Reaka

REAKA’S “HISTORY’S MYSTERIES!”

Historical research is always a continuing process! The purpose of this website page is to
raise questions about local history that needs additional research!

It is my belief that historical mysteries can be solved by many resources provided by the
local community. When generations pass on, family history is either passed on or
discarded. Unfortunately, much is discarded by younger family members who have no
current interest in such information.

Answers to “history’s mysteries,” may lie in a family’s genealogy. Therefore, please don't
throw away family records, photographs, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, etc.—look
carefully and examine them before sending them to the paper shredder or the trash pickup
service. Or give me a call…..?

Phil Reaka
Paola, KS

History’s Mysteries

Number 1

Baptiste Peoria who is noted as one of the founders of Paola has had much history

written about him.

However, while I was helping to put together the new displays at our Miami County

history at the MCHS museum, I ran on to two interesting notes about this man.

If these are true, then these tidbits become part of his and our history:

• Baptiste may have been a black man rather than an Indian?

• He may have also “owned” a slave woman while living in Miami County?

Get to researching fellow historians! Contact the MCHS in Paola if you discover any

history relating to these mysteries!

Phil Reaka

History’s Mysteries

Number 2

The town of Paola was referred to by many names. Depending upon whether you were

a Catholic Missionary (maybe from Italy?) or a Native American Indian, a settler, a

surveyor, a Union or Confederate army member, the U. S. Post Office, or a typesetter for

in reference to the community that we now call Paola.

Here is a list that I have compiled from my research efforts:

Battiesville, Osage River Indian Agency, Baptiste Peoria’s Trading Post, Wea Village,

Bulltown, Peoria Village, Paoli,* and Paola.*

Get to researching fellow historians! Contact the MCHS in Paola if you discover any new

names from old maps, books, family history, etc. relating to these mysteries! You then

will be shedding more light on our local history!!

Phil Reaka

*Note: Paoli and Paola are both Italian names!

History’s Mysteries

Number

Another mystery during the Civil War is the building of a fort on Tower Street (redoubt

it was referred to by the military).

The first evidence of such a structure came from a military inspector’s report by the name

of Sutton in 1865 and a drawing (see it in the history book that the MCHS published in

2005 on page 36).

The black military map by Col. Drake indicates the location as being on Tower Street in

1864—see the map on display at the museum.

Further research indicates the building of the “fort” took place in late summer of 1864. A

preparation effort to deal with the pending invasion of Kansas by General Sterling Price,

who was in Missouri at that time, was taking place.

The mystery is: where is there a picture of it? Or other records of its existence? Please

contact the MCHS at 913-294-4940 or at museum@mchgm.org or

info@thinkmiamicountyhistory.com if you discover anything?

Get to researching! Contact the MCHS in Paola if you discover any new information

relating to these mysteries! You then will be shedding more light on our local history!!

Phil Reaka

G o to next Page

History’s Mysteries Number 4

There was a Union military hospital located in

Paola during the Civil War. The Col. Sam A.

Drake military map found in the museum shows

that a hospital was located about eight

blocks

east of the square.

One reference below stated that it was a small

pox hospital.

Does anyone have any additional information

concerning the location of this hospital?

Here

are the three references from my recent

research concerning this military facility:

Phil Reaka

History’s Mysteries

Number

Here is a mystery that is really not a mystery but a little known local fact regarding the

Civil War.

When the Civil War broke out, Ft. Scott was a dilapidated military outpost along the old

military road.

In the very beginning, the establishment of the fort was a link in the development of a

system of defense for the Western border. The route of the Western military road,

approved by congress in 1836, was the principal factor in the location of Fort Scott.

Its main function was to deal with the Native American Indians that were in the territory--

"to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and to preserve peace on the

frontiers."

“The old frontier military post of Fort Scott had been abandoned for over eight years and

a town of the same name had grown in its place. With the advent of war, the U.S. Army

returned and established a military headquarters in the town of Fort Scott. As early as

August of 1861, the Union Army occupied its former frontier hospital, the adjacent

barracks and stables, and began construction on new warehouses, powder magazines,

wells, a blacksmith shop, an icehouse, a military prison, and over 40 miles of fortifications

around Fort Scott. As the site of a quartermaster supply depot and countless regimental

camps, Fort Scott would become the largest and strongest Union point south of Fort

Leavenworth.”

“During the four years of war, soldiers from Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, and

Colorado passed through the streets of town. Some regiments camped only temporarily

at Fort Scott on their way to campaigns in Missouri, Arkansas and the Indian Territory,

while others were permanently stationed here to protect the area. Fort Scott also was

home to several of its own regiments including the 2nd Kansas Light Artillery, the 6th Ks.

Vol. Cavalry, and the 1st Ks. Colored Vol. Infantry. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Indian Home

Guards, recruited primarily from displaced Indian refugees, could even be found among

this sea of faces in town.”

After the Civil War ended in April of 1865, the U.S. Army remained at Fort Scott through

the summer. By October, the Army had sold their buildings and military surplus at public

auction, the hospital was closing down, and the last troops were marching home.

Over one hundred years later Ft. Scott became dilapidated again. From 1873 to 1965,

the buildings of the fort were left unattended, and slowly deteriorated.

It was again rebuilt but not for military purposes but as a National Historic site ran by the

National Park Services.

History’s Mysteries

Number

I chose the Wea Creek Baptist Mission east of Paola as my next “History Mystery.”

While much is already known about this Indian Mission in Miami (then Lykins) County,

there is apparently no photo of the most well-known name connected to this historic

site: David Lykins.

Here is a brief historical report of the mission site:

Wea Creek Indian Mission

A. This mission was established to serve the Indians who were promised a

permanent home in Indian Territory by President Thomas Jefferson. The Miami, Wea,

Piankeshaw, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Potawatomie, and Shawnee tribes were resettled partly

to present day Miami County, Kansas.

B. Between 1821 and 1856, the Presbyterian Church established nine missions in

the

Missouri-Kansas area. One of these missions was established near Wea Creek. The

mission society of the Presbyterian Church contracted to build a log house, one and a

half stories tall. The Rev. and Mrs. Wells Bushnell and Rev. and Mrs. Joseph Kerr and

teacher Miss Nancy Henderson moved into the partially completed mission building on

April 17, 1834. By late June the mission house for school and church services had been

built, along with a smoke house, com crib, spring house and other little conveniences.

C. The buildings of the Wea Mission were taken over in 1838 by the Osage (Marais

des Cygnes) River sub-agency of the Department of Indian Affairs. During the summer of

1839, small pox vaccinations were given at the agency location to 479 Indians from area

tribes. In 1843, the sub-agency was moved to a new location in eastern Kansas and the

Wea Mission was again vacated.

D. In March of 1843 the Indian Mission Association of the Southern Baptist

Convention appointed Rev. and Mrs. David Lykins as missionaries to the Wea Indians.

David Lykins, his wife Abigail Ann Lykins and Miss Sara Ann Osgood established the Wea

Baptist Mission. They began as assistants. The school enrolled as many as 42 children at

one time, serving the Wea, Piankeshaw, Kaskaskia and Peoria Indians. The mission,

strongly desired by the Indians, received substantial financial and moral support from

Baptiste Peoria. Except for a period of eight months, they operated the mission from

December 1844 through 1860.

E. As a result of being adopted by the Confederated Indian Tribe and because of the

Federal treaty signed in 1854, David Lykins was given 800 acres of land by the United

States Government. The original patent presented by President James Buchanan

included the Wea Mission site. The Miami County Register of Deeds indicates that David

Lykins sold or conveyed the Mission Site property to Baptiste Peoria on June 3, 1854.

F. Oil was first found in a well in Kansas about 200 yards from of the Wea Mission

site. In 1860, three oil wells were dug in the Paola vicinity. David Lykins joined Dr. G.W.

Brown, editor of the Lawrence Herald of Freedom in obtaining leases on some 30,000

acres for exploration. The outbreak of the Civil War broke up the drilling operation. David

Lykins was arrested in June of 1861 and upon being released fled to Colorado Territory.

He died August 13, 1864 and is buried in Denver, Colorado.

Rev. /Dr. David Lykins

A. In March of 1843 the Indian Mission Association of the Southern Baptist

Convention appointed Rev. and Mrs. David Lykins as missionaries (first as assistants) to

the Wea Indians.

B. Lykins, his wife Abigail Ann Lykins and Miss Sara Ann Osgood established the Wea

Baptist Mission. The school enrolled as many as 42 children at one time, serving the

Wea, Piankeshaw, Kaskaskia and Peoria Indians.

C. As a result of being adopted by the Confederated Indian Tribe and because of the

Federal treaty signed in 1854, David Lykins was given 800 acres of land by the United

States Government.

D. I joined Dr. G.W. Brown, editor of the Lawrence Herald of Freedom in obtaining

leases on some 30,000 acres for exploration & we found oil close to my mission.

Dr. Woodson D. Hoover

A. My partner, Rev. Dr. David Lykins and I practiced medicine at his old mission site

east of Paola. The county was originally named for him (Lykins) before being changed to

Miami in 1861.

B. Dr. Coffey, Dr. Lykins, and I ran an ad in the 1857 edition of the Osawatomie

Herald advertising our medical business to the area.

C. David Lykins was better known than I, but he was asked to leave the area

because of his stand on the slavery issue! I wonder how he liked Colorado.

Now the mystery! We need more local history on David Lykins. He supported slavery

and was later asked to leave the area after the territory changed its political views to a

free-state position. He left for Colorado then. A stone is located in our local cemetery

but he is not buried there. It is only a “commemorative stone!”

•

Does anyone have a photo of Dr. Lykins?

•

A cemetery did exist at the mission site. Does anyone have a photo and/or

additional information on the cemetery that has mysteriously disappeared along with

any

of the grave stones?

If you do have more information to add to this important local history, please contact the

MCHS museum at Paola.

Phil Reaka

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