Mexico weekly ledger., 1892-05-12
The Camp Jackson Affair.
HON. w. II. KEENAN, RELATES A
"REMINISCENCES OF EARLY
TROUBLES In MIS-
SOURI,.

TROUBLES In MIS-
SOURI,.
How the Honorable Gentleman Be-
came Imbued With a Spirit
or Southern Sentiment
and Defended "The
Lost Cause."
A number of gentlemen in
the LEDGER Office this morning, |
among them several ex.- Confederates
and two or three old Federal soldiers.
After the weather and the political
situation had been discussed the
conversation turned upon the Camp
Jackson affair in st. Louis, many
years ago. Hon. w. H.. KEENAN,
was one of the party and happened
to be in a laxative mood. MI.
KEENAN, said hat thirty-one years
ago to-day he was a teacher in the
Academy at Rocheport, Mo-, presided
over by Prof. J. N. Searcey, who
was assisted by Miss Woods, of Co
lumbia, (who afterward married DIR.
Chandler, a cousin of Mrs. A. S.
Houston and Mrs. G. r. Gibbs, of
this place. Late in the afternoon of
that day news reached Recheport
of the surrender of Camp Jackson
by Gen. D. NJ. Frost, of the Missouri
State Guards, to Gen. Nathaniel
Lyon, of the United States Army, on
the day before. The excitement was
intense. All were anxious to get pa
pers containing a detailed and min
ute account of the surrender. 1t
had been raining for several days and
was then pouring down in torrents.
The roads were then, as now, in an
almost impossible condition. There
was a call by the people of the then
busy thriving little river town of
Rocheport for some n to mount a
horse and ride to Columbia and
bring back with him copies of the
st. Louis Republican, then owned
and edited by the Knapps. Mr..
KEENAN, being present, told them if
they would furnish him with the
best saddle horse in the town, gum
overcoat and leggings, he would go
through the driving rain and deep
mud to Columbia, a distance of
fourteen miles, and get papers con-
tanning an account of the surrender
and return before bed time. He
says the crowd eagerly took him at
his word and a splendid looking
sorrel gelding, sure-footed and we'll
gated, was furnished him. He
donned the gum coat and leggings,
mounted his steed and put out for
columbia. He reached there a
short while before sun down, had
his horse put up and properly cared
for, and took supper with his mother
at a hotel kept by VIM uisenberry,
the father of Mrs. DIR. Pinckney
French, formerly of this city, now
of st. Louis. After eating his
supper and taking leave of his
mother, Mr.. KEENAN, procured a
copy of the st. Louis Republican,
mounted his faithful horse and
turned his head toward Rocheport
in the murky darkness of the night.
1t was so dark he could not see his
way only at intervals by the light
ning's flash. He gave rein to his
horse and trusted to Providence to
land him safely in Rocheport where
anxious, eager and impatient friends
were waiting for him. After a peril
Gus ride he arrived safely in front
of Bailey's old hotel, near the land
ing, where had assembled every
adult male in the town to await his
coming to hear the news. He dis
mounted in a drenching rain and
received the thanks and contratula-
tons of the crowd. He gave the
newspaper which he had secured at
Columbia under such difficulties to
the much-lamented Judge Hinton,
who was then a resident of Roche
port. The Judge mounted a chair
and read aloud the Republicans
account of the surrender to the eager
listening crowd.
DR.. Dimmitt, Henry Tumey VIM.
c. Crump and others were then liv-
ing in Rocheport. This was on Sat
urday night. The firing upon and
killing and wounding of innocent
women and children by Frank
Blair's regiment aroused the people
of Missouri from centre to circum-
ference and lost the State to the
Union. Up to this time Mr.. KEENAN,
had been an ardent Union man and
had voted for the Union delegates
to the convention against every
member of his family, who were all
outspoken Southern sympathizers.
The next Monday he went to his
duties as teacher at the little Acade-
my, but time dragged slowly with
him. He was fired with a spirit of
Southern enthusiasm that he could
not control. About the middle of
| tha waaL n forry boot IooIoI u,;4l -