Seth (II) Manes Pulaski County Part I

Signature from application for Presidential Pardon for James Davis after the Civil War.

Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration

Seth Manes (often noted as Seth II) was born in 1814 to Jacob Wilson Manes and Mary Lawson Manes six miles from Rogersville on the north side of Clinch Mountain in Hawkins County, Tennessee.  Jacob was an Indian trader and fur trapper and was frequently gone from home.  He had been kidnapped at age 11 and wasn't able to return for eight years.  Although Jacob didn't have the chance for an education, he was known for his fantastic memory, especially for Bible verses.  The Manes and Lawson families were Baptists.  Seth and his brother Callaway became Baptist ministers.

Some sources state that the family moved to Indiana circa 1821.  "Jacob Wilson Manes and Mary "Polly" Lawson Manes moved to a spot near Terre Haute, Indiana.  Jacob, his wife and their six sons, Callaway, Wade, Seth, William Bryson, James and Nicholas, headed north in a covered wagon, crossing the states of Tennessee and Kentucky. When they came to the Ohio River, camp was struck for several days while a raft was built. This raft carried the family across to the Indiana side. The march northward was continued until a place was found to suit Jacob's fancy. The site was near what is now Terre Haute, Indiana. Here a log cabin was erected."  Four more children were born to this couple after coming to Indiana:  Lottie, Jane, Jacob, and Mahala.

Their son Callaway returned to Tennessee, marrying Sarah "Sallie" Evans on July 7, 1828.  According to the 1830 Census he was married and living with his wife and infant son in Hawkins County.  The young family moved on to Indiana, as did his wife's family, Archibald and Mary Manes Evans, with their other six daughters.

The Jacob Wilson Manes family was on the move again in 1832. This journey, however, was of short duration, lasting only three days or so. They stopped at a space 35 miles east of Terre Haute, in Clay Township, Owen County, Indiana. Here, according to Jacob Wilson Manes, was an ideal spot. The land was high and dry. There were almost no settlers and plenty of game. An abundance of water was supplied by Raccoon Creek and White River, which ran close by and were filled with good edible fish; plenty of timber was available for building. The location offered everything that tended to make a pioneer's life easier one. A cabin was built a little more than a quarter of a mile west of the present site of the Braysville school house on the south side of the Braysville-Freedom pile road.

In Indiana Seth was hired to a man, Sammy Howe, and lived with him continuously for years, giving most of his wages to the support of his mother and younger siblings.

By February 1835, Jacob Wilson Manes had moved to an area that would become Richwoods Township, Miller County, Missouri.  Mary Polly Lawson Manes and several of the children stayed in Indiana.  One story relates that he had left Indiana with a drove of horses and no one knew what became of him; however, four of his sons came to Missouri over the next few years.

Missouri had been granted statehood in 1821.  The Osage Indians ceded their traditional lands across Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma in the treaties of 1818 and 1825.  Jacob acted as administrator for William Evan's estate in 1835 and married William's widow, Emaline Hice Evans.  Callaway's wife, Sallie, was a niece of William and Emaline Hice Evans.  This same year Seth married Rebecca "Becky" Evans, a sister of Sallie, in Indiana.

Seth and Becky's daughter Mary Anne "Polly" Manes was born on April 12, 1837, in Indiana.  A second daughter, Ellen Elizabeth, was born in 1838.

Callaway witnessed a land sale for Jacob and Emaline Manes in Miller County in 1839.  He chose to settle in neighboring Pulaski County, Missouri. "For some time Callaway lived in a cabin in what was known as Still House Hollow on the William Gillespie farm on the Gasconade River when that entire area was wilderness. Callaway Manes, William Gillespie, and Isaac Davis, made a crop there. The cabin was an old trapper's cabin without any door or window. At the same time, he laid the foundations of two cabins on Conn's Creek, but continued to cultivate land on the Gillespie place until he had cleared out a sufficient land of his own claim. In those early years, the foundation for a cabin was sufficient to hold a claim against subsequent comers."   The ties between the Manes and Gillespie families can be traced back to Moore County, North Carolina.   The Gillespie and Davis families had come to Missouri in 1829.      

By the 1840 Census, Callaway and Sallie Manes were living in Pulaski County next to Seth and his family, and near the wives' parents, Archibald and Mary Evans with four other daughters.  Six of the seven Evans' daughters remained in Pulaski County for the rest of their lives.  Seth and Becky's son, Thomas Callaway, was born in Pulaski County in March 1840, and Callaway and Sallie's son, William Gillespie Manes, was born in October. "Seth was offered his choice of the two claims on which Callaway had laid foundations. Seth chose the one near the head of the stream and, in due time, erected a house of heavy hewn log timbers in which he lived the remainder of his life and where he reared his children and some of his grandchildren.  The claims were on the Gasconade River, about five miles southeast of where Richland exists today.

According to Seth's half-brother, Samuel Jasper Manes, who lived with the family at times:  "Seth differed from most of the Manes family, all of whom were high strung, fractious people.  Seth was high strung, feared nothing on earth, but was not fractious.  I was about his house a great deal, lived there as my own home two years as one of the family, and I never seen him yet off his balance, never heard a cross word spoken to his wife nor one of his children, yet he chastised his children and occasionally punished them, but always seemed to be in a perfect good humor.  To illustrate his way, I will relate one circumstance.  His oldest boy Callaway (Thomas Callaway) and the rest of his boys got into some mischief, but Callaway seemed to be the leader and Seth got onto it and called Callaway up, asked him about it.  Callaway tried to justify himself, but Seth said, 'tut, tut, tut.  Callaway you are too big a boy to act that way.  I will have to give you a whipping in the morning.'  This was Sunday afternoon.  He was smiling all the time and talking in a kind way.  Callaway was about fourteen years old, so we all supposed that ended it and went on our way.  Next morning, after breakfast, Seth called Callaway out and give him a genteel dressing.  When he got through, he said, 'My son, I hate to have to punish you, but you must not do such things - and if I have to punish you again I will make it a little worse.'  And all that time was seemingly in a perfect good humor.  That was his style with his family, his neighbors, and his stock; never seemed to fret over anything.  He was honest to a cent and his work was considered good, was a good neighbor and the best man in case of sickness or distress I ever saw.  When a neighbor got sick or had bad luck he was the first man to be on the group or help and often sacrificed his own interests to help others."

In February 1844, Jacob Manes left Miller County to join his sons Callaway and Seth in Pulaski County.  Jacob Wilson Manes cleared four acres of land that spring for William Gillespie in the lower field of the Jesse Gillespie Place.  Jacob and his family moved on to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where his step-daughter, Minerva Jane Evans, married Reuben Lambert in 1850.  In January 1853 Reuben Lambert and Jacob Wilson Manes got into a fight near Mountain Grove, Missouri, and Seth's father was killed.  It's plausible that the two men were trapping and trading furs, as the fur-trading town of Astoria existed near Mountain Grove at that time.

Seth served as Justice of the Peace for 18 years.  Additional children were born as follows:  1841 Francis Marion Manes, 1843 Jacob Newton Manes, 1845 Sarah Malinda,  1846 Simeon Henderson, 1848 John Aaron, 1849 Mahala Catherine, 1851 Daniel Lorenzo, 1852 Matilda Emmaline, 

In 1848 their brother Wade joined them in Pulaski County.  He stayed until 1855, moving on to Flat River where he died in 1864.  His family moved on to Texas.

In August, 1851, Seth's mother, Mary Polly Lawson Manes, died in Owen County, Indiana.  Although she used the name Manes, her children who stayed in Indiana used the name Maners.

In 1858 Seth and Becky's first daughter Mary Anne Polly Manes married George W. Vaught on May 11.  George was born in Alabama in 1833.  (1880 Census of Pulaski County) He homesteaded 160 acres near Dublin.  He walked to North Missouri to record his deed.  George said the 160 acres cost ten cents an acre.  His home was a big log house with a lean-to and by that was another cabin which was used as a kitchen.  Later he built a two-story, all the logs the same size, hewed and notched at the corners.  The fireplace was on the east end.  Big porches were on the north and south sides.  This home was built near the spring.  A log smokehouse was built and the cooking was done here in the summer.

In 1860 their oldest son Thomas Callaway married Nancy York and their daughter Ellen Elizabeth married William Elbert York.

Seth McCully Manes (III) was born in 1861.

The Manes Family of Preachers and Teachers

Seth (II) Manes Pulaski County Part 2

The year 1861 changed Missouri and changed the Manes family.  Citizens of Missouri held a unique position during the Civil War.  "Three weeks after Abraham Lincoln's inauguration, Missouri became the only state to hold a secession convention and then vote to remain in the Union. Still, the convention soundly rejected coercion along with secession. The delegates called for federal troops to be removed from southern forts, and they expressed support for slavery where it already existed.  The convention made it clear Missouri would not accept harsh federal measures against any state. Missouri assumed the position of an armed neutral, committed to the Union, but ready to defend itself against federal abuses."

On April 15, President Lincoln requested that Missouri supply just over 3,000 men for Union forces.  Missouri's Governor Jackson, famously replied, "Sir—Your requisition is illegal, unconstitutional and revolutionary; in its object inhuman & diabolical. Not one man will Missouri furnish to carry on any such unholy crusade against her Southern sisters.”

In May federal forces under General Lyon took over the State Militia training camp near St. Louis.  Shortly after Missouri had gained statehood in 1821, the Legislature had enacted a law for organizing a militia.  All men over 18 and under 45 were enrolled as state soldiers to prepare for Indian wars or other emergencies.  On the first Saturday of April each year, the citizens of each township came together to be organized into companies and drilled for soldiers.  This was called Muster Day.  Then in May the companies came together and were organized into battalions, drilled and paraded for several days.  Muster Day became when debts were paid, loans made, and trading done.

As General Lyon marched his prisoners away from the State Militia training camp in St. Louis, a riot erupted during which Union soldiers fired upon civilians, killing more than two dozen of them, including women and children.  The event polarized the state.  Hundreds crowded the streets of the capital, Jefferson City, to enlist in the Missouri State Guard and protest.

Federal supporters began to organize Missouri Home Guard units in many counties, including Miller, Camden, and Laclede.  The men were mounted and armed at their own expense. They were never mustered into the U.S. Army, but were paid by the U.S. government.  The beginning of the war disrupted trade in the area and the local economy collapsed.   "Men who had been employed on the river loading and unloading cargos, men who hauled wagon loads over old salt roads to and from markets - all lolled on the streets or visited dram shops. Idle men sat on benches and whittled bass-wood."

On June 11 a peace conference in St. Louis between General Lyon and Missouri's elected governor, Claiborne Jackson, broke down.  General Lyon declared war on Missouri's elected government.  Governor Jackson traveled back to Jefferson City, burning bridges over the Osage and Gasconade Rivers to slow the federal troops.

The next day Governor Jackson issued a proclamation pleading for men to take up arms against the federal troops:

"Your first allegiance is due to your own State, and you are under no obligation whatever to obey the unconstitutional edicts of the military despotism which has introduced itself at Washington, nor submit to the infamous and degrading sway of its minions in this State.  No brave hearted Missourian will obey the one and submit to the other.  Rise, then, and drive out ignominiously the invaders who have dared to desecrate the soil which your labors have made fruitful and which is consecrated by your home."

General Lyon commandeered four steamboats and captured Jefferson City on June 15.  He left three companies of soldiers commanded by Henry Boernstein in  Jefferson City "to oversee steamer traffic on the river, keep peace and order, in the capital itself."  Boernstein made the Capitol building his headquarters, establishing a temporary bivouac for men of the companies in the great hall of the House of Representatives and the officers were quartered in the hall of the Senate.  Boernstein himself took over the chambers of the Secretary of State.  Fearing a rebellion by capital city residents, he decided to rule by fear, "bloodless terror" as he phrased it.  He quickly arrested five local citizens denounced as chief conspirators of the rebels. and requisitioned the prisoners of the large penitentiary seven blocks away and had them build high earthworks around the elevated capital.  At one point Boernstein's soldiers brought seven prisoners who were all preachers and who had been accused of disloyalty.  His men wanted to hang the seven preachers in the Capitol rotunda and began extending ropes for that purpose but Boernstein put a stop to it.  This event was a harbinger of what was to come for Methodist and Baptist preachers in Missouri during the Civil War.

Governor Jackson escaped upriver to Boonville where General Sterling Price struggled to organize Missouri State Guard forces.  Price fell ill and Jackson took command.  To buy time for the Missouri State Guard to organize elsewhere he ordered General Marmaduke to battle Lyon when approached, even though the men were outnumbered four to one.  

President Lincoln, the War Department, and local commanders in Missouri began to determine when, where, and how martial law would be applied.  Successive commanders applied increasingly harsh penalties for disloyalty.  They appointed a Unionist provisional government that enacted a requirement that voters and officeholders be made to take an oath of loyalty to this provisional government and to the federal government before being allowed to vote or hold office.  The oath effectively created an atmosphere of suspicion that encouraged neighbors to spy on and accuse each other of disloyalty, especially those with money.  As one Missourian of moderate means later sneered, “the cry of ‘disloyal’ could be very easily raised against any man who happened to have a superabundance of property.” Civilian assessments were charged against citizens in the forms of levies, taxes, and bonds.  Those who refused such levies had their property confiscated.  In one military district alone, provost marshals required 612 persons to post bond in 1862, which ranged from one thousand to ten thousand dollars each. The provost in Palmyra, Missouri, reported taking in as much as $1 million in the same year."

"Callaway and his brother Seth had plenty of good land, large herds of cattle, and were considered prosperous for that day.  Callaway was a Baptist minister while Seth was a judge and held some political offices. Both men had large families and the children of both families were as brothers and sisters to each other."  In the election of 1860 Abraham Lincoln received only seven votes in Pulaski County.  When the election came to a vote on whether or not the state was to secede from the Union, Callaway and Seth voted to stay in the Union.  These sentiments were mirrored by the majority of citizens in Pulaski County. "Though their sympathies were with the South, they still felt that the Union should be preserved at any cost. They could not forget that their grandfathers had fought for the Stars and Stripes in the Revolution and therefore were opposed to secession.

By the end of June, General Price had established a camp on Cowskin Prairie in the extreme southwestern corner of Missouri, assembling some 1700 men.  

"These people were not all rebels nor disunionists, but believed that they were serving the lawfully constituted authorities of the State, in repelling invasion and in protecting their homes."  (p. 83 Wilson's Creek Piston and Hatcher)

Three sons of Seth Manes joined the Missouri State Guard:  Thomas Callaway, Francis Marion, and Jacob Newton.  

Less than a month after joining up, Seth and Becky's oldest son, Thomas Callaway Manes, contracted measles, died, and was buried in an unrecorded grave near Joplin, Missouri.  His widow, Nancy York Manes, and her two young daughters came to live with Seth and Becky.

The Battle of Wilson's Creek near Springfield, Missouri on August 10, 1861, was the bloodiest battle in the West, with about 2,500 casualties. Two of Seth's sons were with the Missouri State Guard at Wilson's Creek.  Jacob Newton Manes was born August 11, 1843; he celebrated his 18th birthday at Wilson's Creek.  After the battle, Francis Marion Manes was in a Missouri State Guard hospital in Springfield with remittent fever.

When word reached Pulaski County, "Callaway and Seth set off for Springfield. While the Manes brothers were in Springfield, the Union Army, commanded by General Franz Siegel, retreated from Springfield to Rolla, which was the end of the rail line at that time. The Union Army retreated right by the newly constructed Callaway Manes' home, (in what is Richland, Missouri, today) and camped overnight on what was afterwards called the "Old Union Road." That night the soldiers burned all the rails in the fence on one side of the farm for firewood. A flock of sheep and all of the hogs and chickens were butchered for the army. General Siegel paid for the animals with script, but the Manes family was never able to collect any money for their stock."  The beaten Federal army encumbered by a train of Government wagons and refugees was estimated at seven miles long.

Francis Marion Manes was furloughed on September 12, 1861.  Returning home brought little peace. A month later a skirmish was fought in nearby Camden County between Union forces and the Missouri State Guard. The Union soldiers prevailed in the Battle of Monday's Hollow (or Wet Glaize).  An undetermined number of Missouri State Guard soldiers from Camden, Miller, and surrounding counties were killed.  Many more were taken prisoner.

The commanders of the Missouri State Guard merged with Confederate troops in Arkansas. The men were forced to choose between leaving Missouri to join the Confederate Army or returning to their homes.  Jacob Newton Manes was furloughed from the Missouri State Guard at 19.

By 1862 the Union forces needed more troops. On July 22 General Schofield issued General Order 19 requiring every able-bodied man in Missouri to report to the nearest military post to become a member of the Enrolled Missouri Militia (EMM). "Over 18 and under 46 had to enroll in six days from the date of the order."  

These men were on-call as needed in their local counties.  The purpose of the EMM was to provide protection in local counties. "These units were untrained and lacked even the lax discipline of the Missouri State Militia, a full-time federal force.  A distressing number of men took advantage of their newfound military authority to harass, or even rob or kill, neighbors against whom they bore grudges or whom they suspected or knew to be Southern sympathizers."

The Lt. Colonel of the local 47th Regiment EMM organized in Camden County was Thomas O'Halloran, an Irish immigrant who worked as a meat cutter in St. Louis, then came to Camden County to work for Joseph McClurg. The Manes folk "always hated old man O'Halloran with a hatred that was akin to poison, and he was always afraid of the Manes men."

General Order 24, issued in August, required all disloyal men and those who had sympathized with the rebellion to report to the nearest military post or enrolling station, be enrolled, surrender their arms and return to their homes where they would be permitted to remain as long as they attended to their ordinary business and in no way gave aid or comfort to the enemy.

Disarmed citizens quickly reported concerns.  Residents of Camden County met to form the Wet Glaize Union Patrol Guards because "stealing, robbing, and other crimes and misdemeanors are enacted in our midst with impunity."  A detailed set of rules and regulations for the new organization was sent to General Brown.  The letter requested that General Brown "order the Colonel at Linn Creek to give us our shotguns and rifles again."

Seth's son, Francis Marion Manes, paid $300 in Commutation Tax in 1862, exempting him from service in the 47th EMM. "Each person liable to perform military service shall be exempt from service during each year on the annual payment of a commutation tax equal to ten (soon modified to thirty) dollars each, and one percent of the assessed value of his property."  He was listed as "rebel" on the Muster Roll.  The following year he was listed exempt as a teamster employed by the government.

Multiple encounters heightened the tension between the Manes family and the area's Union forces.  One encounter was retold by Seth's great-nephew:   "During the Civil War Grandfather Callaway and Great Uncle Seth and Uncle Ben Clark went to Linn Creek at about wheat harvest time. On the way they passed near to the place of Major Thomas O'Halloran, where the Chitwood gang hung out. They were intercepted by some of the soldiers, bushwhackers, or militia, or whatever they were, and ordered to get out of the wagon and cut O'Halloran's wheat."

"Grandfather said, 'Gentlemen, I am as ready to die as I ever expect to be. I propose that, when I do die, it shall be as a free man and not as a slave. I will cut no wheat and I will resist to the limit of my power any effort to force me to do anything against my will.' At this, he and Uncle Seth seized their guns which were in the wagon and, standing back to back in the wagon, Uncle Seth said, 'Now men, we don't want to die, but we will not cut your wheat while we are alive and we can't cut it when we are dead, so you can make nothing by killing us. You can kill us, but we will get some of you while you are at it, so do your worst.' "

"Uncle Ben got out of the wagon,  got down on his knees and begged the Manes brothers to go with him to the wheat field, but they refused and continued to defy the crowd against them until they finally agreed that they might go. They refused to go without Clark and ordered him to get in the wagon. He drove off, while Grandfather and Uncle Seth faced the rear with their weapons in their hands."

Baptist and Methodist preachers were systematically being warned out of the pulpit at this time. The majority of Missouri churches were either Methodist Episcopal South or Southern Baptist.  Seth's brother, Callaway Manes, was ordered to stop preaching. After preaching next to his last sermon in Waynesville, a bunch of switches was laid at the door with a note saying that if he preached there again, they would kill him.  The bundle of switches, an omen of a slicking, was a last dire warning used during this era. If the warning went unheeded,  the subject was drug out in the middle of the night and beaten with the switches until the entire bundle was exhausted.  The first slicking took place in Camden County in 1832.  The popularity of slickings spread from punishments administered to cheaters to become a method of intimidation.  

The next week the men of Pulaski County organized.  According to Seth's half-brother, Samuel Jasper Manes, who was 24 and serving in the Union Army, the men were responding to the actions of the Union forces in the area.  "Finally, the people, to escape the raids and persecutions of the Chitwoods and their associates, called a meeting at Waynesville on Sunday, July 31, 1864, to organize a company of the 48th Missouri Volunteer Infantry.  Callaway was elected First Lieutenant over some friend of the Chitwoods. This was the last straw."

Two descriptions of the murder of Seth's brother, Callaway, follow:  On August 7th "some men rode up in the lane about forty yards from the house, stopped there, and five men came through the gate on to the house. One man knocked at the East door of the house. Pa was already in bed. He had taken some cattle to market at Waynesville, then filled his appointment to preach there. When he got home he took the gold he got from the cattle and buried it in a stone jar. When he heard the men, Pa got up and opened the door. Pa said, 'Come in, gentlemen.' One man asked, "Is this Callaway Manes?" When Pa said, 'I am,' the man pulled his pistol and shot him in the chest. Pa fell back against the stairs and Polly screamed. Pa whispered, 'Hush, hush, hush.' The same party that did the shooting called for a light and Polly got the candle. He made her hold a light so he could shoot Pa through the ear."

"So, on the night of the following day, an unknown number of Chitwood’s Company G – some say 12, and some say 20 or more – rode to the Manes home and aroused him from his bed. As he approached the door he said, “Come in, gentlemen. To which the reply was a question, “Are you Callaway Manes?” He answered, “I am.” A shot followed. Stepping back to the bed, the stricken man let himself gently to the floor. Hush Hush Hush A light was made and one of his daughters was compelled to hold it over her father while the assassin shot him again through the head, although he was already dead. "

The family members interred Callaway Hodges Manes in the Mays-Gillespie Cemetery.

Military service cards substantiate that many men enlisted in Company A of the 48th Regiment on July 31, 1864, at Waynesville, and were mustered into service on August 3. The men named in service records as officers for Company A were noted as enlisted at Rolla a week after the murder.   The service card for Captain William Wilson was altered.  The First Lieutenant was Daniel E. Davis, a neighbor of Callaway's, and the grandson of William Gillespie, whom Callaway had worked with when he first came to Pulaski County.

Two weeks after the murder, on August 21, Becky Manes died from dysentery and was interred in Mays-Gillespie Cemetery.

A second company of the 48th enlisted at Waynesville on August 27, including Seth's son, Francis Marion Manes. On September 5 he was promoted to Corporal at Rolla.  On September 16, Jacob Newton Manes age 21 enlisted in the 48th Regiment Company C at Rolla, along with his brother-in-law George Vaught.

On October 24 Seth Manes married his daughter-in-law Nancy York.  The marriage was performed by W. S. York, Justice of the Peace, in Phelps County.  Francis Marion Manes arranged for military permission so that Seth and Nancy could take the younger children to Illinois.  They left in November.

In 1865, the 48th Regiment was disbanded and discharged on June 30.  In September Alice Jane Manes was born to Seth and Nancy in Illinois.

By 1867 they had returned to Pulaski County where six more children were born: 1867 James F., 1869 Benjamin Albert, 1871 Harriet J., 1873 George Washington, 1875 Samuel J., 1879 Jessie Gillespie

Seth McCully Manes (II) died on June 15, 1896, and was interred with his first wife Rebecca and his brother Callaway at Mays-Gillespie Cemetery.

Nancy York Manes died on June 21, 1923, and was interred at Manes Cemetery.

Nancy York Manes holding her grandson Drew

Marked for Murder: Union forces and Missouri preachers

Baptist and Methodist preachers were systematically warned out of the pulpit by Union forces during the Civil War.  Those who refused to heed the warning were murdered.  The majority of Missouri churches were either Methodist Episcopal South or Southern Baptist, both organized in 1845.  On December 24, 1862, General Order 35 authorized provost marshals and commanders to arrest "notoriously bad and dangerous men," even without proof of wrongdoing, and to require them to post a bond for good behavior or to imprison or banish them.  Federal military authorities in Missouri arrested, fined, imprisoned, or banished over sixty clergymen on general charges of disloyalty to the United States.  

The state legislature required ministers to take loyalty oaths to be able to conduct lawful marriages. A  St. Louis minister who baptized a baby named Sterling Price Robbins found himself embroiled in a conflict that eventually reached all the way to President Lincoln.  After months of conflict the minister chose the path of many other Missourians - he left the state.

In 2012 the Methodist Church worked to place markers at unmarked graves of Missouri preachers killed during the Civil War.  "Reverend Green Woods was the Presiding Elder for the Salem area and had been warned not to preach because he belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In spite of the warning, he preached at a rural Methodist church in Dent County. The next day soldiers came to his farm where he was out in a field planting corn. The soldiers took him away. His body was found that evening with his tongue cut out and his hand cut off."(Salem, Missouri News Online May 15, 2012)  

In a report to Headquarters from the 13th Cavalry MSM stationed at nearby Rolla, Major Tompkins wrote, "I arrested a minister and congregation at the place where the Reverend Wood, who was shot by Kansas Fifth, was to have preached, and preached first to the minister and then to the congregation. A more attentive audience never listened to man. I told them that they had to prove by acts that they loved our Government and we would protect them and their property. I drew more tears than the minister. Left my men (eighty) at Crows Station to bring in all who have made threats about Reverend Woods death."

In 1870, William Leftwich published two volumes titled Martyrdom in Missouri detailing Union actions against Methodist preachers.  Both volumes are available free online at Google Books.

Actions against Baptist preachers by Union forces brought similar results.  Many left their churches and exited the state.  A detailed account of the murder of popular pioneer preacher Callaway Manes is available online at http://southcentralmolhistory.blogspot.com/2015/05/who-shot-callaway-manes-august-7-1864.html
Callaway Hodges Manes was killed at his home in Pulaski County, Missouri, on Sunday evening, August 7, 1864, at the age of fifty-five. One account relates this story: "When he heard the men, Pa got up and opened the door. Pa said, 'Come in, gentlemen.' One man asked, 'Is this Callaway Manes?' When Pa said, 'I am,' the man pulled his pistol and shot him in the chest. Pa fell back against the stairs and Polly screamed. Pa whispered, 'Hush, hush, hush.' The same party that did the shooting called for a light and Polly got the candle. He made her hold a light so he could shoot Pa through the ear."
The targeting of preachers by Union forces was not specific to Missouri.  As detailed in the online account of the Manes murder, the following day his relative was shot by a Union sniper while holding services in North Carolina.

Morgan County Slaves USCT

This blog is a work in progress.  The Colored Troops military information is present, but much of their slave history is yet to be added.  The Morgan County Museum received the old Probate Records in November 2015 and is working to organize the information.

Green and Jackson Fisher enlisted at Tipton on February 19, 1864, both listed as farmers. Both listed slaveholder as John B. Fisher.  Both stated they were born in Cooper County; Green was 24 and Jackson was 26.  They were mustered in to Company E of the 67th on February 23, 1864, at Benton Barracks.

Green was killed in action at Mt. Pleasant Landing, Louisiana, on May 15, 1864.

On April 27 Jackson was sick in the hospital and died of bronchitis at New Orleans Corps d' Afrique Hospital on May 23, 1864.

Note: No widows pension application found for either.  Hannah Fisher was listed on the 1870 Morgan County Census of Black Families.  She died in 1908 and her obituary appeared in the Tipton Times on January 23.  John B. Fisher died in August 30, 1864, so his probate record might be helpful.  Both Hannah and John Fisher were buried at Liberty Baptist Church in Moniteau County.

Samuel Beard enlisted at Rolla on March 23, 1864, as a laborer.  Slaveholder listed as Alexander Beard.  Samuel was 22, born in Warren County, Kentucky.
Mustered in to Company B/K of the 68th at Benton Barracks on April 23, 1864.  On April 26 he was admitted to the hospital with bronchitis and remained in the hospital throughout his service. He died of disease in the small pox hospital in St. Louis on February 9, 1865.

Fount Chism enlisted at Tipton on February 21, 1864, as a farmer.  He was 18 born in Morgan County.  Slaveholder listed as Widow Chism.  Mustered in to Company E of the 67th on Feb. 23, 1864 at Benton Barracks.  Died of pneumonia in post hospital there on March 14, 1864.

Robert Chism enlisted at Tipton on February 25, 1864, as a farmer.  He was 21 born in Cooper County.  Slaveholder listed as Michael Chism.  Mustered in to Company B of the 68th on March 8, 1864, at Benton Barracks.  He was discharged June 26, 1865, at New Orleans, LA by reason of disability, identified as chronic rheumatism.

Note:  There are several Chism family members listed on 1870 Census of Black Families in Morgan County.  Jacob Chism (Michael's father) died January 5, 1851, in Versailles, so his probate record would be helpful.  No pension application for Robert was found.

Berry Harrison enlisted at Sedalia on December 30, 1863, as a farmer.  He was 26, born in Virginia, and listed as slaveholder A. H. Harrison.  He was mustered in to Company G of the 65th on January 9, 1864.  He died of disease at Benton Barracks on January 31, 1864.

On December 21, 1866, an application for compensation from slaveholder A. H. Harrison was received. He stated that he inherited Berry from the estate of his father, Stith Harrison, in Willson County, Tennessee, in the 1830's.

Henry Field enlisted January 28, 1864, at Syracuse, as a farmer.  He was 33, born in Virginia, and listed his slaveholder as J. R. Moore.  He was mustered in to Company H of the 67th on February 8, 1864.  He died in the post hospital at Benton Barracks on February 26, 1864, of congestion of the brain.

Dred Huff enlisted December 7, 1863, at Tipton, as a farmer.  He was 19, born in Cooper County, and listed his slaveholder as Sandy Huff.  He was mustered in to Company H of the 62nd on December 14.  He was discharged due to disability at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on May 12, 1864.  Sandy Huff filed a claim for compensation.

Alfred, Charles, and Elijah Shanklin enlisted at Syracuse on January 23, 1864, as farmers.  Alfred was 28, Charles was 19, Elijah was 22, all born in Cooper County, slaveholder John Logan.  They were mustered in on February 8, but the enlistments were rejected.

Note:  These slaves may have belonged to Elijah Shanklin or his son Elijah Shanklin who died in 1862.  Probate records for either of these men may be helpful.

Franklin Hunter enlisted at Tipton on February 21, 1864, as a farmer.  He was 19 born in Kentucky listed slaveholder as Shores P. Hunter.  Mustered in to Company E of 67th on February 23 at Benton Barracks.  On March 12 sick in Post Hospital at Benton Barracks. Sick in Corps d' Afrique Hospital in New Orleans since April 27, 1864.  On June 10 he was transferred to the 1st Company Invalid Battalion.  Discharged at Morganza, La. for disability November 5, 1864.

The 1870 Census of black families in Morgan County includes three families with the surname Hunter.  One family is headed by Joseph Hunter, age 51, born in Kentucky.  None of the families include Franklin.

Thomas Watson enlisted February 1, 1864, at Syracuse as a blacksmith.  Age 25, born in Etell, Kentucky, slaveholder George Shackleford.  Mustered in to Company K of the 67th on Feb. 13, 1864.  Sick in quarters til Feb. 29.  Promoted to sergeant March 1, 1864.  4th Sgt. in May and June, 3rd Sgt. in July and August.  Reduced to ranks Oct 18, 1864.  Sick in hospital since Oct. 29.

Died of phthisis pulmonalis in Corps d'Afrique Hospital on November 4, 1864.

His slaveholder, George Shackleford, was shot in Syracuse, Missouri, by a group of men led by Captain Todd.  Two Morgan County citizens,  W. T. Hubbard and G. W. Brunson, stated the events of his death as proof that George Shackleford was a loyal citizen.  Those who filed claims for compensation for slaves had to sign an Oath of Allegiance, but George was deceased.

A second thing they had to prove was that they owned the slave.  The Morgan County Clerk and Recorder, William A. Mills, filed a statement to verify this.  He said a Deed of Trust dated August 27, 1862, listed Thomas and Irvin on the slave list, to be conveyed to John Shackleford.

James Tobin, Asst. Provost Marshal at Syracuse, sent a statement to verify the loyalty of the citizens filing these written statements:  On February 1, 1864, George Shackleford, John Logan, J. L. Consalus, and Charles Prenger, appeared before the Asst. Provost Marshal.  George swore his loyalty.  John, J. L. and Charles swore that George owned Thomas Watson, and that Thomas had not belonged to any disloyal person.

On January 18, 1867, John H. Shackleford of St. Louis filed for compensation for slave Thomas Watson.  John stated that Thomas was purchased in August 1856 from John Heldreth in Bourbon County, Kentucky. for eleven hundred dollars cash by George Shackleford and conveyed to him in trust by George and his wife Malvina on August  27, 1862.  John stated that George was murdered in cold blood by bushwhackers in September 1864, leaving his family penniless.  The award to be used for the exclusive benefit of his widow and children.

Irvin Miller enlisted on January 21, 1864, at Sedalia, as a farmer.  Age 23, born in Madison, Kentucky, slaveholder George Shackleford.  Mustered in to Company K of the 67th on February 13, 1864.  Sent to hospital at Memphis, Tennessee on March 16, 1864.  In March and April he was sick in t he hospital in New Orleans, La.  Listed as sick at Port Hudson, La. from June 19th to August

.  Transferred to Company D of the 92nd Colored Infantry August 15, 1865, in Baton Rouge, La..  Sick in hospital at Port Hudson since October 28, 1865.  Mustered out December 21, 1865, at New Orleans.  In the 1900 Census Irvin Miller and his wife Fannie were living in Warrensburg, Missouri, with their two sons, Frank and Charles.  Irvin was listed as age 59 born in Kentucky in September 1840.  He was buried in Sunset Cemetery in Warrensburg, Missouri.  The grave is marked with a USCT headstone for Company K of the 67th.

On February 23, 1864, George Shackleford appeared in Sedalia to swear his loyalty and these men swore that Irvin Miller was his slave:  Logan Clark, F. L. Parker, and William Brockschmict.

On January 19, 1867, John Shackleford filed for compensation.  John stated that Irvin was owned from birth by George Shackleford.  

Robert Turpin enlisted at Jefferson City on December 14, 1863, as a farmer.  Age 44 born in Cook, Tennessee, slaveholder Moses Turpin.  Mustered in      to Company B of the 65th on December 18, 1863.  March 11, 1864, sick in hospital  Died at small pox hospital in St. Louis on April 23, 1864 of Variola.

Colman Wilson

Where Was Locust Mound? (Miller County)

Genealogists will find several northeastern Miller County ancestors noted as born or died "in Locust Mound."  Locust Mound and Spring Garden are two different places that have been frequently confused in published accounts of Miller County history.  Special thanks to Art and Marilyn Jenkins and the Miller County Historical Society for helping to sort out the confusion.

William P. Dixon, born in 1812 in North Carolina, opened a storehouse in southwestern Cole County as the settlers began coming. The Osage Indians were giving up their hunting grounds in this area and leaving.  Dixon patented land in Cole County in 1835.    A few months later he patented 40 acres nearby along the Jefferson City to Tuscumbia Road in what would become Miller County. The St. Louis market was conveniently reached via the Osage River at Tuscumbia.   Dixon’s Trading Post flourished, and his cousins, through marriage, Dr. William Bolton of Jefferson City, and Dr. George W. Lansdown, soon joined him in the enterprise.  Dr. Lansdown practiced medicine in connection with the store and became one of Miller County's earliest physicians.  Dixon's land was along a section of the Jefferson City to Tuscumbia Road, known today as Jenkins Road, in northeastern Miller County.  A second road, no longer in existence, ran from this area to Pleasant Mount.

Map is courtesy of the Jenkins family

 The Dixon partnership was dissolved in 1838 as Dixon headed to Tuscumbia to serve as Miller County Clerk until 1844, and again from 1848-1856.  His father-in-law, Edmund Wilkes, was Miller County's first Representative to the State Legislature 1838-1840.  On January 11, 1838, Dixon sold his Miller County property to Madison H. Belshe for $566.  Not your average pioneer, the Belshe family came from Kentucky to Miller County with a wagon box of silver coin.   Named for a grove of locust trees, Locust Mound included the trading post/general store and the "Belshe mansion and stables" built in 1839.  Belshe also was the proprietor of a wagon and smith shop erected by his own hands.  

In 1850, gold fever reached Miller County. Nuggets of gold were reported on and under the ground in the Sierras.  Miller County men joined the rush over the plains to California. Madison H. Belshe, Boyd Miller, and William Greenup outfitted an expedition, and with others, left Locust Mound on May 2, 1850, for California going by way of Southwestern Missouri.  Three years later the members of the expedition returned in an eventful and circuitous sea voyage, with the exception of Madison H. Belshe.  He returned overland with considerable gold.

In 1855 Belshe was elected surveyor of Miller County and continued in that position for 17 years.  Madison Belshe patented 240 acres bordering Locust Mound in January 1856.  The Belshe family and the Locust Mound area continued to grow and prosper over the next five years.

An eyewitness account, as a very small child, of the selling of a number of slaves at Locust Mound in the 1860’s.  He remembered an immense crowd of people standing around a flat stump, three or four feet in height, and five or six feet in diameter.  This was the auction block, located at the edge of a great grove of locust trees, where the slaves were sold.  He remembered an elderly man, a middle-aged woman, two teen-aged girls, and a girl child of color, offered at public venue.  

Madison Belshe's oldest son, John, enlisted in Captain Josiah Goodman's Company C of the 42nd Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia.  These units were "on call" as needed and served as protection in their local counties.  Along with Captain Long's unit of the 47th EMM, Company C was involved in the Elsey Farm Fight in August 1862 near Iberia.

Madison's son, James, enlisted for the duration of the war in January 1862 at age 20 at Jefferson City in Company I, 4th Regiment Cavalry, Missouri State Militia.  These units were full-time federal forces.  He was discharged for disability in April 1863.  The surgeon stated James had dislocated his right wrist prior to entering the service.  The ulna had fractured and united with the radius, rendering his arm useless for Cavalry service.

His brother, Samuel, enlisted for the duration of the war in February 1862 at age 22 at Jefferson City in Captain Ward's Mounted Rifles, Company D, Fifth Regiment Cavalry, Missouri State Militia.   He served guard duty in Dent County, was assigned to a government train, and served at Little Piney and Rolla.  In January 1865 Samuel was sent to Stevenson's Mill on the Current River.  In March rebels burned the Union stockade there, ordering the miller to grind enough meal to feed 250 rebels due the next day.  Samuel was mustered out in April 1865.

Madison Belshe, a Radical Republican favoring abolition of slavery and supporting federal forces, filed a claim for items taken by Price's raiders in 1864.  These items included a horse, saddle, money, and a double-barreled gun.  His brother, Robert Belshe, filed a claim for the loss of four horses.  Madison Belshe requested a replacement gun as "the bushwhackers were about his place the past night."   He stated that the day after the raiders had taken his things, the Shumates and three others had come for him and he barely escaped.   He described his situation as "exposed between the Fair Play bend on one side and a rebel neighborhood on the other."  If he could get arms again he was "resolved to stay and fight it out."  He requested a double-barreled shot gun in lieu of the one that was taken, and two good revolvers that he would pay for from funds in Jefferson City.

After the Civil War Madison Belshe was appointed as the first surveyor of Miller County.  He and Eleanor Belshe sold a tract of land near the northeast corner of the section to their son Samuel Belshe and sold a tract of land near the northwest corner to their son James R. Belshe.  Madison Belshe was appointed Postmaster of Locust Mound in 1867 and served in this office until his death in 1882.

A mile or two away, in 1868, Spring Garden Seminary was formed and Spring Garden began to grow in population and commerce.  The next year Samuel and Sarah Sullens Belshe sold their tract of land to Robert Witten, his cousin.  Witten was a wagon maker and owned this land for almost 25 years. 

In July 1869, Madison Belshe wrote a letter to John Simpson in California and offered $1,400 for land in Miller County where lead had been discovered, and Simpson accepted. As Simpson's appointed local agent, Jasper N. Henley, made an agreement to sell the same land to John Clark.  Madison Belshe saddled his fastest horse, and with silver in his saddle bags, rode to California again to pay Mr. Simpson for the land.  He returned home with the deed in his pocket. In the meantime, John H. Clark was busy operating the mine under a lease agreement. The miners' nine month lease period ending on October 1, 1869, Mr. Belshe, Joseph Fox and C.D. French appeared on the premises, ordering the miners to leave or face the law for trespassing. The miners left and Belshe, French and Fox took possession of the mine.  These diggings came to be called part of the Fox Mines.
                           

Photo Courtesy of the Jenkins Family

In 1874 James Belshe sold part of his tract of land to his oldest brother John Belshe.  This photo shows John and his wife, Frances Jenkins Belshe, in front of their home in Locust Mound.

After their spouses' deaths, Madison Belshe married Cornelia Lumpkin Spalding in July 1879.    Cornelia operated the hotel/stagecoach stop.  Three years later Madison Belshe died and the Post Office location was moved to Spring Garden.  In December his widow married Washington Rosson, the local blacksmith, and continued to operate the hotel.

The location of the trading post can be seen from Jenkins Road.  It is on private property near the junction of Old Highway 54 and Jenkins Road. According to the Farris family who own the property, the kitchen of their grandparents' abandoned house was the site of the trading post.  The stump where they sold slaves was in their yard, and the blacksmith shop was down by the creek that runs through the property.

The following year, Madison's son, James, sold his tract of land to Henry A. Wright.  For more on this family, visit millercountymuseum.org.

Henry built a water-powered grist mill near Locust Mound.  I've been unable to locate a picture of Henry's mill.  Below is a picture of his father and brother's mill on the Little Saline Creek that operated in the same time frame.  "I can still see the old mill house, a 1 1/2 story rustic building standing there in the trees by the spring, and the spring sending forth a sluice of water down a trough to the big wheel that powered the machinery…"  For more on that mill, visit http://www.millercountymuseum.org/commerce/milling.html

Henry's mill might have looked similar, but operated near a creek that ran down a waterfall.  The burrs from this mill were later moved to Clyde Jenkins' yard in Tuscumbia.  

In 1895 Henry and Minerva Melton Wright bought part of Robert Witten's land, then sold that land to their son, Joseph Lee Wright, who worked with his father at the grist mill.  Joseph bought an adjoining section of land from the county, after Robert Witten was unable to repay a debt.  Ten years later a flood, known locally as the pumpkin rise, damaged several water mills in Miller County.  Henry and Joseph Wright turned to steam to power the mill.

Photo from Alan Terry Wright Collection

Over the years Henry Wright's house went to their daughter, Katie Wright Spalding and her husband Thomas Jefferson Spalding, Jr., then to Raymond Sullens. This house still stands on Jenkins road.   

Just down the road is the farm of Art and Marilyn Jenkins, purchased by John Henry Green Jenkins from John and Frances Jenkins Belshe in 1881.  

Further information on this family can be found at:
http://www.millercountymuseum.org/archives/071119.html

Joseph Wright's younger daughter was struck by lightning and died on her way home from Flint Rock Springs School in 1908 or 1909.  Her sister, Maude Wright, was just a few years older.  Maude said they had been holding hands just moments before it happened.   A short autobiography written by Maude Wright can be found at http://www.millercountymuseum.org/archives/080630.html
Tragedy struck again in 1928 when Joseph was killed while he was working on the steam engine at the mill and the boiler exploded.

Photo from Alan Terry Wright Collection

Joseph Wright's house was sold to Ed Spalding and became known as the Spalding Place to local residents.  Behind some of the sheet rock in the house are log walls. From Maude Wright's autobiography:  "The house on this land was a long log room with a large fireplace at the east end, and a 'lean to' was at the south for a kitchen.  My pap built a bedroom to the west of this room later, and made other changes."  The house still stands today, down a private lane on Tower Road.  

Some family surnames from the Locust Mound area include: Belshe, Bond, Davidson, Dooley, Henley, Hinds, Simpson, Spalding, Stephens, Sullens, Thompson, McMillian, Hale, Baker, Becker, Crisp, Norfleet, Shearer, Hill, Slaughter, Berry, Lasswell, Richardson, Robertson, Kingery, Loveall, McKinney.

Go West (on the railroad)! Hiram Leonard Marvin

H. L. Marvin was born in 1835 in Peru, New York.  He attended Union College earning a degree in Civil Engineering in 1861.  At the outset of the Civil War he joined the 85th New York Volunteers with his younger brother, William, and was appointed Sergeant Major.  After the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in Confederate states, he was discharged from his duty to go to North Carolina and recruit former slaves for the Colored Troops.  As Captain, he and his recruits formed a company of the 37th U. S. Colored Troops.

In April 1864, the Confederates took Plymouth, North Carolina, where Captain Marvin's recruiting station was located.  On the morning of the final attack, Captain Marvin and the men under his command manned the breastworks guarding the western part of the town.  The combination of the Confederate ram Albemarle, firing into the Union position from the river and an assault by Brig. Gen. Ransom's brigade on the town's eastern defenses forced the Union command to surrender.  When the Union General offered to surrender Plymouth "if the negroes and North Carolina soldiers would be treated as prisoners of war," his proposal was refused.  By 10:00 a.m. he was forced to surrender unconditionally.  Witnesses who escaped claimed that over the next day. the blacks captured in uniform were hung, shot or bludgeoned to death.  Others were returned to slavery.  Captain Marvin was captured and a rumor said he "was compelled to dig his own grave."  He was imprisoned for ten months.

The accounts of the actions of the rebels at Plymouth towards the colored troops convinced the other North Carolina regiments to succeed or fight to the death.  "Better to be killed fighting to the last man than tortured to death after surrendering."

When Captain Marvin was paroled/exchanged on February 26, 1865, he learned his younger brother, still serving with the 85th New York, had died of exposure in North Carolina.  After his ordeal Hiram was in the Officers Hospital in Annapolis suffering from poor health and mental weakness, described as cathectic.  The doctor recommended a change of climate.

Captain Marvin's letter of resignation May 18, 1865

Courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration

In 1866 Hiram married Rosalthe Harrison in Friendship, New York.  By 1867 Hiram had left for Kansas City to work as an engineer on post-war construction projects.  His daughter Daisy was born in Missouri in 1869.

In 1862 the Pacific Railroad Act provided for construction of railway from the Missouri River to the Pacific.  The Missouri Pacific Railroad had reached Kansas City in 1865.  Two years later, construction began on the first rail bridge over the Missouri River, the Hannibal Bridge in downtown Kansas City, completed in 1869.

In 1872 and 1873 H. L. Marvin worked as Chief Engineer for Kansas City.  He also worked for the railroad, including the Council Bluffs and Union Pacific, and for Union Pacific's southern branch, the Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad. During his tenure with the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, Hiram was the chief engineer on the Atchison Bridge over the Missouri River, completed in 1875.

By 1874 his older brother James and family had joined Hiram's family in Lawrence, Kansas.  James had accepted the position of  Chancellor of the University of Kansas.  At the time there were 200 students; that number tripled by the end of his tenure.

Reverend Dr. James Marvin

James' son, Frank O. Marvin, became a Professor of Civil Engineering, and a driving force in the development of an engineering department at KU.

In 1884 H. L. Marvin submitted to Kansas Southern his detailed study of several potential routes through Indian Territory to North Texas for a railroad route "upon the basis of one per cent maximum grade and without excessive work or cost." With no crystal ball to foresee the impact of the oil industry, he wrote, "Tulsa is of little importance.  The location is not suitable for a large town." Marvin favored the line from Arkansas City south to Gainesville through Unassigned Lands which appeared to be the first tract that would be opened to white settlement.

The base lines for three potential railroad routes.

Marvin's young nephew, Frank O. Marvin, had the post of assistant on superstructure on tracklaying and bridge building.  He would recount the hardships and perils of his early years building railroad through Indian Territory, including heat, cholera, malaria, and mosquitoes.  The men "cussed the Indians, the flies, the sun, the red-hot iron rail..."  Frank went to the General Manager with tears in his eyes asking that the project be postponed for a month when conditions might improve, but time was of the essence.

H. L. Marvin surveyed and supervised the building of the railroad across what is now Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas.  At the time of his death he was working for the St. Louis, Kansas City, and Colorado Railroad.  He died of pneumonia in Eldon, Missouri, in October 1901.  He was the last surviving sibling in his family, his brother James having died in July.  H. L. Marvin was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Kansas City next to his son, Arthur, who had died at the age of seven months in 1880.