Comparison between slave records may provide an interesting study on the value of human property and the fluctuation of slave trade as the Civil War progressed. Researchers are encouraged to consult other slave records located in the Community & Conflict collection.

Contributed by the The History Museum for Springfield-Greene County

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The Cass Township Slave schedule cites the number of slaves and slave owners residing in the Greene County Township in 1863. This unique record provides a census of slavery in the middle of the Civil War. A Federal slave schedule was completed in 1860, providing a census of slaves and slave owners before the War. The emancipation of slaves prevented a post-war slave schedule from being completed. The historic value of this document resides in its comparison with the 1860 schedule and other slavery documents from Greene County. Through this comparison, researchers may draw conclusions about the impact the war, the Emancipation Proclamation and other events possibly had on number of slave owners and slaves in Greene County, Missouri.

Contributed by the Greene County Archives and Records Center

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RESOLVED by the National Committee and Council, that all free negroes coming into the Cherokee Nation, under any pretense whatsoever, shall be viewed and treated, in every respect, as intruders, and shall not be allowed to reside in the Cherokee Nation without a permit from the National Committee and Council.1

When the Civil War began in 1861, the Cherokee Nation found itself with divided sentiment. Leader of the National Party, John Ross, supported strict neutrality. While the Old Ridge party, led by Stand Watie declared support for the Confederacy.2 In July 1861, Watie organized the First Cherokee Mounted Rifles near Fort Wayne and he was promoted to Colonel. He took command of his companies and departed for Missouri to join the Confederate war effort. Over the summer the Confederacy secured victories at the Battles of Bulls Run and Wilson’s Creek, which perhaps persuaded further support for the Confederacy. Towards the end of August the Cherokee Executive Council met and elected to join the Confederacy. On October 7, 1861 the Cherokee Nation signed a treaty with the Confederacy at Tahlequah. The tribe dissolved all treaties with the Federal Government, and later the Chicksaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole tribes also gave their allegiance to the Confederacy.

After the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Prairie Grove on December 7, 1862 the Union Army moved into Indian Territory. Union and Native American troops burned the Confederate Command Post at Fort Davis forcing Confederate army to retreat south. On February 20, 1863 the Cherokee tribe called an emergency session of the National Council at Cow Skin Prairie and revoked the treaty with the Confederacy. They pledged their allegiance to the Union, removed all Confederates from office, emancipated slavery and reaffirmed Ross as the Principal Chief.3 The Union army took control over Fort Gibson in April 1863, and began fighting Confederate Indian raiding parties over control of the territory. Brig. General Stand Watie was the last Confederate General to surrender during the War. He finally signed a peace treaty at Doaksville, Indian Territory on June 23, 1865.

After the War, the Cherokee Nation signed a reconstruction treaty on July 19, 1866 which stated,

The Cherokee Nation having, voluntarily, in February, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, by an act of the National Council, forever abolished slavery, hereby covenant and agree that never hereafter shall either slavery or involuntary servitude exist in their Nation… They further agree that all freedmen who have been liberated by voluntary act of their former owners, or by law, as well as all free colored persons who were in the country at the commencement of the rebellion, and are now residents therein, or who may return within six months, and their descendants, shall have all the rights of native Cherokees.4

The Act to Define the Status of Freedmen and their Descendants, written after 1880, sought to establish the rights and privileges of African Americans within the Cherokee Nation. The document defined freedmen as those who resided in the Cherokee Nation at the commencement of the American Civil War, those who were at that time slaves of any Cherokee or other citizen, those who were liberated by voluntary act or by law, and those who had not return to the Cherokee country within the time specified within the Treaty of 1866. These men became adopted citizens of the Cherokee Nation, and were granted the corresponding rights and privileges as adopted citizens.

they are hereby Entitled to all the rights and amunities of adopted Citizens of the Cherokee Nation, as here in after defined. That no distinction of rights or privileges shall be deemed to exist between the Colored Citizens of the Cherokee Nation by operation of art 9 of the treaty of 1866 and those who are made citizens by the operations of the preceding section of this act

-Act to Define the Status of Freedmen and their Descendants

The legal status and rights of Cherokee Freedmen has been an ongoing political and tribal dispute since 1866. The Freedmen and their descendants were considered Cherokee citizens until the early 1980s, when the Cherokee Nation’s administration stripped them of voting rights and citizenship for more than two decades. In March 2006, the Cherokee Nation’s courts ruled that the descendants of the Cherokee Freedmen were allowed to register and become enrolled citizens of the Cherokee Nation. However, Principal Chief Chad “Corntassel” Smith, one of the most vocal opponents of the Freedmen’s citizenship, wanted to amend the constitution to exclude their citizenship entirely. After circulating a petition, Chief Smith called an emergency election to settle the issue. As a result, the descendants of Freedmen were stripped of their citizenship, but they have continued to press for recognition within Cherokee Nation.5

Contributed by the University of Tulsa Special Collections and University Archives

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1. J.B. Davis, “Slavery in the Cherokee Nation,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. 11, No. 4, December, 1933, Oklahoma Historical Society, accessed October 20, 2010, pg 1064 http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v011/v011p1056.html.
2. James Mooney, History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees (Fairview, NC: Bright Mountain Books, Inc, 1992), pg 148.
3. http://www.cherokee.org/Culture/71/Page/default.aspx
4. J.B. Davis, “Slavery in the Cherokee Nation,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. 11, No. 4, December, 1933, Oklahoma Historical Society, accessed October 20, 2010, pg1071 http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v011/v011p1056.html.
5. “Putting to a Vote the Question ‘Who Is Cherokee?’,” The New York Times, March 3, 2007.

John Polk Campbell was one of the first pioneers of European ancestry to settle in present day Springfield, Missouri. The Campbell family was instrumental in the establishment of Springfield and Greene County. As Springfield grew, so did the Campbell’s prosperity. On August 11, 1851, John created his last will and testament, bequeathing all of his “property, real & personal, monies and effects” to Louisa T. Campbell, his “dearly beloved wife.”1 With Springfield firmly established, John began to explore southward into Indian Territory and Texas. He eventually died on May 28, 1852 in Oil Springs, Cherokee Nation.2

After John’s death, Louisa attempted to secure his property and entered into a dispute over a mulatto girl named Margaret with Samuel Sproul. Louisa claimed Sproul wrongfully and unjustly detained the girl, even though she was rightfully left to Louisa through John’s will. Sproul responded that he had been the girl’s true owner since 1850, as she was a gift from John Polk Campbell to him and his wife, Mary. Mary Frances Sproul was the second daughter of John and Louisa, and was the first Caucasian female to be born in present day Springfield. Mary and Samuel lived in Greenfield and had no children.

The family unsuccessfully tried to settle the disagreement outside of the court system. In June 1855, Leonidas Campbell, John and Louisa’s son, visited his sister’s home and demanded they turn over the slave. Samuel refused, so Leonidas kidnapped her. He grabbed Margaret and rode back towards Springfield with her on the back of his horse. Samuel chased after Leonidas, and was able to reclaim Margaret and brought her back to his home.

Unable to settle the dispute, Louisa sued Samuel for $1,000 in damages and custody of the girl. On March 11, 1856, the court authorized Louisa T. Campbell to “collect and secure all and singular the goods & chattels rights and credits which were of the said John P. Campbell at the time of his death in whomsever hand and possession the same may be found….” This disagreement over Magaret did not split the Campbell family, but this case represents the circumstances many civilians faced before the Civil War. Rivalry over property, debt, murder and other preexisting issues often fueled feelings of revenge and hatred causing the Civil War to become even more personal and violent then it was already destine to become.

Contributed by the Greene County Archives and Records Center

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1. John Polk Campbell Will, 11 August 1851, Campbell vs. Sproul, 1855. African America Circuit Court, Folder 10. Greene County Archives and Records Center, Springfield, Missouri.
2. “Lucy M’Cammon’s Home, Built in 1851, Holds Memories of Civil War Visitors” in The Springfield Leader, 3 June 1932, pg 15.

John Polk Campbell was one of the first pioneers of European ancestry to settle in present day Springfield, Missouri; however, there are discrepancies among the historical records indicating the exact year Campbell ventured into the area. Some historians believe Campbell did not come until 1829 or 1830, while family records indicate he came to southwest Missouri as early as 1825. John Polk Campbell was the fifth child of John Campbell and Matilda Golden Polk. John Polk was born in North Carolina in 1804, and his family moved to Tennessee when he was three years old. When the Campbell boys reached adulthood, they wanted land of their own, and explored outside of well settled Maury County, Tennessee.

In 1825 my grandfather, John Polk Campbell with his brother, Madison, a cousin, and several other young men, went on a prospecting trip to Southwest Missouri, a country then peopled by the Kickapoo and Cherokee Indians.

Louisa (Lulu) Cheairs McKenny Sheppard – A Confederate Girlhood

The settlers encountered a tribe of Kickapoo Indians encamped along the James River. A young boy from the tribe was gravely ill, and John Polk offered to assist with his recovery. He gave the boy simple herbs which eventually lifted the boy’s fever and brought him back to full health. The Kickapoo Chieftain gave John Polk a tract of land to the north of their village near a large spring as a token of his gratitude. According to Lulu, granddaughter of John Polk and Louisa Campbell, John Polk built a small log cabin near the spring and began a small farm.

In 1827, John Polk returned to Tennessee and married Louisa Terrell Cheairs on May 28.1 John and Louisa traveled to Missouri, but lived there for only a short period as Louisa became pregnant with the couple’s first child. John and Louisa questioned giving birth in the rural regions of southwest Missouri, and returned to Tennessee for the birth of Talitha Caroline. According to the family, John Polk left his wife and child in Tennessee and returned to Missouri. In October 1829, John returned to his family to escort them back to their new home.

Before John Polk left Missouri, he hired two men to clear timber for construction of a larger cabin near the spring. He carved his initials into an ash tree to mark the land and location of the new cabin. On his way to Tennessee he stopped at William Fulbright’s house in Rolla. Fulbright and John Polk were friends from Tennessee, and John told him about the ample springs and land in the southwest region of the state. John continued on to Tennessee where he was welcomed by his family and friends. As they prepared to leave, several friends and family members decided to join the Campbells as they set off towards Missouri. The party arrived in Missouri in March 1830, and John Polk found his lumber had been constructed into a cabin near his spring.2

After Campbell left Rolla, Fulbright and his brother-in-law, A. J. Burnett, decided to move to the area. They found the pile of lumber, and presuming the materials to be abandoned, built a cabin. John Polk showed Burnett his initials on the ash tree near the spring which marked his property. Burnett turned over the cabin, and both families worked together to build homes for everyone as they started a community in rural southwest Missouri.

Over the years John Polk built several houses. Each house was vacated for new settlers to inherit. The Campbell’s second child, Mary Francis, was born in 1831 and was the first white female born in the area. The settlers traded with the Native Americans in the region and began to stockpile goods in their homes. In 1833, John Polk donated fifty acres for the construction of a town, with two acres designated as the public square. Lots were sold to new settlers and John Polk began the organization of the county. He appointed his family members as county officials to assist with the establishment of Greene County. By 1835, approximately 500 people lived in Springfield which included five Campbell brothers, one sister and their mother, Matilda Golden Polk Campbell. Springfield was finally incorporated into a town in 1838.3 As Springfield grew John Polk began to explore new territory in Texas and Indian Territory, current day Oklahoma. John Pol died on May 28, 1852 in Oil Springs, Cherokee Nation.4

John Polk and Louisa had ten children: Talitha Caroline, Mary Frances, John Nathaniel, Leonidas Adolphus, Sarah Rush, James Cheairs, Thomas Polk, Samuel Independence, Constantine and William Argyll.5 John Polk outlived two of his children, who succumbed to diseases at an early age. Four of his sons fought in the Civil War, two of which died. The Campbell family supported the Confederacy, and they owned a number of slaves both in Springfield and on their Mississippi plantations near Vicksburg. Lulu was a young girl during the Civil War, but she recorded her memories of the family’s experiences in “A Confederate Girlhood.” After Union forces secured Springfield, the Campbell’s were forced from their home and they sought refuge on family land in Tennessee and Mississippi. After the war, Louisa and Sarah Rush came back to Springfield, but the Springfield they returned to was vastly different from the one they left. Much of the family’s property lost during the war was never regained, and Louisa died trying to rebuild their life.

The Campbell-McCammon Collection consists of letters written between friends and family members from 1861 through 1872. Included is Louisa T. Campbell’s exile order from Springfield, Missouri, several letters reflecting on the war’s impact on the family and letters written by former family slaves.

Contributed by the The History Museum for Springfield-Greene County

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1. Charles Sheppard, “Watch Out! The Campbells are Coming.” John Polk Campbell vertical file, Springfield-Greene County Library Center, 1-5.
2. Sheppard, “Watch Out! The Campbells are Coming,” 6.
3. Sheppard, “Watch Out! The Campbells are Coming,” 8-12.
4. “Lucy MCammon’s Home, Built in 1851, Holds Memories of Civil War Visitors” in The Springfield Leader 3 June 1932, 15.
5. “Genealogies of Some Early Springfield Families,” Ozar’kin, vol. 1, no. 1, (Spring 1979), 27.

everything is in an uproar…there is nothing to talk about here but war. I hate the war and all that is connected with it… from what I can learn the south has been behaving all the while it is the republicans that are doing the mischief I guess there will be a great deal of blood shed before the north whips the south some of the people around here thinks it will be a very easy matter to whip but I guess they will have a bitter pill to swallow first
Minerva Phillips, Central City, Illinois – January 26, 1862

Alexander served in the 3rd Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, Missouri State Guard. His initial post was Camp New Madrid, in southeastern Missouri. His service in the Missouri State Guard expired in late 1861, and Alexander joined the 2nd Missouri Cavalry as a 2nd Lieutenant. Alexander wrote home about news from the front and friends in the services. Soldiers often speculated about rumors and news in camp, and in one letter Alexander reflects on how President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation will impact the War.

We are all well; there has been but little sickness in camp this winter so far. There is little to do now in camp and times are rather dull Since we returned from the Holly Springs Raid [MS] of which you have no doubt already heard at least the federal account: if you get the other letter you will find a Short description of that brilliant little affair…The Yankees are deserting very fast Several hundred have deserted and come to Grenada …I see by a paper which I have just been reading that at Baton Rouge Louisiana whole Regiments laid down their arms and refused to fight to carry out Lincolns Proclamation We have rumors of Illinois and Indiana withdrawing their Troops from the field and it is believed by a great many that a parts of [Ulysses S.] Grants army have gone back there to put down rebellion. it is also said that Kentucky has refused to aid in prosecuting the war unless the Proclamation is withdrawn. One thing is pretty sure, the yankee army is becoming or has already become very much demoralized, and from all that I can learn we will soon see the beginning of the end according to my opinion…..
Alexander Chadwell, Camp Buck Hill, Mississippi – February 8, 1863

As the War continued, Gideon received news from his friends and family throughout the Midwest. He received letters from soldiers in Arkansas about camp conditions, and others who were captured and sent to Union prisons. Gideon’s nephew in Illinois wrote about the passing of Union troops and their treatment of defiant civilians.

…there Was Some Rough times when they stayed At Centralia there was a man went There One day and there was A pointed Him out as a copperhed they arrested Him and used him Rough for A while And he got A way from them and there Was A Soldier Shot at him did not hit Him the Same day the cut the buttons Off A mans coat another Instance They was going to take a Mans Briches off because they were brown He drawed his Revolver and they Took It from him…
James M. Strong, Central City, Illinois – March 20, 1864

Beyond war and political news, the Chadwell Leavenworth Collection provides details about the family’s post-war life. Alexander worked was a surveyor and schoolteacher. By August 1881, he was teaching in Conway County, Arkansas. Martha married Joseph A. Leavenworth, who operated a sawmill in Leota, Mississippi. Their lumber contributed to the building of homes in Mississippi. The Chadwell Leavenworth Collection consists of correspondences from 1837 through 1944. Community and Conflict only included correspondences from 1861 through 1875. Researchers are encouraged to contact Western Historical Manuscript Collection for additional letters and document.

Contributed by the STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY of MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER – ROLLA

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On May 4th, 1858 Wadlow filed a claim against Benjamin Perryman in the Probate and Common Plea court in Greene County, Missouri for one thousand dollars. The outcome of the case hinged on the definition of the slaves’ condition. The way to determine the “sound condition” of a slave was very subjective and the evidence to prove that a slave was “worthless” had to be quite substantial for a claim to hold any legal standing in a court of law. When Violet and Aaron came to Wadlow, they were very ill. Mrs. Whittenburg, another slave of Wadlow’s, testified that when she helped Violet into bed she “discovered that the Negro woman could not lie on one side because it caused her a lot of pain.”3

The declarations of the Negro woman, Mrs. Whittenburg, were excluded by the court, and because the judge did not allow her testimony, the verdict came back in the favor of Perryman. Charles Wadlow, displeased with the outcome, decided to appeal the case to the State Supreme Court, in which they sided with Mr. Wadlow; sighting that the lower courts had erred in not allowing the testimony be submitted into evidence.

We see no difference between this case and that of Man vs Hill & Haynes, 10 Mo. 323. The evidence offered by the plaintiff of the declarations of the slave, made whilst she was laboring under sickness, as to the cause of her ilness and the source of it, was admissible and the Court erred in excluding them. With the concurrence of the other Judges, the judgment is reversed and the cause remanded
Charles Wadlow vs. John G. Perryman.

The slave laws that prevailed during the time did not allow for a slave to testify against a white person in court.4 However, since Mrs. Whittenberg was not testifying against Mr. Perryman, only stating the condition she saw Violet in after Wadlow bought her, her testimony was legally admissible into court. The case was returned to the Common Plea court, and no documentation of further ruling could be located.

Contributed by the Greene County Archives and Records Center

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1. 1860 United States Federal Census; Census Place: Cass, Greene, Missouri; Roll: M653_621; Page: 259; Image: 259; Family History Library Film: 803621.
2. Charles Wadlow vs. John G. Perryman, 1857. S1 F007. Greene County Archives and Records Center, Springfield, Missouri.
3. Charles Wadlow vs. John G. Perryman, 1857. S1 F007. Greene County Archives and Records Center, Springfield, Missouri. Part 2, pg 8
4. “Slave Codes”, U.S. History Online Textbook, Wednesday, January 19, 2011, http://www.ushistory.org/us/6f.asp

Introduction
Clinton Owen Bates

“Old Age,” written by Clinton Owen Bates in 1949, reflects on the life of a young boy growing up in Arkansas during the Civil War, and his career as a teacher. Bates was born in 1857, and grew up on a farm in Fayetteville. The Bates family had split loyalty among the North and South, and even as a young child, Bates remembered the tension that the War brought into their home. Bates recalled the bloody conflict along the border of Missouri and Kansas, encounters with runaway slaves, and various Trans-Mississippi Theater battles. After the War, Bates began his career as a teacher. He taught at the Cherokee Headquarters on the Tahlequah Indian Reservation and later held a position in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Contributed by the University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections
Manuscript Collection MC 594

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the corn crop is as fine as iever Saw the wheat and oats hungarion [Hungarian wheat] timithy [Timothy grass] all good but no market for nothing no money I surpose with out adout of all the battle that has bin faught in Virginginia and at Springfield
Coleman Bruce Letter to William and Martha Jane Jackson. Aug. 20, 1861

Bruce’s sentence structure and phonetic spelling make his letter difficult to read; yet it provides a valuable insight to the written and verbal speech patterns of the 19th Century. In his letter Bruce calls northerners the pejorative term “dutch,” a corruption of “Deutsche,” meaning German. This term was commonly used in Missouri, as many associated the massive German migration to St. Louis and the city’s urban setting with other iconic northern cities. The use of such language shows that association with the rising immigrant class was viewed by many in Missouri as a detriment to American society.

we dont expect to live under the dutch nor the Yonkeys we pur fiting untell we die in prefance the north
Colman Bruce Letter to William and Martha Jane Jackson. Aug. 20, 1861

Bruce was very vocal with his disdain for Northern troops, which placed him in a precarious position during the war. On July 9, 1863, four witnesses filed affidavits with the Missouri Union Provost Marshal, citing Coleman Bruce with disloyalty to the government. A month prior to the accusations, James W. Sappington, a captain and member of the Missouri legislature and Major William Jackson, Bruce’s son-in-law, both testified that Bruce was a “true and loyal citizen.”2 During this period of hostility, anything a person wrote or said could become subject to scrutiny and could be used as evidence that the individual was disloyal. No evidence exists showing Union officials pursued Bruce any further about his loyalty to the state or the country.

Bruce’s letter mentions significant events and individuals of the War, such as action near Cair, Illinois and Birds point (an island on the Mississippi River opposite of Cairo). He also wrote about the death of Union General Nathaniel Lyon at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. Bruce mistakenly reported Franz Sigel was also killed at the Battle. Lyon and Sigel surprised Confederate troops camped along Wilson’s Creek on the morning of August 10, 1861. While initially caught off guard, the Confederates were able to rally and repel the Union advance.

After Lyon’s death, Union forces retreated back to Springfield and eventually to Rolla, Missouri. Undoubtedly, Bruce was enthusiastic with the Confederate victory at Wilson’s Creek and their occupation of Southwest Missouri. Confederate control over the region caused difficulties for union civilians. Bruce noted that Sample Orr, an 1860 Missouri gubernatorial candidate, robbed a Springfield bank of $24,000. Allegedly, the bank was robbed to prevent the Confederates from securing the money to fund their army. The money was taken to Rolla to remain in Union hands. Little documentation on this event exists, although, Bruce discusses the matter as it was true fact:

Sample Orr robed the Springfield bank of 24000$ the you have ar will hear all about it
Colman Bruce Letter to William and Martha Jane Jackson. Aug. 20, 1861

Bruce encouraged his children to share this letter with their friends and family, perhaps in an attempt to persuade others to support the Confederacy. This letter draw attentions to the impact the War had on family dynamics as well as the crumbling economic condition in the country.

Contributed by a Private Collector

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1. 1860 United States Federal Census; Census Place: Township 47 Range 14, Moniteau, Missouri; Roll M653_634; Page: 648; Image: 148; Family History Library Film: 803634.
2. “Missouri’s Union Provost Marshal Papers, 1861-1868,” Missouri Digital Heritage, accessed October 20, 2010,http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/provost/results.asp?txtName=&txtKeyword=&radSearch=BEG&selCounty=Moniteau&offset=75.

Introduction
Louisa Cheairs McKenny Sheppard

A Confederate Girlhood, the memoir of Louisa Cheairs McKenny Sheppard, reflects upon the life of a young lady raised in the Ozarks during the Civil War. While her reminiscence is decidedly sentimental, it is a compelling representation of wartime and economic struggles and refugee life. Louisa wrote the memoir many years after the events took place. Researchers are reminded that the validity of the events recorded, as with any memoir, may be embellished and should be thoroughly researched.

Louisa Cheairs McKenny Sheppard, “Lou” or “Lulu,” was the fourth child of Talitha and E.D. McKenny. Talitha died during Louisa’s birth in 1848, and she was raised by her grandmother Louisa “Lucy” Terrell Cheairs. Lulu was twelve when the War began, and she recalled impact it had on Springfield and her family. Eventually, they were forced to flee Springfield, and her family left for uncle’s plantation in Mississippi. Over time the family moved to Arkansas, and did not return to Springfield until after the War. A Confederate Girlhood is a recollection of Louisa’s youthful adventures and a tribute to her beloved grandmother.

Contributed by the The History Museum for Springfield-Greene County

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