Monday, September 7, 2009
Joseph G. Rosa
Joseph G. Rosa, the author of numerous works on "Wild Bill" Hickok, (see below), is looking for information on John "Jack" Harvey. He would like to know if anyone has done any research on him and his association with the Red Legs and Buckskin Scouts, and if anyone has any information on Jack Harvey's Plains service as a scout and courier during the Hancock War of 1867? "Despite several attempts, the National Archives have been unable to trace him, which is very surprising considering the amount of space devoted to him in the Kansas press. His relationship with Hickok as his scouting "mate" and the claim that he was Hancock's personal scout and the recipient of a pair of pistols from the General, would surely ensure that he would appear on the books of the Post Quartermasters of Forts Riley and Harker?" Joe's e-mail is j.g.rosa@talk21.com
Friday, September 4, 2009
Harry Truman, "A Noted Criminal" and Kansas Red Leg
In January 1872, a St. Louis newspaper reported the strange case of Harry Truman:
"Alex. Manning representing himself to be a deputy sheriff of Carroll parish, Louisiana, and another man giving the name of Laddy, arrived here yesterday from Lake Providence, La., having in charge Harry Truman, whom they allege is a burglar and murderer, and was an associate of Quantrell in the Lawrence, Kansas massacre during the war, and for whom they state the Governor of Missouri offered $5,000 reward. They left their prisoner with Chief McDonough during the day, saying they expected the sheriff of an interior county to come and take him. Not having any authenticated papers, Chief McDonough suspected something wrong, and visited the prisoner in the calaboose and found him barbarously ironed. He ordered the removal of his shackles and heard his story, from which he (McDonough) believed the man had been kidnapped and refused to deliver him to his captors until they produced properly authenticated papers. To-day Chester Harding applied for a writ of habeas corpus, and Truman was brought before Judge Ewing and discharged, his captors failing to appear to show cause why he was arrested. The man, whose real name is J.W. Thurman, states that he was drugged in Lake Providence some ten days ago, and when he came to his senses he found himself on board a steamer, loaded down with irons, on the way to Missouri. It appears from the man's own statement and from that of others who knew him, that he was a Union scout and spy during the war, and that he rendered valuable service to the Federal cause. He served under Gen. Harding, who was his counsel to-day; also under Gen. Rosecrans and others in the department. It is further stated by those cognizant of the facts that in 1864, he was tried by a court at St. Joseph, convicted of seven different murders, and sentenced to be hanged, but the sentence was commuted to imprisonment in the Alton (Illinois) Penitentiary, from which he was pardoned after nine months' imprisonment. He was one of the original Kansas 'Red Legs,' and is said to have been one of Quantrell's gang. While acting as a Federal spy, he was much in the rebel camps, fought, was wounded in their ranks, was captured by Union soldiers on one occasion, tried as a spy, sentenced to be hanged, but pardoned by the President through the intercession of Gen. Harding, to whom he had always been true, and afterward he was sent to the Missouri penitentiary for passing counterfeit money. After serving two years he was pardoned by the Governor. Since then he has been living in Louisiana and Mississippi, working for Gov. Alcorn in the latter state. Altogether, by his own story and the statement of others, he is, or has been, a most desperate villain, and but for the illegal manner in which he was brought here, would have been held. He attributes his arrest to Quantrell's men living in Louisiana, who, he says, were afraid he would expose them, and took this way of getting rid of him."
For the most part this story is true. Truman was a very bad character and I will have more on him in later blog posts.
"Alex. Manning representing himself to be a deputy sheriff of Carroll parish, Louisiana, and another man giving the name of Laddy, arrived here yesterday from Lake Providence, La., having in charge Harry Truman, whom they allege is a burglar and murderer, and was an associate of Quantrell in the Lawrence, Kansas massacre during the war, and for whom they state the Governor of Missouri offered $5,000 reward. They left their prisoner with Chief McDonough during the day, saying they expected the sheriff of an interior county to come and take him. Not having any authenticated papers, Chief McDonough suspected something wrong, and visited the prisoner in the calaboose and found him barbarously ironed. He ordered the removal of his shackles and heard his story, from which he (McDonough) believed the man had been kidnapped and refused to deliver him to his captors until they produced properly authenticated papers. To-day Chester Harding applied for a writ of habeas corpus, and Truman was brought before Judge Ewing and discharged, his captors failing to appear to show cause why he was arrested. The man, whose real name is J.W. Thurman, states that he was drugged in Lake Providence some ten days ago, and when he came to his senses he found himself on board a steamer, loaded down with irons, on the way to Missouri. It appears from the man's own statement and from that of others who knew him, that he was a Union scout and spy during the war, and that he rendered valuable service to the Federal cause. He served under Gen. Harding, who was his counsel to-day; also under Gen. Rosecrans and others in the department. It is further stated by those cognizant of the facts that in 1864, he was tried by a court at St. Joseph, convicted of seven different murders, and sentenced to be hanged, but the sentence was commuted to imprisonment in the Alton (Illinois) Penitentiary, from which he was pardoned after nine months' imprisonment. He was one of the original Kansas 'Red Legs,' and is said to have been one of Quantrell's gang. While acting as a Federal spy, he was much in the rebel camps, fought, was wounded in their ranks, was captured by Union soldiers on one occasion, tried as a spy, sentenced to be hanged, but pardoned by the President through the intercession of Gen. Harding, to whom he had always been true, and afterward he was sent to the Missouri penitentiary for passing counterfeit money. After serving two years he was pardoned by the Governor. Since then he has been living in Louisiana and Mississippi, working for Gov. Alcorn in the latter state. Altogether, by his own story and the statement of others, he is, or has been, a most desperate villain, and but for the illegal manner in which he was brought here, would have been held. He attributes his arrest to Quantrell's men living in Louisiana, who, he says, were afraid he would expose them, and took this way of getting rid of him."
For the most part this story is true. Truman was a very bad character and I will have more on him in later blog posts.
"I believe the Red Legs will kill any man in this country for a good horse"
In April 1863, the following letter to the editor appeared in the Kansas City, Missouri, Western Journal of Commerce:
"There are several articles going the rounds, in all the newspapers, concerning Major Ransom and the Red Legs having cleaned Jackson County of bushwhackers, which are greatly exaggerated, and in some particulars wholly incorrect.
One statement, from the Leavenworth Conservative, says that forty rebels were killed; of which number Capt. Hoyt's Red Legs killed thirty-two. The Red Legs only numbered, according to the Conservative, thirty men, and yet they killed thirty-two rebels. It is not very reasonable for the credulous people of this age to believe that thirty men killed thirty-two, and not lose a single man?
The same paper states that 'over twenty rebel houses were burned.' I know of a certainty that one Union man's house was burned, he having been a refugee from home over fifteen months. I know[,] moreover[,] that the Red Legs did steal indiscriminately from rebels and Union men. I am inclined to think that when ever any man did not protest that he was unconditional Union, they shot him, and reported his property captured from the enemy. Some of these Red Legs, who it is alleged, never steal from a Union man, stole two horses from soldiers of the 5th Cavalry at Kansas City, and when the soldiers followed them to Leavenworth to recover their property, the thieves tried to bully them out of it, by saying that 'men had been killed for doing what they were then attempting.' Penick's outlaw, not fully appreciating the friendliness of the remark, drew his revolver, and was bout to let daylight into the beknighted mind of the Knight of the Red Legs, [Hoyt?] when he hastily retreated to a place of security.
The rebels killed were, so far as I have ascertained, persons who were not in arms, but citizens who sympathized with the south. I believe the Red Legs will kill any man in this country for a good horse; and they have glorified themselves considerably over finishing some unarmed sympathizers. They certainly deserved killing, but I would rather be excused from acting the part of executioner in such a case.
Everybody knows that the Red Legs will steal, and it is equally certain that they will lie. But this last one of their having killed thirty-two is a huge story, almost to large for any one to believe.
The Fifth Regiment has hunted the Bushwhackers with a zeal that has rarely, if ever, been equaled. They have adopted all expedients - scouted day and scouted night; lay in the brush and watched, tracked the bushwhackers to their camps, and even found men to betray them - but they never could take thirty men and do such immense execution as the Red Legs report they have done. And I believe that there are as good, brave and loyal men in the Fifth Cavalry as ever used a gun.
The fact is, they have carried on an immense stealing operation, and have endeavored to conceal it by a huge story that would hush the indignation of Union men. We will hear no more, however, of the Red Legs co-operating with the United States soldiers, as [Major] Gen. [James G.] Blunt has taken the matter in hand."
[Signed] Fifth Cavalry
"There are several articles going the rounds, in all the newspapers, concerning Major Ransom and the Red Legs having cleaned Jackson County of bushwhackers, which are greatly exaggerated, and in some particulars wholly incorrect.
One statement, from the Leavenworth Conservative, says that forty rebels were killed; of which number Capt. Hoyt's Red Legs killed thirty-two. The Red Legs only numbered, according to the Conservative, thirty men, and yet they killed thirty-two rebels. It is not very reasonable for the credulous people of this age to believe that thirty men killed thirty-two, and not lose a single man?
The same paper states that 'over twenty rebel houses were burned.' I know of a certainty that one Union man's house was burned, he having been a refugee from home over fifteen months. I know[,] moreover[,] that the Red Legs did steal indiscriminately from rebels and Union men. I am inclined to think that when ever any man did not protest that he was unconditional Union, they shot him, and reported his property captured from the enemy. Some of these Red Legs, who it is alleged, never steal from a Union man, stole two horses from soldiers of the 5th Cavalry at Kansas City, and when the soldiers followed them to Leavenworth to recover their property, the thieves tried to bully them out of it, by saying that 'men had been killed for doing what they were then attempting.' Penick's outlaw, not fully appreciating the friendliness of the remark, drew his revolver, and was bout to let daylight into the beknighted mind of the Knight of the Red Legs, [Hoyt?] when he hastily retreated to a place of security.
The rebels killed were, so far as I have ascertained, persons who were not in arms, but citizens who sympathized with the south. I believe the Red Legs will kill any man in this country for a good horse; and they have glorified themselves considerably over finishing some unarmed sympathizers. They certainly deserved killing, but I would rather be excused from acting the part of executioner in such a case.
Everybody knows that the Red Legs will steal, and it is equally certain that they will lie. But this last one of their having killed thirty-two is a huge story, almost to large for any one to believe.
The Fifth Regiment has hunted the Bushwhackers with a zeal that has rarely, if ever, been equaled. They have adopted all expedients - scouted day and scouted night; lay in the brush and watched, tracked the bushwhackers to their camps, and even found men to betray them - but they never could take thirty men and do such immense execution as the Red Legs report they have done. And I believe that there are as good, brave and loyal men in the Fifth Cavalry as ever used a gun.
The fact is, they have carried on an immense stealing operation, and have endeavored to conceal it by a huge story that would hush the indignation of Union men. We will hear no more, however, of the Red Legs co-operating with the United States soldiers, as [Major] Gen. [James G.] Blunt has taken the matter in hand."
[Signed] Fifth Cavalry
Friday, August 28, 2009
I'm Pickles Damn It! Part I
One of the Red Legs listed by William E. Connelley, was a man identified as "Pickles" or Samuel Wright. In his book John Brown and his Men, Richard Hinton described Pickles as "a reckless young fellow" who participated in a raid into Missouri in 1858 with John Brown. Hinton also claimed that Charles R. Jennison was one of the raiders. Pickles next appeared in the Linn County Herald in August 1859. The Lawrence Republican copied the report:
"The LINN COUNTY HERALD reported that "Pickles" Wright was decoyed to a grocery store located within a short distance of the Missouri-Kansas line, in the vicinity of Barnesville, on 5 Aug. 1859. The man who lured Wright to the store talked him into a game of "Seven Up." Within a short time the store was surrounded by about thirty armed Missourians. Wright told the man who had lured him into the trap to get out, and then barricaded himself inside. After a long parlay Wright agreed to surrender his two pistols and come out if the Missourians would give him a fair trial for his alleged crimes; to which the men agreed. Once Wright came out, however, the Missourians took three votes on the question of hanging him immediately, but could not decide the issue. Wright was taken across the line to Nevada, Mo., and then later to Fremont, in Cedar Co. "Captain" James Montgomery was contacted and went to the site. Montgomery and his men held a parlay with the Missourians across the borderline. About a forth of the Missourians were in favor of letting Wright go." The newspaper reported on September 29, that Pickles had "escaped from the Missouri jail and returned to Kansas."
Both the Fort Scott Democrat and The Daily Times of Leavenworth reported in February 1860, on the lynching of a man named Guthrie. Guthrie was wanted for horse theft near Barnesville, and was strung up by a mob of forty men. The newspapers reported that "Before his execution he made a confession implicating Pickles, Pat Devlin, [the man who supposedly coined the phase jayhawking in Kansas. I will have more on Devlin at some point], Hugh Carlan and others. A letter was found in [his] possession from a school teacher near Osawatomie [it is possible that this individual is Quantrill], which shows the organization to be very extensive and well regulated."
Pickles was arrested by a United States Marshal in May 1860, and taken to a penitentiary on the east coast. By July 1861, however, "Quill," a reporter for The Kansas State Journal submitted the following report from Washington D.C.:
"In my rambles, yesterday, I met with Mr. Wright, or 'Pickles,' of Kansas fame, in full military costume. His term in the penitentiary here expired about a month ago, when he immediately joined...Col. Butterfield's - New York regiment now on duty in the city. He is anxious to be transferred to one of the Kansas regiments, but says he is unwilling to go with any party that will follow plundering on any pretense. He admits that he was led astray when in Kansas, and often committed theft, but thinks his last year's experience the most profitable of his life. He claims to be a better man now, and it is said that he has joined an orthodox church here, a few weeks before he left prison. He was formerly from Pennsylvania, where his family have ever borne a rank of more than ordinary respectability; and this last step will accord far more with his parental training than did his Kansas life..."
By 1862 Pickles had returned to Kansas. The Daily Times in Leavenworth reported in October 1863, that Pickles was fined twenty dollars by the Mayor's Court for "visiting [a] house of ill-fame." A will have the rest of Pickles' story in part II of this blog post.
"The LINN COUNTY HERALD reported that "Pickles" Wright was decoyed to a grocery store located within a short distance of the Missouri-Kansas line, in the vicinity of Barnesville, on 5 Aug. 1859. The man who lured Wright to the store talked him into a game of "Seven Up." Within a short time the store was surrounded by about thirty armed Missourians. Wright told the man who had lured him into the trap to get out, and then barricaded himself inside. After a long parlay Wright agreed to surrender his two pistols and come out if the Missourians would give him a fair trial for his alleged crimes; to which the men agreed. Once Wright came out, however, the Missourians took three votes on the question of hanging him immediately, but could not decide the issue. Wright was taken across the line to Nevada, Mo., and then later to Fremont, in Cedar Co. "Captain" James Montgomery was contacted and went to the site. Montgomery and his men held a parlay with the Missourians across the borderline. About a forth of the Missourians were in favor of letting Wright go." The newspaper reported on September 29, that Pickles had "escaped from the Missouri jail and returned to Kansas."
Both the Fort Scott Democrat and The Daily Times of Leavenworth reported in February 1860, on the lynching of a man named Guthrie. Guthrie was wanted for horse theft near Barnesville, and was strung up by a mob of forty men. The newspapers reported that "Before his execution he made a confession implicating Pickles, Pat Devlin, [the man who supposedly coined the phase jayhawking in Kansas. I will have more on Devlin at some point], Hugh Carlan and others. A letter was found in [his] possession from a school teacher near Osawatomie [it is possible that this individual is Quantrill], which shows the organization to be very extensive and well regulated."
Pickles was arrested by a United States Marshal in May 1860, and taken to a penitentiary on the east coast. By July 1861, however, "Quill," a reporter for The Kansas State Journal submitted the following report from Washington D.C.:
"In my rambles, yesterday, I met with Mr. Wright, or 'Pickles,' of Kansas fame, in full military costume. His term in the penitentiary here expired about a month ago, when he immediately joined...Col. Butterfield's - New York regiment now on duty in the city. He is anxious to be transferred to one of the Kansas regiments, but says he is unwilling to go with any party that will follow plundering on any pretense. He admits that he was led astray when in Kansas, and often committed theft, but thinks his last year's experience the most profitable of his life. He claims to be a better man now, and it is said that he has joined an orthodox church here, a few weeks before he left prison. He was formerly from Pennsylvania, where his family have ever borne a rank of more than ordinary respectability; and this last step will accord far more with his parental training than did his Kansas life..."
By 1862 Pickles had returned to Kansas. The Daily Times in Leavenworth reported in October 1863, that Pickles was fined twenty dollars by the Mayor's Court for "visiting [a] house of ill-fame." A will have the rest of Pickles' story in part II of this blog post.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
"Fields of Blood"
William L. Shea's long awaited new book Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign will be released in October. I highly recommend this book. (See link below).
"Shea offers a gripping narrative of the events surrounding Prairie Grove, Arkansas, one of the great unsung battles of the Civil War that effectively ended Confederate offensive operations west of the Mississippi River. Shea provides a colorful account of a grueling campaign that lasted five months and covered hundreds of miles of rugged Ozark terrain. In a fascinating analysis of the personal, geographical, and strategic elements that led to the fateful clash in northwest Arkansas, he describes a campaign notable for rapid marching, bold movements, hard fighting, and the most remarkable raid of the Civil War."
Fields' creativeasin="">Fields'>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807833150?ie=UTF8&tag=jayandregleg-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0807833150" as2&camp=" creative=" UTF8&tag=" linkcode=">Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign (Civil War America)
Aunt Betsy's Improper House
I would be remiss in not mentioning a story from The Atchison Daily Globe, published in the late 1870s. According to the article, Marshall Cleveland's "supposed wife" or mistress was employed at Aunt Betsy's Improper House, which for many years was located in Northwest Atchison. The newspaper reported that Cleveland "had a mistress at 'Aunt Betsy's' improper house in Northwest Atchison, and spent his time there when not engaged in raids into Missouri. 'Aunt Betsy' Kingston died in Oklahoma City not long ago, after professing religion, and the local paper spoke quite touchingly of her many virtues." An 1880 United States Census listed Elizabeth Kingston's occupation as "keeping a boarding house." She was born in 1828, in South Carolina, and was married to the notorious John Kingston. The Census listed Dollie Williams, age 20, Hattie Arnold, age 22, Frankie Stevens, age 18, Belle Allen, age 19, Mary Stevens, age 21, Annie Thompson, age 18, Ellen Johnson, age 35, Cora Scott, age 23, Alice Hartiman, age 25, and May Parker, age 24, as boarders. The house was also known as "The Farm." A newspaper ad described "The Farm" as a house of 24 rooms with a summer house and stable. In the early 1860s Atchison was described as "a dirty hole" and a "hog pen." (see photograph).
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