Autobiography of Samuel S. Hildebrand, the Renowned Missouri "bushwhacker" ...: The Renowned ...

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Contents

CHAPTER r.

Fntroduction. — ^Yankee fiction. — ^Reasons for inakin*^ a lull confession 25

CHAFllCR II.

Preface

The public having been grossly imposed upon by several spurious productions purporting to be the "Life of Sam Hildebrand," we have no apology to offer for presenting the reader with his authentic narrative.

His confession was faithfully written down Irom his own lips, as the foregoing certificates iihundantly I rove.

From this copious manuscript we have prepared his autobiography for the press, with a scrupulous care to give it literally, so far as the arbitraiy rules of language would permit. Sam Hildet)rand and the authors of this work were raised up Irom boyhood together, in the same neighborhood, ana we are confident that no material facts have been suppressed by Hildebrand in his confession.

The whole narrative is given to the reader without any effort upon our part either to justify or condemn his acts. Our design was to give the genuine autobiography of Sam Hildebrand; this we have done.

The book, as a record of bloody deeds, dare-devil exploits and thrilling adventures, will have no rival

in the catalogue of •Wonders ; for it at once unfolds,

12 PREFACE.

with minute accuracy, the exploits of Hildebrand, of which one-half had never yet been told. Without this record the world would forever remain in ignorance of the night history Of his astounding audacity.

We here tender our thanks to those of our friends who have kindly assisted us in this work, prominent among whom is Miss Hilda F. Sharp, of Jefferson City, Mo., who furnished us with those beautiful pencil sketches from which our engravings were made.

JAMES W. EVANS, A. WENDELL KEITH, M. D.

Big Rivkr Mills, Mo., June, 1870,

Introduction

THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OP THE HILDB-

, BRAND FAMILY.

Before proceeding with the Autobiography of Samuel S. Hildebrand; we would call the attention of the reader to the fact, that since notoriety has been ^brust upon the subject of these memoirs, public attention has been pointed to the fact, that in German history, the Hildebrands occupy a very prominent position.

The authors of this work, by a diligent research into ancient German literature, have been able to trace the origin and history of the Hildebrand family, with tolerable accuracy, to the beginning of the ninth century.

The name Hildebrand or Hildebrandt is as old as the German language. Hilde, in ancient German, signified

a " Hero," and brand, a "blaze or flame.'' It is thought

by some writers that the name doubtless signified a

"flaming hero."

Whether this is the case or not, it matters but little, as the fact remains clearly defined that the first man of that name known to history was a hero in every sense of the word. The "Heldenbuch" or Book of Heroes, in its original form, dates back to the eighth century. It is a beautiful collection of poems relative to Dietrich or Theodoric. It was written down from memory' by the Hessian monks on the outer pages of an old Latin manuscript, and was first published by Eccard in prose, but it was afterwards discovered that the songs were originally in rhyme.

The poem treats of the expulsion of Dietrich of Vaum out of his dominions by Ermenrick, his escape to Attila ftnd his return after an adventurous exile of thirty years. Hildebrand (the old Dietrich) encounters his BOHf whom he left at home in his flight, in a terrible encounter without knowing who ho was. We will present the reader with Das Hildebrandslied (The song of Hildebrand), not on account of any literary merit it may possess, but because of its great antiquity and its popularity among the German people at one time, and by whom it was dnunatized.

SAMUEL 8. HILDSBRAND. 15

^he ^ong of ^ildebrand.

*' I must be up and riding,'^ spoke Master EQldebrand, / 'Tis long since I have greeted the distant Bemer land ; For many a pleasant summer in foreign lands we've been, But thirty years have vanished since I my wife have seen."

4«

Wilt thou be up and riding?" outspoke Duke Amelung; " Beware ! since one should meet thee — a rider brave and young. Right by the Berner market— the brave Sir Alebrand ; If twelve men's strength were in thee, he'd throw thee to the sand!"

"And doth he scorn the country in such a haughty mood ? I'll cleave in twain his buckler — 'twill do him little good ; I'll cleave in twain his armor with a resistless blow. Which for a long year after shall cause his mother woe."

Outspoke of Bern, Sir Dietrich, " now let that counsel be. And slay him not, old hero, but take advice from me : Speak gently to the'Ritter, a kind word soonest mends ; And let your path be peaceful, so shall ye both be friends I "

And as he reached the garden, right by the mart of Berne ; There came against him riding, a warrior fierce and stern. A brave young knight in armor, against Sir Hildebrand ; " ^VTiat seekest thou, old Ritter, in this, thy father's land?"

" Thou bearest splendid armor, like one of royal kind ;

So bright thy glit'ering corselet, mine eyes are stricken blind ;

Thou, who at home should'st rest thee, and shun a warrior's

stroke.

And slumber by the fir«side," the old man laughed and spoke*

*^ Should / at firesides rest me, and nurse me well at home ; Full many a fight awaits me, to many a field I'll come. In many a rattling foray, shall I be knovsai and feared ; Believe my word, thou youngster, 't^vas thus I blanched my beard.'*''

'*That beard will I tear from thee, tliough great may be thy paiiL Until the blood-drops trickling, have sprinkled all the plain ; Thy fair green shield and armor, must thou resign to me, Then seek the town, contented my prisoner to be.y

"My armor and my fair green shield have warded many a blow; I ta;ust that God in Heaven sdll will guard me from my foe." No more they spoke together, but grasped their weapons keen. And what the two most longed for, soon came to pass, I ween I

With glittering sword, the younger struck such a sudden blow, That with its-iorce the warrior. Sir Hildebvand, bent low ; The youth in haste recoiling, sprang twelve gooQ steps behind, "Such leaps," exclaimed the gray-beard, "were learned of womankind."

**Had I learned ought of woman, it were to me a shame. Within my father's castle are many knights of fame ; Pull many knights and riders about my fother throng. And what as yet, I know not, I trust to learn ere long.

Sir HUdebrand was cunning, the old gray bearded man, For when the youth uplifted, beneath his sword he ran ; Around the Hitter's girdle his arms he tightly bound. And on the ground he cast him— there lies he on tlie groiuid I

>' Who njbs against the kittles, may spotless keep who can — pow fares it now, young hero, against the old gray man f l^ow quiddy speak and shrive thee, for I thy priest will be ; 3ay, art thou a young Wolfing? perhaps I'll let thee free."

"Like wolves are all the Wolfing, they ran wild in the wood. But Tin a Gredan warrior, a rider brave and good ;

Frau iTte is my mother, she dwelleth near Uiis spot, And Hildebrand, my father, albeit he knows us not !"

^' Is Ute then thy mother, that monarch's daughter free ?

Seekest thou thy father, Hildebrand? then know that J am he !**

Uplifted he his golden helm, and kissed him on the mouth ;

Now God be praised that both are safe ! the old man and the youth,

*'0h, father dear, those bloody wounds 1" 'twas thus the

young knight said : *'Now would I three times rather bear those blows upon my

head." ^*Be still, be still, my own dear son! the wounds will soon h%

past; And Grod in HeaTen above be praised, that we have met at last I"

This lasted from the noonday well to the vesi>er tide. Then back into the city Sir Alebrand did ride. What bears he on his helmet? a little cross of gold ; >yho is he that rides beside him ? his own dear father old.

And with him to his castle, old Hildebrand he bore, (sore— And with liis own hands served him — ^the mother grieved full **Ah, son, my ever dearest son, the cause I fain would know, Why a strange prisoner, like this, should e'er be honored so?"

*'N'ow, silence, dearest mother, and list to what I say I He almost slew me on the heath in open fight to-day ; He ne'er shall wear, good mother, a prisoner's attire , ^is Hildebrand, the valient, thy husband and my sire !

Oh, mother, dearest mother, do him all honor now ; " Then flew she to her husband, and served him well, I trow ; What holds the brave old father ? a glittering ring of gold ; He drops it in the wine cup— it is her husband old I

18 AUTOBIOORAPllY OF

We congratulate our readers on having survived the reading of the above poem, written a thousand years ago, about old Dietrich, llic <^ father Abraham" of all the Hildebrands ; but he must not forget that he is subject to a relapse, for here are two verses not taken from the "Book of Heroes/' but from an old popular song in use to this day among the peasantry in South Germany :

Jildebrand and his son Jj^udebrand.

Hlldebrand and his son Hudebrand — Alebrand,

Bode off together Avith sword in hand — sword in hand •

To make fierce war on Venice ; Hlldebrand and his son Hudebrand — Alebrand, Never could find the Venetian land — 'netian land .

Hlldebrand and his son Hudebrand — Alebrand, Got drunk as pigs with a jolly band— jolly band,

All the while swearing and bawling; Hlldebrand and his son Hudebrand — Alebrand, Drank till they could neither walk nor stand — walk nor stand.

Home on all fours they went a crawling.

The reader will perceive that the peasantry are disposed to "poke fun" at the great ancestor of the Hildebrand family ; this, however, we will attribute to envy, and make no effort to prove that "Hildebrand and his son Hudebrand" were Good Templarr., lest we prove too much, and cause the reader to doubt llieir Dutch origin altogether.

Following the geneology down, we meet with several of the Hildebrands celebrated in the ecclesiaatical, literary and scientific world. Of the parentage of Gregory VII. but little is known more than that he was a Hildebrand, bom near Bome, but of German parents. On becoming a Eoman Pontiff in 1077, he assumed the name of Gregory. He occupied the cbair of St. Peter for eight years, during which time he assumed an authority over the crowned heads of Europe, never before attempted. He was a bold man, but was driven from his chair in 1085.

George Frederick Hildebrand was a famous physician, who was bom June 5, 1764, at Hanover. He was one of the most learned men of his age ; was appointed professor of Anatomy at Brunswick, but he soon took the chair of Chemistry, at Erlangen, in Bavaria. He died March 23, 1816, leaving some of the most elaborate and valuable works ever written.

Ferdinand Theodore Hildebrand was born June 2, 1804, and under the tuition of Professor Schadaw, at Berlin, he became very renowned as a painter. He followed his tutor to Dusseldorf in 1826, and was one of the most celebrated artists of the Academy of Painting at that place. In 1830 Hildebrand visited Italy to view the productions of some of the old masters, and afterwards traveled through the Netherlands. Some of his best pictures were drawn to represent scenes in the works of Shakspeare, of which ^' King Lear mourning over the death of Cordelia,'' was perhaps the most important. But among the critics, ^^ The sons of .Edward" was considered hia greatest production.

20 AVTaBIOORAPHT OV

It is not our pnrposo to name all the illustriouB Hildebrands who have figured in German history or literature ; for it must be borne in mind that from the ninth century down to the sixteenth, the name Hildebrand was almost invariably applied as a given name } it was not until that century that it appears as a sur-name. It is a fact, however, well known to historians, that the same given name is frequently retained in a family, and handed down from one generation to another perhaps for one thousand years.

In the southern part of Germany the name Hildebrand was borne by a certain class of vassals, but in the Northern States of that country, there were families of noble birth by the same name. The record of those nobles run back with a great deal of certainty to a very remote period of German history — beyond which, the dim out-lines of tradition alone can be our guide. This tradition, whether entitled to credit or not, traces the geneology of the Hildebrands in the line of nobles up to Sir Hildebrand, the exiled hero mentioned in the Book of Heroes.

According to the record of the Hildebrand family, as given by Henry Hildebrand of Jefferson county, Missouri, to the aulhors of this work; the seventh generation back reaches to Peter Hildebrand of Hanover. He was born in 1655, and was the youngest son of a nobleman^ His father having died while Peter was yet a boy, he was educated at a military school, and after arriving to manhood he served several years in the army. Returning at length, he was vexed at the cold reception he received from his elder brother, who

SAMUEL 8. HILDEBRANII« 21

now inherited the estate with all the titles of nobility belonging to the family. He resolved to emigrate to the wild solitudes of America, where individual worth and courage was the stepping stone to honor and distinction.

His family consisted of a wife and three children ; his oldest son, Jacob, was born in 1680 ; when ho was ten years of age the whole family emigrated to New Amsterdam, remained three years and then settled in the northern part of Pennsylvania, where he died a few years afterwards.

Jacob Hildebrand's second son, Jacob, was born in 1705. He was fond of adventure and joined in several exploring expeditions in one of which he was captured by a band of Miami Indians, and only escaped by plunging into the Ohio river and concealing himself under a drift of floating logs. His feelings of hostility against the Indians prompted him to join the expedition against them under Lieutenant Ward, who erected a fort at what is now called Pittsburg, in 1754, here he was killed in a vain attempt to hold the garrison against the French and Indians under Contrecoeur.

His third son, John Hildebrand, was born in 1733, and at the death of his father was twenty-one years of age. Like most ef the frontiermen of this early period, he seemed to have an uncontrolable love of adventure. His most arient desire was to explore the great v^ley of the Mississippi. At the period of which we aye now speaking (1754), he joined James M. Bride and others and passed down the Ohio river in a canoe ; to his regret, however, the company only reached the mouth oi the Kentucky river, cut their initials in the barks of trees, and then returned. In 1770 he removed to Missouri. His family consisted of his wife and two boys — Peter was born in 1758, and Jonathan in 1762. He built a flat-boat on the banks of the Ohio, and taking a bountiful supply of provisions, he embarked with his family. To avoid the Indians he kept as far from each shore as possible, and never landed but once to pass around the shoals. On reaching the Mississippi he spent more than a week in ascending that river to gain a proper point for crossing. He landed on the western side at Ste. Genevieve.

Viewing the country there as being rather thickly settled, he moved back into the wilderness about forty miles and settled on Big Eiver at the mouth of Saline creek. He was the first settler in that country which was afterwards organized as Jefferson county. He opened a fine farm on Saline creek, built houses, and considered himself permanently located in that wild country. The Indians were unfriendly, and their hostility toward white settlers seemed to increase until 1780, when Peter Chouteau, by order of the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, wont to see Hildebrand and warned him to leave on account of Indian depredations. He then removed to Ste. Genevieve.

In 1783, Peter Hildebrand left Ste. Genevieve and settJed on Big River in the same neighborhood where his father had resided. He had a wife and four children, whose names were, Isaac, Abraham, David, and Betsy. He was a good marksman and very fond of hunting. After he had resided there about one year.

SAMUEL S. IIIIJ)£BRAND. 28

ho was shot and killed by tho Indians on the bank of Big Hivor one morning while on his return from hunting wild game ; after which tho family removed nearer to a settlement.

In 1802, David Hildebrand settled on Big River, and about the same time Jonathan Hildebrand settled himself permanently on the same river. lie lived until the commencement of the late war, and then died at the age of one hundred years. He had three sons, whoso names are, George, Henry, and Samuel.

In 1832, George Hildebrand and his family moved higher up on Big River and settled in St. Francois county — ^his house was the Hildebrand homestead referred to in these pages — and he was the father of Samuel S. Hildebrand, whose Autobiography we now submit to our readers.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OP

CHAPTEK I.

Introduction. — ^Yankee Fiction. — Reasons for making a fuU confession.

Since the close of the late rebellion, knowing that I had taken a very active part during its progress several of my friends have solicited me to have my history written out in full. This anxiety to obtain the history of an individual so humble as myself, may be attributed to the fact, that never perhaps since the world began, have such efforts been put forth by a government for the suppression of one man alone, as have been used for my capture, both during the war and since its termination. The extensive military operations carried on by the Federal government in South-east Missouri, were in a great measure designed for my special destruction.

26 AUTOBIOGRAPUY OF

Since the close of the rebellion, while others are permitted to remain at home in peace, the war, without any abatement whatever, has continued against me with a vindictivenes^ and a lavish expenditure of money that has no parallel on this continent; but through it all, single-handed, have I come out unscathed and uneonquercd.

My enemies have thrust notoriety upon me, and have excited the public mind at a distance with a desire to know who I am and what I have done. Taking advantage of this popular inquiry, some enterprising individual in an eastern state has issued two or three novels purporting to be my history, but they are not even founded on iact, and miss the mark about as far as if they were designed for the Life of Queen YiotQria. I seriously object to the use of my name in any such a manner. Any writer, of course, who is afGlcted with an irresistible desire to write fiction, has a perfect right to do so, but he should select a fictitious name for the hero of his novels, that his works may stand or fall, according to their own intrinsic merit, rather than the name of an individual whose notoriety alone would insure the popularity of his books. But an attempt to palm a novel on the inquiring public as a history of my life, containing as it does a catalogue of criminal acts tinknown to me in all my career, is not only a slander upon myself, but a glaring fraud upon the public.

Much of our misfortune as a nation may be attributed to the pernicious influence of the intolerant, intermeddling, irrepressible writers of falsehood. In a com-

8AMU£L 8. llll.i>KHKANP. 27

munity where the spirit of fiction pervudes every department of literature and all the social relations of life, writers become so habituated to false coloring and deception, that plain unadorned truth has seldom been known to eminate from their perverted brains ; it would be just as impossible for them to write down a naked fact as it would for the Prince of Darkness to write a volume of psalms.

The friend who has finally succeeded in tracing me to my quiet retreat in the wild solitudes of the down trodden South, is requesting me to make public the whole history of my life, without any attempt at palliation, concealment or apology. This I shall now proceed to do, in utter disregard to a perverted public opinion, and without the least desire or expectation of receiving justice from the minds of those who never knew justice, or sympathy from those who are destitute of that ingredient.

The necessity that was forced upon me to act the part I did during the reign of terror in Missouri, is all that I regret. It has deprived me of a happy home and the joys of domestic peace and quietude; it has driven me from the associations of childhood, and all the scenes of early life that so sweetly cling to the memory of man ; it has caused my kind and indulgent mother to go down into her grave sorrowing; it has robbed me of three affectionate brothers who were brutally murdered and left weltering in their own innocent blood ; it has reduced me and my family to absolute want and suffering, and has left us without a home, and I might almost say, without a country.

A necessity as implacable juj the decrees of Falc^ was forced upon me by the Uiiion jjarty to Ciipouse the opposite side ; and all the horrors of a luerciless war were waged unceasingly against mo for many months before I attempted *to raise my hand in self defense. But fight I must, and fight I did ! War was the object, and war it was. I never engage in but one business at a time — my business during the war was killing enemies. It is a very difficult matter to carry on a war for four years without some one getting hurt. If I did kill over a hundred men daring the war, it was only because I was in earnest and supposed that everybody else was. My name is cast out as evil because I adopted the military tactics not in use among large armies. They were encumbered with artillery and fought where they had ample room to use it, I had no artillery and generally fought in the woods j my plan was the most successful, for in the regular army the rebels did not kill more than one man each during the war.

SAMUEI. 8. BILDEBRAND. 29

Chapter II

Early History of the Hildebrand family.— Settled in St. Francois county, Missouri. — Sam Hildebrand bom. — Troublesome Neighbors. — Union Sentiments.

In regard to the early history of the Hildebrand family, I can only state what tradition has handed down from one generation to another. As I have no education, and can neither read in English nor Dutch, I am not able to give any of the outlines of history bearing upon the origin or acts of the Hildebrands in remote ages. This task I leave for others, with this remark, that tradition connects our family with the Hildebrands who figured in the German history up to the very origin of the Dutch language. The branch of the family to which I belong were driven from Bavaria into Netherlands two hundred years ago, where they remained about forty years, and then emigrated to Pennsylvania at the first settlement of that portion of America.

They were a hardy race of people and always shunned a city life, or being cooj^ed up in thickly settled districts ; they kept on the outskirts of aggressive civilization as it pressed the redman still back into the wild solitudes of the West, thus occupying the middle ground or twilight of refinement. Hence they continually breathed the pure, fresh air of our country's morning, trod through the dewy vales of pioneer life, dO AUTOBlOORAPIiY OF

•

and drank at Freedom's shady fountains among the unclaimed hills.

They were literally a race of backwoodsmen inured to hardship, and delighted in nothing so much as wild adventure and personal danger. They explored the hills rather than the dull pages of history, pursued the wild deer instead of tame literature, and enjoyed their own thoughts rather than the dreamy notions eminating from the feverish brain of philosophy.

In 1832 my father and mother, George and Eebecca Hildebrand, settled in St. Francois county, Missouri, on a stream called Big Eiver, one of the tributaries of the Meramoc which empties into the Mississippi about twenty miles below St. Louis.

The bottom lands on Big River are remarkably fertile, and my father was so fortunate as to secure one of the best bodies of land in that county. Timber grew in abundance, both on the hills and in the valleys, consequently it took a great deal of hard labor to open a farm ; but after a few years of close attention, father, by the assistance of his boys who were growing up, succeeded in ojxjning a very large one. He built a large stone dwelling house two stories high, and finished it off in beautiful style, besides other buildings — barns, cribs and stables necessary on every well regulated farm.

Father and mother raised a family of ten children, consisting of spven boys and three girls. I was the fifth one in the family, and was born at the old homestead on Big Eiver, St. Francois county, Missouri, on the 6th day of January, 1836- dAMU£L 8. HILDEBAAND. ^l

The facilities for 'acquiring an education in that neighborhood were very slim indeed, besides I novor felt inclined to go to school even when I had a chamco; I was too fond of hunting and fishing, or playimg around the majestic bluffs that wall in one side or the other of Big River, the whole length of that crooked and very romantic stream. One day's schooling was all that I ever got in my life ; that day was sufficient for me, it gave me a distaste to the very sight of a school house. I only learned the names of two letters, one shaped like the gable end of a house roof, and the other shaped like an ox yoke standing on end. At recess in the afternoon the boys got to picking at mo while the teacher was gone to dinner, and I had them every one to whip. When the old tyrant came back from dinner and commenced talking saucy, I gave him ft ^ood cursing and broke for home. My father very generously gave mo my choice, either to go to school or to work on the farm. I gladly accepted the latter, redoubled my energy and always afterwards took particular paini to please my father in all things, because he was so kind as not to compel mo to attend school. A threat to send me to school was all the whipping that I ever required to insure obedience ; I was more afraid of that than I was of old ^^Raw-head-and-bloody-bones," or even the old scratch himself.

In 1850, my father died, but I still remained at the homestead, working for the support of my mother and the rest of the family, until I had reached the age of nineteen years, then, on the 30th day of October, 1864, I married Miss Margaret Hampiton, ike daughter

32 AnTOIUOORAPllV OF

of a highly esteemed citizen of St. Francois comity. I built a neat log house, opened a fiirm lor ni} scll^ within half a mile of the old homestead, and ^ve went to housekeeping for ourselves.

From the time that my father first settled on Bi*."; Eiver, we had an abundance of stock, and especially hogs. The range was always good, and as the uplands and hills constituted an endless lorest of oaks, the inexhaustible supply of acorns afforded all the food that our hogs required; they roamed in the woods, and of course, many of them became as wild as deer ; the wild ones remained among the hills and increased tiiitil thoy became very numerous. Whenever they were fat enough for pork, we were in the habit of going into the woods with our guns and our dogs and killing as many of them as we coulcU

A few years after my father had settled there, a colony of Pennsylvania Dutch had established themselves in our neighborhood; they were very numerous and constituted about two-thirds of the population of our township. Thoy soon set up "wild hog claims," declaring thivt some of their hogs had also run wild ;. this led to disputes and quarrels, and to some "fist and skull fighting,^' in which my brothers and myself soon won the reputation of "bullies." Finding that they had no show at this game, they next resorted to the law, and we had many little law suits before our justice of the peace. The Dutch out swore us, and we soon found the Hildebrand family branded by them with, the very unjust and unpleasant epithet of "hog thieves;"" but we went in on the muscle and still held the woods..