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I-Iistoriosil Revie-vsr The State Historical Society of Missouri COLUMBIA, MISSOURI BOARD OF EDITORS LAWRENCE 0. CHRISTENSEN SUSAN M. HARTMANN University of Missouri-Rolla Ohio State University, Columbus WILLIAM E. FOLEY ALAN R. HAVIG Central Missouri State University, Stephens College, Warrensburg Columbia JEAN TYREE HAMILTON DAVID D. MARCH Marshall Kirksville ARVARH E. STRICKLAND University of Missouri-Columbia COVER DESCRIPTION: Frederick Oakes Sylvester (1869-1915) earned national recognition as a regionalist painter of the Midwest. Much of his work portrays scenes along the Mississippi River near St. Louis and Elsah, Illinois, where he lived and worked between 1892 and 1915. Sylvester emphasized the perfection of nature in his landscapes; man is noticeably absent from his paintings. This unidentified water- Color appeared as the frontpiece in his book, The Great River (1911). The State Historical Society of Missouri has several of Sylvester's paintings in its Fine Arts Collection. MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW Published Quarterly by THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI COLUMBIA, MISSOURI JAMES W. GOODRICH EDITOR MARY K. DAINS ASSOCIATE EDITOR R. DOUGLAS HURT ASSOCIATE EDITOR LEONA S. MORRIS RESEARCH ASSISTANT Copyright © 1989 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 10 South Hitt, 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. SOCIETY HOURS: The Society is open to the public from 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., Monday through Friday, and Saturday from 9:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., except legal holidays. Holiday Schedule: The Society will be closed Saturday during VOLUME LXXXIII the Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanks giving, Christmas and New Year's weekends. NUMBER 3 On the day of the annual meeting, October 7, 1989, the Society will be closed for research. APRIL, 1989 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 1986-1989 JOSEPH WEBBER, St. Louis, President Avis TUCKER, Warrensburg, First Vice President SHERIDAN A. LOGAN, St. Joseph, Second Vice President VIRGINIA YOUNG, Columbia, Third Vice President NOBLE E. CUNNINGHAM, Columbia, Fourth Vice President R. KENNETH ELLIOTT, Kansas City, Fifth Vice President ROBERT G.J. HOESTER, Kirkwood, Sixth Vice President ALBERT M. PRICE, Columbia, Treasurer JAMES W. GOODRICH, Columbia, Executive 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 FRANCIS M. BARNES III, Kirkwood LEO J. ROZIER, Perryville WILLIAM R. DENSLOW, Trenton Term Expires at Annual Meeting, 1989 MRS. SAMUEL A. BURK, Kirksville DOYLE PATTERSON, Kansas City VICTOR A. GIERKE, Louisiana STUART SYMINGTON, JR., St. Louis JEAN TYREE HAMILTON, Marshall ROBERT WOLPERS, Poplar Bluff W. ROGERS HEWITT, Shelbyville DALTON C. WRIGHT, Lebanon Term Expires at Annual Meeting, 1990 H. RILEY BOCK, New Madrid GEORGE MCCUE, St. Louis ROBERT S. DALE, Carthage ROBERT C. SMITH, Columbia FREDERICK W. LEHMANN IV, WALLACE B. SMITH, Independence Webster Groves ROBERT M. WHITE, Mexico Term Expires at Annual Meeting, 1991 JAMES W. BROWN, Harrisonville BOB PRIDDY, Jefferson City ILUS W. DAVIS, Kansas City DALE REESMAN, Boonville JOHN K. HULSTON, Springfield ARVARH E. STRICKLAND, Columbia JAMES C. OLSON, Kansas City BLANCHE M. TOUHILL, St. Louis BOARD OF TRUSTEES The Board of Trustees consists of one Trustee from each Congressional District of the State and fourteen Trustees elected at large. In addition to the elected Trustees, the President of the Society, the Vice Presidents of the Society, all former Presidents of the Society, and the ex officio members of the Society constitute the Board of Trustees. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Six Trustees elected by the Board of Trustees together with the President of the Society constitute the Executive Committee. The Executive Director of the Society serves as an ex officio member. WILLIAM AULL III, Lexington, Chairman JEAN TYREE HAMILTON, Marshall FRANCIS M. BARNES III, Kirkwood JAMES C. OLSON, Kansas City ELMER ELLIS, Columbia ROBERT C. SMITH, Columbia JOSEPH WEBBER, St. Louis EDITORIAL POLICY The editors of the Missouri Historical Review welcome submission of articles and documents relating to the history of Missouri. Any aspect of Missouri history will be considered for publication in the Review. Genealogical studies, however, are not accepted because of limited appeal to general readers. Manuscripts pertaining to all fields of American history will be considered if the subject matter has significant relevance to the history of Missouri or the West. Authors should submit two double-spaced copies of their manuscripts. The footnotes, prepared according to The Chicago Manual of Style, also should be double-spaced and placed at the end of the text. Authors may submit manu scripts on PC/DOS, 360K floppy disk. The disk must be IBM compatible, preferably a Displaywrite 3 or 4 program. Otherwise, it must be in ASCII format. Two hard copies still are required, and the print must be letter or near-letter quality. Dot matrix submissions will not be accepted. Orig inality of subject, general interest of the article, sources used, interpretation and style are criteria for acceptance and publica tion. Manuscripts should not exceed 7,500 words. Articles that are accepted for publication become the property of The State Historical Society of Missouri and may not be pub lished elsewhere without permission. The Society does not accept responsibility for statements of fact or opinion made by the authors. Articles published in the Review are abstracted and indexed in Historical Abstracts, America: History and Life, Recently Published Articles, Writings on American History, The Western Historical Quarterly and The Journal of Ameri can History. Manuscripts submitted for the Review should be ad dressed to: Dr. James W. Goodrich, Editor Missouri Historical Review The State Historical Society of Missouri 1020 Lowry Street Columbia, Missouri 65201 CONTENTS "DEAR MAMMA": THE FAMILY LETTERS OF HARRY S. TRUMAN. By Glenda Riley 249 THE GREAT-LITTLE BATTLE OF PILOT KNOB. [PART II]. By Joseph Conan Thompson 271 GERMAN AMERICANS IN THE ST. LOUIS REGION, 1840-1860. By Bonnie J. Krause 295 HARD TIMES CHRONICLER—AN OHIO TEACHER IN WESTERN MISSOURI, 1879-1881. By /. Merlon England 311 HISTORICAL NOTES AND COMMENTS News in Brief 330 Local Historical Societies 333 Gifts 343 Missouri History in Newspapers 348 Missouri History in Magazines 355 In Memoriam 363 Graduate Theses Relating to Missouri History 364 BOOK REVIEWS 365 BOOK NOTES 369 Kansas City Star Photograph, Courtesy Harry S. Truman Library Harry S. Truman maintained close ties with his mother, Martha, and sister, Mary Jane, during his senatorial, vice presidential and presidential career. He frequently wrote letters to both in which he provided news, opinions and advice. Here, Truman poses with his mother and sister, probably at the farm near Grandview, sometime during his senatorial years. "Dear Mamma": The Family Letters of Harry S. Truman BY GLENDA RILEY* Although the papers and letters of Harry S. Truman have been assiduously collected and published during recent decades, most of the resulting books and articles have focused on Truman as a political leader rather than a private individual. Consequently, numerous public- oriented characteristics spring to mind when his letters or other writings are mentioned: plain talk, tough decisions, World War II, the dropping of the atomic bomb and struggles with cabinet members. The vast *Glenda Riley is professor of history at the University of Northern Iowa. Her most recent book is The Female Frontier: A Comparative View of Women on the Prairie and the Plains (1988). The author would like to thank the staff of the Harry S. Truman Library for their assistance as well as Alonzo L. Hamby for his critical review of an early draft of the manuscript. This research was supported by a grant from the Harry S. Truman Library Institute. 249 250 Missouri Historical Review scholarship concerning Truman and his era reflects the significance of Truman, the president and the diverse concerns of his administration. But what of the softer side of Harry Truman? His image does include a thwarted concert pianist who continued to pursue music despite the demands of his career, an adoring husband who often sought support and advice from a wife he called "The Boss" and a feisty father who defended a daughter aspiring to become a singer against what he believed to be unfair criticism. Still, most collections of Harry S. Truman's writings that contain examples of family and personal correspondence do so for what the documents reveal about Truman as a politician rather than as a person. Only during the past few years have writers and scholars begun to examine Truman's personal affairs, especially his relationship with his wife, Bess, in greater detail.1 This attention to the private side of Harry S. Truman reflects changing conceptions