Atchison County Biographies
E. W. Howe's Historical Edition of the Atchison Daily Globe
These biographies were originally published in 1896 in the Atchison Daily Globe, written by the editor and publisher, E. W. Howe. In 1916 the biographies were reproduced in Sheffield Ingall's "History of Atchison County, Kansas," with a few updates such as death information.
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GENERAL D. R. ATCHISON.
David Rice Atchison, for whom Atchison was named, was born near
Lexington, Fayette county, Kentucky, August 11, 1807. The son of William
Atchison, a wealthy farmer of that county, he received all the advantages of
a liberal education. His mother's maiden name was Catherine Allen, a native
of the State of Georgia. William Atchison, the father, was a Pennsylvanian
by birth.
David R. Atchison was blessed with six children, four sons and two
daughters. In 1825 he graduated with high honor from Transylvania University, then the
leading institution of learning in the State, and since incorporated in the new University of Kentucky.
Upon receiving his degrees in the arts, Mr. Atchison immediately applied
himself to the study of law. In 1829 Mr. Atchison was admitted to practice
in his native State, and a few months after, in 1830, removed to the comparatively wild district
of Clay county, Missouri. In April of that year he received in St. Louis his license to practice in the supreme court of the State
and immediately settled in the village of Liberty, now the county seat of Clay
county. About this period, Mr. Atchison was appointed major general of
the northern division of the Missouri State militia.
General Atchison soon commanded a lucrative practice in his new home,
where he continued to reside in the discharge of the duties of his profession
until February, 1841, when his superior legal attainments, which were known
and recognized throughout the State, won for him the appointment as judge
of the district court of Platte county on its organization in February of that
year, when he moved his residence to Platte City. It appears that in that
day judges were appointed to this position by the Government, with the advice
and consent of the Senate. The office was not made elective until several
years after. In 1834 and 1838 he was elected to the Missouri legislature from
Clay county.
Upon the death of Dr. Lyon, United States senator, in 1838, Judge Atchison was appointed by Governor Reynolds to the vacancy in the Senate. It
was by many considered that this appointment was merited and he had been
recommended by Colonel Benton and other authorities of the Democratic
party; by others it was said that the governor himself was ambitious of the
senatorship and had selected Judge Atchison as a person who could be easily
beaten at the next election. The death of Governor Reynolds, however,
occurred before the meeting of the next legislature and Judge Atchison was
elected with but slight opposition. He was reelected for two more terms, the
last of which expired March 4, 1855, during the administration of Franklin
Pierce. Two years after this he moved his residence from Platte to Clinton
county. He was elected president of the Senate to succeed Judge Mangun, a
Whig senator from North Carolina.
The 4th of March, 1849, occurring on Sunday, Zachary Taylor was not
inaugurated until the following Monday. Judge Atchison thus, as presiding
officer of the Senate, became virtually President of the United States during
the term of twenty-four hours. In referring to this accidental dignity, on
being interrogated as to how he enjoyed his exalted position, the venerable
senator good humoredly replied that he could tell but little about it as, overcome with fatigue consequent to several days and nights of official labor, he
slept through nearly his whole term of service.
Judge Atchison became especially prominent in the legislature for the
organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and claims to have
originated the repeal of the Missouri Compromise bill. On his retirement
from the Senate, of which he was an honored member for the space of twelve
years, during the larger part of the time as presiding officer, he continued to
take a lively interest in the politics of the country, and was regarded as a
leader and chief adviser of the pro-slavery party in Kansas during the troubles
which preceded the admission as a State. In 1856 we find him in command
of 1,150 men at a point called Santa Fe. On the 29th of August, the same
year, a detachment from General Atchison's army attacked Osawatomie,
which was defended by about fifty men, who made a vigorous resistance but
were defeated with a loss of five wounded and seven prisoners. Five of the
assailants were killed and thirty buildings were burned. The next day a body
of Free State men marched from Lawrence to take Atchison's army. Upon
their approach the latter retired and withdrew its forces into Missouri. The
admission of Kansas as a free State soon after this occurred put an end to this
much vexed question and restored tranquility to the country.
General Atchison lived in retirement on his magnificent estate in
Clinton county until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when he left for the
South and was present at the battle of Lexington. Governor Jackson secured
him a commission as brigadier general at the commencement of the war. This
General Atchison declined, as his residence was in Clinton county, outside
the limits of the division. He, however, remained with the army and assisted
in its organization. He joined temporarily for the purpose of making up the
company under Ephraim Kelley's command from St. Joseph and remained
with the army until after the battle of Elkhorn.
At the close of the war. General Atchison returned to his home in Clinton
county, where he continued to reside in almost unbroken retirement on his
1,700-acre farm in a neat cottage erected on the site of his spacious brick mansion, which was accidentally destroyed by fire February 2, 1870. He never
married, and died at his home in Clinton county, January 26, 1886.
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