JOHN ALLEN WAKEFIELD

JOHN ALLEN WAKEFIELD, second son of William and Diana (Varner) Wakefield, was born February 11, 1797, at Pendleton, South Carolina. The father was a native of North Carolina, of Scotch Irish ancestry. The mother (who died at Quincy, Illinois, at the age of nearly 107 years) was a native of South Carolina, of Scotch-Irish and French Huguenot ancestry. The father, William, a man of education, spent most of his manhood as a teacher. John Allen received his name in honor of Major-General John Allen of Virginia, who was a cousin to Diana Varner Wakefield. When he was seven years old, John's parents moved to middle Tennessee, where they remained but a short time, and then pushed on to Barren County, Kentucky. In 1808, the family removed to Illinois Territory, settling where Lebanon, St. Clair County, is now located. During the first two years of life in Illinois, and while the family was " forted," owing to the hostility of the Indians, privations without number were endured. The War of 1812-14, which followed, was particularly aggressive and sanguinary in Illinois. Militia companies, organized for campaign and scouting duties, constantly patroled the state. Wakefield, though but sixteen years of age, manifested an unusual aptitude for scouting service, and to gratify a passion for that service, he enlisted in the company of Captain Jacob Short, in which he served Wakefield 7

Wakefield 8 from February 27 to June 9, 1813. Afterward he served as special scout for General Howard, earning the highest praises from that faithful officer, particularly as the bearer of dispatches, later called " expresses." One of his trips was fraught with such peril that his father applied for a writ of habeas corpus to take him from it; but learning of the issuance of the writ, he stole away in the night and crossed the Mississippi in a canoe, swimming his horse behind. The trip was made in answer to a call from General Russell, then at St. Louis, for a volunteer to carry dispatches to Vin-cennes (called in the vernacular of the day Post Vin-san), through a trackless wilderness of 17 miles, swarming with hostile Indians. It proved as perilous as had been anticipated, but he made it safely, returning by another route. One night he camped in a sinkhole. The following morning was foggy. A war party of unusual size was heard approaching. His horse became nervous and liable at any moment to attract attention; but he hastily threw a blanket over its head, and the party passed within a few feet of the sink-hole, without detecting him. The dangers and struggles of the Illinois frontiersman during those perilous days cannot be magnified, and Wakefield had his full share of them. At the close of the war he went to Cincinnati, where he studied medicine diligently for a considerable period, afterward going to St. Louis to finish his studies. But it seems that once in possession of his diploma, he decided medicine did not offer him the field anticipated, and at once turned to studying for the bar, to which he was admitted when in his twenty-first year. His examination was conducted at Vandalla, where he settled and remained until 1837, during the last three years of which time he saw much of Abraham Lincoln. As an outgrowth of an intimacy formed in

Wakefield 9 the Black Hawk campaign, Mr. Lincoln, while a member of the legislature, lived with Mr. Wakefield in Vandalia. In 1818 Wakefield was married to Eliza Thompson, a native of Bourbon County, Kentucky, daughter of Abram Thompson and Elizabeth (Brown) Thompson. One of the most important services rendered by Wakefield, and one which should command the respect of every Illinoisan, was his determined stand against the introduction of slavery in the State of Illinois, attempted during the administration of Governor Edward Coles. The legislature which convened at Vandalia, December 2, 1822, and adjourned February 18, 1823, passed a resolution by infamous means, calling for a constitutional convention, at which an amendment was expected to be framed which would permit slavery in the State. For sixteen months the young State was a battle-ground, during which the anti-convention men were made targets for every manner of insult and assault. Wakefield, being a ready speaker and writer, plunged into the campaign with great vigor, paying his own expenses while canvassing the State, and had the satisfaction of witnessing the rout of the slavery or convention men by a decisive victory. For his services during that campaign, he was elected a member of the next (fourth) House of Representatives, which sat from November 151824, to January 18, 1825 and from January 2 to January 18, 1826. From "The Vandalia Whig" of July 3, 1834, I notice that he was a candidate for Representative against Robert Blackwell and Colonel Samuel Houston, but Mr. Blackwell was elected. When Governor Reynolds called for volunteers to drive out Black Hawk in 1832, Wakefield enlisted in the company of Captain John Dement. It was mustered

Wakefield 10 into service April 20, but with the entire army was mustered out May 28th, after the unfortunate Stillman's battle. Neither Wakefield nor Captain Dement's company participated in Stillman's battle. When a new levy of troops reached Dixon's Ferry,; Wakefield was found enlisted in the company of Captain William L. D. Ewing. Ewing, being elected Major of a spy battalion, served as captain but a day or so, and Captain Samuel Huston (or Houston) succeeded in command. First appointed surgeon, by reason of his medical knowledge, Wakefield was speedily transferred to the scouting service, in which he continued to the end of the war. For his efficient work he was promoted to the rank of Major. At the Bad Axe battle, fought at the mouth of the Bad Axe River, he received a slight wound. As that engagement finished the war and the fighting career of Black Hawk, the army marched overland to Dixon's Ferry, where Wakefield was discharged by Lieutenant Robert Anderson, August 16, 1832. The following year. Major Wakefield wrote the history of that war, which is hereafter set forth. Written when fresh in his memory, and from his daily journal kept without interruption from its beginning to its end, this first history of the war must be accorded accuracy as well as general interest. Inasmuch as the records of the War Department do not disclose the names of many of the officers, the value of the record which Wakefield's book supplied is inconceivable. The first edition ofthe book was published in Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1834, by Calvin Goudy. Its dimensions are 7 by 4 1/8 inches. It contains blank leaf, titlepage, certificate of copyright, four pages of "preface," four pages of "contents " (all of which are numbered as follows: iii not numbered, iv, v, vi, vii, viii, ix, and x), 142 pages of text, beginning with page i (not

Wakefield 11 numbered), and followed from 2 consecutively to and including 142, and two blank leaves. The binding was made in boards with mottled covers, calf back, and red leather label stamped in gilt with the words, " Black Hawk War." The edges were stained a canary color. A second edition, thoroughly revised and very much enlarged, was published at Cincinnati in the year 1836. Only 300 copies were delivered, the others being destroyed by a fire which burned the establishment and its contents. Copies of the latter edition are so rare that not one has been offered for sale for at least fifteen years. The Black Hawk War having made the people of southern Illinois acquainted with the fertility and richness of the northern part of the State and the southern part of Wisconsin, a series of northward migrations set in. In 1837 Major Wakefield joined in the hegira, and settled in Jo Daviess County, where he remained, with the exception of the years 1839 and 1840, spent in Carroll County, until 1846, when he crossed over into Iowa County, Wisconsin, and there remained until the spring of 1849. In that year he removed to St. Paul, Minnesota, and was elected its first city judge. The winters of Minnesota were so severe that he moved again southward to Allamakee County, Iowa, in 1851, where he lived until 1854. Then he went to Kansas to enjoy its milder climate, and settled at the point which subsequently became Lawrence, whence not more than half a dozen families had preceded him. Becoming a landholder, he remained at that place until the day of his death, June 18, 1873. Upon the history of Kansas Wakefield left an indelible imprint. There the question of slavery had to be fought as he had fought it in Illinois thirty years before. In his new home the struggle was much longer, and he suffered the loss of much of the considerable

Wakefield 12 wealth which he had accumulated in Minnesota and Iowa. But his fortunes improving, he became a strong factor in moulding Kansas into a rich commonwealth, and his declining years were prosperous. In the struggle in Kansas with the slavery element, he was made the first free-state candidate for delegate to Congress, for which office he received three fourths of the legal votes cast at the election. But it will be remembered, that following the hint of Senator Atchison of Missouri, "When you reside within one day of the Territory, you can send five hundred of your young men who will vote in favor of your institutions," voters were poured into Kansas from Missouri, and the candidate of the slave-holding interests was elected by an enormous majority. Indeed, he received eleven hundred votes more than the number of legal voters in the Territory three months afterward. Wakefield was elected State Treasurer under the Topeka constitution which he had helped to frame, and as chairman of the judiciary committee of the first and many succeeding legislatures, was largely responsible for the State's excellent code of laws. Lawrence was the storm-center of those perilous times. During the fierce " border troubles," when the Territory was constantly invaded by large bodies of armed men from Missouri, Wakefield was constantly the leader of the free-state settlers, and for his courage and pertinacity in opposing the slavery forces was made the principal target for their attacks. Just west of Lawrence he had built a large house and many substantial out-buildings, but the invaders, on the night of September 1, 1856, fired and burned every building on the place. The fine library in the house and two manuscripts ready for publication, together with 140 acres of wheat and oats in the stack, were destroyed. That disaster involved a loss of $ 10,000. The attack was so sudden and unexpected,

Wakefield 13 that the escape of the family was nothing short of miraculous. Judge Wakefield, as he was called the latter years of his life, died at Lawrence June 18,1873, in his seventy-seventh year. To conclude, it should be added that his wife Eliza died in 1871. From the union twelve children were born, eight of whom reached middle age or more. Lysander and Alvin, first and second sons respectively, died at Vandalia in childhood. George Washington, the third son, lost his life by an accident in California when about 45 years of age. Mrs. Mary A. Willard, eldest daughter, died December 7, 1903, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 82. Martha Ann Wakefield died near Lawrence in 1855. Mrs. Emily Terry, third daughter, resides at present in the city of Chicago. Mrs. Eliza J. Snyder, fourth daughter, died at Lawrence, December 7, 1902. William H. T. Wakefield, fourth son, to whom I am under obligation for the facts herein stated, is a resident of Mound City, Kansas. John Alien, Jr., died July 31,1865, aged 29 years. Thomas J., the youngest, was accidentally killed at Denver, Colorado, November i, 1890, by the fall of a derrick. Two daughters, Sarah and Diana, died in infancy.

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