Personal Recollections of Pardee Butler

In Short

This memoir records the life and trials of Pardee Butler, an uncompromising Christian preacher who moves to Kansas during the violent territorial struggles of the 1850s. Navigating hostile Pro-Slavery mobs, political intrigue, and severe natural hardships, Butler preaches apostolic Christianity while fiercely opposing the expansion of human slavery. Compiled by his daughter and supplemented by contemporary associates, the text documents the "Bleeding Kansas" era and the subsequent decades of state-building. It endures as a vivid, eyewitness testimony of rugged moral conviction, showing how religious idealism and abolitionist action shaped the frontier.

The Story

The narrative begins with Butler's New England ancestry and his upbringing in the newly cleared timberlands of Ohio. Raised in a devout atmosphere, he enters the ministry within the Restoration Movement, dedicated to primitive Christianity and simple Biblical authority. Driven by a desire to preach and establish free institutions, Butler moves his family westward to the Kansas Territory during the turbulent mid-1850s, just as the Kansas-Nebraska Act ignites a bitter struggle over slavery.

Arriving in Atchison County, Butler finds himself surrounded by aggressive Pro-Slavery elements backed by Missouri "Border Ruffians." Refusing to remain silent, he openly voices his abolitionist principles. His stances provoke immediate retaliation; he is tarred, feathered, and set adrift down the rapid Missouri River on a fragile raft made of logs with a makeshift paddle. Surviving the river's treacherous drift-wood hazards, he lands safely downriver and is sheltered by sympathetic brethren. Rather than fleeing, Butler returns to his ministry, constantly hunted by armed squads of South Carolinians and Pro-Slavery partisans who chase him across the hills while his brave family safeguards their home.

Amidst this violence, the political conflict deepens across the territory. Butler chronicles key moments of the Kansas war: the high-handed tactics of Territorial marshals, the siege and destruction of free-state presses in Lawrence, and the arrest of Free State leaders under bogus charges of high treason. He notes how conservative and radical Free State factions clash over whether to resist federal dragoons or participate in territorial elections, highlighting leaders like James H. Lane and Charles Robinson. When Governor Geary finally disbands the invading armies, peace begins to settle over the territory, allowing the Free State majority to take control through the ballot box.

With open warfare ended, Butler turns his full energy to evangelism and community-building. Riding his horse through flooded bottoms during rainy summers, he holds revival meetings in a large canvas tent, organizing growing congregations across eastern Kansas. However, new challenges emerge in the post-Civil War era. Butler views the widespread consumption of alcohol as a threat even more destructive than the border war. He launches a decade-long crusade against the saloon interest, writing tirelessly for newspapers and lecturing across the state. His efforts contribute significantly to passing Kansas's landmark constitutional prohibition amendment. Retaining his fierce independence, he continues preaching, farming, and defending his convictions until his death from an accident in 1888.

How It Unfolds

Settling the wilderness After a childhood in the dense woods of Ohio, Butler enters the ministry to preach a restored apostolic faith. He turns his sights toward the newly opened Kansas Territory, aiming to plant churches and build a free, moral community on the frontier.

Confronting the border mobs Butler's open anti-slavery stances draw the fury of Pro-Slavery groups in Atchison. Mobbed and set adrift on the Missouri River on a flimsy raft, he miraculously navigates the swift currents and dangerous drift-wood, returning directly to the territory to continue his mission.

Hunted across the hills Partisan raiders pursue Butler continuously, forcing him to ride from house to house in disguise while his wife courageously defends their farm. Meanwhile, territorial authorities attempt to crush the Free State movement through treason indictments and the destruction of printing presses.

Achieving territorial peace The Free State settlers navigate internal divisions over whether to defy federal troops or vote in territorial elections. Ultimately choosing the ballot, the anti-slavery majority asserts control, leading to the disbandment of armed border forces and the restoration of order.

Harvesting souls and building towns With peace secured, Butler travels relentlessly as an evangelist, erecting a massive forty-by-sixty-foot tent to hold revivals and establish resilient local churches. He also helps lay out towns that enforce strict anti-liquor land deeds.

Waging war on the saloon Turning his attention to social reform, Butler spends his later years writing and lecturing against the alcohol trade. He battles local political rings to close saloons, successfully helping drive the passage of statewide prohibition before dying in active ministry.

The People

• Pardee Butler: The central figure, an unyielding frontier preacher and abolitionist who possesses a powerful will and deep religious conviction. He wants to spread primitive Christianity and keep Kansas free from slavery and alcohol. Despite mob violence, threats to his life, and political pressure, he refuses to compromise his principles, remaining an active, plain-spoken reformer until his final days.
• Mrs. Rosetta B. Hastings: Butler's daughter and the editor of the recollections. She seeks to honor her father's legacy by compiling his surviving writings, family memories, and testimonies from associates to present an accurate picture of his self-sacrificing devotion.
• Mrs. Butler: Pardee's wife, a steadfast and brave woman who manages the family homestead under constant peril. Facing armed partisans searching for her husband, she maintains her quiet courage, providing a secure sanctuary during periods of intense anxiety.
• James H. Lane: A prominent, unpredictable Free State military leader and politician. Known for his intense determination and ability to read public sentiment, he shifts from armed defiance of territorial laws to supporting participation in elections, embodying the radical, opportunistic side of the Free State struggle.
• Archimedes Speck and Wife: Free State settlers living on Stranger Creek. When an Atchison posse arrives to disarm them, Speck's wife confronts the intruders with a double-barrel fowling-piece, turning away the armed group through sheer defiance.

In Its Own Voice

"I have not attempted to write a complete biography of my father, but merely to supplement his 'Recollections' with a few of my own reminiscences."

Rosetta B. Hastings introduces the volume with this modest disclaimer, establishing the text as a collection of personal memories and historical contributions rather than a polished, formal biography.

"The river was rapid, and there were in the river heaps of drift-wood, called 'rack-heaps,' dangerous places into which the water rushed with great violence; but from these I was mercifully saved..."

Butler calmly describes his miraculous escape after Pro-Slavery agitators set him adrift on the Missouri River on a flimsy raft with a makeshift flag-staff paddle.

"After making all necessary discount and rebate because of faults and infirmities, there is enough yet remaining of solid and essential excellence in the citizens of every State in this nation that they can afford to have the honest truth told about themselves."

Reflecting on national unity and post-war reconciliation, Butler emphasizes that true national strength requires honest self-examination, moral courage, and adherence to shared Biblical truths.

What It's Really About

Beneath its narrative of pioneer life, the book examines the relationship between personal religious conscience and political duty. Butler argues that true faith cannot remain passive in the presence of social evil; his opposition to slavery and the liquor trade stems directly from his understanding of apostolic Christianity.

The work also explores the chaotic process of building democratic institutions on the American frontier. It exposes how law and legal processes can be corrupted by factional violence—as seen in the bogus grand jury indictments and border raids—and demonstrates how individual moral courage and organized community action can eventually restore justice. Ultimately, the book asserts that a nation's stability depends not on wealth, but on the moral character and unity of its citizens.

Why Read It Today

Readers drawn to early American history, the antebellum West, and the tumultuous "Bleeding Kansas" era will find this account deeply rewarding. It offers an unvarnished, first-person perspective on the physical and political dangers faced by abolitionist settlers. Rather than presenting smoothed-over legend, the text conveys the gritty reality of frontier life, where religious debates, partisan warfare, and extreme weather mixed daily.

Reading the narrative feels like sitting beside a stubborn, plain-spoken elder who witnessed historic shifts firsthand. Butler writes without literary pretensions, adopting a direct, earnest style that reflects his frontier preaching background.

The book does present occasional reading hurdles. Because it was assembled posthumously by his daughter, the structure fluctuates between autobiographical chapters, family recollections, newspaper extracts, and secondary tributes. Readers must also navigate 19th-century religious debates and strict, period-typical moralizing regarding temperance and foreign immigration. Yet, these rough edges ground the memoir in its era, leaving behind an authentic portrait of an uncompromising reformer who risked everything for his faith and state.