I MADE IT!

In time for Labor Day, a  week after I left central Texas, I arrived in Marshalltown IA to spend a month with my sister -- and to enjoy a short visit from my niece, Alissa.   And, eat my fill of Iowa beef and pork!

My last nite on the road was just a few miles down the road, but didn't want to pull in late, so stayed in Chariton, IA.  And look what I found on the night stand in the motel!  YUP!  A Gideon Bible.  I wasn't sure they even made these any longer --been so long since I've seen one!

                                      Welcome to Iowa!

GARDEN GROVE IOWA & THE MORMON TRAIL

The way of the Mormon travelers was not an easy one; they were met with animosity, fear, and just plain hatred along the way. On June 23, 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, rode to Carthage, IL to stand trial for inciting a riot. Once in custody, the charges were increased to treason.

On June 27, 1844, an armed mob with blackened faces stormed the Carthage jail . Hyrum, trying to lock the door, was shot in the face and died instantly. Smith fired a pistol that a friend had given him for self-defense. Trying to escape through a window, he was shot multiple times before falling to the ground. He was shot several times more. Five men were later tried for his murder, all were acquitted.

Following the Smith deaths, the Mormons began their trek across Iowa, headed for the Great Salt Lake Valley. The first wagons left Nauvoo, IL on Feb 4, 1846.

Although Feb 4th felt like a spring day, they were soon facing snow and on Feb 19 another 8 inches came with a blizzard and strong wind from the northwest. To add to their suffering, they were short on food and their supplies were depleted within a few weeks.

Stephen Markham headed a Pioneer Company proceeding the group to scout out the best routes, locate trading settlements, build bridges and make other preparations for those who followed.

William Pratt and his brass band provided musical entertainment not only for the travelers but many times the band gave formal concerts to raise funds to purchase food and supplies. Members of the party did what they could to raise funds or barter for supplies by hiring out to split rails, dig wells, husk corn, and other such work when they could find it.

Spring brought new hardships: melting snow, swollen rivers and creeks, strong winds, constant rain, and the once frozen ground became seas of mud. Once mired in the mud, they were lucky if they could make more than ½ mile per day. Not only were the travelers suffering, their draft animals were becoming weak and exhausted from the harsh conditions and the lack of affordable feed along the way.

By April 25th the Mormons reached a spot approximately halfway across Iowa and 144 miles west of Nauvoo. They named the spot Garden Grove.

INSCRIPTION:  LATTER DAY SAINTS OF GARDEN GROVE

Early in 1846 thousands of members or the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints(Mormons) left their homs in Nauvoo, Illinois, bound for the Great Basin in the Rocky Mountains.

Moving wesward across Iowa, their advance company made camp here April 25, 1846, calling the site Garden Grove.

Within two weeks, 359 men under the leadership of President Brigham Young cleared and cut 10,000 surplus rails for fencing, and enough logs to build 40 additional houses. 

Garden grove thus became a stopover for the many emigrant wagon trains and handcart groups that followed later.  Death overtook some, however, these were buried here. 

Refreshed by their stop a this place, the Mormon Pilgrims went on to the Rockies where they founded cities ane towns anmade the desert to 'blossom as the rose."

Garden Grove, located on Sac and Fox land on the eastern bank of the Weldon Fork of the Grand River, would be the first permanent settlement that served as a Mormon way-station from 1846 to 1852. Cabins, supplied with well water, housed those who were unable to continue. When the families were able to continue their journey, the cabins, surrounding grounds, and fields served the next families arriving.

Taller grass indicates outlines of the cabins.

Orson Pratt wrote on May 10, 1846, "A large amount of labour has been done since arriving in this grove: indeed the whole camp are very industrious. Many houses have been built, wells dug, extensive farms fenced, and the whole place assumes the appearance of having been occupied for years, and clearly shows what can be accomplished by union, industry, and perseverance."

Within the first 3 weeks at Garden Grove, the Mormons had broken 714 acres of stubborn prairie sod and 200 people were assigned to improve this first way-station.

A second permanent way-station was located at Mount Pisgah, about 50 miles to the west of Garden Grove.

From Garden Grove, the Mormons traveled across southern Iowa to winter quarters located near Omaha, Nebraska.

While he camped near Locust Creek near Corydon, Iowa, William Clayton heard of the birth of his son back in Nauvoo. Overcome with joy, on April 15, 1946, he wrote the hymn "Come, Come, Ye Saints." This hymn became a rallying song along the trail.

"Come, come, Ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as you day.
'Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell -
All is well! All is well!
. . . Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we'll tell -
"All is well! All is well!"

Seven Mormon families were separated from the larger body of migrants in 1846. They wintered in Clarke County, Iowa. These winter quarters became known as "Lost Camp." The group remained in this location until they resumed their journey to Utah in 1854.

Today none of the original Garden Grove campsite exists. The town of Garden Grove, however was founded near this site. The local school district was named in honor of these early pioneers, the Mormon Trail School District.

THE CIVIL WAR AND THE COPPERHEADS

Cartoon in Ye Book Of Copperheads, 1863

Copperhead, also called Peace Democrat, was any citizen in the North who opposed the Civil War and advocated restoration of the Union through a negotiated settlement with the South. The New York Times used the word "Copperhead" on July 20, 1861, in reference to the snake that sneaks and strikes without warning.

Democrats accepted the label, re-interpreting the copper "head" as the likeness of Lady Liberty on the one cent coin.  It should be noted that although all "Copperheads" were Democrats, not all Democrats were "Copperheads."  Most northern Democrats were not Copperheads and Democratic supporters of the war were "War Democrats." Copperhead strength was mainly in the Midwest, where many families had Southern roots and where agricultural and rural interests resented the strength of industrialists in the Republican Party and the government.

In addition, groups opposed to conscription and emancipation: the Irish population in New York City, who feared that freed Southern blacks would come north and take their jobs, backed the Peace Democrats. Copperheads also found members in the ranks of those who objected to Lincoln’s repeal of some of their civil liberties. Most famously, he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, responding to riots and militia actions in border states by allowing the indefinite detention of "disloyal persons" without trial. And, there were those who simply wanted an end to the massive bloodshed.

In 1862 the Copperheads organized the Knights of the Golden Circle, which became the Order of American Knights and the Sons of Liberty. Although Republicans accused these groups of treasonable activities, there is little evidence to support it. Most Copperheads were active in politics and were more interested in defeating Republicans to keep the Democratic Party in power. 

Republican prosecutors accused some prominent Copperheads of treason in a series of trials.  On May 1, 1863, former Congressman Vallandigham declared the war was being fought not to save the Union, but to free the blacks and enslave southern whites. The army arrested him for declaring sympathy for the enemy. He was court-martialed by the Army and sentenced to imprisonment, but Lincoln commuted the sentence to banishment behind Confederate lines.

On the other hand, Copperheads were able to block important war legislation on the state and federal level. At the 1864 Democratic national convention, Copperheads gained control of the party platform and inserted a plank calling the war a failure and advocating immediate peace negotiations. Party presidential candidate George McClellan (US Army General) refused to accept the Copperhead peace plank. By the end of the war, the terms Democrat and Copperhead were virtually synonymous and the Democratic Party carried the stigma of disloyalty for decades after Appomattox.

Historians agree that the Copperheads goal of restoring the Union with slavery was naive and impractical.

HOME! Welcome to Iowa, Part III

IOWA AND THE CIVIL WAR

During the Civil War, a disproportionate number of Iowans served the Union cause.  A draft was not needed in Iowa; Iowa had 12,000 more men than their quota. Although there was a strong anti-war "Copperhead" movement with settlers of southern origins and among Southern Catholics who stayed with the Democratic party, Iowa supported the Union, voting heavily for Lincoln and the Republicans.  Even though there were no battles in Iowa, the state sent large quantities of supplies and food to the armies and to eastern cities. More than 75,000 Iowa men served, primarily in units of the western armies. 13,000 died of wounds or disease. 8,500 Iowa men were wounded. 

Iowa, a new state, had no militia and the treasury was nearly bare when the Civil War started. Two days after the attack on Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861, President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers.  Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, telegraphed Governor Kirkwood, "Call made on you by tonight's mail for one regiment of militia for immediate service."

The governor was at his farm near Iowa City and there were no telegraph lines in Iowa beyond Davenport.  The message was carried to the governor by Davenport's Congressman Vandever.  As he read the message, while doing his farm chores, the governor said, "Why, the President wants a whole regiment of men.  Do you suppose I can raise so many as that, Mr. Vandever?"

On April 17, the governor issued a proclamation calling for volunteers and asked that they be ready no later than May 20.  Within a few days, 10 regiments of men had signed up. The first regiment was formed and ready 2 weeks before the designated time.  At camp in Keokuk, 10 companies of 78 men each made up this first regiment.  Burlington, Muscatine, and Dubuque each sent 2 companies. Linn, Johnson, Henry, and Scott Counties, each furnished a company.

It was August, 1861, before any Iowa troops took part in an actual battle. Prior to this, Union troops had been in service in Missouri.  A state divided north-south, Missouri was a battleground from the start. The troops from Iowa spent most of their time running down small bands of rebels and Missouri "bushwackers."  

A Union army of 5,400 men, under General Lyon, met 12,000 southern soldiers at Wilson's Creek near Springfield.  The battle was fought on August 10, 1861. The First Iowa Regiment was in the center of a battle that lasted all day and suffered heavy losses. The Southern commander said:  "Probably no two forces ever fought with greater desperation."  President Lincoln ordered a special proclamation of thanks for the heroism of the men at Wilson's Creek.

The men of the First Iowa Regiment had enlisted for 3 months. Soon after the battle at Wilson's Creek their time was up and they marched home.  Many of them enlisted again in new companies.

With a population of just over 600,000, Iowa had provided 48 infantry regiments, 8 cavalry regiments, 4 artillery regiments, and one unassigned volunteer regiment before the war came to an end. After the war they returned to farm and turned Iowa into an agricultural giant. 

HOME! Welcome to Iowa, Part II

HERE COME THE IMMIGRANTS! 

Most of those who came after the land opened in 1833 were from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, also from New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas. Most came as families and many considered Iowa a 'way-station' to the intended goal of land on the prairie or to the west. 

The Norwegians arrived in 1840, Swedish in 1845, and Dutch in 1847. By the 1850s the largest group was the Germans with over 7,000, followed by the Irish with 4,885, England with 3,785, Canada with 1,756, the Netherlands with 1,108, 712 from Scotland, 361 from Norway, 231 from Sweden, and 19 from Denmark. 

Others came to Iowa in the 1850s to start the colonies of Icaria and Amana where property was held in common. Icaria was a French colony settled near Corning, IA in 1858 as a purely socialist community.  Amana was a religious colony formed by German pietists in 1855 and practiced communism until 1932.

Iowa openly recruited immigrants and formed a State Board of Immigration in 1870.  Literature promoting the state, printed in English, German, Dutch, Swedish and Danish, was distributed. Immigration to Iowa continued throughout the remainder of the 19th century, peaking in 1890. In 1860, 106,081 of the 674,913 people living in Iowa were foreign-born.

Initial African-American settlement after the Civil War was in agricultural communities near the southern border, as well as in the river towns on the Mississippi and later in the coal mines.  

Immigration from Italy and Croatia began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; they came to work in the coal mines. The early 20th century saw the start immigration from Mexico, and the mid-1970s immigration from Southeast Asia.

HOME! Welcome to Iowa, Part I

When I start seeing Casey's General Store signs, I know I'm getting close to home.  But I was a little surprised on this trip when I started finding them just north of Fort Smith, Arkansas.  But this was the first sign I saw in Iowa, close enough to lunch time to stop for a pizza

Iowa became the 29th state Dec 28, 1846. Native Americans had been in the area for 13,000 years, but written history began when explorers arrived in the 1680s. 

With  the area a French holding, the earliest non-Native settlers were French. They came to trade fur, preach, discover mines, and explore.  The first to make contact with Indigenous Peoples were probably Frenchmen Louis Joliet and Pere Jacques Marquette. While conducting their mission, to discover the Mississipi River, they made contact with the Illinois tribes in eastern Iowa in 1673.  The first settler appears to have been Julien Dubuque, a French-Canadian who arrived at the lead mines near modern-day Dubuque in 1787. He obtained permission to mine the land from the Meskwaki. A few others secured land grants from France.

When the American Indians first arrived in what is now Iowa, they were hunters and gatherers living in a glacial landscape. More than 3,000 years ago, they were domesticating plants. By the time explorers came Iowa, the Natives were settled and farming with economic, social, and political systems in place. The European traders brought, not only trade goods, but disease; disease that drastically upset the population balance. The arrival of new tribes into the area from other lands brought further social and economic distress. 

Approximately 15000 individual groups or settlements of Native Americans inhabited Iowa.  Others, the Illinois, Sauk, Meskwaki, came due to warfare with other tribes or the French. In early and mid-19th century the Potawatomi and Winnebago moved into Iowa.

By 1804, the Sauk and Meskwaki were on the eastern edge of Iowa along the Mississippi; the Ioway along the bank of the Des Moines River; the Oto, Missouri, and Omaha along the Missouri River; the Sioux in the northern and western parts of the state, and the Pawnee on the western border. 

In 1829, the federal government claimed ownership of the Illinois land in Quashquame's Treaty of 1804 and forced the Illinois, and the Sauk and Meskwaki, to leave their villages in western Illinois and move into Iowa. 

The move was made but not without protest; Sauk leader, Black Hawk, protested the move. In 1832 he returned to reclaim the Illinois village of Saukenuk. For the next 3 months, the Illinois militia pursued Black Hawk and his band of 400 north along the east side of the Mississippi River. Their numbers down to about 200, they surrendered at the Bad Axe River, Wisconsin. Known as the Black Hawk War, the price for this resistance was the surrender of their lands in eastern Iowa.

Called the Black Hawk Purchase, the 50 mile wide strip of land, from the Missouri border to northastern Iowa along the Mississippi River was surrendered. The land originally belonging to the Sauk, Meskwaki and Winnebago was acquired by treaty. The purchase was made for $640,000 on Sep 21, 1832.  Black Hawk was held prisoner at the time the purchase was completed. The Black Hawk Purchase contained an area of 6 million acres and the price was equivalent to 11 cents per acre.

There were additional land surrenders by the Sauk and Meskwaki.  In 1837, the Second Black Hawk Purchase and in 1842, the New Purchase, meant that by 1845 nearly all Sauk and Meskwaki had left Iowa. 

Other groups gave up their Iowa land through treaties. A group of Missouri, Omaha and Oto gave up their lands in western Iowa in 1830. The Ioway left the last of their lands in 1838. The Winnebago and Potawatomi, who had left Iowa once but returned, were again removed in 1846 and 1848. The last remaining group, the Sioux, ceded the last of their Iowa land in an 1851 treaty.

When the Winnebago were forced to leave their homeland in Wisconsin in 1840, the US government offered the tribe protection on their new temporary land in Iowa from other tribes and illegal settlers. Completed in 1842, Fort Atkinson was the only fort built to protect one Indian tribe from another. From 1840-1848, Fort Atkinson protected the Winnebago from their hostile neighbors, the Sioux to the north, and the Sac and Fox on the south. The ‘neutral ground’ was the legal land of the Winnebago. Although there were soldiers, traders, and government workers at the Turkey River Indian Subagency in the 1840s, no other settlers were authorized  in the ‘neutral ground’.  At the same time, this prevented the Winnebago from going beyond the limits of their reservation. 

Prior to Blackhawk's defeat in Wisconsin, he had "tangled" with the US Government at Fort Madison, Iowa. Fort Madison, built in 1808, was the first permanent US military facility on the upper Mississippi. Initially used to control trade along the river, after the War of 1812 it served to prevent the reoccupation of the area by the British. It is the site of Black Hawk's first battle against the US Government, the only true military battle fought west of the Mississippi.  Natives had allied with the British, during the War of 1812. 

The Sauk and Meskwaki were one of the largest tribes in the upper Mississippi River valley.  Originally from the area of Michigan, they moved into the Wisconsin area and by the 1730s they were living in Illinois along the Mississipi and Rock rivers. They lived in their villages a few months each year, then traveled through Iowa and Illinois hunting, fishing, gathering food. In the spring, they traveled to Minnesota, tapped maple trees and made syrup. 

Today, the Meskwaki reside on the Meskwaki Settlement in Tama County, IA. After they had been removed from the state, some members, along with a few Sauk, returned to hunt and fish in eastern Iowa. They approached Governor James Grimes with the request that they be allowed to purchase back some of their original land. They collected $735 for their first land purchase and eventually they bought back approximately 3,200 acres. 

The Black Hawk Purchase in 1832 opened up the lands to settlers. At the time, there were only 40-50 non-Natives settled in Iowa, most were trappers, traders or miners.  

Earliest settlers shipped their goods via steam boat down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Chicago was becoming a rail road hub and by 1860, Chicago served by a dozen rail lines.  In the early 1850s, river communities of Dubuque, Clinton, Davenport, and Burlington began to form railroad companies. The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific would provide the nation's First Transcontinental Railroad; Council Bluffs was designated as the eastern terminus for the Union Pacific. A short time later a fifth railroad, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, also completed its line across the state.

Railroads provided year-round transportation for agriculture and made industry possible. Before 1870, Iowa had some manufacturing firms in river towns and most new industry was based on food processing: Quaker Oats, meat packing and processing. Railroads created a demand for coal; Iowa had coal and mines were opened. The railroads built branch lines into the coal towns. By 1919, Iowa had 240 mines that produced over 8 million tons of coal per year and employed about 15,000 men.

HONEY WAR POEM (SONG)

Set to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy, John L. Campbell, a satirist from Marion County, Mo, 1839, penned the Honey War Poem --it definitely leans toward Missouri! Lucas was the territorial Governor of Iowa Territory and Boggs was Governor of Missouri.

Ye freemen of the happy land Which flows with milk and honey,
Arise! To arms! Your ponies mount! Regard not blood nor money.
Old Governor Lucas, tiger-like Is prowling 'round our borders.
But Governor Boggs is wide awake - Just listening to his orders.
Three bee trees stand about the line Between our State and Lucas.
Be ready all those trees to fall, And bring things to a focus.

We'll show old Lucas how to brag, And seize our precious honey!
He also claims, I understand, Of us three-bits of money.
Conventions, boys, now let us hold Our honey trade demands it;
Likewise the three-bits, all in gold, We all misunderstand it!
Why shed our brother's blood in haste, Because "big men" require it.
Be not in haste our blood to waste, No prudent men desire it.

Now, if the Governors want to fight, Just let them meet in person.
And when noble Boggs old Lucas flogs, T'will teach the scamp a lesson.
Then let the victor cut the trees, And have three-bits in money.
And wear a crown from town to town, Anointed with pure honey.
And then no widows will be made, No orphans unprotected.
Old Lucas will be nicely flogged, And from our line ejected.
Our honey trade will then be laid Upon a solid basis,
And Governor Boggs, where 'er he jogs, Will meet with smiling faces.

HONEY WAR -- THE SULLIVAN LINE

Border “wars” were not just between Missouri and Kansas. In the late 1830s, Missouri claimed a strip of land nearly 13 miles into what many settlers considered Iowa territory. When Missouri tax collectors cut down valuable bee trees as payment for taxes that the settlers htad refused to pay, more than 1,200 Iowans lined up along the disputed border with pitchforks for revenge. Today, bee trees might not seem worth fighting for, but sugar was scarce and the settlers relied on honey. The trees were valuable both for the honey, which sold for up to 37 cents a gallon, and for beeswax, which was used in a variety of ways, including candles. Taking a supply of honey was almost a bad as stealing a horse.

In 1816, Col John C. Sullivan was one of several surveyors tasked with surveying the Louisiana Purchase. Sullivan was to survey and mark the boundaries of the Osage Indian lands (Missouri). His survey was to be a "parallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of the river Des Moines.” In error, he did not adjust his compass as he moved east from the Missouri River. By the time he reached the Mississippi River he had an angled boundary line 4 miles too far north.

This would not become important until people started moving onto the land in the late 1830s. By this time the marks of the old Indian boundary (Sullivan line) could scarcely be found; settlers in the area did not know whether they lived in Iowa or Missouri. This became significant as the Civil War approached, Missouri was a slave state, Iowa would be a free state.

When Missouri wrote its constitution in 1821, it described the state's northern boundary as "the rapids of the river Des Moines”. Problem: State and federal governments could not agree on where "the rapids of the river Des Moines" really were.

Missouri officials believed that the Des Moines rapids were much farther north than the Sullivan line and sent Joseph Brown to re-survey the boundary line in 1837. He was supposed to begin at "the rapids of the river Des Moines" and then mark his line as he moved westward to the Missouri River. He found a place on the Des Moines River which he thought fit the description. Another mistake!

Brown, like everyone else, assumed the Des Moines Rapids that Sullivan documented in his survey lines were rapids located in the Des Moines River. In reality, these rapids were in the Mississippi River. Setters had dubbed a stretch of the Mississippi as "Des Moines rapids" at a point where the river dropped 23 feet over a 22-mile span near the point where the Des Moines River emptied into the Mississippi.

The difference between the Brown and the Sullivan lines was about 2,600 acres of rich farm land which officials from both Missouri and Iowa Territory claimed. Most of the settlers living on the strip thought they had settled in the Iowa territory.

In 1838, Maj. Albert Lea, a federal surveyor, laid out four possible boundary lines, all representing different interpretations of historical data.

Missouri Gov. Lilburn Boggs was an argumentative sort and proclaimed in August 1839, that Brown's 1837 boundary, the northernmost line, was the state line. Almost immediately, Iowa Gov. Robert Lucas authorized the arrest of anyone trying to exercise authority in what he called "the seat of excitement." 

So, in 1839 when Missouri sheriffs tried to collect taxes from settlers in what is now the southern part of Davis and Van Buren Counties (Iowa); the settlers refused to pay and appealed to the Iowa Territorial Governor. Lucas warned the Missouri Governor that Missouri sheriffs would not be permitted to collect taxes. Governor Boggs warned Governor Lucas that the Missouri militia might be brought out to make sure the taxes were collected.

Enter the bee trees! In the disputed region there were several bee trees the Iowa settlers valued because of the honey stored in the hollow trunks. When a Missourian chopped down 3 of these trees the quarrel grew. An Iowa officer tried to arrest the man but he escaped back Missouri. That inflamed Missourians, who have never been reluctant to butt heads over real or imagined wrongs. Missouri had been a state since 1821. Iowa Territory was about to become one, so the legal boundary between the two was an issue.

The Honey War is underway!

Shortly after the bee trees had been chopped down, the sheriff of Van Buren County, Iowa, arrested Uriah Gregory, the sheriff of Clark County, Missouri, when he tried to collect taxes. This angered the folks in Lewis and Clark Counties in Missouri and the Missouri militia began to assemble. Soon a thousand or more men were in camp at Waterloo, MO, ready to invade Iowa that cold December day of 1839.

Governor Lucas had been through a similar dispute with Michigan when he was governor of Ohio. He sent a US Marshal into Van Buren County to take charge. Lucas insisted the quarrel was not between Missouri and Iowa, but between Missouri and the United States, since Iowa was still a territory. If the Missouri started a war about the location of the boundary, they would be fighting the United States, not Iowa.

Governor Lucas ordered the officers of the territorial militia to call out their men and meet at Farmington, on the border just north of Waterloo, MO. More than a thousand Iowans answered the call, coming from all over the territory, not just the disputed strip. As troops gathered from both sides, people began to think that there might really be war between Iowa and Missouri. The Supreme Court got the case while the 2 armies were forming.

They must have been an odd looking bunch. Each man wore whatever he had that resembled a uniform and brought their own weapon. There were rifles, muskets, shotguns, pistols, long swords, short swords and rakes and pitch forks. Stories tell of someone even showing up with a sausage grinder to use as a weapon. I don't even want to visualize that scenario!

When the commander of the Iowa troops at Farmington sent a peace delegation to Waterloo, they found the Missouri troops had already gone home. There was nothing left for the Iowa soldiers to do but to go home. Before all had time to gather, the "war" was over.

In 1849 the Supreme Court decided that the old Sullivan line was the true boundary because it had been used so often in treaties. The surveyors were ordered to remark the line. They searched for days before finding the blazed tree that marked the original northwestern corner of Missouri, now a decaying tree trunk. The surveyors ran the line west to the Missouri River and east to the Des Moines River from that point. Cast iron monuments, each weighing about 1,600 pounds, were placed at the east and west ends of the line. Smaller iron posts were placed every 10 miles and wooden posts placed every mile along the boundary line.

When their work was completed and accepted by the Supreme Court, the Iowa-Missouri boundary dispute came to an end.

One more survey was done in 1896 at the request of the United States Supreme Court. 

WAVERLY MISSOURI

In all of my excitement to head north into Iowa, I forgot my little tidbit on Waverly, MO.  A pretty litle town on the Missouri that does not need to be neglected.

After some time at Lexington, I headed back to Waverly to see a couple of sites and then pick up Hwy 65 to take me north to Iowa. After my stops at Marshall and Lexington, my get-up-and-go got-up-and-went!  And I still planned on the murals at Chillicothe.  I guess I put the cart before the horse since I previously posted about Chillicothe, The Home of Sliced Bread, and the murals. 

Waverly is the home of Confederate General Joseph Orville "JO" Shelby.  It was founded in the 1840s and was part of the "Little Dixie" area that was populated with folks moving up from Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia.  They were strongly pro-secessionist and pro-confederacy.

Waverly did not see any battles or major skirmishes during the Civil War, however, May 25-28, 1862 saw operations in Waverly involving Missouri’s 7th Cavalry.  Waverly seemed to be more of a "staging" area than an actual battle site.

The City of Waverly is located in Lafayette County, overlooks the Missouri River and is surrounded by fruit orchards and vineyards. Waverly is proud to be known as "The Apple Capital of Missouri". 

A tornado killed one and did considerable damage to the city in 2006, and again, in May of 2011, a tornado touched down doing minimal damage to the town but damaged some of the area orchards and vineyards. 

GENERAL J. O. SHELBY

SHELBY THE WARRIOR

Joseph Orville Shelby was born in Lexington, Kentucky, Dec 12, 1830 to a wealthy, aristocratic family that took pride in family veterans back to the American Revolution. His father, a wealthy planter and hemp rope producer, died when he was 5; his mother married Benjamin Gratz, a wealthy merchant and landowner.  At Transylvania University he was educated and trained in business. 

After receiving a substantial inheritance at the age of 21, Shelby moved to Waverly, MO. With his step-brother, Henry Howard Gratz, he started the Waverly Steam Rope Company, making rope from hemp.  He owned a 700 acre plantation and also owned steamboats on the Missouri River. One of the largest slave-holders in the state, during the "Bleeding Kansas" free-state/slave-state struggle, he led a company of pro-slavery raiders across the border into abolitionist Kansas in cross-border raids in the late 1850s.

July 22, 1858, he married a distant cousin; they had 7 children.  By 1860, due to his own poor management, Shelby was in financial decline and he was forced to sell the rope company, plantation, and his slaves.

Like many pro-Southern Missourians, the Camp Jackson Affair in St. Louis, May 10, 1861, when Union forces captured a unit of secessionists at Camp Jackson, angered Shelby. Union General Nathaniel Lyon’s militia fired upon a civilian mob and killed 28 people.

Frank Blair, a Kentucky cousin (and brother of Lincoln’s Postmaster General, Montgomery Blair) was stationed in St. Louis. Blair offered Shelby a Union commission when the War started but Shelby refused the offer.

SHELBY MEMORIAL PARK, WAVERLY MO

In 1861, at the Methodist Church near his plantation, Shelby recruited hundreds of men to the Confederate cause in a matter of hours. He outfitted them with his own money and offered them to the service of Missouri’s pro-secessionist governor, Claiborne F. Jackson.  These men became the core of his Iron Brigade named for their toughness. 

Shelby saw action at Carthage and Wilson’s Creek, MO, in 1861 before going to northwest Arkansas with Sterling Price’s Missouri State Guard, Feb 1862.  As part of the Confederate Army of the West, his company saw action at the Battle of Pea Ridge.  He led his cavalry east of the Mississippi River with the rest of the Confederate army in April 1862, but soon returned west. He was recognized for his leadership skills and talent, and promoted to Colonel, Oct 27, 1862, and given command of the “Iron Brigade.”  He commanded this brigade at Prairie Grove Arkansas and throughout the Trans-Mississippi campaign.  

In 1863, he was promoted to brigadier general and continued to lead his men against Union forces until the end of the war.

Shelby served with distinction during the war, but when it came to an end, he and several hundred members of the Iron Brigade were not ready to surrender. Shelby led 600 of his men to Mexico where Emperor Maximilian granted them permission to start a colony near Vera Crduz, called “Carlota”. For their refusal to surrender, they were called "the undefeated.” This became the title of a 1969 John Wayne movie loosely based on Shelby’s actions.

Two years later, Emperor Maximilian was overthrown and Shelby returned to the United States. Union soldiers had burned down the Shelby home and all outbuildings, so, in 1867, when Shelby and his family returned to Missouri, they began farming in Adrian, MO. 

SHELBY THE MARSHAL

In 1893, President Grover Cleveland appointed him U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Missouri. By this time Shelby had put the war behind him and selected an African-American to serve as his Deputy. When critics complained, Shelby declared, “I am right in what I have done, and by the right I propose to stand.”  He served as a US Marshal for the last 4 years of his life. 

He voiced regret for his actions in the Border Wars, telling historian William Elsey Connelley, “I was in Kansas at the head of an armed force. I was there to kill Free-state men. I did kill them. I am now ashamed of myself for having done so. I had no business there. No Missourian had any business there with arms in his hands.” 

Before he became a Marshall, Shelby was believed to have played a role in the acquittal of outlaw Frank James. In 1883, Shelby testified in court as a character witness for Frank James.  He had known James during his days as a Civil War guerilla. Shelby encouraged the jurors to see Frank James as a defender of the South against corrupt big businesses from the North. When asked to identify Frank in the courtroom, Shelby exclaimed: “Where is my old friend and comrade in arms? Ah, there I see him! Allow me, I wish to shake hands with my fellow soldier who fought by my side for Southern rights!”

Shelby died of pneumonia on his farm near Adrian, MO, on Feb 13, 1897, and was buried in Kansas City, Missouri.

Shelby led his Iron Brigade of the Missouri volunteers on what was to be the longest cavalry raid of the war at that time, Shelby's Great Raid. Between Sep 22 and Nov 3, 1863, Shelby's brigade traveled 1,500 miles through Missouri, inflicting over 1,000 casualties on Union forces, and capturing or destroying an estimated $2 million worth of Federal supplies and property. He was promoted to brigadier general on Dec 15, 1863, at the successful conclusion of his raid.

SHELBY MEMORIAL, WAVERLY, MO

Jo Shelby was one of the most interesting characters of the Civil War. An untrained officer, he rose to be regarded as one of the best cavalry commanders of the war.  His legend still lives in the John Wayne movie, "The Undefeated." He was remembered for many years by the men who served with him: 

Ho Boys! Make a Noise!
The Yankees are afraid!
The river's up, hell's to pay—
Shelby's on a Raid!

Shelby became a folk hero to the people of the devastated Southland, and is still considered one of the greatest Confederate Cavalry leaders. General JEB Stuart, would later remark, "Shelby was the best cavalry general of the South. Under other conditions, he would have been one of the best in the world"

SHELBY'S GREAT RAID THROUGH MISSOURI

Colonel J.O. Shelby's Great Raid was an 1863 Confederate cavalry raid through the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the Civil War.  He fought numerous skirmishes throughout Missouri before retreating back to Arkansas. Shelby's reputation as a cavalry commander was made during these raids.

Shelby left Arkadelphia, Arkansas, with his "Iron Brigade" on Sep 22, 1863, crossing behind Union lines to begin his raid. Shelby characterized the Union troops as the, “…terror to the country, the insulters of unprotected women, and the murderers of old and infirm men.”

They moved into Missouri Oct 2, and within a couple of day, they started "rattling their sabers."   By Oct 4, he had marched 255 miles to Neosho, MO., where there were 300 Federal cavalry.  Quickly surrounded and forced to surrender, Shelby captured their equipment and their horses.

     “…the doomed enemy were encompassed by a cordon of steel before they knew of a foeman near. Thorp, with his usual dash, drove their pickets into town, where they, with the main body, took refuge in a strong brick court-house, pierced and loop-holed for musketry, where they kept up a hot fire upon our advancing columns. … I ordered my cannon into position and sent two balls crashing through the walls. This was followed by an immediate demand for unconditional surrender, which… …they agreed to.” ~ Shelby

After a short rest at Neosho, they moved on, passing through the war-ravaged Sarcoxie, which Shelby described as being, “…blackened and desolate…”  Next they took the town of Bowers’ Mill, followed by Greenfield and Stockton and destroyed the fort at Stockton.  All along the way they "appropriated" food and weaponry from civilians and military.

On his way to Warsaw, he captured 30 Union supply wagons and the Union men. Although they met resistance at Warsaw, Shelby's forces outnumbered and defeated the Union. From Warsaw, Shelby wrote: “Vast quantities of all kinds of stores were captured here, with some arms and prisoners, and a strong and well provisioned fort. Thus far I had traveled ahead of all information, but now the telegraph flashed out its view-halloo, and the railroads groaned under the dire preparations to meet me, and the thunderer of Saint Louis threatened vengeance as dark as death and terrible as the grave.”

Over the next few days, Shelby and his men moved through the towns of Cole Camp, Florence, Tipton, and Syracuse. Along the way, they captured supplies and arms, burned and destroyed bridges and railroads, and cut telegraph lines.

Shelby and his men reached the Missouri River at Boonville, however, 'trouble' was enroute in the form of Gen Egbert Brown at the head of a large force of Union troops. Shelby moved towards Marshall; Brown split his force and moved to surround Shelby.

With Brown’s men now at both his front and rear, Shelby also split his force and made a desperate bid to escape. The 2 factions of the Iron Brigade managed to break through the Union lines and retreated, independently, to the south.  Union forces stayed on Shelby's forces.  On Oct 26, Shelby, with his Iron Brigade made it to Arkansas, toward the safety of the Confederate lines. The two columns reunited near Bentonville, Arkansas on Nov 3, 1863.  Shelby had conducted a textbook raid, the longest raid, 1,500 miles, of the Civil War for either side.

In his final report of the raid, Shelby claimed to have killed, wounded, and captured more than 1,000 Union troops; captured and destroyed 10 forts; and captured, used, and destroyed more than $2 million worth of Union supplies, property, and railroads. Part of the "loot" included 12 ammunition wagons, and 2 pieces of artillery, $800,000 dollars in military supplies, which included 600 rifles, 40 stands of colors, 300 wagons, 6,000 horses and mules and destroyed another million dollars in enemy supplies. His own loses would be major; one man in six did not return home. 

He was promoted to Brigadier General in recognition of his success, and a saying soon became popular in the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi: “You’ve heard of JEB Stuart’s ride around McClellan? Hell brother, Jo Shelby rode around Missouri!”

OLIVER ANDERSON HOUSE --- BATTLE OF LEXINGTON

The Oliver Anderson House is an example of the large mansion houses that prosperous, slave-holding Southerners built in Missouri in the 1840s and 1850s.

Built in 1853 by Oliver Anderson, he was born in 1794, in Nicholasville, Kentucky. He co-founded the firm of Anderson and Jackson, a successful hemp and cotton business in the 1830s. In 1819, he married and they had 10 children. Mary died in 1842, and he later remarried. In 1851 Anderson sold his portion of the hemp business and moved to Lexington, MO, where 2 of his sons had settled.

When Anderson arrived in Lexington, it was a prosperous commercial center in a rich agricultural area.  Slave-owning planters were seeing substantial profits from hemp, tobacco and cattle. Factories and warehouses lined the riverfront, and the town was home to 3 colleges. In 1860, Missouri's 5th largest town with a population of over 4,000 people, had a river front lined with factories and warehouses and 3 colleges.

In Lexington, he entered into a business partnership with his son-in-law, Howard Gratz. (Colonel J O Shelby's step-brother was Henry Howard Gratz.)  

Anderson built a large warehouse and ropewalk for the maunfacture of hemp. "A ropewalk is a long straight narrow lane, or a covered pathway, where long strands of material are laid before being twisted into rope. Due to the length of some ropewalks, workers may use bicycles to get from one end to the other.
Ropewalks historically were harsh sweatshops, and frequently caught fire, as hemp dust ignites easily and burns fiercely."~~Wikipedia

Anderson prospered and built a large, elegant residence. The local newspaper reported in September 1853: "One noticed . . . that the new and magnificent dwelling house of Col. Anderson, on the bluff overlooking his rope walk, had grown rapidly in a short time. It is said that this building will be the largest and best arranged dwelling house west of St. Louis. The location is romantic and beautiful. . ." 

Built in the Greek Revival style, the rooms are 20 feet square with 15 foot high ceilings, and a 15 foot wide central hallway. A massive walnut staircase rises through two landings to the third floor of the house. A wing at the rear of the house has 5 smaller rooms, including an indoor kitchen, pantry and servants' quarters. 

The financial panic of 1857 hit the hemp market and added to the financial downfall of Oliver Anderson. Earlier Anderson had assumed the debts of his son-in-law, Henry Gratz, which started financial problems for Anderson. In the fall of 1859, Anderson auctioned off all his real estate, personal property and slaves. The Anderson House was included in this sale, but his sons purchased the house, while another son-in-law, Thomas P. Akers, acquired the rope factory. The Anderson family was able to continue to live in the house until the Civil War.

An advocate of slavery, he was arrested when Federal troops occupied Lexington in July 1861. The Anderson family was evicted when the home was confiscated by the Union forces for use as a hospital.

During the Battle of Lexington, Sept. 18-20, 1861, the Anderson House changed hands 3 times on the first day of the battle. After the Southerners forced the Union defenders out of the house, the Union staged a bloody countercharge and retook it, only to be repulsed once more by the Southerners a short time later. 
During their brief reoccupation of the house, the Union troops murdered 3 Southern prisoners at the base of the grand staircase. A bullet hole remains in one of the staircase risers. The battle caused extensive damage to both the interior and exterior of the house and damage from rifle and cannon shot is still visible on the east side of the house and in several interior rooms. A cannon ball came through the attic and through the attic floor into the second floor hallway: the hole in the ceiling remains today.

After his arrest by Federal troops, he posted bond, was paroled and banished from Missouri. He returned to Kentucky and lived with his wife until her death in 1867. Six years later, Anderson died at the home of his son-in-law, Henry Gratz, in Lexington, Kentucky. 

The Anderson House was purchased after the war by Tilton Davis, who lived in it for 50 years and preserved the home.  Reported to be haunted, in 1958, the house and portions of the nearby battlefield were donated to the state park system as part of the Battle of Lexington State Historic Site.

SECOND BATTLE OF LEXINGTON, MO

GENERAL PRICE

The Second Battle of Lexington was a minor skirmish taking place on October 19, 1864, in Lexington. It formed a part of Confederate Gen Sterling Price's Missouri Expedition. 

Like the first Battle of Lexington it resulted in a Confederate victory. Its overall importance, however, was not nearly as significant as the first battle, which had cemented Southern control of the Missouri Valley and significantly raised Confederate morale in the region.

In the fall of 1864, Price was dispatched by Gen Edmund Kirby Smith, to attempt to seize Missouri for the Confederacy. Unable to attack his primary objective, St. Louis, Price decided to execute Smith's back-up plan for a westward raid through Missouri and into Kansas and the Indian Territory. The ultimate goal was to destroy or capture Union supplies and outposts, which could negatively affect Abraham Lincoln's chances for reelection in 1864.

After his victory at the Battle of Glasgow, MO, he continued his march toward Kansas City and Fort Leavenworth, headquarters of the Federal Department of Kansas. But his progress was slow which gave the Union Army a chance to concentrate their forces. 

Union Gen William Rosecrans, commanding the Department of the Missouri, proposed a movement to trap Price and his army, but was unable to communicate with Gen Samuel Curtis, commander of the Department of Kansas, to formalize the plan. Curtis was experiencing difficulty because many of his soldiers were Kansas militia and they refused to enter Missouri. However, a force of about 2,000 men under the command of Gen James Blunt did set out for Lexington.

On October 19, Price's army approached Lexington and collided with Union scouts and pickets about 2:00 PM, driving them back and engaging Blunt's main force. The Union resisted at first, but Price's army eventually pushed them through the town to its western edge, then pursued them along the Independence Road until nightfall. Deprived of Curtis's entire force, still encamped in and near Kansas City, the Union army never stood any real chance of stopping Price's force at Lexington. Blunt did, however, further slow the Confederates' already slow march and gain information on the size and make-up of Price's command. 

Price's army continued its successful, although short-lived drive.  His triumphs would be undone by the Battle of Westport on Oct 23.  This defeat ended his campaign and ended any further significate Confederate military action in Missouri. 

THE FIRST BATTLE OF LEXINGTON, MO The Battle of the Hemp Bales

The First Battle of Lexington: "Battle of the Hemp Bales" 

The Union held control of Missouri during the first year of the Civil War.  By the end of June, the pro-secessionist governor, members of his cabinet and legislature had been driven into exile and a pro-Union government controlled the state. The tide turned on Aug 10, 1861.  The Union army was soundly defeated at the bloody Battle of Wilson's Creek near Springfield, and with heavy losses, their forces scattered. 

Gen Price

A Southern offensive moved up into the Missouri River valley. In late August, Gen Sterling Price, commander of the State Guard, sent his 7,000 men to the prosperous and strongly pro-South Missouri River town of Lexington, east of Kansas City. On Sep 12, he arrived in Lexington but decided to wait for the remainder of his forces, most of them veterans of Wilson's Creek.  His total force would be 12,000.  

While Price was heading to Lexington, 2,700 troops under the command of Union Colonel James A. Mulligan fortified themselves inside the grounds of the Masonic College in Lexington. Just a few days before, a Union brigade of Irish soldiers from Chicago had joined the small cavalry detachment.  Mulligan had raised the 23rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment in 1861, known as the "Irish Brigade." In Sep 1861, when word was received that Lexington, a vital river town, was the focus of the Missouri State Guard, he led his troops toward Lexington, MO.

On Sep 12, skirmishes broke out between the forces but Price was waiting for the rest of his force to arrive before attacking.   

Sep 17, Price’s ammunition wagons arrived.  The Confederates cut the water supply.  On Sep 18, Price's army mounted an all-out assault on Mulligan's troops, which failed. 

Recruits poured in from the countryside and Price's army had grown to about 12,000.  To the strains of "Dixie", Price's men marched through Lexington and completely encircled the college. For the next 9 hours, the Union troops received a near-continuous bombardment. The entrapped Union had run out of water by then and were suffering greatly from thirst and heat.

Replica of Masonic College built on original site

On Sep 20, the Southerners advanced on the fortification by rolling large bales of hemp in front of them.  The bales had been soaked in the river so they would not catch fire. By early afternoon, the snakelike line of bales had advanced close enough to the Union trenches for a charge.  A brief but bloody hand-to-hand fight took place before being driven back into their entrenchments. Mulligan and most of his officers were wounded; by 2:00 PM, Mulligan had surrendered. Price secured the town with only 25 men killed and 72 wounded. Union losses numbered 39 dead and 120 wounded.

Price was reportedly impressed by Mulligan's demeanor and conduct during and after the battle that he offered him his own horse and buggy, and had him safely escorted to Union lines.

Price captured 5 artillery pieces, 3,000 rifles, and 750 horses. Price also returned some $900,000 that had looted from the local bank; he became a hero throughout the South. 

In response to the defeat at Lexington, the Union commander in Missouri, Gen John Fremont, mounted a massive force to drive Price from Missouri. In the face of this threat, Price had little choice but to retreat back to southwest Missouri. Lexington and the Missouri River Valley once again returned to Union control.

MONUMENT
East side inscription:

"Following victories in Southwestern Missouri, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price and 10,000 men of the Missouri State Guard marched north with the objective of breaking the Federal line along the Missouri River. On Sept. 12, 1861 the Guard engaged and drove a Federal force near Warrensburg into the fortifications at Lexington. The 3,600 man garrison led by Col. James A. Mulligan, was invested that day by the Guard and the Siege of Lexington commenced. Price was joined by 8,000 volunteers from Northern Missouri, and on the 18th stormed the outer defenses and severed the fort's access to water. On the 19th the Guard deployed hemp bales as a breastwork and on the 20th rolled the bales towards the Federal line. Faced with no means of resistance, Mulligan surrendered his command, arms and equipment. The Guard recaptured the State Seal and archives, and returned to the local bank over $900,000 taken by the Federal troops. This was the most complete victory for the South in 1861."

West side inscription:

"This monument is respectfully dedicated to the men of the Missouri State Guard, the legally established militia of the State, who first took up arms in 1861, and, marching and fighting under the blue battle flag of their beloved Missouri, did their whole duty as God gave them light to see that duty, and sacrificed everything but honor, in the defense of their State's sovereignty and the cause of constitutional rights."