"Uncle" Fil Hancock

The following interview, bristling with facts and vivid recollections covering more than three quarters of a century was obtained recently by a worker employed by the Federal Writers' Project in Missouri from "Uncle" Fil Hancock, eighty-six year old Negro, living at Rolla, Missouri. The old man's story, told as nearly as possible in his own dialect runs thus:

"I was born 1851, de 28th day of February. My granny come here with her missus-Hancock- when dey brung de Cherokee Indian tribe here from middlin' Tennessee, de time dey moved de Missouri Indians back to Oklahoma, what dey called Indian Territory [Webmaster note: Trail of Tears March which would have been going through the Springfield area in March of 1839] way back 'bout 135 or 140 years ago. Our old missus maiden name was Riggs. My old master was Scotch-Irish. A big, red faced man wid sandy hair, mostly baldheaded. [John W. Hancock]. Us little niggers was scairt of him and run and hid when we see him coming. He weren't 'lowed to whip us, 'cause he didn't own us. Our old missus had eleven of us and he had twenty-one niggers of his own.. And our old missus wouldn't let him tech us.

"We had to mind him though. But she done de whipping. My own mammy whipped us good and proper--She used a razor strop, and shore poured it on us. She was puny and sick most all de time. Dey said she had consumption, now-days dey calls it T.B [Tuberculosis]. But it was plain old consumption in dem days. I 'member, she were so sick dat she were not able to hold us an' whip us, and she made one of us little niggers push de other one up to her bed while she whipped us. We took our turns in gittin' a whipping. Poor old mammy, she loved us and wanted us to do right. We never got a whipping 'ceptin' we needed it. Old granny, my mammy's mother and old missus whipped us a little, an only wid buckbresh, jes' a little 'roan' de ankles. All us little niggers was jes' like stair-steps, one after de other. I got whipped plenty, but I needed it.

"My ol' missus Hancock named me herself - called me Filmore Taylor Hancock, after two presidents who took der seats in 1850. al' Colonel Hancock was our master an' he was de richest man in Greene County, Missouri, and owned more slaves than any man in Missouri. His wife, old missus was born in 1804. My own granny on my mammy's side was born in 1805. My granny was given to missus, as her own de day she was born. Coarse old missus was only a year old den. Der was thirty-two of us slaves on our old missus place, and eleven of us sprung from old granny.

"We had five young missus. My young missus names were Winnie, Elizabeth, Luncinda, Luella, and Tennessee. - Dey was so rich and proud, dey wouldn't look at any body to marry. Only two of em ever married. Dey was fine ladies, but dey shore had me plumb spilt. Some of dem whipped me three or four times, but I 'member how day jest breshed me a little roun' de legs, and turn away and laugh a little. I can see now I needed more'n I got. If I told a lie I got whipped for it, and old missus poured it on if we lied.

"I and de other two gals, my sisters and a brudder of mine--well, when our mammy died, old missus took us down to her house, away from our cabin, so she could look after us. Our old granny was de white folk's cook. She helped look after us. We got to eat what de white folk did. Up to de cabins where de other niggers was, had salt meat, cabbage, 'taters, and shortnin' bread three times a day. We all had plenty vegetables we raised ourselves. Every Sunday mornin' our missus sent us up a big tray 'bout three feet long, made of sycamore-and it full of flour. Once a week we had hot biscuits. But me and Squire, my brudder and my sisses, Mary and Margot had it a little better, we had what our old missus had. I was ten years an' six months old when de war come up.

"In '61, I see General Lyons, [General Nathaniel Lyon] when he passed right by our house. All de Union sojars had to pass by our house time of de war. We lived on the main wagon road from Rolla to Springfield. Well child, Lordy me! dat's funny for me to tell you how General Lyon look. it was a sight to see him with them 'purties! And we asked old missus what dat was, them 'purties' he had on his shoulders. She says to us chillun: 'He is de general. All dem odder men got to mind him'. He was killed in dat battle of Wilson Creek. Dey kept him in an icehouse in a spring, owned by a man named Phelps, [John Smith Phelps] He lived west of Springfield. Dey keep General Lyon two weeks, 'fore they brung him down dis-a-way. Dey shipped him out of Rolla to Connecticut--dat's what I hear de ol folks says. Dat man Phelps was our neighbor and later he got to be governor of Missouri in 1876. Crittenden was first de Democratic governor in '73.

"Old missus called us little darkies all up--and carried us down to de wagon, General Lyon's body was in, when dey was bringin' him back here. And we looked at him and asked what was de matter. Old missus said 'He was killed'. He was packed in ice in de wagon and de wagon had four mules hitched to it. I wanted to know if he was de man who had dem 'purties' on his shoulders. She said 'Yes'. Marse Bill, marse George an' marse Jeff was my young bosses, my old master's sons. Old missus didn't seem glad or anything, jes' looked kinda sad. We asked her would he ever fight again. She said, 'No'. I won't ever forget how General Lyon looked. He rode a kinda gray-white horse [Lyon's gray horse was named "Star"] when I first see him and looked so tall and proud like.

"De rebels held Springfield from 1861 till 1862, when General Freemont came in and took it. Marmaduke and Price had de biggest armies of de southerners, Freemont come sneaking in, wrapped his wagon wheels with old blankets so dey wouldn't hear him coming, and he had a body guard of three hundred. Marmaduke and Price was den in Springfield. Freemont come 'bout daybreak, and started shooting de town up. He got de town and held it.

"Marmaduke and Price drifted 'round to de Southeast part of de State and went into Arkansas. Later dey had a three hour scrummage at Pea Ridge, Arkansas. Either 62 or 63, I kaint 'member much, I was too little and scairt to know. Being only ten or eleven years old. Dey was a man named Finis McCrae, a rebel in de Marmaduke and Price Army, in de infantry. He took sick some place in Arkansas. Dey brung him to us, we being rebels, and keep him two weeks in our up-stairs, not letting any one know he was dere. We kept him till he got better and he went back into de army and fit some more.

"I seen Marmaduke in person, when he was making his campaign for governor, down in Cuba, Missouri. All de Union sojers stopped at our house to get water. We had a runnin' stream that never did go dry. They filled their canteens there. All us chillun fussed 'bout 'em takin' our milk and butter outen de spring-house. Old missus keep all her milk and butter and cheese in dere to keep it cool. When de Union sojers come by our house to Rolla day took so much of de water to fill dere canteens it nearly took our spring dry. Took every thing we had in de spring-house---milk, butter--everything.

"I don't 'member how dey was dressed, but dey all had on sumpin' blue. Uniforms I guess. Me and four more little darkies was one-half mile offen de big road when dey passed, and got scared and run back to old missus house and hid in de old barn loft all dat night. Old missus asked us what we did for sumpin' to eat. We told her we bent de rye down in de field and rubbed de grain out wid our hands and eat dat. She took us to de house and give us sompin' to eat. De sojers was still passing de house den.

"In time of de Civil war we wouldn't come down to Rolla, we went south to do our trading. We wasn't Union and Rolla was Union Headquarters. Old Master was getting old den, he had been a colonel in some army or other way 'fore de Civil War.

"Lincoln issued "green backs" 'long 'bout '61 or '62, after Stephen A. Douglas goes up to Washington and toll Lincoln, after he got de 'nomination dat if he didn't get Jeff Davis and some of de leaders and prosecute 'em, he was going to have war on his hands. Lincoln tells Douglas to go back and tell Jeff Davis to lay dam guns down, dat in 90 days he would 'low dem so much a head for dere niggers. Dat if dey would free dem dey could be paid for so-much a head, by taxation. But Lincoln told dem dey would all have to come back together again same as before like dey was. You see dese folks in de south had done got $8,000,000, all dat ammunition and guns and things from England. Jeff Davis and dem leaders wouldn't give it up.

"De first issue of greenbacks was $175,000,000 and de next issue was $250,000,000. We had been told all dis and I ask old missus if she reckon we could whip dem 'blue bellied Yankees'. I says: 'dey ain't got no money'.

"We called de Union sojers--'Yankees' and our side was called de Gray or de Rebels. It's 75 years, the 10th day of August, 1937, that General Lyon was killed. "My boss - Hancock was de biggest slave holder in Missouri when da war first come up. He settled four miles east of Springfield, Missouri. He owned close to 1200 or 1500 acres of ground. From Springfield to Strafford - east. We had 375 acres in cultivation-corn, oats, wheat, rye, and clover was our main crops.

"My daddy belonged to a man named Lou Langston. There is a railroad station named for this same Langston. what was known as the "Gulf Road". I took my mammy's white folk's name. They were as fine and good as anybody. The first child old missus had was a boy, Bill Hancock. The first child my old granny had (on my mammy's side) was a boy, named Joe. Old missus gave granny's boy Joe, to her boy Bill, as a slave. You see my old missus and my old granny was born a year apart demselves.

"One time my old master Hancock, got mad at my uncle, who was a growed up nigger. Old marse wanted to whip him. He tried to make my uncle put his head twixt his (old marser's) knees. My uncle didn't offer to fight him, but twisted him roun' and roun' trying to get his head out. He gave one twist dat throwed old marse down to de ground. My uncle jumped and run and jumped over de fence. My uncle did not belong to old marse but to his son, Bill. But old marse sure got mad when my uncle run. So he sold him to a man named Dokes-a nigger trader of dat neighborhood. Dokes bought niggers and sold dem on de block in St. Louis. When Dokes took my uncle away, one of our neighbors by de name of Fisher-- up near Strafford, gits on his horse and goes to Springfield and tells my young boss, Bill, dat old man Hancock had sold Joe and Jane. Jane belonged to Marse Hancock. Mister Fisher had only one colored man, and he told my young boss, Bill, dat if he would buy both them niggers back, dat he would buy Jane for his (Fisher's) colored man. He didn't have no woman for him.

"Old Doke [John S. Doak] was on his way den to St. Louis with 'em. Bill and Fisher started out, rode and caught up with dem near what is now known as Knob View, Missouri. [in Crawford Co, about 4 miles west of Cuba, Mo.] When dey come in sight of Dokes, Bill stopped and dropped back. Fisher goes up to de wagon, stopped Dokes and asked him what he would take for Joe and Jane. They was settin' up in the wagon handcuffed together. I think it was a thousand dollars or fifteen hundred dollars he asked for both. Den Fisher beckoned to Bill Hancock to come on. Bill come up and paid Dokes what he asked. Dokes was to take 'em back, hisself, to dere own neighborhood.

"When marse Bill rode up, my uncle said, 'Take these handcuffs off me'. Mr. Dokes took them off. My uncle jumped out of de wagon and run up to de big mule my young boss was settin' on, he reached up an' took Bill, his marster off dat mule so quick and lay him down on de ground. He commenced to love and kiss him on side of his head. He picked him up and sat marse Bill his mule again and said, 'I know marse Bill wasn't goin' to let me be sold.' He takes him off his mule again and lay him down two times more and keep lovin' and kissin' him, he was dat happy.

"But old marse Hancock, jes' wouldn't let Joe live on his place again, no more. He was dat mad. It made him so mad to think Joe had turn him over when he had his legs twixt his knees. But young marse Bill took Joe to Springfield and hired him out to a blacksmith by de name of Lehr [John Lair]. He got forty dollars a month for him. Joe stayed dere till de Civil war. Old master let Joe come to de house to see his mother, my old granny, once in a while, but never to live.

"Old man Fisher bought de colored woman from marse Bill, for his colored man, and paid him as he could. Our white folks had plenty of money to get any thing they wanted.

"I first come to Rolla in 1869 and stayed till 1870. Then dere was only one brick house in Rolla, standing where the Edwin long Hotel now stands. Den I left and went to Cuba. and stayed dere and at Salem till 1882. I come back to Rolla when de Crandel House-was built, where de Rolla Hospital now is located. I started a barber shop here under the Crandel House basement. I have been here and at Salem ever since 1882, Rolla my headquarters.

"If I can leave enough when I die, I want to be buried at the Union Graveyard in Greene County, Missouri, where my mammy is buried since three years before the Civil War. My daddy was buried there in 1863.

"When I was young, we didn't know nuthin' 'bout churches. Us kids never got to go no place 'less de old niggers took us. And dey wouldn't take us. De older ones had church out in de brash, under de shade trees.

"I kin 'member one of my cousins carryin' me pick-a-back, one time, three miles to church. Dey only had church in de summer time, or meeting dey called it. It was allus in de woods. We dassen't be ketched wid a book to read or to try to be educated. Course every one wasn't treated dat-a-way. Sometimes de niggers would have dancin' if de bosses or rasters gave dem passes. De passes read sumpin' like dis: 'Let my nigger file pass and repass to such and such a place'.

"I 'member once, my missus bought me a pair of high top red boots. My! I was proud. In dem days, we went bare-foot most all year round. But my missus tried to make us happy on Christmas. I put dem boots on and I pranced round and round jes' to hear dem squeak. I done thought dat was de purtiest noise I ever heard. I asked old missus, could I go to old Massy's house. He were our neighbor, bout half mile--but it were dark. Old missus said, 'Hain't you scared to go?' I say, 'no'. I went up de road, my boots squeaking and squeaking. Didn't have time to be scared--listenin' to dem boots.

"Aunt Rachel, my own aunt, lived at Massy's house. You see Masseys was dere name and dey was white folks but we say Massy's house. I wanted my old aunt to see my new boots. When I got dere I called my aunt to come see my boots. She come and say, 'Hain't you scared to come here all 'lone'. I say, 'no'. I twisted and turn, round and round so she could hear 'em squeak. But when it come time to go home, I got plum' scared. Aunt Rachel had to take me. She took me where I could see our house. My! How old missus laughed when she found I had to be brung home. She say, 'I told you, you be scared to come alone'.

"In dem days no nigger got boots till he was big and able to work for 'em. I was old missus pet and she plum' spilt me. I allus got more'n de odder niggers got. Boys had cotton shirts and de gals had cotton dresses.

"You know its a funny thing, de white folks took everything from us niggers, even try to take our old songs and have derv on de radio. We niggers say 'de white folks take everything, dis, dat, an' tother, but what ire got is jest natural borned to us.'

"I knocks a tamborine jes' like de Georgia niggers played a tambourine, 'fore de Civil War. Dem Georgia minstrels was taken over to England to perform 'fore de Queen Victoria, way 'fore Civil War. Folks from way up East got l em and took ' em. Dey ain't many plays like dem
no more."

"Uncle" Fil, as he was familiarly known in Rolla, played for the Folk Festival in Rolla and received so much applause, he had to be helped off the stage. He is exceedingly active. He plays the old tambourine, (he owned so many years) under and over his legs, behind his head, bouncing it and catching it, never losing the rhythm an instant.

He is tall and erect, and has a remarkable memory, especially for dates, named and places. He loves children, and usually has a pocket full of pennies for the babies. His home is a one-room hut (plain shed building) back of the Post Office on Ninth Street, Rolla, Missouri. He lives alone and has no living relatives. The people of Rolls aid him with gifts.

Uncle "Fil's" favorite old spiritual is below. He says: "Dis song,
I'm a tellin' you, is de truf."

DIS IS MY BURYIN' GROUN'

Ask my Lord for mercy,
Good Lord, gimme religion,
Good Lord, gimme me a heart to b'lieve,
Dis is de buryin' groun'.
Amen, Hallelujah. Dis is de buryin' groun'.
Tell your mother,
Tell your father,
Dis i s de buryin' groun',

Tell all your neighbors,
Tell all your neighbors chillun,
Dis is de buryin' groun'.

Uncle Fil says, "Niggers Jes' makes dey own verses, jes'
naturally comes to us, and we make our own rhyme as we go."

One of the humorous songs, a favorite of his goes:

You, by words now all we go,
In fact we spoke both high and low,
In the house and out of doors,
Ebening in the baby's nose.
When I was young an' in my prime,
I'se a countin' courtin' then gals,
Most all de time.
Now I'm old and you will see,
I'm not as young as I used to be.
Now when the elephant moves aroun'
The music begins to play,
Oh, the boys aroun' dat monkey's cage
I'd better keep away
Rock, the cradle John,
Rock, the cradle John,
Many a man is rockin' another man's son
When he thinks he's rockin' his own.

Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and assembled and microfilmed in 1941 as the seventeen-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. This online collection is a joint presentation of the Manuscript and Prints and Photographs Divisions of the Library of Congress and includes more than 200 photographs from the Prints and Photographs Division that are now made available to the public for the first time. Born in Slavery was made possible by a major gift from the Citigroup Foundation.

COLLECTION
Federal Writer's Project, United States Work Projects Administration (USWPA); Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

According to the narrative, Filmore Hancock was born in 1851 on a farm near Springfield, Missouri.  Based upon records, Colonel Hancock's farm was probably located in Section 3, Township 29 North, Range 21 West (Campbell Township) . This area closely matches the location of the farm in the narrative of Filmore Hancock. Section 3 is on the "Rolla to Springfield Wagon Road", 4 miles to the east of Springfield and tax records indicate that Colonel Hancock owned 138 acres in Section 3 and a total of 187 acres in adjacent Sections 2, 1, and 11. This was a total of 325 acres which is close to the 375 acres which Filmore Hancock said was under cultivation. The above map is from the Greene County Atlas of 1876 and Hancock's name does not appear on the map because after the Civil War, the Hancock family migrated to Texas because of their Missouri Confederate sympathies during the war. Colonel Hancock was to die at his home in Paris, Texas on December 16, 1871. As additional support for the farm location, Filmore Hancock mentions going to to see his aunt Rachel at Christmas. Rachel lived on the Massey Farm (see Section 10)  that was about 1/2 miles from the Hancock farm ("He [Massey] were our neighbor, bout half mile"). It was said that Capt. James Massey came to Greene County in the early 30s and settled four miles east of town. He was born in Ireland, landed in South Carolina, moved to Tennessee, where he served in the war of 1812, and from there to this county. He raised a large family of sons and daughters and died at the close of the Civil War. He was intensely Union, although a slaveholder. Section 3 also has the farm of Judge J. T. Morton. Judge Morton married Lucinda M. Hancock in 1832. The Mortons and the Hancocks moved together from Kentucky to Missouri in the 1830s. Lucinda Hancock was Colonel Hancock's sister and Lucinda's mother Elizabeth (Wells) lived with them on the Morton farm till her death in 1861. Both Lucinda and her mother are buried in the Morton cemetery located in Section 3. Colonel Hancock had several business dealings with his nephew John A. Morton including partnerships in the J. H. Caynor & Co. (tobacco) and Hancock, Morton and Co. (cattle).  

Slave Hancock was one of four children (2 boys- Filmore and Squire Hancock and 2 girls-Mary and Margaret Hancock). Hancock's mother died of Tuberculosis in about 1858 and she was a slave to Mrs. Hancock. Filmore Hancock's father was a slave of Louis Langston and he was buried with his wife in the Union Graveyard in Greene County, Missouri in 1863. The webmaster was unable to locate this cemetery. Colonel Hancock's wife, whose maiden or previous marriage name was Riggs, and who Filmore Hancock refers to as the "old missus", then removed the four children from their slave cabin after the death of their mother to her main farm house and from then on they were raised by their grandmother who was the Hancock's cook and slave. Colonel Hancock's wife was born in 1804 and Filmore Hancock's grandmother has been given at birth to the "old missus" when she was one year old, probably as a playing companion or "nurse" as it was commonly referred to. Mrs or Miss Riggs appears to be well to do before she married John Hancock. The Hancocks owned as many as 32 slaves and 11 of these were children or grandchildren of Filmore Hancock's grandmother ("granny") and belonged to Mrs. Hancock. None of these slaves was allowed to be beaten by John Hancock.

"Colonel" John W. Hancock, Politician and Businessman

John W. Hancock was one of nine children born to George Hancock of Bedford Co, Va. and Elizabeth Wells of Madison Co, Ky. John's father had moved to Kentucky in the late 1700's.and his father died 1823 in , Maury Co, Tennessee.

John W. Hancock was born 1804 in Madison Co, Ky. and he moved to Greene Co., MO. with his mother Elizabeth and sister Lucinda after the death of his father. Lucinda Hancock married Judge Joseph T. Morton. John Hancock's wife's name was Riggs and she was born in 1804 and, according to the narrative, arrived in Greene Co. Mo. in 1839. The Riggs family was also from Maury Co. Tennessee. It is not clear whether the Hancocks were married before or after arriving in Greene Co. According to the narrative, Filmore Hancock reports that Colonel Hancock had eight children - 3 boys: William ("Bill") who was the oldest, George, Thomas Jefferson ("Jeff") and 5 girls: Winnie, Elizabeth, Lucinda, Luella, and Tennessee. The narrative states that only two of the girls ("young missus") were married. Thomas Jefferson Hancock was to marry Harriet Olivia Campbell. The Campbells were a prominent family in Greene County.

On January 2, 1833, Greene County, was organized and was once composed of the entire southwest corner of the state and was named to honor Nathaniel Greene, of Revolutionary. In 1835, Pioneer John Polk Campbell donated 50 acres of land and laid out the town site of Springfield. John Hancock appears to be there from the beginning. We first see John Hancock enter politics in 1834 when he was appointed sheriff pro tem in 1834. Hancock ran for assessor in 1835  but lost in a tie vote.  In August of 1836, Hancock was elected to the state legislature as a Democratic representative for Greene Co. Also in 1835, Taney County, Mo. was created out of a portion of Greene County and  John W. Hancock was to establish the first post office in Taney County in 1837 and he was elected to the state legislature as a representative of Taney Co. in that year. In August 1842 was elected state senator (19th District) and he was also elected to the state senate as a senator from the 21th District in 1846. In 1856 he became a county director for the Southwest Missouri District Fair Association. In January 1857 Hancock became president of the Springfield Bank, which by 1857 was a permanent branch bank of the state. By 1861 Hancock was among the "leading ‘Southern’ men or secessionists," according to Holcombe's History of Greene Co. Missouri.

In the 1880 Greene County census, it was reported that John Caynor "built the first manufacturing enterprise in Springfield--the old Caynor tobacco factory." The firm of J. H. Caynor and Company was composed of John H. Caynor, John W. Hancock, C. A. Haden, B. W. Henslee and John A. Morton (Hancock's nephew).

One can get an idea of Hancock’s impact in the J. H. Caynor and Company firm by looking at his assets. Besides the business and financial backing his association with the branch bank provided, in 1851 he owned 350 acres of land, nineteen slaves, money on notes, stock and other property worth $9494. By 1856 he had twenty-five slaves worth $12,300, a pleasure carriage, a piano valued at $300, additional land, and stock, all totaling $23,884. He also had an interest in Hancock, Morton and Company of seventy-nine cattle worth $1560. This was probably a partnership with the previously mentioned John Morton, another partner in Caynor and Company.  Hancock was obviously a man possessing a long and extensive acquaintance with not only Greene County, but areas of northern Arkansas and Missouri where the branch bank had business dealings. Hancock's banking involvement assumably gave him an awareness of tobacco prices, availability, and people involved in growing it.

Town of Springfield, Mo. during the Civil War (Harper's Weekly)

Before the Civil War, Springfield found itself at the cross roads between the eastern United States and the western territories. Springfield. St. Joseph and Independence became "jumping off points" for settlers to the west. Before the war, only St. Joseph was a terminus of a railroad beginning in St. Louis. The other two towns were connected by wagon trails to railroad termini. Rolla was the "end of the line for Springfield and Tipton was the terminus for Independence/Kansas City. 

Map showing the southern Butterfield Overland Mail route.

National attention was given to Springfield in 1858 when the city became a stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail, a stagecoach line, from Tipton, Missouri, to San Francisco, which was the forerunner of the Southern Pacific Railroad.. This afforded Springfield two transportation corridors to the west. Much of the promotion of the Butterfield line through Springfield can be credited to John Smith Phelps. After the passage of the bill to move mail from one coast to the other, there was a very strong "pull'' for the location of the point of departure for the Pacific Coast. Aaron V. Brown of Tennessee, President Buchanan's postmaster general, insisted that Memphis should be the starting point, while Governor Phelps and many prominent Missourians insisted on St. Louis. While Gov. Phelps was in the west looking over the proposed route, the postmaster general was using every effort for Memphis. Gov. Phelps was hastily summoned to Washington, where, after a long and heated discussion, the latter was compromised with one line from Memphis—the other from St. Louis. The franchise or contract was awarded to J. Butterfield of New York, a life-long stage man of very limited education, but a man of wonderful energy and a prince of organizers. When Butterfield came to Springfield to survey locations for his barns and shops, he wore a linen duster down to his heels on the streets and soon Butterfield Coats became a fashion rage for young men in Springfield. The trip to California via the Butterfield Overland Mail took about 21 days.

According to the Filmore narrative, John Phelps was a neighbor of Colonel Hancock ("Dat man Phelps was our neighbor and later he got to be governor of Missouri in 1876.")  Indeed, At the time of the making of the Greene County Atlas in 1876, Phelps still owned land in Campbell Township (Township 29 North, Range 21 West) but he was living in a hotel in Springfield. The following year he was elected Governor of Missouri and he remained in that office till 1881.

In June of 1861, the Butterfield stage ceased running through Springfield and the route was moved to St. Joseph in order to avoid the impending hostilities. This move probably had an effect on the economy of Springfield. By 1870, Phelps was instrumental in getting railroad tracks were laid from Rolla to Springfield and the first train of the Atlantic-Pacific Railway, which became the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway passed through Springfield.

 Colonel John Smith Phelps, Governor and Unionist

John Smith Phelps was born in 1814 in Simsbury, Connecticut. Phelps studied at Trinity College at Hartford, and was admitted to the bar in 1835. After his marriage to Mary Whitney in 1837, he came to Missouri, locating at Springfield. He settled south of Springfield where he acquired by purchase and entry 1,100 acres of the Kickapoo Prairie. He quickly became one of the leading lawyers in southwest Missouri and was elected to the state legislature in 1840. Four years later he was elected to Congress as a Democrat and served his district for eighteen years. He was a champion of government bounties to soldiers, aid to railroads and westward expansion, also inexpensive postage. 

Phelps was popular in Washington and at home. In 1857 Missourians honored him by naming the newly-created county of Phelps after him. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Phelps returned to Springfield and organized home guard forces for the Union. By special arrangement with President Lincoln, Phelps organized the infantry regiment which bore his name, Phelps’s Regiment, 2nd Missouri Volunteer Infantry. He served as a colonel in the regiment and was later brevetted brigadier general. Following the northern defeat at Wilson’s Creek, Phelps and his son  retreated with the Union army to Rolla. The regiment spent most of the winter of 1861-1862 as the garrison of Fort Wyman at Rolla. In March 1862, he led his regiment in the fierce fighting at Pea Ridge, Arkansas and was wounded at the battle. President Lincoln appointed Phelps military governor of Arkansas in July 1862, but Lincoln later recalled Phelps because he helped arm and free slaves. 

Phelps returned to Springfield in 1864 to resume his law practice. He was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Missouri in 1868, but in 1876 was elected to the position as the only candidate who could successfully lead Northern and Southern factions in the state. During his tenure as governor, Phelps supported currency reform and increased support for public education. He retired in 1881, praised as one of Missouri’s best governors. Phelps died in Springfield in 1886 and is buried in Hazelwood Cemetery in Springfield. 

Learning of the governor's intentions, Lyon had most of the weapons moved secretly to Illinois. On May 10, 186,1 he marched 7,000 men out to Camp Jackson and forced its surrender. In June, after a futile meeting with Governor Jackson to resolve their differences, Lyon (now a brigadier general) led an army up the Missouri River and captured the State Capital at Jefferson City. Governor Claiborne F. Jackson retreated to southwest Missouri with elements of the State Guard. After an unsuccessful stand at Boonville a few miles upstream, Governor Jackson retreated to southwest Missouri with elements of the State Guard.

After installing a pro-Union State government and picking up reinforcements, Lyon moved toward southwest Missouri. By July 13, 1861, he was encamped at Springfield with about 6,000 soldiers, consisting of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Missouri Infantry, the 1st Iowa Infantry, the 1st and 2nd Kansas Infantry, several companies of regular Army troops, and three batteries of artillery. Lyon setup his headquarters in a house in Springfield that belonged to Governor John S. Phelps.
 

Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon and  his epaulettes

Meanwhile other Federal troops had come to and passed through Springfield. Among these was the 4^th regiment United States Reserve Corps, commanded by Col. B. Gratz Brown, of St. Louis, afterward U. S. Senator, and Governor of' Missouri. This regiment reached Springfield, July 5 (only eight companies being present), and hearing of Major General Franz Sigel's defeat at Carthage it marched on the 7^th to Mt. Vernon to assist that officer, but returned to Springfield two days later and camped at the Phelps plantation about 2 and a half miles west of town, About a week thereafter, its enlistment time having expired, it was ordered to St. Louis and was mustered out of service. Lyon accepted their final salute as they marched out of Springfield toward the train at Rolla. Their presence could have helped Lyon at the impending battle of Wilson's Creek but their enlistments were just about up and they were ordered to St. Louis.

By mid-July Lyon’s delayed column had reached Springfield by moving southward unopposed from Boonville. Lyon had established something of a base in Springfield, and all of his force then waited there for support in men and munitions which Lyon had pre-arranged - he thought before leaving St. Louis. While waiting he secured the Springfield area as best he could and spent some little time in armed reconnaissance scouting on all roads leading to Springfield in which he himself took the lead. Generally these scouting parties moved from 3 to 5 miles out of town. It was quite possible that Filmore Hancock actually saw Gen. Lyon on one of these trips ("In '61, I see General Lyons, when he passed right by our house."). Filmore Hancock makes reference to "them 'purties' he had on his shoulders." This could have been epaulettes or shoulder straps, although at the time of his death, he was wearing neither of these as we will see later.

Lyon had two major problems: first, his movement in pursuit of  the Missouri State Guard after the battle of Booneville was not supported by St. Louis and second he had a supply problem of both men and provisions. Many in Lyon's command were finishing their 3 month enlistments and like that of  the 4th U.S. Reserve Corps who were ordered back to St. Louis to muster out.. Those with longer enlistments numbered a total of about 6,000. Since Missouri was a Union state, technically, Union solders could not "forage" food and livestock from farmers. They had to pay for what they took with commissary vouchers or as Filmore Hancock said in the narrative of the soldiers offering these vouchers "dey ain't got no money". Indeed by the end of the Civil War there were claims against the U. S. Government for $3,000,000. Southern soldiers took what they could from southern sympathizers or "foraged" from Unionists.

When Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon moved the Union Army to the West to Springfield, he found practically no supplies. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad terminated at Rolla, so all supplies from the East must move by wagon over rugged terrain and a score of water crossings on the 125-mile journey from Rolla. The Hancock farm was on the wagon road between Springfield and Rolla. Some Secessionist millers refused to grind for the Lyon’s Union Army of the West. Dade County home guards were called upon to furnish flour to Lyon. They took over mills in the area, ground wheat into flour and corn into meal and sent it by wagon trains. At the time the population in and around Springfield was about 2000 but this number swelled to 18,000 with the advent of Union and Rebel forces in the county. Both sides needed provisions.

The supply of rations to the Union Army of the West was soon exhausted, and fresh beef, without salt, was the only luxury the commissary could supply. To further supply the depleted commissary, Colonel Deitzler of the 1st Kansas, with his regiment and one company of United States Cavalry, took possession of a number of mills about forty miles north of Springfield. The loyal citizens received in return for their wheat "uncle Sam's" vouchers. Large quantities were procured, made into flour, and forwarded to Springfield. Some supplies were received from St. Louis.

By the 1st of August, General Lyon began receiving information of an advance by the enemy, in superior numbers from the south. Decisions had to be made troops and provisions were dwindling. 

Meanwhile, 75 miles southwest of Springfield, Major General Sterling Price, commanding the Missouri State Guard, had been busy drilling the 5,000 soldiers in his charge. By the end of July, when troops under Generals Ben McCulloch and N. Bart Pearce rendezvoused with Price, the total Confederate force exceeded 12,000 men. On July 31, after formulating plans to capture Lyon's army and regain control of the State, Price, McCulloch, and Pearce marched northeast to attack the Federals. Lyon, hoping to surprise the Confederates, marched from Springfield on August 1. The next day the Union troops mauled the Southern vanguard at Dug Springs. Lyon, discovering he was outnumbered, ordered a withdrawal to Springfield. The Confederates followed and by August 6 were encamped near Wilson's Creek.

During a council of his field officers on the night of August 8, he made the following statement:

"Gentlemen, there is no prospect of our being reinforced at this point; our supply of provisions is running short; there is a superior force of the enemy in front, and it is reported that Hardee is marching with nine thousand men to cut our line of communication. It is evident that we must retreat. The question arises, what is the best method of doing it? Shall we endeavor to retreat without giving the enemy battle beforehand and run the risk of having to fight every inch along our line of retreat? Or shall we attack him in his position and endeavor to hurt him so that he cannot follow? I am decidedly in favor of the latter plan. I propose to march this evening with all our available force, leaving only a small guard to protect the property which will be left behind, and, marching up the Fayetteville road, throw our whole force upon him at once and endeavor to rout him before he recovers from his surprise."

Lyon decided to attack at dawn on August 10.

August 10, 1861                                                                       The Battle

Despite inferior numbers, Lyon decided to attack the Confederate encampments. Leaving about 1,000 men behind to guard his supplies, the Federal commander led 5,400 soldiers out of Springfield on the night of August 9. Lyon's plan called for 1,200 men under Colonel Franz Sigel to swing wide to the south, flanking the Confederate right, while the main body of troops struck from the north. Success hinged on the element of surprise.

Ironically, the Confederate leaders also planned a surprise attack on the Federals, but rain on the night of the 9th caused McCulloch (who was now in overall command) to cancel the operation. On the morning of the 10th, Lyon's attack caught the Southerners off guard, driving them back. Forging rapidly ahead, the Federals overran several Confederate camps and occupied the crest of a ridge subsequently called "Bloody Hill." Nearby, the Pulaski Arkansas Battery opened fire, checking the advance. This gave Price's infantry time to form a battle line on the hill's south slope.

For more than five hours the battle raged on Bloody Hill. Fighting was often at close quarters, and the tide turned with each charge and countercharge. Sigel's flanking maneuver, initially successful, lost momentum in the fields of the Sharp farm as it came under Confederate artillery fire. Sigel's attack collapsed altogether when McCulloch's men counterattacked. Defeated, Sigel and his troops fled.

On Bloody Hill at about 9:30 a.m., General Lyon, who had been wounded twice already, was killed while leading a countercharge. Major Samuel Sturgis assumed command of the Federal forces and by 11 a.m., with ammunition nearly exhausted, ordered a withdrawal to Springfield. The Battle of Wilson's Creek was over. Losses were heavy and about equal on both sides--1,317 for the Federals, 1,222 for the Confederates. The Southerners, though victorious on the field, were not able to pursue the Northerners. Lyon lost the battle and his life, but he achieved his goal: Missouri remained under Union control. His death at Wilson's Creek at the age of 43 made him the first Union general to die in battle during the Civil War.

August 11, 1861                           DEATH AND BURIAL OF GENERAL NATHANIEL LYON

Martin Hubble chronicles not only the death and burial of General Lyon but also a discussion of what the General typically wore in the field for a uniform. From the discussion below it appears that Lyon wore only the simple uniform coat of a Captain during the battle. He apparently wore no sword or epaulettes or shoulder straps. This agrees with Filmore Hancock's narrative when he viewed the body of General Lyon on its way back to the train at Rolla and he relates "I wanted to know if he was de man who had dem 'purties' on his shoulders. She said 'Yes'." This implies that Hancock did not see anything on Lyon's shoulders and agrees with Martin Hubble's article given below:

"I think it well in this small book to record for all future ages the exact circumstances of the death and burial of Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, who was killed at the battle of Wilson Creek on the 10th day of August, 1861. I think there is but one man living who knows all of the circumstances connected with his removal from the battlefield of Wilson Creek on that day. In 1910 I wrote to Dr. Melcher, who was a surgeon in the Volunteer Army, who participated in the battle on that date. I have known Dr. Melcher since 1861, and I know him to be a gentleman of the highest honor, with a memory unclouded, especially of what happened at that time. I give his answer verbatim:"

"2827 Jackson Blvd.,
"Chicago, Ill., August 17, 1910

"Mr. Martin J. Hubble,
"Springfield, Mo.

"Dear Old Friend and Comrade

"Replying to your favor of June 22, regarding the death of Gen. Lyon, bringing the body to Springfield, placing body in the casket made by Mr. Presley Beal, burial on the Phelps' farm, etc. As you say, I am probably the only person living who can give the particulars from personal knowledge.

"I was with Dr. Smith, Gen. Rains' division surgeon, looking for wounded, not far from 12 o'clock noon, on August 10, '61, and learning from Col. Emmett McDonald that Gen. Lyon had been killed, asked for his body. He said, 'Come with me and I will see.' In a few moments he took me to Gen. Price, and introducing me as Gen. Lyon's surgeon, requested Gen. Price to give me the body. With Gen. Price were Col. McLane, Col. Snead, Gen. Parsons, Gen. Stein, Gen. Rains, and other officers. Gen. Price took me by the hand, and turning to Gen. Rains asked if he knew where the body was. On Gen. Rains answering that he did, Gen. Price ordered him to send for it for identification. In about twenty minutes I was notified by Gen. Stein, and went to the wagon, and on raising the blanket, which was over the face, I, at once, recognized my dead general. Gen. Stein said, "Do you identify the body?' On my replying in the affirmative he rode away. Gen. Rains then said, 'What are your wishes?' Having no conveyance, I requested that the body be removed to the Ray house, where I was acquainted.

"Arriving there, some of the Confederates kindly carried the body into the house, and placed it on a bed in the front room where I examined for wounds. There was one on the right side of the head, another in the right leg below the knee, and another. which caused his death, was made by a small rifle ball, which entered about the fourth rib on the left side, passing entirely through the body, making its exit from the right side, evidently passing through both lungs and heart. From the character of this wound it is my opinion that Gen. Lyon was holding the bridle rein in his left hand, and had turned in the saddle to give a command or words of encouragement, thus exposing his left side to the fire of the enemy.

"At this time he had on a dark blue, single-breasted captain's coat, with the buttons used by the regular army of the United States. It was the same uniform coat I had frequently seen him wear in the arsenal at St. Louis, and was considerably worn and faded. He had no shoulder straps; his pants were dark blue; the wide-brim felt hat he had worn during the campaign was not with him, and there was no sword or other evidences of rank. After arranging the body as well as circumstances permitted, it was carried to the wagon and covered with a spread or sheet furnished by Mrs. Ray.

"When I was ready to start Gen. Rains said: 'I will not order any to go with you, but volunteers may go'; and five Confederate soldiers offered their service of escort. One drove the team; the others, being mounted, rode with me in rear of wagon. The only name I can give is that of Orderly Sergt. Brackett of a company in Churchill's Arkansas regiment. Another of the escort was a German, who, in 1863, was clerking in Springfield, and during the defense of Springfield against the attack of Marmaduke, January 8, 1863, did service in the citizens company of 42 men which was attached to my 'Quinine Brigade' from the hospitals.

"Just as we were starting Gen. Rains requested that something be written to show that he had done his duty in the matter, and the following was written and signed by both of us, and is on file in the War Department in Washington:

"Gen. James S. Rains, commanding Missouri State Guards, having learned that Gen. Lyon, commanding United States forces during action near Springfield, Mo., August 10, 1861, had fallen, kindly afforded military escort and transportation subject to my order. I also have his assurance that all the wounded shall be well taken care of and may be removed under the hospital flag, and that the dead shall be buried as rapidly as possible.

"(Signed) S. H. MELCHER,
"Asst. Surg. 5th Reg. Mo. Vols.

"'Wilson Creek, Aug. 10, 1861.
"'The above fully approved and indorsed.

"'(Signed) JAMES S. RAINS,
"'Brig-Gen. 8th M. D., M. S. G.'

"About half way to Springfield I saw a party under flag of truce going toward the battlefield, which I learned afterwards had been sent out from Springfield in search of the body. This party was probably 500 or 1,000 yards distant from me on the prairie as they passed. Arriving at Springfield about 6 p. m., the first officer I reported to was the ever faithful Col. Nelson Cole, then captain of Company E, 1st Missouri Volunteer Infantry, who, with what remained of his gallant company, was guarding the outposts. All who were not on guard duty came to the wagon and took a last look at the general. I passed on, to the camps of Gen. James Totten and T. W. Sweeney. Here Gen. Totten relieved my escort and sent them back to their command, a new driver was furnished, and I delivered the body of Gen. Lyon to Maj. J. M. Schofield, 1st Missouri Volunteer Infantry--later Lieut.-Gen. Schofield, U. S. A.-at the house that had been used previous to the battle by Gen. Lyon for his headquarters. [On the north side of College and a few doors west of Main street.-M. J. H.]

"Early the next morning the two nurses from the hospital who bad remained with the body after the troops left reported to the hospital that some ladies had taken their place to watch with the body. I went there and found Mrs. Boyd, wife of Col. Marcus Boyd (she is still living-the widow of Mr. Blackwell), with her two eldest daughters, one of whom is now living in Springfield, Mrs. Lula Boyd Kennedy, and Mrs. Jane Beal, who remained with the body until it was placed in a black walnut coffin which Mr. Presley Beal had been constructing by order of Dr. Franklin, when Mrs. Mary Phelps appeared, and the coffin containing the body was placed in a wagon and taken to her farm. This is the last I knew, personally, of the disposition of Gen. Lyon's body.

"Yours fraternally,
"(Signed) S. H. MELCHER.

"P. S.--I enclose slip, published in the 'National Tribune.'"

"There can be no doubt that the foregoing is absolutely correct.-M. J. H."

Here it remained until August 22, when General Lyon's coffin was dug up and placed in a wagon. The story is in a slight disagreement with the narrative which has General Lyon's body being placed in a spring house for two weeks and not buried. Filmore Hancock apparently viewed the body as it stopped at the Hancock farm on its way to Rolla. "Old missus called us little darkies all up--and carried us down to de wagon, General Lyon's body was in, when dey was bringin' him back here [Rolla]. And we looked at him and asked what was de matter. Old missus said 'He was killed'. He was packed in ice in de wagon and de wagon had four mules hitched to it." Relatives placed his body on a funeral train in Rolla which began its trip to Phoenixville, Connecticut on August 26, 1861, making several stops along the way. General Nathaniel Lyon was buried on September 4, 1861 

For her actions in securing the body of their fallen hero, the US Congress awarded Mrs. Mary Whitney Phelps a monetary grant of $20,000, which she used to open a home for orphans of Union veterans in Springfield.

August 11, 1861                                              The Union Retreat from Springfield

"On that memorable day, fathers were on one side and sons on the other. Estrangements, even to bitterness of hate, severed the peace and happiness of many families in Greene county. Business partners, friends and neighbors, became enemies. Sigel ,came, and Lyon came, and for a few weeks gave confidence and hope to the Unionists. Wilson creek battle, on the 10th of August, 1861, with the death of Gen. Lyon, blasted all repose; and Sigel, with a crippled remnant of a beaten and discouraged army, retreated from Springfield the early morn of the 11th of August, towards Rolla, Missouri, with a wave of refugees, black and white, old and young, in a solid column, longer and wider than the tail of a comet, all on double quick time, army march, every man for himself. and no one to this day, who was in that memorable exodus. will admit that he was in the rear; but each one will say that as he looked back he could see clouds of dust and a moving, living panorama, 'on the git', with eyes open and fixed on the east.

"One officer, high in authority and confidence of the Dutch commander, [Sigel]  had no wagons or other accouterments for his regiment. He pressed a pair of mules and wagon and loaded it with seven barrels of whisky and half box of hard tack for his fragmentary regiment of five hundred men on a retreat of one hundred and fifty miles. This officer, with great presence of mind and forecast of the future. in loading a single wagon for' his men, fed them and twice as many refugees most sumptuously, with the choice of all the commissaries of the command, for seven days, and had two barrels of whisky left, besides seventeen wagons and teams, loaded with hard tack, sugar-cured hams. sugar, coffee and molasses."

Filmore Hancock describes some of the Union foraging activity on the Hancock farm probably after the Battle of Wilson's Creek as follows:

"When de Union sojers come by our house to Rolla day took so much of de water to fill dere canteens it nearly took our spring dry. Took every thing we had in de spring-house---milk, butter--everything."

Prior to the war, the south enjoyed one of the lightest tax burdens of all contemporary civilized societies. Local or state governments assessed all obligations. By contrast, the hastily assembled Confederate government lacked the bureaucratic infrastructure to levy or collect internal taxes. Its citizens possessed neither a tradition of compliance nor a means to remit payment. Land and slaves comprised the bulk of southern capital; liquid forms of wealth like specie or paper currency were hard to come by in a predominantly agrarian region.

Efforts to raise war revenue through various methods of taxation proved ineffective. The Confederate Congress enacted a minor tariff in 1861, but it contributed only $3.5 million in four years. That same year, the Congress implemented a small direct tax (½ percent) on real and personal property. But the government in Richmond was forced to rely on the individual states to collect the levy. Most states did not collect the tax at all, preferring to meet their quota by borrowing money or printing state notes to cover it.

A Confederate bond.

The Davis Administration turned to loans to finance the initial bulk of war debts. Riding a wave of patriotic enthusiasm in 1861, the Treasury earned $15 million selling out their first bond issue. The second issue, however, consisting of $100 million in 8% yield bonds, sold slowly. Few southerners had the cash to purchase them, but in addition the year-end 12% inflation rate threatened to negate any promise of real financial return. It fell to investors to buy up the remainder of the 8% bonds, which they purchased with newly minted Confederate treasury notes.

A $100 note issued by the Confederacy.

By necessity rather than choice, the South turned to the printing press to pay most of its bills. In its first year, the Confederate government derived 75% of its total revenue from treasury notes, less than 25% from bonds (purchased, of course, with the notes), and under 2% from taxes. The foundation of Confederate war financing consisted of over $1.5 billion in paper dollars that began depreciating before the ink had a chance to dry. By refusing to establish the notes as compulsory legal tender, Treasury officials hoped to avoid undermining confidence in the currency. They preferred that the currency be backed by public confidence in the Confederacy’s survival (Missouri notes were to be redeemable in specie at face value within three year after their issue date).

A $1 note issued by the state of Missouri.

This being the case, various state, county and city notes also circulated widely, diluting the paper currency still further; the fact that these poorly printed bills were easily counterfeited did not help matters. Ironically, the Confederate decision to turn to paper money in lieu of a system of internal taxation abetted runaway inflation, appearing in the wake of military reversals in 1862, and topping 9000% by war’s end.

By the spring of 1863, the crushing burden of inflation motivated Richmond to come up with an alternative to its currency. In April, they followed the Union’s lead and adopted a progressive income tax, an 8% levy on certain goods held for sale, excise and license duties, and a 10% profits tax on wholesalers. These provisions also included a 10% tax-in-kind on agricultural products. The latter burdened farmers more than the progressive income tax encumbered urban salaried workers, since laborers could remit depreciated currency to meet their obligations. Adding to the inequity, the law exempted some of the most lucrative property owned by wealthy planters – their slaves – from assessment. Lawmakers considered a tax on slaves to be a direct tax, constitutionally permissible only after an apportionment on the basis of population. Since the war precluded any opportunity to count heads, they concluded that no direct tax was possible. Accumulating war debts and heightened condemnation of a "rich man’s war, poor man’s fight" led to revision of the tax law in February, 1864, which suspended the requirement for a census based apportionment of direct taxes and imposed a 5% levy on land and slaves. These changes came too late, however, to have any sustained impact on the confederate war effort.

In addition to its developed industrial base, the North entered the war with several apparent institutional advantages, including an established Treasury and tariff structure. With the exodus of Southern representatives, the Republican-dominated Congress ratcheted up tariff rates throughout the war, beginning in 1862 with the Morill Tariff Act. Subsequent tariff legislation raised rates further. Protective tariffs were politically popular among manufacturers, northern laborers, and even some commercial farmers. But customs duties amounted to about $75 million annually, only nominally more, after adjusting for inflation, than the value of duties collected during the 1850s. Still, the high rate structure established in the Civil War would remain a hallmark of the post-war political economy of the Republican party.

In contrast to the Confederacy, which relied on war bonds for about 35% of its war finances, the Union raised over 65% of its revenue this way. Banks and wealthy citizens were expected to purchase most of them, although there was a sophisticated propaganda campaign to market the bonds to the middling classes as well. Patriotic newspaper advertisements and an army of 2500 agents persuaded almost one million northerners (about 25% of ordinary families) to invest in the war effort; bond sales topped $3 billion.

In order for the bond program to be successful, the North needed an unrestricted currency supply for citizens to pay for them and a source of income to guarantee the interest. The Legal Tender Act filled the first requirement. Passed in February, 1862, the Act authorized the issue of $150 million in Treasury notes, known as Greenbacks. As the narrative states, "Lincoln issued "green backs" 'long 'bout '61 or '62." In contrast to Confederate paper, however, Congress required citizens, banks, and governments to accept Greenbacks as legal tender for public and private debts, except for interest on federal bonds and customs duties. This policy allowed buyers to purchase bonds with greenbacks while the interest accrued to them was paid in gold. Investors enjoyed a bountiful windfall, since government securities purchased with depreciated currency were redeemed with gold valued at the pre-war level. Taxpayers essentially made up the difference. Because most bonds were acquired by the wealthy or by financial institutions, the program concentrated investment capital in the hands of those likely to use it.

The Union government’s decision to implement a broad system of internal taxation not only insured a valuable source of income, but shielded the northern economy from the sort of ruinous inflation experienced by the South. Despite another $150 million Greenback issue, the overall Northern inflation rate reached only 80%. The Hancock narrative didn't get the greenback issues quite right, "De first issue of greenbacks was $175,000,000 and de next issue was $250,000,000."  The Internal Revenue Act of 1862, enacted by Congress in July, 1862, soaked up much of the inflationary pressure produced by Greenbacks. It did so because the Act placed excise taxes on just about everything, including sin and luxury items like liquor, tobacco, playing cards, carriages, yachts, billiard tables, and jewelry. It taxed patent medicines and even newspaper advertisements. It imposed license taxes on practically every profession or service except the clergy. It instituted stamp taxes, value-added taxes on manufactured goods and processed meats, inheritance taxes, taxes on the gross receipts of corporations, banks, and insurance companies, as well as taxes on dividends or interest they paid to investors. 

The majority of internal taxes and tariffs duties were regressive, consumption-oriented measures that affected lower income Americans more severely than higher income Americans. In response, Republicans looked to reinforce the system’s fairness by implementing a supplementary system of taxation that more accurately reflected taxpayers’ "ability to pay." The income tax addressed this need.

The first federal income tax in American history actually preceded the Internal Revenue Act of 1862. Passed in August, 1861, it had helped assure the financial community that the government would have a reliable source of income to pay the interest on war bonds. The Constitution required the federal government to apportion the burden among states on the basis of population rather than property values.  Residents of lower-density western states, border states like Missouri, and poor northeastern states stood to bear a greater burden than those of highly-populated urban states, despite the latter’s valued real estate. 

"While the rich and the thrifty will be obliged to contribute largely from the abundance of their means…no burdens have been imposed on the industrious laborer and mechanic… The food of the poor is untaxed; and no one will be affected by the provisions of this bill whose living depends solely on his manual labor."

But the war grew increasingly costly (topping $2 million per day in its latter stages) and difficult to finance. The government’s ability to borrow fluctuated with battlefield fortunes. The Confederate navy harassed northern shipping, reducing customs receipts. And inevitable administrative problems reduced the expected receipts from income and excise tax collection.

In response, Congress approved two new laws in 1864 that increased tax rates and expanded the progressivity of income taxation. The first bill passed in June upped inheritance, excise, license, and gross receipts business taxes, along with stamp duties and ad valorem manufacturing taxes. The same act proceeded to assess incomes between $600 and $5000 at 5%, those between $5,000 and $10,000 at 7.5%, and established a maximum rate of 10%. Despite protest by certain legislators regarding the unfairness of graduated rates, the 1864 Act affirmed this method of taxing income according to "ability to pay." An emergency income tax bill passed in July imposed an additional tax of 5% on all incomes in excess of $600, on top of the rates set by previous income tax bills. Congress had discovered that the income tax, in addition to its rhetorical value, also provided a flexible and lucrative source of revenue. Receipts increased from over $20 million in 1864 (when collections were made under the 1862 income tax) to almost $61 million in 1865 (when collections were made under the 1864 Act and emergency supplement).

A Union "greenback", authorized by the Legal Tender Act of 1862.

The affluent upper middle classes of the nation’s commercial and industrial centers complied widely with the income tax. 10% of all Union households had paid some form of income tax by war’s end; residents of the northeast comprised 15% of that total. In fact, the Northeast, a sector of American society that owned 70% of the nation’s wealth in 1860, provided the most critical tax base, remitting 75% of the revenues. In total, the North raised 21% of its war revenue through taxation, as opposed to the South, which raised just 5% this way.

Federal taxes were also instrumental in instituting a system of national banking during the war. The National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 imposed a system of "free banking" – banks established by general incorporation as opposed to specific charters – on a national level. State banks were granted national charters and allowed to issue national bank notes (these notes were separate from Greenbacks). One third of a national bank’s capital had to consist of federal bonds, since the new national notes were to be backed by federal bonds. The National Banking Acts thus served as another means to induce bankers to purchase bonds. In attempt to avoid increased regulation, however, many state banks declined to seek national charters. To remedy this problem, the 1864 Act imposed a 10% tax on state bank notes to drive them out of existence. As a result of this tax, the number of national banks tripled by the war’s end, while their purchase of U.S. bonds nearly quadrupled.

In November of 1865, the charter for the 1^st National Bank of Springfield was obtained.

Filmore Hancock tells of the rescue of his Uncle Joe by a man named Fisher and the son of John Hancock (Bill Hancock) from the clutches of slave trader John Doak ("old Doke"). Holcombe in his History of Greene Co. Missouri of 1883 writes of  John Doak and gives us insight into slave trading in Greene Co. before and during the Civil War:

"Slaves were worth a good price in Greene county in that year [1857]. About the first of January there was an auction sale of this species of property in Springfield. One "likely" negro man, 35 years of age, brought $1,000. Two women were put upon the block and sold fairly; one, 26 years of age, brought $830; the other, aged 30, brought $715. March 30, a negro woman, 40 years old, with a child of two years, sold for $900; another, about 30, with a two-year-old child, brought $860.

"Occasionally slaves escaped from their masters about these days, and struck out toward the north star, or for the abolitionists in Kansas, or for the Indians in the western part of the Indian Territory. One or two were said to have been spirited away by interested parties and taken to California. In May, 1856, the following advertisement appeared in the Springfield papers and those of Southwest Missouri generally:

"Mr. Doak was a negro trader, living a few miles from Springfield, who bought and sold slaves for the Southern market. It would seem that he was not an easy master, and that it was not strange his slaves should run away, when he described them by their "crooked and stiff fingers," their "frost-bitten toes," and the "scars on their bodies. The negroes were afterwards caught in southern Kansas, below Ft. Scott, while on their way to California, and were returned to their master. Accompanying them was another Greene county runaway slave, belonging to the Danforth estate.

"About the first of September, three more negroes, belonging to Henry McKinley, ran away. In an advertisement offering $800 for their return or lodgment in jail, Mr. McKinley thus described them:

"In July there was a sale of eleven negroes belonging to the estate of Nathan Boone, deceased, a son of Daniel Boone. The sale took place on the Boone farm, about four miles from Ash Grove, in Boone township. The negroes were said to have been "well sold." In December, a negro girl ten years of age, was sold in Springfield for $552".

During the Civil War, Federal soldiers treated slaves as "contrabands" and sometimes took slaves from their owners as servants for officers. Sometimes children were taken because they could dance or sing and were used as entertainers for both officers and troops.

	Library of Congress photograph showing officers being served by negro servant. Note small boy near Officer's Mess table.

"As late, certainly, as in July, 1862, slaves were recognized as such by both the civil and Federal military authorities of Greene county, although there were many emancipationists in the county at the time. The law on the statute books at the time against runaway negroes was rigidly enforced. June 6, 1862, the following advertisement appeared in the Springfield Missouian, to run four weeks:

"The negroes mentioned as belonging outside of this county had probably been brought here by the soldiers that had come in, and abandoned by them on going into Arkansas. The following is a copy of a certificate given in a runaway slave case by Esq. John J. S. Bigbee, of Campbell township:"

Filmore Hancock relates to us the story of his saving his Uncle Joe from slave trader John Doak and of his uncle "being hired out" to John Lair, the blacksmith. John Lair was more than a mere blacksmith. In 1858, Lair established the first foundry and machine shop in Springfield. 

John Lair's blacksmith and wagon shop made and repaired nearly all the plows and wagons used in Greene Co. Lair kept up to eight forges fired in his shop and  it was said that he could shoe 100 mules a day if the driver was in a hurry. Lair's "Prairie Breaker'' plow was widely known and used. It required from four to six yoke of oxen to pull it through the tough roots of the prairie sod. After the war Lair moved to Boone County, Arkansas.

Martin Hubble describes fund raising events for Mary Phelp's Soldiers' Orphan's Home as follows:

"For some time an association of ladies had been formed in this county whose object was the maintenance of an asylum or "home" wherein the orphans of Federal soldiers who had died in the civil war could be cared for until they reached an age when they could care for themselves. At the head of this association was Mrs. Mary Phelps, wife of Hon. John S. Phelps. For her services in caring for the body of Gen. Lyon, and the valuable assistance rendered the Union army generally, Congress had given Mrs. Phelps the sum of $20,000, and this she had mainly expended in fitting up the "home" and in caring for its inmates. The home was situated at first in the east part of town and then removed south of Springfield a mile or so, and the building still stands.

"For the purpose of caring for her charges properly, Mrs. Phelps resolved to get up a fair in Springfield this fall, the proceeds to go towards defraying certain necessary expenses of the orphans. In explanation Mrs. Phelps published the following card in the Springfield newspapers, about the middle of September. 

THE ORPHAN'S FAIR.

"Of the fair, and its originator, the following was said at the time by the Warrensburg (Mo.) Tribune:"

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