History of Fort Scott, (Bourbon County) Kansas United States of America

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Biographies:

Epaphroditus Ransom, governor of Michigan, was born in Shelburne Falls, Hampshire county, Mass., in February, 1797; son of Maj. Ezekiel and ?? (Fletcher) Ransom and grandson of General Fletcher of Vermont, an officer in the revolutionary war. He removed with his parents to Townshend, Windham county, Vt.; worked on a farm in the summer and either attended or taught school in the winter. He was graduated from Chester academy, Windham county, Vt.; studied law under Judge Taft, at Townshend, and was graduated from the law school at Northampton, Mass., in 1823. He practised in Windham county, and was a representative in the state legislature for several terms. In 1834 he removed to Michigan and settled in Kalamazoo, where he established himself in practice with Charles E. Stuart. In 1836, upon the admission of Michigan into the union, he was appointed first judge of the second judicial circuit and associate justice of the supreme court of the state. He was promoted chief justice in 1843, and was governor of the state, 1847. Failing to receive a renomination, he retired to private life. He was a representative in the state legislature in 1853, and in 1857 removed to Kansas, where he was receiver of the Osage land office. He died at Fort Scott, Kan., in November, 1859.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Various members of the Jewell family have been well known at Fort Scott and vicinity for many years. Both Col. Lewis R. and his son, by the same name, were active, and the father quite prominent, in the days of the Civil war. He came of old Massachusetts lineage, moved to Ohio early in life, and while a resident of Washington County married Susan Hutchinson. Mr. Jewell became interested in river transportation, and when he moved to St. Louis, several years before the war, was the owner of several boats plying the Mississippi and Ohio, and had reached the rank of 'Captain.'

In 1859 Captain Jewell located in the central strip of Kansas near Arcadia, and there established himself as a farmer and stock-raiser. By the vigorous resistance of settlers, in which he was a leader, the aggressive Cherokees were barred from the country, but to make their tenure more secure a delegation of the whites was sent to Washington to seek Government backing and to protect the settlement of a large contemplated colony from the East. The captain was one of this delegation, but before anything definite was accomplished the Civil war broke like a sudden storm on the country, and colonization and all else were thrust aside in face of the great danger and disaster.

Captain Jewell had been known as a strong democrat, and some had even denounced him as pro-slavery, but when the danger of disunion loomed he rejected an offer of service in the Confederate army and joined a company of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry of the Union forces. He was elected captain of that command and, upon the reorganization of the regiment, was commissioned lieutenant colonel. His service for the Union cause was one of bravery and ability and, after proving his soldierly qualities in several fierce engagements, his time came in November, 1863, at the battle of Cane Hill, Arkansas. After being wounded several times and his horse shot from under him, he continued in the field, leading his regiment afoot. While thus leading a charge, he received a ball in his groin, fell unconscious and was taken into the Confederate camp. He died two days thereafter, recovering consciousness sufficiently to be sent back for burial to the Union lines. This was done, under a flag of trues, and he was brought home by members of his old company and buried at Fort Scott. The colonel was a brave popular citizen, and Jewell county is named in his honor. His son was also identified with the Sixth Kansas Cavalry, in a minor capacity, and after the war founded Arcadia.

From: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans by Wm E Connelley; New York: 1918.

Capt. John Hamilton, acting under orders from Gen. Zachary Taylor, founded Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1842. He was a native of Pennsylvania, a soldier in the regular army, and first came to Kansas as a youth of nineteen and a United States dragoon, stationed at Fort Leavenworth. In 1842, as a sergeant of the First Dragoons, under Oapt. Benjamin D. Moore, he left Fort Wayne, Cherokee Nation, to assist in selecting a site and to establish a military post in Kansas. There wore twenty men in the party and, after selecting the ground, the captain and surgeon of the expedition, detailed directly under Sergeant Hamilton, returned to Fort Wayne, leaving the execution of the work to the latter. Sergeant Hamilton himself cut the first tree on the site of Fort Scott on the 9th of April, 1842, an additional working force was sent in the following month, and in June Captain Moore, with two companies of the First Dragoons, arrived to take command of the post. Maj. William M. Graham and Capt. Thomas Swords were afterwards placed in command, Hamilton being quartermaster sergeant under the latter. He was then appointed ordnance sergeant by the secretary of war and ordered to Fort Jessup, Louisiana. After serving his term of enlistment in the army Sergeant Hamilton returned to Fort Scott in March, 1855, and became a permanent resident of that place. During the border troubles he was made captain of the first company of militia, which was organized in January, 1859, and experienced considerable rough service. In 1865 Captain Hamilton moved to Sheridan Township, Crawford County, and was elected from that district to the House of Representatives of the 1868 Legislature. His death occurred at Independence, Kansas, on February 26, 1876.

From: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans by Wm E Connelley; New York: 1918.