Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Post #26
by Tonya Graham McQuade
One of the historical events I will be incorporating into my book Missouri Daughter is the opening of the Pony Express on April 3, 1860. Since this is a historical fiction account, I am taking some liberties by placing my great great grandfather Bailis Petree there for the opening ceremonies. He certainly might have been there, right? He was living within 15 miles of St. Joseph at the time, and in a city with a population of only 9,000, many thousands gathered to watch the celebration, according to news reports. Wouldn’t a young man of 20 have been anxious to witness this important moment in history?
The advent of the Pony Express comes up early in the book, as Bailis recalls his time serving in the militia starting in October 1861. Here’s a brief excerpt:
His arrival with the militia was so different from the last time he had visited St. Joseph back in April of 1860. Then, he and brother Benjamin had made a special trip to watch the first rider, young Johnny Fry, set off on the newly-opened Pony Express route to deliver mail all the way to California in just ten days. Bailis smiled, remembering how excited he and Benjamin had been when the cannon had fired, alerting the eager crowds that Fry had set off. Crowds lined the street, cheering as he rode by, then watched as Fry boarded a ferry with his horse to cross the Missouri River into Kansas, where he was expected to ride at breakneck speed for eighty miles, all the way to Seneca, Kansas, before another rider took over.
Bailis couldn’t imagine racing like that across the country. The riders would each cover about 75-100 miles, changing horses several times along the way, and would pass through Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada on their way to the final stop in far-away Sacramento, California. He’d seen the posters advertising for riders:
"Wanted: young, skinny, wiry fellows. Not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 per week.”
Those ads certainly had not tempted him - he already had his eye on Mollie and didn't want to miss out on his chance to make her his wife - but he remembered wondering what it would feel like to have crowds cheering for him as they did for Johnny Fry.
While standing at the river, watching Fry disappear in the distance, he and Benjamin had also perused the long line of wagons waiting to be ferried across to the Kansas side, from there to begin their long journey along the Oregon Trail to the Pacific Coast. Thousands crossed here every Spring on their way to start a new life. Benjamin had made that journey with their father and older brother John back in 1849, bound for California to look for gold, and Bailis loved to hear the stories they told of their adventures. He had wondered, as he looked out at the wagon train, whether he would ever make such a journey – and whether, if he did, he would travel by wagon or whether there might eventually be a train he could take all the way to California.
I like to imagine Bailis standing there, watching history be made and reflecting on his own family history. On our recent trip to St. Joseph, I stood at that exact point on the Missouri River. I looked across to the Kansas shore on the other side, imagining what it might have felt like to cross in one of those wagons, knowing a four to six month journey lay ahead - anticipating the plethora of obstacles and challenges that might present themselves to the wagon train along the way. I also imagined what it must have been like for those young Pony Express riders - many barely out of their teens - to set out on their own across that vast terrain, with no fellow travelers riding alongside.
For eighteen months, from April 1860 to October 1861, Pony Express riders raced across the Central Overland Route to deliver mail in an average of ten days to the more than half a million people now living out west, anxious for news and communication. They rode across prairies, plains, deserts, and mountains, facing threats from wild animals, blizzards, excessive heat, raging rivers, accidents and injuries, sickness, Native American attacks, and in one case, even a cyclone. During its operation, more than 200 men became riders, swapping horses at relay stations every 10-15 miles as they rode 75-100 miles to the next home station, where another rider would take over. At those same home stations, riders would wait for mail coming from the other direction, then would begin their return ride. The trail measured almost 2,000 miles between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, and passed through Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada.
Why St. Joseph? It beat out both competing Atchison, Missouri, to the north and Leavenworth, Kansas, to the south because it had all four things the founders were looking for: a telegraph to the east, a good road (or trail) to the west, office space for local agents (which they found at the Patee House Hotel), and - most importantly - the westernmost terminus of a railroad to the east: the Hannibal-St. Joseph Railroad, which had begun operating in 1859.
The Pony Express Museum in St. Joseph was our first stop on our second day in Missouri - and there, we learned all about this history-making mail delivery service. Housed in the old Pony Express Stables, from which the first Pony Express Rider, Johnny Fry, emerged on his horse to begin his ride, the museum provides information on the history of the Pony Express; describes some of its many riders; shows maps of the various trails and stations; exhibits displays of a blacksmith shop and forge, a tack room and harness shop, and a wheelwright shop; presents a covered wagon with supplies; shows Civil War era weaponry; and much more.
William H. Russell, Alexander Majors, and William B. Waddell (partners in a freighting firm) agreed in January 1860 to start a pony express relay system from St. Joseph to Sacramento. Their goal was to prove the Central Overland Route could be used year round. They hoped to win the $1 million government mail contract (though they only ended up getting a portion of that contract). Within three months, they formed the Central Overland, California, and Pikes Peak Express Company; then, they hired 200 riders, purchased 400 horses, and established 165 stations 10-15 miles apart. Riders changed horses at each station. Each rider rode between 75-100 miles and changed horses 8-10 times per ride.
Who were these riders? Riders were primarily young men, preferably orphans, who weighed 110-120 pounds. They were expected to take the following oath: “I, _____, do hereby swear, before the great and living God, that during my engagement, and while I am an employee of Russell, Majors, and Waddell, I will under no circumstances use profane language, and that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employers. So help me God.”
Rider Johnny Fry was the first to depart from the Pony Express Stables. Fry, born in St. Joseph in 1840, was a well-known rider in local horse races. After leaving the stable, he raced on his horse named Sylph to the U.S. express office to pick up the mail, which had just arrived on the Hannibal-St. Joseph railroad after a late start in Hannibal. There, Mayor Jeff Thompson sent the mail on its way with a slap on the pony’s rump and said: “Citizens of St. Joseph, I bid you three cheers for the first overland passage of the United States mail. Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!”
The crowd cheered as the horse and rider boarded the ferry boat Ebenezer to cross the Missouri River. The mochila, or knapsack, Fry carried contained 85 pieces of mail, including an edition of the St. Joseph Daily Gazette. Fry rode the first 80 miles – the next rider took over in Seneca, KS. Fry arrived back in St. Joseph on April 13th with first eastbound mail – during the celebration, militia groups paraded, bells rang, cannons boomed, and bonfires lit up Main Street.
“Citizens paraded the streets with bands of music, fireworks were set off ... the best feeling was manifested by everybody” (New York Times, 14 Apr 186o).
As a nearby signpost explains, eight months after the start of the Pony Express, South Carolina seceded from the Union, and soon Civil War began, dividing the city of St. Joseph. Approximately 2,000 St. Joseph men fought for the Union, another 20,00 for the Confederacy. Early in the war, both sides stridently displayed their banners and flags. When the newly-appointed postmaster raised the U.S. flag on the roof of the Post Office, former St. Joseph mayor Jeff Thompson - the same man who had celebrated the opening of the Pony Express a year earlier - led an unruly mob that displayed their southern sympathies by tearing down the flag, ripping it to pieces, and throwing the flagpole into the Missouri River. The mob tore through town, removing other U.S. flags and harassing Union supporters. Eventually, the City Council prohibited the flying of flags of any kind.
Conflicts continued in St. Joseph - with both sides inflicting damage on the other - until Union troops occupied the city in September 1861 following a period of destructive guerrilla activity. Though resented by Southern sympathizers, their presence offered the protection Union-supporting residents desired, keeping guerrilla attackers at bay, protecting the strategically important western terminus of the Hannibal-St. Joseph Railroad, and requiring all residents to present passes to leave and enter the city (and requiring them to show proof of allegiance in order to attain passes). By then, of course, many Confederates - including former mayor Jeff Thompson - had fled the city. He went on to become a Confederate Brigadier General and earned the title “Missouri’s Swamp Fox” for his many successful and daring raids on Union weapons and supplies.
During the early days of the war, the Pony Express is credited with helping to keep California in the Union by providing rapid communication, bringing the news first of Lincoln’s election and later of the firing on Fort Sumter. California was important to both the North and South because of its gold, many fortifications, and large population. Soon after the war began, however, the Pony Express ended its run - its death knell sounding on October 24, 1861, with the advent of the first transcontinental telegraph connecting existing telegraph network in the east with a small network in California. After only 18 months of service, this telegraph line - which allowed for instantaneous communication of important news - drove the Pony Express out of business. Its owners lost their fortunes in the venture.
Many Pony Express riders went on to fight in the Civil War - on both sides. Johnny Fry served as a civilian scout and messenger for the Union army. He was killed October 3, 1863, in Baxter Hills, Kansas when William Clarke Quantrill and his Confederate guerrillas made a surprise attack on the encamped Union men. Fry was with two other Union men just outside the camp when the guerrillas dressed in stolen Union uniforms approached; Fry was killed in the gunfire that followed and was buried in a mass grave next to a memorial dedicated to the massacre at Baxter Springs.
I plan to work that into my book as well - I figure Bailis would be affected by reading the news of Fry’s death, especially if he had been there to watch him race out of the stable doors on that first historic ride. What do you think?
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