence due east along said quarter section line to the northeast corner thereof; thence due north along the line dividing sections 7 and 8, to the beginning comer at the mouth of the lane between Andrew Hixon, Sr., and said town tract.

This incorporation really included 160 acres of land, being the northeast quarter of section 7, township 51, range 31. The first board of trustees was composed of Lewis Scott, John R. Peters, Eli Casey, Samuel Ringo and John Baxter.

The public square in Liberty then had two houses on the soutli side, one on the west, two on the north, and two or three on the east. Hixon's Wilson's, Bird's and Curtis' addition to the town were then in old Mr. Hixon's com field. There was one tavern (the same now [1846] occupied by Judge Hendley) kept by Leonard Searcy. Parties and balls were frequent, and often times attended by ladies and gentlemen from Fort Leavenworth, Richmond, Lexington and Indejiendence. Preaching was uncommon - at least 1 never heard much of it. There was no church in town, but I think the Baptists had two or three in the country; perhaps at Big Shoal, Little Shoal and Rush Creek.

There was but little use for doctors at tiiat time, as the chills and fever were unknown, except in the Missouri bottoms, where but few persons had then .settled. 1 lecollect that the first case of chills and fever that occurred in the uplands excited great alarm and astonishment. It occui'red, I think, in Platte township. Liberty was always healthy. Not a death took place for several years after I caiiu- to it, except one or two persons who came to it laboring under consumption. Once a physician. Dr. Conway, was sent for to see a sick man at the Council Bluffs It was regarded as- ;i most hazardous undertaking, bemg in the winter season, and the doctor received a fee of about $250 There was no other physician nearer at tliat time; now there are perhaps a hundred, and a trip to Council Bluffs is ;'s litt'e regarded as it formerly was to the falls of the Platte.

The first settlers of Liberty were as tlever, as sociable, an.! ;is good Iieople as ever walked the eai'th. Many of them have gone to "that !)ourne from whence no traveler ever returns," and many of them are now still living. * * * There was a kind of brothei'liood existing among the people of Liberty and Clay County when I first came among them; nothing like envy or jealousy existed. They are perhaps more united yet than any other people in the state. This arose from the fact that the

Liberty now contains three taverns, a printing office, three blacksmiths, eight stores, three groceries, two drug stores, one hatter's shop, one tinner's shop, four tailors, three saddlers, three shoemakers, one carriagemaker, two wagonmakers, one tanyard, one bagging and rope factory, five physicians, six lawyers, three cabinetmakers, two milliners, 1 oil mill, 1 carding factory, a Methodist Church, a Reformer's Church, with neat brick buildings, and a Catholic Church under way; also a Baptist Church of stone; one school, kept by a Mr. Harrel, and a male and female school, under the superintendence of Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham. Our schools are equal to those of any town in the state in the ability of the teachers. Good houses to teach in are all that are lacking. The Missionary Baptists are making efi'orts to erect a church, and I doubt not will be successful. Efforts are also making to erect a large college, and judging from what has already been accomplished in the way of procuring subscriptions, it will go up on a scale commensurate with the wants of the surrounding countrj\

If there is a healthy spot in Missouri, it is in Liberty. It is finely watered, society is good, and in point of morals it is equal to any other place, and rapidly improving in that respect. There is stone enough in the streets to pave the whole town, and then enough left to macadamize the road to the Landing. These things will be done in due time. We have a "Union" Sunday School, numbering eighty scholars, and quite a respectable library attached to it. The day will come, if good colleges are erected speedily, when Liberty will be to Westeni Missouri what Lexington is to Kentucky - the focus of intelligence and literature. When once improved as it should and will be, no place will be more handsome.

Two or three good coopers and a chair-maker would do well to settle in Liberty. The want of such mechanics is seriously felt by merchants' families and farmers.

March 28, 1861, the Legislature re-incoi-porated the town as "the City of Liberty," describing its site as "all that district of country contained within one mile square, of which the court house in Clay County is the center, the sides of said square being respectively parallel to the

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Liberty was a flourishing town, with numerous well filled stores, a good woolen mill, rope-walks, hemp factories, etc., and was well known throughout the country. Its schools gave it something of favorable notoriety, as well as its commercial advantages. A branch of the Farmers' Bank of Lexington had been located here.

The Liberty Insurance Company, with E. M. Samuel, Michael Arthur and Gen. Doniphan as its leading spirits, existed for some years after 1850.