Martyrdom in Missouri : a history of religious proscription, the seizure of churches, and the persecution of ministers of the gospel, in the state of Missouri during the late Civil War, and under the "test oath" of the new constitution

Front matter

A HISTORY OF

RELIGIOUS PROSCRIPTION, THE SEIZURE OF ( III l;< BE8, AM) THE PERSECUTION OF MINISTERS OF THE GOS- PEL, IN THE STATE OF MISSOURI

DURIIG THE LATE CIVIL WAR,

Preface

"We are making history," was the convenient and popular "boast of certain politico-religious fanatics during the late civil war, and for a few years subsequent to its close. It will not be considered impertinent, now that the " piping times of peace " have come, and men are permitted to look back upon the cooled passions and crystallized events of that dreadful period with somewhat of calm philosophy, if the fact should be announced that "we are writing history." It is one thing to make the history, it is quite another thing to write it. If others could afford to "make history," and, then, in popular cant and with prurient vanity, boast of it, we can well afford to write it up for them. And if our part of the task be fairly, candidly and correctly done, they will have little reason to complain if they appear before the world and go down to posterity in the light of the history they have made, and with their true character brought out by the shadows they have thrown forward upon the future. History is valuable, not merely as a catalogue of events and an inventory of things, but for the principles involved and the lessons taught. The events herein narrated are notorious, the principles involved are vital, and the lessons important.

Missouri will ever be conspicuous in the annals of history as the only State in the American Union to inaugurate and authorize a formal opposition to Christianit}7, as an institution, and legalize the persecution of ministers of the gospel, as a class. The fact will not be denied, and the history furnishes the saddest, wisest lessons. Ministers of the gospel have been robbed, arrested, imprisoned, and even murdered, for no other cause than that they were ministers of the gospel. They have been indicted by grand juries, arrested and imprisoned with common felons, mobbed and put to death for no other cause than that of preaching the gospel without taking the " Test Oath" of the New Constitution. A pure, unsecular Christianity

4 PREFACE.

owes much to the moral heroism of the Missouri ministry. The faith once delivered unto the saints, the integrity of the Church of Jesus Christ, as a kingdom not of this world, the purity of the gospel, the divine authority of the ministry, the liberty of conscience, and the rightful sovereignty of Christ in his Church, with every principle and phase of religious liberty, have been illustrated in the lives and sublimely vindicated in the sufferings of the ministers of the gospel in Missouri.

The author fully appreciates the delicacy and difficulty of dealing with such recent events and so many living names — events, too, which belong to the catalogue of crime, and names that will pass into history associated with the persecution and stained with the blood of the Lord's annointed. But if the task is difficult and the questions delicate, the duty i3 no less imperative. It is due alike to the martyrs, living and dead, and to the holy cause for which they suffered, that their names and deeds be preserved, and that their unswerving fidelity and sublime devotion to a principle and a cause, equal to the purest heroism of the ancient martyrs, should not be lost to the Church. It is one of the gravest responsibilities of the hour, and one of the most gracious opportunities of the Church, to preserve the history, vindicate the faith, maintain the principles and impress the lessons of the turbulent past upon the peaceful future, that grace may abound through suffering and God may be glorified in his servants.

A diluted charity says, "Let the dead past bury its dead, and let the living present draw the mantle of charity over the unfortunate by-gones." This might be well enough if the "dead past" did not contain the imperishable genu of a resurrection life that speaks to us with authority in the vital principles of yesterday, to-day and forever, and tells us, amongst other things, that the chief of the Christian virtues — a pure, discriminating charity — has no mantle for crime, however Christ-like may be its compassion for the penitent criminal.

Both Federal and State legislation shield those who committed the crimes of the war from legal prosecution ; but such enactments possess no control over the pen and the press.

In presenting this work to the public the author is fully conscious of its many literary defects. But for all that, he dare not sacrifice the facts of history, even to literary excellence. Many subjects possess

PREFACE. 5

an importance and a grandeur wholly independent of those - handle them.

If. in treating of so many men and such recent events, injustice has been done the living or the dead, the author pleads the absence of intention and claims the benefit of a discriminating charity.

Both the work and the author will receive the severest criticism — perhaps censure — possibly abuse. The first — he would not escape if he could ; the second — he could not escape if he would ; the third — well — it is no new thing under the sun for those who are set for the defense of truth and righteousness to be abused.

The following prefatory notes, furnished by Dr. M'Anally and Bishop Marvin, together with the Introduction by Dr. Summers, wTill not only assure the timid and establish the doubtful, but will be as grateful to the Methodist and general public as to the author :

PREFATOBY NOTE.

" In the following pages the reader may find an account of some of those horrible outrages perpetrated on Christian ministers in Missouri, chiefly because they were Christian men and Christian ministers ; but scarce a tenth of all such outrages have been, or likely ever will be, placed before the public. They have cast a foul and ineraseable blot upon the fame of the State of Missouri, and must consign the immediate perpetrators to an infamy as lasting and as hateful as that of the most cruel persecutors of Christians in gone-by ages. And what deepens, blackens and renders more odious the guilt of these things is, they were for the greater part done by, or under the sanction of, men professing to love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ ; with a claim to, and under the pretext of, a purer patriotism and holier Christianity, they committed atrocities that would disgrace barbarians and savages.

"It is well the record of these horrible deeds be preserved, that the better portion of the people in this and other States may have some knowledge of what was done and suffered here during the dark and bloody days, from 1861 to '65.

"Many of those, directly or indirectly, implicated in these deeds of cruelty and shame are now loud and earnest in their entreaties for 'by-gones to be by-gones.' and profess great grief that anything should be said or done 'to keep alive the feelings of the past.' It is not strange they should feel thus ; but can they reasonably expect an

D PREFACE.

honest and outraged people should continue to cover up such abominations, receive those who committed them into respectable society, and treat them as though they were innocent, honest, high-minded, Christian gentlemen ? That would be strange — passing strange ! No ! Truth and righteousness, justice and mercy, alike demand that a faithful record of all such inhuman outrages be made, extensively circulated and carefully preserved; that all the perpetrators, instigators and abettors be consigned to that infamy they so deservedly earned. Of such a record this is the first volume, and it is hoped another, and another, and, if need be, yet another, will be forthcoming, until the whole matter shall be placed in its true and proper light.

" Of the manner in which the author has performed his work in the pages following I need not speak. Each reader will judge for himself, and each will find something to interest and instruct. The facts developed are exceedingly suggestive, and suggestive, too, in regard to all the interests of society.

" The thoughtful reader will naturally inquire as to the cause of, and reason for, such things, as well as to their natural and legitimate effects, and this may induce an honest, healthful inquiry as to what influences should be brought to bear to make men better, and thus prevent the recurrence of such things as are here detailed. Let the book be extensively circulated, carefully read, and its contents well considered.

"D. K. M'ANALLY.

" Carondelet, Mo., December 29, 1869."

"St. Louis, December 24, 1869.

"Rev. "W. M. Leetwich:

" Dear Sh — I have seen the proof sheets of a large portion of the first volume of 'Martyrdom in Missouri,' now soon to come from the press.

"The publication of this book meets my hearty approval. I have met with some who say, ' Let the past sleep ; let all its crimes, and the bad blood engendered by them, be buried forever.' I have not so learned Christ. He, the Incarnate Love, charged the blood of the prophets upon the sons of their murderers. The true work of Christian charity is to eradicate crime, not to ignore it. The maudlin sentiment that would daub over the great public crimes committed by

PREFACE. 7

the highest dignitaries of the Nothern Methodist Church and their representatives in the South and along the border, is not charity. It is at best a clumsy counterfeit of that chief of the virtues. True charity will seek to bring them to confession and recantation of their deeds.

" To all their former misdeeds they now add, to avoid the shame of the past, denials, equivocation and, as in the case of the Holston property seized by them, false recriminations. The sober truth is that they never hesitated during the time of our public trouble to use the influence an active partisanship gave them with the party in power, to take possesion of our property, either by military order, or terrorism, or mob violence. The public conscience of that Church seems to have been debauched by their efforts to defraud us of our property at the time of the division of the Church.

"But the stench of these recent atrocities is so strong in the nostrils of the people that the perpetrators resort to the ever open refuge of the evil-doer — denial. This book is opportune. The great body of the preachers and members of the Church North are honest men. The denials made by their leading men and Church papers they suppose to be true. Here are facts in detail, with places, names, dates, and copies of legal proceedings taken from official sources.

" Before the war, when Northern preachers were objects of suspicion, and public demonstrations were sometimes made against them, the editor of the St. Louis Christian Advocate, Bev. D. B. M' Anally, raised his voice against all mobs and mob violence with a will and an emphasis that left no covert suggestions of encouragement to those who might have been disposed to resort to violent measures. Led by the Advocate, the whole Southern Church in the State gave its influence, publicly and privately, against all violent proceedings. If that paper and our Church had, at that time, pursued the course that the Northern preachers and papers did towards us during the war, they would have been driven from the State. As it was, in order to get credit for persecution, they had to resort to the most remarkable tricks. Take, for instance, the case, given with proper names in this book, of one of their camp meetings being broken up by the preacher in charge of it being caught in the act of adultery — broken up by their own members. This they published to the world as a case of persecution by Southern people.

8 PREFACE.

"While I do not agree fully with all the views set forth in the preliminary chapters of this volume, I am prepared to say that the facts bearing on the main topic have been collected and verified with great care, and that there can be no doubt of the accuracy of the statements. You have been pleased to hold 3'ourself responsible, giving proper names, dates, etc. I do not hesitate to invite upon myself a full share of the responsibility.

"Hoping that you will soon have the second volume, containing the names of our other murdered brethren, read}7 for the press,

" I am, very respectfully,

"E. M. MAKVDnV

Introduction

BY

REV. T. 0. SUMMERS, D. D.

The author of the following work has desired an expression of onr opinion in regard to its publication. We have read the manuscript with painful interest, and are free to say that we have had some misgivings as to the expediency of sending it forth to the world. The facts here brought to light are so revolting, and their record is so damaging to the reputation of those by whom they were perpetrated and their aiders and abettors, that we might well hesitate as to the propriety of their publication. As Methodists, in particular, we are strongly tempted to throw the veil of oblivion over those scenes of oppression and outrage, in which many of onr co-religionists of the ISTorth bore so conspicuous a part.

But the cause of truth and righteousness demands the publication. There is a measure of retribution which must not be relegated to the "judgment to come," but which must be dealt out in the present world.

We owe it to " the noble army of martyrs," whose lives were sacrificed to appease the demands of fanaticism, bigotry, cruelty, and hate, that their

10 INTEODUCTION.

murderers shall not go unwrapped of justice — at least, such, castigation as the truth of history can inflict.

We owe it to those who were made widows and orphans by the monsters who enacted these bloody scenes, to let the world know that the husbands and fathers of these innocent sufferers were not rebels and traitors, but good men and true, " of whom the world was not worthy."

We owe it to the institutions of our country to let it be known that the appalling scenes that were enacted during the late reign of terror were not the result of the principles which underlie our Federal and State governments, but of the palpable contravention of them.

We owe it to the ecclesiastical bodies of the South that posterity shall be told who invaded their rights ; who robbed them of their churches, parsonages, cemeteries, and seminaries ; who murdered, scourged, and plundered, and banished many of their ministers and lay members, including even women and children, because they would not compromise principles which they held dearer than life itself.

It is well for the world to be told that moral heroism has not, like Astrsea, left the earth and ascended to the skies. Thank God ! there have been heroes in our times ; and we are encouraged to believe that the race will not soon become extinct. The night of persecution would bring such stars to view again. Daniel and the " three children," the Maccabees, the Apostles, Polycarp,

INTEODUCTIOX. 11

Ignatius, and otlier victims of Pagan persecution in primitive times — the Albigenses, Waldenses, Huguenots, the Marian martyrs, and other victims of papal persecution — Noncomformist and Eemonstrant confessors, who "took joyfully," or at least patiently, " the spoiling of their goods," imprisonment, exile, and sometimes death — these have had their successors in the fearful times through which we have passed, and the record of them gives us a guaranty that under similar circumstances such heroes will appear again.

In perusing this work one is constantly reminded of the saying of the wise man, "Is there any thing whereof it may "be said, See, this is new ? it hath been already of old time which was before us." He had seen similar evils to those which we have seen and suffered. " There is an evil which I have seen under the sun as an error which proceedeth from the ruler : folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place. I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth." " So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun ; and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter." Then, as in our late calamitous times, good men mourned as they were forced to

bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th' unworthy takes.

The history of these terrible transactions is valuable, too, as an admonitory lesson, teaching us

12 INTE0DUCTI0E".

tliat no sect is absolutely proof against the seductive influence of political power and ascendency. Down to the present decade the Methodists could plume themselves with an honest satisfaction upon the fact that while nearly all other sects had risen to power and abused it to persecuting purposes, they never had. It was, indeed, sometimes insinuated that they never had persecuted because they never had the power to do so. But they contended, and, it was thought, with good reason, that the principles of Methodism, being so pure, spiritual, and catholic, would be a sure safeguard from political alliances, worldly ambitions, and persecuting practices ; but, alas ! that ground of boasting is taken away. The devil came with his " third temptation " to Northern Methodists, including even bishops of the Church, and they did not say, " Get thee hence, Satan !" They ascended by the devil's ladder to " thrones of power," and played such tricks during the continuance of their brief authority as made the angels weep ! The wrongs of 1844 and 1848 developed into horrible atrocities in the sun of political prosperity which shone upon them during the war which subjugated the South. The lesson, we repeat, is admonitory. We trust in God no such temptation will ever be set before the Southern Church ; it seems to be " a test for human frailty too severe." It is not intended by these remarks to inculpate all the ministers and members of the Northern Methodist Church. God forbid ! There are thousands among them who have not bowed the knee

INTRODUCTION. 13

to Baal. They are attached to tlie Northern connection because of their location — they denounce the evil deeds of their brethren ; indeed, in many instances they are not apprised of them, or honestly believe that they are gross exaggerations. These enormities, however, are, to a great extent, charged upon the Northern Methodist Connection because, they were perpetrated by its bishops and other agents ; endorsed, or at least not disowned, by General and Annual Conferences, and have not been repented of until this day. Need any one seek further for a reason why the Southern Church wants no fellowship with those who murder, rob, oppress, and slander its ministers and members, or sanction those who do ?

It must not be supposed that we lay all the blame upon Northern Methodists — other Churches furnished their quota of persecution and oppression, though, for obvious reasons, Southern Methodists suffered more from their Northern co-religionists than from any other parties. Thus was it with pagan and popish persecutions — a man's foes were frequently those of his own household. Apostates have ever been the most bitter and unscrupulous persecutors. This is a painful reflection. The eagle is pierced by an arrow feathered from an eagle's wing ! Thus history repeats itself.

The perusal of this work will teach us not to put our trust in man, not even in princes ; no, nor in institutions of our own framing, Avritten constitutions, compacts, and the like, which upon occa-

14 INTRODUCTION.

sion may prove to be worth no more than the parchment on which they are engrossed.

Nothing is perfectly true, and just, and good, and stable, but the kingdom of God. Nevertheless, the recital of the horrors portrayed in this hook, which contains a mere modicum of what might be narrated, ought to lead us to thank God most devoutly that these calamities are nearly overpast, and we have the prospect of civil and religious liberty, which we know better than ever how to appreciate. The changes which have taken place in the government of the United States lead many to entertain gloomy anxieties for the future, and to despair of the permanency of republican institutions ; yet we venture to hope that a wise, gracious, and powerful Providence will so interpose in behalf of our country that these forebodings will not be realized.

We may just state that we are assured of the truth of many of the details in this work by other testimonies ; and for the rest we depend confidently on the accuracy of the author, who has taken great pains in collecting his materials from the most trustworthy sources. He is a reputable minister of the Missouri Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and holds himself responsible for all that he narrates.

Nashville, Tenn., Nov. n, 1869.

Contents

CHAPTEE I.

MISSOURI DISTINGUISHED FOR RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.

Religious Liberty Secured to every Citizen by the Constitution of the United States, by every State Constitution, and every Department of the Federal and State Governments — Religious Liberty Protected and Enjoyed for two Centuries — Tbe Stephen Girard "Will Case — Mr. Webster's Great Speech — Religious Rights Defined — General Assembly of Missouri Refuses to elect a Chaplain — Legalizes Sunday Beer Gardens — A Card — A Renegade Minister — Reflections.

Chapter II

Political Excitement of 1859 and '60 — Foreigners — Know-Nothingism — Foreign Element in Politics — Class Legislation to Encourage Immigration, Develop the Kesources, and Subvert the Religious Institutions of the State — G-erman Rationalists and Christianity — The True Interests of a State — Modern Spiritualism — Its Pretensions— Phenomena — Influence upon the Credulous — Circles — Mediums — Agents — Lecturers — Free-Loveism — Thousands of Disciples— Midnight Lamp in Thousands of Houses — Many Turned from the Faith to Serve Tattle- — Most Dangerous and Powerful Form of Infidelity — Free-Thinkers — A Novel Encounter with an '"Improved Monkey" — Napoleon"> ''Moral Combinations" at Work upon the Public Mind.

Many will remember with unfeigned regret the political excitement that began to agitate the whole country in 1859, and which increased in violence and intensity the nearer the Presidential election of 1860 was approached.

In times of great popular excitement, when partisans are using their utmost efforts to carry elections, it is less surprising than hurtful that politicians should appeal for support to every class of citizens. The German population of St. Louis, St. Charles, Franklin, Cole, and some other counties and cities had increased rapidly in the past few years, and now for the first time began to make their presence and power felt in Missouri politics. They had fairly recovered from the effects of Know-Nothingism, if, indeed, the existence and labors of that singular political freak did not precipitate the foreign born citizens into a distinct political element and foist them into political prominence.

Being courted, and flattered, and fawned upon by political place-seekers, they were easily induced to believe that they held the balance of power at the ballotbox in many of the largest cities of the State, and they began to claim the right, not only to vote, but to be represented as a distinct class in the city and State governments — to hold office and control municipal patronage.

To secure the support of this class of citizens politicians stood ready to enact special laws for their relief, to grant privileges and immunities to them as a class, and to accommodate their social peculiarities and religious castes and creeds. The statutes of the State and the ordinances of cities show that they were the privileged class, and that class legislation, which always endangers the well-being of society, was accommodated in this instance to those peculiarities of the foreign element which looked to the subversion of the Christian institutions of the State, and the protection of an infidel sentiment that dared to invade the sanctity of the Christian Sabbath, disturb the peace of Christian worshipers, and strike down the supreme authority of •the Word of God as a code of morals and a system of law.

To encourage foreign immigration for the development of the resources of the State, to build railroads, open coal beds, work lead mines and melt iron mountains, special legislation may have been necessary, but a State consists of something other than broad, fertile acres for agricultural purposes, or coal beds, lead mines, iron mountains and railroads.

These may be fruitful sources of material wealth, and

36 MARTYBDOM IN MISSOURI.

may be necessary to support and sustain a vast population, but they can not create intelligence, promote virtue, regulate the social system, or in any way define and adjust the higher duties and prerogatives of citizenship.

The wisest legislation protects equally the rights of all and confers exclusive privileges upon none, and the best government guarantees equal rights to all its citizens.

It is natural to expect that foreigners coming to these shores and settling in these States would accept the institutions with the protection of the government, and not seek to supplant the institutions of the State that offers them home and shelter ; and yet it will not be denied that the foreigners in Missouri, taking advantage of the readiness of politicians to truckle to their passions and prejudices, have made strong demands upon the peculiar institutions of the State, and their demands have not been unheeded. It could not be expected that G-erman rationalists, who could scarcely speak English well enough to carry on the most ordinary traffic, would understand, or care to understand, those institutions of the State which characterized the State as a Christian commonwealth.

Nor did legislators, politicians, editors or preachers consider the moral forces they were starting and fostering for evil, and the subtle agencies that would work with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, and whose coming was after the manner of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, deceiving the very elect, and spending its force and fury upon the desecrated altars and martyred ministers of Christianity.

Other and different agencies were at work, and had been for years, which could not be reached or affected by State legislation, and which contributed no little to that state of the public mind which put the institutions and ministers of Christianity under disability — what was commonly denominated "Spiritualism." It existed in a multitude of forms, had many names, and manifested itself in many strange phenomena. Professing to hold communication with the spirit world and receive intelligence from departed spirits, it appealed strongly to the curious, the credulous and the superstitious.

Those who believed in the supernatural, or whose hearts of grief kept them near the "region and shadow of death," or whose caste of temperament made them supersentimental, or who, by some constitutional or cultivated peculiarity, easily take up with every wild fancy and foolish vagary that produces a new and novel sensation ; and many others, too, who had credit for intelligence, refinement and piety — and as for that, some of the most gifted minds of the State — were led away by it, and became its deceived disciples, in one form or another, without suspecting its deceitful moral tendencies.

Lecturers came into the cities and traversed the State, circles were formed, mediums constituted, spirits rapped and wrote, tables moved and turned, and men, women and children forgot their meals, and stood in superstitious awe within the enchanted circles. Thousands of people lost their relish for the Word of God and forsook his altars of worship. Men neglected their fields, women their homes and children their schools, and for whole days and nights hung with bated breath upon the supposed communications from departed spirits, made often through the most ignorant mediums. Not only in the cities full, but throughout the vast populations of the rural districts, all classes seemed more or less affected by and interested in it. In thousands of homes in Missouri the midnight lamp shone upon tables surrounded by groups and circles of people so intent upon the unintelligible incantations and messages of spiritualism, so-called, that sleep was banished from swollen eyes and pillows brought no rest to aching heads. By it many were disqualified alike for secular, domestic and religious duties.

A peculiarity of spiritualism was that night and darkness were necessary to evoke the spirits. They would rarely communicate to mortals in the day time, or perform any very remarkable feats, such as playing on musical instruments, untying mediums, singing in the air, etc., except in total darkness. Evil spirits, like evil men, "love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil."

This modern spiritualism — neither the history nor philosophy of which it is necessary here to discuss — organized itself into bands, circles and societies of men and women in the larger cities, had their places of secret nocturnal meetings, rented halls for public Sabbath exercises, had their rituals and creeds, their priests and prophets, their altars, incantations and genuflexions, which answered to some sort of public worship. The first female lecturers and public speakers were spiritualists, and in the spiritualists' church, so-called, women are the high-priests j and the scriptural teachings in regard to the relation of men and women and their duties in the church are reversed.