Border Troubles in Linn County, Kansas

Border Troubles in Linn County

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The first raid by the Missourians into Linn County, was made in the fall of 1856. The party was headed by the notorious George Washington Clarke, and consisted of about 400 men. This party went to the old town of Paris, a pro-slavery settlement. There, they were joined by other confederates, among whom was the almost equally notorious James P. Fox. From Paris, the party went to Sugar Mound, where they burned down several houses and robbed Ebenezer Barnes' house, store and post office. Many depredations were committed, and quite a number of Free-State families started back to the East, among them William Hobson's and Ebenezer Barnes' family, to Illinois . Mr. Barnes himself remained. Colonel James Montgomery was at Sugar Mound at that time, and was also an object of desire to the Missourians, but he managed to escape, and the border ruffians thought he had started for home. Instead, Montgomery went to Missouri for the purpose of gaining information as to who composed Clarke's band.

Missouri Bushwhackers

However, by the time he arrived he was ill and went to the house of Captain Burnett and sought admittance. He was taken in and cared for by Mrs. Burnett, Captain Burnett not being at home. Some time afterward, Mr. Burnett, who was out with Clarke on a raid, returned, and found Montgomery, whom he did not know, at his house. Montgomery told him that he was on his way from New York to Kansas, and desirous of finding a school to teach during the winter. Soon, Burnett found him a school, which he taught for about two weeks, during which time he learned all he desired to know as to the identity of Clarke's raiders. He then returned to his Kansas, where he formed a company of seven men to go into Missouri and bring back the property stolen by Clarke's band, or its equivalent. Upon arriving in the neighborhood of the Burnetts, the men hid in the woods. The Miami Indians were then still living on their Kansas reservation, and were in the habit of going into Missouri to stealing horses. The Missourians, also in the neighborhood of Burnetts, upon discovering the presence of Indians in the vicinity, were accustomed to report the fact to Burnett. Montgomery, having his party in the timber, disguised two of themselves as Indians, mounted them on one horse, and sent them around throughout the neighborhood to create the impression that Indians had come, and to cause all who should see them to report to Burnett. His two "Indians" having returned, Montgomery, with all his men, moved forward and took possession of Burnett's house, when Burnett was away.

Soon, the neighbors began to come in on horseback one at a time. As each approached, one of Montgomery's men would go out to meet him, disarm him, take his horse and lead him into the house as a prisoner. In this way, 21 prisoners were captured. Burnett himself was similarly secured. Montgomery's men then broke the guns of their prisoners, took $250 in money, selected 11 good horses and returned to the Little Sugar Creek In Kansas . Upon arriving at Sugar Mound, Montgomery, leaving his men with the horses in the timber, went to the house of Ebenezer Barnes, to have supper prepared for himself and his men, but Mr. Barnes' family had not returned, and there was nothing to eat in the house. He then went to Judge Cannon's house, but the Judge, although a Free-State man for Kansas Montgomery had done, and did not desire to be identified with him in such operations. Eventually, most of the settlers returned. Some of their cabins had been burned and a large amount of property had been carried away or destroyed. Judge Cannon found his cabin and its contents as he had left them, while Isaac Dement found his two little cabins burned down, but his household goods had been previously removed, and remained piled up on the ground.

Colonel James Montgomery soon became one of the most powerful friends of the Free-State men, and the most hated and feared by the pro-slavery men. Though his operations were classed as defensive, preventive and retaliatory, it is doubtless true that he did many things which would not stand the test of the moral code. With six men he made an attack on Briscoe Davis, a pro-slavery man and captain of a company of Territorial Militia, with the view of making Davis prisoner, and securing the company's arms. Davis, however, was not at home, and all that was secured at his house was one prisoner, a number of arms and some ammunition. While Montgomery was engaged in secreting the arms, the prisoner made his escape. On this account Montgomery abandoned his design of attacking and disarming the pro-slavery men on Big Sugar Creek, and, in order to avoid the Territorial Militia which was in force, under Governor John Geary , eight miles south, on Little Sugar Creek, made a wide detour south into Bourbon County, coming in sight of some Texas Rangers Rangers immediately fled to Fort Scott Montgomery's men, that the inhabitants of the town deserted it in a panic.

In the fall of 1858, Old John Brown appeared upon the scene in Linn County. He had been invited into the county by Augustus Wattles to assist in fighting the pro-slavery men. Wattles, who had formerly lived in Douglas County Brown to his friends and others as "Subel Morgan," and it was by that name that Brown was generally known while he was operating against slaveholders and other pro-slavery men, with Linn County as his base of operations. Only a few of his immediate friends knew that it was actually John Brown. His personal safety required that he should conceal his identity, and often times also his whereabouts. While in Linn County, Brown stayed at Wattles' house, working through the end of year freeing slaves. His determined opposition to the incursions into Kansas of the Missourians, and his own determined incursions into Missouri awakened the bitterest hostility against him. The Governor of Kansas offered a reward of $3,000 for his arrest, and President James Buchanan offered a reward of $250 for his head. When Brown heard of the President's offer he retorted by saying that, although he did not consider Buchanan's body worth $2.50, yet he would give that sum to any one who would deliver it to him. He also said that he would offer a like sum for the head of Kansas Governor Samuel Medary , but that he feared some of his men would earn the reward.

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