Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 1973 Alexander William Doniphan, the Forgotten Man from Missouri Gregory P. Maynard Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the History Commons, and the Mormon Studies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Maynard, Gregory P., "Alexander William Doniphan, the Forgotten Man from Missouri" (1973). Theses and Dissertations. 4918. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4918 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. 174 011 6 ALEXANDER WILLIAM DONIPHAN THE FORGOTTEN MAN FROM MISSOURI A thesis SO presented to the lveb department of history brigham young university in partial fulfillment of theche requirements for theche degree master of artsardsarcs by gregory P maynard august 1973 this thesis by gregory P maynard is accepted in its present form by the department of history of brigham young university as satisfying the thesis requirements for the degree of master of arts yathomas G alexander committee chairman r y i zlal e aldILK 4 t lr E fafaCommitted v&Member1daK beneuene eampbttfzfacommittedmemberva r aitiisr P burton cocommitteenitteeattee member JA vav7 2 1 t mfteDS e warner department chairman I1eftet ted J r ii TABLEazlkaulk OF CONTENTS LIST OF illustrations v PREFACE 0 0 0 P 0 0 0 0 vi chapter I1 ANCESTRY AND EDUCATION 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 a 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 progenitors 1 childhood and education 0 2 the first years 4 conclusion 0 0 19 0 0 P 0 4 0 0 0 it 1pap 8 THE DAWN OF 0 d 10 II11 SUCCESS 0 9 liberty 9 atchison 10 the mormons 11 legislator 0 P 0 0 1 0 21 courtship and marriage 22 conclusion 0 0 lp 0 0 0 0 1 41 23 iliIII111 REFINERS FIRE 0 0 0 0 0 a S a 0 10 0 27 thethemormonmormon war 27 defense of smith and ckwellackwellrockwellro 36 doniphans relationship with the mormons 41 conclusions 0 10 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 44 IV THE CONQUEROR 46 call to arms 0 0 0 a 10 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 & 0 0 0 0 0 0 46 the march west 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 & 0 49 arrival at santa fe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 53 indian treaty 56 on to brazitobrazino 0 0 lp 0 0 59 march to chihuahua 0 63 ordered home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 61 0 0 0 0 0 0 67 significance 0 0 0 0 s 0 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 71 conclusion 0 0 0 it 0 0 0 & 0 & 0 73 veV LIFE IN LIBERTY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a 75 legal successes 0 0 0 0 0 9.9 75 business 0 0 & 0 0 0 0 78 education 1pap p 0 0 0 0 0 79 iii chapter family tragedy 82 conclusion 84 VI politicking AND CIVIL WAR 86 offofficesices declined 86 senatorial candidate 89 kansas 0 0 0 0 91 peace convention 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 94 state convention 0 0 98 civil war 0 0 0 100 move to st louis 0 0 0 v 0 0 v 0 e 0 it 102 conclusion 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 104 VII THE LAST YEARS 0 0 0 0 0 107 return to western missouri 0 107 poor 0 19 10 0 0 0 0.0 0 11 0 1 health 0 0 iloiiono110 his rhetoric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 m death 0 0 0 0 114 conclusion 0 6 0 0 0 0 115 villVIII SUMMARY AND conclusion 0 0 0 0 0 118 APPENDIX A 0 0 0 121 APPENDIX B 122 APPENDIX C 0 ab1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 123 WORKS CITED 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 125 iv LIST OF illustrations plate page 1 A W doniphan viii 2 alexander william doniphan and elizabeth jane thornton 25 3 john thornton doniphan and alexander william doniphan jr 26 4 liberty missoumissourimassouri about 1850 and savings bank in richmond missourimissouridoniphansdoniphans law office upstairs 116 5 donishadoniphadoniphann monument and doniphan statue 117 v PREFACE few men on the missouri frontier Iin1i n the nineteenth century exemplified the quality of character integrity as well as did alexander william doniphan whether in his capacity as a lawyer soldier legislator or friend he remained steadfast to his beliefs and principles though often in the minority several books have been written about doniphans military I1 experiences during the mexican war but surprisingly this is the only part of his life which so far has been reported in great detail the other aspects of his career have been treated only in a sketchy manner it is therefore the purpose of this paper to present in greater detail those segments of doniphantdoniphans career which have been neglected for the most part while the author realizes his limited ability at the present time to do complete justice to the history of alexander W doniphalardoniphafty t this paper will bring together and integrate for the first time the commonly known and the little known facts about his life personal letters newspapers journals publepublicc documents and public addresses have been searched carefully in an effort to extract the facts and character traits which best portrayed the man although the major contribution of this paper willmill be the synthesis of the life and career of doniphan two aspects of his life will be presented in much greater detail than heretofore reported these areas will deal with doniphans relationship with the latterlatterdayday saints or mormons in the late 1830s and his activities during the civil vi war his biographers to date have totally neglected these two areas which play such a vital role in the unveilinganveunve 1ilingailing of the character of this man although this biographer may be sympathetic with his subject every effort has been made to present a balanced interpretation of the facts as they are known deep appreciation is extended to dr thomas G alexander dr eugene E campbell andaranddrand dr alma P burton for their helpful instruction in the preparation of this thesis to mr william E eldridge judge R kenneth elliott dr robert J mathews and dr martin mayes for unself- ishly sharing their wnown research to make this thesis possible to mr andarsandmrsand mrs john dittmore who graciously provided me with room and board during my three weeks in missouri to mr russell dye mrs clara chenault miss louise darneal mrs charles C calvert and mrs charles P hough for contributing to my research to mr and mrs C don bishop mr parley R neiley mr larry C porter and mr don howard for aiding in the research to deborah maynard my wife and typist for suffering through this tedious project appreciation is also expressed to the following who contributed in locating information historical department of the LDS church salt lake city the brigham young university library the william jewell college library the kansas city library the department of history of the reorganizedchurchreorganized church of jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saints the state historical society of missouri the missouri historical society the utah state historical society the western historical manuscript collection state historical society manuscripts and the office of secretary of state missouri vii PLATE I1 A W doniphan viii CHAPTER I1 ANCESTRY AND EARLY YEARS progenitors by family tradition the name of doniphan is a corruption of the spanish name don alfonso iphanephan A young cavalier by that name served under ferdinand and isabella at the battle of grenada in january 1492 for his gallantry on the field in defeating the moors he was knighted however when he joined the protestant movement he was forced to leave spain because oftheodtheof the inquisition traveling by way of holland and england he settled in scotland about 1674 sir alexander doniphan a descendant of don alfonso iphanephan emigrated to virginia he married margaret mott a scottish heiress and they settled in richmond county virginia two of their six children were direct progenitors of alexander william doniphan the subject of this study his great grand father on his fathers side being mott doniphan who married anne anderson their son alexander married and had a son named joseph joseph married anne F smith whose father was william smith in 1773 william had married elizabeth doniphan the daughter of alexander I1 doniphan and mary waugh alexander was mott doniphantdoniphans brother while the early family history is very sketchy some facts are known about the life of alexander william doniphans father joseph montgomery smith price the sydneysmithsydney smith and Cclarettclagettpriceclagetttt price genealogygeneal strasburg shenandoah publishing house 1927 appp 4710047 100 see appendix A 1 2 born about 1764 joseph was a native of what is now king george county virginia preferring adventure in the western wilderness to the genteel life in virginia he accompanied daniel boone into kentucky about 1779 there in boonsboroughBoons borough at the request of the settlers he taught per- haps the first organized school in kentucky 2 in early 1781 he returned to virginia his return was possibly precipitated by a patriotic urge for he joined the continental army just prior to the seige of yorktown in october of that year shortly after the wars end joseph was attracted to anne F smith a sprightly and intellectual second cousin they were married about 1785 after five years in virginia the attraction of the rich soil further west precipitated the removal of the family to mason county kentucky hard work and sacrifice were rewarded by prosperity childhood and education there in kentucky on july 9 1808 the last of seven children 1 was born to joseph and anne they named him after his two grandfathers alexander and william 3 while little is known about hihiss early child- hood some details have been recorded heHe was only four years old when his father died on march 12 1813 his father in his will