LIFE OF
GEORGE R. SMITH
FOUNDER OF SEDALIA, MO.IN ITS RELATIONS TO THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC,
AND
SOCIAL LIFE OF SOUTHWESTERN MISSOURI,
BEFORE AND DURING THE CIVIL
WAR
By SAMUEL BANNISTER HARDING, Ph.D.
Junior Professor of History in Indiana University
SEDALIA, MO.
PRIVATELY PRINTED
1904
COPYRIGHT, 1904,
BY MRS. M. E. SMITH AND MRS. S. E. COTTON
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THE UNION MEN OF THE SOUTH
This Book is
Dedicated
By the Daughters of One of their Number
In honor of those heroes who,
in the hour of the Nation's
peril, rose above the influence of environment
and
lineage, and were true to their national duty
PREFACE
The preparation of this work was undertaken by the author at the request of Mrs. M. E. Smith and Mrs. S. E. Cotton, daughters of General Smith. What value it has as a picture of the community and times with which it deals is largely due to the loving insight and literary skill with which they have set down their own memories of those vanished days, and to the patient care with which, during more than a score of years, they have preserved and accumulated materials for this biography. "This object," wrote Mrs. Smith, "has been constantly in our hearts since our father's death. When an edifice is built, the corner-stone that lies hidden in the darkness is equally important with the spire that pierces the heavens; so also with the structure of the society and government of a community, with the culture of a people, with the Christian manhood of its citizens. Whatever humble part his life contributed, we desire to record,—plainly, for we can do it in no other way; truthfully, for he would scorn any other." This is the spirit in which the book was conceived, and this is the spirit in which page: viii[View Page viii] it has been executed. It is hoped that the result will be found not merely a monument of filial piety, but a history of some value as a record of the growth and action of American life and character amid scenes that have now passed away.
That this hope is not wholly unwarranted, is evidenced by the testimony of competent authorities. In a letter dated September 18, 1894, the perusal of which had much to do with the present author's undertaking his task, Dr. Edward Everett Hale wrote: "Say to any gentleman whom you see, that I have looked over these papers with much interest. Say that I was myself engaged in the affairs of the Emigrant Aid Company in Kansas before the war, so that I knew already something of the very remarkable circumstances which surrounded your father's life. Say that, if I were twenty-five years younger, I should certainly undertake such a book as you propose myself, and that I consider that there are materials here for preparing a very instructive and entertaining chapter of American history, which ought to be written."
Judge Albion W. Tourg6e, after looking through the papers collected for this biography, wrote October 21, 1894: "I want to thank you for introducing me to your father, his struggles and his time. . . . It is a fine, strong, unique life, cast in a mold of page: ix[View Page ix] circumstance as rare and exceptional as itself. I am glad of these things,—first, that it was strong and rough; second, that it was bloodless; third, that he was not a political success; fourth that he was good enough to be admirable, and not good enough to awaken doubt as to his verity. I like men; I am not fond of marvels."
Under date of February 8, 1901, after having examined the manuscript of this biography, Dr. Hale wrote again: "I am much more interested in the memorial than I could have thought possible. The ground which it covers seems to me of great importance, and I am glad that Mr. Harding has not shirked the extreme difficulty of working out the early chapters. . . . He has made what seems to me a very valuable contribution to the history of our country, on lines which historians generally shirk."
And Mr. Frank B. Sanborn, after reading carefully this manuscript, wrote March 15, 1901: "I agree with those ladies that it is every way desirable 'that each locality should have its history written, especially in its development from embryonic conditions'; and it is this feature of the book, after its illustrations of a heroic but practical character, which is specially to be praised. Few of this century can appreciate the state of society that page: x[View Page x] existed even in the older States seventy-five years ago; and still fewer can understand the primitive conditions under which Jefferson's grand acquisition of unlimited Louisiana was added to the realm of civilization. This volume gives details of that condition, and carries along the story of the process, up to the end of the century in which Jefferson's ever-germinating influence more and more prevailed. . . . The tragedy at which our generation, and that earlier one of General Smith assisted, culminated in the renascence, not the fall, of a glorious State, and this glorious Missourian had no small share in the new birth of Liberty, east and west of the great rivers in Jefferson's Louisiana. The political vicissitudes that preceded our Revolution of 1861—no less important for the cause of Freedom than the Revolution of 1775—are in this volume dwelt upon with more detail than might seem necessary to a New England reader. But considering how little is known by us of the critical struggle in Missouri through 1861 and the years immediately preceding, and how partial and misleading is the story told by Lucien Carr in his Missouri and by Leverett Spring in his Kansas,— both volumes in the 'American Commonwealth Series,'—these tell-tale letters and speeches will not be thought too much."
page: xi[View Page xi]In conclusion the author wishes, in his own behalf and that of General Smith's daughters, to make acknowledgment of favors received from the Public and Mercantile Libraries of St. Louis, from the Adjutant-General's office at Jefferson City, and from the Hon. A. A. Lesuer, Secretary of State of Missouri, who furnished him with copies of several journals of the General Assembly and of the Constitutional Convention of 1861. Many of the materials used in this biography were collected by the late Mr. Bacon Montgomery, and Mr. I. Mac. Demuth, both of Sedalia; and a number of General Smith's former friends and associates furnished sketches or information for this work. Finally, public thanks should be returned to Dr. Hale and to Judge Tourgee for suggestions and advice generously given Mesdames Smith and Cotton, and to Mr. F. B. Sanborn for a helpful revision of the manuscript.
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA,
November 5, 1904.
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