In preparing this book I have departed in many
particulars from the ordinary course and established custom of compilers of county histories. I have endeavored
to give the causes which led up to our early troubles, and to delineate, to some extent, the public sentiment and
feeling of given periods. I have kept in touch with the various Territorial Governments, Administrations, Legislatures
and prominent public men, in order that the reader may have an intelligent understanding of the situation. I have
intended this book to be of refreshing interest to the old settler, and to be especially interesting and instructive
to the young men and women of Bourben County.
T. F. Robley
Fort Scott, Kansas, December, 1894.
SYNOPTICAL INDEX
CHAPTER I
Louisiana Purchase - Missouri Territory, Missouri Compromise - Platte Purchase - Santa Fe Trail - Cherokee Neutral
Lands - New York Indian Lands
CHAPTER II
Fort Scott Located - Colonel H. T. Wilson - Sergeant John Hamilton - Military Road Completed - Barracks Erected
- Relics of a Past Era
CHAPTER III
Annexation of Texas - Mexican War - Wilmot Proviso - Compromise of 1850
CHAPTER IV
1853 - Post of Fort Scott Abandoned - Some of the Early Settlers of Bourbon County - Time from 1854 to 1855 - Description
of Frontier Life - Climate - Indian Summer
CHAPTER V
1854 - Mill of the Gods - Kansas-Nebraska Bill - Kansas Territory Organized
CHAPTER VI
1854 - First Governor - First Elections - First Fraud - First Legislature - Bogus Statutes - Samples of Legislation
- Government Buildings Sold
CHAPTER VII
1855 - Bourbon County Organized - First County Officers - Neutral Lands in Bourbon County - Fort Scott Incorporated
as a Town - More Elections - Second Governor - Political Atmosphere of Bourbon County
CHAPTER VIII
1856 - Tone of Pro-slavery Papers - Topeka Constitution - Trouble Commences - Texas Rangers - Expedition to Middle
Creek - Topeka, Legislature - Governor Shannon Resigns - Governor Geary Appointed - Territorial Legislators for
Bourbon County - Close of 1856
CHAPTER IX
1857 - Bourbon County Officials - New Towns - Sprattsville - Mapleton - Rayville - Means of Communication
CHAPTER X
1857 - Some More Politics - Dred Scott Decision - Slaves in Bourbon County - Governor Geary Resigns - Governor
Walker Appointed - More Immigrants - Fort Scott Town Company - U.S. Officers - Tenderfeet - Free State Hotel
CHAPTER XI
1857 - Public Sentiment - Lecompton Constitution - Election of October 5, 1857 - More Trouble - Squatter's Court
- Protective Society
CHAPTER XII
1857 - The Conservatives - U.S. Troops at Fort Scott - First Election on Lecompton Constitution - Close of 1857
CHAPTER XIII
1858 - The Second Election on Lecompton Constitution - First Newspaper Established - First Grand Ball - Trouble
Begins Again - Object Lesson in Surgery - Origin of Jayhawker
CHAPTER XIV
1858 - First Manufactory in Fort Scott - Marmaton Town Company - Uniontown - Leavenworth Constitution - English
Bill - Jayhawking Reduced to Plain Stealing - Fight with U.S. Troops
CHAPTER XV
1858 - Some Old Settlers of 1858 - Improvements Begin - Border Ruffians have an Inning - Marais des Cygnes Murder
- Efforts at Capture - Effects on the Border - Feeling against Fort Scott
CHAPTER XVI
1858 - Public Meeting - Election by "Tailment" - Meeting at Rayville - Protocol of Peace - Montgomery
Sized Up
CHAPTER XVII
1858 - Some More Arrivals - After the Amnesty - Improvements Continue - Exit Lecompton Constitution - Kansas is
Free
CHAPTER XVIII
1858 - Territorial Election - Governor Denver Resigns - Samuel Medary Appointed - Amnesty Broken - Ben Rice Arrested
- Meeting at Rayville - Release of Rice - Death of John H. Little
CHAPTER XIX
1859 - Militia Organized - Jayhawkers Captured - Lawrence and Fort Scott get Acquainted - Amnesty Law - County
Seat Moved - Preparing for Another Constitution - An All Around Good Year
CHAPTER XX
1859 - Delegates to Wyandotte Convention - Big 4th of July - Grand Ball - Fort Scott Democrat Revived - Vote on
the Wyandotte Constitution - Other Election Items
CHAPTER XXI
1860 - Legislature Meets - Dayton Incorporated - Fort Scott Town Company Incorporated - For Scott Incorporated
as a City - First City Election - County Election - Last Border Difficulties - Law Inaugurated
CHAPTER XXII
1860 - Arts of Peace - Population - First Fair Association - N.Y. Indian Lands - Neutral Lands - Troops Arrive
- Land Sales - The Great Drouth
CHAPTER XXIII
1861 - Kansas Admitted - State Government - City Affairs - Impending Crisis - Public Meetings - War - War Feeling
in Bourbon County - First Troops Organized
CHAPTER XXIV
1862 - Fort Lincoln Fortified - Troops Concentrated - Battle of Drywood - 6th Kansas - Fort Scott a Military Post
- More Politics
CHAPTER XXV
1862 - Movement of Troops - Various Items - Fall Elections
CHAPTER XXVI
1863 - County Seat Returned to Fort Scott - City Hall - Elections - County Officers
CHAPTER XXVII
1864 - Political Feeling - Fortifications - Raids on Drywood - Railroads - Politics - Price Raid - Raids by Guerillas
- Marmaton Massacre - Fort Scott in Suspense - Public Meeting - General Election
CHAPTER XXVIII
1865 - Lincoln - City Election - Muster Out - The Schools - Business and Improvements - Fall Election - Statistics
- Population - The Close
