Tatum-SandBox

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Contents 1 Biography 1.1 John Brown and the Springdale Quakers 1.2 Iowa Quakers New Indian Policy 2 Sources

Biography

John Brown and the Springdale Quakers

It was on the path through Springdale that John Brown led formerly enslaved freedom seekers on five of his journeys through the state. Brown found the Quakers of Springdale Township to be particularly welcoming. Lawrie Tatum's brother-in-law, John Hunter Painter, who was married to Edith Dean the eldest sister of Tatum's wife, lived about a quarter of a mile down the road west of Tatum. ^[1] During visits to Springdale in 1857 and 1858 John Brown stayed at Painter's house and Painter became one of Brown's closest confidants.^[2]

Another of Brown's closest confidants was Dr. Henry Gill living about a half a mile east of Tatum. Gill's neighbor to the east was William Maxson.^[3] In December of 1857 Brown returned to Springdale with ten members of his provisional army from Kansas. Four Springdale residents joined the band: George Gill (Dr. Henry Gill's brother),^[4] Edwin and Barclay Coppoc and Stewart Taylor.^[5] The Maxson house became the small troop's headquarters. The small army began training there--military study and drill consisting in part with practicing with wooden swords, gymnastics, and running and jumping.^[6] The men lived with various families nearby.^[7]

However, after a couple of weeks in Springdale, Brown headed East to raise money. His men remained in Springdale through the winter until Brown returned at the end of April at which point they moved on to Canada.^[8] Tatum was more wary of Brown's propensity for violence than his brother-in-law and his neighbors. His brother-in-law seemed not to be concerned at all. He later packed up 196 guns (about 98 Sharps rifles and 98 pistols) in boxes he labeled as farm tools and shipped them to Kennedy's farm in Maryland. It was from there that the raid on Harpers Ferry was launched.

John Brown launched the raid on Sunday, December 16, 1859. One of the central tenets of Quakers is their commitment to non-violence. At the first meeting following the raid, the Springdale Monthly Meeting with Lawrie Tatum as its clerk (something like the president or chairman of the meeting) appointed a committee including himself and ten others to investigate the possible complicity of its members in having "improperly encouraged a war spirit."^[9] Tatum certainly was aware of his brother-in-law's complicity. However, the report on the committee's findings which would have been written by Tatum as the clerk of the meeting, indicates simply that:

...We are united in the conclusion, that any publication [in way of a defense] on the part of the mo. mee. [Monthly Meeting] is unnecessary. While we believe that our principals of peace were never dearer to most of our members than now, we feel it to be cause of deep regret that those engaged in the late deplorable outbreak at Harpers Ferry, have been entertained, & otherwise encouraged by some of our members. While brought under a deep concern we desire to establish a forgiving feeling towards those who may have been overtaken in weakness, & would tenderly admonish all to an increased watchfulness in the precepts of our Redeamer.^[10]

The committee issued neither condemnation nor harsh criticism of Painter and other Quakers who pushed the boundary of the Quaker peace testimony by supporting John Brown and his small army. In this case the Springdale meeting held together.^[11] Twenty some years later when Tatum pushed the boundary of fundamental Quaker tenets on theology or the actual lack of any such theology, Painter and the some of the others who had supported Brown not only split with Tatum, left the Springdale Meeting and left Iowa relocating to California where they found Quaker meetings more congenial to their Quaker traditions.

Iowa Quakers New Indian Policy

In 1865 the Iowa Quaker Yearly Meeting began thinking about what they might do for the Indians. By 1867 the U.S. Army led by William T. Sherman had realized that their existing policy with focus on military solutions was not working and recommended a peaceful policy as a better approach. In 1867 Lawrie Tatum serving as the clerk of the Yearly Meeting raised the matter again and others in attendance passed on the concern which led to a conference in Baltimore which led eventually in 1869 to a meeting with President elect U.S. Grant who was greatly impressed with their ideas.^[12] In April of 1869 Tatum was nominated and confirmed by the Senate as Indian Agents for the Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache and Camanche Agency at Fort Sill Oklahoma.

Sources

1. ↑ See the plat map of Cedar County, Springdale Township, Iowa
2. ↑ Irving B. Richman, John Brown Among the Quakers and Other Sketches (Des Moines: The Historical Department of Iowa, 1894), p. 23.
3. ↑ Maxson lived on the southwest quarter of section 32 of Iowa Township. The western half of Tatum's property was in section 36 of Gower Township just across the road from Springdale Township and the eastern half of his property was in section 31 of Iowa Township. See the township map here.
4. ↑ Moore misidentifies George Gill as Dr. Henry Gill's son. Dr. Gill did not have a son with this name. See Life and Times of Lawrie Tatum, p. 22.
5. ↑ Clarence Ray Aurner , S.J.,A Topical History of Cedar County, Iowa (Clarke Publishing Company Publication date 1910), p. 413.
6. ↑ Irving B. Richman, John Brown Among the Quakers, (Chicago: The Lakeside Press, 1894), pp. 25-26.
7. ↑ Emily S. Butler, A Woman's Recollections of John Brown's Stay in Springdale, Contributor's Department Midland Monthly (December 1898) p. 576.
8. ↑ Richman, John Brown Among the Quakers, p. 33.
9. ↑ Louis Thomas Jones, The Quakers of Iowa, (Iowa City: The State Historical Society of Iowa, 1918), p. 196.
10. ↑ Jones, The Quakers of Iowa, p. 196
11. ↑ Moore points out that Tatum as a member of the Underground Railroad was violating the law. Orthodox Quakers did not approve of violating the law. Life and Times of Lawrie Tatum, p. 31.
12. ↑ Moore, The Life and Times of Lawrie Tatum, pp. 39-42.