Jewell County named after civil war veteran Lewis R. Jewell

Last week found my hubby and me on a trip to Kentucky, a state that we had not traveled in before. We saw lots of sites but with both of us being history buffs, we had to tour at least one Civil War battlefield. The one we toured was the biggest Civil War battle that occurred in that state, Perryville Battlefield. A hilly area, it was pictured with the U.S. troops all on one hill. Directly across a small valley was where the Confederate troops were stationed, firing cannons from one hill to the other.

Wanting to continue my Civil War thoughts locally, when we returned home, I began interesting research into a Kansas Civil War officer that we in Jewell County are aware of, Lewis R. Jewell. Knowing he was a Civil War soldier, I learned way more about this brave soldier my home county is named after.

Lewis R. Jewell was born Aug. 16, 1822, at the Jewell Homestead in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. He was the son of Lewis and Deborah Jewell. His ancestor was one of the Massachusetts Colonists, 1639. Lewis was raised by Christian parents in the early Methodist beliefs. In his teens, he went to work for his uncle, Abega Brooks, a leading merchant in Ohio. Later he went into business with Daniel Putman but later sold his shares and purchased 1/4 interest in Harmer Manufacturing Co., serving as a traveling salesman in the eastern United States. In March 15, 1843, Jewell married Susan Hutchinson, daughter of John and Nancy (Warren) Hutchinson. They would have two children Sarah and Lewis.

In 1856, he sold his shares in the Harmer company wanting to do something different. He built a steamboat and hauled supplies up and down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. When docked in the city of Cairo, his steamboat caught on fire and burned. Having heard stories of settling in the Kansas Territory, Lewis Jewell and his family in 1859, went to southeastern Kansas, near Fort Scott, and purchased land there to farm and ranch.

Trouble began to happen for Lewis Jewell and other settlers in southeastern Kansas. Captain Sturgis, commanding a company of U.S. Troops, and together with an Indian agent, started driving the settlers from the land and often burned them out. It was at this time that Lewis became known as Colonel Jewell. He led a company of settlers to meet up with Captain Sturgis and his company. Wanting to avoid a conflict, meetings were held to discuss things. It was decided to send three men to Washington D.C. to present the problem to the President. Colonel Jewell was beginning to make plans to bring more settlers to the area from the east and establish a city but about this same time the Civil War broke out, and it put a stop to the existing problems.

Aug. 11, 1861, Colonel Jewell was elected captain of Company D of the Home Guard Frontier Battalion of District 9, Fort Scott, Kansas. Governor Charles Robinson of Kansas, commissioned Jewell as a lieutenant colonel of the United Reserve Corps on Aug. 27, 1861. During the first three days of September, the regiment narrowly escaped a great battle with Generals Price and Riens of the Confederacy, who had concentrated their army of 12,000 in western Missouri, across the line from Fort Scott. The hostile forces came into contact resulting in several skirmishes, including the Battle of Drywood, the first Civil War battle fought by artillery and musketry that Kansas felt.

General Price and his men marched on to Lexington, and General Lane of the U.S. forces was able to withdraw most of his troops from Fort Scott. General Lane gave Jewell orders to burn the city of Fort Scott at once but Jewell told Lane that when General Price begins his occupancy of the city, the orders would be obeyed, so the city was spared.

In the fall and winter of 1861-62, Colonel Jewell, with the 6th Kansas, maintained headquarters at Fort Scott guarding the Kansas border, protecting the settlers and property from the Confederates and the Bushwhackers.

In the spring of 1862, Jewell and the 6th Kansas met and defeated Col. Stand Waite's command and assisted in capturing Colonel Clarkson's Confederate forces, along with a train loaded with arms and supplies. Jewell and the 6th under the command of General Blunt did effective action against retreating Confederate forces under Colonels Cockrell and Coffee, who were driven from the State of Missouri.

It was in a battle in Cane Creek Valley near Cane Hill, Arkansas, on Nov. 28, that Colonel Jewell's horse was shot out from under him. After he fell to the ground, a Confederate soldier emptied his gun into Jewell, but Colonel Jewell with one move raised his saber and took the head off the man who shot him. Colonel Jewell was barely alive but was taken prisoner and later died from his wounds at Cane Hill on Nov. 30, 1862. Confederate General Shelby, witnessing Colonel Jewell's demise, ordered that he be treated well as an officer. Later General Shelby eulogized Jewell by voice and pen.

Jewell's remains were sent back to his family in Kansas under his company's escort. He was buried with honors in a national cemetery. On June 1, 1872, Jewell's son Lewis moved his father's remains to the Evergreen Cemetery at Fort Scott. In 1903, Jewell was once again moved to the family lot in Arcadia Cemetery. Colonel Jewell was termed to be a gallant officer of the Civil War. He would later have a Kansas county named after him, Jewell County. A city in Jewell County, Jewell, also was named after him as well as a local fort, Fort Jewell.