Pustorical Irevie^Ar
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PUstorical iRevie^Ar i*is ijMr?MKmgm f .'...• W$ Ip' - ^ • «»-'~°liHBSBBBBfca^, .,.,i <• .,<^HHHIHB^£ ...w'.','fs%"r.u^^^^^^^^^^s$ii9^l^^^ The State Historical Society of Missouri COLUMBIA, MISSOURI COVER DESCRIPTION: The front cover illus tration of the 1861 Civil War battle at Lexington, Missouri, is taken from a 15"x20" oil painting executed by F. Do- minico. An eyewitness to the battle, Dominico was a Hungarian exile teaching in Lexington at the time. His painting shows Union forces defending the Ma sonic College and its dormitory, while Confederate batteries are shown in the foreground. The painting was presented to the State Historical Society in 1912 by Mrs. Susan Austin Arnold McCausland, who also witnessed the battle. An edited and annotated 1862 diary by Willard Hall Mendenhall appears in this issue. Mendenhall, a pro-Southerner, who lived on a farm a mile or two south of Lexington, provided an important and interesting commentary on events that took place in Lexington and Lafayette County during the second year of the Civil War. He also had witnessed the Battle of Lexington in 1861. MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW Published Quarterly THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI COLUMBIA, MISSOURI RICHARD S. BROWNLEE EDITOR MARY K. DAINS ASSOCIATE EDITOR JAMES W. GOODRICH ASSOCIATE EDITOR Copyright © 1984 by the State Historical Society of Missouri 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, Missouri 65201 The MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW (ISSN 0026-6582) is owned by the State Historical Society of Missouri and is published quarterly at 201 South Eighth, Columbia, Missouri 65201. Send communications, business and editorial correspondence and change of address to the State Historical Society of Missouri, 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, MO. 65201. Second class postage is paid at Columbia, Missouri. VOLUME LXXVIII Current REVIEWS are sent to all members of The State Historical Society of Missouri during their term of member NUMBER 4 ship. The Society assumes no responsibility for statements made by contributors to the magazine. JULY, 1984 THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI The State Historical Society of Missouri, heretofore organized under the laws of the State, shall be the trustee of this State—Laws of Missouri, 1899, R. S. of Mo., 1969, chapter 183, as revised 1978. OFFICERS 1983-1986 FRANCIS M. BARNES III, Kirkwood, President MRS. AVIS TUCKER, Warrensburg, First Vice President REVEREND JOHN F. BANNON, St. Louis, Second Vice President SHERIDAN A. LOGAN, St. Joseph, Third Vice President MRS. VIRGINIA YOUNG, Columbia, Fourth Vice President NOBLE E. CUNNINGHAM, Columbia, Fifth Vice President R. KENNETH ELLIOTT, Kansas City, Sixth.Vice President ALBERT M. PRICE, Columbia, Treasurer RICHARD S. BROWNLEE, Columbia, Director, Secretary and Librarian TRUSTEES Permanent Trustees, Former Presidents of the Society LEWIS E. ATHERTON, Columbia ELMER ELLIS, Columbia WILLIAM AULL III, Lexington RUSH H. LIMBAUGH, Cape Girardeau WILLIAM R. DENSLOW, Trenton GEORGE A. ROZIER, Jefferson City LEO J. ROZIER, Perryville Term Expires at Annual Meeting, 1984 ROBERT S. DALE, Carthage W. WALLACE SMITH, Independence GEORGE MCCUE, St. Louis RONALD L. SOMERVILLE, Chillicothe ROBERT C. SMITH, Columbia JOSEPH WEBER, St. Louis ROBERT M. WHITE, Mexico Term Expires at Annual Meeting, 1985 JAMES W. BROWN, Harrisonville J. J. GRAF, Hermann f RICHARD J. CHAMIER, Moberly JOHN K. HULSTON, Springfield ILUS W. DAVIS, Kansas City MRS. MARY BANKS PARRY, Columbia ALFRED O. FUERBRINGER, St. Louis ARVARH E. STRICKLAND, Columbia Term Expires at Annual Meeting, 1986 MRS. SAMUEL A. BURK, Kirksville W. ROGERS HEWITT, Shelbyville R. I. COLBORN, Paris DOYLE PATTERSON, Kansas City VICTOR A. GIERKE, Louisiana STUART SYMINGTON, JR., St. Louis MRS. JEAN TYREE HAMILTON, Marshall ROBERT WOLPERS, Poplar Bluff EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The twenty-nine Trustees, the President and the Secretary of the Society, the Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, President of the University of Missouri and Chancellor of the University of Missouri-Columbia constitute the Executive Committee. FINANCE COMMITTEE Five members of the Executive Committee appointed by the President, who by virtue of his office constitutes the sixth member, compose the Finance Committee. WILLIAM AULL III, Lexington, Chairman LEWIS E. ATHERTON, Columbia ELMER ELLIS, Columbia FRANCIS M. BARNES III, Kirkwood *GEORGE A. ROZIER, Jefferson City WILLIAM R. DENSLOW, Trenton LEO J. ROZIER, Perryville * Honorary t Deceased SOCIETY TO PRESENT AWARDS At the Annual Meeting in October the Society will confer three awards. An engraved citation and a medallion will be awarded to a member who has given distinguished service to the Society and to the State of Missouri in the promotion and dissemination of knowledge concerning the history of our region. A second engraved citation and a one-hundred-dollar- cash award will be given for the REVIEW article dur ing the calendar year which has contributed most in depth in a scholarly and popular sense to the history of our State. The three-hundred-dollar Floyd C. Shoe maker History Award will be presented to a junior class student in a Missouri college or university who has written the best historical article that relates to Missouri events or personalities. The distinguished member will be selected by a three-member committee appointed by the Society president. One member of the selection committee will serve for two years and two members for one year. No active officers or trustees of the Society, with the exception of past presidents, may be nomi nated for the Distinguished Service Award. Nomina tions should be made in writing to Richard S. Brown lee, director of the Society, any time during the calendar year. The prize-winning article will be se lected by three historians appointed by the editor of the REVIEW. The selection committee will be changed each year with the exception of one member who will be replaced after two years. Articles submitted for the Floyd C. Shoemaker History Award will be judged by the Department of History of the Uni versity of Missouri-Columbia. iii EDITORIAL POLICY The MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW is always inter ested in articles and documents relating to the history of Missouri. Articles pertaining to surrounding states and other sections are considered for publication when they involve events or personalities having a significant bearing on the history of Missouri or the West. Any aspect of Mis souri history is considered suitable for publication in the REVIEW. Genealogical studies are not accepted because of limited general reader interest. In submitting articles for the REVIEW, the authors should examine back issues for the proper form in foot noting. Originality of subject, general interest of the article, sources used in research, interpretation and the style in which it is written, are criteria for acceptance for publica tion. The original and a carbon copy of the article should be submitted. It is suggested that the author retain a car bon of the article. The copy should be double-spaced and footnotes typed consecutively on separate pages at the end of the article. The maximum length for an article is 7,500 words. All articles accepted for publication in the REVIEW become the property of the State Historical Society and may not be published elsewhere without permission. Only in special circumstances will an article previously pub lished in another magazine or journal, be accepted for the REVIEW. Because of the backlog of accepted articles, publica tion may be delayed for a period of time. Articles submitted for the REVIEW should be ad dressed to: Dr. Richard S. Brownlee, Editor MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW The State Historical Society of Missouri 1020 Lowry Street Columbia, Missouri 65201 CONTENTS YANKEE MERCHANTS IN A BORDER CITY: A LOOK AT ST. LOUIS BUSINESSMEN IN THE 1850s. By James Neal Primm 375 BROTHER HAL: THE PREACHING CAREER OF HAROLD BELL WRIGHT. By Charles T. Jones 387 AND IT WAS RED: MISSOURI'S NEW SUPREME COURT BUILDING, 1907. By Bonnie Wright, Robert Durant Smith and Haden D. Smith 414 "LIFE Is UNCERTAIN . .": WILLARD HALL MENDENHALL'S 1862 CIVIL WAR DIARY, PART I. Edited by Margaret Mendenhall Frazier and James W. Goodrich 428 HISTORICAL NOTES AND COMMENTS News in Brief 453 Local Historical Societies 457 Gifts 474 Missouri History in Newspapers 479 Missouri History in Magazines 486 In Memoriam 494 BOOK REVIEW 496 BOOK NOTES 498 INDEX TO VOLUME LXXVIII 501 SCHUYLER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM Inside Back Cover v St. Louis As It Appeared in 1854 Yankee Merchants in a Border City: A Look At St. Louis Businessmen in the 1850s BY JAMES NEAL PRIMM* Despite evidence to the contrary, an opinion persists that antebellum southerners lacked the wit and desire to conduct busi ness at a profit. Southern indolence and lack of vision still gets some of the credit as far north as Missouri for inadequate support of education and public services. But Louis B. Wright, in his 1957 study of colonial culture, portrayed southern seaboard planters as hardworking, foresighted, and prudent managers and planners with a keen eye for profits. Aubrey C. Land, writing in 1967 about the Chesapeake tobacco merchants, urged us to ignore their agrarian rhetoric and observe their behavior. They accumulated wealth, he argued "in ways quite like their mercantile counterparts to the north and by the exercise of the same talents." •James Neal Primm is professor of History at the University of Missouri- St. Louis. He has the B.S. degree from Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, Kirksville, and the M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Missouri, Columbia. Dr. Primm delivered this paper at the State Historical Society of Missouri annual meeting in Columbia, October 8, 1983. He also is the author of Lion of the Valley, St. Louis, Missouri (1981). 375 376 Missouri Historical Review St. Louis at mid-nineteenth century has been portrayed as a self-satisfied community of Creoles and southerners who believed that the largess bestowed by the great river system was eternal.