of
Muscatine County Iowa
1879
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1879 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Historical Section, 1879, pages 442-453
THE "MISSOURI WAR." One of the most exciting events of early times was the difficulty known as the "Missouri war," an arousing, but, for the time, an absorbing, controversy, which arose as to the limit between Iowa and Missouri. Instead of relegating the whole matter to Congress the moment it arose, Gov. Lucas became deeply excited and acted absurdly.
It may be asked why the subject is introduced into the pages of a history of Muscatine County. The answer is ready enough: Muscatine furnished a whole company of troops, and toOk a leading hand in the impending fray. The pioneers have assured the writer that a full account of the "war" would be expected, and so we have endeavored to supply the needed history.
Suel Foster once prepared a readable sketch of the cause and progress of the "war," and from that paper is here quoted a liberal portion of his version:
"In August, 1836, Mr. Foster was living about two miles from the mouth of Rock River, and about three miles from the present site of Rock Island. Early one day that month, the Sac and Fox Indians began to assemble at their previous home, which was destroyed during the Black Hawk war of 1832. After paying tribute to the dead which were buried there. the Indians called for Maj. George Davenport and Antoine LeClaire. The business of the meeting was kept a profound secret. The result of this conference was the formation of a company known as the Half-breed Land Company, The object and purpose of the Company was the purchase of the tract of fertile lands in Lee County, which had been secured to the half-breeds for settlement. Some 30,000 acres were embraced in the reserve. There were about forty-five half-breeds in the tribe, and from these deeds were optained by the Company. As might have been expected, the loose business ideas possessed by the Indians soon led to confusion in titles, as the half-breeds would profit by selling their lands to whoever would pay for the same. In this way, as many as a dozen claims were known to exist on the same tract of land.
"Finally, the question of priority became a legislative bone of contention, and even continued to be as late as 1856. The multiplicity of stockholders in the original Company, who first purchased shares for $2, but afterward at as high a figure as $10, led to still greater complications. To make the land hold out to fit the shares was a serious problem. Finally, it was detected by a shrewd observer, that the boundary of the Half-breed Tract was "the head of the Des Moines Rapids," which was the name generally given to the rapids in the Mississippi River, at the mouth of the Des Moines River. The interested parties interpreted the act to mean the rapids in the river Des Moines, near Keosauqua, Van Buren County, which gave nearly twelve miles more territory, north and south, at the point involved."
From this point of the story, we quote from a paper by Charles Negus, who made the subject a matter of special study:
"Soon after the organizing of the Territorial Government of Iowa, there arose a dispute between Missouri and Iowa about the jurisdiction of the State and Territorial authorities over a tract of country in the southern part of Iowa, which Missouri claimed as being within the boundary of that State as defined by Congress.
"The act of Congress, passed March 6, 1820, authorizing the Territory of Missouri to form a State Government, provided that (if the State should ratify the boundaries) the State of Missouri 'should consist of all the territory within the following boundaries: Beginning in the middle of the Mississippi River, on the parallel of 36° north latitude; thence west, along that parallel of latitude, to the St. Francis River; thence up and following the course of that river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the parallel of 36° 30'; thence west along the same to the point where the said parallel is intersected by a meridian line passing through the middle of the mouth of the Kansas River, where the same empties into the Missouri River; thence from the point aforesaid, north along the west meridian line, to the intersection of the parallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of the river Des Moines, making said line to correspond with the Indian boundary line, etc.; thence east from the point of intersection last aforesaid, along the said parallel of latitude, to the middle of the channel of the main fork or the said river Des Moines; thence down and along the middle of the said river Des Moines, to the mouth of the same, where it empties into the Mississippi,' etc. These boundaries, as defined by Congress, were adopted by Missouri, through the Convention which formed the State Constitution.
"The northern boundary of the State, which was defined as 'the parallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of the river Des Moines,' though it might have been well understood at the time, was vague and uncertain, and subsequently gave grounds for an open dispute.
"In the treaties made with the Sacs and Foxes and the Iowa Indians, on the 4th of August, 1824, for the purchase of a portion of their lands, it is set forth that they sold to the United States all their lands within the limits of the State of Missouri, which are situated, lying and being between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and a line running from the Missouri to the mouth of the Kansas River, north 100 miles to the northwest corner of the State of Missouri, and thence east to the Mississippi. The line, as defined in this treaty, commencing at the mouth of the Kansas River, thence running 100 miles due north, and thence east until it strikes the Des Moines River, had been run in 1816, by John C. Sullivan, and duly marked by blazing trees, driving stakes and erecting mounds.
"But in a period of between twenty and thirty years, those marks had become so obliterated that they were not easily to be found, and the rapids of the river Des Moines was so uncertain a place that it was hard for those first settling the country, at the time Iowa was first opened for white settlement, to designate where the northern boundary of Missouri was located. There being several rapids in the Des Moines River, and one of considerable fall, near Keosauqua, in Van Buren County (a fall in eighty rods of twenty-one inches), the Missourians claimed that the latter were the rapids referred to in the act of Congress authorizing Missouri to form a State Constitution as a point in defining their boundaries. And, in 1837, the authorities of Missouri, without the co-operation of the United States, or of the Territory of Iowa (then Wisconsin), appointed Commissioners to run and mark the northern boundary.
"The Commissioners so appointed, instead of commencing to run the line upon the parallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of the river Des Moines in the Mississippi, proceeded to search for rapids in the Des Moines River itself, from which to commence. They finally fixed upon the ripples in the great bend in the Des Moines River, in Van Buren County, which they assumed to be the rapids of the Des Moines River named in the act of Congress of 1820, and in the Constitution of Missouri, notwithstanding those ripples had never been known as the 'rapids of the river Des Moines.' From this point, the Commissioners proceeded to run and mark a line, which the authorities of that State claimed was the northern boundary, while the early history of the West showed, and it was subsequently decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, that the rapids of the river Des Moines were in the Mississippi River.
"Gen. Pike, who first explored the Upper Mississippi, after the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase by the United States, in his journal, kept while ascending the river in 1805, says he 'arrived at the foot of the rapids Des Moines at 7 o'clock,' and thus goes on to give an account of the difficulties he had in getting over those rapids with his boat, on his way up the Mississippi River. And, after passing the rapids, in writing to Gen. Wilkinson, he dates his letter, 'Head of the Rapids Des Moines.' Also, in his map of the Upper Mississippi, Pike lays down the Rapids Des Moines as being in the Mississippi River, a short distance above the mouth of the Des Moines River. And, before the United States acquired possession of this territory in 1779, Zenon Tendeau, acting as Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana, in one of his official acts, says: 'It is permitted to Mr. Lewis (Tesson) Honore to establish himself at the head of the rapids of the river Des Moines.' Upon this grant, Honore made an actual settlement and improvement immediately upon the banks of the Mississippi River, at the head of the Des Moines Rapids in that river, some eighteen or twenty mileS above its mouth.
"These, with other references, go to show that, at an early day, the rapids in the Mississippi opposite the southern extremity of Iowa, were known as the 'rapids of the river Des Moines,' but the authorities of Missouri claimed and contended for many years that the rapids referred to by Congress, and in their Constitution were in the Des Moines River and near Keosauqua. The northern boundary of that State, as long as there were no settlements there, was a matter of little consequence to her citizens, and there was no one to dispute their claims until after the Black Hawk Purchase, which was made in 1832.
"The Territory of Wisconsin, in organizing the county of Van Buren, made her southern boundary extend to the southern line, and the same boundaries were claimed by Iowa as soon as she assumed a territorial government. The territorial government of Iowa went into operation on the 4th day of July, 1838, and at that time the boundaries between Missouri and Iowa had not been settled, and there was a strip of Government land about ten miles wide which both governments claimed. The county of Van Buren, as organized by the Legislature of Wisconsin, before Iowa assumed a territorial government, embraced within her boundary a portion of this disputed tract of land.
"The County Court of Clarke County, Mo., in levying the taxes for that county, enrolled the settlers on this disputed tract, as being citizens of that State and belonging to that county, and, having placed their names upon the tax-list, ordered Uriah S, Gregory, the Sheriff of that county, to collect the taxes. Accordingly, the Collector of Clarke County went on the disputed tract to collect the taxes, but the tax-payers refused to pay, and the officer undertook to collect them by lewying upon their property; but while endeavoring to do this, some of the citizens of Van Buren County sued out a warrant from a magistrate and placed it in the hands of Henry Heffleman, the Sheriff of Van Buren County, who arrested the Missouri officer, and, there being no jail suitable for retaining prisoners nearer than Muscatine, he was taken to that county and there lodged in jail.
"This act aroused the citizens of Clarke County, and an application was made to Gov. Boggs, of Missouri, for the military power of the State to aid the civil officers in maintaining their authority, and to enforce the law of Missouri over the disputed tract. He accordingly dispatched Gen. Allen, with a thousand men, to the place of contention.
"Gov. Lucas, of Iowa, was as determined and fixed in his purpose to maintain the rights of his State as the authorities of Missouri were to exact theirs, and for this purpose, ordered Maj. Gen. J. B. Brown to call out the militia and march with his forces to Van Buren County to protect the citizens.
"At this time, the militia of Iowa was poorly organized; but Gen. Brown gave orders to his subordinates to beat up for recruits, and the citizens were not backward in enrolling themselves by voluntary enlistment, and, in a short time, about five hundred men, with arms, were assembled in Van Buren County, and others were on their way, amounting, in all, to about twelve hundred men, and the gathering of military forces had all the appearance of a fierce and bloody civil war. But before there was any collision between the two forces, Gen. Brown, from his officers, selected Gen. A. C. Dodge, of Burlington, Gen. Churchman, of Dubuque, and Dr. Clark, of Ft. Madison, as an embassy to the enemy to try to negotiate a peace.
"On arriving at Waterloo, the county seat of Clarke County, they found that the County Court of that county had rescinded the order to the Sheriff to collect the taxes on the disputed tract, and had sent a special delegation to wait upon Gov. Lucas and the Legislature of Iowa, then assembled at Burlington, for the purpose of making some amicable adjustment of the difficulties, and that Gen. Allen, with his forces, had withdrawn from the contest. Upon receiving this information, the embassy returned to their headquarters, and the Iowa forces were disbanded and permitted to return to their homes.
"Col. McDaniels and Dr. Wayland, the representatives of Clarke County, came to Burlington and waited upon Gov. Lucas, who, not evincing much disposition to adjust matters, they then went before the Legislature, which body, after hearing their proposition, passed a set of resolutions, with a preamble, expressing their views. In the preamble, they set forth the difficulties existing between Iowa and Missouri, and that Iowa, under any circumstances, deprecated any military collision between the forces of the State of Missouri and the Territory of Iowa, and reciprocated the kind feelings evinced by the delegation from the County Court of Clarke County, and Resolved, That the officers noW on the part of Missouri be respectfully requested to suspend all further military operations on the part of said State until these resolutions can be submitted to His Excellency Gov. Boggs; that His Excellency Gov. Boggs, be requested to authorize a suspension of hostilities on the part of the State of Missouri until the 1st day of July next, with a view to having the unfortunate difficulties now existing between the State of Missouri and the Territory of Iowa adjusted by the act of Congress; that His Excellency, the Governor of Iowa, be requested to suspend all further military operations until the decision of His Excellency Gov. Boggs, may be obtained relative to the proposition herein contained; that the Governor be requested forthwith to furnish a copy of these resolutions to the Governor of Missouri, one to the County Court of Clarke County and copies to the officers in command of the disputed grounds, to be by them presented to the officers of the Missouri forces.
"These proceedings on the part of the Legislature had a tendency to quiet things for a time. The Sheriff of Clarke County was, however, indicted at the next term of the court in Van Buren County for his attempt to collect taxes in the disputed tract; but the Prosecuting Attorney entered a nolle prosequi, and he was discharged from custody.
"On the 10th of November, 1841, Thomas Reynolds, Governor of Missouri, who was the successor to Gov. Boggs, addressed a letter to John Chambers, who was at that time Governor of Iowa, in which he informed him that the Legislature of Missouri, at their last session, passed an act directing the Governor of Missouri to bring a suit on behalf of Uriah S. Gregory, the late Collector of Clarke County, against Henry Heffleman, the Sheriff of Van Buren County, for the purpose of having the question of boundary between Iowa and Missouri finally adjusted in the Supreme Court of the United States. As Heffleman and others who arrested Gregory resided in Iowa, such a suit should have been commenced in Iowa. Gov. Reynolds wished to know, if suit was thus commenced, whether the authorities of Iowa would consent to make such an agreed case on the record as would insure a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on the question of boundary.
"To this, Gov. Chambers replied that this question, as it appeared to him, was one over which the Territorial authorities had no control; for, 'by an express reservation in the laws organizing the Territory of Iowa, the boundary remained subject to the future control of Congress.' And Gov. Chambers also expressed his doubts whether, under the Constitution of the United States, the Supreme Court, even upon an agreed case and by consent of parties, would take jurisdiction of an alleged controversy between one of the States and a Territory remaining subject to the laws of Congress. But he assured Gov. Reynolds that he would lay his communication before the next Legislature of the Territory, and if that body should differ from the views he had entertained upon the subject, their decisions should immediately be made known to him. But it appears that the Legislature concurred with the views of Gov. Chambers, for there were no steps taken to comply with the request of Missouri as made by Gov. Reynolds.
"The expenses of Iowa in calling out the militia to maintain her rights and enforce the laws on the disputed tract were upward of $13,000. Some of those expenses were borne by individuals whose circumstances were such that they could not well afford to lose the amount justly due them. Congress was memorialized by the Territorial Legislature to make an appropriation to meet these expenses, and on two occasions a bill was passed through the House, providing for their payment, but both bills failed to pass the Senate.
"Samuel C. Reed, of Van Buren County, who lived near where the troops were rendezvoused to defend and maintain the rights of Iowa against the intrusion of Missouri, having furnished them provisions to the amount of nearly $200, being a man in limited circumstances, and having waited several years with the hope of getting something from the General Government, and not succeeding, petitioned the Territorial Legislature to allow and make an appropriation for his claim.
"Reed was regarded as a patriotic and generous man, and he did all he could to sustain the rights of Iowa in her troubles with Missouri, and having met with misfortunes and being much reduced in his circumstances, his appeal to the Legislature elicited their sympathy, and they passed a bill allowing his claims, with 6 per cent interest, and made an appropriation for paying it; but this did not meet with the approbation of Gov. Clark, at that time Governor of the Territory, and he returned the bill with his veto. His objections were, that the Legislature should make no discrimination among those who aided the authorities in the troubles with Missouri; if the Territory undertook to pay one they should pay all; that if Iowa should assume these debts, the United States, which was in duty bound to pay them, would not; that Iowa was soon to become a State, when she would have a representation and vote in both branches of Congress, and then, in all probability, would be able to get an appropriation to defray those expenses. But, for one cause or another, neither Reed nor any of the others who furnished means or rendered services in the war with Missouri, got pay for that which was justly their due.
"For the purpose of ascertaining and defining the southern boundary of Iowa, Congress, on the 18th of June, 1838, passed an act in which it was provided that the President should cause to be surveyed, and distinctly marked, the southern boundary line of Iowa; and for that purpose, he was required to appoint a Commissioner on the part of the United States, who, with the neces- sary surveyors, was to act in conjunction with a Commissioner to be appointed by the State of Missouri, and one to be appointed by the Governor of Iowa, in 'running, marking and ascertaining' the boundary line; and it was made the duty of the Commissioner who was to be appointed by the President, to prepare three plats of this survey, one of which was to be returned to the Secretary of State of the United States, one to the office of the Secretary of State of Missouri and one to the Secretary of the Territory of Iowa.
"And it was also provided that if the Commissioner on the part of Missouri or of Iowa should fail to attend, or if either or both the State of Missouri or the Governor of Iowa should fail to appoint, then the Commissioner of the United States, by himself, or such Commissioner as did attend, should proceed to run the boundary line between Missouri and Iowa. But the line so run and marked was not to be fully established until the survey should be submitted to, and the boundary thus ascertained and marked be approved of and ratified by, Congress.
"In pursuance of this act, the President appointed Maj. A. M. Lee as Commissioner on the part of the United States, and Dr. James Davis was appointed for Iowa, but Missouri failed to make any appointment. Maj. Lee, in company with Dr. Davis, proceeded to make the survey as required by Congress, and made their report to the Secretary of the Territory of Iowa on the 15th of January, 1839, about the time the difficulty was taking place on the disputed tract in Van Buren County. But it seems that the line surveyed by Lee and Davis was never approved of by Congress, and consequently did not become the boundarv between Missouri and Iowa.
"Soon after the troubles in Van Buren County, the Legislature of Iowa passed a law that if any person should exercise any official function within the jurisdiction of the Territory, or within the limits of any of the counties therein, by virtue Qf any commission or authority not received from the Territory or Government of the United States, every person so offending should be fined not exceeding $1,000, or be imprisoned not exceeding five years. That if any person residing within the limits of the Territory should accept of any office or trust from any State or authority other than the United States or the Territory of Iowa, every person so offending should be fined not exceeding $1,000, or be imprisoned not exceeding five years.
"Soon after the organization of the county of Davis, this law was called into requisition. The county of Adair, as it was then organized, embraced within its boundaries a portion of what now composes Davis County. The Sheriff of Adair County, Preston Mullinix, and his Deputy, William P. Linder, were indicted in Davis County; the Sheriff for exercising his office within the boundaries of Iowa, without legal authority and contrary to the statutes, and the Deputy for an assault and battery and kidnapping and falsely imprisoning one Frederick Acheson, a citizen of Iowa, which acts were done on the disputed tract.
"Mullinix and Linder were both arrested and held under bail to answer to the indictment at the next term of court. At that time they both appeared and Linder went to trial, which resulted in his conviction and a sentence of a fine and ten days' imprisonment in the Penitentiary. The trial of Mullinix, the Sheriff, was continued to the next term of court, and he was required to enter into a recognizance (without security) for his appearance, which he refused to do, and the Court ordered him to be committed to prison.
"As soon as these transactions were made known to Gov. Chambers, he pardoned Linder and remitted his fine, and also pardoned Mullinix for the offense for which he stood committed, and ordered him to be discharged from prison. After the arrest of Mullinix and Linder, the county of Adair was divided, and the territory adjoining Davis County was embraced with the limits of Schuyler County.
"After the county of Schuyler, Mo., was organized, about the 1st of January, 1846, Samuel Riggs, the Sheriff of Davis County, Iowa, had put into his hands a writ of attachment against the property of an individual on the tract of land in dispute, and while attempting to serve the writ, he was arrested by the Sheriff of Schuyler County, on a charge of attempting to execute the fUnctions of his office in Missouri, and was required to give security for his appearance at the next term of the court in that county. A few days after this, another attempt was made by a large number of men from Missouri to resist the execution of a process in the hands of the Sheriff of Davis County, but without success, for the Sheriff and his posse, though inferior in numbers, executed the writ and secured the property attached. This dispute, as to who had jurisdiction over this country, had a bad influence in the community, and caused many reckless and desperate characters to rendezvous in that vicinity, with the hope that in the contest with the authorities they might escape the punishment justly due their crimes.
"The arrest of the Sheriff of Davis County called forth a special message from Gov. Clark, then Governor of the Territory, to the Legislature of Iowa, which was then in session, and they passed a special law authorizing the Governor to draw upon the Territorial Treasurer for the sum of $1,500, and that the sum, or any amount thereof, which he might think proper, should be placed at his discretion for the employment of counsel to manage and defend all cases growing out of this difficulty, in which the Territory or any of the citizens thereof should be a party on the one side, and Missouri or the authorities of that State upon the other. The Court of Schuyler County convened at Lancaster, the county seat, on the 9th of May; and an indictment was found against Riggs, who immediately appeared and answered thereto in discharge of his bail.
"David Rorer, of Burlington, a gentleman of high legal talents, was employed by Gov. Clark, on behalf of Iowa, to defend Riggs. Rorer attended this term of Court for the purpose of defending him, but from a desire on the part of both parties to defer judicial action in the case until an adjustment of the disputed boundary question could be effected, the case was continued until the next term of Court, and Riggs was discharged upon his own individual recognizance, and he was subsequently discharged entirely. To compensate him for his trouble and expense, the Iowa Legislature passed a law authorizing him to file his petition in the District Court of Davis County, claiming compensation for his time and expenses in defending himself against all prosecutions which had been commenced against him by the authorities of Missouri, for exercising his office on the disputed territory; and they provided that the Court should hear the case and determine the amount which was justly due Riggs, and the amount so determined was directed to be paid out of the State Treasury.
"On the 17th of June, 1844, Congress passed an act respecting the northern boundary of Missouri, in which it was provided that the Governor of Iowa, by and with the advice and consent of the Council of the Territory, should appoint a Commissioner to act in conjunction with a Commissioner to be appointed by the State of Missouri, and the two were to select a third person, and it was made their duty to ascertain, survey and mark out the northern boundary of Missouri, and to cause plats of their survey to be returned to the Secretary of the United States, and to the Secretaries' offices of Missouri and Iowa--which p1ats were to be accompanied with their proceedings in the premises. The Commissioners were empowered to employ surveyors and other hands necessary to accomplish the survey, and the line established and ratified by them, or any two of them, was to be final and conclusive, and to be and remain as the northern boundary line of the State. But it was provided that this act should not go into effect until it should be assented to by Missouri and Iowa. Iowa was willing to accede to this proposition, and the Legislature of Missouri passed an act assenting to this mode of settling the difficulty; but the Governor of Missouri, John C. Edwards, placed his veto on the bill, and it failed to become a law. The Governor's objection to this mode of settling the difficulty seemed to be, that it involved legal rights, and should be adjudicated by a judicial tribunal.
"After this, application was made by both contending parties to Congress to pass a law authorizing them to institute a suit in the Supreme Court of the United States, and have the controversy judicially settled. This application was made on the part of Missouri by an act passed by the Legislature, on the 25th of March, 1845, and on the part of Iowa by a memorial of her Council and House Of Representatives, passed on the 17th of January, 1846, in which both parties asked for 'the commencement and speedy determination of such a suit as might be necessary to procure a final decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, upon the true location of the northern boundary of the State. Congress respected these requests and passed the necessary law.
"After the passage of the law by Congress, authorizing the settling of the dispute in the Supreme Court, the Legislature of Iowa passed an act empowering the Governor to agree with Missouri for the commencement of such a suit as might be necessary to procure from the Supreme Court of the United States a final decision upon the true location of the southern boundary of the State. This act made it the duty of the Governor to cause to be procured all evidence which might be necessary to the legal and proper decision of such a suit, and to employ counsel and do whatever else might be necessary to maintain the rights of the State. Charles Mason was employed on the part of Iowa, who hunted up and prepared the testimony of the trial, and he got Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, to assist him in arguing the case before the Court. The State of Missouri filed the original bill against the State of Iowa, and Iowa filed a cross-bill against Missouri.
"This case was tried at the December term of 1848, and the Supreme Court decided that the line as surveyed by Sullivan was the northern boundary of Missouri, which decision gave Iowa all the territory she claimed. The Court appointed Henry B. Hendershott, of Iowa, and Joseph C. Brown, of Missouri, Commissioners to run out and mark the boundary line. Brown having died before the work was commenced, Robert W. Wells was appointed in his place, but he resigned the trust, and William G. Minor received the appointment on the part of Missouri.
"The Commissioners, for the purpose of making the necessary arrangements for the survey, met at St. Louis in March, 1850, and selected their surverors. William Dewey was selected on the part of Iowa, and Robert Walker for Missouri. The Commissioners made their arrangements to meet with their surveyors and other parties, at the point where Sullivan had established the northwest corner of Missouri. They left their respective homes on the 10th of April and met on the 28th. To aid them in their work before they started, they obtained from the office of the Surveyor General at St. Louis, a copy of the field-notes of Sullivan's survey; but the space of nearly thirty-four years having elapsed since this work was done, the marks of the survey being nearly all obliterated, they could not readily find the spot they sought. No precise traces of the old northwest corner remained; the witness-treeS to it were on the margin of avast prairie, and had apparently been destroyed years before; consequently its exact position could not be ascertained from anything visible near the spot.
"The point known as the old northwest corner of Missouri was the northern termination of Sullivan's line, running north and south, run by him in 1816, and was 100 miles north of the mouth of the Kansas River, and the point at which he turned east run to the Des Moines River. His field-notes showed that his miles were numbered north from the Kansas River, and east from the northwest corner of the State, beginning anew at that corner. Finding no conclusive evidence of the exact site or the required corner, they undertook to trace those lines for the purpose of finding some evidence of the old survey.
"Near the supposed spot of the location of the ninety-ninth mile-corner, on the north line, they found a decayed tree and stump, which corresponded in course, distance and description with the witness-trees to that corner, and, cutting into the tree, they saw what they supposed to be the remains of an old blaze, upon which was preserved a part, apparently, of the letter M. This supposition was verified by their measuring two miles further south to a point which they found to be Sullivan's ninety-seventh mile corner, from one witness-tree, which was perfectly sound; the marks upon it, two or three inches beneath the bark, were plain and legible. On the east line, they found the witness-tree to the third mile-corner; the wood upon which the marks had been inscribed was decayed, but their reversed impression appeared upon the new growth which covered the old blaze, and was cut out in a solid block. Prolonging these lines three miles from the point thus determined, their intersection was assumed as the desired corner, and at that point was planted a monument, designating the northwest corner of Missouri, as the boundary existed before acquiring that tract of land known as the 'Plat Purchase,' lying between the old west line of that State and the Missouri River, which point was found to be in the northeast quarter of Section 35, in Township 67 north, Range 33 west, in latitude 40° 34' 40" north, and in longitude 94° 30' west from Greenwich.
"At this point, they planted a large cast-iron pillar, weighing between fifteen and sixteen hundred pounds, four feet six inches long, twelve inches square at the base, and eight inches at the top. The pillar was legibly marked with the words 'Missouri' on the south side, 'Iowa' on the north side, and 'State Line' on the east. From this corner they ran one west, keeping on the same parallel of latitude on which the pillar was erected, till they reached the Missouri River. They commenced the survey on the 24th of May, and reached the river, a distance of sixty-miles and sixty-one chains, on the 12th of July. At the terminus of the sixtieth mile, as near the bank of the Missouri River as the perishable nature of the soil would permit, they planted a monument similar to the one erected at the old northwest corner of Missouri, the words 'State Line' facing the east.
"The Commissioners then returned to the old northwest corner, and commenced to run the line east, and, by close examination, they were enabled to discover abundant blazes and many witness-trees of the old survey, by which they easily found and re-marked the line run by Sullivan in 1816. The surveying of the eastern portion of the line was commenced on the 13th of August, and terminated on the 18th of September, it being a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, forty-one chains and eight links, which, with the sixty miles and sixty-one chains first surveyed, makes the southern boundary of the State between the Missouri and Des Moines Rivers, two hundred and eleven miles, thirty-two chains and eight links.
"Near the west bank of the Des Moines River, where the boundary terminates, on the line was planted a cast-iron pillar, similar to the other two, with the words 'State Line' fronting the west. The line was also designated by cast-iron pillars, four feet long, eight inches square at the base and five inches at the top, placed at intervals of thirty miles apart; and one four feet long, seven inches square at the base and four at the top, at intermediate spaces of ten miles apart; all of which pillars mark in iron monument every ten miles the whole length of the boundary line.
"Sullivan's line was found in some places to deviate from a true east and west line, which was corrected by the surveyors. The iron pillars were planted in Sullivan's line, as found at the particular points; but as the line was bending in the ten-mile spaces between the pillars, it was found necessary to erect wooden posts at the termination of each mile, in order to mark the line with more accuracy. In the prairies, the mile-posts were marked with the letters 'B. L.' facing the east, the letter 'I.' facing the north, and the letter 'M.' facing the south, and the number of miles on the west face of the post. Where timber exists, the number of the mile is marked on witness-trees, or pointers, with letters appropriate to each stake, there being one tree marked on each side of the line wherever it was possible to do so. The front of each witness-tree is marked with the letters 'B. L.' In all cases where the posts are set in mounds, the post is invariably nine links west, to designate it from other surveys. This line, as surveyed and designated under the direction of the Commissioners Hendershott and Minor, was adjudged and decreed by the Supreme Court to be the true and proper boundary line between Missouri and Iowa. And thus closed a long and vexed dispute between the two authorities about the extent of their jurisdiction. Each State placed $2,000 at the disposal of the Commissioner, to defray expenses, but that sum was not enough. The Supreme Court allowed fees equal to $10,000, and that amount was finally equally divided between Iowa and Missouri."
The local history of this matter lives fresh in the minds of those who joined the ranks of the "army." Judge S. C. Hastings was Captain; Suel Foster was his Orderly Sergeant; J. W. Brady and Barton Lee were chosen Lieutenants; John Vanater was commissioned Colonel. J. E. Fletcher, Major General of Militia, was in the front, and Brig. Gen. Frierson was swinging his sword in anticipation of bloodshed. Maj. D. R. Warfield, William Gordon, and many others, were among the Muscatine men. The summons came in December, 1839. One company of cavalry and two of infantry responded from this region. Of the incidents of the march to Burlington, Suel Foster furnishes the following:
"After all the volunteers had been raised that could be enlisted, a draft was resorted to, to fin up the army. The baggage-wagons were loaded with a month's provisions, and they, with the infantry, were ordered to march, one cold day in December, 1839, when the snow was six inches deep. Capt. Hastings' cavalry was two hours later in starting, and then a halt was twice ordered and squads sent back to bring in deserters. One of the most troublesome men was Dr. Lewis McKee. When about six miles down the slough, he suddenly became so cold that he was compelled to stop at a farmhouse and warm himself. Orderly Foster was sent back to bring him up. Then Lieut. Brady and Sergt. Howland were sent for the Orderly, whereupon McKee swore that he would not stir a step until the whole company was sent to bring him. At this most alarming demoralization of the flower of the army, the Commander-in-Chief, Gen. Fletcher, rode hastily back and declared that he would arrest the whole lot, and court-martial them. McKee dryly remarked that, as the company was nearly all there, he would go with them. But Capt. Hastings became enangered, and finally sent a challenge to Gen. Fletcher. The latter declined to fight, on the score of Hastings' inferior rank. So the day wore away, and night found the company in camp some twelve miles from Bloomington. The Iowa River froze over that night, and the men crossed on the ice. Dr. Ell Reynolds, however, was less fortunate than most of the men. and broke through into the river, escaping with a thorough drenching. The drummer of the company, Maj. W. T. DeWeber, was very proud of his skill with the drumsticks, and displayed his ability to the utmost. At night, some one who had less awe of military life than love of a practical joke, burst in the head of his drum, and used it as drum was probably seldom used before.
"Thus, with joke and disorder, the army went forth to battle; but no foe- men met their glittering steel. The nearest they came to a fight was when they encamped in old Zion Church, in Burlington, and the hospitable citizens rolled in a keg of good whisky. After a few days' sojourn in Burlington, the troops were ordered home, where they doffed the panoply of war and returned to their peaceful avocations."
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