Baxter Springs Cemetery, Baxter Springs, Kansas
THIS MONTH IN THE CIVIL WAR IN KANSAS
INFORMATION FROM "THE ANNALS OF KANSAS" BY DANIEL W. WILDER
PUBLISHED IN 1875
JULY
1861
JULY 2.-- Treaty between the United States and the Delawares. Delaware lands pledged by the Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western R.R. Co. to secure its bonds.
JULY.-- Surveyor General's office removed from Nebraska City to Leavenworth.
JULY 4.-- The printers in the First and Second regiments issue a paper from a Rebel office, in Clinton, Mo.
JULY 7.-- The Kansas troops, under Sturgis, meet Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, at Grand River.
JULY 9.-- Gen Fremont in command of the Western Department, at St. Louis.
JULY 12.-- Organization of the Fifth Kansas begins.
JULY 12.-- Senator Foot, of Vermont, presents the credentials of Frederick P. Stanton, from Gov. Robinson, as Senator from Kansas, in place of Lane. They are referred to the Judiciary Committee, after a statement from Lane that "this looks like an attempt to bury a man before he is dead." Stanton was appointed because Lane had accepted a commission as Brigadier General.
JULY 14.-- O. E. Learnard, of the Fifth District, having resigned, Gov. Robinson appoints Robert M. Ruggles, of Emporia, Judge of that district.
JULY 15.-- M. S. Adams, C. S. Lambdin, and Charles Starns, Commissioners to determine the location of the Penitentiary, take the oath of office, at Leavenworth. They bought a site in that county, November 25th.
JULY 18.-- The first Overland coach arrives; seventeen days from San Francisco.
JULY 21.--Panic and retreat of the Union away from the Bull Run battlefield.
JULY 24.-- Organization of the First Battery.
JULY 25.-- By the vote of a Union meeting in Leavenworth, business houses close in time every day to allow all citizens time to drill.
1862
JULY 1.-- Incorporation by Congress of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. The following is a summary of the law---chapter 120 of the U. S. Statutes:
"3. There is granted to the Company every alternate section of public land, designated by the odd numbers, to the amount of five alternate sections per mile on each side of said railroad, on the line thereof, and with the limits of ten miles on each side not sold, reserved, or otherwise disposed of by the United States, and to which a pre-emption of homestead claim may not have attached, at the time the line of said road is definitely fixed.
"5. When 40 miles are finished, the Secretary of the Treasury shall issue to said Company bonds of the United States of $1,000 each, payable in thirty years, bearing six per cent, interest (payable semi-annually), which the United States Treasury notes, or any other money or currency which the United States have or shall declare lawful money and a legal tender, to the amount of sixteen bonds per mile for each section of forty miles; and to secure the repayment to the United States, all such bonds constitute a first mortgage in favor of the United States.
"8, 9. The Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad Company of Kansas are authorized to construct a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river, at the mouth of the Kansas, to connect with the Pacific Railroad of Missouri, to the one hundredth meridian of longitude, upon the same terms and conditions as provided for the construction of the Pacific Railroad, and to meet and connect with the same at the meridian aforesaid; and said railroad through Kansas shall be so located that the several roads from Missouri and Iowa, authorized to connect with the same, can make connexion within the limits prescribed in this act, provided the same can be done without deviating from the general direction of the Pacific coast.
"10. The Kansas Company shall complete 100 miles of road in two years, and 100 miles a year thereafter; the California Company 50 miles in two years, and 50 miles a year thereafter; and after either or both companies have finished their own roads, they may unite on equal terms in the construction of the main line. The same is permitted to the Hannibal and St. Joseph, and the Pacific Railroad Company of Missouri, so far as to assist the Kansas Company to construct the Leavenworth branch.
"13. The Hannibal and St. Joseph Company may extend their road via Atchison, to unite with the road through Kansas; and the Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad Company may construct their road from Leavenworth to unite with the road through Kansas."
By the act there is to be a continuous railroad ready for use, from the Missouri to the Sacramento, by July 1, 1876.
JULY 2.-- Passage of the act giving lands for Agricultural Colleges. It is chapter 130 of the U.S. Statutes, and is thus summarized:
"Public lands (not mineral), not exceeding 30,000 acres for each Senator and Representative in Congress, are apportioned to the several States; the proceeds of the sale of such lands shall be invested in stocks of the United States, or of the States, or some other safe stocks, yielding not less than five per cent; and the moneys so invested shall constitute a perpetual fund, the capital of which shall remain forever undiminished, and the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated, by such State which may take and claim the benefit of this act in the endowment, support and maintenance of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the Legislatures of the States may respectfully prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life."
JULY 15.-- The Bourbon County Monitor issued at Marmaton by D. B. Emmert.
JULY 23.-- Ex-Governor Reeder visits Kansas.
1863
JULY 1.-- Col. James M. Williams, of the First Kansas Colored, 800 strong, and 500 Indians, has a fight at Cabin creek with a force of Texans and Indians under Stand Waitie. Complete Union victory.
JULY 3.-- Final battle of Gettysburg; retreat of Lee.
JULY 4.-- Surrender of Vicksburg. The rebellion reaches its climax.
JULY 8.-- The Mississippi opened.
-- James McCahon and A. R. Banks made Provost Marshals of Kansas; Ed. Russell and A. J. Shannon, Commissioners.
JULY 12.-- John Morgan's raid in Ohio.
JULY 13.-- Great draft riot in New York.
JULY 17.-- Blunt gains victory over Cooper, at Honey Springs, south of the Arkansas, in the Indian Territory.
JULY 27.-- Organization of the Agricultural College; the first term to begin September 2.
1864
JULY 1.-- Act of Congress (chapter 198, U. S. Stats.) giving alternate section of land designated by odd numbers, for ten sections in width on each side of the road for a railroad and telegraph from Emporia, via Council Grove, to Fort Riley. The Wakarusa branch road is changed to run from Lawrence to Emporia, and is to receive the same grant made by the act of March 3, 1863. The Leavenworth, Lawrence & Ohio City road is required to run via Baldwin City.
JULY 2.-- The following is copied from the act of Congress (chapter 216, U. S. Stats.) relating to Pacific railroads:
"SEC. 9. . . And provided further, That any company authorized by this act to construct its road and telegraph from the Missouri river to the initial point aforesaid, may construct its road and telegraph line so as to connect with the Union Pacific Railroad at any point westwardly of such initial point, in case such company shall deem such westward connexion more practicable or desirable; and in aid of the construction of so much of its road and telegraph line as shall be a departure from the route hereinbefore provided for its road, such company shall be entitled to all the benefits, and be subject to all the conditions and restrictions of this act: Prodded further, however, That the bonds of the United States shall not be issued to such company for a greater amount than is hereinbefore provided, if the same had united with the Union Pacific Railroad on the 100th degree of longitude; nor shall such company be entitled to receive any greater amount of alternate sections of public lands than are also herein provided.
"SEC. 12 And be it further enacted, That the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western Railroad Company, now known as the Union Pacific Railroad Company, Eastern Division, shall build the railroad from the mouth of the Kansas river, by way of Leavenworth; or. if that be not deemed the best route, then the said Company shall, within two years, build a railroad from the city of Leavenworth to unite with the main stem at or near the city of Lawrence; but to aid in the construction of said branch the said Company shall not be entitled to any bonds. And if the Union Pacific Railroad Company shall not be proceeding in good faith to build the said railroad through the Territories when the Leavenworth, Pawnee A Western Railroad Company, now known as the Union Pacific Railroad Company, Eastern Division, shall have completed their road to the 100th degree of longitude, then the last-named Company may proceed to make said road westward until it meets and connects with the Central Pacific Railroad on the same line. And the said railroad from the mouth of Kansas river to the one hundredth meridian of longitude shall be made by the way of Lawrence and Topeka, or on the bank of the Kansas river opposite said towns: Provided, That no bonds shall be issued or land certified by the United States to any person or company for the construction of any part of the main trunk-line of said railroad west of the one hundredth meridian of longitude and east of the Rocky Mountains, until said road shall be completed from or near Omaha, on the Missouri river, to the said one hundredth meridian of longitude."
JULY 2.- Report that Colonel Dan McCook, formerly of the First Kansas, is fatally wounded.
-- Captain William D. Mathews begins to raise a Colored Battery.
-- General Curtis authorized to raise a regiment of Hundred Days Men- It was called the Seventeenth.
-- Gold quoted 276.
JULY 24.- Indian raids on Cow Creek and Fort Larned; stock and wagons stolen.
JULY 27.-- Samuel Hallett killed at Wyandotte. He was building the Pacific Railroad.
-- General Curtis in the Arkansas Valley, in southwestern Kansas, established posts to protect the Santa Fe mail route.
JULY 27.--
"General Gano with 1,500 Rebels, surprised an outpost of Fort Smith, held by Captain Mufford, with 200 of the Fifth Kansas, whom he captured, with 82 of his men, after we lost 10 killed, 15 wounded, to 12 killed, 20 wounded, of the enemy. Gano, of course, got away before he could be reached from Fort Smith."--Greeley's Conflict, vol. II, p. 555.
