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Situated in southeast Kansas,
right next to the
Missouri
state line, Linn County was one of the original 33 counties created by the first
territorial legislature. It was named in honor of Lewis F. Linn, a United States
senator from
Missouri.
The gentle rolling hills, rich bottom land, plentiful hunting, streams and
timber would soon be lure hundreds of pioneers, some in search of a new life,
but others who would come primarily to try to make Kansas
a slave state and soon become enmeshed in the bloody
Kansas-Missouri Border War.
The first white man to
visit the area that would become Linn County was probably Claude Charles Dutisne
in his expedition of 1719. The first white men to remain for any time were
Girard and Chouteau, who in 1834, established a trading post on the north branch
of the Marias des Cygnes River in what would become Potosi Township. In 1839 the
Catholic Church established a mission among the
Potawatomie
Indians near the site of
where the town of Centerville would be settled. It was later moved to St. Marys, Kansas
in 1847.
It is believed that
the French came up from Louisiana and encouraged the
Indians to mine lead on
Mine Creek, from which it derived its name, but the extent of this industry is
speculative and it was quickly abandoned by the French as unprofitable. It
was the French who named the Marais des Cygnes River from the many swans on the
swamps along the river and so, called it the "Marsh of Swans."
As soon as it became
apparent that the territory west of
Missouri
would be thrown open to white settlement many squatters located claims along the
wooded streams of Linn County, mostly by pro-slavery men from
Missouri,
who cared little for progress and desired only to preserve the institutions to
which they were accustomed. Some of these early settlers were James Osborne and
Adam Pore, who in January, 1854 took claims at the head of Sugar Creek, near the
present-day town of Mound City. D.W. Cannon, John Brown and William H. Murray,
all pro-slavery men, and William Park, James Osborne and James Montgomery
Free-State
men, came in the same year.
Trouble soon arose between the
Free-State
and pro-slavery parties, as it was impossible for men of such different
political beliefs to live together in harmony. The first convention, and one of
the first causes of trouble, was held at Sugar Mound on February 20, 1855. It
was called by James Fox, a pro-slavery leader, for the purpose of nominating a
candidate for the territorial legislature.
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James Montgomery earned a
reputation as being one
of the most
notorious
Jayhawkers.
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Few of the
Free-State
settlers were notified of the convention, but
Free-State
man,
James Montgomery,
made sure that more free-soilers were notified. A second convention was
therefore held, but the
Free-State
men were defeated at both the convention and at the election held on March 30th.
Linn County sent three
delegates to the
Lecompton Constitutional Convention, namely J. H. Barlow, S. H. Hayze and
George Overstreet. The
Free-State
men generally failed to vote at the election for these candidates. At the
election for officers under the
Lecompton Constitution, held at Sugar Mound, the
Free-State
men of the county voted, not knowing that the convention which had assembled at
Lawrence
on December 2nd, had adopted resolutions repudiating the
Lecompton Constitution.
James Montgomery
learned of these resolutions on the day of election, went to the polls and told
the
Free-State
voters that they had been misinformed as to the decision of the true convention.
He then seized the ballot box, broke it to pieces and destroyed the ballots.
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Mound City was started
in the spring of 1855 by the opening of a store there by a man named Miller and
it soon became a well known pro-slavery headquarters, although the town was not
officially organized until 1857. Trading Post was one of the early settlements,
with both
Free-State
and pro-slavery men locating in the vicinity, but in time it became a stronghold
of the for the pro-slavery advocates. Paris, situated about six miles south of
Mound City, was owned by pro-slavery men and in the early days became a rallying
point from which to make raids upon the
Free-State
settlers. Up to the middle of the summer of 1856 there was comparatively little
trouble between the two political factions in the county. Difficulties arose
over claims, and much of the trouble for years was laid at the door of
George Washington Clarke, who it was claimed burned a number of
Free-State
settlers out of their homes. It is true that he did burn several cabins, but
never the number reported.
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Early Mound City,
Kansas |
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Continued Next Page
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LEGENDS
OF KANSAS
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