Anderson County KS Archives History - Books .....Chapter IV 1877
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Book Title: THE HISTORY OF ANDERSON COUNTY, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1876.

CHAPTER IV.
  Noted Settlers of 1855—Election of Delegates to Topeka Constitutional
Convention—Election for Adoption of Constitution—Election of State Officers
under Topeka Constitution—Noted Settlers of 1856—Territory Overrun with Border
Ruffians— The Probate Judge, County Commissioners and Sheriff Flee the
County—John Brown with his Company Marching to the Rescue of Lawrence— United
States Troops sent to Pottowatomie.

  IN the spring and summer of 1855 a number of settlers with their families
located in the territory now included in Anderson county. The following are
among the prominent settlers of that year: Darius Frankenberger, M. M. Minkler,
C. E. Dewey, H. H. Williams, Ephraim Reynolds, James Sutton, Benjamin Davis, J.
H. Wolken, J. H. Rockers, H. M. Rutnley, Samuel Mack, John McDaniel, Zacharias
Schutte, Charles Backer, James Townsley, C. H. Price, Jesse Sutton, Henderson Rice.

  An election for delegates to a convention to frame a constitution for a State
government, known as the Topeka constitutional convention, was held on the 9th
of October, 1855. There were 49 votes polled at the Pottowatomie precinct for
delegates; these were all Free State votes, as there was no opposition ticket
run at this election. The Fifth district elected seven delegates, as follows: J.
M. Arthur, O. C. Brown, Hamilton Smith, Richard Knight, Fred. Brown, W. T.
Morris and William Turner.

  December 15, 1855, at an election held for the adoption or rejection of the
Topeka constitution, at the Pottowatomie precinct the following persons of
Anderson county voted: Ephraim Reynolds, Samuel Anderson, Darius Frankenberger,
I. B. Tenbrook, W. L. Frankenberger, James Townsley, John McDaniel, James
Sutton, Samuel Mack, C. E. Dewey, M. M. Minkler, Benj. Dunn, Alex. Purdue and:
H. H. Williams. There were 39 votes for the adoption of the constitution and 3
against. On the proposition in the constitution, for the expulsion of negroes
and mulattoes, there were 25 votes for and 18 against.

  January 15, 1856, at an election for State officers under the Topeka
constitution, the following persons voted at Pottowatomie precinct: D.
Franken-berger, W. L. Frankenberger, M. M. Minkler, Alex. Purdue, H. H.
Williams, Joseph Mosly, Eph»-raim Reynolds, J. T. Barker, James Sutton, Lawrence
Brady, D. C. Davenport, C. E. Dewey, Benj. Davis, J. H. Wolken, J. H. Rockers,
H. M. Rumley, A. C. Austin and Samuel Mack. Also, John Brown, jr., Fred. Brown
and Owen Brown, sons, and Henry Thompson, son-in-law, of old John Brown, voted
at this precinct. The poll book and tally list of this election are signed by
Frederick Brown, S. B. Moore and Wm. Partridge, as judges; and H. H. Williams
and Ephraim Reynolds, as clerks.

  Several emigrants came and located in Anderson county in the spring of 1856.
Among the more prominent settlers of that year were W. C. McDow, A. Simons,
Samuel Anderson, Jacob Benjamin, A. Bondi, James Y. Campbell, John S. Robinson,
Solomon Kauffman, C. W. Peckham, William G. Hill, R. D. Chase, Samuel McDaniel,
G. W. Yandall, William Tull, A. G. West, C. G. Ellis, Rezin Porter, Jno.
Kirkland, Wm. Dennis, J. F. Wadsworth, H. Cavender, Frederick Tochterman, W. G.
Nichols.

  From May, 1856, to January, 1857, no business of any official character was
transacted by the probate judge, the county commissioners, or the sheriff of
this county.

  On the 28th day of January, 1857, we find the following record:

  "By order of the board of county commissioners in and for the county of
Anderson, that in consequence of insurrection throughout Kansas Territory, more
particularly confined to the counties of Franklin and Anderson, that the probate
and commissioners' court were unable to hold their regular or adjourned court,
in and for the county of Anderson, and has been ordered by board of
commissioners this day to be entered on the county commissioners' docket.
                        THOMAS TOTTON, Clerk."

  Francis Myer and John S. Waitman were radical Pro-Slavery men, and appointed
to the office of county commissioner on account of their loyalty to the slave
power. Judge Geo. Wilson had been elected by the bogus Legislature as a fit tool
to carry out the designs of the Border Ruffians, and was elected because of his
peculiar fitness for that purpose. And when the difficulties of 1856 culminated,
these officers were in full sympathy with, and took an active and leading part
on the behalf of, the Missouri Ruffians that overrun this county at that time;
they believed that African slavery was a divine institution—and that whoever
denied its divine origin and right were infidels and not entitled to the respect
of law or decency. During the exciting time of the summer and fall of 1856 many
of the Free State settlers on the Pottowatomie creeks had been notified to leave
the country, and in many cases were notified that if they did not leave in a
given time they would be visited by these ruffians and dealt with according to
their code.

  In April, 1856, Major Buford arrived in Kansas with a large body of men from
Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. This body of armed men came for the avowed
purpose of driving all Free State men out of the Territory and dedicating Kansas
irrevocably to slavery. About this time the "Herald of Freedom" says:

  "Kansas is again invaded by armed ruffians; they gather in by tens, and
fifties, and hundreds. Shannon has regularly enrolled them as militia,
commissioned their officers. &c.: at any moment they may commence their work of
devastation."

  During the summer and fall of 1856 the southern portion of Kansas, and all
along her borders, a semi-barbarous class of ruffians overrun the country, and
assumed the guardianship of the slave interests; and every possible obstacle was
thrown in the way to retard Northern immigration. The immigrants were driven
back; they were tarred and feathered; their claims were seized; their cabins
were burned; and they were often ordered by committees of Southern men, or the
Missouri rabble, to leave the Territory immediately, under the penalty of death.
These ruffians were often urged to deeds of most outrageous barbarity by the
fierce harangues of the leading spirits and stump-orators of the Slave States.
As an illustration of this sentiment, as proclaimed by the radical leaders of
the South, we give the following from the speech of General Stringfellow,
delivered at St. Jo., Mo., then a prominent citizen of that State:

  "I tell you to mark every scoundrel among you who is the least tainted with
Abolitionism, or Free-soilism, and exterminate him; neither give nor take
quarter from the d—d rascals. To those who have qualms of conscience as to
violating law, State or national, say, the time has come when such imposition
must be disregarded. As your rights and property are endangered, I advise one
and all to enter every election district in Kansas, in defiance of Reeder and
his myrmidons, and vote at the point of the bowie-knife and revolver. Neither
take nor give quarter, as the cause demands it. It is enough that the slave
holding interest wills it, from which there is no appeal."

  This sentiment was reiterated by every Pro-Slavery paper on the border; and
declared by every stump orator in the field throughout the Border Ruffian dominion.

  On the 2ist of May, 1856, General Atchison, the great Border Ruffian, a U. S.
Senator, ex-Vice President of the United States, together with Col. Titus, of
Florida, Major Buford, of Georgia, and General Stringfellow, of Missouri,
entered Lawrence and sacked the town, burned the Free State hotel, and destroyed
the "Herald of Freedom" and "Free State" printing presses. They were there from
the slave States, under the pretense of enforcing the law and making arrests.

  The Ruffians assumed to be the masters of the whole Territory; declared their
own loyalty and conquest, and assumed to be the protectors of the Governor and
the defenders of the bogus laws. They extolled the greatness of their power, and
affected to deride the disloyalty of the handful, of Free State men who appeared
under the banners of freedom to resist their invasion. The armies of the
ruffians seemed, indeed, as numerous as a cloud of summer locusts, who darken
the day, flap their wings, and, after a short flight, tumble weary and
breathless to the ground; like them, sunk after a feeble effort, and were
vanquished by their own cowardice, and withdrew from the scene of action to
boast of their deeds of crime and infamy.

  It was about this time that the .Pottowatomie affair happened. In the
neighborhood of Dutch Henry crossing of the Pottowatomie lived a Mr. Allen
Wilkerson, a member of the bogus Legislature. He and William Sherman, ___ Doyle
and a few other Pro-Slavery men in the neighborhood had always been violent and
bad men. Immediately after sacking Lawrence, these men concluded that war had
begun, and the Free State people must be driven from the country. Violent party
men, of violent disposition and reckless character, covetous of the claims of
the Free State men, commenced the work of persecution. Several Free State men
were ordered to leave by letter and verbally. One man, named Morse, was seized
and abused, and threatened with death if he did not leave. Morse was a merchant,
and had a small store; kept such articles as are usually kept in a country
store. On the morning of the 2ist of May he had sold some powder and lead to
John Brown, jr's., men, when they were on the road to Lawrence. These men said
they would learn him to sell ammunition to Free State men. A cabin was burned at
the same time. Five of these Pro-Slavery men, Wilkerson, Sherman, Doyle and his
two sons, were taken out one night and killed. This act was never fully
justified by the Free State men. The government had refused to give protection
to the Free State settlers, and it seemed to be the only way for the Free State
men to protect themselves. Lynch law was the terrible alternative to which the
Free State men were driven, because of the guerrilla warfare to which they were
exposed.

  About this time Francis Myer, John S. Waitman, David McCammon and George
Wilson, having been aiders and abettors in the Pro-Slavery atrocities, fearing
that they would meet the same fate, fled the country. Wilson returned again in
the winter of 1857, but the two commissioners and sheriff never returned; so it
became necessary to select other commissioners and another sheriff.

  At the time the Border Ruffians were marching against the Free State men of
Lawrence, John Brown, jr., with his Pottowatomie company, started to their
assistance, but before he could reach there he learned that Lawrence had been
sacked and burned, and was notified that his presence could do no possible good.
He halted and went into camp on Ottawa creek, near Prairie City, where he
remained for a few days. He had in his company about 20 Anderson county men; and
while he was in camp on Liberty mound, near Prairie City, the news of the
killing of Wilkerson, Sherman and the Doyles was received.

  Soon after the Pottowatomie tragedy the government ordered a company of
dragoons to the neighborhood. They camped for several weeks at a spring
northeast of Greeley, near the residence of Samuel Staley. They also were
stationed in Franklin county, near the line, for some time. This company was
recruited in South Carolina, and its Captain, DeSaucer, was a hot-headed
advocate of Southern institutions. He made frequent efforts to capture obnoxious
Free State men, especially James Townsley. Whenever one of these night
incursions was to be made by De Saucer's men, notice would be given to some of
the citizens by one or two of his men, who were in sympathy with the Free State
cause, so that they might guard against approaching danger, and as a consequence
thereof not a single arrest was made during the time the company remained in the
neighborhood. This same De Saucer figured in the first movement on Forts
Moultrie and Sumter, showing the sagacity of the administration in sending him
to crush freedom in Kansas. De Saucer, when talking, had the negro pronunciation
of the South so perfectly that you had to see him to discern that it was not a
Southern negro talking.

  In the spring of 1856, a company of Maj. Buford's Georgians was camped in the
timber near the present residence of Mrs. White, on the line of Franklin county.
They were taking all the cattle and horses that they could find that belonged to
the Free State men. One morning Wilber D. West was riding along near Greeley,
when he met one of Buford's men, who rode up to him and asked if he was a
Pro-Slavery man, which he answered in the negative, whereupon the Georgian told
him to dismount, drawing his revolver, which order West could but obey, when the
Pro-Slavery man led his horse quietly away. He had not gone far before he met
Hardy Warren and I. P. Sutton in a two-horse wagon, going in the direction of
the Pro-Slavery camp. On meeting them the first salutation was: "Are you Free
State men?" Mr. Warren said: "I am a Free State man." Then the Georgian rode a
short distance, to where John Waitman was, and had a short consultation with him
(a notorious Border Ruffian), came on, and overtaking Warren and Sutton demanded
their horses and wagon, which Warren told him he could not have. Then the
Ruffian drew his revolver, and at the same time another of his party emerged
from the brush, which rendered resistance vain, and the only alternative was to
give up the horses, which were driven to the camp, when Warren informed him that
the mare would be useless to him, being heavy with foal, when the Ruffian turned
to Sutton, who was a lad, and said: "You may take the d—d old mare," and let him
ride her home, but kept the horse and wagon, and detained Warren a prisoner for
several days.

  When the Border Ruffians carried Hardy Warren and I. P. Sutton to their camp,
Captain Wood, who was then in command of a company of United States soldiers
stationed in the neighborhood, was present. Warren asked him if he was a United
States officer, and Captain Wood informed him that he was. Warren then appealed
to him for protection; told him that the Ruffians were robbing him and Sutton,
and demanded protection as an American citizen against such outrage. Captain
Wood smiled, turned around and quietly walked away.

  The troops were kept on the Pottowatomie during most of the summer, and saw
such outrages as these committed against the Free State settlers daily, and
refused to give them any protection, but if a Free State man would interfere
with a Pro-Slavery man the troops were at once brought to his assistance. The
administration sent only such tools of the "slave power" to the Territory as
sustained the Pro-Slavery party in Kansas, and intimidated the friends of freedom.




Additional Comments:
THE HISTORY OF ANDERSON COUNTY,
FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1876.
BY
W. A. JOHNSON,
CHAIRMAN OF HISTORICAL COMMITTEE.

PUBLISHED BY KAUFFMAN & ILER, GARNETT PLAINDEALER,
1877.

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1877, by
KAUFFMAN & ILER, In the office of the Librarian of Congress,Washington, D. C.


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