“The vicinity of the fort with its troops rendered Leavenworth undesirable as a base of operations. St. Joseph was also heavily garrisoned, and they accordingly selected Atchison as the point from which to move on the enemy’s works. Atchison at that time contained about 2,500 inhabitants. Its business was transacted upon one street and extended west about four blocks from the river. Its position upon the extreme curve of the ‘Grand Detour of the Missouri, affording unrivaled facilities to the interior in the event of pursuit. Having been principally settled by Southerners it still afforded much legitimate gain for our bird of prey, and its loyal population having already largely enlisted, the city was incapable of organized resistance to the depredations of the marauders.
“They established their headquarters at the saloon of a German named Ernest Renner, where they held their councils of war and whence they started upon their forays. The winter was favorable to their designs, as the river closed early, enabling them to cross upon the ice. Cleveland proclaimed himself marshal of Kansas, and announced his determination to run the country. He invited the cordial co-operation of all good citizens to assist him in sustaining the government and punishing its foes. Ignorant of his resources and of his purposes, the people were at first inclined to welcome their strange guests as a protection from the dangers to which they were exposed, but it soon became apparent that the doctors were worse than the disease. They took possession of the town, defied the municipal authorities, and committed such intolerable excesses that their expulsion was a matter of public safety. Their incursions into Missouri were so frequent and audacious that a company of infantry was sent from Weston and stationed at Winthrop to effect their capture, but to no purpose. * * * * If a man had an enemy in any part of the country whom he wished to injure, he reported him to Cleveland as a rebel, and the next night he was robbed of all he possessed and considered fortunate if he escaped without personal violence. * * * * A small detachment of cavalry was sent from the fort to take them, but just as they had dismounted in front of the saloon and were hitching their horses, Cleveland appeared at the door with a cocked navy in each hand and told them that he would shoot the first man who moved a finger. Calling two or three of his followers he disarmed the dragoons, took their horses and equipments and sent them back on foot to reflect upon the vicissitudes of military affairs. Early in 1862 the condition became desperate and the city authorities, in connection with the commander at Winthrop, concerted a scheme which brought matters to a crisis. Cleveland and about a dozen of his gang were absent in Missouri on a scout. The time of their return was known, and Marshal Charles Holbert had his force stationed in the shadow of an old warehouse near the bank of the river. It was a brilliant moonlight night in mid-winter. The freebooters emerged from the forest and crossed upon the ice. They were freshly mounted and each one had a spare horse. Accompanying them were two sleighs loaded with negroes, harness and miscellaneous plunder. As they ascended the steep shore of the levee, unconscious of danger, they were all taken prisoners except Cleveland, who turned suddenly, spurred his horse down the embankment and escaped. The captives were taken to Weston, where they soon afterward enlisted in the Federal army. The next day Cleveland rode into town, captured the city marshal on the street and declared his intention to hold him as a hostage for the safety of his men. He compelled the marshal to walk by the side of his horse a short distance, when finding a crowd gathering for his capture, he struck him a blow on the head with his pistol and fled.”
Cleveland continued his exploits for a number of months after this, but was finally captured in one of the southern counties where he was attempting to let himself down the side of a ravine. He was shot by a soldier from above, and the ball entered his arm and passed through his body. He was buried in St. Joseph. Mo., and a marble head stone over his grave bears the following inscription, placed there by his widow: “One hero less on earth, one angel more in heaven.”
As the direct result of the operations of Cleveland and his gang, the spirit of lawlessness grew and the people finally “took the law into their own hands.” Perhaps the best account of the lynchings that followed was given by Hon. Mont. Cochran March 17, 1902, at the time a Congressman from Missouri, but formerly a leading citizen and county attorney of Atchison. Mr. Cochran said:
“The thieves who fell victims to Judge Lynch, while not known as Cleveland’s gang, operated extensively throughout the period of lawlessness in which no effort whatever was made to bring the outlaws to justice. After the Cleveland gang had been effectively broken up, these depredatory scoundrels continued their operations. Their last crime, and the one for which they were gibbeted, was the attempted robbery of an old man named Kelsey. He had received at Ft. Leavenworth $1,500 on a Government contract, and, upon returning home by the way of Atchison, he deposited it in Hetherington’s bank. The thieves went to his house at night and demanded the money. Of course, he could not produce it. They tortured the old man and his wife alternately for hours, and when after the departure of the thieves, the neighbors were called in, Kelsey and his wife were nearer dead than alive. The next morning hundreds of their neighbors, armed to the teeth, swarmed into Atchison. In Third street, north of Commercial, was a little log building, which had been the home of an early settler, in which was a gunsmith’s shop. Three or four of the farmers went there to have their fire arms put in order. When they came out one of them had a revolver in his hand. Two fellows standing by, seeing the farmers approaching, dived into an alley and started westward at lightning speed. The farmers pursued and at the house of a notorious character, known as Aunt Betsey, the fugitives were run to cover. The house was surrounded and they were captured. One of them was Sterling, the fiddler and pianist of the bagnio. Other arrests followed until five were in durance. Then ensued probably the most extraordinary proceeding known to the annals of Judge Lynch. The mob took possession of the jail and the court house and for a week held them. The prisoners were tried one by one. Sterling was convicted and executed. An elm tree, standing on the banks of White Clay creek, in the southwest quarter of the town, was admirably suited to the purpose. When the wagon, bearing Sterling to his doom reached the ground the whole town was in attendance. A range of hills to the south swarmed with women. Asa Barnes, a prominent farmer, a man of iron resolution and unswerving honesty, was the leader of the mob. With clinched teeth and blanched face he ordered Sterling to take his place on the seat of the wagon, and, while the desperado was as game as a peacock, he promptly obeyed. Standing on the wagon seat Sterling took off his hat, banged it down and placing his foot on it, shook his clenched hand at the sea of upturned faces, and with a volley of imprecations, said: ‘I am the best d—d man that ever walked the earth and if you will drop me down and give me a gun, I will fight any ten of you.’ Sandy Corbin, a great bluffer, who bore but little better reputation than the man with the noose on his neck, pretended that he wanted to fight Sterling single-handed. Nobody else paid any attention to Sterling’s ravings, and in a twinkling he was swung into eternity. The next day two others, a man named Brewer, a soldier at home on a furlough, and a young fellow known as Pony, met the same fate. There was much sympathy for Pony. He was a drunkard and all his delinquencies were attributed to this weakness. Just as they were ready to swing him up, two or three members of the mob told him that if he would give information as to others implicated, but who had not been arrested, they would save him. His reply was: ‘I went into this thing as a man and I will die as a man.’ There was a stir among those nearest the wagon and it was discovered that an effort was being made to save the boy from death. The traces were cut and the horses led away. The effort failed. Fifty men seized the wagon and dragged it away. The fourth to suffer the vengeance of the mob was an old gray-haired man named Moody. At the trial he strongly protested his innocence, and promised, if given a respite of twenty-four hours, he would prove an alibi. This was granted, but the witnesses were not forthcoming and the next day the old man was put to death. A priest visited him in jail, which was constantly surrounded day and night, and when he came out after administering the rights of the church to the doomed man, it was remarked by those who saw him that the priest was as pale as a ghost. The report gained currency that when asked if Moody was innocent, he refused to answer yea or nay, and, although it had not then developed that Moody could not produce the witnesses he promised, the conduct of the priest was taken as proof that Moody was guilty. During the week in which these extraordinary proceedings took place, the mob was in undisputed control of the court house and jail. Judge Lynch was perched upon the wool sack and a jury of twelve men, who had qualified under oath, in the usual form, occupied the jury box. Not the slightest effort at concealment was made by those who led or those who followed. In my judgment no other course was left open to the community.
“Not less than 500 men were driven out of Kansas on the charge of disloyalty in 1861 and 1862, with the approval of men of excellent character, by thugs and scoundrels, who made no concealment of the fact that they lived by horse stealing and house breaking. From the beginning of the Civil war until peace was declared, the Kansas border from the Nebraska State line to the Indian Territory, was a scene of lawlessness and disorder. In the earlier years of the war, thieves regularly organized into companies, with captains whose authority was recognized by the rank and file, with headquarters in the towns and cities of eastern Kansas, masqueraded as saviors of the Union, and upon the pretense that they were serving the cause, thrived amazingly by pillaging the farm houses and barns of neighboring counties in Missouri. Atchison was the headquarters of the Cleveland gang—the most active and the boldest of the banditti. The gang did not hesitate to cross over to Missouri and steal horses, and returning to Atchison sell them in broad daylight. Usually these raids were made at night, but there was no concealment of the business they were engaged in, nor of the fact that hundreds of the horses sold by them were stolen from farmers of Buchanan, Platte and Clinton counties. In the capacity of saviors of the Union, they took upon themselves the task of driving all persons suspected of sympathy for ‘the lost cause’ out of Kansas. P. T. Abell, J. T. Hereford, Headley & Carr, prominent lawyers, were notified to leave or they would be killed. They departed. Headley, Carr and Hereford served in the Confederate army. Abell lived in exile until after the war was over, and then returned to Atchison. He was one of the founders of the town, and before the war was the partner of Gen. B. F. Stringfellow. Tom Ray, proprietor of an extensive blacksmithing and wagon shop, was banished. In a month or two he returned, but not until after he had halted at Winthrop, a village opposite Atchison and opened up negotiations which resulted in a grant of permission to remain in Atchison long enough to settle up his business and collect considerable sums due from his customers. He registered at the old Massasoit House, but did not tarry long. Maj. R. H. Weightman, an early settler, who left Atchison in 1861, and accepted a colonel’s commission in the Confederate army, had been killed at Wilson’s Creek. While sitting in the Massasoit House barroom, Ray was approached by Sandy Corbin, a somewhat notorious character, who handled most of the horses stolen by Cleveland’s thieves. Corbin mentioned Weightman’s death, expressing satisfaction at his untimely end, and applying all the epithets known to the abandoned, to the dead man. Ray expostulated, and finally warned Corbin to desist or expect a thrashing. Corbin rushed to his room and returned with two revolvers, so adjusted upon his belt that Ray could not help seeing them. Ray, who was a giant in size, seized Corbin, threw him face downward upon a billiard table, and with a blacksmith’s hand as large as a ham, spanked him until he was almost insensible. Then he hurriedly boarded the ferry boat, crossed the river and made his way to Montana, where he lived until his death, twenty years ago.
“Cleveland’s lieutenant, a fellow named Hartman, was the worst of the gang, and was guilty of so many and such flagrant outrages upon the prominent citizens that in sheer desperation, four men, all of whom are now dead, met and drew straws to see who would kill Hartman—(1) Jesse C. Crall, during his life prominent in politics and business; (2) George T. Challiss, for thirty years a deacon in the Baptist church and a prominent wholesale merchant and identified prominently with Atchison affairs; (3) James McEwen, a cattle buyer and butcher; (4) The fourth man was a prominent physician. Each of these had suffered intolerable outrages at the hands of Hartman. He had visited their houses and terrified their wives by notifying them that unless their husbands left Atchison within a specified period they would be mobbed. Even the children of two of the victims of persecution had been abused. They met at the physician’s office, and after a prolonged conference, at which it was agreed that neither would leave until Hartman had been killed, proceeded to draw straws to see which would undertake the work. Crall held the straws, McEwen drew the short straw and the job fell to his lot. Atchison is bisected by two or three brooks, one of which traverses the northwest section of the town and runs into White Clay creek. This ravine has very precipitous banks, and was crossed by several foot bridges. At the east approach of the bridge was a tall elm tree. McEwen took his position under this tree, and awaited the appearance of Hartman, who necessarily passed that way in going home at night. When Hartman was half-way across the bridge, McEwen stepped out, dropped to his knee, leveled a double-barreled shotgun and turned loose. He filled Hartman with buckshot from his head to his heels, but strange to say, the fellow did not die for months afterward. Had either of the others drawn the fatal straw, no doubt Hartman would have been killed in broad daylight, on the streets, but McEwen concluded to give the fellow no chance for his life.”
The First Kansas volunteer cavalry was the first regiment to be raised under the call of President Lincoln May 8, 1861. It was mustered into the service at Ft. Leavenworth June 3, 1861. George W. Deitzler, of Lawrence, was colonel, and the following men from Atchison were officers: George H. Faicheled, captain, Company C; Camille Aguiel, first lieutenant: Rinaldo A. Barker, second lieutenant; James W. Martin, second lieutenant of Company B. Within ten days of the date this regiment was mustered in, they received orders for active service. The regiment joined the army of General Lyon at Grand River, Mo., and on July 10 arrived at Springfield, where the force of General Sigel was gathered. The united forces of the rebels, under Price and McCullouch, was concentrated at Wilson’s Creek, twelve miles from Springfield, and was strongly entrenched there, where the initial engagement of the First Kansas regiment took place. This regiment went into the engagement with 644 men and officers, and lost seventy-seven killed and 333 wounded. The rebel forces were estimated to be 5,300 infantry, fifteen pieces of artillery, and 6,000 horsemen, with a loss of 265 killed, 721 wounded, and 292 missing. The Union forces numbered about 5,000, with a loss of about 1,000. It was one of the fiercest and most determined battles of the Civil war, and both officers and privates in the companies from Atchison displayed great bravery. First Lieut. Camille Aguiel was among the killed, and privates Henry W. Totten and Casper Broggs, together with Corporal William F. Parker, of Atchison, also lost their lives in this engagement.
The Seventh regiment Kansas cavalry was ordered into active service immediately following its organization. Colonel Daniel R. Anthony, of Leavenworth, was a lieutenant-colonel of this regiment, and among the line officers was William S. Morehouse, of Atchison, who was second lieutenant. This regiment saw a great deal of active service in the Civil war, and was first attacked by the rebels November 11, 1861, while encamped in western Missouri, on the Little Blue river. Following a furious battle the regiment lost nine of its force by death and thirty-two wounded. This regiment subsequently participated in an engagement at Little Santa Fe and at Independence. In January, 1862, the Seventh regiment went into camp at Humboldt, Kan., and remained there until it was ordered to Lawrence in the following March, and subsequently was ordered to Corinth, Miss., and from thence to Rienzi, Miss., where it was assigned to the First Cavalry brigade, of which Phillip H. Sheridan was commander, and subsequently saw much service in Tennessee and other points in the South, and participated in the various actions that occurred during General Smith’s expedition to the Tallahatchee, after which the balance of their active service took place in Missouri. It was mustered out at Ft. Leavenworth September 4, 1865.
The Eighth regiment Kansas infantry was perhaps closer to the hearts of the people of Atchison county than any other regiment that participated in the Civil war, for the reason that its lieutenant-colonel was the beloved John A. Martin, editor of the Atchison Champion, and subsequently governor of Kansas. It was originally recruited and intended for home and frontier service. The fear of invasion, both by hostile Indians on the west, and the rebels on the south and east, kept fear alive in the hearts of many residents of Kansas, and for this purpose it was deemed desirable to have a regiment of volunteer soldiers close at hand. As originally organized, this regiment consisted of six infantry and two cavalry companies, but various changes were made during the three months following its organization. It saw active service throughout the South, and participated in many of the important battles of the Civil war, but in none did it play a more conspicuous part than in the great battle of Mission Ridge. The following is from Colonel Martin’s official report of the part taken by the Eighth Kansas in this engagement: