One such sign of settlement was the farmstead of Josiah Danforth, the location of Cannon’s encampment on December 15, 1837. Danforth immigrated to Greene County shortly after 1832 and amassed over 1300 acres prior to his death in 1849. At the time of the Cannon encampment, Danforth had yet to start building the fine brick home that now graces the property (c. 1844). However, the Danforth homestead likely had several log buildings and related farm structures and may have been the center of a small settlement community. Danforth’s farm was the location of a log school in 1836, and the family helped establish the New Providence (a.k.a. Danforth) Church in September of the following year. The site also likely had other amenities, including blacksmithing facilities as Cannon stopped there early in the day (around 1:30 p.m.) and noted in his journal that “waggoners [were] having horses shod until late at night.” Despite the relative prosperity of the site and support of friends and neighbors, Danforth did not win his bid to have his farm designated the Greene County seat in 1836.
After Danforth’s homestead, the next stop was Springfield, then and now the gateway of Southwestern Missouri. By 1837, Springfield was moving past frontier outpost and taking on the aspects of a real town. Centered on a public square laid out by town founder John Campbell in 1833, and officially surveyed and platted in 1836, the town boasted as of 1834: a mile-round racetrack, a post office, dry good, and grocery stores, at least two blacksmiths, and a furniture maker. By 1835, the town was the site of a district land office and additional population and buildings.135 Cannon and later parties would have also passed by the newly completed (1837) Greene County courthouse. No illustrations of the building exist, but it was said to be a modest brick building with hipped roof that was stuccoed on the outside and scored to imitate stone.
Cannon’s party did not linger in Springfield instead moving west of the community to camp at “Mr.Clicks” for the evening of December 16. Land patent records indicate that a Levi Click owned over150 acres of land just west of Springfield. Click’s property was on the Springfield to Fayetteville Road and the road through his property saw some investment of county funds in 1837. That year, the county commissioners appropriated indicted by the State of Missouri in 1839 for not keeping the road in good repair.
Despite the camp’s proximity to Springfield, Cannon did not mention problems with alcohol ordrunkenness experienced at previous camps near larger settlements. Such activities may have beensuppressed by the relative nearness to the end of the journey or by the cold and illness prevailing in the camp. Cannon mentioned snowfall while camped at Clicks and the death and burial of two members of the detachment: Elege’s wife and Charles Timberlake’s son. He also made note of the extremely cold temperatures, prevailing sickness and fatigue experienced by the detachment. In contrast, the Taylor detachment had some disturbances due to alcohol with Morrow writing in his March 13, 1839 entry, “Sprin[g]field is a rich country. Many Indians got drunk.”
The cold and sickness overtook the Cannon detachment at their next camping spot on the property of Mr. Dyes. William Dye owned property near the former site of Delaware Town (mentioned above) at the conjunction of Wilson’s Creek and the James Fork River.145 Dye also owned a share of Wilson’s trading post with Widow Elizabeth Wilson. Elizabeth’s husband James had come to the region with the Delaware in the 1820s and established a trading post at Delaware Town. James died in 1834 and was buried on the property in a coffin constructed by William Dye. It is unknown if Cannon’s party camped on Dye’s farm or at the trading post, or if the two were so close as to make little difference. Later detachments settled at or near the trading post referred to by Dr. Morrow as “Bell’s Tavern.” Sickness required that Cannon remain on the Dye property for two days, and Dr. Townsend was dispatched back to Springfield for additional medicine. Dreadful Waters, of the Cannon detachment, died and is buried on the Dye property, likely near James Wilson in the Wilson Cemetery. Archeological field schools of the on the Wilson/Delaware Town property, conducted by the Center for Archaeological Research, have identified the remains of Bells Tavern and the location of the Wilson Cemetery. Though artifacts found at the sites cannot be directly linked to the Cherokee, remains of the 1820s through 1840s occupation provide important context for the Cherokee Removal period.
Cannon’s perfunctory account of camps and the experience along the route provide few clues into road condition or the landscape of southwest Missouri. The Fayetteville Road traveled by Cannon and later Cherokee detachments, however, was a significant settlement route and played a role in key battles of the Civil War including the Battle of Pea Ridge (Arkansas, March 7-8, 1862) and the Battle of Wilson’s Creek (Greene and Christian Counties, Missouri, August 10, 1861). Civil War era accounts describe the road and surrounding terrain and indicate a relatively narrow passage through hilly, well watered, terrain. An account of the Battle of Wilson’s Creek describes, to building bridges and other road improvements over Click’s and Nowlin’s creek branches. These funded “improvements” may have been dubious even at the time. As county historian R.I. Holcombe noted in 1883, “What kind of bridges, two in number, could be built for $100, besides allowing a sum for “other improvements” may be conjectured but cannot here be described.” In any case, later the same year the county appropriated another $100 for the Click’s branch bridge. County investment may have done little to improve road conditions as Click was indicted by the State of Missouri in 1839 for not keeping the road in good repair.
For much of the route from Springfield to the Arkansas border, the Fayetteville Road follows creek and river valleys as described above. Still part of the Ozark Mountains, these valleys offered the path of least resistance for game, Native Americans and early settlers. And whether it was the Delaware along the James or white settlers along the Wilson, Crane or Flat Creek, much of the earliest development occurred along these valleys and the subsequent road. The memories of Henry McCary, republished in a Barry County history provides settlement links along what would become the Fayetteville road—many of which were still in place when the Cherokee detachments traveled the area. McCary wrote,
When I first came to this place [in c. 1830] there were but few houses from Springfield toWashburn Prairie [in southern Barry County]; one on Wilson’s Creek ten or twelve miles . . .south of Springfield. One twelve or thirteen miles of that, and one other, by John Lock, on FlatCreek, and another by C. J. Corder, on said creek, and one by Col. Littleberry Mason, near whereCassville now stands, on Flat Creek.
The “house” on Wilson’s Creek was likely James Wilson’s or William Dyes, and the one twelve orthirteen miles south of that may have been the home of the Mr. Allen. Allen’s homestead is mentioned by Cannon as an encampment on December 20, 1837.150 Morrow wrote that the Taylor detachment encamped at Allen’s on March 15, 1839.151 A John Allen entered land claims for property on Crane Creek near the present town of Crane (Stone County) in the 1830s and received land patents in 1848, 1852 and 1853. A portion of the Allen property appears to be part of the Wire Road Conservation Area, managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation, just north of Crane. Morrow was not impressed by Allen or his property. To get there, the detachment traveled “through a desert,” and once he arrived Morrow received “a mean dinner.”
So disgusted was he with Allen that Morrow took himself further along the route to Igou’s homestead. “Igou’s” may have been Lewis Igo who owned property nearby.
