Post by Robert Braun on Dec 9, 2002 10:04:12 GMT -5
For many years, John A. Wakefield's History of the Black Hawk War stood as one of the only book-length works on Black Hawk's War from the militia perspective. His work has endured to the present day-- reprinted at least twice since its intitial offering, and perennially cited in most bibliographies that cover the conflict.
However, few of us have delved into Wakefield's life beyond the 15 week campaigns of 1832. I located a short biography credited to Traci Parsons-Holder, who apparently extracted the material from "Wakefield Memorial", by Homer Wakefield, and published 1897
HON. JOHN ALLEN WAKEFIELD, son of William and Diana (Varner) Wakefield; born January 22, 1797, at Pendleton, South Carolina. When he was seven years old, his father moved to Baron county, Ky., and six years later to St. Clair county, Ill. At fifteen, John A. and his elder brother, George W., enlisted in the Independent Spy Battalion of Mountain Rangers, and served through the War of 1812. Soon after his enlistment he volunteered the hazardous task of carrying a dispatch from St. Louis to Vincennes, through the then trackless wilderness, swarming with hostile Indians, which he accomplished after many hair-breadth escapes, and terrible hardships, and was thanked in special orders by General Atkinson. At twenty years of age he was admitted to the bar and took an active part in opposition to the movement to change the state constitution, so as to permit slavery in the state. He served several terms in the legislature and was an intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, Judge Sidney Breese, Governor Edwards, and others of that period. He served through the Black Hawk war, with the rank of major, and wrote the history of that war. He was one of the three commissioners to select lands granted the state, and was appointed to fill vacancy as state treasurer. He was the first justice of the peace and police judge at St. Paul, Minn., and at the first election for delegate in congress, from Kansas, was the free-state nomince and received nearly all the legal votes polled. He served on the bench in three states, was elected state treasurer of Kansas under the Topeka constitution. In 1856, his house was burned, and $8,000 of property taken or destroyed by the "Border Ruffians" from Missouri.
In 1818, he was married to Eliza, eldest daughter of Abram and Elizabeth (Brown) Thompson, who had come from Bourbon county, Ky., three years previously. Abram Thompson was of Scotch-Irish descent, and one of the pioneers of Bourbon county, coming there from Western Pennsylvania. In the year 1846, John A. Wakefield removed from Galena, Ill., where he had for several years practiced his profession, to Wisconsin, engaging in lead mining, but soon after went to St. Paul, Minn., where he built a large hotel. On the 8th day of July, 1854, he entered the territory of Kansas, and on the 18th day of the same month, pitched his tent in what is now Douglas county, containing at that time but one or two families. In 1856, while en route to Illinois for aid in men and arms, he was captured by Buford's South Carolinians, and narrowly escaped death, as a "traitor," to his native state. He was ever distinguished for great energy of character and a high sense of personal honor, his word being as good as his bond wherever he was known. Though possessed of a quick and fiery temper, he had "malice for none and charity for all," and was an honorable opponent, and ever "held an honorable enemy, next to a bosom friend." Hospitality was another virtue which he could justly claim, never being known to turn a person from his door, with his wants unrelieved. He died at Lawrence, Kansas, June 18, 1873. His wife died one year before.
However, few of us have delved into Wakefield's life beyond the 15 week campaigns of 1832. I located a short biography credited to Traci Parsons-Holder, who apparently extracted the material from "Wakefield Memorial", by Homer Wakefield, and published 1897
HON. JOHN ALLEN WAKEFIELD, son of William and Diana (Varner) Wakefield; born January 22, 1797, at Pendleton, South Carolina. When he was seven years old, his father moved to Baron county, Ky., and six years later to St. Clair county, Ill. At fifteen, John A. and his elder brother, George W., enlisted in the Independent Spy Battalion of Mountain Rangers, and served through the War of 1812. Soon after his enlistment he volunteered the hazardous task of carrying a dispatch from St. Louis to Vincennes, through the then trackless wilderness, swarming with hostile Indians, which he accomplished after many hair-breadth escapes, and terrible hardships, and was thanked in special orders by General Atkinson. At twenty years of age he was admitted to the bar and took an active part in opposition to the movement to change the state constitution, so as to permit slavery in the state. He served several terms in the legislature and was an intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, Judge Sidney Breese, Governor Edwards, and others of that period. He served through the Black Hawk war, with the rank of major, and wrote the history of that war. He was one of the three commissioners to select lands granted the state, and was appointed to fill vacancy as state treasurer. He was the first justice of the peace and police judge at St. Paul, Minn., and at the first election for delegate in congress, from Kansas, was the free-state nomince and received nearly all the legal votes polled. He served on the bench in three states, was elected state treasurer of Kansas under the Topeka constitution. In 1856, his house was burned, and $8,000 of property taken or destroyed by the "Border Ruffians" from Missouri.
In 1818, he was married to Eliza, eldest daughter of Abram and Elizabeth (Brown) Thompson, who had come from Bourbon county, Ky., three years previously. Abram Thompson was of Scotch-Irish descent, and one of the pioneers of Bourbon county, coming there from Western Pennsylvania. In the year 1846, John A. Wakefield removed from Galena, Ill., where he had for several years practiced his profession, to Wisconsin, engaging in lead mining, but soon after went to St. Paul, Minn., where he built a large hotel. On the 8th day of July, 1854, he entered the territory of Kansas, and on the 18th day of the same month, pitched his tent in what is now Douglas county, containing at that time but one or two families. In 1856, while en route to Illinois for aid in men and arms, he was captured by Buford's South Carolinians, and narrowly escaped death, as a "traitor," to his native state. He was ever distinguished for great energy of character and a high sense of personal honor, his word being as good as his bond wherever he was known. Though possessed of a quick and fiery temper, he had "malice for none and charity for all," and was an honorable opponent, and ever "held an honorable enemy, next to a bosom friend." Hospitality was another virtue which he could justly claim, never being known to turn a person from his door, with his wants unrelieved. He died at Lawrence, Kansas, June 18, 1873. His wife died one year before.
