• General Notes

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  The Rebels Our Powell family on the northern edge of Missouri had lived in a ar ea surrounded by strife about the slavery question for many years prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.  The state of Missouri played a central part in this national question.  Antislavery forces demanded Congress keep slavery out of t he new territories of the United States.  In 1818, when Missouri first applied for admission to the Union as a state, there were exactly thirteen slave states and thirteen free states.  Missouri was denied statehood because it's admissio n as a slave state would upset the balance of power.  During the next session o f Congress, Maine applied for admission to the Union and the Missouri Compromis e was worked out. This Compromise admitted Maine as a free state and authorized Missouri to form a state constitution.  The compromise also banned slavery fro m the Louisiana Purchase north of the southern boundary of Missouri, except for Missouri.  In 1821 Missouri became a state.  Although most newcomers to the st ate did not own slaves, Missouri settlers were largely Southern and favored mak ing their own decisions about slavery and other questions. In 1854 Congress rep ealed the Missouri Compromise with passage of the Kansas- Nebraska act.  This b ill created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska with a provision for "popula r sovereignty."  This provision stated that all questions of slavery in the new territories were to be decided by the settlers.  Many Missouri slave owners, i ncluding Colonel Joseph Shelby, led groups of Missourians into Kansas to vote i n elections trying to preserve slavery in that state.  Violence along the Kansa s-Missouri border over the slave question was a prelude to the great destructio n and violence of the Civil War. In 1859 David Powell and his brother James Wal ton Powell sold their land in Schuyler County and set out for Texas.  I do not know if they were just seeking a new unsettled frontier or searching for a terr itory more sympathetic to their southern beliefs.  In December, 1859, Henry Pow ell deeded his farmland to his two sons, Jacob and Andrew Jackson.  It is possi ble he also was planning to leave Missouri. In February, 1861, John and Sarah P owell sold their land in Schuyler County to George W. D. Wade.  We have always felt John was selling his land to prepare to join the War but we do not have a dated record of his service until the next year. His wife's father, Richard Kif f, had already left the area and it is possible John planned to follow Kiff sou th to avoid the war. By April, 1861, when the first shots of War were fired, si x southern states had seceded from the Union.  When, on April 13, President Lin coln called for troops from all states to enforce the nation's laws, four more states left the Union.  Missouri did not secede but became a hotbed of controve rsy.  Although they may not have favored slavery, many Missourians did support states rights and strongly opposed Lincoln's efforts to force the Confederate s tates back into the Union. At this time Brigadier General Daniel M. Frost, a st rong supporter of the south and  commander of the Missouri State Militia in St. Louis, was encamped on the outskirts of that city with a small Militia force. Another southern sympathizer, Claiborne F. Jackson, was Governor.  On May 10, 1 861, Captain Nathaniel Lyon, commander of the Federal Troops in St. Louis, ente red Camp Jackson where General Frost and his men were camped and took the entir e force captive.  This act was seen by many loyal Missourians as the US Army re volting against their own state, for their Legislature had only two months prio r to this voted to remain in the Union. The Missouri Legislature in Jefferson C ity immediately passed a bill calling for full mobilization of the State Militi a.  Governor Jackson appointed Sterling Price to be Major General of this force .  A conference was arranged between the two factions at St. Louis; Governor Ja ckson and General Price representing Missouri and

Details of John's family with Sarah Kiff