The first white settlement in Scotland County was in 1833 by brothers Levi and George Rhodes and their families near a location known as Sand Hill. [3] Sand Hill was in the southern part of the county, about 12 miles from present-day Memphis. A general store was opened there around 1835 by James l. Jones, who also served as Scotland County's first sheriff.
Slavery, while never as prevalent in Scotland County as in other counties further south in the state's Little Dixie region, existed from the county's earliest days. Robert T. Smith brought the first slaves, a group of three, to the county in 1834. [3] In 1850 Scotland County had 157 slaves or other "non-free people of color", but by the 1860 census that number had dropped to 131. [3]
Farming was Scotland County's primary economic lifeblood from its earliest times. Once the stands of timber were cleared and the tough prairie grass plowed aside, settlers found rich soil. Between 1850 and 1880 the number of farms in the county grew from 334 to 1,994. The value of the farmland, in 1880 dollars, was over $3.72 million. [3] Corn was the major cash crop, followed by oats, wheat, and potatoes.
The Civil War
Scotland County was the scene of three notable engagements during the American Civil War. The first happened at Etna on July 21, 1861. The 1st Northeast Missouri Home Guards under Colonel David Moore with assistance from additional units from Iowa and Illinois attacked pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard (MSG) forces using Etna as a training and resupply point. The action was part of General Nathaniel Lyon's efforts to clear "rebels" from rural Missouri. After a brief battle the MSG forces, mostly lightly armed cavalry, were driven from the town and surrounding areas of Scotland County and Moore's unit returned to its main base at Athens, Missouri.
On July 13, 1862, Confederate Colonel Joseph C. Porter approached Memphis in four converging columns totaling 125–169 men and captured it with little or no resistance. [5] They first raided the federal armory, seizing about 100 muskets with cartridge boxes and ammunition, and several uniforms. The Confederates rounded up all adult men, who were taken to the courthouse to swear not to divulge any information about the raiders for 48 hours. Porter freed all militiamen and suspected militiamen to await parole, a fact noted by champions of his character. Citizens expressed their sympathies variously; Porter gave safe passage to a physician, an admitted Union supporter, who was anxious to return to his seriously ill wife. One of Porter's troops threatened a verbally abusive woman with a pistol, perhaps as a bluff. Porter's troops entered the courthouse and destroyed all indictments for horse theft, an act variously understood as simple lawlessness, intervention on behalf of criminal associates, or interference with politically motivated, fraudulent charges. [5]
At Memphis, a key incident occurred that darkened Porter's reputation, and which his detractors see as part of a behavioral pattern that put him and his men beyond the norms of warfare. According to the History of Shelby County, which is generally sympathetic to Porter, "Most conceded that Col. Porter’s purpose for capturing Memphis, MO. was to seize Dr. Wm. Aylward, a prominent Union man of the community." Aylward was captured during the day by Captain Tom Stacy's men and confined to a house. Stacy was generally regarded as a genuine bushwhacker; other members of Porter's command called his company "the chain gang" due to its behavior. After rousing Aylward overnight and removing him from his home, ostensibly to see Porter, guards claimed that he escaped. But witnesses reported hearing the sounds of a strangling, and his body was found the next day with marks consistent with hanging or strangulation. [5] Supporters of Porter attribute Aylward's murder to Stacy. But a Union gentleman who came to inquire about Aylward and a captured officer before the discovery of the body said that when he asked Porter about Aylward, the response was, "He is where he will never disturb anybody else." [5]
The next engagement in the county took place on July 18, 1862. Union Colonel (later General) John McNeil had been pursuing Porter and his forces across northeast Missouri for some time. Hearing of the capture of Memphis, McNeil sent a detachment of three companies (C, H, and I), about 300 men, of Merrill's Horse under Major John Y. Clopper from Newark, Missouri, to rescue the town. [6] Porter and his Confederate forces, their strength estimated at anywhere between 125 men [5] to 600, planned to ambush the Federals. This became known as the Battle of Vassar Hill in the History of Scotland County. Porter called it Oak Ridge, and Federal forces called it Pierce's Mill. By whatever name, it happened about ten miles southwest of Memphis on the south fork of the Middle Fabius River.
Porter's men were concealed in brush and stayed low when the Federals stopped to fire before each charge. Porter's men held their fire until the range was very short, increasing the volley's lethality. [5] Clopper was in the Federal front, and of 21 men of his advance guard, all but one were killed or wounded. [7] The Federals made at least seven mounted charges, doing little but adding to the body count. A battalion of roughly 100 men [6] of the 11th Missouri State Militia Cavalry under Major Rogers arrived and dismounted. Clopper claimed to have driven the enemy from the field after this, but eyewitness Joseph Mudd said the Union troops fell back and ended the engagement, leaving Porter in possession of the field until he withdrew. Clopper's reputation suffered as a result of his poor tactics. Before the final charge, one company officer angrily asked, "Why don't you dismount those men and stop murdering them?" [8] Union casualties were about 24 dead and mortally wounded (10 from Merrill's Horse and 14 from the 11th MSM Cavalry), and perhaps 59 wounded (24 from Merrill's Horse, and 35 from the 11th MSM Cavalry.) Porter's loss was as little as three killed and five wounded according to Mudd, or six killed, three mortally wounded, and 10 wounded left on the field according to the Shelby County History. [7]
United States
Missouri 
