Callaway County, Missouri: History
This area was historically occupied by the Osage and other Native American peoples, some of whom migrated from east of the Ohio River Valley. Others emerged as cultures in this area, following thousands of years of settlement by indigenous peoples.
The first settlement in the county was in 1809 at Cote Sans Dessein along the Missouri River. Early leaders considered siting the first Missouri state capital in the territory between Wainwright and Tebbetts. Callaway County was organized in 1820 and was named after Captain James Callaway, who was killed by Native Americans. Elizabeth became the first county seat. Many of the villages and towns in the county today represent places where railroad stations existed in early years.
The early European-American settlement of Callaway County was largely by migrants from the Upper South states of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, with an influx of German immigrants starting in the 1830s, as was the case with other counties along the Missouri River. Some of them brought black slaves and enslavement practices with them, and quickly started cultivating hemp and tobacco, the same crops as were grown in Middle Tennessee and Kentucky. Given their culture and traditions, this area became known as Little Dixie. By 1860, enslaved people made up at least 25 percent of the county's population, higher than in most parts of the state.
Some pioneer families from Callaway and Lewis County, Missouri, moved to the West and became influential early settlers of the nascent state of California. Callaway families helped settle areas of California near the Oregon border, as they entered the state via the Oregon Trail, then southward toward San Francisco. Lewis County relatives helped build Sacramento and develop viticulture in the California Central Valley and areas north of San Francisco Bay. Some of these Missouri families, later key U.S./Unionist advocates and military personnel during the U.S. Civil War, held early local and statewide political offices in California.
On October 27, 1860, a woman known as "Slave Teney" was lynched by whites near Fulton after she confessed to killing the daughter of her owner.
In 1861, word arrived that Union troops had advanced to a nearby county. Colonel Jefferson F. Jones, from eastern Callaway County, assembled troops to protect the county. Forces were limited as many were already defending the country, but Jones marched the troops eastward to meet the approaching companies. The successful defense was merely an illusion. Tree logs, erected by the troops, resembled artillery in the shadows of campfires and deterred Union troops. Talks continued several days and secured a mutual ceasefire agreement between the United States of America and Callaway County. Elated from the successful defense, citizens proclaimed their county The Kingdom of Callaway, a reference that remains today. This truce with U.S./Union forces effectively allowed Confederate advocates to continue to operate under surveillance, not far from the Missouri government offices in Jefferson City. There may have been more than twice as many Confederate as U.S./Union troops in Callaway.
The 1862 Battle of Moore's Mill was the only significant Civil War battle in Callaway County.
The minutes of the U.S. Congressional hearing on the legitimacy of U.S. …