Posted on 11/21/2015 11:35:55 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Before when free-soil men invoked the right of revolution in defense of their political rights, proslavery men condemned them for defying the legitimate government. But proslavery men feared the loss of their right to own slaves as much as free soilers feared the loss of the right to exclude slavery.
At Hickory Point, [Kansas] a squabble over land claims ignited these political quarrels. A settler named Franklin M. Coleman had been squatting on land abandoned by some Hoosiers, who subsequently sold the claim to Jacob Branson, another Hoosier. In late 1854, when Branson informed Coleman of his legal claim and attempted to move into Coleman’s house, Coleman held him off with a gun. A group of arbitrators later awarded part of the claim to Branson, but the boundaries between his land and Coleman’s were not determined. Branson invited in other men, including a young Ohioan named Charles W. Dow. Branson belonged to the free-state militia, a connection he used to intimidate Coleman, although Branson later testified that there had been no problems between Dow and Coleman – until the day of Dow’s murder.
On the morning of November 21, 1855, Dow went to the blacksmith shop at Hickory Point to have a wagon skein and lynchpin mended. While there he argued with one of Coleman’s friends, but left unharmed. As he walked away, he passed Coleman on the road. Coleman snapped a cap at him. When Dow turned around, he received a charge of buckshot in the chest and died immediately. His body lay in the road until Branson recovered it four hours later. Coleman claimed that Dow had threateningly raised the wagon skein (a two-foot piece of iron) as they argued over their claim dispute, forcing him to act in self-defense. Fearing that he could not get fair treatment at the free-state settlement of Hickory Point, Coleman and his family fled to Missouri.
Nicole Etcheson, “Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Eraâ€
Yes please continue as before. Thank you Homer.
I find your initial post to be quite interesting. In large part because Hickory Point is about 10 miles west of our place. About 5 miles north of Oskaloosa on US 59 is the intersection with Hickory Point Road. An historical marker describes the battle, but it should say: In 1856 at this spot, nothing happened. That is because the “battle” was about 1/2 mile west in the settlement of Hickory Point. These days it’s about 10 houses and a street grid that you can see on Google Earth.
Perfect way to start this project because it’s all in front of us and nothing much is going on at the surface. Things are heating up quickly here in Eastern Kansas, but it’s just posturing so far and the battle of Hickory Point is 10 months away.
The mandatory movie for this phase is Santa Fe Trail with Ronald Reagan and Errol Flynn but that’s still a bit premature along the timeline. The Santa Fe Trail runs through Ft. Leavenworth and past Easton, running just north of Hickory Point. The hillside next to my quarters at Ft Leavenworth showed the wagon wheel ruts. It’s going to be a long way to Appomattox Court House.
1855 - The first locomotive runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean on the Panama Railway
We don’t think about the railroad much these days, but it was a big deal back then. We bought the railroad back from the French when we started the canal.
http://www.panamarailroad.org/history1.html
It was then, with the changing of the North American boundaries when the US came into possession of Oregon, and the war with Mexico giving California to the US, that the attention of North America was properly aroused to the necessity of a shorter route to the almost (at that time) inaccessible possessions.
There were three routes to California from the East Coast. A man could go across the continent, presumably on his own two feet if he had to. He could take a ship for the long, uncomfortable and dangerous voyage around Cape Horn, or he could make the “pleasant voyage to Panama, stroll across the fifty miles of Isthmus to the Pacific and, after another easy sea voyage, find himself in San Fransisco
The changes that took place were sparked initially by, of all things, the United States Post Office! Some new way had to be found to carry the growing volume of mail from the East Coast to California, and the Panama route was logical.
They decided the road could be built in six months at a cost of one million dollars. True, there were swamps, but these could be filled. Crews of men could chop through the jungle and the numerous rivers and streams could be easily bridged. The cordillera, or hump, rose to a modes 300 feet— no height to deter railroad men who were already eyeing the Rockies and Sierra Nevada. To lay several miles of rail a day was commonplace in the States, and so the estimated time and money seemed reasonable for this bit of track which seemed scarcely more than an oversized spur.
At the end of twenty months, by toil and sweat and back-break, seven precarious miles of track had been laid. The ends of the rails lay on reasonably solid ground at Gatun, on the edge of the Chagres valley. Work came to a halt. The money was all gone and the backers could not understand how it could take anyone, no matter how lazy or what the difficulties, so long to build a measly seven miles of railroad.
The Panama Railroad is possibly the only line in the world that literally lifted itself up by its own shoelaces. All during the gold rush, miners were taken as far as the end of the road and then continued the journey on foot. The same high fares were in existence for years. Why reduce them? The passengers never complained! By the time the road was finished, nearly a third of its tremendous cost had already been liquidated.
Notwithstanding all of the difficulties and discouragements, the road was successfully completed in 1855, just five years from the date of the beginning of its construction, at a total expenditure of $7,407,535.00. On January 27,1855, at midnight, in the pitch dark and in pelting rain, lit by sputtering whale oil lamps, the last rail was set in place on pine crossties. Totten himself had driven the last spike with a nine-pound maul. The following day, on January 28, 1855 the world’s first transcontinental train ran from ocean to ocean. The massive project was done!
Upon completion the road stretched 47 miles (76 km), 3,020 feet (76 km) with a maximum grade of sixty feet to the mile (11.4 m/km or 1.14%). The summit grade, located 37.38 miles (60.16 km) from the Atlantic and 10.2 miles (16.4 km) from the Pacific, was 258.64 feet (78.83 m) above the assumed grade at the Atlantic terminus and 242.7 feet (74.0 m) above that at the Pacific, being 263.9 feet (80.4 m) above the mean tide of the Atlantic Ocean and the summit ridge 287 feet (87 m) above the same level.
I think civil war is appropriate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same state or country,[1] or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly united state.[2] The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region or to change government policies.[1] The term is a calque of the Latin bellum civile which was used to refer to the various civil wars of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC.
A civil war is a high-intensity conflict, often involving regular armed forces, that is sustained, organized and large-scale. Civil wars may result in large numbers of casualties and the consumption of significant resources.[3] Most modern civil wars involve intervention by outside powers. According to Patrick M. Regan in his book Civil Wars and Foreign Powers (2000) about 2/3rds of the 138 intrastate conflicts between the end of WWII and 2000 saw international intervention, with the United States intervening in 35 of these conflicts.[4]
I enjoyed the WWII threads and would like to have the chance to stay up on this one. Please, keep me on the list.
The First Day’s Battle at Hickory Point
This is a diary of personal experience on an issue much like we are experiencing today an issue that divides the country.
http://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-historical-quarterly-the-first-day-s-battle-at-hickory-point/12531
Mr. Reader observed and experienced much of the Kansas Territorial conflict. He was a free-state sympathizer. The community centering at Indianola was largely proslavery. Mr. Reader was by nature a pacifist and for the most part avoided the clashes that often stirred the neighborhood. He became, however, a member of the Second Kansas State Militia and participated in the first day’s fight at Hickory Point. During the Civil War, in 1864 when the Price Raid threatened Kansas, he joined the Topeka contingent that was thrown into the defense. He was captured in the Battle of the Big Blue, but later escaped while being taken as a prisoner to Texas. This ended his military service, for after recovering from the effects of this experience he returned to the farm.
The battle of Hickory Point occurred on September 13 and 14, 1856, and was one of the many collisions between the free-state and proslavery forces. Gov. John W. Geary had just arrived in the territory, and had issued his proclamation ordering all armed forces to disband. Gen. James H. Lane was at or near Topeka and did not hear of the order to disperse. With a small party of men he was about to start out towards Holton when he was met by messengers from the neighborhood of Osawkie, who informed him that proslavery men were committing outrages in the vicinity, that Grasshopper Falls was burned, and that it was their intention to burn other freestate towns and drive the citizens from the country. Lane marched to Osawkie at once, where his force was recruited from the free-state settlers near there. Learning that a large party of proslavery men was at Hickory Point, Lane marched his men to that place. The proslavery men were under command of Capt. H. A. Lowe, and included about forty South Carolinians.
Hickory Point consisted of a few buildings on the Ft. Leavenworth-Ft. Riley military road and the Atchison-Topeka stage road. Its location was five and one-half miles north of the present Oskaloosa and about twenty-eight miles northeast of Topeka.
It’s the perfect project. I’m an adult advisor for our local high school’s “We The People” Constitutional Law debate team. I advise Unit 3, which deals with the 14th Amendment among other things.
Glad to see this. I was thinking the other day how much I missed the daily World War 2 threads.
I like the following and imagine things might be similar if we develop into a shooting war:
http://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-historical-quarterly-the-first-day-s-battle-at-hickory-point/12531
Toward night my uncle returned, and his first words were: “Sam, there is going to be a battle to-morrow — do you want to go with the Topeka boys?”
Boy like, I was only too eager to be off, but I met with strong opposition on the part of the women of the family. My sister was determined I should not go, and when all arguments failed she hid my gun. But I searched until I found it, and soon had my blanket, powderhorn and ammunition pouch gathered together.
Thanks!
And his conclusion may say it best:
As a private soldier I knew nothing of the plans and motives of our leaders. They were brave men and may have been able, but they certainly proved to be unfortunate. General Lane’s friends called him a clear-headed, heroic champion of our cause; his enemies the reverse. He was and still is, a puzzle. Perhaps there was no one who came in personal contact with him who was not swayed more or less by his subtle influence. Some of that influence lingers with me still, and there is a secret pleasure in the knowledge that I was one of “Jim Lane’s boys.”
But to a cool, dispassionate judgment this Hickory Point affair yields him little credit. It was a series of abortive attempts culminating in an unfortunate blunder that left Colonel Harvey to fight and suffer defeat alone. On the other hand, had Lane disregarded Governor Geary’s request and gained a victory at Hickory Point, would our cause have been advanced? The nation was seething, and a successful battle might have acted like a spark to a powder magazine, and precipitated our Civil War four years too soon. Most likely all was ordered for the best. For it was ballots and not bullets that finally freed Kansas from the threatened curse of African slavery.
Iowa Legislation in 1855
To give us further background. This was the one referendum passed in Iowa in 1855.
https://ballotpedia.org/Iowa_Liquor_Prohibition,_Referendum_1_(April_1855)
My understanding of history is that the 1830’s, 40’s, 50’s were very bad times, we were almost a cesspool regarding morals and virtue. This began a swing that took us too 1919 national prohibition then then the swing low again. Church Revivals began in the 30’s and 40’s.
Count me in Homer
Thanks for doing something important again. The WWII was incredible.
Bttt.
5.56mm
Count me in. My mothers family is from Kansas.
I’m in...
Ping!
Several of my abolitionist forebears went to Fort Scott, Kansas in the late 1850s, and died there. Actually, four adult members of the family died there in the same year. We've never really been able to track down exactly what they died from. There was a lot of violence taking place, but there were also some pretty nasty epidemics. We may never know.
It wasn’t much of a fight, but I’m sure that was the biggest thing that ever occurred in Hickory Point.
Thanks for including me, sir.
I’ve missed the daily war threads.
I think you’ve picked pretty much the perfect starting point dropping us down in the middle of the 1850s.
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