John William Reid (June 14, 1821 – November 22, 1881) was a lawyer, soldier, one-time slaveholder and
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
from
Missouri.
Early and family life
Born in 1821 near
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...
. Reid married twice. By his first wife he had daughter Frances Flournoy Reid (1834-_), and sons Thomas Flournoy Reid (1836-) and John H. Reid (1854-1893). By 1860 the motherless family was living with schoolteacher John C. Reid (a decade older than John W. Reid and born in Pennsylvania) and his wife. The widower subsequently married Sally Cochrane McGraw (later Bullene), with whom he had son William McGraw Reid (1866-1936).
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In the 1860 U.S. Federal Census, John W. Reid was listed as owning an enslaved 33 year old black woman.
Career
In 1840, Reid moved to Missouri, where he taught school and studied law. He was admitted to the Missouri bar and commenced practice in
Jefferson City in 1844.
A captain in the Mexican War, Reid led a company that served in Doniphan's Regiment where he participated in the
Battle of Sacramento
The Battle of the Sacramento River was a battle that took place on February 28, 1847 during the Mexican–American War. About fifteen miles north of Chihuahua, Mexico at the crossing of the river Sacramento, American forces numbering less th ...
.
During the war, he was wounded twice. He also participated in an expedition against the
Navajo
The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States.
With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
in
New Mexico.
Back in Missouri, Reid participated in raids against abolitionists in Kansas. He led 200 pro-slavery raiders in August 1856 in what became known as the
Battle of Osawatomie
The Battle of Osawatomie was an armed engagement that occurred on August 30, 1856, when 250–400 pro-slavery Border ruffians, led by John W. Reid, attacked the town of Osawatomie, Kansas, which had been settled largely by anti-slavery Free-Sta ...
, in which later-famous
John Brown John Brown most often refers to:
*John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859
John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to:
Academia
* John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...
's son Frederick was among the six free-staters killed; two pro-slavery raiders also died.
Reid led the pro-slavery forces that Governor (and later Union General)
John W. Geary
John White Geary (December 30, 1819February 8, 1873) was an American lawyer, politician, Freemason, and a Union general in the American Civil War. He was the final alcalde and first mayor of San Francisco, a governor of the Kansas Territory, and ...
ordered to disperse from
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...
in September 1856.
Jackson County voters elected Reid to the Missouri House of Representatives, and he served from 1854–1856, as well as helped revise the state's statutes. He bought land near the junction of the
Missouri and
Kansas Rivers in what became
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
in 1856, and helped organize the frontier town's Chamber of Commerce in 1857.
[
Reid was elected as a ]Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
to the Thirty-seventh Congress and served less than a year, from March 4, 1861, to December 2, 1861. He was one of only two Congressmen to vote against the pro-slavery Crittenden-Johnson Resolution after the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, and like the other, fellow Democrat and slaveholder Henry C. Burnett
Henry Cornelius Burnett (October 25, 1825 – October 1, 1866) was an American politician who served as a Confederate States senator from Kentucky from 1862 to 1865. From 1855 to 1861, Burnett served four terms in the United States House of Repr ...
of Kentucky, was expelled by the Thirty-seventh Congress on December 2, 1861, for having taken up arms against the Union, although Reid had actually resigned from the U.S. Congress on August 3, 1861. During the Civil War, Reid volunteered in the Confederate States Army as volunteer aide to former Missouri Governor and Confederate General Sterling Price, as well as served as a commissioner adjusting claims against the Confederate Government.
Pardoned after the war, Reid returned to Kansas City, and with Charles Kearney, Theodore Case and Congressman Robert Van Horn
Robert Thompson Van Horn (May 19, 1824 – January 3, 1916) was an American lawyer, the owner and publisher of '' The Kansas City Enterprise'', the 6th mayor of Kansas City, Missouri during parts of the Civil War, a member of the Missouri Genera ...
helped secure construction of the Hannibal Bridge
The First Hannibal Bridge was the first permanent rail crossing of the Missouri River and helped establish Kansas City, Missouri as a major city and rail center. The increased train traffic resulting from its construction also contributed to the ...
, the first spanning the Missouri River. When it opened in 1869, it made Kansas City a boomtown, and turned the frontier town into a city, far ahead of railroad hubs Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 37,351. It is located on the west bank of t ...
and Omaha, Nebraska.
Death and legacy
Reid died at Lees Summit, Missouri
Lee's Summit is a city located within the counties of Jackson (primarily) and Cass in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As of the 2020 census its population was 101,108, making it the sixth-largest city in bo ...
, November 22, 1881, survived by his second wife and sons, and was interred in what became the family vault at Elmwood Cemetery (Kansas City, Missouri).
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, John William
1821 births
1881 deaths
19th-century American politicians
Confederate States Army officers
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri
Expelled members of the United States House of Representatives
Democratic Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives