THE REMINISCENCES OF CARL SCHURZ
in the Civil War had not been geographically divided. The Civil War had therefore had the character of a neighborhood war—not only State against State, or district against district, but house against house. Guerrilla warfare continued to some extent in the interior of Missouri after the Civil War on a great scale had ceased. In fact, when, during the presidential campaign of 1868, I had to travel in a carriage through a somewhat lonesome region from Springfield in Southwest Missouri to Sedalia—a region in which not a few ruins of burned houses told the story of the neighborhood war that had raged there—I was warned by anxious friends that my journey might be somewhat unsafe and that it would be wise for myself and my companion to travel with revolvers on our laps, ready for action, a precaution which, however, proved unnecessary. The bitter animosities of the civil conflict survived in Missouri much longer than in the Northern States, and any favor shown to “the traitor” Andrew Johnson appeared to the great mass of Missouri Republicans simply unpardonable.
The immediate consequence of Mr. Henderson's course was that his colleague in the Senate, Mr. Charles D. Drake, obtained the directing influence in the party which for the moment seemed to be undisputed. Senator Drake was an able lawyer and an unquestionably honest man, but narrow-minded, dogmatic and intolerant to a degree. He aspired to be the Republican “boss” of the State—not, indeed, as if he had intended to organize a machine for the purpose of enriching himself or his henchmen. Corrupt schemes were absolutely foreign to his mind. He merely wished to be the recognized authority dictating the policies of his party and controlling the Federal offices in Missouri. This ambition overruled with him all others. His appearance was not imposing, but when you approached him, he made you feel that you had to do with a
[ 293 ]
