DOCSLIB.ORG

Feeding Kansas: Food, Famine, and Relief in Contested Territory

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Feeding Kansas: Food, Famine, and Relief in Contested Territory Feeding Kansas: Food, Famine, and Relief in Contested Territory The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Mulcare, Jerad Ross. 2016. Feeding Kansas: Food, Famine, and Relief in Contested Territory. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:26718737 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Feeding Kansas: Food, Famine, and Relief in Contested Territory A dissertation presented by Jerad Ross Mulcare to The Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of History Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts January 2016 © 2016 Jerad Ross Mulcare All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisor: Joyce E. Chaplin Jerad Ross Mulcare Feeding Kansas: Food, Famine, and Relief in Contested Territory Abstract “Feeding Kansas” is an analysis of how food and its availability shaped the experiences of settlers and Native Americans in the two decades following the opening of Kansas Territory in 1854. From the outset, food was central to conceptions of the plains. White settlers arrived in Kansas expecting a verdant Eden; their expectations were quickly altered by the realities of farming and living in the semi-arid region. This dissertation argues that, in the face of these realities, there emerged a Kansas aid complex, an overlapping set of institutions and practices that provided settlers with options to receive various forms of aid when they needed it. This system was put to the test in 1860, when the territory was struck by a devastating drought that, over the course of the year, became a famine. I argue that hungry settlers and Natives had expectations that the federal government would intervene on their behalf to prevent outright starvation, but only the treaty claims of the latter proved strong enough an incentive for the Buchanan administration to take any action. White Kansans were ultimately saved by a private aid network, one orchestrated and operated by abolitionists who understood that to keep Kansas fed was to keep it free as well. In 1874, Kansans again looked outward for help, as a “Grasshopper Plague” occurred that summer, bringing many of the same issues to the fore. In 1874-75, I argue, changing demographics on the plains and a significantly more powerful post- Civil War federal government led to a different outcome. Kansans were once again fed, but it was iii primarily because of the efforts of a group of Army officers stationed throughout the plains. Using promotional literature, travel narratives, diaries, newspapers, and government records, this dissertation reconsiders the “Bleeding Kansas” period, arguing that the divisive politics at the local and national levels concerning Kansas had a critical, heretofore under-examined environmental component. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements vi! Introduction 1! Chapter 1: Expectations & Arrivals 23! Chapter 2: The Kansas Aid Complex 61! Chapter 3: Feeding Kansas 104! Chapter 4: “Buchananism” & The Politics of Hunger, 1854–1861 148! Chapter 5: Insects & Armies, The “Grasshopper Plague” of 1874–75 191! Conclusion 231! Bibliography 238! v Acknowledgements I could not have completed this dissertation without the help of Joyce Chaplin. Since entering graduate school she has been an unfailingly supportive and encouraging mentor and advisor. I have tested the patience of what an advisor should deal with, with my topic changes, desire to take a year off to work on a farm, and several bouts of serious doubt about the entire academic enterprise. Joyce supported my decisions at each of these points, but also lent the guiding hand I needed to keep me on track toward my goal. She is the type of graduate advisor that others should be judged by; she is remarkably attentive, but never overbearing. Throughout my graduate career I have been thankful that she has allowed me to pursue the questions that truly interest me, not simply limit myself to what interested me as first-year student. In addition to looking to her as a mentor and advisor, I also consider her a friend. Though my days of serving as her teaching assistant in Venice are over, I look forward to visiting La Serenissima in the future to share in some cicchetti and spritz, this time as a friend and colleague, not just a graduate student. The remaining members of my dissertation committee, Rachel St. John and Walter Johnson, were also instrumental in helping me see this dissertation to the end. Rachel, from the outset, has been an enthusiastic supporter of this project, and she has consistently pushed me to make it better. Her expertise on the history of the American West has helped me better understand my own work in that context, and I learned much about nineteenth-century American history more broadly from her course at Harvard and her commentary on this work. Rachel also generously gave many hours of her vi time to several very thorough readings of the entire manuscript at the end stages, ensuring that what I was arguing was coherent and compelling. I asked Walter Johnson to be on my committee late in the process. He graciously agreed and has been a helpful and encouraging reader since. I owe my interest in history and appreciation of the work that historians do to several professors, both at the University of Oklahoma, and at Harvard. First, Josh Piker was exactly the mentor a wandering undergraduate like myself needed—simultaneously demanding, and encouraging. My interest in American history began in his Colonial America course at OU, and has branched out wildly from there. Likewise, Cathy Kelly and James Hart were instrumental in making me appreciate what historians do, and giving me the encouragement to try my own hand at it as an undergraduate. While at Harvard, I worked with several professors whose keen insights into history and the academic profession shaped me as a scholar: David Armitage, Vince Brown, Jill Lepore, Susan O’Donovan, and Malinda Maynor Lowery. I am thankful for their advice and guidance, both professional, intellectual, and personal. Harvard, like all large institutions, can be a bureaucratic nightmare, but several people have made my years as a graduate student much easier with their deft navigation of university policies and procedures. Dan Bertwell has been a remarkable Graduate Coordinator, ensuring that my paperwork is always in order, and responding to my seemingly endless inquiries with patience and kindness; his predecessors, Matthew Corcoran and Gail Rock deserve mention as well. Laura Johnson, Kimberley O’Hagan, and Cory Paulsen have also been generous with their time and attention; they are but a few of the unsung heroes of the Harvard history department. There have been many different professors in the position of Director of Graduate Studies while I have been at Harvard, all of whom have surely vii helped make the experience of being a graduate student here a generally pleasant one. Two in particular—David Armitage and Alison Frank Johnson—provided me much-needed guidance and support at different times during my time at Harvard. I tested the central argument of this dissertation in 2010 at the annual conference of the Society of Historians of the Early American Republic. I am grateful to commentator, Greg Nobles, my co-presenter, MacKenzie Moore, and the many attendees whose offered incisive comments and suggestions on what directions I could take my research. Conevery Bolton Valencius gave a very close reading of two chapter drafts, and her comments were instrumental in making this dissertation better than it would be otherwise. Joshua Specht deserves thanks as well. Through many conversations about history and historiography, he helped me pinpoint what was interesting and novel in my work, which undoubtedly improved the final product. I am very thankful for the multiple sources of funding that have made my graduate studies possible. The generous funding structure provided by Harvard University deserves mention, particularly the generosity of the Berenson family, whose graduate fellowship provided me with full funding for two years of study. The Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, the Harvard University Native American Program, and the Newberry Consortium in American Indian Studies also provided critical funding for research and presentation. I would be remiss to not also thank Erin Quinn, whose financial support allowed me to live within walking distance of campus, take needed research trips, and remain ignorant of what instant ramen noodles actually taste like. The bulk of the archival research for this project was undertaken during a three-week visit to the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka. Archivists and librarians are a vital part of the viii enterprise of writing history, and the staff of the KSHS has certainly contributed greatly to this project. Teresa Coble, Susan Forbes, Lin Fredericksen, and Sara Keckeisen all made my visit to Topeka a pleasant and productive one. Sara deserves special mention for kindly (and quickly) responding to a frantic, last-minute email request regarding a citation issue I was having while finalizing the dissertation. I would also like to acknowledge the many people--volunteers and staff--that have built and maintained the Kansas Memory website (kansasmemory.org), a remarkable digital repository of the KSHS collections that made research for this project easier than it would have been otherwise. The staffs of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Harvard University Libraries, and the Spencer Library at the University of Kansas were also instrumental in allowing me to wrap my head around the source base of this project.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The American Military on the Frontier
    i THE AMERICAN MILITARY ON THE FRONTIER The Proceedings of the 7th Military History Symposium United States Air Force Academy 30 September-1 October 1976 E3dited by James P. Tate, Major, USAF, Air Force Academy Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF and United States Air Force Academy Washington: 1978 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Military History Symposium (U.S.), 7th, United States Air Force Academy, 1976. The American military on the frontier. Includes index. I. Frontier and pioneer life-The West-Congresses. 2. The West-History-Congresses. 3. United States. Army-Military life-Congresses. I. Tate, James P. 11. Title. F596.M53 1976 978 77- 18 177 PREFACE The Seventh Military History Symposium differed from its prede- cessors in that its participants and its audience were perhaps more heterogenous than in the past The nature of the topic for this sympo- sium brought together military historians, frontier historians, western historians, and local historians. Each of these groups addressed the topic from a different perspective. Military historians tended to view the experience of the American military on the frontier as an interest- ing but relatively insignificant episode in American military history. Frontier historians lended to view the military as one of many forces involved in the century-long expansion of the United States across the American continent. Western and local historians tended to view the military in terms of interest in the trans-Mississippi frontier and the plains Indian wars of the late nineteenth century. While military and frontier historians were often more interested in campaigns and doctrine, the broad sweep of history, western and local historians were often more interested in battles and personalities, the rich detail of history.
    [Show full text]
  • Legends of the West
    1 This novel is dedicated to Vivian Towlerton For the memories of good times past 2 This novel was written mostly during the year 2010 CE whilst drinking the fair-trade coffee provided by the Caffé Vita and Sizizis coffee shops in Olympia, Washington Most of the research was conducted during the year 2010 CE upon the free Wi-Fi provided by the Caffé Vita and Sizizis coffee shops in Olympia, Washington. My thanks to management and staff. It was good. 3 Excerpt from Legends of the West: Spotted Tail said, “Now, let me tell you the worst thing about the Wasicu, and the hardest thing to understand: They do not understand choice...” This caused a murmur of consternation among the Lakota. Choice was choice. What was not there to not understand? Choice is the bedrock tenet of our very view of reality. The choices a person makes are quite literally what makes that person into who they are. Who else can tell you how to be you? One follows one’s own nature and one’s own inner voice; to us this is sacrosanct. You can choose between what makes life beautiful and what makes life ugly; you can choose whether to paint yourself in a certain manner or whether to wear something made of iron — or, as was the case with the famous Cheyenne warrior Roman Nose — you could choose to never so much as touch iron. In battle you choose whether you should charge the enemy first, join the main thrust of attack, or take off on your own and try to steal his horses.
    [Show full text]
  • THE SHARPS RIFLE EPISODE in KANSAS HISTORY the Kansas Struggle Was Indeed the Prelude to the Civil War. the First Armed Conflict
    THE SHARPS RIFLE EPISODE IN KANSAS HISTORY THE Kansas struggle was indeed the prelude to the Civil War. The first armed conflict between the North and the South began, not at Fort Sumter in 1861, but on the Wakarusa and at Law­ rence in 1855. The desperate strife for the possession of this virgin soil was the necessary introduction to the awful carnage of the sixties. Many leaders on both sides foresaw with remark­ able clearness that an impending crisis was at hand and that Kansas would be a decisive factor in the approaching conflict. Senator Atchison of Missouri, writing in September, 1855, to his Southern friends who were gathered to celebrate the anniversary of the battle at King's Mountain, fervently solicited their aid, say­ ing that "the [Kansas] contest . is one of life and death, and it will be so with you and your institution if we fail ... the stake the' border ruffians' are playing for is a mighty one ... in a word, the prosperity or the ruin of the whole South depends on the Kansas struggle." 1 Horace Greeley, but a few months earlier, with equal prophetic vision, wrote his celebrated "Rising Cloud" edi­ toriaI,2 predicting that the great battle between Freedom and Slavery was at hand; that the little cloud hovering over a hand­ ful of people in the far West foreshadowed the coming storm; that the distant rumble of the tempest could already be heard, and that the mischief there brewing was not alone for Kansas. No wonder that both sides in this great controversy threw themselves into the contest with such impetuous intensity, such determination and abandonment, often forgetting or ignoring the most vital principles of right action, and yet rising to such lofty exhibitions of heroism, courage, patience, self-sacrifice, and suffering as to move every section of the nation to proffer aid and sympathy.
    [Show full text]
  • Philanthropic Colonialism: New England Philanthropy In
    PHILANTHROPIC COLONIALISM: NEW ENGLAND PHILANTHROPY IN BLEEDING KANSAS, 1854-1860 Elijah Cody Howe Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in the Department of Philanthropic Studies, Indiana University August 2011 Accepted by the Faculty of Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. __________________________________ Frances A. Huehls, Ph.D., Chair __________________________________ Dwight F. Burlingame, Ph.D. Master’s Thesis Committee __________________________________ Matthew N. Vosmeier, Ph.D. ii Acknowledgments First I must thank my family. My mother Sue, father Michael, brother Jason, and sister Emily have supported me in more ways than these pages allow me to list. Three influential mentors guided me through this thesis and throughout my education. My thesis committee chair, Frances Huehls, guided me through the research and writing processes and committed countless hours helping with my research and editing. Matthew Vosmeier, my undergraduate academic advisor graciously contributed his time and expertise as a member of this committee and was kind enough to make the trip to my defense. Dwight Burlingame, my advisor at the Center on Philanthropy and member of my thesis committee helped me navigate a graduate education and trip abroad before helping with this paper. I am also indebted to the history faculty at Hanover College and the faculty at the Center on Philanthropy for the years of incredible mentoring and education. iii ABSTRACT Elijah Cody Howe PHILANTHROPIC COLONIALISM: NEW ENGLAND PHILANTHROPY IN BLEEDING KANSAS, 1854-1860 In 1854 the United States Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska bill which left the question of slavery in the territory up to a vote of popular sovereignty.
    [Show full text]
  • Florida Historical Quarterly
    COVER The United States Army Third Cavalry at Tampa, May 1898. When it arrived from Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont, the Third camped west of the Tampa Bay Hotel between West Tenth Avenue and West Nineteenth Avenue. Because of transportation problems only part of the unit sailed for Cuba where they were attached to the Dismounted Cavalry Division led by former Confederate General Joe Wheeler. From a photograph in the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History, University of Florida, Gainesville. THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Volume LIII, Number 4 April 1975 THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY SAMUEL PROCTOR, Editor STEPHEN KERBER, Editorial Assistant EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD LUIS R. ARANA Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine HERBERT J. DOHERTY, JR. University of Florida JOHN K. MAHON University of Florida WILLIAM W. ROGERS Florida State University JERRELL H. SHOFNER Florida Technological University CHARLTON W. TEBEAU University of Miami Correspondence concerning contributions, books for review, and all editorial matters should be addressed to the Editor, Florida Historical Quarterly, Box 14045, University Station, Gainesville, Florida 32604. The Quarterly is interested in articles and documents pertaining to the history of Florida. Sources, style, footnote form, original- ity of material and interpretation, clarity of thought, and interest of readers are considered. All copy, including footnotes, should be double-spaced. Footnotes should be numbered consecutively in the text and assembled at the end of the article. Particular attention should be given to following the footnote style of the Quarterly. The author should submit an original and retain a carbon for security. The Florida Historical Society and the Editor of the Florida Historical Quarterly accept no responsibili- ty for statements made or opinions held by authors.
    [Show full text]
  • A Manual for the Use of the General Court
    MAY 20 1884 Hon. CHAKLES A. PHELPS, President. 1.—George Odiorne. 11.—Thomas Rice. 1.—G. F. Bailey. 11.—M. S. Underwood. 2.—Warren Tilton. 12.—Samuel Walker. 2.— J. B. F. Osgood. 12—Edwin Walden. 8.—Benjamin Evans. 13.—Samuel Watson. 3.—D. F. Parker. 13.—J. M. Kinney. 4.—G. L. Davis. 14—E. B. Patch. 4.—Milton M. Fisher. 14.—B. W. Gleason. 5.—T. P. Ricli. 15.—M. K. Randall. 5.— Carver Hotchkiss. 15—Alvin Cook. 6. —Nehemiaii Boynton. 16.—Samuel B. Sumn 6.—Timothy W. Carter. 7.—Eugene L. Norton. 16—N. H. Whiting. 17.—Lucius Slade. 7. —Horace Conn. 17.—Lansing J. Cole. 8.—I. N. Luce. 18.— Levi Reed. 8.—Stephen T. Farwell. 9. —Jason Gorham. 18.—Nathaniel Eddy. 19.—J. H. D. Blake. 9.—Hiram Nash. 0.—WiUiam Claflin. 19—Gordon M. Fisk. 10.—Cassander Gilmore. 20.—Lucius M. Boltwood. S. N. GIFFORD, Cleek. JOHN MORISSEY, SsRagiNT-AT-AEMS. : (Lommontotnlil) jof iliissac|iisttt3. \0^^ .;,.^^^^ MAY 20 1884 FOK ^E USE OF THE G E N E R ^lE^^aiKD^^ RT COXTAIXING THE RULES AND ORDERS OF THE TWO BRANCHES, TOGETHER WITH TIIK OOXSTITUTION OF THE COMMONAVEALTH, AKD THAT OF THE U>'ITED STATES, A LIST OF THE EXECUTIVE, LEGISLATIVE, AXD JUDICIAL DEPART5IEXTS OF THE STATE GOVERN5IEXT, STATE INSTITUTIONS AND THEIR OFFICEKS, COUNTY OFFICERS, AND OTHER STATISTICAL INFORMATION. Prepared, pursuant to an Order of the Legislature, BY S. N. GIFFORD and "WILLIAM STOWE. BOSTON: V»'[LLIAM WUITE, PRINTER TO THE STATE. 1860. CTammontocaltl} of fHassacfjusctts. House of Representatives, March 28, 1859. Ordered, That the clerks of the two branches cause to be prepared and printed, before the meeting of the next General Court, two thousand copies of so much as may be practicable of the matter of the legislative Manual, on the general plan of the Manual of the present year.
    [Show full text]
  • MAN of DOUGLAS, MAN of LINCOLN: the POLITICAL ODYSSEY of JAMES HENRY LANE Ian Michael Spurgeon University of Southern Mississippi
    The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Dissertations Summer 8-2007 MAN OF DOUGLAS, MAN OF LINCOLN: THE POLITICAL ODYSSEY OF JAMES HENRY LANE Ian Michael Spurgeon University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the Military History Commons, Political History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Spurgeon, Ian Michael, "MAN OF DOUGLAS, MAN OF LINCOLN: THE POLITICAL ODYSSEY OF JAMES HENRY LANE" (2007). Dissertations. 1293. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/1293 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi MAN OF DOUGLAS, MAN OF LINCOLN: THE POLITICAL ODYSSEY OF JAMES HENRY LANE by Ian Michael Spurgeon A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Studies Office of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Approved: August 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. COPYRIGHT BY IAN MICHAEL SPURGEON 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The University of Southern Mississippi MAN OF DOUGLAS, MAN OF LINCOLN: THE POLITICAL ODYSSEY OF JAMES HENRY LANE by Ian Michael Spurgeon Abstract of a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Studies Office of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.
    [Show full text]
  • Philanthropy and the New England Emigrant Aid Company, 1854-1900
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, History, Department of Department of History Spring 4-13-2015 Philanthropy and The ewN England Emigrant Aid Company, 1854-1900 Courtney Elizabeth Buchkoski University of Nebraska-Lincoln Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/historydiss Part of the History of Gender Commons, Intellectual History Commons, United States History Commons, and the Women's History Commons Buchkoski, Courtney Elizabeth, "Philanthropy and The eN w England Emigrant Aid Company, 1854-1900" (2015). Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, Department of History. 81. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/historydiss/81 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the History, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, Department of History by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Philanthropy and The New England Emigrant Aid Company, 1854-1900. By Courtney Buchkoski A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Major: History Under the Supervision of Professor Kenneth Winkle Lincoln, Nebraska May, 2015 PHILANTHROPY AND THE NEW ENGLAND EMIGRANT AID COMPANY, 1854- 1900. Courtney Buchkoski, M.A. University of Nebraska, 2015 Advisor: Kenneth Winkle This project examines the New England Emigrant Aid Company colonization of Kansas in 1854 as a solution to the growing debate over popular sovereignty and slave labor. It uses the Company as a lens to reinterpret the intellectual history of philanthropy, tracing its roots from Puritan ideas of charity to the capitalistic giving of the nineteenth century.
    [Show full text]
  • Thirty-Sixth Congress March 4, 1859, to March 3, 1861
    THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS MARCH 4, 1859, TO MARCH 3, 1861 FIRST SESSION—December 5, 1859, to June 25, 1860 SECOND SESSION—December 3, 1860, to March 3, 1861 SPECIAL SESSION OF THE SENATE—March 4, 1859, to March 10, 1859; June 26, 1860, to June 28, 1860 VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES—JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE, of Kentucky PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE OF THE SENATE—BENJAMIN FITZPATRICK, 1 of Alabama; JESSE D. BRIGHT, 2 of Indiana; SOLOMON FOOTE, 3 of Vermont SECRETARY OF THE SENATE—ASBURY DICKENS, of North Carolina SERGEANT AT ARMS OF THE SENATE—DUNNING MCNAIR, of Pennsylvania SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES—WILLIAM PENNINGTON, 4 of New Jersey CLERK OF THE HOUSE—JAMES C. ALLEN, of Illinois; JOHN W. FORNEY, 5 of Pennsylvania SERGEANT AT ARMS OF THE HOUSE—ADAM J. GLOSSBRENNER, of Pennsylvania; HENRY W. HOFFMAN, 6 of Maryland DOORKEEPER OF THE HOUSE—GEORGE MARSTON, of New Hampshire 7 ALABAMA CALIFORNIA DELAWARE SENATORS SENATORS SENATORS Benjamin Fitzpatrick, 8 Wetumpka William M. Gwin, San Francisco James A. Bayard, Wilmington Clement C. Clay, Jr., 8 Huntsville David C. Broderick, 11 San Francisco Willard Saulsbury, Georgetown REPRESENTATIVES Henry P. Haun, 12 Marysville REPRESENTATIVE AT LARGE 13 James A. Stallworth, 9 Evergreen Milton S. Latham, San Francisco William G. Whiteley, New Castle James L. Pugh, 9 Eufaula REPRESENTATIVES AT LARGE 14 9 FLORIDA David Clopton, Tuskegee Charles L. Scott, Sonora 9 SENATORS Sydenham Moore, Greensboro Jno. C. Burch, Weaverville George S. Houston, 9 Athens Stephen R. Mallory, 15 Pensacola Williamson R. W. Cobb, 10 Bellefonte David Levy Yulee, 15 Homasassa 9 CONNECTICUT Jabez L.
    [Show full text]
  • Bleeding Kansas
    Review Essay Series BLEEDING KANSAS by Gunja SenGupta hat Kansas has had a special character and peculiar destiny most EDITORS’INTRODUCTION of her citizens have always believed,” remarked the distinguished As mentioned in our autumn historian Allan Nevins at a conference held at the University of issue, now, as we approach the Kansas on April 30, 1954, to commemorate the Sunflower State’s sesquicentennial of Kansas’s “Tdramatic conception one hundred years before. According to Nevins, the essential- birth as a territory, is an appropri- ly moral struggle between the “idea of freedom” and the “idea of slavery” that ate time to take stock of our state bloodied the valleys of the Kaw and the Missouri in the 1850s culminated in the tri- and region’s history. And what umph of “the great cause of human advancement” over the desperate machinations better place to start than with the of “an unprincipled group to present Kansas, in defiance of climate, soil and popu- Bleeding Kansas era, an era that lation, . as the sixteenth slave state.” In Nevins’s interpretation, it was this mo- produced our “first histories” and mentous sectional contest over liberty—rather than the cultural significance of the has generated so much historical Turnerian “frontier”—that shaped the peculiar character and destiny of Kansas. literature and debate ever since. While the New England mind that led the contest stamped upon the state’s identi- It was a interesting, controver- ty a western variant of Puritanism, the violence of the territorial era left a legacy of sial, and emotionally charged time, and “No one outside of the “bellicosity” and “extremism” that lived on in the agrarian revolt of the late nine- original thirteen, and perhaps teenth century.
    [Show full text]
  • Thaddeus Hyatt Was a Businessman and Financier Involved in the Preparation of “Bleeding Kansas” As a “Free Soil” Or “Aryan Nation” Enclave
    HDT WHAT? INDEX RACE WAR, NOT CIVIL WAR VARIOUS PERSONAGES INVOLVED IN THE FOMENTING OF RACE WAR (RATHER THAN CIVIL WAR) IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HDT WHAT? INDEX RACE WAR, NOT CIVIL WAR Thaddeus Hyatt was a businessman and financier involved in the preparation of “Bleeding Kansas” as a “free soil” or “Aryan Nation” enclave. Summoned to give testimony before the congressional committee investigating the raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, he would refuse to appear and would be imprisoned for a period —but ultimately would get away with this refusal. HDT WHAT? INDEX RACE WAR, NOT CIVIL WAR THOSE INVOLVED, ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY SECRET “SIX” Person’s Name On Raid? Shot Dead? Hanged? His Function Age Race Charles Francis Adams, Sr. No No No Finance white Charles Francis Adams, Sr. subscribed to the racist agenda of Eli Thayer’s and Amos Lawrence’s New England Emigrant Aid Company, for the creation of an Aryan Nation in the territory then well known as “Bleeding Kansas,” to the tune of $25,000. Jeremiah Goldsmith Anderson Yes Yes Captain or Lt. 26 white Jeremiah Goldsmith Anderson, one of Captain Brown’s lieutenants, was born April 17, 1833, in Indiana, the son of John Anderson. His maternal grandfather, Colonel Jacob Westfall of Tygert Valley, Virginia, had been a soldier in the revolution and a slaveholder. He went to school at Galesburg, Illinois and Kossuth, Iowa and worked as a peddler, farmer, and sawmill laborer before settling a mile from Fort Bain on the Little Osage in Bourbon County in “Bleeding Kansas” in August 1857.
    [Show full text]
  • Battle of Ash Hollow: the 1909-1910 Recollections of General NAM Dudley
    Nebraska History posts materials online for your personal use. Please remember that the contents of Nebraska History are copyrighted by the Nebraska State Historical Society (except for materials credited to other institutions). The NSHS retains its copyrights even to materials it posts on the web. For permission to re-use materials or for photo ordering information, please see: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/magazine/permission.htm Nebraska State Historical Society members receive four issues of Nebraska History and four issues of Nebraska History News annually. For membership information, see: http://nebraskahistory.org/admin/members/index.htm Article Title: Battle of Ash Hollow: The 1909-1910 Recollections of General N A M Dudley Full Citation: R Eli Paul, ed., “Battle of Ash Hollow: The 1909-1910 Recollections of General N A M Dudley,” Nebraska History 62 (1981): 373-399 URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1981AshHollow.pdf Date: 7/15/2014 Article Summary: Dudley’s letters provide previously unknown details concerning the first major battle of the Sioux Wars. More than fifty years later he recalled no instance of brutality during the famous battle and no mistreatment of prisoners. Cataloging Information: Names: Nathan Augustus Monroe Dudley, John L Grattan, William Selby Harney, Robert Harvey, Little Thunder, Henry Heth, Edward McKeever Hudson, Gouverneur Kemble Warren, Albion Parris Howe Place Names: Blue Water Creek, Ash Hollow, Sidney Barracks, Fort McPherson and Fort Grattan, Nebraska;
    [Show full text]