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==History== When laid out in April 1852, Butler was a short distance from its modern location, with John C. Kennett being recognized as the first settler to build a home.<ref name=Ray/> The plat for Butler was filed in August, 1853 and consisted of five lots on fifty-five acres of donated land.<ref name=Chamber>{{cite web |url=http://www.butlermochamber.org/history.shtml |title=Butler area history |publisher=Butler Chamber of Commerce via website |year=2013 |access-date=12 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221032130/http://www.butlermochamber.org/history.shtml |archive-date=21 December 2012 }}</ref> The first county seat for Bates County was Papinville. After a large portion of the county was split off to form [[Vernon County, Missouri|Vernon County]] in 1855, Papinville was no longer near the geographic center, and Butler was selected in 1856 as the county seat.<ref name=Chamber/> County officials shortly thereafter selected the contracting firm of Fitzpatrick & Hurt to construct a fifty-by-fifty foot brick courthouse at a cost of $5,000. This building served the county until being gutted by fire in 1861.<ref name=Chamber/> The year 1856 also saw the establishment of Butler's first general mercantile store was established in 1856, with several others following in the years prior to the Civil War's outbreak in 1861. ===Civil War=== During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] western Missouri was engulfed in insurgent Confederate actions and raids by Union forces. Personal conflicts were also played out in the war's violence. Early in the conflict a major fire destroyed not only the Bates County courthouse but nearly all of the surrounding square of businesses and the town's first church.<ref name=Ray/> The arson fire was the handiwork of a squad of volunteer Kansas cavalry acting on orders of [[Jayhawker]] [[James Montgomery (colonel)|Colonel James Montgomery]]. A company of pro-[[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[Missouri State Guard]] cavalry under [[Sidney D. Jackman]] arrived too late to stop the arson, but they pursued the Kansans back across the border, killing and wounding several.<ref name=Ray/> During much of the spring and summer of 1862, the town was occupied by [[Union Army|Union]] Colonel [[Fitz Henry Warren]] and elements of the [[1st Regiment Iowa Volunteer Cavalry]]. Arriving in April, they stayed until mid-August when they left for [[Clinton, Missouri]], followed closely by Confederate troops under Colonel Jackman and General [[Jeremiah V. Cockrell|Vard Cockrell]]. The opposing groups would finally meet a few days later at the [[Battle of Lone Jack]] in [[Jackson County, Missouri|Jackson]] county.<ref name=Ray/> [[File:Battle of Island Mound.jpg|left|thumb|The Battle of Island Mound as depicted in an 1863 ''Harper's Weekly'' woodcut.]] Two months later a Civil War milestone took place in Bates County at a site approximately eight miles southwest of Butler. This was the first combat against Confederates by African Americans fighting for the Union. During the [[Skirmish at Island Mound|Battle of Island Mound]] (aka "Battle of Fort Toothman") on October 28–29, 1862, the Union [[1st Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry (Colored)|1st Kansas Colored Volunteers]]—composed of former slaves who had escaped from [[Arkansas]] and [[Missouri]]—and a scouting element from the [[5th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry|5th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry]] engaged a numerically superior force of Confederate guerrillas and recent Missouri State Guard recruits led by Vard Cockrell and Bill Truman (a relative of future President [[Harry S. Truman]]). The Union forces crossed into Missouri on a mission to clear Confederate guerrillas from an area known as "Hog Island".<ref name=Battle/> The Union troops commandeered and fortified the homestead of Confederate guerrilla Enoch John Toothman. The next day a detachment engaged with mounted Confederate cavalry, but stood their ground. The Confederates withdrew from the area on October 29. Eight Union men and an estimated 30 to 40 Confederates were killed.<ref name=Battle>{{cite web|url=http://www.batescounty.net/island_mound.php|title=The Battle of Island Mound|publisher=Bates County government via website|year=2013|access-date=14 July 2013}}</ref> On August 25, 1863 [[Union Army]] General [[Thomas Ewing, Jr.|Thomas Ewing]] issued his controversial [[General Order No. 11 (1863)|Order No. 11]], requiring evacuation of all rural residents from the county.<ref name=Chamber/> Ostensibly it was a response to the raid on [[Lawrence, Kansas]] by [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] guerrillas under [[William Quantrill]] and a means to cut off materiel support for further [[bushwhacker]] activity. Opponents believed it was a personal vendetta by Ewing, an abolitionist from Kansas who lost several friends in the raid. Order No. 11 called for the forced evacuation of the rural residents of Bates and three other border counties ([[Cass County, Missouri|Cass]], Jackson, and Vernon) within 15 days of issuance.<ref name=Chamber/> All rural residents of the affected counties, regardless of their allegiance, were forced to leave their farms and homes. Those who could prove their loyalty to the Union were allowed to remain in the counties but required to move to communities near Union military outposts. Those unwilling or unable to prove loyalty were ordered to move from the counties altogether or face imprisonment. Among the forced evacuees were Solomon and Hattie (Gregg) Young and their daughter [[Martha Ellen Young Truman|Martha]], the maternal grandparents and mother of future President [[Harry Truman]]. Butler was left a virtual ghost town. When residents returned later near war's end, the town and much of the county as a whole had been burned, looted, and otherwise destroyed by regular Union forces, pro-Union Jayhawkers, and Kansas "Red Legs". ===Post-Bellum=== A temporary structure for county business and court activities was constructed in late 1865 but proved inadequate. In 1869 a much larger two-story brick courthouse was constructed at a cost of $23,000.<ref name=Chamber/> While slowly continuing its recovery, Butler was finally incorporated as a village on June 19, 1872. Seven years later, on April 7, 1879 Butler was reincorporated as a fourth-class city, with William Page serving as the first mayor.<ref name=Ray/> Numerous mills and grain elevators became part of the growing Butler business community through the 1870s, providing opportunities for surrounding farms to process wool and various grains.<ref name=Ray/> Butler gained electric power in 1881, being one of the first communities west of the Mississippi River to offer that convenience. Four large lights were mounted atop the Bates County courthouse, providing illumination for the downtown area. Butler became known as "The Electric City."<ref name=Juiced/><ref name=Ray/> The 1869 courthouse survived until 1899 when it was found to be structurally unsound; it was closed and demolished.<ref name=Chamber/> After passage of a bond issue, construction of the new [[Bates County Courthouse]] began in 1901. The eighty-by-one hundred five foot Romanesque-style structure was built of "Carthage stone" from southern Missouri at a total project cost of $50,000 and was occupied in July, 1902.<ref name=Chamber/> By the early 20th century Butler's business listings included three banks, an opera house, four hotels, and a large number of general and specialty stores.<ref name=Ray/> In 2008 Bates county residents erected a statue and plaque honoring the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers and the Battle of Island Mound on the grounds of the Bates County courthouse in Butler.<ref name=Battle/> The State of Missouri purchased a 40-acre property including part of the former Toothman homestead and established the "[[Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site]]" in October 2012.<ref name=Battle/> The Bates County Courthouse and [[Palace Hotel (Butler, Missouri)|Palace Hotel]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
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