Who Tried to Kill John Brown’s Family on the Overland-California Trail?
The Mysterious Conspirators
For the last two years, I’ve been trying to figure out who plotted the assassination of pre-Civil War abolitionist John Brown’s refugee family on the Overland-California Trail in 1864. While preparing my latest nonfiction, Emigrant Tales of the Platte River Raids, the work intensified and, yet, time and again, I only got one answer: It was “The Missourians.”
Now, the Missourians that I keep running into come from nowhere (other than Missouri) and disappear after their last point of contact with the Browns at Camp Connor (Soda Springs, Idaho). No names or other identifying information are ever referenced in the material I’ve found. My only other clues are…
1. There are two men with them from Virginia who do not support the intended murder.
2. There is a clearly identified wagon train associated with them called the Howard Caravan.
Though I realize, when we are discussing a murder scheme, no one may readily volunteer “Them was my many-great Me-maw and Pe-paw!” But for the sake of historical integrity, will anyone ever make the connection?
The Best Supporting Evidence I Have
There was another wagon train outfit on the trails that year and this family group associates with the Missourians for at least a month, including the period of time when the plot was concocted. The Howard Caravan had at least seventeen vehicles with them and over 60 members in it — all related by blood or marriage.
At the head of the family line are Charles Murphy Howard (1794–1866) and Mary Elizabeth Howard (1798–1879). In 1864, this couple gathered almost their entire family from where they’d been living near Marshalltown, Iowa, to travel across the Plains to Northern California, in part, because Charles (now 70) was a bit of a troublemaker.
In a 1988 Ark-La-Tex Genealogical Association’s quarterly publication of The Genie, their great-grandson, Randall Lovejoy, wrote about an instance in Iowa when:
“While attending a town meeting, someone made a statement about a victory which the Confederate army had won, upon which Charles tossed his hat into the air and said, ‘Hurrah for Jeff Davis.’ The crowd surged toward him, but luckily, Henry Clay Henderson, who was a lawyer and the publisher of the Marshall County Times, soon to be called the Marshalltown Times, quickly came to his rescue, saying, ‘Any harm will have to come over my dead body’.” [1]
After this, they prepared for a rather quick departure, perhaps, on the legal advisement of the lawyer (who is also Charles’ nephew).
Somewhere along the way, the Howards met another group of travelers coming from Missouri (and Virginia). These Missourians may have anywhere from three to thirty-five vehicles in their outfit. I know that is a ridiculous range, but it’s the best I have.
The Missourians may have ferried up the Missouri River and outfitted their covered wagons in Omaha, Nebraska. It is unclear where they were originally headed.
The Browns are Leery
In mid-June, the Missourians (and possibly Howards) were camped along the North Platte River, opposite of Chimney Rock in Bayard, Nebraska. The New York Train (the Browns) had already been camped there and Salmon (28), one of John’s surviving sons, swam across the River in order to go see the famous landmark up close. Also in the New York Train were:
· Salmon’s wife Abbie (25) and their daughters Cora (4) and Minnie (1);
· John’s widow Mary Ann Day Brown (48);
· John’s daughters Annie (21), Sarah (18), and Ellen (10).
Abbie Brown wrote about their journey in an October, 1864 correspondence to one of her sister-in-laws that was published in 1916 in the Lake Placid Times. In it, she explained that, when Salmon had made the return swim, he and another gentleman that was with him, “ran into a camp of rebels…” [2]
Uh-oh.
“…as soon as [Salmon] heard their sentiments, they beat a hasty retreat without expressing their views on any subject, only making some casual inquiries about the country.” [2]
The Missourians being outspoken about their feelings towards Northerners and their part in starting the Civil War didn’t seem to bother the Howards. As we’ve seen, Charles had been known to throw out an unpopular opinion a time or two, in favor of the Confederates (although he claimed he was still against slavery). These two parties were comfortable continuing on together as travel companions.
Let the Game of “Keep Away” Begin
While the Browns sped along into Eastern Wyoming, from that point on, they made sure keep their identities hidden except to a few trusted friends who were sympathetic to their cause.
*Specific travel parties who knew who the Browns were and offered them protection were the Roe Train, the Pella Company, and the Oliver Train. Their stories and interactions are detailed in the book, Emigrant Tales of the Platte River Raids.
Despite all of the efforts to keep away from the Missourians, they all happened to reunite on July 13, during the frightful Platte River Raids. As the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Browns gathered with the Howards (plus the Missourians) for safety. In Douglas, Wyoming, they were all threatened by an aggressive war party comprising Northern Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Sioux Indians. During the event, every man had a weapon in hand when Charles’ son William attempted a peaceful resolution. William was a Methodist minister by trade and probably 1,000% better spoken than his father.
Lovejoy recounts how William approached the man he believed to be the war chief:
“William Henry called his attention to the rude behavior of his people, upon which the chief gave a low whistle. At the call, his warriors hastily arose and followed him out of camp, mounting their ponies and riding hastily away.” [1]
Shocked at the effect, Abbie Brown also recorded in her 1916 testimony:
“The Indians all fell into line … When our train moved on, the Indians moved on, too, single file and we watched them until they were out of sight. … If we had not joined that train that morning, we would not have lived to tell the tale.” [2]
That’s Where the Heroics Ended
Sometime after this tense engagement, the Confederates and Southern sympathizers who had just saved the Brown’s lives discovered their true identities. For the Missourians, at least, this became quite an opportunity for them. Rumors began circulating around their nightly camps that the “Rebels” intended to murder Salmon in the same way he murdered voters back in Kansas in 1856.
When two men from Virginia confronted Salmon about the whispers being more than just words, Salmon immediately sought to break his family free from the very large and imposing group.
After coming through South Pass, another party that was destined for Oregon turned off Sweetwater Road and the Browns saw this as their opportunity to escape. They also broke from the Howards and Missourians and fled west.
This is where things get extra interesting. The Howards and Missourians turn their wagons about (a considerable undertaking) and try to chase the Browns down.
When the Browns reach Camp Conner in Soda Springs, Idaho, they report to the 3rd California Infantry that the people coming after them are trying to kill them.
Three hours later, the Howards and Missourians arrive.
Another Dilemma Emerges
If the Howards had no knowledge of, nor interest in any of the plans the Missourians had for the Browns, why join the case?
The Howards would have/should have continued south to Fort Bridger, then crossed northern Utah on the Salt Lake Cutoff to the California Trail. At that time, the new cutoff saved folks travel time and allowed them to safely restock or rest near Salt Lake before heading right into Sacramento. By following the Missourians, the Howards would have to go up into Idaho, then get back on the California Trail at City of Rocks (this is where the Oregon and California Trails originally parted ways).
In the Howards’ defense, joining the chase would have been inconvenient (and unduly stressful) but they could still get to where they needed to get. Any way you look at it, once you take the increased speed into account, we must believe the Howards willingly abetted the Missourians.
Once everyone had gathered under the jurisdiction of the outpost commander Captain David Black, Abbie claimed:
“One of the rebels told Mr. Brown … if they could have caught us the night we left them, there would have been bloody work.” [2]
Sheesh! So now there is no doubt in my mind (or Abbie’s) that the Missourians were ready to see those former threats through. And in the account of Randall Lovejoy, he said there was another threat thrown in the mix:
“The rumor concerning John Brown’s daughters that he might find himself ‘grandpa to a secessionist grandchild’ had not helped matters.” [1]
Lovejoy doesn’t say who started that rumor, but, like he concluded, it doesn’t exactly help clear the Howard name. Capt. Black ordered both parties to be escorted in different directions for hundreds of miles as a peaceful method for ensuring no blood would be shed.
Were the Howards Accomplices or Simply “Guilty by Association?”
Like I shared at the beginning, this question has bugged me for years. And to my surprise, this past week I had the incredible opportunity to talk with a Howard family historian who might be able to shed some light on this matter.
I spoke to a 3rd great-grandson of Charles & Mary Howard who is well-versed in their stories and has traced the family line back to the House of Howard in York. There was a lot of “he beheaded so-and-so, who laid siege to such-and-such” in our conversation and after about an hour of that, I had to ask point blank: “Do you think the Howards were, in any way, part of the assassination plot against the family of John Brown?”
He admitted he needed to do a bit more digging into the matter, but landed here:
“The idea of the Methodists, and how they were nearly all ministers and stuff… I just can’t see how that would be. How can that be?! Somewhere in my notes, I have that they [the Howards] were glad to get rid of the Browns when they finally split up because there was friction between them.”
He referenced another selection from Randall Lovejoy (now identified as his cousin). Lovejoy’s essay reads:
“Prior to reaching the fort, another party consisting of a John Brown and his family, in three or four dilapidated old wagons, had been traveling with the Howards for protection. This marriage of wagon trains had not been harmonious, what with the John Brown group being Yankees and the Howards, Southern sympathizers.”
Though the information still doesn’t clear up who the Missourians are, it does make me lean more towards the guilty by association verdict for the Howards. But even this being juxtaposed with how they just saved the Browns’ lives weeks before makes me want to throw in the towel.
Fellow Genealogists — Would You Like to Join the Search for “The Missourians?”
Pick up a copy of Emigrant Tales of the Platte River Raids and follow the stories of travelers on the “North Bank Trail” (the Overland-California Trail). Numerous source records and news articles are cited or even transcribed in the appendix to help you get started.
If you find them… that’d be quite the discovery!
(More on YouTube! Watch Janelle Molony talk more on the travels of John Brown’s family with James Becker of Epic Books in Gilbert)
About the Author:
Janelle Molony, M.S.L. is an award-winning freelancer and nonfiction author from Phoenix, Arizona. She has a particular interest in women-centric stories and local history. Her writing has been featured in magazines and journals such as History Nebraska, The Michigan Historical Review, Minnesota Genealogist, Annals of Wyoming, the Tombstone Epitaph, and more.
Her latest book, Emigrant Tales of the Platte River Raids (M Press, 2023) just launched as the Number 1 Hot Release for Biographies of the American Civil War on Amazon. Her ancestors are in the Pella Company who protected the Browns for a short period of time.
See more from the author by following on Medium and on social media. More publications by Molony can be found on her official author webpage.
In-Text Citations:
1. Randall Lovejoy, “The Howard Wagon Train,” in the Ark-La-Tex Genealogical Association’s quarterly publication of The Genie Vol. 22, №4, (1988, pp 201–206).
2. Abbie C. Hinckley Brown, “Across the Plains in the Early 60’s as Told by one who Participated in the Stirring Events of That Adventurous Western Era,” in Lake Placid News (September 29, 1916, 5–7).
