MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI, COLUMBIA THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI The State Historical Society of Missouri, heretofore organized under the laws of this state, shall be the trustee of this state - Laws of Missouri, 1899; Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, 2000, chapter 183. OFFICERS, 2004-2007 RICHARD FRANKLIN, Independence, President ROBERT G. J. HOESTER, Kirkwood, First Vice President JAMES R. REINHARD, Hannibal, Second Vice President NOBLE E. CUNNINGHAM JR., Columbia, Third Vice President DONNA G. HUSTON Marshall, Fourth Vice President HENRY J. WATERS III, Columbia, Fifth Vice President ALBERT M. PRICE, Columbia, Sixth Vice President and Treasurer GARY R. KREMER, Jefferson City, Executive Director, Secretary, and Librarian PERMANENT TRUSTEES FORMER PRESIDENTS OF THE SOCIETY BRUCE H. BECKETT, Columbia LEO J. ROZIER, Perryville H. RILEY BOCK, New Madrid ROBERT C. SMITH, Columbia LAWRENCE O. CHRISTENSEN, Rolla Avis G. TUCKER, Kansas City TRUSTEES, 2002-2005 CHARLES B. BROWN, Kennett W. GRANT MCMURRAY, Independence CHARLES W. DIGGES SR., Columbia THOMAS L. MILLER SR., Washington COLIN LONG, Waynesville BONNIE STEPENOFF, Cape Girardeau JAMES R. MAYO, Bloomfield PHEBE ANN WILLIAMS, Kirkwood TRUSTEES, 2003-2006 JOHN L. BULLION, Columbia BRIAN K. SNYDER, Independence JAMES B. NUTTER, Kansas City ARVARH E. STRICKLAND, Columbia BOB PRIDDY, Jefferson City BLANCHE M. TOUHILL, St. Louis DALE REESMAN, Boonville TRUSTEES, 2004-2007 W. H. (BERT) BATES, Kansas City VIRGINIA J. LAAS, Joplin CHARLES R. BROWN, St. Louis EMORY MELTON, Cassville DOUG CREWS, Columbia JAMES C. OLSON, Kansas City WIDGET HARTY EWING, Columbia BRENT SCHONDELMEYER, Independence EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Eight trustees elected by the board of trustees, together with the president of the Society, consti­ tute the executive committee. The executive director of the Society serves as an ex officio member. RICHARD FRANKLIN, Independence, Chairman BRUCE H. BECKETT, Columbia DOUG CREWS, Columbia H. RILEY BOCK, New Madrid ROBERT G. J. HOESTER, Kirkwood CHARLES R. BROWN, St. Louis VIRGINIA J. LAAS, Joplin LAWRENCE O. CHRISTENSEN, Rolla ROBERT C. SMITH, Columbia MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW VOLUME XCIX, NUMBER 3 APRIL 2005 GARY R. KREMER LYNN WOLF GENTZLER Editor Associate Editor LISA WEINGARTH Information Specialist The MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW (ISSN 0026-6582) is published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Missouri, 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, MO 65201-7298. Receipt of the MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW is a benefit of membership in the State Historical Society of Missouri. Phone (573) 882-7083; fax (573) 884-4950; e-mail [email protected]; Web site www.umsystem.edu/shs. Periodicals postage is paid at Columbia, Missouri. POSTMASTERS: Send address changes to MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW, 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, MO 65201-7298. Copyright © 2005 by The State Historical Society of Missouri COVER DESCRIPTION: Thomas Hart Benton rendered the watercolor-and-ink drawing "The stumps there are out of the water at this stage" for the Limited Edition Club's volume of Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi published in 1944. The book, originally published in 1883, is an autobiographical account of Twain's early days as a cub steamboat pilot and of his return to travel the Mississippi River years later, after railroads had superseded steamboats and the river culture he had loved as a young man had all but disappeared. This and other original Benton watercolor paintings and drawings used to illustrate the book are on display in the Society's Art Gallery through May 13 as a part of Great Rivers: Artists Interpret the Mississippi and Missouri. 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 con­ sidered 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, 15th ed., also should be double-spaced and placed at the end of the text. Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts, prefer­ ably in Microsoft Word, on a disk or CD. Two hard copies still are required. Originality of subject, general interest of the article, sources used, interpretation, and style are criteria for acceptance and publication. Manuscripts, exclusive of footnotes, 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 published elsewhere without permission. The Society does not accept responsibility for statements of fact or opinion made by the authors. Articles published in the Missouri Historical 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 American Histoty. Manuscript submissions should be addressed to Dr. Gary R. Kremer, Editor, Missouri Historical Review, State Historical Society of Missouri, 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, MO 65201-7298; or e-mail [email protected]. BOARD OF EDITORS LAWRENCE O. CHRISTENSEN PATRICK HUBER University of Missouri-Rolla University of Missouri-Rolla WILLIAM E. FOLEY VIRGINIA J. LAAS Central Missouri State University Missouri Southern State University Warrensburg Joplin ALAN R. HAVIG BONNIE STEPENOFF Stephens College Southeast Missouri State University Columbia Cape Girardeau ARVARH E. STRICKLAND University of Missouri-Columbia CONTENTS A SUMMER OF TERROR: CHOLERA IN ST. LOUIS, 1849 By Linda A. Fisher 189 JUDGE NAPTON'S PRIVATE WAR: SLAVERY, PERSONAL TRAGEDY, AND THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY IN CIVIL WAR-ERA MISSOURI By Christopher Phillips 212 SOUTHERN IDENTITY IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY MISSOURI: LITTLE DIXIE'S SLAVE-MAJORITY AREAS AND THE TRANSITION TO MIDWESTERN FARMING By Robert W. Frizzell 238 NEWS IN BRIEF 261 MISSOURI HISTORY IN NEWSPAPERS 262 MISSOURI HISTORY IN MAGAZINES 265 GRADUATE THESES RELATING TO MISSOURI HISTORY, 2004 271 BOOK REVIEWS 273 Wood, W. Raymond. Prologue to Lewis and Clark: The Mackay and Evans Expedition. Reviewed by William E. Foley. Lofaro, Michael A. Daniel Boone: An American Life. Reviewed by R. Douglas Hurt. Dempsey, Terrell. Searching for Jim: Slavery in Sam Clemens's World. Reviewed by Louis S. Gerteis. BOOK NOTES 277 James, Larry A. Historic Homes of Neosho. Gilbert, Joan. Missouri Horses: Gift to a Nation. Marshall, Howard Wight. Barns of Missouri: Storehouses of History. Boxerman, Burton A., and Benita W. Boxerman. Ebbets to Veeck to Basch: Eight Owners Wlw Shaped Baseball. O'Connor, Candace. Beginning a Great Work: Washington University in St. Louis, 1853-2003. Bundschu, William B. Abuse and Murder on the Frontier: The Trials and Travels of Rebecca Hawkins: 1800-1860. Burnes, Brian. Harry S. Truman: His Life and Times. Bushnell, Michael G. Historic Postcards from Old Kansas City. Robison, Elijah L. The Streetcar Strike of 1916-17: "Scabs, " Conspiracies, and Lawlessness in Springfield, Missouri. Schroeder, Richard E. Missouri at Sea: Warships with Show-Me State Names. WITH PEN OR CRAYON Inside Back Cover Courtesy of William E. Giraldin Joseph J. Mersman A Summer of Terror: Cholera in St. Louis, 1849 BY LINDA A. FISHER* During the year 1849, two of the most horrific events in St. Louis his­ tory occurred: a devastating fire destroyed fifteen city blocks, and a cholera epidemic decimated the population, killing at least 4,500 individuals in a period of one hundred days.1 Many observers—physicians, journalists, and private citizens—left written descriptions of some of these events, but a journal by one individual chronicling that summer from beginning to end is a rare discovery. Joseph J. Mersman, a twenty-five-year-old German *Linda A. Fisher, the chief medical officer of St. Louis County from 1984 to 2000, is a writer living in Annandale, Virginia. She received a BA from Rutgers University, an MD from Harvard Medical School, and a master's degree in public health from St. Louis University. The author, who has prepared an annotated edition of Joseph Mersman's diary, gratefully acknowledges support from the State Historical Society of Missouri's Richard S. Brownlee Fund, the National Library of Medicine, and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. 1 William M. McPheeters, "History of Epidemic Cholera in St. Louis in 1849," St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal 7 (March 1850): 97-120, concludes that 4,557 people died of cholera out of a total of 8,603 deaths. No government agency maintained a comprehensive death count during the 1849 epidemic, so mortality figures cited here come from McPheeters's 189 190 Missouri Historical Review American immigrant who resided in St. Louis, wrote regularly in his diary, documenting the fear, grief, and anguish that characterized the summer of 1849.2 A young entrepreneur, Mersman recorded an ordinary man's reac­ tion to the crisis. His observations, along with epidemiological data derived from census reports and other published summaries, provide a powerful picture of that terrible summer.3 Mersman arrived in St. Louis in the spring of 1849, planning to start a business with twenty-four-year-old John Clemens Nulsen. The two young men had emigrated years earlier with their respective parents and siblings from what is now northern Germany and had met in Cincinnati, Ohio.4 The Mersman family, a widowed father with two daughters and three sons, emi­ grated from Damme, a farming community in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (now Lower Saxony). The Nulsens—two parents, two daughters, and five sons—came from a long line of merchants in the village of Norten, in the Kingdom of Hanover. Both families had experience in manufacturing cigars, tables, which are similar to numbers reported by the St. Louis Missouri Republican. Cholera deaths were underreported, as noted in N.