“Sometime early in May, 1858, Pat (Devlin) arrived at Osawatomie, from an absence of several days, bringing with him two very fine mares. I was at that time working as a “jour printer” in the office of the Southern Kansas Herald, published as Osawatomie by C.E. Griffith. The stable in which Pat kept his mares was in the rear of this office. One day Pat called me in to see his stock. After observing them for some time, I naturally inquired where he had got them. Pat replied with rather an evasive answer by stating that he “got them as the Jayhawk gets its birds in Ireland.” This was explained by Pat, as follows: “In Ireland a bird, which is called the Jayhawk, flies about after dark, seeking the roosts and nests of smaller birds, and not only robs nests of eggs, but frequently kills the birds.” I readily understood the significance of the word “Jayhawk,” and easily concluded that Pat meant he had got the mares in much the same manner that the Jayhawk got its supply of eggs. There was a very plain resemblance between the way Pat got his mares and the Jayhawk got its prey. I made up my mind to employ it to designate the promiscuous stealing which was then extensively carried on by raiding bands from Missouri, but an opportunity happening sooner than I anticipated, I applied it to some men who claimed to be under Montgomery, and who robbed L.D. Williams of Osawatomie.”
My observations on the article include the following:
1. By virtue of the date it was written and the detail it provides, this account strikes me as perhaps THE authoritative account on the origin of the “Jayhawker” term as applied to the Kansas troubles. Based on this article, the lineage of the term runs directly through Pat Devlin, and any linkage to the widely cited, previous usage describing the1840 emigrants travelling to California is tenuous at best.
2. It establishes the date the term was coined in the Kansas troubles (May 1858). My understanding is that by this date, the slavery issue in Kansas was essentially decided – the territorial legislature was already under the control of the free state party, and the U.S. Congress had already declined to ratify the Lecomption Constitution, deciding instead to send it back to the voters of Kansas, where the tide of immigration had already swung the majority to the free state cause (and where it would be overwhelmingly rejected by Kansas voters just a few months later). Thus, this article provides evidence that the activities in Kansas Territory that subsequently came to be called jayhawking had less to do with saving Kansas for the Free State cause than with disputes over the land, control over the local government that would resolve claim disputes, and plundering conducted under cover of abolition and the Free State cause.
3. Other portions of the article provide evidence that in 1868 there was a dispute among the people of Kansas as to whether or not the jayhawker term was an honorable nickname for them. Not surprisingly, being a Radical Republican newspaper, the Allen County Courant argued in the affirmative. Specifically, the article defended the actions of both Pat Devlin and Charles Jennison.
Does anyone else find it a bit humorous, and perhaps insightful, that McReynolds planned to apply the term to the detested Missourians, but the first opportunity that came up involved thieves affiliated with the noble Free State cause?
I think Matt Matthews will soon be providing a fuller transcript of the article on his wonderful “Jayhawkers and Redlegs” blog.