Mase, Adam (1798-1865), Record Book, 1832 (C492)

1 folder, photocopies

INTRODUCTION

A record book of Adam Mase from Pike County, Missouri, captain of the 1st Company Pike Volunteers. The record book consists of letters, company orders, a company roster, a daily log, a provisions list, and receipts.

DONOR INFORMATION

The Adam Mase Record Book was loaned for copying to the University of Missouri by Mike Weaver, Frankford, Missouri, on 18 June 1995 (Accession No. 5530).

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Adam Mase was born in Kentucky in June 1798 and moved to Pike County, Missouri, in 1819, probably to Frankford in Peno Township; he worked in the tanning business most of his life. In the spring of 1832 Mase raised a company of men, the 1st Company Pike Volunteers, to defend Missouri's borders in the Black Hawk War, was elected captain of the company, and later promoted to colonel.

From 10 June through 18 July 1832 the volunteers were at Camp Weaver Spring(s), now St. Francisville, Clark County, Missouri, along the Missouri-Illinois border. The company had earlier been ordered to join the volunteers from Ralls County, Missouri, in forming a battalion and to elect a major. The Pike County men, refusing to recognize the election of a Ralls County man as superior officer, were sent north to Clark County, separated by sixty-five miles from the Ralls County volunteers. While at Weaver Springs, ten miles from the mouth of the Des Moines River, the 1st Company Pike Volunteers constructed a fort, named Fort Pike, that was abandoned in September 1832.

He was elected a representative for Pike County to the Missouri General Assembly in 1834, and served on Democratic Party committees in Pike County, representing Peno Township, in 1840 and 1848. He married Maxemilia (Maxamilla) Fisher (b. 1801) and together they had nine children, including: Sarah, John, Mary Ann Seaton, Elizabeth Lewellen, Jemina Freeman, William F., J. Marshall, and Emmarine Emerson. He died on 15 June 1865.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Adam Mase Record Book consists of an introductory note, letters and company orders, a company roster for "mounted rangers from Pike County Missouri who volunteered for six months", a daily log, rations issued, and receipts. It documents the activities of the 1st Company Pike Volunteers from 10 June through 18 July 1832 in Camp Weaver Spring(s), now St. Francisville, Clark County, Missouri, along the Missouri-Illinois border.

The thirteen letters and two orders, dated between 20 June and 11 July 1832, were copied into the record book by A. B. Chambers, a private in the company, assistant quartermaster, and future editor of the St. Louis Republican, as well as by Adam Mase himself. The letters and orders deal primarily with the company's daily activities, the need for reinforcements, and the number, location, and disposition of the Sac and Fox Indians. They are arranged in the order in they were copied into the book rather than in chronological order. Correspondents include: Joshua Pilcher, fur trader and Indian agent for the Sac and Fox Indians from 1819 and future Superintendent of Indians Affairs, Central Division; Major General Richard Gentry of the 3rd Division, Missouri Volunteers, after whom Gentry County, Missouri is named; Brigadier General Benjamin Means (Miens) of the 7th Battalion, 3rd Division, Missouri Volunteers; Captain Richard Matson of the Ralls County company; and Captain Rillotson. Orders given to Lieutenant John Montgomery and Ensign George Hardin, both members of the 1st Company Pike Volunteers, are also copied into the record book.

The company roster for the 1st Company Pike Volunteers is included in the record book. It dates from 10 June 1832 and lists three commissioned officers, four non-commissioned officers, four corporals, and sixty privates. The latter include John Mase, probably the eldest son of Adam Mase.

The daily log covers the period from 26 June through 18 July 1832 and chronicles the company's continuing labor on the fort, camp duties, furloughs, military missions, and the Fourth of July celebration. The last few entries relate the mustering out of the company, their march, and arrival home on 18 July. Rations distributions are listed from 11 June through 16 July. Finally, receipt of the services of teams of oxen for the building of the fort is noted.

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.

  • Black Hawk War, 1832
  • Black Hawk War, 1832--Missouri. Missouri Volunteers, 1st Company, Pike
  • Black Hawk--Sac chief
  • Camp Weaver Spring(s), Missouri
  • Chambers, A.B.
  • Fort Pike, MO
  • Gentry, Richard (1788-1837)
  • Hardin, George
  • Harrison, James (1803-1870)
  • Indians, Fox
  • Indians, Sac
  • Mase family
  • Mase, Adam (1798-1865)
  • Matson, Richard ( -1839)
  • Means, Benjamin
  • Missouri, Clark County
  • Missouri, Pike County
  • Missouri, Weaver Spring
  • Missouri. Volunteers, 2nd Regiment, 3rd Division, 1st Company, Volunteers, 1832
  • Montgomery, John
  • Pilcher, Joshua (1790-1843)
  • U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs