Lawrence Berry Washington
The Missouri-Kansas Border War
Continued from A Tale to be Told Some Fifty Years Hence
After his journey to California and Cuba, Lawrence B. Washington worked on his novel, prepared it for publication and selected a publisher for its 1853 printing. He traveled between the family home in Jefferson County and Kanawha Valley, Putnam County Virginia where he handled the land transactions for his two brothers who, with him, had inherited land from their father. In 1855, the time had come to sell the Cedar Lawn estate for division amongst the younger children. His sister Mildred Berry married Solomon Singleton Bedinger of Kentucky and most of the brothers and sisters banded together to migrate to Missouri where fertile lands offered promise of bountiful harvest. It was indeed a family migration including most of the children, with the spouses of those who were married taking them in the spring of 1856 to western Missouri south of the Missouri River.
Lawrence Washington, at this time in Putnam County, applied for service in the regular army. [i] Without a call for his services in the army, Washington's interest turned to news from Missouri and Kansas where there were disturbances between pro- and anti-slavery factions. Lawrence may have accompanied his brother George Washington in 1854 on an expedition in 1854 to evaluate the prospects of purchasing farm land and settling in Missouri. In 1855, Lawrence Washington formed a joint stock company and in December of 1855 advertised for subscribers for emigration to Kansas. [ii] Presumably, in this enterprise he soon left the Kanawha and migrated to the Kansas-Missouri area. He and his siblings who had settled in western Missouri soon learned learned first-hand of the Kansas-Missouri border conflicts that were portended trouble for Missouri settlers. The conflicts between opposing forces would soon spill over to the area of their Missouri farms as raids by the Kansas Jayhawkers.
Lawrence Washington, at this time in Putnam County, applied for service in the regular army. [i] Without a call for his services in the army, Washington's interest turned to news from Missouri and Kansas where there were disturbances between pro- and anti-slavery factions. Lawrence may have accompanied his brother George Washington in 1854 on an expedition in 1854 to evaluate the prospects of purchasing farm land and settling in Missouri. In 1855, Lawrence Washington formed a joint stock company and in December of 1855 advertised for subscribers for emigration to Kansas. [ii] Presumably, in this enterprise he soon left the Kanawha and migrated to the Kansas-Missouri area. He and his siblings who had settled in western Missouri soon learned learned first-hand of the Kansas-Missouri border conflicts that were portended trouble for Missouri settlers. The conflicts between opposing forces would soon spill over to the area of their Missouri farms as raids by the Kansas Jayhawkers.
Missouri had been admitted to the union as a slave state in 1821 by the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise was a United States federal statute devised by Henry Clay. It regulated slavery in the country's western territories by prohibiting the practice in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30′ north, except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri. The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 effectively undermined the prohibition on slavery in territory north of 36°30′ latitude which had been established by the Missouri Compromise. This change was viewed by Free Staters and many abolitionist Northerners as an aggressive, expansionist maneuver by the slave-owning South. The Kansas–Nebraska Act called for the decision about slavery to be made by the vote of the settlers of a territory. At the heart of the conflict was the question of whether Kansas would allow or outlaw slavery, and thus enter the Union as a slave state or a free state.
A series of violent political confrontations in the Kansas Territory ensued between the anti-slavery “Free-Staters” and pro-slavery "Border Ruffians" elements in Kansas between 1854 and 1861. On March 30, 1855, Kansas Territory held the election for its first Territorial Legislature. Crucially, this legislature would decide whether Kansas Territory would allow slavery. Pro-slavery settlers from Missouri flooded into the territory to vote, and pro-slavery delegates were elected to 37 of the 39 seats. To help countermand the lopsided pro-slavery vote, by the summer of 1855 around 1,200 New England Yankees had immigrated to Kansas Territory.
A series of violent political confrontations in the Kansas Territory ensued between the anti-slavery “Free-Staters” and pro-slavery "Border Ruffians" elements in Kansas between 1854 and 1861. On March 30, 1855, Kansas Territory held the election for its first Territorial Legislature. Crucially, this legislature would decide whether Kansas Territory would allow slavery. Pro-slavery settlers from Missouri flooded into the territory to vote, and pro-slavery delegates were elected to 37 of the 39 seats. To help countermand the lopsided pro-slavery vote, by the summer of 1855 around 1,200 New England Yankees had immigrated to Kansas Territory.
Violent confrontations erupted between “Free-Staters”, and the pro-slavery faction. Among the most prominent advocates of violent action against pro-slavery men, was John Brown. This John Brown was none other than the notorious abolitionist better known for his raid in 1859 on the Federal Armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. In May 1856, Lawrence, Kansas was sacked by pro-slavery Sheriff Samuel Jones and his posse. Printing presses were destroyed and buildings burned but there was no bloodshed. In retaliation for the sacking of Lawrence, “Captain” John Brown and his company of free-state rifle-volunteers on May 24, 1856 brutally massacred and confiscated property of five peaceable settlers along Pottawatomie Creek in southeastern Kansas. Members of his rifle company asserted that Capt. Brown did not commit any of the actual murders himself, but he was the undisputed leader and made the decisions as to who should live and who should die. Capt. Brown was not fearful of the consequences of his actions in Kansas because he believed he was guided by the hand of God in undertaking any acts of revenge. He said later, “I believe I did God service in having them killed.” [iii] The sacking of Lawrence and the massacre at Pottawatomie set off a brutal guerrilla war in Kansas. By the end of 1856, over 200 people would be killed. Property damage was immense. [iv] Federal troops were sent in to put down the fighting, but they were too few to be effectual.
Capt. Henry Clay Pate had been in the posse of Sheriff Samuel Jones at the Lawrence raid. In a sworn statement, Capt. Pate stated he received orders of T. W. Hays, U. S. Marshal for the Southern District of Kansas, to pursue and arrest certain individuals who participated with John Brown in the Potawatomie massacre. Capt. Pate declared himself an officer of the U. S. Dragoons and led a force of 25 men. [v]
Capt. Henry Clay Pate had been in the posse of Sheriff Samuel Jones at the Lawrence raid. In a sworn statement, Capt. Pate stated he received orders of T. W. Hays, U. S. Marshal for the Southern District of Kansas, to pursue and arrest certain individuals who participated with John Brown in the Potawatomie massacre. Capt. Pate declared himself an officer of the U. S. Dragoons and led a force of 25 men. [v]
Lawrence Berry Washington joined with the force led by Capt. Pate, who with his men had captured two of John Brown’s sons, John Brown Jr. and Jason Brown, burned their homes and delivered them to the U. S. Dragoons. Upon learning of this, John Brown lead ten men, including another five of his sons, to Prairie City where he joined forces with other free-staters. Brown learned that that Capt. Pate and his men were camped nearby at Black Jack Creek. Waiting until dark, Brown led his force of eighteen men toward Black Jack Creek. The opposing forces began trading gunfire in the early morning.
After the battle had gone on for about three hours there was a lull in the fighting. Knowing that Brown was expecting soon to gain reinforcements, Capt. Pate sought to take advantage of the situation by sending Major Lawrence B. Washington for reinforcements. Washington was slightly wounded while riding off. Before Washington could return with reinforcements the battle was ended with the capture of Capt. Pate and his men. Capt. Pate had sought to gain time by sending out a flag of truce to confer with Brown. Capt. Pate approached Brown and told him he was acting under the orders of the U. S. Marshal in search of persons for whom writs of arrest had been issued and that he had a proposition to make. Brown, who had concealed armed men near the meeting place, violated the flag of truce by forcibly taking Capt. Pate Prisoner. Brown placed a revolver to the breast of Capt. Pate and ordered him to command his company to lay down their arms and surrender. Capt. Pate refused to issue the order, but his men, seeing the situation Pate was in, voluntarily laid down their arms to save the life of their captain. [vi] [vii] [viii] . Capt. Pate and his men were held prisoners for three days until Col. Sumner, at the head of a company of Dragoons released them. [ix]
The conflicts between the Free-Staters and Pro-Slavery factions, led to “guerilla warfare “ between the two sides. Bands of robbers, called “Jayhawkers”, associated with the Free-Stater cause, while “Border Ruffians” were termed the bands associated with the pro-slavery cause. “Jayhawkers” rustled livestock and stole property in raids on farm and businesses of pro-slavery sympathizers. The Bedinger and Washington families who had migrated to Missouri from Virginia had generally settled in Cass and Johnson Counties adjacent and near the Kansas border and were subject to depredations of the Jayhawkers in the years leading up to and even during the Civil War when many of the Jayhawkers joined the Union forces and continued their raids into Missouri.
After the Battle of Black Jack Creek, also known as The Black Jack Point Affray, Lawrence Berry Washington lived in western Missouri near or with his siblings. While in Missouri, Washington wrote poetry and contributed to local newspapers. Washington died by drowning after falling overboard from a steamboat on the Missouri River near Rocheport in Boone County, Missouri, on the night of September 21, 1856. The following notice appeared in the Richmond Dispatch [x] and The Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) [xi].
After the Battle of Black Jack Creek, also known as The Black Jack Point Affray, Lawrence Berry Washington lived in western Missouri near or with his siblings. While in Missouri, Washington wrote poetry and contributed to local newspapers. Washington died by drowning after falling overboard from a steamboat on the Missouri River near Rocheport in Boone County, Missouri, on the night of September 21, 1856. The following notice appeared in the Richmond Dispatch [x] and The Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) [xi].
“Drowned.—Major L. B. Washington, formerly of Jefferson county, Va., was drowned in the Missouri river, at Roach Port [Rocheport], on the 16th ult.—Major W. served as an officer in the late Mexican war, and has been engaged in the Kansas difficulties.
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Washington was a lifelong bachelor, and he died without issue. His younger brother, John Thornton Augustine Washington, memorialized Washington by naming his fifth child Lawrence Berry Washington, born in San Antonio, Texas, on July 12, 1869. [xii]
Lawrence Berry Washington’s adventurous career filled a relatively short time span with multiple endeavors as attorney, Lieutenant in the Virginia Regiment of the Mexican War, land developer, Major in the border battles of Missouri and Kansas, and a gold rush Forty-niner. Yet, the ambitious goals of love, gold, and glory of this dashing figure never reached the lofty levels to which he so ardently aspired. He held fervent political and passionate social beliefs; in his reflective moments he was an accomplished poet and a novelist. He was enigmatic and poorly understood; his loving older sister in her remembrances, affectionately but despairingly described him as a “wandering Jew”. His adventurous star-crossed career was met with an untimely and tragic drowning death.
Lawrence Berry Washington’s adventurous career filled a relatively short time span with multiple endeavors as attorney, Lieutenant in the Virginia Regiment of the Mexican War, land developer, Major in the border battles of Missouri and Kansas, and a gold rush Forty-niner. Yet, the ambitious goals of love, gold, and glory of this dashing figure never reached the lofty levels to which he so ardently aspired. He held fervent political and passionate social beliefs; in his reflective moments he was an accomplished poet and a novelist. He was enigmatic and poorly understood; his loving older sister in her remembrances, affectionately but despairingly described him as a “wandering Jew”. His adventurous star-crossed career was met with an untimely and tragic drowning death.
Sources:
[i] Richmond Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia) Monday March 12, 1855.
[ii] The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), Monday Dec. 10, 1855.
[iii] Oates, Stephen B., 1970, To Purge This Land with Blood: A biography of John Brown, Harper & Rowe.
[iv] U. S. History Online Textbook, http://www.ushistory.org/us/31d.asp, accessed June 24, 2016.
[v] “His Soul Goes Marching On”, Life and Legacy of John Brown, John Brown as viewed by H. Clay Pate, West Virginia Archives and History, http://www.wvculture.org/history/jbexhibit/pateonbr.
[vi] National Register of Historic Places, Listed April 28, 2004, Black Jack Battlefield, Douglas County, Kansas, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
[vii] “The Latest ‘Battle’ in Kansas”, The Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), Friday June 20, 1856.
[viii] “The Black Jack Point Affray”, Richmond Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), Saturday, June 21, 1856.
[ix] “His Soul Goes Marching On”, Life and Legacy of John Brown, John Brown as viewed by H. Clay Pate, West Virginia Archives and History, http://www.wvculture.org/history/jbexhibit/pateonbr.
[x] "Drowned", Richmond Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), Monday, November 10, 1856.
[xi] "Drowned", The Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), Tuesday, November 11, 1865.
[xii] Washington, Thornton A, 1891, A Genealogical History beginning with Col. John Washington The Emigrant, and Head of the Washington Family in America, Press of McGill & Wallace, Washington, D. C., 71 p.]
Modified July 12, 2016