Early Howell County Elections

The first settlers and pioneers of Howell County ventured into an unsettled wilderness with little or no government services accessible to them. With sparse communication from the outside world, one might expect the early citizens coming here to ignore the activities of their government or look at national elections with disinterest. The opposite is true, politics were followed closely and passionately.

 

Remembering that only men could vote until 1920, early elections were rough, and had been since the founding of the nation. The vast majority of voters here considered themselves Jeffersonian or Jacksonian Democrats, believing that political power and economic opportunities should be available to all people, not just the wealthy elite. They were yeoman farmers - the total appraised value of all of Howell County personal property in 1860 was just under 250 thousand dollars, and real estate was valued at 232 thousand dollars. 

 

In Howell County most voter information came via the mail in the form of letters and newspapers, or word of mouth. Mail was running since the beginning of Howell County and by 1860 was delivered to the various post offices on a bi-weekly basis, and a majority of letters I've read contained political information. 

 

It is surprising that elections were so well attended here considering the distance that had to be walked or driven to on horseback would take a day or more. The ballot was not secret and very public. A lot of adult beverages were consumed at the polls

 

The 1860 presidential election held November 6, 1860, was one of the most contentious in United States History. In a referendum, Howell County voted to preserve the Union, but also voted a majority for presidential candidate John Bell, leader of the Constitutional Party, also known as the Know-Nothings. They sought to avoid secession by allowing slavery in all states. Missouri was already a slave state and would remain so during the Civil War.

 

Bell received 176 Howell County votes. Next, Stephen A. Douglas, leader of the Democratic Party, a states-rights candidate advocating each states right to decide the slavery issue, collected 136 votes. John C. Breckenridge, of the Southern Democratic Party, a southern leaning pro-slavery candidate, received 91 votes. Abraham Lincoln on the Republican Ticket ran on a platform of preservation of the Union and received zero votes in Howell County.

 

William Monks wrote of this election and the climate in Howell County during and after the election:

 

"Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. Soon after the election, they began to discuss the question of seceding from the Government. The author (William Monks) again took the field in opposition to secession, and delivered a number of speeches."

 

"In a short time the people that had been the closest of friends and trusted a neighbor with the most sacred thing they possessed became bitter enemies and arrayed themselves against one another and as the discussion of the great question of war continued to grow more bitter, the people appeared to align themselves for and against secession.  The people soon grew so bitter that they often talked of fighting each other."

 

And fight each other they did, with hangings, shootings, burning and looting. Union men were ordered disarmed by our former Circuit Judge James McBride and all civil process ended. The unimaginable violence by both sides depopulated Howell County and destroyed the majority of farms, homes and towns. There was no election held in Howell County in 1864, except for voting by some Union troops. Prior to this election William Monks was part of a delegation in September 1863 that met with Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C. to try to get more military support for Unionists struggling to live in Howell County. Lincoln's response was for these fellows to figure it out on their own.

 

If slavery was not the issue, and a general desire to retain the Union was present; a resentment of big government and opposition to any coercion of Missouri and southern states by the north was strong. When push came to shove a large portion of Missourians in this part of the state were ready to defend the sovereignty of the state from invasion by either side.  With a large portion of the county population being of Scots-Irish descent and primarily of southern heritage and culture, the distrust of the north was powerful.  Every settler was armed and not afraid to jump into a fight.  Many had fighting experience from or family members that participated in the War of 1812, Black Hawk War of 1832, Seminole War of 1837, Morman War of 1838 or Mexican War of 1846 – 1848.  Once extremists on both sides began to clash the general population followed and the country became inflamed.  Starting with many of its men leaving for the Battle of Wilson’s Creek near Springfield in August 1861, Howell County was on the pathway leading to a full-fledged Civil War and miserable guerilla conflict.

 

Following the Civil War Howell County's political landscape flipped. Former Confederates were not allowed to vote until 1871, so the vote was overwhelmingly Republican. Union soldiers were excused from property taxes during the war, but Confederates were expected to pay up for the five years they missed. These circumstances disenfranchised most of Howell County's population and the county government was filled with Republicans. The years 1867 and 1868 were marked by political violence just over the border in Arkansas. It also denoted a deep rift in the Republican Party when William Monks' Union ally Ben Alsup ran against his old friend and took Monks' seat in the Missouri House. 

 

Following the repeal of the Drake Constitution a new Missouri Constitution reinstated these men and many Republicans were swept from office by Democratic candidates. William Monks was soundly defeated in his own county running for Circuit Judge by John R. Woodside. 

 

The Republicans eventually returned to power and by the 1880s were again in control of the county court. The early 1900s were characterized by public fights in the newspapers, often driven by competition for patronage jobs, like the West Plains Postmaster. Lucrative printing business was given to the newspaper affiliated with the party in power. For several years two West Plains newspaper editors traded the postmaster position back and forth while trading insults in their papers. For example, Republican West Plains Journal editor Lewis Luster wrote of competing editor Will Zorn,

"According to the Gazette's political classification, a Republican official who presents himself for a second term is a 'pie-biter' and a 'ringster.' But similar aspirations on the part of a Democratic office-holder are effusively acknowledged by that paper as a very proper ambition, and it even goes so far as to assure the aspirant that he 'will have no opposition for the nomination in his own party."

 

As late as 1935 the pie-biter term was still in circulation, this time in the name of editor-former postmaster Arch Hollenbeck's baseball team he called "The Federal Pie-Biters."

 

"The Federal Pie-Biters defeated the Court House Ring in a highly interesting game of baseball at Athletic Park. Captain Hollenbeck made good use of his military training when he skillfully lined up the Pie-Biters in battle array. John Krause who wants to run for a county office next year, but doesn't know which one looks good to him was in the box and he tossed curves across the plate with the same skill that he throws letters and papers in the open mail pouches." Pie-biter is a derogatory slang term to describe a greedy person or political favor or patronage, and was Will Zorn's go to when describing Republicans, and disappears from local papers after his death.

 

Howell County's demographic is changing and if anything is certain in politics, it's change. Oh, and contention is always a certainty. Get out and vote, it is a lot easier than it was in 1860.