REVS. A. MONROE, W. M. RUSH, NATHANIEL WOLLARD.
_Rev. A. Monroe_, the Patriarch of Missouri Methodism—Age, Honor and
Sanctity not Exempt from Profanation—Mr. Monroe and his Wife
Arrested in Fayette—Mrs. Monroe’s Trials and Witty Retorts—How Mr.
Monroe Escaped the Bond—Robbed of Everything by Kansas Soldiers in
1864—An Old Man Without his Mittens—A Tower of Strength—“Our
Moses”—Calls the Palmyra Convention—_Rev. W. M. Rush_—The Character
of Missouri Preachers—A Native Missourian—Settles in Chillicothe—In
St. Joseph the First Year of the War—Caution in Public Worship—An
Offensive Prayer by Rev. W. C. Toole—General Loan Closes the Church
and Deposes Mr. Rush from the Ministry by Military Order—General W.
P. Hall vs. Mr. Rush—Hall Publishes a Letter that Denies Mr. Rush
Protection, and Exposes him to Assassination—Mr. Rush Returns to
Chillicothe—His House a Stable and his Home a Desolation—Bold
Attempt to Assassinate him—Correspondence with General Hall—Goes to
St. Louis—Masonic Endorsement—In Charge of the Mound Church—Will
Hear of Him Again—_Rev. Nathaniel Wollard_ Murdered in Dallas
County—Horrible Details—Particulars—Reflections.
REV. ANDREW MONROE.
Even this venerable and honored servant of God—now the Patriarch of
Missouri Methodism—was not exempt from trials and troubles during the
late war. If a venerable form, erect and majestic; grey locks, long and
flowing; lofty mien, benign and saintly; a pure life, long and useful;
an honored name, associated with the history of the good and pure in the
State; saintly beneficence, sanctified to the highest purposes of the
gospel, and a meek and quiet spirit diffused through the toil, and
suffering, and labor, and triumphs of half a century in the ministry
could disarm malice, awe the passions into reverence, break the force of
prejudice and shield the person and property, the home and happiness,
the liberty and life from vicious violation and petty profanation, then
Andrew Monroe had lived in peace unmolested, and his humble house, a
freeman’s sacred castle, been secure from the tread of vandalism and the
hand of plunder. But no altar was too sacred, no home too pure, no name
too greatly reverenced and no life too pure and holy to deter the
invader or wither the sacrilegious hand of the spoiler. Meanness was not
an incident of the war, and sacrilege was not confined to Mexican
guerrillas. Men are naturally mean, and depravity is a fact of human
nature. Nor did the war make thieves, and robbers, and murderers, and
highwaymen; they were such before, the occasion only was wanting. The
sunbeam does not create, it only reveals the motes in the atmosphere.
The war furnished the occasion and unveiled the meanness of men; the
pure gospel ministry rebuked it, and, naturally enough, provoked its
malice and became its victim. Even Andrew Monroe, the noble old Roman,
could not escape.
In the winter of 1862 the Rev. A. Monroe was traveling the Fayette
Circuit, Missouri Conference M. E. Church, South, and living in the town
of Fayette, Howard county. Fayette, like all other towns of importance
in the State, was a military post, with one Major Hubbard in command.
One day of that winter Mr. Monroe and his family were surprised by the
appearance of a Federal officer and a squad of men entering his humble
home, placing him and his wife under arrest, and marching them off to
headquarters, for what offense they never knew.
The soldiers had arrested many other ladies and gentlemen at the same
time, and they had plenty of company when they reached headquarters,
amongst whom was the Rev. Dr. W. H. Anderson, then President of Central
College.
When Major Hubbard came in and saw the number of ladies present under
arrest he affected surprise, and said that he had not ordered their
arrest; that his subalterns had transcended his orders, and at once
informed the ladies that they were released, remarking at the same time
that when he wished to see them he would not send for them, but do
himself the pleasure of calling at their homes. To which Mrs. Monroe
promptly replied that she was obliged to him for releasing them so
early, but as for seeing him, she had no desire whatever to see him at
her house or anywhere else.
Many a true and modest woman had occasion during those troublous times
to call upon her ready wit to reply to the various impertinent inquiries
and demands of a ruffian soldiery; and while Mrs. Monroe was surprised
at her own courage, her indignation was somewhat appeased when she
observed the cutting effect of her retort. Not many days afterward she
had occasion again for her ready wit and her Christian fortitude and
forbearance. Very early in the morning five soldiers called and demanded
breakfast. Mr. Monroe was at home, but he soon retreated from the front
door and called upon his wife to meet the issue. She had no help, and
the idea of cooking for so many, and these, too, whom she believed to be
her enemies, and who would not hesitate to do her any injury, was very
repulsive. But to get rid of them was a difficult question, as many
ladies know. By the time she reached the front door and heard their
request her answer was ready. She replied, “My Bible teaches me, ‘If
thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink;’ upon these
terms and no other you can get breakfast.” To her surprise one of them
said, “Madam, we will accept breakfast upon those terms, for I profess
to be somewhat acquainted with the Bible.” She thought they would turn
and go away in a rage, but, on the contrary, she had to turn and get
breakfast for “her enemies” with the best grace she could.
It turned out that the spokesman was a local preacher in the Northern
Methodist Church, and at the table he remarked to Mrs. Monroe that his
father was as great a rebel as she was. To which she replied, that it
was a thousand pities that he had so far departed from the ways of his
father as to be a degenerate son of an honored sire. Whereupon he said,
“As a loyal man, I would hate awfully to have to live with such a rebel.
Gen. Price could well afford to issue a commission to you, madam.”
Not many days after this Mr. Monroe was just ready to mount his horse
one morning for a tour of appointments in the country, when a soldier
appeared with orders to arrest him and take him to the headquarters of
Capt. Hale, then commanding the post. The venerable man of God was then
marched up to headquarters at the point of the bayonet and required to
take the military oath, (so-called), and give bond, with good security,
for his future loyalty to the Government, and for the loyalty and good
order of his family, the Captain remarking that “the secesh talk of the
women of his family should be stopped.” Mr. Monroe replied that he could
take the oath if he would then let him go about his Master’s work, but
as for the bond, he must excuse him, as he did not wish to involve his
friends and he had but little property. If it was his little property he
was after, he might as well go and take charge of that at once and let
him go about his business. The Captain saw the point and told him to
take the oath then and “go preach the gospel to every creature.”
“In 1864 Mr. Monroe was living on a farm about eight miles from Glasgow,
in Howard county, when General Price made his famous raid into Central
Missouri, and took Glasgow amongst other places. The day before the
battle of Glasgow Mr. Monroe was out in a field on his little farm, and
his family all away from home except a servant, when a company of Kansas
soldiers passing along the road halted, entered the house and robbed it
of everything of value they could find. The house was literally
pillaged. Mr. Monroe’s watch, a fine cloth coat, several pairs of
bed-blankets, quilts, comforts, and, indeed, everything of any value to
them. While thus engaged they saw a young man who lived near approaching
the house, all unconscious of what was going on. He was arrested and
relieved of all his money, $75. One rough-looking Dutch soldier rode out
to the field and accosted the venerable man with an imperative demand
for his money. When he found that he had but two dollars in the world,
he would not take it, but rode back in disgust. A young man—Mr. Monroe’s
nephew—was met near the house on his uncle’s only riding horse, with his
only saddle and bridle. The young man was arrested, and the horse and
equipments taken to Glasgow and never heard from afterward.
Thus, in one single hour, the venerable servant of God stood alone in
his field, stripped of everything he had—horse, watch, clothes,
blankets, bedding—everything of value. What must have been the feelings
of Mrs. Monroe on returning home, after an absence of just one hour, to
find her house plundered by a ruffian soldiery, and her husband
beggared. To complete the work, a small squad of soldiers passed along
soon afterward, and when they could find nothing else to steal or
appropriate, a rough, drunken Dutchman demanded of the old man his
woolen mittens, which a lady had but recently given him. He gave them
up, and considered himself fortunate to get off so easy.
With such petty annoyances, involving privation and suffering, this
faithful minister of the gospel—this pioneer and patriarch of Missouri
Methodism—passed through the dark and trying scenes of the late civil
war, always hopeful and joyful, and ready to rejoice that he was counted
worthy to suffer for a cause of which himself was the finest type, and a
principle to maintain which he was willing to go even to prison and to
death. To the struggling cause of Christ and his suffering friends he
was a tower of strength, to the discomfited and disheartened hosts of
the Methodist Israel, he was “our Moses.” When “these calamities were
overpassed,” and the shock of war had expended its fire and force—when
the smoke of battle cleared away, and the stormcloud hung low upon the
horizon, he surveyed the field, marked the desolation, measured the
extent of the wreck, discovered some remains of Zion’s former beauty,
while others, with indecent haste, sounded her funeral knell; and his
voice, like that of a mighty chieftain, was heard over the prairies,
along the railroads and in the cities of Missouri, calling the faithful
to duty, and rallying the scattered forces for counsel. Upon his call a
few ministers and friends convened in Palmyra, in June, 1865, and
decreed the life of the Church, the resuscitation of her vital powers,
the recovery of her lost ground, and the rehabilitation of her
distinctive institutions and organs. (See the particulars of this
Palmyra meeting in its appropriate place.)
REV. W. M. RUSH.
Few men suffered earlier, or more, than the subject of this notice. For
many years the name of the Rev. W. M. Rush has been conspicuous on the
rolls of Missouri Methodism. Prominent amongst her ablest and truest
ministers and foremost in her aggressive evangelism, he has stood
through many years of her history. Identified with her early struggles
and a faithful laborer upon her broad foundations, he has grown with her
growth and strengthened with her strength, until his life and her
history are one. Few men have been more conspicuous in her councils or
more distinguished in her fields of labor and conflict. The class-mate
of Marvin, the senior and compeer of Caples, the companion of Monroe,
and Jordan, and Smith, and Eads, and Johnson, and Redman, and the noble
band of Methodist pioneers and patriots, his name will adorn the early
annals of the Church, as it will illustrate her later persecutions.
Mr. Rush does not care to conceal the fact that he is a native of
Missouri. He was converted to God July 8th, 1838, and united with the
Methodist Church the following August. He was licensed to preach in
Sept., 1841, and was admitted on trial in the Conference the following
October, at Palmyra, Bishop Morris presiding and W. W. Redman acting as
Secretary. He has ever been, since that date, an effective itinerant
preacher—never sustained any other relation to the Conference.
While traveling the Brunswick district, in 1856, and by the advice of
Bishop Pierce, he made arrangements to settle his family in a permanent
home, and selected Chillicothe, Livingston county, as the most central
and suitable location. He purchased eligible lots, with land adjoining
the town, and erected an excellent and commodious residence for his
large family. He also improved, furnished and stocked his adjoining
lands to make them productive. Here he settled his family and remained
until 1860, when he was appointed to St. Joseph station, and it became
necessary for him to lease out his property in Chillicothe and move his
family to St. Joseph, where he was living when the war broke out in
1861. He was deeply impressed with the necessity of caution and prudence
in the conduct of his pulpit and public services, as the people to whom
he ministered were divided on the questions at issue in the war. He was
so careful not to give offense to any that he framed a somewhat formal
prayer to be used in public services touching the troubles of the
country.
It was about as follows: “O Thou, who art infinite in wisdom, in
goodness and in power, we pray thee so to direct in the affairs of this
country, that the events that are now transpiring may all result for thy
glory and the well-being of humanity. We pray that those in authority
may have wisdom to direct them in adopting such measures as shall be
promotive of the best interests of all the people.”
To this form of prayer and the sentiments it contained he thought all
good citizens of either party could say, Amen. He carefully abstained
from every expression that would be offensive to the sectional feelings
and views of any of his congregation. In this he was particular, and, he
thought, successful. Matters passed on well enough until early in
February, 1862, when, after preaching on Sabbath, he called on the Rev.
W. C. Toole, a local preacher, to close the service with prayer. He was
a strong partisan, and his language in the prayer was extremely bitter
toward those in rebellion against the Government. Though the
congregation was much divided in sentiment, they were at peace among
themselves. This prayer was like a firebrand. It excited a good deal of
feeling, and people of opposite views thought it much out of place. Upon
reflection and consultation with his leading brethren, he determined
thereafter to close his own services with prayer, which ministers should
always do unless other ministers are present and in the pulpit. He
pursued this course but one Sabbath afterward, and then a brother
minister, the Rev. S. W. Cope, preached for him, when, during the week
following, Brigadier-General B. F. Loan, then in command, sent for Mr.
Rush to report himself at his headquarters. This he did, and Gen. Loan
told him that he had concluded to close his church. Mr. Rush asked him
on what account. He replied, “Because of disloyalty.” He was then asked
in what respects they were disloyal, and answered that he was informed
that a prayer for the Government could not be offered in that church
without giving offense.
The whole matter of the prayer of Mr. Toole and the general character of
the service were then explained to Gen. Loan. Mr. Rush was careful to
give the reasons for avoiding the introduction of anything savoring of
sectional views into the public service; that they could not settle the
troubles of the country in the church service; that such an effort would
only destroy the peace of the church without in the least benefiting the
country; that no prayer savoring of secession had ever been offered in
the church or would be tolerated on any account; that the course pursued
was the only proper one; and that if all the churches in the land would
attend to their appropriate work and let politics alone it would be far
better for the country. To all of this the General replied that the time
had come when there must be a distinction in the churches between
patriots and traitors. Mr. Rush told him that he could not discriminate
in his church on account of political opinions; that he had been in the
ministry more than twenty-five years, and in all that time he had not in
a single instance, in prayer or sermon, given utterance to a word or
sentence by which his opinions could be known upon any political
questions at issue before the country, and that he did not expect in the
future to depart from that course. He replied that his mind was made up
to close the church. The interview ended, and the church was closed.
Soon afterward the General directed a special order to be issued
forbidding Mr. Rush from preaching or conducting any kind of religious
service within the bounds of his military district. Thus he was
silenced—deposed from the ministry, and his ordination credentials
revoked by a military satrap. An ambassador for God stricken down by one
stroke of a pen to which bayonets imparted power! A messenger of
salvation to dying men silenced by the caprice of shoulder-straps, and
one to whom the risen Messiah by his spirit said, “Go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature,” suspended from his divine
commission by the decree of human power! A “legate of the skies” at the
feet of a miserable specimen of human weakness clothed with a little
brief authority! Impious presumption! equaled only by sacrilegious
contumely and prurient vanity.
After Gen. Loan was dismissed from the military service by Gov. Gamble,
and Gen. W. P. Hall had succeeded him in command of the district, Mr.
Rush addressed a note to Gen. Hall, calling his attention to the order
of Gen. Loan, and asking its revocation. Mr. Rush hoped for much
consideration at the hands of Gen. Hall from a somewhat intimate
acquaintance of sixteen years, and the further fact that at the
beginning of the troubles their views were in perfect harmony. He had no
doubt whatever but that the silencing order of Gen. Loan would at once
be revoked. But for once he had mistaken the man. Mr. R. did not then
properly estimate the power of the German Radicals of the district nor
the ambition of Gen. Hall—the necessity for him to manufacture a
character for extreme loyalty, in doing which he would sacrifice any man
or any principle that stood in the way of his personal promotion.
Gen. Hall not only refused to revoke the order of Gen. Loan, but
published in the St. Joseph _Herald_, a paper that circulated
extensively in the military camps, his letter to Mr. Rush, in which the
latter was denounced as a traitor and unworthy the protection of the
Government. While Gen. Loan, in his personal intercourse with Mr. Rush,
was courteous and gentlemanly, Gen. Hall was abusive, ungentlemanly and
tyrannical. His published letter unveiled his true character, while it
subjected its helpless victim to suspicion, insult and attempts at
brutal assassination.
Mr. Rush, in the midst of such trials and dangers, had to give up his
charge and return to Chillicothe. Here he found his beautiful home laid
waste; the fencing destroyed, the house broken up, horses stabled in
three rooms on the first floor, and soldiers quartered on the second
floor, and the fruit and shrubbery all destroyed.
He rented a house for his family, and while the officers of the post
always treated him with courtesy and kindness, Gen. Hall’s letter had
stirred up the common soldiery until his life and the lives of his
family were in constant peril. When he discovered this state of things,
he wrote Gen. Hall a polite letter, protesting against his published
letter, representing the injustice he had done him, and the danger to
his person and life caused by it. Gen. Hall returned his letter, and in
reply threatened him with a military commission.
About the 1st of May, 1863, a bold attempt was made to assassinate him
in his own house. His house was first assailed with stones and
brick-bats, by which the windows were crushed in and the door battered.
Pistol shots were then fired through the doors and windows; but a kind
Providence protected him and his family from serious injury.
Upon reporting the facts to the officers in command, protection was
promptly furnished, and a guard stationed at the house. But, at the same
time, the officers advised him to seek safety elsewhere; that with all
their efforts to protect him the assassin’s missile might any moment put
an end to his life.
The week after this occurrence he went to St. Louis to attend the
sessions of the Grand Masonic bodies of the State. These grand bodies
gave to his ministerial and personal character their highest
endorsement, by electing him Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge, also of
the Grand Chapter, and also of the Convention of High Priests for the
State of Missouri.
The following is the written order which Gen. Loan directed Col. King,
his subordinate, to issue deposing Mr. Rush from the functions of the
ministry in his military district:
“HEADQUARTERS REG’T M. S. M., }
CHILLICOTHE, MO., April 24, 1862. }
“_Rev. W. M. Rush, Chillicothe, Mo._:
“Dear Sir—I am directed by the Brigadier-General commanding the district
to notify you that it is deemed advisable and necessary to suspend you
from the performance of your duties as a minister, or preacher, within
this military district, so far as they relate to any of the public
services in the church. This will, you observe, include all preaching,
the conducting of prayer meetings, &c., &c. Of said suspension you are
hereby notified.
“This, I will add, results from information, deemed entirely reliable,
of your disloyal sentiments, and of your very great desire to actively
promote the cause of the traitors.
“I am, sir, very respectfully,
“WALTER KING, Col. M. S. M.,
“Commanding Chillicothe Post.”
Mr. Rush had been prohibited by verbal order from preaching in St.
Joseph. After he left St. Joseph he preached once in Plattsburg and once
in Chillicothe, whereupon General Loan ordered Colonel King to issue the
above order. It was this order which Mr. Rush requested Gen. Hall to
revoke.
The reply to the letter asking the revocation of Gen. Loan’s order,
besides being published, was sent as a private note also, and is as
follows:
“HEADQUARTERS N. W. DIS., }
ST. JOSEPH, MO., February 17, 1863. }
“_Rev. W. M. Rush, Chillicothe, Mo._:
“My Dear Sir—I am in receipt of yours of the 16th inst. I regret that I
am not able to comply with your request. According to my views, a
religious congregation that can not endure prayers for its Government is
disloyal; and a minister that encourages such a congregation in its
course is also disloyal.
“I agree with you, that allegiance and protection are reciprocal. But
allegiance requires the citizen to protect the Government against all
enemies. This you not only refuse to do, but you are not willing to pray
for the success of your Government over traitors. You claim to be
neutral. A citizen has no right to be neutral when enemies are assailing
his Government.
“I can not relieve you from Gen. Loan’s order.
“Very respectfully,
“WILLARD P. HALL,
“Brig.-Gen. Com’dg.”
The following letter was written to General Hall after Mr. Rush had
suffered long and much from the effects of his published letter. It
explains itself:
“CHILLICOTHE, MO., April 30, 1863.
“_Gen. W. P. Hall_:
“DEAR SIR: Some months ago I requested you to relieve me from Gen.
Loan’s order. This you declined to do, and at the same time
(unintentionally, I hope,) inflicted upon me a severe injury. Your
letter was published in the _Herald_, and was made the basis of various
actions against me. Dr. Hughs, who classified those who were exempt from
military duty as loyal and disloyal, enrolled me disloyal. I asked him
on what ground he so enrolled me, and told him that I claimed to be as
loyal as any man in the Government, and that I challenged any man to
show the contrary. He told me that he acted upon your letter and did not
feel himself authorized to go behind it. He assigned no other reason.
Dr. Hughs, you may know, is an _extreme Radical_ man.
“On the 1st of January Capt. Moore, Provost-Marshal of this post, gave
what are called free passes to my negro woman and girl, and they are now
in Kansas. I called on him to know on what ground he based his action.
He said he concluded from your letter that I was rebellious, and,
therefore, gave the passes without any charge or proof.
“On the first Monday of April, at our municipal election, my vote was
challenged by a Lieutenant from St. Joseph, I believe. I asked on what
ground. He said my name was on the disloyal list. I told him I did not
put it there. Capt. Moore said it was put there by order of Gen. Loan.
“Such are some of the open effects of your published letter, and, as a
lawyer, you doubtless know the extent of your legal responsibility for
such publication.
“In your published letter to me you regarded me as disloyal because, as
you say, I encouraged a congregation that could not endure prayers for
its Government. If by the _Government_ you mean the country and the
Constitution, I beg to inform you that prayers are regularly offered for
the country, in the public congregation as well as in my private family;
and in private I pray to Him who is infinite in wisdom, in goodness and
in power, that he would so direct in the affairs of the nation, and so
control the events that are now transpiring as that all things might yet
result for his glory and the well-being of humanity; that he would grant
unto our rulers wisdom to adopt such measures as would speedily bring
peace and prosperity to our distracted country.
“If by the Government you mean the measures of the _Administration_, I
must say that I do not pray for the success of the President’s
Proclamation liberating the slaves of the South.
“Since these troubles began, I have claimed to be, and I believe I am,
as loyal a man as there is in the country, and the Constitution does not
permit you, nor any body of men, to prescribe a form of prayer as a test
of my loyalty. Since the commencement of these troubles I have been a
man of peace. I believed that war would be disastrous to the country,
and that if persevered in it would tear down the fair fabric which my
fathers helped to rear, and that my children would be left without a
country.
“Sir, I boast not of family, but an ancestral name stands on the
Declaration of Independence, and the family has represented the
Government at Paris and at London. Sir, I can pray for peace, but I can
not pray for war. I never in public or in private prayed for the success
of the sword as wielded by any power on earth.
“What was my offense? I labored to preserve the peace of my
congregation. I thought that the Church was not the proper arena for the
strife of those contending opinions that were convulsing the nation.
“Why did not Colhoun and Lyon of the Presbyterian Church offer such
prayers as that offered by W. C. Toole? I will answer. They had too high
a sense of religious propriety. Sir, political preaching has sown the
seeds that are bringing forth the death of the nation. In more than
twenty years in the ministry I have never given utterance to a political
sentiment in the pulpit. But now these political preachers are heroes,
and I am without a pulpit.
“You have, also, published to the world that I have no claim upon the
Government for protection. Thus I am published by you as an outlaw, to
be slain by any one who may be so disposed. And this, notwithstanding I
have constantly performed every duty enjoined upon me by the
Constitution and laws of the country.
“On last Wednesday evening, just at dark, my son William, while feeding,
was shot at by some one who had secreted himself but a few yards from
him. The bullet entered his cap just over his forehead and passed out
behind. An inch lower would have killed him. The shot was, no doubt,
intended for me.
“When I wrote to you before, I did it that you might make your own
record in my case. You had the opportunity of revoking Gen. Loan’s order
or of sustaining it. You saw proper to _exceed_ very much the order of
Gen. Loan.
“One word more. I had a financial interest of $1200 a year in my pulpit
so long as my pastoral relation to the Church should continue. That
relation still continues, but my financial interest in the pulpit has
been confiscated, without the authority of law and contrary to a general
order issued by the General commanding the department. I am advised by
eminent legal counsel that yourself and General Loan are financially
responsible to me.
“General, I have thus written to you _candidly_, as I think a man of
conscious integrity has a right to write to one to whom he is willing to
accord equal integrity. _If you think that order should still remain in
force, so let it be_.
“Your obedient servant,
“W. M. RUSH.”
To this letter General Hall made the following reply:
“HEADQ’RS SEVENTH MILITARY DIS’T OF MO., }
ST. JOSEPH, MO., May 2, 1863. }
“_Rev. Wm. Rush, Chillicothe, Mo._:
“Sir—I return herewith your very extraordinary letter of the 30th ult.
Notwithstanding the threats contained in it against myself, you surely
did not consider what you were writing. My opinion was, and is, that it
would do a serious injury to the public for me to rescind Gen. Loan’s
order with reference to yourself. To threaten an officer for the
discharge of his duties, especially in times like these, is a serious
offense, which a Military Commission would promptly punish. I bear you
no malice. I have done what I have done in your case because I believed
my duty required it. My advice to you is, to make no more threats.
“Very respectfully,
“WILLARD P. HALL,
“Brig.-Gen’l E. M. M.”
Neither explanation nor comment is necessary to the full meaning of this
instance of heartless cruelty and wanton oppression. The fact that
General Hall’s mother-in-law, with whom he lived, was at the time one of
the most devoted, pious and prominent members of Mr. Rush’s Church, only
shades the deeper and darker the character of this Missouri Nero.
General Hall’s skepticism and political ambition made him a ready and a
cruel instrument of religious persecution. Without the moral courage to
avow his skepticism, and denied the force of character necessary to meet
and master opposition, he was just the man to use the authority of
shoulder-straps to make war upon the institutions of heaven and
persecute God’s chosen ministers of salvation; and he will feel very
uncomfortable in the history he has made.
Mr. Rush found it necessary for his own safety to remove his family to
St. Louis, and remain there until the close of the war. He found the
Mound Church without a pastor, and by the appointment of the Presiding
Elder took charge of that Church, and there remained until the quiet and
safety that succeeded the war was restored to the State. Mr. Rush will
appear again as a victim of the New Constitution, and a noble champion
of the liberty of conscience and the supremacy of Christ in his Church,
which the infidel provisions of that instrument endeavored to strike
down.
It will be appropriate to close this chapter with an account of the
murder of the
REV. NATHANIEL WOLLARD,
A minister of the Calvinistic, or, as generally termed, “Hard-Shell”
Baptist Church.
Elder Wollard, or “Uncle Natty,” as he was familiarly called, was an
aged man, in his _seventy-second_ year. He had lived a long time in
Dallas county, Mo., where he was extensively known and very highly
appreciated as a true man, a good neighbor, a kind father, an
affectionate husband, a peaceable citizen and an acceptable
minister—highly esteemed in love by his denomination for his character
and work. He could not, nor did he desire to, take any part in the
strifes, excitements and dangers of the war. He craved the boon of
living at home unmolested, and spending the evening of his life in peace
in the bosom of his family.
He had grown up in the olden times, and under the old _regime_, when men
were outspoken, candid and fearless in the utterance of their
sentiments; and, hence, be expressed himself in opposition to the
“abolitionists,” as he called the Union men, and in sympathy with the
South. He did not make himself officious or offensive in the expression
of his Southern sympathies. He was not a secessionist _per se_, but a
Southern man, deeply impressed with the conviction that the Northern
fanatics intended to break up the Government and destroy the foundations
of republican liberty. He honestly believed that the success of the
South in the struggle would vindicate the wisdom of the fathers of the
Republic, and establish firmly and forever the vital principles of civil
and religious liberty for which “Washington fought and freemen died.”
The fact that he entertained such sentiments, however prudent and
cautious in their utterance, “was sufficient to call forth the vengeful
feelings and murderous purposes of the militia of this State.”
A detailed account of his murder has been furnished by one acquainted
with all the facts, in the following language:
“The murder was committed on the evening of Sept. 1, 1863—that dark and
bloody year. A cheerful fire had been made in his sitting room, and he
was peacefully enjoying an evening with his family, all unconscious of
the approach of danger—not dreaming that his peace would so soon be
disturbed, or that his long life was so near its end. While thus in
domestic tranquillity, and unconscious of danger, a squad of militia
scouts rode up to the door, dismounted and walked in without any
ceremony. They addressed the old man in a very rough manner, ordering
him out of his house, as they wished to speak with him. Father Wollard
told them that they could talk to him where he was; that he was not
going to leave his house.
“The intention of the militia was evidently to get him out of his house,
feign that he made an effort to escape, and shoot him. If this was their
intention they were defeated by the fact that Father Wollard supposed
that if he left the house, one or two men would guard him and his family
while the rest of them would pillage and then burn the house.
“When they found that they could not get him out of the house, one of
the militia raised his pistol and shot him, the ball taking effect in
the face and inflicting a mortal wound. He was removed from the house
into the yard and laid on a bed prepared for him, his head resting on
the bosom of his heart-broken companion, while his son, a youth of
sixteen, was wiping the blood from his face, and keeping it from his
mouth, as it flowed so freely from the wound that he feared it would
strangle his father. In the meantime the militia had set the house on
fire and committed everything they had to the flames.
“Having finished their work of destruction, one of them came to where
the dying old man was lying, and, finding that he was not yet dead, shot
him again, the ball taking effect in his forehead. He instantly expired.
“The only charge they made against him was that he fed ‘bushwhackers,’
which was not true. He had fed Southern and Federal soldiers alike when
they came to his house, and some of these very men had been recently fed
at his table who now turned upon him and brutally and barbarously
murdered him.
“The men who committed this fatal and foul deed belonged to Capt. Morgan
Kelly’s company of militia. They were never punished, but are now living
in Dallas county undisturbed, except by an accusing conscience. Capt.
Kelly himself professes to be a minister of the gospel, of the
Christian, or Campbellite, Church, yet he seems to live in peace, with
this and many other crimes staring him in the face.”
The heart sickens at such a recital of cold-blooded murder; and the
evidence of savage, not to say inhuman, barbarity that characterized the
horrible crime is sufficient to humiliate the whole race of men and send
our much vaunted Christian civilization reeling back into the dark ages.
The shadow on the dial of Ahaz went back ten degrees—it was a wonderful
miracle—but here, in the noon of the nineteenth century, the shadow on
the dial of human progress and Christian civilization has gone down
forty degrees without a miracle, and reaches the grosser, the darker and
the baser passions of our fallen nature, which instigate and then
execute deeds of horror at which all Christendom revolts.