We Heard the Shrill Whistle: Daily Civil War Observations from Rolla

By Ryan Reed

 

Rolla Express

12-24-1860

Vol. 1, No. 23

Charleston Mercury Broadside 12-20-1860

South Carolina Has Seceeded

“From Friday’s Daily St. Louis Bulletin we learn that the ordinance of secession passed the State Convention of South Carolina on the 19th inst., unanimously, 169 members present.  Here is the ordinance:

We the people of South Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain that the ordinance  adopted by us in the convention of the 23rd of May 1778, whereby the Constitution of the United States was ratified, and all acts of parts of acts of the General Assembly of the State ratifying amendment to the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, and the union now subsisting beteen South Carolina and other States, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby disolved.”

The official news of South Carolina’s secession from the United States hit the Rolla Express 154 years ago today.  An article later in the issue gives insight on the thoughts of the newspaper editors.

 Political Prospects

“Gloomy prospects hang over our country at this time.  We do not know but the political troubles will terminate in shedding of fraternal blood.  But we hope not.  Gleams of hope now and then brighten the eastern horizon, but, as yet, the prospects are not the most flattering.

It has given rise to a good deal of newspaper discussion, and much exaggeration, on both sides, has been indulged in – much crimination and recrimination.  In this DISCUSSION we take little interest, but in the harmonious adjustment of all our national difficulties, we have a deep interest.  One party asserts the North is intent upon humiliating the South and are determined to listen to no propositions for compromise, while others assert that the leven of Conservatism is working and is sure to accomplish all that the South demand, if let alone.  Fully we can not, of course believe either.  But from such facts as we can gather from many part of the North, the free States are beginning to back down.  And if the South adhere to their rights and maintain their ground they can yet obtain all they claim IN the Union, which will be much better for them than the same guarantees OUT of the Union.”

In previous issues, the editors have clearly sided with the South.  However, they are clearly stating they prefer one harmonious Union rather than secession.  A later article hints at the burden of war in Border States like Missouri.

Congress

“Pacific Measures calculated to heal the breach between the North and South are being discussed in Congress and it is hoped some measure will be favored to protect the rights of all the States without involving us in war.  Missouri and the border states are interested in this because in the event or war they will have to brunt to bear”

Locally, the biggest news was the arrival of the first train to Rolla on the evening of December 22, 1860.  This wasn’t a passenger train but a construction train hauling laborers and equipment.

The Cars Have Come

“We heard the shrill whistle of the steam horse as we went to press last Saturday evening.”

With the coming of the train, Rolla wanted to showcase itself as the place to settle and set up shop.

Rolla, Missouri

“We call the attention of our readers to this place for two reasons.  The first, because its rapid growth and business facilities entitle it to notice.  An secondly because the interest, growth and prosperity of our town depends in a great measure upon the well being of Rolla.  Accustomed as we have been in our travels through South-Western Missouri, to traversing gigantic hills, and crossing deep and rapid streams, we were completely surprised, and agreeably so, to find the road leading form this to Rolla, generally level and smooth and but on insignificant stream to cross.

Rolla is situated on a beautiful upland surrounded for miles by a level and productive country, which only needs (like our own fertile soil) the right kind of cultivation to develop its vast agricultural resources.  This place is now the permanent county seat of Phelps county, and its enterprising citizens have already gone far in the erection of suitable and substantial county buildings.  In company with a citizen of the place, the Hon. Sam. Williams, we visited several houses of business and were utterly astonished to see such heavy stocks of goods, fine saloons, hotels, &c.  And last, but not least, we had the pleasure of shaking by the hand our friend and neighbour of the Express whose frank demeanor bade us “be at home” at once.  The geographical position of our neighbour city, the best accessable point on the Railroad, the advanced condition of business houses at that place, all conspire to make it the point for Southern trade and travel and to interweave its interest with that of ours

-Dent Co. Argus”

Immense Excitement

By Ryan Reed

Rolla Express

December 17, 1860

Vol. 1, No. 2

Local News

“The State Convention in South Carolina is said to have been called for the purpose of seceding-that of Georgia for deliberating-and those of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisanna for consulting.”

The single sentence by the Rolla Express notes the call of the South Carolina General Assembly for a Convention of the People of South Carolina to consider secession.  The call came on November 10^th and delegates were elected on December 6^th.  When the above type was assembled, inked and pressed onto paper, the convention had voted unanimously, 169-0, to secede from the United States on December 17^th.

The only information found about South Carolina’s secession is an advertisement at the end of the Express for D.R. Parsons store.  The advertisement reads:

Advertisement for Parsons Store in the Rolla Express

SOUTH CAROLINA’S

SECESSION

FROM THE UNION

has caused

IMMENSE EXCITEMENT

throughout the country, but hardly more than the

ASTONISHING LOW PRICES

at which goods can be purchased at

Wholesale or Retail

at the

CHEAP CASH STORE

of

D.R. PARSONS & CO.

Obviously, the Rolla Express or D.R. Parsons decided to make light of this serious situation that would pitch the country into a bloody four year war.

The local news section of the paper continued with the follow items.

“It is expected that the railroad will reach Rolla in the course of a day or two.”

“There is to be a ball at the Southern Hotel on the 2th inst.”

“Henry Andrae brought up from St. Louis among other goods, Jake Reynolds, who had escaped from Phelps Co. Jail, some time since.  He has been relodged at his old quarters”

“There are now lodged in Phelps County Jail for fighting James Kegan and Michael Wealen and there are others that ought to go.”

The biggest story in the paper was a trial concerning a fist fight between Isaiah Terril, Jesse Manners and Edmund Ward Bishop, the founder of Rolla.  The Express reported;

“Last week a good deal of feeling was excited by the trail of Isaiah Terril for assaulting Jesse Manners and EW Bishop, two very worthy citizens of our town.  Prior to this trail some were disposed to throw a good deal of blame on Terril for the part he acted In this affair; but a full and impartial examination of the whole matter, from beginning to end has disabused all that class of people of such views, and convinced them that he acted the part of a man of firmness, courage, and honor, vindicating his rights, as a citizen of a free country, and in now wise stooping from the highly respectable position which he has always held in society.  From the evidence in the case Mr. Bishop was the first to make the assault, and at the beginning of the affray Terril acted on the defense only.  During the contact Jesse Manners, interfered and attempted to pull Terril off, when Terril struck him, after repeatedly warning him to keep away.  Terril was first arrested for a breach of the peace in striking Manners.  This action was tried by a jury, who acquitted him of the charge, next for feloniously assaulting Bishop with intent to kill.  This last charge was investigated before out venerable grey haired townsman, Just. Marsh, who after a careful hearing of all the evidence and a close examination of the law applicable to the case, could not do otherwise than honorably acquit the Defendant.  This acquittal we think has given general satisfaction.  Williams Brown, and Clark appeared on the part of the prosecution, McGuire, and Harrington, for the defense.”

 

Daily Civil War Observations from Rolla: A Pugilistic Encounter

By Ryan Reed

Letter

Allen Bolles Johnson to Eliza Frazier

12-13-1860

Abbreviated

“I don’t know that there is anything very new or wonderful to relate.  The whole theme of the general conversation is “cicession” and the “panic” which has grown out of the excitement.  It seems quite sure, the troublesome times are at hand, and none can tell what their extent may be. “Montgomery troubles”* have amounted to a complete fizzle and the brave “six hundred” which march out from St. Louis to protect Mo. borders, have concluded that they might as well have staid at home, and are now retracing their steps.

Our little town affords nothing of more importance than a pugilistic encounter, occasioned usually, by the too free use of whiskey.  Oh! If it was not for this whiskey in our midst, I think we might boast of as thriving a town as in the whole broad west.  The R.R. is soon to be opened up to this point and the event will be an era in the history of Rolla.  Another year will bring an addition of a better class of citizens, and consequently a better state of society.  In fact there is no society now.  It’s every man for himself &c.  The town is built on a swell of ground slopping toward the south such a situation in Penn. would be considered beautiful.  It lacks good water, which is no small item, and the only way which there can any be got is by boring artesian wells.

As you say. – I think I shall not be likely to freeze this winter, should I stay as far south as this.  The weather had been delightful for the most of the time since I have been there it being warm enough to leave the doors open through the day for many days.

Speaking of the state of society here, I would correct the error which many of the people of your locality have fallen into, i.e. that the general state of society in Missouri is bad.  This is truly an error for in the old settled parts of the state, as good society may be found as in any of the Eastern states.  For example --- there is the town of Springfield in South west Missouri, of about the size of Binghamton, N.Y. which has not a single place were liquor is sold publicly, and as one might suppose, the effect is a highly cultivated state of society.  Such a town is not to be found in the whole range of my acquaintance, either in Penn. or New York.

Allen Johnson in 1863

Allen Bolles Johnson was born during 1836 in Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania to Thomas Johnson and Eliza Bolles.  His father was a prosperous farmer and was also active in politics.  The elder Johnson was elected county coroner in 1839, sheriff in 1842 and unsuccessfully ran as the Democratic nominee for the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1859.  The Johnson’s agricultural pursuits did sufficiently well to be able to send Allen to the Susquehanna Academy, an esteemed local private school.  Subsequently, Johnson attended the Iron City College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the latter part of 1859.  After completing his studies he returned to Susquehanna County.  Through his letters, it appears Johnson had a bitter disagreement with his father and abruptly left.  He took the train to the end of the line and settled in Rolla in or around October 23, 1860.

Special thanks to The State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-Rolla for providing the Johnson letters housed at their facility.  The letters concerning Johnson's activities were transcribed with a brief biography written by John F. Bradbury, Assistant Director at the State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-Rolla, for the June 1987 issue of the Phelps County Historical Society Newsletter.

*James Montgomery was an abolitionist who settled in Mound City, Kansas in 1854.  Born and raised in Ashtabula County, Ohio, Montgomery wandered West.  He moved from Ohio to Kentucky, Missouri and finally Kansas after the territory was organized in 1854.  A fervent abolitionist, he became the local leader of Free-State men and organized and commanded a “Self-Protective Company” in 1857.  The company ordered pro-slavery settlers out of Kansas.  By 1860, Montgomery was leading raiding parties into western Missouri to abduct and free slaves and used extreme measures against pro-slavery populations.

Annihilation to Disgrace!

By Ryan Reed

Rolla Express

12-10-1860

Vol. 1, No. 21

 

From the South

 

“We have but little that is new to say of Southern matters.  The secession movement still continues.  Both the disunionists and the conservatives continue to hold meetings in different parts of the South.  The expected message of Governor Gist, of South Carolina has appeared.  It is a strong secession document.”

 

This article refers to William Henry Gist’s, Governor of South Carolina, message to the state legislature on November 27^th.  Gist was strongly opposed to the election of Abraham Lincoln.  Prior to the election, Gist contacted other Southern governors and discussed what course of action to take if Lincoln was elected.  In the end, Gist believed that because the United States was created through a compact among sovereign states, the states could leave the Union if the federal government failed to protect their rights.  Therefore, Gist wanted secession if Lincoln was elected.

 

His November 27, 1860 message confirms and explains his position of secession.  In his long address he details how the state would secede and the hopes that other Southern states will follow suit.  He concluded his message by stating;

 

“I cannot permit myself to believe that in the madness of passion an attempt will be made by the present or the next Federal Administration to coerce South Carolina after her secession by refusing to surrender the harbor defenses or interfering with imports or exports; but if mistaken, we must accept the issue, and meet it as becomes men and freemen, who infinitely prefer annihilation to disgrace!”

 

Caricature of James Buchanan-Currier & Ives, 1860

The Rolla Express also published a synopsis on President James Buchanan’s fourth and final State of the Union Address read before Congress on December 4^th 1860.  Strife between the North and South was at a fever pitch and South Carolina was on the verge of becoming the first state to secede from the Union.  In his message, Buchanan understood that it was the responsibility of the President to ensure that the laws of the United States be faithfully executed.  However, he shied from this duty saying that the existing conditions rendered the government helpless to intervene.  He believed that secession was not “an inherent constitutional right” but saw no constitutional provision that empowered the president “to coerce a state into submission.”

 

Buchanan, whose pro-Southern partisanship that was the hallmark of this administration, continued in his message to blame the North solely for the crisis.  He stated:

 

“The long-continued and intemperate interference of the Northern people with the question of slavery in the Southern States has at length produced its natural effects.  The different sections of the Union are now arrayed against each other, and the time has arrived, so much dreaded by the Father of this Country, when hostile geographic parties have been formed.” 

 

Buchanan continued:

 

“The immediate peril arises not so much from these causes as from the fact that the incessant and violent agitation of the slavery question throughout the North for the last quarter of a century has a length produced its malign influence on the slaves and inspired them with vague notions of freedom.  Hence a sense of security no longer exists around the family altar… Should this apprehension of domestic danger, whether real or imaginary, extend and intensify itself until it shall pervade the masses of the Southern people, then disunion will become inevitable.”

 

After admonishing the North, Buchanan lays into the South.

 

“The election of any one of our fellow-citizens to the office of President does not of itself afford just cause for dissolving the Union.  This is more especially true if his election has been effected by a mere plurality and not a majority of the people and has resulted from transient and temporary causes which may probably never again occur.”

 

Finally addressing the secession crisis, Buchanan acted as a cranky grandfather admonishing his grandchildren to behave.  He basically told the North, you caused the problem and you in the South don’t have a problem.  He continued that the problem could be resolved and peace restored if the North minded their own business and permitted the South to manage themselves and continue the practice of slavery.  He called upon the states to pass a set of constitutional amendments that would affirm the legal existence of slavery, a solution he believed would put the entire secession matter to rest.

 

The President’s State of the Union fell flat in both the North and the South.  The North didn’t like being told that saying slavery is wrong was wrong and the South didn’t like being told that secession was wrong.  Buchanan’s administration was well known for being ineffective and his inadequate speech added to his lame legacy. 

 

The only impression garnered about the opinion of the President’s speech by the Rolla Express is a brief paragraph alerting readers of the synopsis.

 

"In another part of the paper we give a brief synopsis of the Presidents Message.  We deem it a very important document breathes a conservative and patriotic spirit.  In no age of our national existence have we had more need of wise and prudent counsels."

 

154 Years Ago Today: Resignation, Mail and Jail Breaks

By: Ryan Reed

 

Rolla Express

December 3, 1860

Vol. 1, No. 20

 

Pen and Scissors

 

“Mr. Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, denies the report that he intends to resign his position in the Cabinet.”

 

Howell Cobb

This was the only news related to the impending secession of Southern states and ultimately the Civil War.  Mr. Cobb is Howell Cobb, a Southern Democrat from Georgia.  Cobb served five terms with the House of Representatives and was Speaker of the House from 1849-1851.  He became the Governor of Georgia from 1851 until 1853.  He returned to Congress in 1857 and took the position of Secretary of the Treasury under President James Buchanan.  He eventually resigned from Buchanan’s Cabinet five days after this article was published.  He became one of the leaders of the Secessionist movement and later served in the Confederate Army.

 

The Rolla Express related a few local items that still resonate with Rollites today. 

 

“We now have a daily mail between Rolla and St. Louis.  It will not be long before the locomotive and train will be making this point its western terminus.  We understand that the work is being delayed on account of want of iron.”

 

The news edition also conveys news concerning the newly constructed Phelps County Jail.

 

“We mentioned in out last number, the escape of the prisoners from Phelps County Jail but neglected to state that we had been misinformed about the completion of the building.  In justice to all parties we will state that the escape was effected from an unfinished portion of the jail and where the carpenters were at work, the jailor having taken them from their cells for exercise.”