The early history of St. Louis and Missouri

Preface

The fortunate withdrawal of the manuscript of the History OF St. Louis and Missouri from the Missouri Republican office but a few hours before its sudden and total destruction byfire, and the more fortunate preservation of the author's Autobiography through such a general conflagration, have left it in his power still to expose their contents to the literary world and place them beyond future danger of destruction Moreover, the advanced age of the author admonishes him to secure his present labors by publishing what he has already finished, and to wait for the rebuilding of the Missouri Repiiblican office for completing the later history of the city and the State,

The author hopes this course will be approved by his friends and the public, and, therefore, he adopts it

Very respectfully,

ELIHU H. SHEPARD.

Chapter I

The first Explorations of Missouri by White Men, and the Settlement of Missouri and St. Louis by Pierre Laclede Liguest — The first Mutation in the Government — Arrival of Captain Louis St. Ange de Bellerive and the Troops of the Garrison of Fort Chartres ... 9

Remarkable Performance of Colonel Russell Famum, a Fur Trader of

St. Louis, Missouri 51

Chapter VI

Reminiscences of Manuel Liza, a Spaniard, and his devotion to the United States in the War of 181 2 — The first Bank in St. Louis — Duel between Colonel Thomas H. Benton and Charles Lucas, Esq., yi CONTENTS.

and the result — The first Brick House in St. Louis — Missouri becomes a State of the Federal Union — The first Iron Foundry in St. Louis 55

Chapter VII

The Incorporation of the town of St. Louis by the Legislature, with a

V' Charter for a City — The Expedition of Gen. William H. Ashley

to the Rocky Mountains, and his Defeat by Auricaree Indians ort

the Missouri — Duel between Thos. C. Rector and Joshua Barton,

in which the latter was killed 65

Duel between Hon. Spencer Pettis and Major Thomas Biddle, and the Attending Circumstances 98

CONTENTS. Vn

Chapter XIV

The Erection of the Second Market in St. Louis, on Broadway — The ' Sympathy of Missourians with the People of lUinois Distressed by the Black Hawk War — ^Their Response — Excitement in St. Louisby the Veto of the Bank Bill, July loth, 1832, by the President — The first Appearance of Cholera , , 103

CHAPTER XV. Two Representatives in Congress Elected — The State Enlarged by Act

of Congress- — How it was Done — Arrival of the Sisters of Charity U^ and Founding of their Hospital — The Legislature Authorizes the Sale of the St. Louis Commons by the City Council, and this enables the Public Schools to commence operations 109

Chapter XVII

Destruction of the Old Cathedral Building by Fire — Tlie first Railroad Convention in St. Louis — ^The Murder of Deputy Sheriff" Hammond and Burning of the Murderer by the Citizens — The Texan War, in which some Missourians Participated 117

Chapter XVIII

The Appointment of Robert W. Wells to the Bench of the United States District Court of Missouri — The Burning of the first Steam Flouring Mill in tlie City — Incorporation of the Bank of the State of Missouri — The Overthrow of Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy's Printing Press by a few Individuals under Cover of Darkness of Night — Organization of General Richard Gentry's Command, their Distant Campaign in Florida, and his Honorable Death in the Arms of Victory 128

Chapter XIX

Visit of Hon. Daniel Webster to St. Louis — Death of Hon. David

Barton, one of the first United States Senators from Missouri — . 13^

VIII CONTENTS.

Chapter XX

The first Public School Houses Erected in St. Louis — Death of Rev. EHjah P. Lovejoy, late of St. Louis, at Alton, Illinois — Burning of the State House and Documents at Jefferson City 139

Chapter XXI

The Ice and Frost of 1838 — Opening of the St. Louis Public Schools — Death of Gen. William Clarke, First Governor of the Territory after the Adoption of the Name of Missouri — The Mormons Arrive in Missouri and are Expelled for Misconduct — The Establishment of the St. Louis Criminal Court 145

Chapter XXII

Establishment of the Ten Hour System of Labor — Great Extension of the City Limits and Division into Five Wards — The Abolition of V Property Qualifications for Voters — The Murder of Two Young Men by Four Negroes, and their subsequent Arrest, Conviction and Execution 151

CHAPTER XXIII. The Establishment of the Court of Common Pleas — The Appearance

of the Native American Party — Death of Hon. John B. C. Lucas. 157

Chapter XXIV

St. Louis Becomes a Manufacturing City — Remarkable Trial of a Circuit Court Judge before a Criminal Court, and his Acquittal — Change in the Manner of Voting in St. Louis County — The Steamer Edna Collapses a Flue and Destroys the Lives of Fifty-five Persons — The Death of Several Prominent Citizens 160

Chapter XXV

Remarkable Visit of Audubon, the Ornithologist, to the Mouth of the Yellowstone river, and his safe Return — The Robbery and Murder of Don Chavis on the Santa Fe Road — Visit of Colonel Richard M. Johnson to St. Louis — Death of Major Joshua Pilcher at St. Louis 167

HISTORY OF ST. LOUIS AW MISSOURI.

Chapter I

The First Exploration of Missouri hy White Men, and the Settlement of St. Louis hy Pierre Laclede Liguest — The First Mutation in the Government — Arrival of Capt. Louis St. Ange de Bellerive and Troops of the Garrison of Fort Chartres.

Some of the most pleasing, useful and lasting monuments in history have had their origin in very small and trifling incidents, and are viewed with veneration and delight on account of their artlessness and apparent conformity to everything that surrounds them.

What can be more natural and praiseworthy in the surviving patriarchs and builders of a great city than to leave a history of its date, origin and growth? This subject had long attracted the attention of the old residents of St, Louis, as they saw their older associates who had assisted in building it up in its infancy gradually leaving them, until the last individual was dead, who accompanied Col. Auguste Chouteau to its site and witnessed the first labors for its foundation. A century had nearly elapsed, and more than two hundred thousand people then resided within two miles of the site of the present court house.

The builders of such a city could never let its history perish. More than two hundred and fifty of those who had spent thirty years in its building participated in forming the Missouri Historical Society of St. Louis, at the court house, on the 11th day lO HISTORY OF ST. LOUIS AND MISSOURI.

of August, 1866, being the centenary anniversary of the first grant of land in Missouri.

The same object which induced them to form it has since promjDted them to support it, and collect such materials as will enable them by degrees to present a history of the State and of the city which may challenge the scrutinizing view and the austere judgment of the historian on its merit.

"We will begin when Missouri was the hereditary domain of the red man, living in scattered bands over this magnificent State, in huts without chimneys, walls, or one stone upon' another for protection against enemies or elements.

They obtained their precarious subsistence chiefly by pursuing the inhabitants of the earth and water ; had dogs, but no other domestic animals ; spoke different languages, and occasionally warred fiercely with each other. Such was its condition when, on the 7th day of July, 1673, a small band of Europeans and Canadians, from Quebec, led by Father Marquette, a monk, and Joliet, a merchant, reached the Mississippi river.

It is evident the red men of Missouri had no hostility or prejudices against strangers, as they allowed them to descend the river to the junction of the Arkansas and to return in peace and publish to the world a description of the most wonderful and mighty river of the world, whether its waters, its length, its magnificence, its branches, or its banks are considered.

Five years later LaSalle, in 1668, navigated the Mississippi to the mouth without meeting with any opposition from the natives dwelling in Missouri, and from that time to the present the aborigines of Missouri have manifested an unusual confidence in strangers from all parts of the world. Hence their country was never made a battle field on w^hich to settle those dreadful controversies which have distracted other sections of our country and filled them with desolation and mourning, while this enjoyed the enviable position of being an asjdum.

This state of peace and quietude over the territory now included in the State of Missouri arose from its remoteness from points where the cupidity of wealth had attracted its votaries and kept their attention employed on objects that seemed to promise a more immediate reward.

This continued seventy-three years after LaSalle had explored the Mississippi to the Gulf, until in 1755, when Ste. Genevieve was founded by the French, attracted there by the lead mines in its vicinity, which was the first settlement made by Europeans in the State. There does not appear to have been any purchase made by the original inhabitants at the time, nor does any objection appear to have been made by them to their settlement there or to any of the French settlements made in Missouri, although the Illinois Indians were the acknowledged owners amcmg red men. But in those days the Indian title was not noticed or recognized, as no law had been made to protect them, and they were invaded and their lands appropriated with impunity by those who coveted them.

The peace of Paris, in 1763, made the Mississippi the line between the possessions of France and England. This, however, did not change the Indian title to the country or their intercourse with the French, for the Indians of Missouri continued to trade at the villages of Cahokia and Kaskaskia, until Pierre Laclede Liguest removed his goods from Fort de Chartres, where he had wintered, to the present site of St. Louis. On the 15th day of February, 1764, his Lieutenant, Auguste Chouteau, the long well-known and much respected Col. Auguste Chouteau, commenced operations on the block next the river, on the south side of Market street, where the Merchants' Exchange now stands, and which had been the site of the only market house which the city contained for about sixty years from its foundation, and gave name to the street on which it was located. Temporary buildings, for the shelter of his workmen and tools, were soon constructed from the timber on the ground, for that part of the city was covered with a growth of the most suitable timbers for that purpose and for the camp fires of the new settlers, so necessary at that inclement season of the year. Early in March Pierre Laclede Liguest arrived, laid out the plan of the future town, and named it St. Louis, in honor of Louis XY, king of France. In this plan of his city, although he predicted its future greatness, he seems to have overlooked the advantages of broad streets and large blocks, and thereby betrayed his want of knowledge of the liberal scale which has been adopted by all the great builders of beautiful cities in laying out their streets and public grounds.

HISTORY OF ST. LOUIS AND MISSOURI.

He, however, manifested a proper respect for religion and sacred things, which is commended at this late day, but which it would then have pained him to have been persuaded that, within one century, it would be so perverted from his design as to quite change its sacred character and nearly obliterate his labor. Having drawn his plan he dedicated the third block from the river, one hundred yards square, adjoining the south line of Market street, to the use of a Catholic church and a cemetery, and it was so used for more than half a century, when nearly every one who had ever seen Pierre Laclede Liguest had been buried in the cemetery.

All those patriarchal remains are now removed and buried under the Cathedral, which, with the Bishop's house, occupies a portion of the south part of the block on Walnut street ; the residue is occupied by the most attractive business houses in the heart of the city.

Mr. Liguest was a merchant of no ordinary mind. Others have acquired vastly larger estates than he, but no one has excelled him in pushing forward commercial enterprises in person and planting the seed of a city in more fertile soil and cultivating it with greater success. His scrutinizing eye and sound judgment directed him to the point on the block on Main street directly in front of where the Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis now stands, as being the best place to sell goods on the west side of the Mississippi, in 1764. More than a century has since elapsed and it is the best place yet. On this celebrated block, on which Barnum's Hotel now stands, and on which other stupendous structures unite to cover the whole block, Mr. Liguest erected his dwelling house and store.

When Mr. Liguest had his plans matured to commence the erection of his house, he encountered a peaceful, but most untoward, frightful, annoying and expensive occurrence, that taxed all his patience, prudence, courage, wisdom and perseverance to overcome, but which developed his character and left it to the admiration of posterity. The acknowledged owners, among red men, of all the west bank of the Mississippi, from the Missouri to the mouth of the Oliio, were the Illinois Indians. A village of Missouri Indians, residing beyond this tract, having heard of the advent of the merchant, broke up their winter quarters and came on a begging excursion, to the numlber of one liundred and fifty warriors, with all tlieir families, outnumbering the Europeans five to one, and in the most confiding, friendly and familiar manner located their huts as near as possible to their new acquaintances, manifesting the utmost pleasure and contentment in their new homes, and exhibiting tlieir willingness to participate in all the labors and enjoyments the place afforded.

It is a remarkable incident, worthy of memory, that the first cellar ever excavated in St. Louis was done by the squaws of this band, and the earth removed to a low place at considerable distance, and payment made for it in beads and other ornaments.

The inconvenience of their presence was soon felt, and their departure requested and refused. They said " they were like the ducks and buzzards, who sought open water to rest and refresh themselves on, and they desired no better place than they now enjoyed."

The prudent Liguest, however, proceeded to no violence against them, but, having supplied them with provisions, he threatened them with the vengeance of the French troops stationed at Fort Chartres, which soon frightened them to a departure in peace. Nor did they ever return or manifest any resentment against him or his people on that account. Being relieved from their presence and confirmed in their friendship, he prosecuted the building of his house and store, enlarged the circuit of the village, and gave encouragement to emigrants, without fear or opposition.

Thus the new colony soon gave evidence of thrift and stability, and stimulated the inhabitants of Illinois, who felt aversion to British rule, to transfer their establishments to the new settlement, which soon changed the current of trade and concentrated it rapidly at St. Louis.

It was in April of this year that M. d'Abbadie, the Commandant General of Louisiana, received orders from his sovereign to proclaim to the people the surrender of all the French possessions west of the Mississippi to Spain.

The people of New Orleans were highly exasperated by the promulgation, and declared they would not be separated from their mother country.

A few months later the intelligence reached St. Louis and produced ttie same sensation, and was intensified by tlie report soon after tliat M. d'Abbadie, overwhelmed by the orders he had received, had died of grief. Tliis state of public feeling so far manifested itself hostile to Spanish authority that, although the transfer was made in 1762, it was not carried full}" into execution until 1769.

A large warehouse was built and occupied on the eastern part of the block which was known as La Place d'Armes at that time, but is now all used for the most extensive mercantile operations.

In the early part of the following summer, 1765, the commandant of Fort Chartres, Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, delivered the possession of the fort to Capt. Sterling, an English officer appointed by his country for that purpose, and removed the garrison of above forty soldiers to the new colony. This added much to its military strength and character, but very little to its moral and industrial habits. The disorder that soon followed demonstrated tlie necessity of having a governing head to the community, and probably no people were ever blessed with a more suitable or worthy person for a governing chief than St. Ange de Bellerive was for theirs ; and their sound judgment and necessity at once assigned him to the place.

He was a favorite with his countrymen, and his name acted as a talisman in securing the respect and affection of the Indians, as they knew him to be an inveterate foe to the English, which was a crowning virtue in tlieir eyes. He was the friend of Pontiac, tlie great chief of the Ottawas and demigod of Western savages.

He alone had been able to persuade Pontiac to bury the hatchet when all his allies had forsaken him. "By their unanimous desire he was vested with the authority of Commandant General, with full j)Ower to grant lands and to do all other acts consistent with that office as though he held it by royal authority."

He was the intimate friend of Mr. Liguest, the founder of the town, and like him was never married.

There can be no doubt that Louis St. Ange de Bellerive accepted the authority conferred on him by the people of St. Louis, and acted on it with the approbation of Aubri, the Commandant General of New Orleans, as he was too honorable an officer to administer an authority without the approbation of his superiors. When he had instituted a government, things assumed a more flattering appearance, and several merchants of considerable wealth became residents of the village and built more commodious habitations. Until their advent the house of Liguest, which had the walls of the first story built of stone, while all the other dwellings had their walls built of flattened logs set with one end about two feet in the ground, and the interstices tilled with small stones and mortar.

In 1766 St. Ange de Bellerive, having organized his system of government and procured that now venerable and well known book called Livre Terrien^ commenced making grants of land, hoping for a retrocession of the country to France, when the grants would be legalized by a confirmation.

Two grants were made to Pierre Laclede Liguest on the 11th day of August, 1766 — one for the block on which the Barnum Hotel now stands, the other the mill tract on which the old Chouteau stone mill now stands, both of which grants have always been recognized as perfectly legitimate and the most valuable of their size in the State.

Chapter II

Tlie First Marriage and First Dedication of a CliurcJi in St. Louis — The Death and Burial of the Great Ottaioa Indian Chieftain Pontiac and his Dear Frien^d St. Ange de Bellerive; Both Buried in St. Louis.

The first marriage in the new colony was celebrated on the 20th of April, 1766, more than two years after its settlement, Toussaint Hanen and Marie Baugenon being the parties to the contract. The first mortgage was recorded as made on the 29th day of September, 1766, by Pierre Berger to Francis Latour, two merchants engaged in the peltry trade ; it does not specify any particular article, but pledges all the goods of the mortgagor as security to the mortgagee for the payment of a specified number of bundles of deer skins at a specified time, but without any stipulated value being mentioned in the l6 HISTORY OF ST. LOUIS AND MISSOURI.

instrument. It was, however, canceled some years after, by the attorney of the mortgagee acknowledging payment on a simple receipt, attested by a notary and recorded among the archives.

From this transaction we infer there was encouragement given to attorneys at that early day, as well as others, to people the new city, and that payments were as tardy and securities as useful as at the present time. The only exports were furs and peltries, which were currently received as bank notes now are, and their qualities as carefully examined and their values estimated in all transactions.

One year after the grants made to P. Laclede Liguest, when the village had assumed shape and was making a rapid growth under its popular and able magistrate, on the 11th day of August, 1767, the town was thrown into a femient by the arrival of news from New Orleans of the intention of the Spanish Grovernment to take possession of the country which had been ceded to it under the secret treaty of 1762. This threw a shade over the prospect of the future, and a year of bitter rage disturbed the quiet people of St. Louis, without a foe to fight or means to change their position, when, on the lltli day of August, 1768, a body of Spanish troops, under one Rios, acting under the orders of Don Antonio d'Ulloa, the Governor of Louisiana, arrived and intensified their alarm, but made no demonstrations against the established regulations of St. Ange de Bellerive. Having quietly spent the winter in St. Louis, Rios retired with his small force early in the summer of 1769, to the great relief and joy of the people.

The first season of joy and festivity on their departure had not closed when an event occurred which created a sensation of curiosity to some and pleasure to others, not easily described or ever forgotten by Missouri historians.

It was the arrival of Pontiac, the great Ottawa chieftain, to visit his dear friend and old acquaintance, St. Ange de Bellerive. The fame of Pontiac was as familiar at that time as that of Grant or Sherman at this, from the Mississippi to t\xQ Atlantic.

He had formed the confederation of many different tribes of Indians, dwelling hundreds of miles asunder, occupying the district from the Mississippi to the Alleghany, and between the

HISTORY OF ST. LOUIS AND MISSOURI.

Ohio and the lakes, to resist the power and encroachment of the English, whom he, as well as most all of the Indians, feared and distrusted more than any other people, and believed, with the assistance of the French, they could drive and confine beyond the Alleghany and Cumberland Mountains. He had won the friendship, confidence and esteem of the chivalrous Montcalm at Quebec ; had distinguished himself in the ambuscade and defeat of General Braddock, near Pittsburg ; had planned the massacre at Michilimacknac. He had matured the plan and appointed the time for attacking the forts and settlements of the English pioneers, by which more than two thousand of them lost their lives.

These exploits had cast a romance about his name and excited the most intense desire to behold the great chieftain. St. Ange de Bellerive gave him a most cordial reception, corresponding to his former high position, at his own quarters in the house of Madame Chouteau, and he was feted and caressed by many of the principal inhabitants of the village.

The plans of this remarkable chief, although successful and flattering for a time and aided by one of the greatest nations in Europe, had all failed ; his allies had all forsaken him ; his best friends had persuaded him to bury the tomahawk, and his active mind brooded over his disappointments until he had suffered it to be stupefied by the lethean bowl when out of the influence of his watchful friends. In this state of mind he soon became wearied and restless, and expressed a desire to visit Cahokia, where some French friends had invited him, as he was still the famous Pontiac, and all wished to see him.

His friend, St. Ange.de Bellerive, was unable to dissuade him from his purpose. He had fallen. That sublime expression of countenance, which had formerly given evidence of intellect and chivalrous devotion to his country and people, had given place to a bloated visage that betrayed the want of all prudence or self-respect inits present possessor. Still he was the lion that attracted all eyes toward him as he went to cross the river to Cahokia in 1769, dressed in a complete uniform which he had received from the unfortunate Montcalm on his visit to Quebec. His friends who remained in St. Louis never saw him alive again. He left with a few followers and arrived at Cahokia, where he drank deeply, until his faculties were stupefied, when lie wandered in tlie underwood about the village where he was tomahawked by a Kaskaskia Indian, who had been hired by an English trader, named Williamson, to kill the great chieftain, for which he was rewarded by the payment of a barrel of whisky. When St. Ange de Bellerive heard that Pontiac was murdered he caused his body to be brought to St. Louis, amid the general mourning of the inhabitants, where it was buried with the honors of war, near the tower which stood at the junction of Fourth and Walnut streets, on the block next south of the Court House, where his remains rested until tradition alone could indicate the spot.

The mighty chief now rested on land owned by those who drank the price of his blood, but who were destined never to visit it again, but to have a place in the history of Missouri in common with him and his avengers; for the great Ottawa chief was too well known and too much beloved by the red warriors of that day to be assassinated and his death go unavenged. The surrounding warriors becoming acquainted with the circumstances of his death, and that the Illinois Indians had drank the price of his blood in a common debauch, their savage instinct was roused, and with a universal howl of vengeance against all who had tasted of the whisky, and the war-whoop still thrilling on their lips, they quickly assembled and assailed the different tribes of Illinois Indians, and nearly annihilated their existence by an indiscriminate slaughter. I Thus the colonists of Missouri have never been pained by the presence or annoyed by the claims of the Illinois Indians, and the ashes of Pontiac lie in St. Louis, as well as those of his dear friend, St. Ange de Bellerive — repose without a slab or epitaph to mark the spot of their sepulture or to perpetuate their memories. Houses are built where both were buried, and but few know that their remains rest in St. Louis. During the same year, fraught with so -many exciting incidents connected with the visit, death, burial and avenging of Pontiac, news came from New Orleans that sent a thrill of terror into the hearts of the inhabitants, and made them tremble in the anticipation of the future. Don Alexander O'Reilly, who had been appointed Commandant General of Louisiana, arrived at New Orleans, with three thousand men to enforce his authority. Seven years had elapsed since France had, without war, ceded

HISTORY OF ST. LOUIS AND MISSOURI.

the territory to Spain, and several peaceful attempts had been made to obtain quiet possession, without success. In short, a spirit of insubordination had seized the people, and many were assembled to dispute his landing, and were only prevented from attempting resistance by the timely persuasion of the magistrates and principal citizens, when they saw that all attempts to resist such a force would be unavailing.

He landed amid threats and execrations and saw the elements were rife for a spirit of revolt, only waiting a more fitting time to manifest itself more fully. He was not a man to be trilled with or thwarted in the execution of his duties.

He caused twelve of the ringleaders to be arrested, five of whom were shot, one committed suicide, and six were imprisoned in Cuba.

This enabled him to put the Spanish code of laws into operation, which were soon found to be quite as well suited to the taste, and circumstances of the people as those of France.

He then extended the Spanish authority to the Upper Louisiana, by disj)atching Lieut.-Gov. Piernas, who arrived in St. Louis in the earl};^ part of 1770, and quickly received possession of the country from M. St. Ange de Bellerive. It was with regret and tears the French people saw the flag of their country removed and a foreign banner supply its place.

But with two such men present as Lieut.-Gov. Piernas and M. St. Ange de Bellerive it was not wonderful that such a peaceful and quiet people as the early French colonists were should soon become reconciled, contented and happy in their new condition. In the same year there was a great festival on the occasion of the dedication of the new church, built, according to the custom of the French, with flattened logs set on end in the earth and the interstices filled with mortar, located at the southwest corner of Market and Second streets. The solemn ceremonies were performed on the 24th of June, 1770, being the anniversary of St. John the Baptist, when the inhabitants turned out en masse to worship in a Christian manner the only true God of the universe. The holy Father Gibault, surrounded by his little flock which he had gathered to teach and guide in the fold of the church, said mass, administered the Eucharist and chanted the Te Deum and De Profundis with a heart overflowing with gratitude to the great Benefactor of man.