The second leg of my journey today was finding the property and final resting place of Colonel William Breckinridge Brown. He was the superior officer yet younger brother of Captain George Mason Brown, the man from my previous post.
Colonel Brown was an interesting, if unknown, figure in central Missouri history. He was born in Kentucky in 1828. While he had several older siblings, only he and his older brother - George Mason - lived through the year of his birth.
Several siblings would be born afterwards, but only one - Samuel Mansfield Brown - would survive their first year of birth. Consequently, William was well acquainted with death at an early age. In 1843 an event occurred that would mark him for the remainder of his days.
In 1843 he accompanied his father, Samuel Mansfield Brown, to a political gathering and debate at a place called Russell Cave in Kentucky. His father, it turned out, was asked to silence the outspoken abolitionist- Cassius Marcellus Clay. This distant cousin of famed US Senator, Henry Clay, was an ardent opponent of slavery and an accomplished fighter. The elder Brown fired at Clay, and though he hit him in the chest, did not kill him. Clay responded by pummeling Brown and slashing him with a knife - horribly mutilating his face. William Brown, then 15 years of age, saw the whole thing. It set him against abolitionists from that point forward.
In 1844 his father, a postmaster as well as political muscle man, was killed in the explosion of the Lucy Walker steamboat on the Ohio River.
William Brown went to California, riding with John C. Fremont in California. He served as security for the return of official correspondence from the west and was apparently a witness at the court martial of Fremont.
He returned to California in 1849 as part of the gold rush, bringing with him his younger brother Samuel. They were enumerated in the 1850 census in Yolo, California. Some time in 1852, Samuel is said to have died in an avalanche. Shortly afterward, William returned east - going to Saline County, Missouri- where his brother George Mason had relocated their family shortly after 1850.
He was married in that decade and may possibly have become involved in the Missouri-Kansas Border War. In July 1861 he spoke at Cowskin Prairie of his fight against the abolitionists. He might well have been talking about being involved in tr he pre-war raids into Kansas. Other Saline County men, including future governor, Claiborne Fox Jackson, participated in these raids.
In May 1861, as citizens responded to the Military Bill passed by Governor CF Jackson, William Brown was elected Captain of a Saline County Cavalry Company. He was at Boonville on 17 June 1861 for the first battle in Missouri during the US Civil War. The night before, Governor Jackson resolved to withdraw from the position under advice from his nephew, John Sappington Marmaduke. Mant disgruntled Captains met and Captain William Brown stated he would remain to fight if he had to do it by himself. He apparently was allowed to plead the case of the junior officers and Governor Jackson relented and opted to stay and fight. The result on 17 June 1861 was a disaster for the Secessionist cause in Missouri.
Despite this, William Brown fought well at Carthage and Wilson's Creek. He was promoted to Colonel that summer and returned home on furlough some time in Mid-August where he and his brother recruited more men for Sterling Price and the Missouri State Guard.
In September, Brown had at least two companies of men under his command and combined them with another green force under the command of Major John Poindexter. The reasons for Colonel Brown to make a move on Boonville have been numerous - but ultimately he decided to attack the garrison of Home Guards there.
On 13 September 1861 numerous things went wrong. Poorly disciplined troops made a poorly coordinated attack on a fortified position. Colonel Brown was mortally wounded in a charge against the earthworks. He died, along with his brother, at Adelphi College in Boonville. His body was returned to his home north and east of present-day Slater. He was buried at Rehoboth Cemetery north of Slater. His wife lived on their property until her death in 1896.