Transcribed from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Chicago : Lewis, 1918. 5 v. (lvi, 2731 p., [228] leaves of plates) : ill., maps (some fold.), ports. ; 27 cm.

1918 KANSAS AND KANSANS Chapter 30 Part 4

Dutch Henry had lived in Missouri before coming to the Indian country which was later to be Kansas. He first worked for John T. Jones. About 1842 he set up for himself at the point where the California Road from Southern Kansas and Southwest Missouri crossed Pottawatomie Creek.6 He engaged in the business of raising cattle and horses. He dealt much in cattle. Two brothers lived with him; Dutch Pete and Dutch Bill. They were all well known to the early settlers. Pete was simple minded, very nearly an idiot. He sometimes lived at a house some distance away. It was supposed at one time that quite a city would spring up at Dutch Henry's Crossing, which caused many of the first settlers of that region to select that point as a home. Dutch Henry kept a supply of whiskey to be sold to freighters, and, later to the early settlers. He was the leader of the Pro-Slavery element in that region. The Georgians camped to the southwest of the crossing, as we have seen. After their arrival the Pro-Slavery men in the neighborhood became bold and aggressive against the Free-State settlers.

An old gentleman named Morse kept a small store not far from Dutch Henry's house. He was a widower with a small child. One day, William Sherman, in the absence of his brother in Missouri, carried a rope to Morse's store to hang him. He was notified to leave by eleven o'clock, after the Ruffians had consented to spare his life. It was impossible for him to arrange his affairs in so short a time. Sherman returned at eleven o'clock and attempted to kill Morse with an axe, but relented at the pleadings and tears of his child. He was, however, warned to be gone by sundown and that there would be no farther trifling with him. If found there at that time he would be killed. The story of the outrageous conduct toward Morse was told by George Grant.7

The next morning, after the company had started to go to Lawrence, a number of these pro-slavery men, Wilkinson, Doyle, his two sons, and William Sherman, known as "Dutch Bill" - took a rope and were going to hang him [Morse] for selling the lead to the Free State men. They frightened the old man terribly; and finally told him he must leave the country before eleven o'clock, or they would hang him. They then left and went to the Shermans and went to drinking. About eleven o'clock a portion of them, half drunk, went back to Mr. Morse's and were going to kill him with an axe. His little boys - one was only nine years old - set up a violent crying, and begged for their father's life. They finally gave him until sundown to leave. He left everything and came at once to our house. He was nearly frightened to death. He came to our house carrying a blanket and leading his little boy by the hand. When night came he was so afraid that he would not stay in the house, but went out doors and slept on the prairie in the grass. For a few days he lay about in the brush, most of the time getting his meals at our house. He was then taken violently ill and died in a very short time. Dr. Gilpatrick attended him during his brief illness, and said that his death was directly caused by the fright and excitement of that terrible day when he was driven from his store.

Notices were given the Free-State settlers to leave in three days, threatening them with death if they refused. Weiner had been threatened. He had a claim at the head of Mosquito Creek, on which he had a residence and store building combined. Later, his house was burned, and his goods and business were destroyed.

A young woman, a wife of a Free-State man had been threatened by the Pro-Slavery men with death. One of them said to her, "I will cut your head off so quick that you will see your own heart's blood."

Allen Wilkinson was the postmaster. The postoffice was called Shermansville. He had been elected to the bogus Legislature by Missourians, and was active in the enactment of the bogus laws.

Mr. Villard in discussing the causes of the Pottawatomie murders has this to say:

The stories of Bondi, Weiner, Benjamin and Townsley all had their effect upon the Browns. According to Horace Haskell Day, son of Orson Day, when his father went to Weiner's store, which was just one and a half miles from the Doyles' cabin, he found a notice up that all Free State men must get off the creek within thirty days, or have their throats cut. Weiner said to Mr. Day: "We ought to cut their throats." Mr. Day not consenting, Weiner said: "That is the way we serve them in Texas," - from which place he had come. Orson Day being a brother-in-law of John Brown and residing directly opposite John Brown, Jr., it would have been easy for him to repeat this happening to his relatives. There are witnesses like Mr. M. V. B. Jackson, who heard from Weiner, Bondi and Townsley direct the threats made against them. Mr. Jackson testifies that three days was the time of grace allowed to Weiner, Benjamin and Bondi, at the expiration of which they were to leave under pain of lynch law. "I know," he has affirmed, "that there was a reign of terror, of which the men who were killed were the authors; and I am surprised that any one should believe that the killing of these men was without reasonable excuse."

There is no doubt but the general conditions existing in the Territory had much to do with John Brown's action. What he and his sons had heard in the Georgian camp also had an influence. The fact that Judge Cato had issued warrants against Free-State settlers about Osawatomie and Dutch Henry's Crossing must also be considered. That these warrants were in the hands of the Doyles, deputy constables, to be served, must be remembered. The fact that many Free-State men had been murdered in the Territory, and that Lawrence had been sacked, and that there was every reason to believe that the Border-Ruffians would continue their course toward the Free-State settlers of Kansas, must have had weight. In the first accounts written of Kansas Territory will be found many things which it is not possible to set out in this work. In the light of later research a good portion of what is there stated has been disproven.

The question as to whether any of the Free-State leaders were involved in John Brown's course on the Pottawatomie, is another which has brought out much discussion. On this point the letter of Samuel C. Pomeroy is given for what it may prove to be worth.

I am waiting here quietly to see the progress of Mason's "Investigating Committee." They have declined to summon me - or any other man, who dare under oath, defend John Brown!! I don't care what are the consequences to me politically, I will, upon the first occasion, at the Capitol of this country - defend that old man who offered up himself gloriously - from the charge or crime of murder! No blow had been struck by anyone of us - up to May 21st, 1856. I was in command as Chairman of the "Committee of Public Safety," at Lawrence, upon that memorable occasion.

I insisted - though our Town was threatened with destruction - and the invading army was then within 12 miles of Town and numbered over 1200 men - well armed - that we should give the Government a fair opportunity to protect us. And to this end I applied to those in authority. But in the course of that day I found that the Government was yielded to the "border Ruffians." - I still insisted (though against the earnest appeal of John Brown & his men) that the government should commit the first overt act. And I told them, then and there, that so soon as I could demonstrate before this Country that the Government was powerless for protection, Then I was with them, for taking care of ourselves! So we stood still, upon that day and saw our Presses & buildings madly destroyed. The few monuments of our civilization which had been hastily erected, were strewn to the winds, or consumed in the flames!

Upon the morning of the 22nd of May we called a little meeting - of sad but earnest men. Taking each other by the hand we convenanted, each with the other, that what there was left to us in this life, and if need be, all we hoped for in the life to come, should now be offered up, to the FREEDOM OF KANSAS, and the country.

A poorly written badly spelled note, passed round that meeting that Doyl, Wilkinson, Sherman, and others upon the Pottawatomie Creek, had insulted the females of one family, whose head was then present, and warned others under pain of death to leave the Territory by the 25th Inst., that very week! What could I say? Or do? I had withheld our impatient men, until before us lay the smoking ruins of the home we loved the best, of any spot upon earth.

You know what was said and "did." As the Government afforded no protection to us, even when we placed ourselves under its special protection, it was then and there Resolved - that every man be [we?] met that invaded or threatened our lives, or homes, or our families & friends, should without delay of law or courts, or officers, be driven to Missouri or to death!!

We separated that morning, each to the great work of life, viz., to do his duty - to himself - to his country & to his God. John Brown did not personly go the whole distance with the party that went down upon the Pottawatomy creek. But he approved of the course decided upon for action. - and So DID I! And I am not now going to repudiate old Brown, or to shrink from the responsibility!

He did not commit the "murders" as they are called, but we all then endorsed them, - and from that hour the invaders fled. That one act struck terror into the hearts of our enemies, and gave us the dawning of success! Those deaths I have no doubt saved a multitude of lives, and was the cheapest sacrifice that could be offered!

The murders were generally approved by the Free-State people. Governor Robinson found nothing wrong in them until after the year 1879. He likened John Brown to Jesus Christ, and said that the blow on the Pottawatomie was a great service to the Free-State cause. It was only when the question as to who made Kansas came up at the Old Settlers Meeting, held at Lawrence, September 15 and 16,1879, was the value and help of the Pottawatomie murders questioned. In order to exalt himself and Eli Thayer, Robinson employed G. W. Brown, formerly editor of the Herald of Freedom to attack John Brown and his course in Kansas. It was his theory that if general condemnation could be heaped upon John Brown's memory, as well as upon that of James H. Lane, that there would be no other person left to have made Kansas than Robinson and Thayer. That is the basis of all the controversial writing on this subject. The campaign inaugurated against the memory of John Brown at that time had its culmination in a work written by Hill P. Wilson, some mention of which may be seen on page 426, Volume 13, Kansas Historical Collections. Such attacks have never yet affected the verdict rendered by posterity in favor of any great historial character. Their failure in this instance has been notable. The fame of John Brown has constantly increased and will continue to do so.

The same may be said of the fame of James H. Lane. The people of Kansas are becoming more and more appreciative of his great service.

The excuse made by Governor Robinson - that he did not know that John Brown had lead the party that killed the Ruffians at Dutch Henry's Crossing until after Townsley made his first confession - cannot be accepted. It was well known at once who led the band. A courier burst into the camp on Ottawa Creek the next day, so Jason Brown says, crying out that Old John Brown had killed five men on the Pottawatomie. This company was not surprised, for John Brown had told the members of it that he intended to slay these men when he left camp. Full accounts of the murders were published in the Report of the Investigating Committee that same year, 1856. That work was widely distributed in Kansas and read by all. John Brown never denied that he was the leader of that party. H. Clay Pate led a Border-Ruffian force into Kansas to capture John Brown for the Pottawatomie killing. Brown captured him at Black Jack. Governor Robinson did know that John Brown was the leader of the men who killed the five Ruffians on the Pottawatomie. He endorsed the murders fully and unqualifiedly then and long afterwards.

"I never had much doubt that Capt. Brown was the author of the blow at Pottawatomie, £or the reason that he was the only man who comprehended the situation, and saw the absolute necessity of some such blow and had the nerve to strike it," wrote Governor Charles Robinson, February 5, 1878, nearly two years before Townsley's confession was published.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, in his "Cheerful Yesterdays," states:

In regard to the most extreme act of John Brown's Kansas career, the so-called "Pottawatomie massacre" of May 24, 1856, I can testify that in September of that year, there appeared to be but one way of thinking among the Kansas Free State men. . . I heard of no one who did not approve of the act, and its beneficial effects were universally asserted - Governor Robinson himself fully endorsing it to me. . . .

The Pottawatomie murders affected both the Free-State and Pro-Slavery interests in Kansas Territory. Many of the Pro-Slavery people left the Pottawatomie country and fled to Missouri. Some of them never returned. On the other hand, bands of the Border-Ruffians recently at Lawrence, spread over the Territory and committed many outrages. But the Free-State emigrants continued to come in ever increasing numbers.

The people in the vicinity of Dutch Henry's Crossing met on the 28th of May and adopted resolutions condemning the murders. The fact that H. H. Williams was Secretary of this meeting is conclusive proof that these resolutions were passed for the purpose of warding off the wrath of the Border-Ruffians who might desire to be revenged on the Free-State settlers for the acts of Brown's company. Even the Border-Ruffians understood that. The Free-State people all over the Territory approved the act.

WHEREAS, An outrage of the darkest and foulest nature has been committed in our midst by some midnight assassins unknown, who have taken five of our citizens at the hour of midnight from their homes and families, and murdered and mangled them in the most awful manner; to prevent a repetition of these deeds, we deem it necessary to adopt some measures for our mutual protection and to aid and assist in bringing these desperadoes to justice. Under these circumstances we propose to act up to the following resolutions:

Resolved, That we will from this time lay aside all sectional and political feelings and act together as men of reason and common sense, determined to oppose all men who are so ultra in their views as to denounce men of opposite opinion.

Resolved, That we will repudiate and discountenance all organized bands of men who leave their homes for the avowed purpose of exciting others to acts of violence, believing it to be the duty of all good disposed citizens to stay at home during these exciting times and protect and if possible restore the peace and harmony of the neighborhood; furthermore we will discountenance all armed bodies of men who may come amongst us from any other part of the Territory or from the States unless said parties shall come under the authority of the United States.

Resolved, That we pledge ourselves, individually and collectively, to prevent a recurrence of a similar tragedy and to ferret out and hand over to the criminal authorities the perpetrators for punishment.

H. H. Williams,
Secretary.		 C. H. PRICE, President
R. GOLDING, Chairman
R. GILPATRICK
W. C. McDOW
S. V. VANDAMAN
A CASTELE
JOHN BLUNT 		Committee.

Andreas, when writing his History of Kansas, gathered much concerning this matter. An extract is made from that great work, taken from page 604, - Franklin County:

There can be no doubt that old John Brown was the leader of the party that committed the Pottawatomie massacre. That he, with his own hand, shot James P. Doyle seems almost equally well established. James Townsley has emphatically testified to it over and over again. Brown habitually carried a revolver, and was too brave and consistent a man to influence other men, especially his own sons, to do what he would not do himself. He believed it was a step necessary to prevent a similar massacre of the Free-state settlers by their Pro-slavery neighbors, and that it was only a question as to who should strike the first blow. At the time the blow was struck opinion was divided even among the Free-state men as to its necessity, but as time has passed the numbers of those living in the immediate neighborhood who approve of it has increased.

The question as to whether it was justifiable depends primarily on its necessity. And its necessity depends on whether there was a conspiracy among the Pro-slavery settlers to massacre the Free-state men.

James Townsley says that George Wilson, whom Brown hoped to find and kill at Dutch Henry's, "had been notifying Free-State men to leave the Territory. He had received such a notice from him himself."

Judge Hanway, in the same letter from which we have already quoted says: "I was personally acquainted with the Doyles, Wilkinson and Sherman and am fully satisfied, as everybody else is, who lived on the creek in 1856, that a base conspiracy was on foot to drive out, burn and kill; in a word, the Pottawatomie Creek from its mouth to its fountain head was to be cleared of every man, woman and child who was for Kansas being a free State!"

I will give one item which has never been published. When the party called at the house of the Shermans, Mrs. Harris, who was living there, commenced getting breakfast, believing the party that had arrived were friends who were expected from Missouri to carry out the Border Ruffian plan of clearing the creek of Abolitionists. This important fact alone is evidence that John Brown was correct in his predictions. This evidence came through a moderate Pro-slavery man, who was astonished to learn that such a plan was under consideration:

"Threats were made to various persons: 'Squire Morse, John Grant and his family, Mr. Winer and others.

"Old John Brown was at my house at various times in 1858. He asked me how the people on the creek regarded the killing of Sherman and the others at that time. My remark was that 'I did not know of a settler of '56 but what regarded it as amongst the most fortunate events in the history of Kansas - that this event saved the lives of the Free-State men on the creek - that those who did the act were looked upon as deliverers.'

"The old man said, 'The first shock frightened the Free-state men almost as much as the ruffians, but I knew that when the facts were understood a reaction would take place. If the killing of these men was murder, then I was an accessory.' The remark did not surprise me, because I had heard his brother-in-law, Rev. S. L. Adair, say that the old man had said the same to him.

"Take in connection the fact of John Brown running into the Border Ruffian camp with his surveying instruments, and there hearing the plans on foot to drive out or exterminate the settlers on the creek, and I think we have sufficient reason to believe that our lives were in danger, and that John Brown and his little band saved us from premature graves."

6

"GREELEY, KANSAS, JAN. 5th, 1909.

"W. E. Connelley,
"Topeka, Kans.

"Dear Sir:

"Yours of the 3rd received and in reply would say that in the fall of 1854 I settled near the Dutch Henry Crossing and got acquainted with the Shermans Brothers - They were the only settlers then in this part of the country - and they had been living there for twelve years - They were farming some land and had a fine herd of cattle and Horses running on the range.

"They were living in a log house just across the little Branch about one half mile east from the crossing on the South side of the creek - and this is the house that I think William Sherman was taken from the night that he was killed."

( Signed ) J. N. BAKER.

7 Baker gives an account of another outrage on Morse, perpetrated by the Doyles:

"In the spring and summer of 1855 Emigration began coming in and there was quite a Settlement along the creek - and in 1857 there was quite a large Emegration and some town had been laid oute - the little Town at the crossing had been laid oute and named Shermanville a man by the name of Morss had opened up a store in a little log cabbin and it was in this Store that the Doyles Brothers went and got in some truble with the old man becuse he refused to loan them his shot gun so they got very mad and abused and threatened him in a very rough manner and finly told him that he must leave the country and that they would only give him five days to get oute. But before the five days was up they left the country and the Old Man did not."

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A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans , written and compiled by William E. Connelley, transcribed by Carolyn Ward, 1998.

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