Moses Sawin Adams was born, October 19, 1826, in Rindge, Cheshire County, New Hampshire. His grandfather, David Adams, rallied a company of volunteers for the defense of Bunker Hill, and served for some time in the colonial army, and was well known as Captain Adams during all the latter portion of his life. In the settlement of the estate of his son, David Adams, the father of the subject of this sketch, the original commission as captain, used to the grandfather by the Governor of New Hampshire, was found among his papers, and is preserved as a precious relic and heir-loom of the family. His father was originally a manufacturer and dealer in boots and shoes in Boston, and was quite successful, but afterward returned to New Hampshire, became a prominent, influential and successful farmer and a leading man in the community; was a pacificator in disputes among neighbors, that being the mode of settling difficulties in that portion of the country; was a man of extensive reading; originally a Whig, but always an anti-slavery man. His mother, Silence Sawin, was a native of Natick, Massachusetts, and a lady of superior education for her times. Both parents were prominent members of the Congregational church, and their home was the home of the ministers of that body.
Moses S. Adams was educated in the common schools of his native town until eighteen years of age, when he entered New Ispwich Academy, in New Hampshire, where he remained one year, and the Winchendon and Westminister Academies of Massachusetts, till he attained his majority; but his education in these institutions was only during the summer terms, during these three years teaching in the fall and winter to defray expenses. Shortly after leaving school, he went to Kinderhook, New York, and took charge of the English department of Kinderhook Academy, still pursuing his studies in Latin and Greek, under Professor Watson, the principal of that institution, and remained there for one year. From that time until 1852 he was constantly employed as a teacher in public schools in Albany county, and then commenced the study of law in the law department of Albany University, from which institution he graduated with the degree of LL.B., in April, 1854, having been, one year previously, admitted to practice law in all the courts of the State. In 1855 he removed to Gloversville, New York, opened a law office and began the practice, which he continued two years.
In 1857, he immigrated to Kansas, locating at Leavenworth, after having traveled over Iowa, Minnesota and other States, in search of an eligible home in the great West. He at once opened a law office in Leavenworth in connection with the late Hon. W. P. Gambell, under the firm name of Adams & Gambell. He continued in practice with Mr. Gampbell, afterward with Messrs. Gambell & Ludlum, and still later with Hon. Robert Crozier, until 1862. He remained in Leavenworth, except when absent on official business, until 1873, when he removed to Wichita, Kansas, continuing a successful and lucrative practice to the present time.
He has held various public trusts. For two terms, in 1858 and 1859, he held the office of city recorder of Leavenworth, endowed at that time with large civil and criminal jurisdiction, concurrent with justices of the peace and extending to the limits of the county, and in 1859 requiring the constant services of a clerk. In 1861 he was elected a representative in the State Legislature from Leavenworth county, and by that Legislature chosen speaker, the duties of which he discharged with eminent ability. In 1862, he was appointed commissary of subsistence, with the rank of captain, assigned to duty with the Army of the Frontier, and was in service in Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas, until November, 1864. In 1865 he was again elected recorder of the city of Leavenworth, holding the position one year, and declining a re-election. In 1868 he was again elected a representative in the Legislature and was a second time chosen speaker of that body.
He has been for many years connected with the Masonic order, and has held high positions in the Grand Lodge, Grand Commandery and Grand Chapter. For more than twenty years he has been associated with the Congregational Church, and was twice elected moderator and presided over the Kansas State Association of Congregational ministers and churches. He was originally a Whig, but has been a Republican since the organization of the party.
He was married, April 24, 1856, at Christ's church, Springfield, Massachusetts, by Rev. Mr. Childs, rector of that church, to Miss Lizzie C. Damon, daughter of Salma Damon, of Chesterfield, Massachusetts. Mrs. Adams is a lady of superior education, an active and useful member of the Congregational church, a humane, Christian woman, whose liberal charities have secured her the esteem of a large circle of acquaintances. They have had two sons, the older of whom died when but three years old and the surviving son. Frank Eugene, fifteen years old, is now a promising student in Wichita high school. (Kansas Biographical Dictionary, 1879, pages 195 & 196)
In the beginning of the eighteenth century three brothers, heads of the Mathewson family in America, emigrated from Scotland. One of them, William Mathewson, great grandfather of the subject of this biography, settled in Connecticut, where he engaged in farming until his death, having been a solider in the French war. His son, William Mathewson, was born in Connecticut, in 1743; was a farmer all his life; during the Revolution participated in the campaigns in New England until the close of the war; removed to and settled in what is now known as Broome County, New York, in 1806, when the country was wild and very thinly settled; clearing his land of timber, he engaged in farming there until his death, in 1835, aged ninety-two years. His son, Joseph Mathewson, was born in 1790, in Connecticut, removing with his parents to New York. He engaged in hunting and trapping until the incoming settlers drove the game from the country, when he engaged in farming and stock raising until his death in 1835 aged forty-five years.
His son, William Mathewson, better known on the plains by his sobriquet of "Buffalo Bill," the subject of this sketch, was born in Broome county, New York, January 1, 1830, being the seventh of eight children. His mother's maiden name was Eliza Stickney.
When but a child, his inclinations were for the wild, roving life of a hunter. He inherited the intrepid daring of his Highland Scottish ancestry and longed for the adventurous life of a frontiersman. Remaining at home after his father's death and his mother's second marriage, he attended the country schools and received a very limited education, until he was ten years old. He then went to live with an older brother, where he stayed three years. At the age of thirteen, he went into the lumber regions of Steuben county, New York, working during the lumbering season. He would then shoulder his rifle and go to the mountainous regions of New York and Pensyvlania to employee himself in hunting and trapping. This alternate hunting and working he followed until 1848, when he went into Canada West in search of moose, wolf, beaver, otter, minx and marten, returning in the spring of 1849, after a very successful trip. Remaining at his brother's until the fall of 1849, he went to Michigan, trapping along the Muskegon and Grand rivers, when the country was unsettled and game abundant, returning in the spring of 1850. He remained but two months at his brother's when he was solicited by a company of land speculators to act as guide. Accepting the offer, he started for the unknown West, traveling through Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, and reaching Council Bluffs in August of the same year. At that point he left the employ of the land buyers and made an engagement with the Northwestern Fur Company, and with a party of trappers and hunters started for the headwaters of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, hunting in the British possessions and along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. This was the life he had been craving. Here were wildness and grandeur, danger and adventure, pleasure and excitement. Dressed in the proverbial buckskin of the western hunter; living in great part upon the results of the chase; hunting and trapping by day - at night, seated around the camp-fire to listen to the thrilling adventures and hair-breadth escapes of the different members of the company ; the mountains, solemn and silent, rising above them, height over height, in impressive and eternal grandeur - this, to the young hunter was a life to live for. Their hunting-grounds were in the territory of the Blackfeet, a hostile and war-like tribe, and they kept their position by their courage and the accuracy of their marksmanship. At one time they were surrounded by a war party of the Blackfeet and did not dare to leave their stockade to give them battle. After a severe fight, the Blackfeet were driven off. During their continuance in that country, they were exposed to continual danger and were compelled to be ever on the alert and to study the character of the people in whose country they were employed.
He remained in the employ of the fur company nearly two years, when he joined a party of hungers, among whom were Kit Carson, Charlie and John Atterby, Jim Baker and other almost equally well known hunters and trappers, whose names are associated with the history of the western country. They traveled along the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains crossed the head-waters of the Big Horn - where Custer was subsequently killed - the north and south forks of the Platte, down through the country where Denver now stands when there was no sign of habitation, and elk, deer, antelope and other smaller game was abundant - and reached, during the summer, the trading post of Colonels Bent and St. Vraigne. Here he parted with his company and engaged with Bent and St. Vraigne to trade with the Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas, Comanches and Apaches. He traveled for three years trading with these tribes, going into their camps, learning their sign language, making himself familiar with their customs, and dealing with them in such a fair and honorable manner as to gain their respect and confidence.
In the fall and winter of 1856, in partnership with Horace Green, he employed men and until the following spring trapped along the head-waters of the Arkansas and Republican Rivers. In the spring of 1857, they returned to Independence, Missouri, disposed of their pelts and returned to Kansas.
In the summer of that year, in partnership with Asa Beach, he established a post on the old Santa Fe trail, on Cow creek, which they made headquarters until 1861. He then traveled among the different tribes on trading expeditions, and also employed a portion of each year in hunting wolves, the fur of which animal had become very valuable.
In 1859, the Indians were on the war-parth and though many of the traders were compelled to leave the country, he remained unmolested at his post.
In 1860, the year of the great drouth in Kansas, he received the name of "Buffalo Bill," and though others have appropriated the title, it belongs of right only to him. During the drouth, when the crops were destroyed and many of the settlers were in a starving condition, they had recourse to the vast herds of buffalo then roaming the plains. But they had no knowledge of the proper manner of hunting them, and Mr. Mathewson, engaged in the work, killing as many as eighty a day, loading their wagons with meat and sending them back to their starving families. Hearing of his generous acts, other came to see him, and, not knowing his name, would inquire for "Buffalo Bill," which name he has ever since borne.
In the year (1861) he had a personal encounter with Satanta, chief of the Kiowas. Word was sent to him that the chief intended to kill him for shooting one of the braves while stealing his horse. In a short time, Satanta, accompanied by several Indians, entered his trading post with drawn bows, and told him they had come to kill him. Knocking Satanta down with his revolver, he quickly covered the others with his weapon and ordered them out of the store-house. They left, and he then administered to the chief a severe whipping, compelling the Indians to carry him to their camp. Since then he has borne the name among the Indians of "Sinpah Yilbah," the "Long-bearded, Dangerous Man."
In 1862 he built the first trading post on the plains, at Great Bend. At the end of a year he sold his ranch, went to Ellison's old ranch, (afterward known as Fort Zaeah), and engaged in trading for Charlie Rath.
In the spring of 1864 he returned to his ranch on Cow creek and resumed the trading business, also discharging the duties of postmaster of what was known as Beach Valley postoffice.
In 1864 he was told, by friendly Indians, of a growing discontent among them on account of the action of the troops who, not wishing to go east and fight the rebels, were sowing the seeds of discord among the tribes, hoping, in this way to be retained on the plains. In May 1864, the soldiers fired into the Indian camps and a general war followed in which all the tribes participated. Traders left their ranches and started, with their goods, for Mathewson's ranch on Cow Creek, whence having deposited their goods in his care, they started for the settlements. Though advised by Indians friendly to him that they were going to clear the country of the whites and that he would better leave, he with four whites, remained during the exciting times, saving many lives and trains by his knowledge of the topography of the country, the mode of Indian warfare and the movements of the Indians. Receiving word that an attack would be made along the Santa Fe Trial on July 20, he cautioned the teamsters to stop or return; those not heeding the warning fell into the hands of the Indians and many of them were killed. On July 20l the post was attacked, and after three days of incessant fighting against over five hundred of the hostiles, the Indians retired having lost a large number of warriors. During the first day's fight, the enemy drove off a large number of cattle belonging to Mexicans and killed some of the herdsmen. The number killed on July 20 has never been known, as the Indians attacked all along the road.
After the Indian raid, soldiers were stationed along the route, for whom he acted as scout. In the fall of 1864, he joined Blunt's expedition, as a scout, marching into the Indian country. On the north fork of Pony Fork creek, their advance guard attacked the Indians, about two o'clock in the morning, driving them to their camp, when the Indians surrounded them, compelling them to cut their way back to the main body, meeting with a loss of three killed and seven wounded. After many adventures and exciting encounters, the Indians retired to their camps, but still continued to be troublesome. Word was sent to them in August, 1865, to assemble in preliminary meeting, at the mouth of the Little Arkansas, where Wichita now stands. The Indians not coming, Mr. Mathewson was sent, by the government to travel among the different tribes and, if possible, bring them in, which he finally accomplished. In October, 1865, a regular treaty of peace was concluded. The chiefs and leading men of the different tribes assembled and entered into a treaty of peace with "Sinpah Zilbah," as they termed him, that if he would never act as scout or guide for the soldiers, nor take up arms against them, they would never molest him, but allow him to trade wherever he wished among the different tribes, requesting him to remain with them, which treaty has been faithfully adhered to.
Returning to Cow creek ranch, he engaged in trading for Peck, Durfee & Co., of Leavenworth, until 1866, when at the request of the Indians he returned to Fort Zarah. In the spring he went to Leavenworth and was made the recipient of a valuable pair of silver-mounted revolvers, inlaid with gold from E. H. Durfee and others, as a mark of their admiration of his bravery in saving their teams during the exciting times of 1864. Continuing at the fort until the spring of 1867, the Indians having again taken to the war-path, he went to Leavenworth with his goods, and telegraphed immediately to the office of the Interior Department, at Washignton, the true state of affairs. He was requested to return and keep the other tribes from the northern Cheyennes and Sioux, who were on the warparth; gathering them together, where Wichita now stands in a preliminary meeting. Finally at Medicine Lodge, an Indian council was held and a treaty of peace concluded. In the fall of 1867, he returned to the Indian Territory and engaged in trading, until 1868, when Sheridan and Custer, by their dealings with the Indians, caused them to leave their reservations; he then went to Topeka. Remaining until fall, he returned to the Territory and engaged in freighting, for the government, to Fort Cobb, where he remained until the spring of 1869. He then returned to Kansas, bringing with him the property of William Graffenheim, who had been ordered out of the territory by General Sheridan, under a false charge. He remained in Topeka until the following June. Generals Sheridan and Custer, by their injudicious method of dealing with the Indians, had driven them from their reservations when he was requested to go among them and assemble the Arapahoes and Cheyennes at Fort Supply, and the Kowas, Comanches and Apaches at their regular agencies, preparing for the visit of the Quaker commission. He traveled with them through the different tribe, and finally returned to Topeka. Remaining but a short time, he settled near Fort Sill and engaged in trading with the different tribes, until 1874, during which time the Indians were in continual revolt, owing the incompetency of the Quaker commission to understand the wants and demands of the tribes. During the last five years among them, he exercised a greater influence over them than anyone else, counseling them, advising with them, restoring peace and harmony among the various tribes. Since 1865, he has been instrumental in ransoming and releasing over fifty captive women and children, and obtaining them when others had failed. He was instrumental in releasing Helen and Heloise Lincoln, whose proper name is Fitzpatrick - to whose education, Congress appropriated ten thousand dollars - receiving them from Mr. Mathewson with the understanding that they were to be returned to him, but the promise, like many others made by scheming government officials, has been grandly broken.
After many years devoted to trading among the Indians and to hunting and trapping, he in 1874, settled on his farm, one mile from Wichita and engaged in farming, where he has since resided. He has acquired three fine farms in Sedgwick county, as well as some fine building sites in the city. Not feeling able to content himself with the restraints of farm-life, he takes occasional trips into the Territory on hunting expeditions and helping settlers to select locations. Being conversant with the country, he is a valuable guide and assistant to those seeking a location. Mr. Mathewson is a Democrat, taking an active part in politics. In religion he is a liberal. He is a member of the Odd Fellows' encampment and a Master Mason of the Masonic Order.
He was married August 26, 1864 to Miss Elizabeth Inman, daughter of Joseph and Charlotte (Crossley) Inman, of St. Joseph, Missouri, formerly of Yorkshire, England, where she was born in the year of 1842, immigrating to America in 1850. She is a woman of undaunted courage and has been his companion among the Indians, passing through many thrilling scenes of border life, being the first white woman that ever crossed the Arkansas river. They have no children.
Mr. Mathewson is of a tall and commanding figure, six feet and a half inch in height, noted for his great strength and wonderful power of endurance; forehead broad and of medium height; features distinctly marked without angularity; dark hair and complexion and blue eyes. Modest in his demeanor, he abstains from all boasting; retiring in his disposition, he avoids publicity, preferring the quiet and seclusion of a hunter's life. Positive in his character, unbending in his will, calm and self-possessed in the moment of danger, energetic and persevering, he is a bright example of that class of men who opened the country to the demands of civilizations. (Kansas Biographical Dictionary, 1879, pages 192 & 195)
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