Waltenspeil, Richard Hulland, Eli Laupheimer, Francis McCabe. The latter was the commander of a company during Jeff. Thompson's raid on Sedalia. Of these, Smith, Parker, Waltenspeil, Hulland and McCabe are now dead.

These constituted the officers, a mayor, marshal, assessor, and seven

aldermen.

The charter provided for the appointment of a registrar by the mayor. This set of officers held their position until the first Monday in April, 1864, when the first city election was held. At this election the following officers were elected: James G. Tesch, mayor, and the old board of aldermen mentioned above.

The first meeting of the city council under the charter was held in a little frame building near the present site of the German House, East Main street.

The earliest records of the council meetings seem to have been destroyed, and the writer was unable to find them.

The charter which was then granted to Sedalia gave pretty full powers. Section twelve gives in a compact form the powers granted the mayor and board of aldermen, and is as follows: "The mayor and board of aldermen shall have power by ordinance to levy and collect taxes upon real and personal property within the city, such taxes as shall from time to time be necessary for the purposes of the corporation, on all persons and property made taxable by the laws for state purposes, and shall have power by ordinance to make regulations to prevent the introduction of contagious diseases; to make regulations to secure the general health of the inhabitants; to prevent and remove nuisances; to establish night watches and patrols; erect lamps in the street and light the same; to provide for licensing, taxing and regulating auctioneers, retailers, ordinaries and taverns, billiard tables, hackney coaches, wagons, carts, drays, pawnbrokers, venders of lottery tickets, money changers, hawkers and peddlers, theatrical and other shows of amusement; to restrain and prohibit tippling houses, gaming and gaming houses, bawdy houses and other disorderly houses; to establish and repair bridges; to establish and regulate markets; to open and keep in repair streets, avenues, lanes, alleys, drains and sewers, and keep the same clean; to provide the city with water, to provide for safe keeping standard weights and measures; for the regulation of weights and measures to be used in said city; to regulate the cleaning of chimneys and fix the fees thereof; to provide for the prevention and extinguishment of fires; to regulate the size of brick to be made and used within the city; to provide for the inspection of lumber and other building materials to be sold and used therein; to regulate and order partition and parapet walls, hearth boxes, and partition fences; to regulate the inspection of butter, lard, wool and the weight and quantity of bread, the stor

age of gunpowder, tar, pitch, rosin, hemp, cotton and other combustible materials; to erect pumps in the streets for the convenience of the inhabitants; to regulate the election of city officers and fix their compensation, and from time to time to pass such ordinances to carry into effect the objects of this act and the powers hereby granted, as the good of the inhabitants may require; and to impose the appropriate fines and forfeitures for the breach of any ordinance, and provide for the collection thereof; provided that no tax shall be laid upon the wearing apparel, or necessary tools and implements of any person carrying on a trade, nor shall the same be subject to distress or sale for tax.”

This clause is of interest because it gives "in a nut shell" the powers granted to the city; and it gives an insight into the social condition of the city by showing what things were wanted and not wanted, under the law at that time.

Numerous amendments have been made to the charter, which will also show the progress of the city and the increase of its demands. The mayor first appointed the city registrar, and afterwards the city attorney. Now all officers are elected. There is now no necessity for regulating sellers of lottery tickets, for that traffic is forbidden by State law. A board of health is now established to look after the health of the citizens, and contagious diseases. There is now an ordinance for the taxing and killing of dogs, and for restraining hogs and cattle from running at large; to protect birds and bird's nests; to kill pigeons; to erect poor, work and pest houses; to prohibit the carrying of concealed weapons; to regulate the price and quality of gas; to borrow money and issue bonds; to prescribe fire limits; for the keeping of a record of births and deaths; to restrain and regulate hotel runners; to prevent the encroachment of signs on sidewalks; to prevent any amusement that may annoy people on the highways or frighten animals; to provide for the paving, altering and opening of streets, etc., etc. These very amendments to the city charter show the history of the town indirectly, because the provisions of the original charter were suitable for a young village; and the amendments are such as are required by the demands of an established city.

Just after the city had become a corporation, and the first set of elected officers and aldermen had gotten the city government to working well, the town was invaded by a regular and large force of veteran Confeder

ates.

The election came off in April, 1864, and the town was captured in October following.

CHAPTER III.-CAPTURE OF SEDALIA.

This history of the assault upon and capture of the city is one of the most interesting and important incidents of the war, not only in Sedalia, but in Missouri, because it was made at a most unexpected time and when the war was almost over; and because there are many of the present residents of Sedalia who witnessed the event and still recollect it as the most thrilling episode in their whole lives.

Gen. Sterling Price, with a large and well organized force, had begun his famous march through Missouri, and had reached the central part of the State.

On September 23, about twenty days before the attack on this city, Col. John D. Crawford, a tried and trusted Union soldier, who had been born and raised in the near vicinity of Sedalia, and had done good service for his county and country, from the very beginning of the war, received a formal order from Gen. Rosecrans, the then commander of the department in which Sedalia was located, to organize a force to defend Sedalia. It was supposed that the approach of Price's army would embolden all the straggling bands of bushwhackers and other irregulars, to commit new deeds of violence and plunder, and as all the regular forces had been withdrawn from the town and the post abandoned, it was in great danger from such predatory bands as might swoop down upon it. Col. Crawford went to work at once, assisted by a few other men who had seen service, and reliable and courageous Union citizens of the town, and organized a small force, composed of veteran militiamen and Union citizens, and a few men of southern sympathies who were willing or forced to unite with them in the defense of their town, homes and property. Forces were organized not only in Sedalia, but in Clinton, Warrensburg and other surrounding towns, and the officers in command at these other points reported daily, or as often as possible, to Col. Crawford.

On October 14, Gen. Sanborn and a force of Federal cavalry passed through Georgetown on their way west. The general met Col. Crawford and commended his promptness and efficiency in organizing his forces, and successful defense of the town and country. Sometime between October 10 and October 13 the wires between Jefferson City and Sedalia were cut, and news reached Sedalia that the Otterville railroad bridge would be burned, thus cutting Sedalia off from all communication with headquarters and from all aid. This was a desperate condition to be left in. About the same time a telegram was received from Gen. Brown, District Commander at Jefferson City, ordering Col. Crawford to take his horses and arms and leave Sedalia to its own fate, as he would be com

H

A council was held and the word

pletely at the mercy of the enemy. went out, "We will stay till driven out."

The morning after this news was received Col. Crawford took a force of twenty-five picked men on a flat car with an engine and went to Otterville, eighteen miles east of Sedalia, to reconnoiter. When he arrived there he found the bridge burning and the dense forest and rough country around it filled with Confederates. After the burning of the bridge he returned to Sedalia and urged his miscellaneous force to be especially watchful and discreet. The next day he took a small force of his cavalry and went to Otterville to make a second reconnoiter. Near the mill and blacksmith shop in the eastern suburbs, to which the enemy were driven, he came upon a squad of Confederates, and each party fired a volley. One Confederate fell from his horse wounded through the shoulders, and the others fled. As the Union militiamen approached the fallen Confederate, one of them, a very reckless and cruel man, fired his gun at the fallen soldier. His commander ordered him to desist and told him "not to shoot at a dead man, but to save his shots for the living as he would probably find more of them ere long, than he would be pleased to see.' On hearing an officer speak, the wounded Confederate, who was only pretending to be dead to save himself from further injury, raised upon his elbow and begged Col. Crawford not to let his men kill him, as he was no bushwhacker but a regular Confederate soldier. A number of militiamen were directed to pick up the wounded man, and he was carried to the residence of Dr. Sanders, one of the oldest physicians in the sectoin, where his wounds were dressed, and he received every proper attention. The Federal force drove the Confederates out of town, but met with no further adventures. They returned to Sedalia the same night. Light earthworks had been thrown up all around the town. The next day, October 15, a woman came over from the "Pin Hook Mills" neighborhood, a Mrs. Cummings, and informed Col. Crawford that there was a large Confederate force on their way across the country to attack Sedalia. Reports of this character had been so frequent since the appearance of Price's force in Central Missouri, that little attention was paid to it at first. However, a squad was sent out to reconnoiter, and soon returned with a couple of rebel stragglers, which they captured in the woods about four miles due north of town. There was now no doubt about a rebel force being near the town. All the available forces in Sedalia, about 250 or 300 men, were ordered to go into the trenches or saddles.

The different companies and squads were at this time under the immediate command of Capt. Donnohue, Capt. Frank McCabe, Capt. F. L. Parker, Capt. Wm. Bloss, Lieut. Ben Lyon and Lieut. Dick Bard. They and their forces had been scouting through the country, digging trenches

at various points around the town, laying on their arms at night in the open air, and, in fact, enduring all the hardships and rigors of soldier life. Chan. P. Townsley was adjutant, and Lieut. B. F. Yankee was with his company.

The strongest earthwork was on the site of A. L. Goodwin's livery stable, on East Main street. Ben Lyon and Adam Ittel were in command here. Near town there was a company of cavalry belonging to some regiment with Gen Sanborn, and just out of town was a squad of men from Hickory County, who were without arms, and had come to Sedalia to get them. They all left at once when the attack began. The headquarters of the Union force were in the basement of the old Sedalia House, near the present site of the Garrison House. The small miscellaneous force got under arms at once and went to their various posts around town. Lieut. Lyon was at the old Bouldin House, northwest of town, getting his dinner, when he heard the first firing. There was a tall flagstaff in front of the headquarters, from which the Union flag was flying. Capt. Donnohue had been sent out north of town with a small cavalry force. This squad met the Confederate advance guard in the vicinity of the present city cemetery, and exchanged several volleys. Then, seeing they were overwhelmingly outnumbered, returned to town. The rebel force was large and furnished with several field pieces, and it would have been folly to have attempted to fight them without artillery. About the same time a telegraph operator from Otterville or Syracuse came to town and delivered a dispatch to Col. Crawford from Gen. A. J. Smith, who was in command of the Federal infantry force somewhere down on the line of the railroad, where the telegraph lines had been repaired. The message said in substance: "Hold the town if you can, until I arrive with my troops; but if the rebel force is too large, leave the place and save your men, arms and horses."

By this time the Confederates had planted their three pieces of artillery near the cemetery, and were firing shot and shell at two points in the town; two columns of Confederate cavalry were approaching the town, one from the west and another from the east, and very soon skirmishing began at different points and the capture of the whole force became imminent.

It was not long before several squads of the citizen soldiers were captured or had surrendered. The Union forces fell back south of the railroad. Col. Crawford rode down town to his headquarters, just north of the present site of the Garrison House, to get some valuables from his office. He had his large overcoat buttoned up over his uniform. At Capt. F. L. Parker's livery stable, near the headquarters, he found Capt. Parker disputing and talking with five or six Confederate soldiers. Crawford rode up to Parker and said: