Springfield, which place he had left on the twenty-sixth of August,
would threaten, if he did not actually attempt, an invasion of Kansas
at the point of its greatest vulnerability, the extreme southeast,
hastened his preparations for the defence and at the very end of the
month appeared in person at Fort Scott, where all the forces he could
muster, many of them refugee Missourians, had been rendezvousing. On
the second of September, the two armies, if such be not too dignified
a name for them, came into initiatory action at Dry Wood Creek,[104]
Missouri, a reconnoitering party of the Federals, in a venture across
the line, having
[Footnote 103: (cont.) would soon repair thither and so quell the
rebellion as to render my stay here no longer necessary. But as yet
the Union forces have not penetrated that far south, and Jackson with
a large force is quartered within 20 or 25 miles of the Agency--I was
informed by Mr. Killebrew on the 23d inst. that everything at the
Agency was safe--but the house and roads were guarded--Hence I have
assumed the responsibility of establishing my office here temporarily
until I can hear from the department.
And I most sincerely hope the course I have thus been compelled to
pursue will receive the approval of the department.
I desire instructions relative to the papers and a valuable safe
(being the only moveables there of value) which can only be moved
_at present_ under the protection of a guard. And also
instructions as to the course I am to pursue relative to the locality
of the Agency.
I feel confident that the difficulty now attending the locality at
Crawford Seminary will not continue long--if not then I shall move
directly there unless instructions arrive of a different character.
All mail matter should be directed to Fort Scott for the Mail Carrier
has been repeatedly arrested and the mails may be robbed--Very
respectfully your Obedient Servant
PETER P. ELDER, _U.S. Neosho Agent_.
H.B. BRANCH Esq, Superintendent of Ind. Affairs C.S.
St. Joseph, Mo.
[Indian Office Files, _Neosho_, B 719 of 1861].]
[Footnote 104: For additional information about the Dry Wood Creek
affair and about the events leading up to and succeeding it, see
_Official Records_, vol. liii, supplement, 436; Britton, _Civil
War on the Border_, vol. i, chapter x; Connelley, _Quantrill and
the Border Wars_, 199.]
fallen in with the advance of the Confederates and, being numerically
outmatched, having been compelled to beat a retreat. In its later
stages, Lane personally conducted that retreat, which, taken as a
whole, did not end even with the recrossing of the state boundary,
although the pursuit did not continue beyond it. Confident that Price
would follow up his victory and attack Fort Scott, Lane resolved to
abandon the place, leaving a detachment to collect the stores and
ammunition and to follow him later. He then hurried on himself to
Fort Lincoln on the north bank of the Little Osage, fourteen miles
northwest. There he halted and hastily erected breastworks of a
certain sort[105]. Meanwhile, the citizens of Fort Scott, finding
themselves left in the lurch, vacated their homes and followed in the
wake of the army[106]. Then came a period, luckily short, of direful
confusion. Home guards were drafted in and other preparations made to
meet the emergency of Price's coming. Humboldt was now suggested as
suitable and safe headquarters for the Neosho Agency[107]; but, most
opportunely, as the narrative will soon show, the change had to wait
upon the approval of the Indian Office, which could not be had for
some days and, in the meantime, events proved that Price was not the
menace and Fort Scott not the target.
It soon transpired that Price had no immediate intention of invading
Kansas[108]. For the present, it was
[Footnote 105: In ridicule of Lane's fortifications, see Spring,
_Kansas_, 275.]
[Footnote 106: As soon as the citizens, panic-stricken, were gone, the
detachment which Lane had left in charge, under Colonel C.R. Jennison,
commenced pillaging their homes [Britton, _Civil War on the
Border_, vol. i, 130.]]
[Footnote 107: H.C. Whitney to Mix, September 6, 1861, Indian Office
Consolidated Files, _Neosho_, W 455 of 1861.]
[Footnote 108: By the fifth of September, Lane had credible
information that Price had broken camp at Dry Wood and was moving
towards Lexington [Britton, _Civil War on the Border_, vol. i,
144].]
enough for his purpose to have struck terror into the hearts of the
people of Union sentiments inhabiting the Cherokee Neutral Lands,
where, indeed, intense excitement continued to prevail until there was
no longer any room to doubt that Price was really gone from the near
vicinity and was heading for the Missouri River. Yet his departure was
far from meaning the complete removal of all cause for anxiety, since
marauding bands infested the country roundabout and were constantly
setting forth, from some well concealed lair, on expeditions of
robbery, devastation, and murder. It was one of those marauding bands
that in this same month of September, 1861, sacked and in part burnt
Humboldt, for which dastardly and quite unwarrantable deed, James G.
Blunt, acting under orders from Lane, took speedy vengeance; and the
world was soon well rid of the instigator and leader of the outrage,
the desperado, John Matthews.[109]
[Footnote 109: (a)
FT. LINCOLN, SOUTHERN KANSAS.
Sept. 25, 1861.
HON. WM.P. DOLE, Com. of Ind. Af'rs
Dear Sir, We have just returned from a successful expedition into the
Indian Country, And I thought you would be glad to hear the news.
Probably you know that Mathews, formerly an Indian Trader amongst the
Osages has been committing depredations at the head of a band of half
breed Cherokees, all summer.
He has killed a number of settlers and taken their property; but as
most of them were on the Cherokee neuteral lands I could not tell
whether to blame him much or not, as I did not understand the
condition of those lands.
A few days ago he came up to Humbolt and pillaged the town. Gen. Lane
ordered the home guards, composed mostly of old men, too old for
regular service, to go down and take or disperse this company under
Mathews.
He detailed Lieut. Col. Blunt of Montgomery's regiment to the command,
and we started about 200 strong. We went to Humbolt and followed down
through the Osage as far as the Quapaw Agency where we came up with
them, about 60 strong.
Mathews and 10 men were killed at the first fire, the others (cont.)]
As soon as Lane had definite knowledge that Price had turned away from
the border and was moving northward, he determined to follow after and
attack
[Footnote 109: (cont.) retreated. We found on Mathews a Commission
from Ben. McCulloch, authorizing him to enlist the Quapaw and other
Indians and operate on the Kansas frontier.
The Osage Indians are loyal, and I think most of the others would be
if your Agents were always ready to speak a word of confidence for our
Government, and on hand to counteract the influence of the Secession
Agents.
There is no more danger in doing this than in any of the Army service.
If an Agent is killed in the discharge of his duty, another can be
appointed the same as in any other service. A few prompt Agents, might
save a vast amount of plundering which it is now contemplated to do in
Kansas.
Ben. McCulloch promises his rangers, and the Indians that he will
winter them in Kansas and expel the settlers.
I can see the Indians gain confidence in him precisely as they loose
it in us. It need somebody amongst them to represent our power and
strength and purposes, and to give them courage and confidence in the
U.S. Government.
There is another view which some take and you may take the same, i.e.
let them go--fight and conquer them--take their lands and stop their
annuities.
I can only say that whatever the Government determines on the people
here will sustain. The President was never more popular. He is the
President of the Constitution and the laws. And notwithstanding what
the papers say about his difference with Frémont, every heart reposes
confidence in the President.
So far as I can learn from personal inquiry, the Indians are not yet
committed to active efforts against the Gov. AUG. WATTLES.
[Indian Office Special Files, no. 201, _Central Superintendency_,
W 474 of 1861.]
(b)
SACK AND FOX AGENCY, Dec. 17th 1861.
HON.W.P. DOLE, Commissioner of Indian Affairs
Dear Sir: After receiving the cattle and making arrangements for their
keeping at Leroy I went and paid a visit to the Ruins of Humboldt
which certainly present a gloomy appearance. All the best part of the
town was burnt. Thurstons House that I had rented for an office tho
near half a mile from town was burnt tho his dwelling and mill near
by were spared. All my books and papers that were there were lost. My
trunk and what little me and my son had left after the sacking were
all burnt including to Land Warrents one 160 acres and one 120. Our
Minne Rifle and ammunition Saddle bridle, etc.... About 4 or 5 Hundred
Sacks of Whitney's Corn were burnt. As soon as I can I will try to
make out a list of the Papers from the (cont.)]
him, if possible, in the rear. Governor Robinson was much opposed[110]
to any such provocative and apparently purposeless action, no one
knowing better than he Lane's vindictive mercilessness. Lane persisted
notwithstanding Robinson's objections and, for the time being, found
his policies actually endorsed by Prince at Fort Leavenworth.[111] The
attack upon Humboldt, having revealed the exposed condition of the
settlements north of the Osage lands, necessitated his leaving a much
larger force in his own rear than he had intended.[112] It also
made it seem advisable for him to order the building of a series of
stockades, the one of most immediate interest being at Leroy.[113] By
the fourteenth of September, Lane found himself within twenty-four
miles of Harrisonville but Price still far ahead. On the
twenty-second, having made a detour for the purpose of destroying some
of his opponent's stores, he performed the atrocious and downright
inexcusable exploit of burning Osceola.[114] Lexington, besieged,
had fallen into Price's hands two days before. Thus had the foolish
Federal practice of acting in
[Footnote 109: (cont.) Department [that] were burnt. As I had some at
Leavenworth I cannot do so til I see what is there. As Mr. Hutchinson
is not here I leave this morning for the Kaw Agency to endeavour to
carry out your Instructions there and will return here as soon as I
get through there. They are building some stone houses here and I am
much pleased with the result. The difference in cost is not near
so much as we expected but I will write you fully on a careful
examination as you requested. Very respectfully your obedient Servant
W.G. COFFIN, _Superintendent of Indian Affairs_
Southern Superintendency
[Indian Office Files, _Southern Superintendency_, C 1432 of
1861]]
[Footnote 110: _Official Records_, vol. iii, 468-469.]
[Footnote 111:--Ibid., 483.]
[Footnote 112:--Ibid., 490.]
[Footnote 113:--Ibid.]
[Footnote 114:--Ibid., 196; vol. liii, supplement, 743;
Britton, _Civil War on the Border_, vol. i, 147-148; Connelley,
_Quantrill and the Border Wars_, 208-209, 295.]
detachments instead of in force produced its own calamitous result.
There had never been any appreciable coördination among the parts
of Frémont's army. Each worked upon a campaign of its own. To some
extent, the same criticism might be held applicable to the opposing
Confederate force also, especially when the friction between Price and
McCulloch be taken fully into account; but Price's energy was far in
excess of Frémont's and he, having once made a plan, invariably saw
to its accomplishment. Lincoln viewed Frémont's supineness with
increasing apprehension and finally after the fall of Lexington
directed Scott to instruct for greater activity. Presumably, Frémont
had already aroused himself somewhat; for, on the eighteenth, he had
ordered Lane to proceed to Kansas City and from thence to coöperate
with Sturgis,[115] Lane slowly obeyed[116] but managed, while obeying,
to do considerable marauding, which worked greatly to the general
detestation and lasting discredit of his brigade. For a man,
temperamentally constituted as Lane was, warfare had no terrors and
its votaries, no scruples. The grim chieftain as he has been somewhat
fantastically called, was cruel, indomitable, and disgustingly
licentious, a person who would have hesitated at nothing to accomplish
his purpose. It was to be expected, then, that he would see nothing
terrible in the letting loose of the bad white man, the half-civilized
Indian, or the wholly barbarous negro upon society. He believed that
the institution of slavery should look out for itself[117] and, like
Governor Robinson,[118] Senator Pomeroy, Secretary Cameron, John
[Footnote 115: _Official Records_, vol. iii, 500.]
[Footnote 116:--Ibid., 505-506.]
[Footnote 117:--Ibid., 516.]
[Footnote 118: Spring, _Kansas_, 272.]
Cochrane,[119] Thaddeus Stevens[120] and many another, fully endorsed
the principle underlying Frémont's abortive Emancipation Proclamation.
He advocated immediate emancipation both as a political and a military
measure.[121]
There was no doubt by this time that Lane had it in mind to utilize
the Indians. In the dog days of August, when he was desperately
marshaling his brigade, the Indians presented themselves, in idea, as
a likely military contingent. The various Indian agents in Kansas
were accordingly communicated with and Special Agent Augustus
Wattles authorized to make the needful preparations for Indian
enlistment.[122] Not much could be done in furtherance of the scheme
while Lane was engaged in Missouri but, in October, when he was
back in Kansas, his interest again manifested itself. He was then
recruiting among all kinds of people, the more hot-blooded the better.
His energy was likened to frenzy and the more sober-minded took
alarm. It was the moment for his political opponents to interpose
and Governor Robinson from among them did interpose, being firmly
convinced that Lane, by his intemperate zeal and by his guerrilla-like
fighting was provoking Missouri to reprisals and thus precipitating
upon Kansas the very troubles that he professed to wish to ward off.
Incidentally, Robinson, unlike Frémont, was vehemently opposed to
Indian enlistment.
Feeling between Robinson and Lane became exceedingly tense in October.
Price was again moving
[Footnote 119: _Daily Conservative_, November 22, 1861.]
[Footnote 120: Woodburn, _Life of Thaddeus Stevens_, 183.]
[Footnote 121: Lane's speech at Springfield, November 7, 1861
[_Daily Conservative_, November 17, 1861].]
[Footnote 122: For a full discussion of the progress of the movement,
see Abel, _American Indian as Slaveholder and Secessionist_, 227
ff.]
suspiciously near to Kansas. On the third he was known to have left
Warrensburg, ostensibly to join McCulloch in Bates County[123] and, on
the eighth, he was reported as still proceeding in a southwestwardly
direction, possibly to attack Fort Scott.[124] His movements gave
opportunity for a popular expression of opinion among Lane's
adherents. On the evening of the eighth, a large meeting was held in
Stockton's Hall to consider the whole situation and, amidst great
enthusiasm, Lane was importuned to go to Washington,[125] there to lay
the case of the piteous need of Kansas, in actuality more imaginary
than real, before the president. Nothing loath to assume such
responsibility but not finding it convenient to leave his military
task just then, Lane resorted to letter-writing. On the ninth, he
complained[126] to Lincoln that Robinson was attempting to break
up his brigade and had secured the coöperation of Prince to that
end.[127] The anti-Robinson press[128] went farther and accused
Robinson and Prince of not being big enough, in the face of grave
danger to the commonwealth, to forget old scores.[129] As a
solution of the problem before them, Lane suggested to Lincoln the
establishment of a new military district that should include Kansas,
Indian Territory, and Arkansas, and be under his command.[130] So
anxious was Lane to be
[Footnote 123: _Official Records_, vol. iii, 525, 526, 527.]
[Footnote 124:--Ibid, 527.]
[Footnote 125: _Daily Conservative_, October 9, 10, 1861.]
[Footnote 126: _Official Records_, vol. iii, 529.]
[Footnote 127: _Daily Conservative_, October 9, 15, 1861.]
[Footnote 128: Chief among the papers against Robinson, in the matter
of his longstanding feud with Lane, was the _Daily Conservative_
with D.W. Wilder as its editor. Another anti-Robinson paper was
the Lawrence _Republican_. The Cincinnati _Gazette_ was
decidedly friendly to Lane.]
[Footnote 129: _Daily Conservative_, October 15, 1861.]
[Footnote 130: _Official Records_, vol. iii, 529-530. Lane
outlined his plan for a separate department in his speech in
Stockton's Hall [_Daily Conservative_, October 9, 1861]. (cont.)]
identified with what he thought was the rescue of Kansas that he
proposed resigning his seat in the senate that he might be entirely
untrammelled.[131] Perchance, also, he had some inkling that with
Frederick P. Stanton[132] contesting the seat, a bitter partisan fight
was in prospect, a not altogether welcome diversion.[133] Stanton,
prominent in and out of office in territorial days, was an old
political antagonist of the Lane faction and one of the four
candidates whose names had been before the legislature in March. In
the second half of October, Lane's brigade notably contributed to
Frémont's show of activity and then, anticipatory perhaps to greater
changes, it was detached from the main column and given the liberty
of moving independently down the Missouri line to the Cherokee
country.[134]
Lane's efforts towards securing Indian enlistment did not stop with
soliciting the Kansas tribes. Thoroughly aware, since the time of his
sojourn at Fort Scott, if not before, of the delicate situation
in Indian Territory, of the divided allegiance there, and of the
despairing cry for help that had gone forth from the Union element to
Washington, he conceived it eminently fitting and practicable that
that same Union element should have its loyalty put to good uses and
be itself induced to take up arms in behalf of the cause it affected
so ardently to endorse. To an ex-teacher among the Seminoles, E.H.
Carruth, was entrusted the task of recruiting.
The situation in Indian Territory was more than
[Footnote 130: (cont.) Robinson was opposed to the idea [Ibid.,
November 2, 6, 1861].]
[Footnote 131: _Official Records_, vol. iii, 530.]
[Footnote 132: Martin, _First Two Years of Kansas_, 24;
_Biographical Congressional Directory_, 1771-1903.]
[Footnote 133: _Daily Conservative_, November 1, 1861, gives
Robinson the credit of inciting Stanton to contest the seat.]
[Footnote 134: _Daily Conservative_, October 30, 1861.]
delicate. It was precarious and had been so almost from the beginning.
The withdrawal of troops from the frontier posts had left the
Territory absolutely destitute of the protection solemnly guaranteed
its inhabitants by treaty with the United States government.
Appeal[135] to the War Department for a restoration of what was a
sacred obligation had been without effect all the summer. Southern
emissaries had had, therefore, an entirely free hand to accomplish
whatever purpose they might have in mind with the tribes. In
September,[136] the Indian Office through Charles E. Mix, acting
commissioner of Indian affairs in the absence of William P. Dole, who
was then away on a mission to the Kansas tribes, again begged the War
Department[137] to look into matters so extremely urgent. National
honor would of itself have dictated a policy of intervention before
[Footnote 135: Secretary Cameron's reply to Secretary Smith's first
request was uncompromising in the extreme and prophetic of his
persistent refusal to recognize the obligation resting upon the United
States to protect its defenceless "wards." This is Cameron's letter of
May 10, 1861:
"In answer to your letter of the 4th instant, I have the honor
to state that on the 17th April instructions were issued by this
Department to remove the troops stationed at Forts Cobb, Arbuckle,
Washita, and Smith, to Fort Leavenworth, leaving it to the discretion
of the Commanding Officer to replace them, or not, by Arkansas
Volunteers.
"The exigencies of the service will not admit any change in these
orders." [Interior Department Files, _Bundle no. 1 (1849-1864)
War_.]
Secretary Smith wrote to Cameron again on the thirtieth [Interior
Department _Letter Press Book_, vol. iii, 125], enclosing Dole's
letter of the same date [Interior Department, _File Box, January 1
to December 1, 1861_; Indian Office _Report Book_, no. 12,
176], but to no purpose.]
[Footnote 136: Indian Office _Report Book_, no. 12, 218-219.]
[Footnote 137: Although his refusal to keep faith with the Indians is
not usually cited among the things making for Cameron's unfitness for
the office of Secretary of War, it might well and justifiably be. No
student of history questions to-day that the appointment of Simon
Cameron to the portfolio of war, to which Thaddeus Stevens had
aspirations [Woodburn, _Life of Thaddeus Stevens_, 239], was
one of the worst administrative mistakes Lincoln ever made. It was
certainly one of the four cabinet appointment errors noted by Weed
[_Autobiography_, 607].]
the poor neglected Indians had been driven to the last desperate
straits. The next month, October, nothing at all having been done in
the interval, Dole submitted[138] to Secretary Smith new evidence of
a most alarmingly serious state of affairs and asked that the
president's attention be at once elicited. The apparent result was
that about the middle of November, Dole was able to write with
confidence--and he was writing at the request of the president--that
the United States was prepared to maintain itself in its authority
over the Indians at all hazards.[139]
Boastful words those were and not to be made good until many precious
months had elapsed and many sad regrettable scenes enacted. In early
November occurred the reorganization of the Department of the West
which meant the formation of a Department of Kansas separate and
distinct from a Department of Missouri, an arrangement that afforded
ample opportunity for a closer attention to local exigencies in both
states than had heretofore been possible or than, upon trial, was
subsequently to be deemed altogether desirable. It necessarily
increased the chances for local patronage and exposed military matters
to the grave danger of becoming hopelessly entangled with political.
The need for change of some sort was, however, very evident and the
demand for it, insistent. If the southern Indians were not soon
secured, they were bound to menace, not only Kansas, but Colorado[140]
and to help materially in blocking the way to Texas, New Mexico,
[Footnote 138: Indian Office _Report Book_ no. 12, 225.]
[Footnote 139: Dole to Hunter, November 16, 1861, ibid., _Letter
Book_, no. 67, pp. 80-82.]
[Footnote 140: On conditions in Colorado Territory, the following are
enlightening: ibid., _Consolidated Files_, C 195 of 1861; C 1213
of 1861; C 1270 of 1861; C 1369 of 1861; V 43 of 1861; _Official
Records_, vol. iv, 73.]
and Arizona. Their own domestic affairs had now reached a supremely
critical stage.[141] It was high time
[Footnote 141: In addition to what may be obtained on the subject from
the first volume of this work, two letters of slightly later date
furnish particulars, as do also the records of a council held by Agent
Cuther with certain chiefs at Leroy.
(a). LAWRENCE, KANSAS, Dec. 14th, 1861.
HON.W.P. DOLE, Commissioner of Ind. Affairs
Dear Sir, It is with reluctance that I again intrude on your valuable
time. But I am induced to do so by the conviction that the subject
of our Indian relations is really a matter of serious concern: as
involving the justice and honor of our own Government, and the deepest
interests--the very existence, indeed--of a helpless and dependent
people. And knowing that it is your wish to be furnished with every
item of information which may, in any way, throw light on the subject,
I venture to trouble you with another letter.