THE RAPE OF
HOWELL AND HAMBURG, MISSOURI
(An American Tragedy)
by
Donald
K. Muschany
COPYRIGHT © 1978 BY DONALD K. MUSCHANY. ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
[Letter 10]
June
15, 1977
Dear Norman:
Did you ever wonder who gave Callaway
County its name? I can tell you. He was Captain James Callaway [1], Nancy
Howell’s first husband, and a fine figure of a man he was.
He was intelligent, fearless, and had the
courage of ten lions, which made him a man for all seasons in those perilous
days. He was considered one of the most efficient scouts and was in command of
a company of Missouri Rangers. On the morning of March 7, 1815, Capt. Callaway,
with Lt. Riggs and 14 troopers, went in pursuit of some Sac and Fox Indians who
had stolen some horses from settlers near Fort Clemson, on Loutre Island. They
tracked the Indians, and recaptured the horses which were guarded by only a few
squaws. This made the unit suspicious, but the fearless captain insisted that
they take the same route home. He was obviously spoiling for a tete-a-tete with
the lnjuns. He was not disappointed as they were ambushed at Prairie Fork and
the good captain and three of his men were killed. The others made it back
safely.
The Castlio family had come to Missouri
from Tennessee in 1806 and were destined to populate the area with many fine
families. Their son, John, a young widower, had moved to Dardenne from
Cottleville and married Nancy, the captain’s widow. John was as fond of the
land as was Francis Howell, and we see a mingling of genes at this point which
certainly permeated the lifelong culture of Hamburg and Howell residents, including
you and me.
One of the five sons of this union,
Othaniel (called Maw) met a little lovely, Cordelia Keithly, from O’Fallon, and
decided that this young lady was going to be the woman of his house. There was
only one problem; he had no house. His brother, Newt, was also interested in
young widow Mahala, Cordelia’s sister, and he, too, needed to put together a
homestead. Well, the boys, thusly motivated, took off for the California gold
fields. After a series of adventures, including a stopover in a Mexican jail,
each of the boys returned with about $10,000. A tremendous stake in those days
. . . not bad now, if you ask me.
Well, Newt took your way out, Doc, and he
and Mahala became Dr. and Mrs. Newt Castlio while Maw (Othaniel) married his
lovely little Cordelia on May 12, 1852. For details of the “quilting custom,” I
refer you to CROW’S NEST by Lilian Hayes Oliver.
Doc, I’ve run into a piece of history I’ve
never seen before and an unpleasant one it is. During the Civil War, a band of
terrorists known as the Citizens’ Militia or Home Guard organized, and lived in
a German village a few miles west of our familiar area. They searched houses,
questioned servants, and forced every man who stayed home to take the Test
Oath, by whose right I do not know. They operated like Storm Troopers of a
later date, actually killing citizens who refuted their authority, and burned
barns and houses like Quantrill, also of a later date. Quite a pall hung over
that pleasant countryside for a long, long time.
I
came across another interesting story concerning one of my all-time heroes,
Daniel Boone. It seems that his daughter Jemima and two of her playmates were
spirited away by Indians for no reason other than that they would rather
capture Dan Boone than G. Washington himself. They had a good start on Boone
and used all the wiles of their heritage. But they didn’t fool old Dan’l, the
greatest tracker of his time. It took days, but, while Jemima kept her friends
calm and collected, Dan got to the lair, killed a few lnjuns, and rescued the
girls. Doc, as I was reading this I had a mental picture of Fess Parker, with
his faithful Ed Ames and Buddy Ebsen at his beck and call, stalking silently
through the woods, all 6 foot 5 inches of him. I’m a victim of the Television
Age of electronic history lessons. I did love that show, however.
As you have properly concluded, good
reader, there is a very large cast in this saga. The main point I’m trying to
make about Howell is that with all the intermarrying and second marriages,
everybody seems to be related in one way
or another. You didn’t think you were my only cousin, did you?
Time out while I get my typing fingers
recycled . . .
More
later,
[signed:
Don]
[1]
Dan'l Boone's Grandson.
