Johnson County KS Archives History - Books .....Chapter XIII Civil War And Border War 1915
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Book Title: History Of Johnson County Kansas

CHAPTER XIII.
CIVIL WAR AND BORDER WAR.

Free State and Pro-Slavery Conflict-Johnson County in the Civil War -Maj. J. T.
Hadley Promoted-Lieutenant Pellett Recruits a Company-Colonel Hayes
Wounded-General Order No. n-Battle of Westport-Beginning of Quantrill's
Band-When Quantrill Raided Olathe-Quantrill Passed through Johnson County on Way
to Lawrence-Spring Hill Looted-The Red Legs-Battle of Bull Creek-Battle of
"Blowhard"-War-time Clippings from the "Olathe Mirror"-Grand Army of the Republic.

CIVIL WAR AND BORDER WARFARE.

  Owing to the close proximity of Johnson county to Missouri more than its share
of disaster and distress arising from early political differences fell to the
lot of the early settlers of this county. The fact is, the war began in this
section in the fifties and ended sometime after the surrender of General Lee,
and this country was blighted by about ten years of war, instead of four, which
fell to the lot of the country, generally.

  From the beginning Johnson county was the scene of many conflicts between the
Free-State and pro-slavery parties. The first ones were slight and unimportant
owing to the fact the land was not open to settlement and the few early
residents were practically of one mind. As the controversy waxed more intense,
the conflicts became more cruel and insolent. The elections held were farces and
for the greater part were managed by pro-slavery men. The methods used are
evidenced by the election of October 5, 1857, for the members of the
legislature. The continuous interference of Missouri border ruffians in Kansas
affairs on the eastern tier of counties aroused the greatest feeling of
animosity among the Free-State men which resulted in the border wars of varying
degrees of importance. A battle growing out of politics was that called by some
"the first battle of Bull Run," because it was fought on Bull creek, in the year
1858, when General Lane, commander of the Free-State-men, met the pro-slavery
forces of General Reid. A few shots were exchanged and Reid retreated into
Missouri. No blood was shed.

  On September 6, 1862, Quantrill made his well known raid upon Olathe, which
was in a defenseless condition. With a band of about 140 men he entered the
town, invaded and plundered houses and stores, and corralled the citizens in the
public square. Hiram Blanchard, of Spring Hill, Philip Wiggins and Josiah
Skinner were killed in an effort to protect property.

JOHNSON COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR.

  In Johnson county 500 men were enrolled in the Thirteenth regiment, of which
Thomas M. Bowen was commissioned colonel; J. B. Wheeler, lieutenant-colonel;
William Roy, adjutant, and during the four years of war Johnson county furnished
its full share of soldiers. In about three weeks after the first call for
troops, a company of fifty men enlisted and organized with S. F. Hill, captain.
This company was assigned to the Second Kansas infantry as Company C. Upon the
second call for volunteers a second company was organized with J. E. Hayes as
captain. For some time this company belonged to the Fourth regiment. Nearly an
entire company was raised in the county for the Eighth Kansas infantry, and was
assigned as Company F of that regiment, with J. M. Hadley as second lieutenant.
In the late summer of 1862, William Pellet, of Olathe, was commissioned to raise
another company of infantry. As Company H of the Twelfth regiment it performed
garrison duty at Forts Leavenworth, Riley and Larned. Also for the Twelfth
regiment a company was raised in the vicinity of Gardner and Spring Hill, with
John T. Gorden as captain. After the Lawrence massacre, the Fifteenth regiment
of cavalry was raised. Johnson county furnished one entire company. The regiment
distinguished itself in 1864, fighting General Price's army on its notorious raid.

  The second regiment, which had served three months as infantry in 1861, was
re-organized during the winter as cavalry, and enlisted for three years. Johnson
county furnished part of one company and two officers. Pat. Cosgrove,
ex-sheriff, was commissioned first lieutenant of Company G, and G. M. Waugh,
ex-county attorney, second lieutenant. In the spring the "New Mexico Expedition"
was fitted out, the Second Kansas regiment being one of the regiments designated
to form it, but subsequent events caused a change of program.

  After operating on the Kansas border for some time, the regiment was united
with General Blunt in his western Arkansas campaign and took part in the series
of terrific battles, including Prairie Grove, Cane Hill, Old Fort Wayne and Van
Buren, which resulted in the permanent establishment of the Union cause in
Arkansas. During the balance of their term of enlistment they were stationed
generally at Springfield and Fort Smith, operating against the guerillas that
infested that portion of the country.

  In May, 1864, Pat. Cosgrove was promoted to the captaincy of Company L, and
Joseph Hutchinson, of Olathe, his former quarter master sergeant commissioned
first lieutenant. Before the close of the war Lieutenant Waugh was promoted to
lieutenant colonel of the Second regiment, Arkansas infantry, and served in that
capacity till the disbanding of the volunteer forces.

  The regiment gained great distinction during its term of service, and to this
day the members are proud of the fact that they once belonged to the "Old Second."

  Johnson county also furnished its quota to the Eighth regiment of Kansas
infantry, which was organized in the fall of 1861. Nearly one entire company was
raised at Monticello, Shawnee, Olathe and other parts of the county.

  It was mustered in, we believe, as a part of Company L, but was afterwards
assigned as Company F. Milton J. Hadley, of Monticello, who enlisted as a
private, was commissioned second lieutenant October 5. During the winter, he was
on duty the greater part of the time at Ft. Leavenworth, as adjutant of the
post, the company remaining at Olathe and Gardner, acting as Home Guards. March
15, 1862, Lieutenant Hadley was promoted to first lieutenant of Company G, Ninth
Kansas cavalry. He was soon after assigned as acting assistant adjutant general
for General Ewing, in command of the district, and served in that capacity the
greater part of the time while ranking as lieutenant. December 15, 1863, he
received another promotion as captain of the same company, but still served as
adjutant general. In March, 1864, he joined his company at Lawrence, and was
soon after ordered to Ft. Smith, Ark. While there he filled the office of
assistant adjutant general of the cavalry brigade. Fourth division, Seventh army
corps. After two months' service at Ft. Smith they were relieved from that
division and ordered to Little Rock, Ark. Remaining there till November they
were ordered to Duval's Bluff, where they remained till their term of service
expired. Captain Hadley was promoted major May 15, 1865, and retained that rank
during the balance of his term of service. While at Duval's Bluff he was the
greater part of the time president of court martial.

MAJ. J. T. HADLEY PROMOTED.

  J. T. Hadley, of Monticello, who enlisted as a private in Company F, Eighth
Kansas regiment, was discharged May 3, 1863, to accept a commission as second
lieutenant in Company L, Fifth Kansas cavalry.

  Among those who enlisted in this latter company was Colonel Payne, of
Monticello, who in early days had been a prominent and influential member of the
pro-slavery party, and had represented Leavenworth county in the first
Territorial legislature.

  Major Hadley's merits and abilities were recognized in civil life as well as
in the army, as since the close of the war he was elected successively as county
sheriff, and clerk of the district court, filling one or the other of the
offices almost without intermission. During this summer the demand for troops
became urgent. The Government had entirely recovered from its diffidence in
regard to receiving volunteers from Kansas. In fact said volunteers were at a
premium, and every inducement was held out for enlistment. The demand was nobly
responded to. With every call, the volunteers flocked in by the score, and
companies were organized with a rapidity and dispatch unparalleled. Johnson
county more than maintained its parts in this patriotic movement. In every
regiment, Johnson county citizens could be found, and it rarely happened that
any regiment was formed without an entire company from this part of the State.

LIEUTENANT PELLETT RECRUITS A COMPANY.

  In the latter part of the summer, General Carney commissioned William Pellett,
of Olathe, as recruiting officer, to raise a company for one of the three new
regiments then being organized. The company was speedily enlisted and on the
eleventh of August Captain J. W. Parmeter, an experienced officer, received a
commission as captain, with Mr. Pellett as second lieutenant. Before the company
was fairly organized for active service the Quantrill raid occurred and the
majority of the members taken prisoners and parolled. The guerillas under
Quantrill were not recognized by the authorities as a legitimate part of the
Confederate army, nor this parole considered binding, but as a recapture by them
would insure certain death it was thought advisable not to put our company in
the field. Accordingly, after being assigned as Company H, Twelfth regiment,
Kansas infantry, they were ordered to Fort Leavenworth for garrison duty,
remaining there till April 15, 1863. They were then ordered to Ft. Larned on the
plains to relieve a company of regulars, and remained there till February, 1865,
next to Fort Riley, and were mustered out at that post in August of the same year.

  Lieutenant Pellett, in the meantime, had been ordered to Ft. Leavenworth for
duty as post adjutant, and remained in that capacity till December, 1865. He was
then relieved from duty and ordered south with the regiment to act as adjutant,
filling this office till about the close of his term of enlistment.

  In addition to this company, another company was raised in the vicinity of
Gardner and Spring Hill for the same regiment and John T. Gordon, of Lanesfield,
and James H. Berkshire, of Spring Hill, second lieutenant. This company was
stationed at Olathe during the following winter, and finally ordered to Ft.
Smith, where it formed a part of the brigade under General Steele.

COLONEL HAYES WOUNDED.

  Josiah E. Hayes, previously a captain in the Tenth Kansas regiment, received
the commission as lieutenant colonel of this regiment. The regiment formed a
part of General Steele's command, who started to effect a junction and cooperate
with General Banks at Shreveport, La. On April 2, 1864, they met the enemy at
Jenkins Ferry in Arkansas, and a heavy battle was fought. Early in the
engagement a minnie ball struck Colonel Hayes above the knee, inflicting a
dangerous wound. He was placed under charge of the surgeon who amputated the leg
on the field. The expedition was an ill-starred one, and the Union forces were
compelled to retreat, leaving the wounded in the enemies' hands. It was Colonel
Hayes' lot to become a prisoner with the rest. He was taken first to Camden,
where he remained four months, lying in a precarious condition the greater part
of the time from the effects of his wound, next to Shreveport, where he remained
till exchanged, March 11, 1865. (James H. Berkshire, of Spring Hill, was with
Colonel Hayes when he was shot. He fixed him as comfortable as possible, put
saddlebags under his head and left him lying in six inches of water.)

  In this connection we have an instance of the courageous and heroic spirit
that distinguished our soldiers' wives, during the dark days of the rebellion.
When Airs. Hayes heard that the colonel was wounded and a prisoner she expressed
without hesitation an intention of going to him. Her friends remonstrated in the
strongest terms and depicted the perils and trials of such an undertaking.
Unshaken by their arguments and warnings, with a few hours' preparation she
started alone, proceeding first to Little Rock, at that time the advance Union
post. From there she went to the rebel lines under a flag of truce, and
receiving" permission to go to her husband, traveled forty miles to Camden, in a
wagon, with a rebel soldier for a driver. The journey was one that few ladies
would undertake in times of peace, but she accomplished it safely, and remained
with the colonel until he was exchanged.

  The Twelfth Kansas regiment was composed of as good a body of men as could be
found in the Union, but owing to unfortunate circumstances, and through no fault
of their own, never bad the opportunity afforded other regiments, to exhibit
their soldierly qualities.

GENERAL ORDER NO. 11.

  August 21, 1863, four days after the Lawrence raid General Ewing issued his
famous general order No. 11, ordering all citizens of Jackson and Cass and
Bates, and a part of Vernon counties. Missouri. living more than one mile away
from the military posts of Harrison. Hickman's Mills, Little Santa Fe and
Westport to remove to said posts, or out of the counties. Such a howl of
indignation as went up from it was never before heard, and even some of the
non-a picket guard, keen, watchful and ever ready to give information or
warnings of danger. The rebels had inaugurated and faithfully carried out a
similar policy themselves in regard to Union citizens early in the war, but
could see only barbarous tyranny and oppression when applied to their side of
the question. It was a severe remedy it is true, but Ewing had suddenly become
impressed with the fact that it was particularly a severe disease. In regard to
the justice or the expediency of the order, opinion will always differ.' No very
satisfactory results came from it. The country was given up to ruin and
desolation, the rebel citizens were more bitter and determined than ever,
thieves on both sides of the line had more favorable opportunities for
plundering, and bushwhackers roamed and raided as before.

BATTLE OF WESTPORT.

  On the night of the twenty-second day of October, 1864, the rebel army
encamped on the west bank of the Big Blue, their line entending southwest from
Byron's ford. General Curtis' army, comprising the First, Second and Fourth
brigades, under General Blunt, was at Westport. The main body of the militia was
in Kansas City, Mo., General Pleasanton, with three brigades of cavalry on the
road from Independence to Byrom's ford, and General McNeil, with one brigade on
the road to Hickman's mill. Early in the morning of the twenty-third the brigade
of Colonel Blair, consisting of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Tenth and Nineteenth
regiments, Kansas State Militia (cavalry) with the Ninth Wisconsin battery, a
section belonging to the colored battery under Lieutenant Minor, and McLain's
battery, moved from Kansas City to Westport. About 5 o'clock in the morning the
First, Second and Fourth brigades with McLain's battery moved out from Westport
to meet the enemy. The line when formed consisted of the First brigade on the
right, the second Colorado and Sixteenth Kansas on the left resting on the road,
McLain's battery at the edge of the timber half a mile to the rear. The Second
brigade was soon brought up on the right. Colonel Jennison described the
progress of the battle in his offical report thus: "Our skirmish lines soon
encountered the enemy, swarming through the cornfields, and in the timber,
southwest of Warnell's, and the battle of Westport was speedily opened.
Meanwhile the thunder of artillery to the left told us our lines were engaged in
the entire front. After a contest of varying fortunes for some minutes on our
right, the First brigade was withdrawn to the timber, in the rear of Bent's
house, perhaps an eighth of a mile from its former position, while the second
brigade took the road to the right, leading to Shawnee Mission and passed down
through Kansas on the rebel flank. After this our entire line was pressed back
to the north bank of Brush creek, while the available force was rallied for a
general advance. Pushing rapidly through the valley, we soon regained our
original positions, driving the rebels at all points until our entire line was
fairly out of the timber, and occupied the open country. Our skirmishers
following along the fences and stone walls, with which the position was so
thickly intersected. In spite of the determined resistance of the enemy our
forces moved steadily on, until about a mile to the east and south. A heavy body
of cavalry was visible, emerging from the timber when a general charge was
ordered. Swinging into a trot, then a gallop, six companies of the Fifteenth
under Lieutenant Colonel Hoyt took the left of the road and myself the right,
with the Third Wisconsin battalion, and two companies of the Second Colorado and
one of the Fifteenth. The Fourth brigade under Colonel Ford was also led by
'Fighting Jim' in a dashing charge well up to the front. Then when both armies
were in plain sight upon the prairie the rebels broke and in thorough disorder
began a precipitous retreat which was hastened by the well served artillery and
dashing onsets of Pleasanton's forces on their right and rear. This, briefly
told, is how the battle of Westport was fought and won."

BEGINNING OF QUANTRILL'S BAND.

  Quantrill's guerilla band had a notable beginning. Its formation is not to be
sought in any military activity of its members nor in any military ambition of
its leader. The young men who organized the band lived in the neighborhood of
Blue Springs, Jackson county, Missouri. They had no though of becoming either
soldiers or guerillas. The band numbered few at first, but its initiation was
dramatic and in perfect keeping with its subsequent record, the record of free
lances.

  George Searcy was a wholesale thief and all-round robber. It is not known
precisely when he arrived in Missouri, but during the year 1861 his home was in
Jackson county, although his operations extended over all the counties adjoining.

  Thieves became abundant in Jackson county in 1S61; they took every species of
property, horses, cattle, negroes, everything. Petty thieving became a fine art,
and wholesale plundering an art of war. All law was paralyzed and a saturnalia
of pillage reigned throughout the country. Thieves, in bands, usually carried a
flag and robbed patriotically in the day time, and individual thieves operated
at night for personal profit. Some of the thieving gentry were indigenous to the
county and some came from afar. Sometimes a man was found dead and sometimes a
house burnt. A general state of lawlessness prevailed. The border quarrels
between Missouri and Kansas began half a dozen years before, and were now
developing some of the characteristics of the old Corsican vendetta. The
conditions were ideal for thievery, affording both opportunity and pretext. The
owners of slaves were especially subject to loss, the negroes being transported
by the owners as rapidly as possible to the South for safety. Property of every
description was secreted or sent off. Household goods were often hidden in the
thick underbrush or among the rocks and the cliffs; family fowling pieces were
hidden in old trees or hollow logs; horses were tied to stakes in the middle of
cornfields, or to trees in the deep woods. But none the less, thieves made a
harvest. In many neighborhoods the citizens were banded in quasi-military
organizations, but these were inadequate against petty thieving and were
scarcely effective against squads of mounted thieves.

  Toward the close of 1861 the people of Jackson county began to suspect that
this man Searcy knew something of the whereabouts of the many horses which had
lately disappeared. Searcy lived on the Little Blue, southeast of Independence.
He had married a Miss Spencer, although he had a wife and five children in
Illinois, so it was rumored. Some of the citizens in the vicinity of Blue
Springs determined to investigate his movements and his occupation. Not the
least active man in this business was young Quantrill, who had been living
quietly for some time at Morgan Walkers' house. This was the house which
Quantrill had raided months before in company with three or four Kansans.
Quantrill's purpose was to betray and kill his comrades out of revenge for the
death of his brother some years before. Quantrill had conducted these men down
from Lawrence. Kan., under the pretext of running off Walker's negroes. The
inmates of the Walker home were accordingly notified by Quantrill of the
projected raid and ample prepation was made for the occasion. On the night of
the venture, all things being in readiness at the Walker home, Quantrill led his
dupes up from the woods, where they had been in hiding all day, and into the
trap set for them. Quantrill had visited the house during the day and had
reported to his followers that the time was propitious, the men folks being
absent that night. When the raiders entered the house Quantrill sprang forward
and ranged himself in line with the elder Walker and the two sons. These four
opened fire on the Kansans, three of whom fell dead. One was badly wounded, but
escaped back into the woods, where he was discovered the next day, when he met
the fate of his comrades, although the report was permitted to go forth that one
had made good his escape.

  After this episode Quantrill was henceforth welcome at the Walker home. The
two Walker boys became guerillas. But this affair did not in any sense
constitute Quantrill a leader, nor did it even recommend him to a favorable
reception in Jackson county. On the contrary he was subjected in consequence to
grave suspicions and was forced to undergo a severe investigation.

  Some time after the Morgan raid Quantrill was employed on a trip to Texas with
a squad of negroes for some wealthy Jackson county slave owners. He returned
from Texas in August. On his way home he stopped at General Price's camp of
state guards at Cowskin Prairie, in McDonald county. He accompanied the army
when it moved, and as a private took part in the battle of Wilson's Creek, the
second great battle of the Civil war. This battle was fought in August, 1861.
Quantrill was not at the battle of Lexington, fought in September. He lived
quietly at Walker's after his return from Texas, from August until December,
displaying no desire to engage in the war. The time was ripe with martial
activity; recruiting camps were popular resorts, and young men from every
neighborhood were flocking to Price's army.

  The Morgan Walker raid marked Quantrill as a man of desperate courage, his
trip to Texas marked him as a man of enterprise, a man both capable and
trustworthy. He easily, therefore, assumed a sort of leadership in the search
for Searcy. Quantrill and two or three other men, perhaps A. J. Liddil and Will
Hallar, went to Searcy's house one night. Searcy was not there, but two negroes
were found who thought they were going to Kansas with Searcy. Quantrill's squad
chased a young man into the old mill at Blue Springs. He was captured and proved
to be Searcy's cousin, a boy seventeen years of age, named Wells. He was badly
frightened, but was reassured by his captors, who promised him immunity and
release if he would tell all he knew about Searcy. The boy's revelations were
startling. Searcy was then at the rendezvous in Johnson county, where he was
arranging to start south with a large herd of stolen horses. The boy also
reported a large herd of horses collected by Searcy on the Little Blue near the
Missouri river.

  The next night the several squads of hunters set out for Searcy's Johnson
county headquarters, a few miles northeast of Chapel Hill. They arrived at the
place about 3 o'clock in the morning. All was quiet. Quantrill stationed his men
around the house, then boldly knocked at the door. After considerable knocking
and considerable delay the door was opened by a woman. Two of the band entered
the house with Quantrill. Quantrill never made mistakes in choosing men for
arduous duties. Of the two men who entered the house with Quantrill, one became
a famous guerilla; the other took part in the war, and is now a well known and
highly respected citizen of Independence. The woman protested vehemently against
the proposed search of her house. Quantrill was very gentle but very, very firm.
His comrade, the future guerilla, had less patience with the demonstrative woman
and roughly seized her to put her aside, so that he could pass to the rooms
beyond. Quantrill sternly rebuked the young man for his rudeness to the woman.
In a back bedroom they discovered Searcy in a trundle-bed. He was heavily armed,
but he offered no resistance, for resistance would have been suicidal. When
daylight came the premises were searched. A large number of horses and cattle
and a few wagons were found. It was impossible for the captors to bring away all
the stolen property. They turned the cattle out to be taken up as strays or to
find their way home. Horses constituted the only property of much value at that
period. The horses were brought back and were ultimately delivered to the
rightful owner.

  The prisoner was carefully guarded. He exhibited remarkable nerve; some of his
captors still living speak admiringly of his courage. On Christmas Day, 1861,
the prisoner was put on trial before a drumhead court presided over by A. J.
Liddil, now a justice of the peace at Independence, Mo. Liddil lived at that
time five miles east of Independence and the trial took place in his house.
Searcy made no attempt to deny his offenses, and his attempt at palliation was
limited to the remark that the property he had taken would have been stolen
anyway, and he might as well have it as anybody. On his way up from Johnson
county the prisoner talked freely of his plans, now frustrated. He expected to
drive his horses and cattle to Texas and establish a ranch there. He expected to
take negroes with him to run the ranch. At the trial he displayed a lack of
judgment in proclaiming his animosity to Judge Liddil, whom he vowed to kill.
This threat probably sealed his fate. On account of this threat Judge Liddil was
in favor of turning him loose, but Quantrill and the others voted for hanging.
About 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the prisoner was made to mount a horse; a rope
was put about his neck; the other end was thrown over a limb of a tree. The
horse was then led away and Searcy was left hanging between heaven and earth.

  This was the first work of Quantrill's band. Some seven or eight of those who
took part in the capture and execution of Searcy considered themselves now well
launched in the business of recovering stolen property, and in ridding the
country of thieves. They found sixty-five head of horses at the Little Blue
rendezvous, whither Wells directed them. These added to those brought up from
Johnson county made a herd of 130 or 140 animals. These had to be fed and
watered through the winter season until the owners could come and get them. Each
owner was expected to pay something for the services of recovery and for feed
and labor. The report was soon circulated that these men took horses belonging
to Union men and held them for ransom. A Captain Burrus came down from
Leavenworth to look into the matter. Quantrill and his band waylaid Colonel
Burrus' company and killed five of them. Colonel Jennison's men came next and
they fell into an ambuscade, losing several men. Quantrill's band of less than a
dozen at the beginning of 1862 soon numbered twenty. By midsummer of that year
the band numbered over one hundred. These were mustered into the regular
Confederate service a few days before the battle of Lone Jack, Col. Gideon W.
Thompson, of Clay county, administering the oath. The band had already engaged
in numerous hot skirmishes on its own account. After becoming a part of the
regular Confederate army, the band continued its peculiar mode of warfare. It
attracted many recruits and attained a numerical strength of over 400 before its
disintegration.

WHEN QUANTRILL RAIDED OLATHE.

  "I was the first man that discovered Quantrill's men when they came to rail
Olathe, September 6, 1862," said J. H. Milhoan, as he sat in his office at the
city hall, where for a dozen years he has filled the dignified position of
police judge of the city of Olathe, and Mr. Milhoan, by the way, has been
connected with the city of Olathe since the town was organized, way back in the
prairie days of 1857. He was its first marshal, and Governor Robinson appointed
him constable also when the county was organized, and for twelve years he was
deputy sheriff, including the days of border warfare. Mr. Milhoan is a quiet,
level-headed man with n unusually bright mind, and remembers with remarkable
clearness the events that transpired prior to and during the war. He impresses
one as being a man fearless, but sensible with it, and the fact that he kept
cool head during the Quantrill raid is the only reason that he is alive and well
today.

  "It was a moonlight night," said Mr. Milhoan, as he filled his pipe, and
reached for a match, "and I had just returned from De Soto, Kan., with a lawyer
and some witnesses that I had taken up there to court.

  "We stopped in the street in front of a saloon, on the square, and I held the
horses outside while the others went in to get a drink. When they came back I
went in to get a drink, and the saloon was full of men. I got the drink, then
stepped around a bunch of ten or twelve men who were standing there to see who
were at the card tables in the back end of the saloon. The saloon stood where
Hershey's meat market stands now, and faced the west and the old trail ran along
where the Grange Store now stands. When I got back there I could see east along
the trail and I noticed some troops, by the bright moonlight, and asked who they
were, as I suspicioncd they were Quantrill's men. Some one spoke up and said
they were looking for Captain Harvey's company from Leavenworth and it might be
them. I watched them, they were about a quarter of a mile away, and when I got
outside they rode up and some one asked: 'Is this Captain Harvey's company?'
'Yes, flank right and left and take possession of the town.' It was Quantrill's
order. I made for my team at once and started to drop the tugs, thinking that if
I let them loose the men might not be able to catch them, as they were pretty
hard to catch, but before I got this done one of Quantrill's men said to me:
'Fall into line, I will take that team.'

  "Three or four men came running out on the street from the saloon, among them
Colonel Ocheltree and my brother, and one of the men shot my brother in the
foot. I was wearing a cavalry overcoat and one of Quantrill's men seeing it,
said: 'Pull off that coat.' I told him I had no coat under it and he answered:
'Take it off, ___ ____it, you won't need a coat very long,' and I took it off
and gave it to him. Hiram Blanchard, a Spring Hill merchant was in the saloon at
the time Quantrill came, which was about 12 o'clock at night, not ten minutes
either way. He had left his home at Spring Hill at 10 o'clock, at night, to come
to Olathe. His sisters who lived with him, had tried their best to keep him at
home that night, but could not persuade him to stay. The only way to reconcile
his coming here," said Mr Milhoan, is "That a man will go to meet his fate.
Blanchard rode a mare up here and she was tied outside. He started to untie his
mare when one of Quantrill's men told him he would take charge of the horse. The
man prevented him from taking her when he, Blanchard, stepped around on the
other side, pulled a butcher knife from his boot and attempted to get on, but as
his head rose above the horse's back a shot from a double barrel shot gun, in
the hands of the Quantrill man blew off the top of his head, and he fell like a
beef, and on striking the ground, he jumped around like a chicken with his head
cut off. Quantrill's man then took the mare and led her away.

  "Phil Wiggins and Josiah Skinner were two men of the Twelfth Kansas regiment.
Company A, all of whom were quartered here. Wiggins had said he would never be
taken by bushwhackers. Wiggins was upstairs in a frame building, that stood on
the lot where the First National Bank now stands.

  "Three or four men went upstairs, in the building where Wiggins was. Wiggins
jerked the revolver from the leader and snapped it three or four times at him
but it failed to go off. One of the other men then shot him in the back and
after he fell the first man that Wiggins had tried to shoot, shot Wiggins three
or four times after he had fallen. Quantrill had said if any of his men were
killed he would burn the place and shoot all captives.

  "Mr. Skinner lay asleep in the First Presbyterian church, built by Rev. J. C.
Beach, and used for soldiers' quarters. It stood where Whitney's drug store is
now. He slept very sound and was hard to awaken. When Quantrill's men came to
his room and called for him to get up the call did not awaken him, so one of
them shot him through the body as he lay in bed. He died about one week later.
Quantrill had about one hundred and fifty men Math him, perhaps, though it was
hard to tell the exact number. The Quantrill men went to all the residences in
town and ordered all the men into the court house square. I sat over there in
the square with Mayor Pellett, father of the present mayor, while the looting of
the town was going on. A three-board fence surrounded the square at that time.
Before they started to leave the town with their plunder, I went to Mr.
Quantrill, who was at Judge Campbell's residence, which stood where the Patrons'
Bank is now, and asked Mr. Quantrill if he could not let me have my team. He
said if I would drive the team to Pappinsville, Mo., with a load of plunder on
the wagon, that I could have my team to bring home, but he said, T can't furnish
a guard to come back with you, and I wouldn't advise you to do it.' Quantrill's
men robbed all the stores and took all the good horses they could find. A. M.
Hoff owned a store on the west side of the square, and Hoff was with the men
corralled in the square. His wife, excited at the looting of the store, kept
calling to her husband as she saw their property being loaded, and Mr. Hoff in
his frenzy attempted to cross over where she was, when one of the guards struck
him on the head with the butt end of a musket and knocked him senseless. 'It was
a wonder,' said Mr. Milhoan, 'that he was not shot down.' 'Did they take any
whisky?' was asked. 'Don't think they bothered the whisky,' said Mr. Milhoan.
'Up there at Lawrence one of Quantrill's men got drunk and failed to get out of
tOwn with the other men and next morning the citizens found him and killed him.'

  "Quantrill was after the men who belonged to the Twelfth Kansas. On his way to
Olathe he took Frank Cook from the residence of David Williams, his
father-in-law, and shot him. Cook had just enlisted in the company and had gone
out that day to see his wife who was at her parents' home. Cook was in bed at
the time the bandits came and hearing an unusual noise came out and was
immediately taken prisoner. His body was found in a ravine, not far from the
house, with two bullet holes in his breast and his head crushed with a cannon
ball. Mr. Cook was a most excellent neighbor and friend, straightforward in all
his dealings, and the fact that he had joined the Twelfth was the cause of his
being murdered, for murder it was, for no rules of honorable warfare give the
victors the right to kill defenseless prisoners. From the Williams' residence,
Quantrill and his men came on towards Olathe to the John J. Judy residence, a
mile and one-half east of town. Here John J. and his brother, James, had gone
that day to get ready to leave with their company. Mrs. Judy and a neighbor girl
staying there were still sitting up, the brothers having retired, when the house
was surrounded and ten or fifteen men entered. They ordered the two brothers to
get up and dress at once, and then ransacked the house for any valuables they
might find. They talked jestingly of 'Happy Kansas' and sometimes a snatch of a
song would be mingled with the oaths and curses of the men. 'If you have much
Union about you, better work it off by crying, and we'll give you cause enough,'
said one. Getting tired of this sport in a short time, they ordered the brothers
to mount behind two of their men and galloped away. Mrs. Judy left for a
neighbor's, a half mile away, as soon as they had gone, and while on the road
heard the five shots that killed her husband and his brother. She thought that
the shots were at Olathe, however, believing they had been gone long enough to
get there. The next morning the bodies of the men were found on the Jonathan
Millikan farm, about one-half the distance between the Judy home and town. The
Judys were men of excellent character and good citizens and their killing was no
less than cold-blooded murder. John Judy had been shot once in the left eye and
twice in the breast. His brother, James, once in the face and once in the breast.

  "The men who were held in the court house square by the Quantrill gang while
the looting was going on over the city, were, no doubt, wondering what was in
store for them, and just before daylight the news was broken to them. Quantrill
surrounded the prisoners with a cordon of men, and ordered all citizens to go to
the left and the recruits to the right, warning the recruits not to go over to
the citizens' side. John Hayes, a recruit, took the chance, however, and escaped
detection. Then Quantrill started the wagons loaded with the plunder on ahead
towards Spring Hill, and he with the prisoners followed, the prisoners on foot.
It was evidently the intention of Quantrill to rob the town of Spring Hill also,
as the town was as defenseless as Olathe, but on getting within a mile of town
at the farm house of Mr. McKoin he, McKoin, told them that several companies of
soldiers had just arrived there and Quantrill not desiring any fighting, turned
east through the fields, taking McKoin along as a guide and tearing fences down
wherever they were on the route he wished to go. A. P. Trahern's house was just
east of McKoin's. Mr. McKoin's rifle, violin and horse were taken, his furniture
broken and Mr. Trahern ordered to fall in with the prisoners. Quantrill's men
seemed to have a fondness for photographs of young ladies and always took them
in robbing a house and in Mr. Trahern's house they took every photograph he had
of this kind. Squiresville was a town laid out two miles east of the present
site of Ochiltree, Kan., on the old Ft. Scott stage line. On the way there Cliff
Turpin, one of Quantrill's men, offered Lieutenant Pellet a horse to ride, which
Pellet accepted. A short time afterwards one of the bushwhackers rode up to him
and tried to get him to jump off and run, assuring him escape would be very easy.

'You ___ little Yankee schoolmaster run,' he would say, 'You can get away just
as well as not.' Mr. Pellet, however, stayed on his horse, not caring to be a
target for the fellow who evidently wanted to shoot him. The prisoners were
confined to a store room on arrival at Squiresville, while Quantrill and his men
took breakfast. Breakfast over, Quantrill had the prisoners all lined up before
him and said, 'For the last half hour I have been doing something I never did
before, I have been making up my mind whether to shoot you or not.' He then told
them that he decided to have them take an oath not to take up arms against the
Confederacy, and release them, and the oath was administered accordingly, and
the prisoners were released, returning to Olathe about noon, footsore, weary and
hungry, yet thankful that they had escaped with their lives. When the prisoners
were marshalled in line Mr. Trahern and a young man, John Dunn, were ordered to
stand aside. Lieutenant Gregg, the third in command, rode up to Quantrill and,
seeing them out of line, asked him about it. 'I don't know anything about it. I
don't know who in the hell they are,' Quantrill answered. It seems that Trahern
had been in service with Jennison in Missouri and Quantrill's men suspected it,
while they had a suspicion that Dunn, too, might have been connected with a
Missouri raid. Both, however, strictly denied everything, but they were kept
prisoners and each ordered to drive a wagon, and at night their captors tied
them to a wagon wheel to prevent their escape. As soon as the prisoners were
released at Squiresville they returned home. Steps were taken at once for the
release of Trahern and Dunn. A party was sent to John J. Jackson, a farmer
living near Squiresville, who was known to be in sympathy with the Confederacy,
and informed him it was up to him to obtain the release of Dunn and Trahern, or
meet the same fate that befell them. Jackson started immediately and arrived at
the camp of Quantrill at midnight and next morning laid the case before him.
Quantrill's own men did not know where he slept in seclusion. Quantrill, after
hearing the case, decided to turn the men loose, as his friend Jackson would
have to suffer, but had not Jackson arrived when he did, both Dunn and Trahern
would have been executed. Mr. Trahern had a good opportunity to see Quantrill,
while he was his prisoner, and says that Quantrill had his men thoroughly
disciplined and his orders were obeyed with alacrity when or wherever given.
Occasionally a scout would come excitedly to him and report that a body of men
had been seen or that something alarming had happened. Quantrill, unconcerned
apparently, would answer, 'See who they are,' or 'See that they do not come too
close,' and ride on as cool and calm as if danger to him was unknown. The fact
that there was quite a number of Quantrill's friends in and around Olathe that
might have had to suffer, no doubt, saved Olathe from receiving at the hands of
Quantrill the fate that Lawrence met at a later date.

  "Olathe at the time of the raid had three saloons. The first one was built on
the north side of the square, where the old livery barn stands now. A man by the
name of Mayfield built it, and ran the saloon. John M. Giffen had a printing
office just east of this saloon, and printed the Olathe 'Herald.' Quantrill's
men broke up his press, threw out his type and destroyed everything possible in
the office. The 'Mirror' office also came in for its share of pillage and
destruction, but the press, being a strong one, their efforts to break it
failed, and it continued to print the news for years afterwards. The site of the
present Peck building was occupied at the time of the raid by a frame structure
in which was the postoffice and a grocery store. The building fronts the west.
Where the concrete building stands at the northwest corner of the square a
residence stood, and just south of the building where the city hall now stands,
a butcher shop was conducted. Henderson Boggs built a hotel on the west side
where the Avenue House stands, ran it a while and sold it to Thurma & Scott, who
sold it again to Benjamin Dare. Mr. Dare got into trouble by opening a letter
belonging to L. F. Crist and taking a check therefrom. Mr. Crist found out in
some manner who the guilty party was, had him arrested, but he got out on bond
and before trial secured his bondsman and left the country. The building now
occupied by "Dick" Weaver as a grocery store at the southwest corner of the
square was at this time, 1862, the Johnson county court house, the upper story
being used for offices, while the lot at the southeast corner of the square, now
occupied by the First National Bank building owned by J. L. Pettyjohn & Company
and had two houses on it, one a stone, the other a frame building. C. M. Ott ran
a bakery in one of these buildings at a later date and certainly understood the
act of turning his money often by making quick sales and small profits. Mr. Ott
started in business with a capital of fifteen dollars, a level head, pleasing
manner and unbounded energy. In a few years he became a wealthy and highly
respected citizen. I always did believe, though, that a man who got up at 2
o'clock in the morning to start a fire in the oven, and kneaded fifty or a
hundred pounds of flour into a nice dough, and then baked it before breakfast,
ought to get something out of it besides a bare living, and here is one Johnson
county man who did.

  Mr. Ott before opening the bakery had been in the saloon business on the north
side of the square, prior to his bakery venture, but quit that and started a
bakery on the top of the hill east of the square on Santa Fe Street, and
afterwards moved to a lot on the southeast corner of the square. He may have had
a reason for this, for Mr. Milhoan says: 'A half dozen of the boys went to his
former location one night and started a rough house and when they were through
everything inside the building was broken up. The boys had nothing against Mr.
Ott but they had been drinking a little too much liquor that flowed so freely in
Olathe at that time."

  J. H. Milhoan was born in Tyler county, Virginia, not over ten feet from the
Ohio river bank. This naturally suggested fishing to the writer and Mr. Milhoan
smiled and said: "Well, yes, I do like to fish," and he was in earnest too. He
came to Kansas in 1856, married Belinda Wood December 2, i860. The wedding
occurred on a farm two miles west of Olathe. They have one son born at St.
Joseph, Mo., December 6, 1862.

QUANTRILL PASSED THROUGH JOHNSON COUNTY ON HIS WAY TO RAID LAWRENCE.

  The Lawrence raid occurred on August 23, 1863. Quantrill entered Johnson
county before sundown with a force variously estimated at from two to three
hundred, and camped for supper a few miles west of Aubrey. They stated to people
of the locality that they were recruits on their way to Leavenworth to be
mustered in. Mr. Waterhouse, who had visited Quantrill's camp with Jackson to
secure Trahern's and Dunn's release, saw them during the evening, and knowing
they were guerillas mounted his horse and rode in hot haste to Aubry and
reported what he had seen to the captain in command of the post. The latter
forwarded the intelligence to General Ewing in command of the district at
Westport. Had proper steps been taken then, Lawrence would have been saved the
death of its citizens, or at least, been avenged. Ewing was one of the class of
officers selected on account of family connections, social standing, or a
celebrity in some pursuit of civil life. He was the son of Hon. Thomas Ewing,
and a lawyer of rising fame. What other attributes were necessary for a good
general? None; but Lawrence was burned, its citizens murdered and the murderers
escaped, while this general was getting up his line of defense, and reviewing
the evidence before him. It is very easy to find fault, and to tell how a thing
might have been done after it is done; but still, how those who saw the sad
events of the day chafed at stupid delays and timid pursuits; and sighed for a
Phillip Sheridan, or even the decision, dash and daring of a common red leg.

  G. B. Alger, who was with James H. Lane in his efforts to capture Quantrill
after the Lawrence raid, says that if Lane had been permitted to have his way
about it, he would have gotten the whole bunch but Colonel Plumb, being in
command, took the pursuit very leisurely and when the bushwhackers slowed up,
Plumb would slow up too. The further fact that Quantrill's horses and men were
worn and jaded from their long' ride, while the Union forces were recruiting
from the territory through which they passed, gave them a decided advantage if
Plumb had forced the issue. "Twenty times during the day opportunities were
offered for a gallant charge," says Gregg's history, "that would have sent
mourning and desolation to many a Missouri home, but no such charge was ever
made." Loaded down with plunder the rebels passed leisurely out of Kansas as
securely as though returning from a picnic and to this day the account remains
unbalanced.

  Some of the bushwhackers, overcome with fatigue on the march, dropped out of
line and concealing themselves in thickets and cornfields, made their way
through to Missouri alone, after enjoying a rest. Of these, one was captured
near Spring Hill by some farmers and brought to headquarters at Olathe. He was a
young man of good appearance and address, with a cool, quiet manner that marked
him as one who had faced death too often to feel fear at its approach.

  After obtaining his name, age, place of residence and some other particulars,
he was taken to the prairie east of town and shot by volunteers. The shots took
effect in his breast, and for a moment before falling, he stood erect cooly
looking around to see if more shorts were to be fired. His bones now lie in an
unmarked grave where he fell.

QUANTRILL'S START FOR LAWRENCE.

  Carrie V. Love, now Mrs. Jonathan Mize, of Olathe, Kan., was a girl of
fourteen at the time of the Quantrill raid at Lawrence. She lived then with her
parents at Lone Jack, Mo., and two nights before the attack on Lawrence she was
sitting up with a sick daughter of James Noel, a neighbor. She was upstairs in
the large two-story house. The moon was shining brightly. During the night she
heard a noise outside, and looking out, she saw the barnyard full of men and
horses. A number of men were in the kitchen below getting a midnight lunch.

  The next morning she said to Mr. Noel: "Uncle Jim, who were all those men
around the house last night?" "You didn't see any men around the house last
night," was the reply, but when he was convinced that she had he said: "Well,
now, I'll tell you but don't say one word about it. It would be worth my head to
let it be known," and then he told her they were Quantrill's men. "How many?"
she asked. "O, a hundred or two," he replied, "I suppose they are going to have
trouble on the line." Mr. Noels' two sons, Alvis and Joe, were with Quantrill
and they were starting for Lawrence then. They stayed near the Kansas line in
the timber on Big Blue the day following, and the next evening after dusk camped
at a spring on the Newton farm near Spring Hill.

SPRING HILL LOOTED.

    During the winter of 1863 troops were stationed at Olathe, Aubry and
Westport for protection against the raiders from Missouri. The protection
extended only to the towns in which troops were stationed. Spring Hill at this
time was left unguarded.

  Quantrill's second in command, George Todd, took advantage of this in February
and left it in the same condition, financially, as its neighbors, Olathe and
Shawnee. Todd had but ten men, but as its citizens were taken by surprise, no
resistance could be offered. The postoffice, Thomas Parker's store and L. D.
Prunty's store, the only business houses of the town, were thoroughly overhauled
and such goods taken as could be conveniently carried away on horses. Mr. Prunty
reported his loss at about $1,500. On the way back to Missouri they stopped at
the home of Nathan Darland, one mile east of town. Mr. Darland's son, Achilles,
a member of the Twelfth Kansas regiment, was lying on his death bed, and A. P.
Trahern, AArill Thahern and Benjamin Sprague were there to render neighborly
attentions. Their horses were tied in front of the house. Hearing horses
approaching, Will Trahern mounted his horse and escaped. The other two were not
quick enough for this maneuver, but managed to get away by crawling away on
their hands and knees to a nearby cornfield. The bushwhackers entered the house
and after inquiring where the riders of the horses were, went away taking the
the horses with them.

  This being Albert Trahern's second loss of a horse at their hands, he decided
to make an effort for the recovery of his property. He went to Westport the next
morning and laid the matter before Major Ransom and a squad of thirty-seven
soldiers was detailed to accompany him in the search. Taking the trail and
following it many miles through the hills and brush of Missouri, just at night
they came to a small pole cabin in a dense thicket. Several men were seen, but
owing to thick brush they easily escaped with their horses. Trahern found his
bridle in the cabin, but no horse anywhere. Shirts and drawers hanging up to dry
showed that the bushwhackers had procured a change of clothing at Spring Hill,
and were giving their old underclothing the benefit of a wash. After burning the
cabin the soldiers called on a farmer living within half a mile to learn
something regarding its occupants. Although it stood on his own land, the
innocent soul did not know that it was there, and was not aware that any
guerrillas had ever been in the vicinity.

  During the spring and summer, life and property were held by slight tenures
outside of the military posts. The bushwhackers in small squads roamed the
country at will. The timber of the Blue, Tomahawk, Coffey and Indian creeks on
the east side of the county afforded safe retreats, from which they could sally
forth to take in the luckless traveler or attack scouts and pickets. The results
were limited, however, as no one had the temerity to traverse that part of the
county.

THE RED LEGS.

  Gregg says "George H. Hoyt, who became captain of the Red Legs, was a young
man of Massachusetts parentage and training, and having breathed the abolition
air of that State all his life, was naturally a Republican of the deepest dye; a
radical supporter of Free State rights and the Union cause, and correspondingly
a hater of the South and its institutions."

  At the time of John Brown's arrest in Virginia, Hoyt, then a young law
student, hastened to the place where he was imprisoned, and volunteering his
service as counsel, remained with the old man until the last act of the bloody
drama was ended. Thenceforth John Brown, to him, was a hero and martyr. The
cause he fought and died for was sacred. Such an event at his impressible age
was enough to set for life his abolition views and principles. He hated slavery
and its adherents with a good hearty hatred that would have delighted Byron when
expressing his liking for a "good hater."

  Hence it was but natural that he gravitated to Kansas with the commencement of
national difficulties. Kansas was the scene of John Brown's perils and triumphs,
and here he would attempt to do his part toward carrying out the work of the
martyr. But the outlook was not particularly promising. The Government still had
some timid scruples about giving offence to the erring brethren, and army
operations were conducted on a conciliatory plan far from satisfactory to the
enthusiastic followers of John Brown. Hence Hoyt did not go into the army.

  Kansas at that time was not lacking in a goodly supply of those restless,
energetic young gentlemen whose star of empire is forever leading them westward.
Among this class, Hoyt found some whose enmity to the "divine institution"
rivaled his own. He conceived the design of organizing a company of this
material. As the men would not submit to the restrains and routine of the
regular army, their chances for engaging in active operations were not
promising, until the difficulty was settled by the provost marshal, who agreed
to accept them as a provost guard. They were employed in scouting, dispatch
carrying, and accompanying the troops on expeditions as guides, etc. No company
of better fighting material was ever organized. The men were all young, inured
to western life, splendid horsemen, thoroughly accomplished in the use of
weapons, rashly reckless and fearless, and, as an old Missouri lady once
remarked, "as full of the devil as a mackerel of salt". They wore, as a
distinguishing mark, by which to recognize each other when scouting in the
enemy's country, leggings of red morocco, and hence the name of "red-legs." The
most prominent members of the gang were, Bloom Swayne, well known under the name
of "Jeff Davis", Jack Bridges, as "Beauregard", Al. Savers, and Joseph Mater.

  These four, in company with several others, had gained some notoriety,
previous to the organization, by an expedition engaged on their own personal
account. They started from Wyandotte to reconstruct the neighboring counties of
Missouri, and to accomplish this, gathered some eighty negro slaves, and, we
believe, about an equal number of horses and mules, and attempted to run them
into Kansas. They succeeded in getting them to the river bank, opposite
Wyandotte, where a boat was to be in readiness to ferry them over. The owner of
the boat failed, however, to keep his part of the contract. The Missouri
militia, in the meantime, had started in pursuit, overtaking them while they
were waiting for another boat. A volley fired from brush was the first
intimation to the jayhawkers of danger. A bullet in the breast stretched Al
Savers on the sand, and Bloom Swayne also received one or two severe wounds. The
remaining members of the party, supposing the assailants to be United States
troops, offered no resistance, and were soon surrounded and captured. They were
taken first, to Liberty, and afterwards to Plattsburg and placed in confinement
to await trial. As the Missouri code, at that time, contained very stringent
laws in regard to running off slaves, our jayhawkers had prospects of the most
flattering character for a long sojourn in the penitentiary. After some weeks'
confinement, Joe Mater frustrated the whole arrangement. Through his
instrumentality, a hole in the wall, a few broken locks, and a favorable night,
an exit was made, and the Missourians awoke one fine morning to the fact that
their county was saved many dollars' expense, in the way of a trial. This
incident, as before stated, occurred previous to the Red Leg organization, and
is given simply to illustrate the business characteristic of the company members.

  Just what particular acts the Red Legs did in Missouri have never been
recorded, but in some way, they soon gained a widespread notoriety. The
Missourians represented them as monsters of blood-thirsty cruelty, and told
horrifying and hair-raising tales of their outrages and deeds of violence. In
the absence of records, and with due respect for the exaggerating style of the
times, we must dissent from the majority of the statements; but it is certain
they soon inspired the whole Missouri border with terror, and were more dreaded
than the entire Union army.

  Their fighting qualities and reckless daring were speedily known, and no force
could be collected that would dare to face them. This dread was inspired, in a
great measure, by the fact that if a Red Leg met a bushwhacker or known rebel,
during a scout, the results resolved simply into the question as to how long a
man would live, with a certain number of bullet holes through him. No quarter
was asked or given. It was a savage style of warfare, it must be confessed, but
it is scarcely possible for one who did not reside on the border to conceive how
completely the amenities of civilized life were dispensed with in those
troublous days.

  It was charged that they were robbers of the worst class, but this accusation
was unjustly applied. It is true they did a good deal of confiscating in the
enemies' country, but it was always in the face of the enemy, and from known
enemies. No quiet citizens were ever molested. On one occasion a member of the
company stole a pair of shoes, and on proof of the fact, was promptly dismissed
from the command, though it appeared that he did it more for fun than anything
else, as he gave them away to the first person he met. We are speaking now, of
the command, while acting as an organized company, but cannot say what might
have been done by individual members in aftertimes.

  There was some excuse, however, for popular belief, from the fact that the
thieves spoken of elsewhere soon commenced turning Red Leg reputation to
personal account. Gangs of them would don the red leggings and sally forth to
rob and steal whenever an opportunity presented, shrewdly judging that few would
resist or attempt to recover their property when supposing them to be the
veritable terribles. In this way many thousand dollars' worth of property went,
that the wrong parties were accused of taking. Owing to repeated complaints of
this nature, the organization was dissolved, and the members, generally, joined
the regular volunteer army, and enjoyed enough fighting, before the close of the
war, to satisfy the most belligerent.

BATTLE OF BULL CREEK.

  The battle of Bull Creek, or Bull Run, as it was locally called by the Ğarly
settlers, was a bloodless battle, although a few shots were exchanged. Lane, by
marching his men past a certain point in view of the enemy and then under cover
of the woods, sending them back to reappear again, convinced General Reed that
he, Lane, had as many Free State men as Reed had. Reed ordered his men to fall
back, and they did not stop until they reached Westport, thirty miles away.

"BATTLE OF BLOWHARD."

  This battle, that never was fought, was one of the earliest hostile acts of
the Civil war in Johnson county. It was in 1861, and a meeting had been held at
Gabriel Reed's residence, near the Missouri line, for the purpose of selecting
men to patrol the border, and g'uard against any surprise from Missouri
bushwhackers. An old man named Franklin, living on Tomahawk creek, was against
An old man named Franklin, living on Tomahawk creek, was against the
proposition, and the Free State men at once suspicioned him as being in sympathy
with the Missourians. About three weeks after the meeting, Pat Cosgrove, the
sheriff of Johnson county, and Joe Hutchins, a constable, went to Little Santa
Fe, just over the State line, expecting to return the same evening'. They did
not return, however, on time, and a rumor was started the next morning that they
were held as prisoners, and the Missourians were going to hang them. The word
spread rapidly, and soon 100 or more men gathered, armed with every kind of
conceivable weapon, and started for Little Santa Fe, to rescue Pat and Joe. A
halt was made near the Franklin residence, and two men were sent to Little Santa
Fe, to find out what had been done, while the rest of the crowd talked in
groups, of what would happen to the Missourians in that Santa Fe town, if a hair
on the head of either Pat or Joe was injured. In an hour or so a long line of
men on horseback was seen, coming' from Missouri, and headed toward the
rescuers, who were waiting. No sooner was this made known than a retreat was
made, toward Olathe, by the rescuers, with a much faster gait than the forward
movement had been made. On the top of a hill, on the way back, some pioneer had
piled up some logs, preparatory to building a cabin. Now, Mr. Sawn,
self-constituted leader of the rescurers, ordered all hands to throw up the
timber into breastworks, and some twenty or thirty-five, went to work, while the
rest of the bunch sped on to Olathe, as fast as they could go. A half hour's
work completed the breastworks of logs, about two feet high and sixty feet
square, and here the gallant twenty or twenty-five awaited the attack, which did
not come. After waiting a half hour, F. W. Case and Evan Shriver volunteered to
go back and find out why, and they soon returned, with the joyful news that the
Missourians had returned to Santa Fe. They had come out to escort the old man
Franklin and his family over the line to his Missouri friends. Then the rescuers
returned, joyfully, forgetting Pat and Joe, and arrived safely in Olathe, hungry
and footsore. Pat and Joe arrived an hour later. They had been detained in
Little Santa Fe, but had been released, and had been in no personal danger.

SOME WAR-TIME CLIPPINGS FROM OLATHE "MIRROR."

  January 9, 1863.-We are sorry to chronicle the fact that Captain Milhoan's
company has been ordered away from this place. This company was raised in
Johnson county, and is composed of our best citizens. They are men of property,
and the protection they gave was a hundred-fold more valuable to us, as they
were doubly interested in the peace, prosperity and protection of the border,
from the frequent raids of the unknown guerillas. It is not necessary to laud
the officers and men of this company, for where they are known their acts speak
for themselves. No company has given such entire satisfaction and received the
unbounded confidence of the people as this company has done. Our interests were
their interests, our safety their safety, our protection their protection. The
citizens of this county can never be ungrateful to the officers and men of this
noble company. The kind wishes of the citizens of this county will follow them
wherever they go, whether upon the tented field or amid peace and prosperity of
our country.

  July 11, 1863.-We have been asked why we don't revive the "Mirror" in full.
During the past two years we have been promised protection by our governors,
generals and senators, notwithstanding the fact that every town in our county
has been sacked from one to three times. Last spring, believing we would have
the protection so long sought, we made arrangements to renew our paper in its
old shape. But the protection we anticipated did not come and we have come to
the conclusion not to start out anew until we can see fair indication of the end
of our troubles, when our paper will be renewed on a permanent basis and not
subject to such changes in its size and quality of reading matter as our readers
now witness. We have given it a circulation of 500 in order to accommodate the
business of the county and merchants who wish to advertise. We shall make the
"Mirror" after the war what it was before, the largest and best newspaper in the
State.

  July 11, 1863. Notice.-There will be a petition presented to county board of
Johnson county, at its next session, the first Monday of July next, praying for
a road to accommodate the travel from Olathe to Westport, commencing where the
Shawneetown road leaves the Old Santa Fe road, and run on a line the best for
the country to the half section corner next north of the south corner of
sections 7 and 8, in township 12 south of range 25.

  January 7, 1864.-Ferry across the Kansas river on the Telegraph road from Ft.
Leavenworth to Ft. Scott.

  This ferry is located on the Telegraph road from 'Leavenworth to Ft. Scott via
Olathe, Paola and Mound City and is the most direct route between the two
places. Teams crossed at any time day or night.

  May 28, 1864.-The Wyandotte bridge has been and is now in good crossing order.
Remember there is no toll to those going to Wyandotte. We are under obligations
to Senator Lane for a package of garden seeds. Accept our thanks, General.

  1864, When Taxes Were Low.-In 1864 and prior to that time the county treasurer
took his books for collection of taxes, and visited the different polling places
of the county to collect taxes due. That year the State tax was five mills,
county tax fifteen mills, common school tax three mills, county road tax two
mills, county sinking fund four mills. Interest on count)'' bonds four mills. J.
W. Sponable was county treasurer at the time and in his notice to the tax payers
said: "I hope all will be ready to pay at the time and places designated and
save themselves much time and expense. Taxes are high this year but we have had
a prosperous year and should meet it cheerfully."

  A Price Raid Reminiscence.-Ed Moll, proprietor of the Olathe House, came to
Kansas in i860 and with his father located on a farm five miles west of town. He
remembers well the battle of Westport, when General Price was defeated. His
father and two brothers were with the home guards at Olathe, and he, also, had
two brothers in the regular army. Mr. Moll at the time was a boy of twelve at
home taking care of the stock. When he heard the cannons booming he took the
fastest horse on the farm, got an old musket and started for Olathe. He met a
number going the opposite way, driving as hurriedly as possible, who advised him
to go back with them as Price's men were coming and he would be killed. He kept
on, however, and just before he got to Olathe he met another party who tried to
persuade him to return. When they found he would not they advised him, at least,
not to carry a gun, for if Price's men met him they would kill him sure, but if
he had no gun, being only a boy, they might not molest him. Mr. Moll took the
advice in regard to the gun, and threw it away and came to Olathe, where he
found the home guards located a block north of the square. The commissary
department was located in the building now occupied by E. D. Warner. Mr. Moll
found his father and brother stationed in the old home of Jonathan Millikan, now
owned by Ada and Minnie Sykes. Olathe was expecting an attack at any time and
excitement was at the highest pitch, but Price retreated south and Olathe was
not molested.

GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC-POST NO. 68.

  The Grand Army of the Republic is represented at Olathe by Franklin Post No.
68, the roster of which is here presented: Adair, Austin; Armstrong, O. F.;
Austin, N. F.; Abbot, George W.; Alger, W.; Beauchamp, William; Beller, S. E.;
Briggs, J. W.; Bruner, J. B.; Black, George; Brockway, W. S.; Boswell, Charles;
Clarke, E. M.; Clampitt, D. W.; Carpenter, A. G.; Cooper, S. V.; Crooks, J. W.;
Corp, J. S.; Chaney, A. J.; DeWitt, William ; Edgington, A. N.; Edgington, Sam;
Ellswell, E. B.; Furry, W. D.; Fenn, Isaac; Fulton, A. C.; Hackett, H. N.;
Honnold, S. H.; Huff, George; Hunt, A. L.; Henry, R. J.; Hougland, D. P.; Hogue,
T. L.; Hedrick, D. M.; Hunzinger, J. R.; Jack, D. L.; Irvin, G. W.; Kennedy, J.;
Lyman, W. A.; Lott, A. H.; Little, J. T.; Mize, Johnson; Merritt, Frank; McKay,
D. F.; McIntyre, F. L.; McMillan, R. B.; McCleary, E. J.; Martin, Rev. L.;
Nuser, H. H.; Nehrhood, E. F.; Noland, Thomas; Nichols, J. T.; Netherton, J. C.;
Ogg, F. R.; Pellett, William; Pickering, I. O.; Pratt, W. A.; Page, David;
Phelps, Cicero; Pelham, W. B.; Parks, Horace; Pickerel, B. F.; Ruttinger, Frank;
Reitz, Nicholas: Ripley, Ed.; Rogers, Solon; Ross, Whitfield; Ralston, S. F.;
Ramsdell, H. L.; Rulison, W. A.; Reeves, F. M.; Speer, William; Spencer, Reuben;
Stypes, Charles; Stevenson, R. E.; Timanus, G. H.; Wood, S. T.; Walker, Ross;
Warner, E. D.; Woolard, I. J.; Wolfley, Louis; Ward, McDuff; Wallace, J. O.;
Wheeler, W. S.; Zimmerman, W. H.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas
BY
ED BLAIR

AUTHOR OF
Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches

IN ONE VOLUME

ILLUSTRATED
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
1915


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