County: Montgomery County
Location of courthouse: E. 3rd St. (MO-161) & N. Wentz St., Montgomery City
Location of county: East-Central in state, two counties due west of St. Louis City:
Crossroads of: I-70, US-40 & MO-161, MO-19
Organized: Dec. 14, 1818
Named after: Gen. Richard Montgomery of the Revolution
County seat: Montgomery City
Elevation (highest): 823 ft (251 m)
Population: 11,534 (2018)
The Person:
Major General Richard Montgomery
" ... He trained as a British soldier and fought in the French and Indian War before becoming a “rebel” and an officer in the Continental Army. He died in the first charge of one of the first battles of the Revolutionary War, but his legacy as a war hero lives on.
"Born in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland, on 2 December 1738, Montgomery was educated at St. Andrews and Trinity College before enlisting in the British Royal Army in 1756. During the French and Indian War, he served with his regiment at the siege of Louisbourg and in the Lake Champlain campaign of 1759. After the fall of Montreal, Montgomery was transferred to the Caribbean, where he oversaw the capture of Martinique and Havana. Shortly after he was promoted to captain in May 1762, the Treaty of Paris ending the war was signed, and Montgomery was sent home to England two years later.
"Montgomery became frustrated by his lack of promotion in the British Army, and by the Royal government’s antagonistic relationship with the colonies. He attempted to purchase a major’s commission, but this was thwarted with the ascension of Prime Minister Frederick, Lord North, to power. Disgusted, Montgomery sold his commission in April 1772 and purchased a farm near Kings Bridge, a town thirteen miles north of New York City. He isolated himself from colonial politics and pressures and married Janet Livingston, daughter of the wealthy Judge Robert R. Livingston. But as tensions grew between the colonies and Britain, Montgomery joined the rallies against the crown. Although he did not vie for the position, on 16 May 1775 he was elected to represent Dutchess County in the New York Provincial Congress, largely because of his procolonial views and because his fellow New Yorkers viewed him as a man of great integrity.
"Much to his chagrin, he was appointed a brigadier general in the Continental Army on 22 June 1775. Despite his reluctance to leave his new wife and farm, Montgomery wrote, “the will of an oppressed people…must be respected.” He was designated second in command of the American forces New York, and on 26 June, he and his superior, MG Philip Schuyler, were given orders to invade Canada. At their headquarters at Fort Ticonderoga, he labeled his troops as the “sweepings” of society and the officers as “vulgar.” He shaped these misfits into an effective army as they advanced down Lake Champlain to lay siege to several Canadian towns.
"Schuyler was forced to step down due to poor health on 16 September, leaving Montgomery in command. Doubling his efforts, Montgomery captured Fort Chambly and St. John’s on 19 October and Montreal on 11 November. He then advanced south to seize Quebec City. On 2 December, his 37th birthday, he linked up with BG Benedict Arnold, and their combined forces besieged the city while attempting to find a way to breach the town’s fortifications.
"Montgomery created his battle plans based on the advice of friendly Canadians who told him that if he were to charge the lower town, the merchant families would force Sir Guy Carleton, the British commander in Quebec, to surrender rather than lose their supplies. With many of the American troops’ enlistments about to end on 1 January 1776, Montgomery and Arnold launched a courageous attack at 0400 on 31 December in the middle of a snowstorm. Montgomery had many factors in his favor including a full moon, a drunken British Army celebrating the New Year, and the snow. During the opening charge, Montgomery led from the front, yelling to his men, “Push on brave boys, Quebec is ours!” The attack, however, was doomed to failure, and Montgomery was killed by a point-blank blast of grapeshot from a hidden British position, without ever knowing that he had been promoted to major general on 9 December. In addition, Arnold was badly wounded in the leg, and many more of the attacking troops were either killed or taken prisoner.
"The remaining forces, confused and blinded by the snow, retreated from the city. Aaron Burr, the future Vice President, who fought at Montgomery’s side during the assault, attempted to pull the general’s body from the snow, but the large snow drifts made this nearly impossible, and Burr abandoned Montgomery’s body in Quebec. At daybreak, the British found Montgomery’s body and subsequently buried him with full military honors.
"In 1776, Congress erected a marble memorial to Montgomery in the graveyard of St. Paul’s Cathedral in New York City. In 1818, the Canadian government relinquished his remains and he was buried under the memorial. While his service in the Continental Army was brief, Montgomery’s leadership skills and battle experience were vital to the revolutionary cause." ~ Army History [link below]
The Place:
"Montgomery County is bounded on the north by the counties of Audrain and Pike, east by Lincoln and Warren, south by Warren and the Missouri River (which separates it from Gasconade) and west by Callaway and Audrain ...
"At least the greater portion of Montgomery County was well known to the first Europeans that ventured up the Missouri. In the year 1705 the French ascended the Missouri as high as the mouth of the Kansas River (now Kansas City) ...
"It is claimed that Daniel M. Boone, son of Daniel Boone, was the first American bona fide and actual settler in Missouri. He came to the St. Charles country in 1794, and the next year his father came with his family ... It must be borne in mind that at this time all of this country belonged to Spain, and the only banner of authority that waved over the land was the flag of Castile.
"In 1803 the country passed into the hands and under the control of the United States, having for three years previously been under French denomination ...
"The settlements of Laney Bowlin and at the Big Spring of John Snethen on Dry Fork in 1807-08 were probably the first made in the interior of the county ...
"In the years 1808-09-10-11 there was some immigration to "the Missouri country," as it was called, and Montgomery got her share of the pioneers, who were chiefly from Kentucky ... [The early settlers frequently were attacked by the Indians, which culminated in the death of Capt. James Callaway, for whom Callaway County is named.] Two days after Capt. Callaway was killed, on March 9, 1815, a treaty was concluded with the Indians, by which the following limits were resigned to the whites: "Beginning at the mouth of the Kaw (Kansas) River, thence running north 140 miles, thence east to the waters of Au-ha-ha (Salt River), which empties into the Mississippi River, thence to a point opposite the mouth of the Gasconade River with its meanders, to the place of beginning." But some of the Indians cared nothing for -- or let us hope they had heard nothing of -- the treaty, and it was more than two months after it had been ratified and proclaimed when the Rawley family were killed, and murders took place in Lincoln County ...
"The Americans had one good friend among the Sac Indians. This was the old Chief, Quashquama. He opposed the War of 1812 against the Missouri Settlers and took no part in it. He was much grieved when his nation yielded to the persuasions of the British emissaries and joined England against the United States ... After the Black Hawk Wars in 1832, the Sac Indians -- or a great portion of them -- were moved to Kansas ...
"The Territorial Legislature of Missouri commenced a session at St. Louis in December, 1818. During this session the counties of Jefferson, Franklin, Wayne, Lincoln, Madison, Pike, Cooper and Montgomery were organized. Also three counties in the southern part of Arkansas, then attached to Missouri. Montgomery County was organized December 19, 1818. It was formed from St. Charles and included not only the present territory of the county, but that now included in Warren and a portion of Audrain as well ...
"The county was named for Gen. Richard Montgomery, who fell at Quebec during the Revolution. -- Or as Rice says, for Montgomery County, Kentucky, from whence many of the settlers had come. At the time of its organization the population of the county was 1,000.
"The first election in the county was held at Big Spring, at the house of Jacob Groom ... The voting place in the eastern part of the county was at Marthasville.
"Prior to its organization the territory of Montgomery County belonged to St. Charles.
"The county seat was located at a new town called Pinckney, but the first courts (county and circuit) were held in a log cabin three miles east of Pinckney, in the front yard of Benjamin Sharp, the first clerk of those counties ...
"The first judges of the county court were Isaac Clark, Moses Summers and John Wyatt ...
"On the 16th of April, 1824, a Baptist Church called Freedom, was organized at the house of John Snethen, on Dry Fork of Loutre, by Revs. William Coats and Felix Brown ...
"About 1838 another church building was erected on South Bear Creek, also called Freedom, but owing to its location near some stagnant water, it subsequently received the facetious appellation of "Frog Pond." The association afterward was removed to Jonesburg, and retained the name Freedom.
"In 1826 or 1827 the county seat of Montgomery County was removed from Pinckney to a new site near the center of the county. Pinckney was down the river, and very inconvenient for the people who lived in the upper portion of the county.
"The new capital of the county was laid out on the Boone's Lick road a short distance south of where New Florence now stands, and west of High Hill. Every vestige of the town has long since disappeared.
"About the First of September, 1832, Washington Irving, one of the most distinguished and graceful of American writers visited Montgomery County on his way to the far West. He stopped in Lewiston a short time, and at Loutre Lick, he left the stage and remained one day at the lick, and in wandering among the picturesque hills in the vicinity. To Maj. Van Bibber he said, "When I get rich I'm coming to this place and build a nice residence here."
"January 5, 1833, the Legislature passed an act organizing Warren County, taking off the eastern side of the county, and taking out a large part from the southeastern portion. It is said that this was done for the benefit of Jonathan Ramsey, who lived on the aforesaid "part" and wished to remain in Warren County.
"The next year (1834) after the organization of Warren County, the county seat was removed to Danville, and in a short time quite a thriving village sprang into existence. (See Danville.) It is said that Loutre Creek came near being made the county seat instead of Danville. Among the arguments in favor of the Lick was that a slack-water navigation could be established on the Loutre, so that steamboats might ascend the Missouri affording steamboat navigation between the new capital and St. Louis ...
"Montgomery county is bounded on the south by the Missouri River which separates it from Gasconade and Franklin Counties; on the east by Warren and Lincoln Counties, on the north by Audrain County, and on the west by Callaway County ...
"As Montgomery County had been a county while Missouri was a territory she was one of the original counties when it became a State." ~ History of Montgomery County, 1885, Goodspeed, pp. 531, 534, 537, 541, 547-551, 555, 557-559, 582-585