During the Civil War, citizens in the Lee’s Summit area suffered greatly due to unfair measures taken by both sides of the conflict. Missouri was officially a Union state, but many Missourians were Southern sympathizers. Many residents were the victims of raids by Jayhawkers from Kansas who would pillage and burn homes. The most devastating measure, however, came in the form of order No. 11, issued from the Union military. The order may be explained this way:

“Issued August 25, 1863, by Brigadier General Thomas Ewing, Jr., Commander of the District of the Border, with headquarters at Kansas City, Order No. 11 required all the inhabitants of the Western Missouri counties of Jackson [of which Lee’s Summit is a part], Cass, and Bates not living within one mile of specified military posts to vacate their homes by September 9. Those who by that date established their loyalty to the United States government with the commanding officer of the military station nearest their place of residence would be permitted to remove to any military station in the District of the Border or to any part of Kansas except the counties on the eastern border of that state. Persons failing to establish their loyalty were to move out of the district completely or be subject to military punishment.”1 The order was given in response to Confederate General William Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence, Kansas, on August 21, 1863.

This “punishment” turned out to be a military-sanctioned robbing and burning of almost the entire district. Many families were displaced, and some were killed. The area of Lee’s Summit became a devastated no-man’s-land, dotted by charred chimneys. Miraculously, William B. Howard’s home survived, even while he voluntarily relocated to Kentucky for the duration of the war.

The story of Dr. Pleasant Lea is a vivid example of the kind of suffering endured by the residents of Lee’s Summit during the Civil War. Lea was a Southern sympathizer, and both of his sons were in Quantrill’s band of raiders. In 1862, Lea was interrogated by Union soldiers, but he refused to disclose information about his sons and other Confederate guerillas. As punishment, the soldiers broke both of Lea’s arms before shooting him dead.

A letter of July 24, 1863 from Emily Hampton Steele of Sibley, Missouri, to her son, Joseph, relates some of the horrors that border residents endured:
“We live in great excitement continually. We have been jayhawked by both partys. Our losses have been considerable. Dave and Angeline are gone. We have had several horses jayhawked and we had eight tons of hemp burned. It was all bailed ready for shipment.
“Your Pa could not get a boat to land at Sibley because the Bushwhackers had been firing on them all along this part of the river. Nearly all of Sibley is burned, a great many of the citizens have been banished or left of their own accord.
“There haven’t been but two women banished—Mrs. Bagby and Mrs. [Joel Rufus] Hudspeth. Mrs. Hudspeth has been burnt out twice—first her dwelling was burnt out last spring and a few days ago her cabin, corncrib and meat house was burnt with their contents—all because Frank Sheppard would stay around there. He is a bushwhacker. Old Aunt Rach and little Rachael are dodging about over the River to keep from being put in prison.”2

Numerous other stories and rumors of stories exist that tell the horrors endured by the families of Lee’s Summit just before and during the Civil War. Homes were burned, lush farmland was ruined, female relatives of Confederate guerillas were jailed, and some women even walked as far as Texas to escape the devastation and protect the lives of their families.3 Obviously, the Civil War was just as personal as it was political to the people of Lee’s Summit.

1Albert Castel, “Order No. 11 and the Civil War on the Border.” Missouri Historical Review, July 1963, 357.

2 Eakin, Joanne Chiles. Tears and Turmoil: Order # 11. Shawnee Mission, KS: Two Trails Genealogy Shop, 1996, p.21.

3 See “She Walked to Texas,” in Eakin, Tears and Turmoil. pp. 38-45.