William Sehrt, Augusta's Traitor
The Rest of the Story
One of the dozens of sayings attributed to Benjamin Franklin is the following: “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” That certainly seems to be true in the case of William Sehrt, a highly respected citizen of Augusta, Missouri, during the early years of the Civil War. Sehrt was a master carpenter and mill owner with several apprentices. He was a member of multiple civic committees and boards, and had invested in several properties in Augusta. Sehrt served with both the Augusta Home Guard and in the Enrolled Missouri Militia. Yet because of one decision Sehrt made in October, 1863, the town of Augusta immediately turned on him and forced him to leave the community, a traitor to the town.
However, upon taking a closer look at several documents from this era, it is possible to conclude that, while William Sehrt did eventually leave Augusta for Franklin County, he was not run out of town. In fact, Sehrt stayed in Augusta for well over two years beyond October of 1863, continuing his involvement as a supporter of the Union cause, and leaving town financially well-off.
German-born William Sehrt was farming in rural St. Charles County by 1850, and in 1853 began serving on Augusta's school board. In August, 1854, he purchased Lot 6, Block 18, in Augusta from John Kessler for $37. Less than a year later, on June 26, 1855, Sehrt purchased the property of Louis Dubbert at a public auction. Dubbert, operator of Augusta's saw mill, was in debt. For his bid of $400, Sehrt purchased Lots 5 and 6, Block 12, which included the “steam saw mill, all the fixtures, machinery, engine boiler, and all other apparatus and appurtenances.”
In the same year, 1855, Augusta's very first Board of Trustees (appointed by the Missouri Legislature) hired William Sehrt to serve as Augusta's assessor/treasurer. The next year, in Augusta's first municipal election, Seht was elected as a trustee. In the following years, he would continue to serve on community committees, including Augusta's Savings and Loan Association.
As the Civil War approached, William Sehrt continued to involve himself in his community. He invested in more Augusta real estate. In 1856, he purchased another lot from Louis Dubbert. In 1860, he purchased four lots in Blocks 17 and 18. Two years later, Sehrt bought another two lots, this time in Block 19. Sehrt also volunteered in the cause of the Union, like many of his fellow German-born neighbors. He served with the Home Guard during the summer of 1861, and later joined the 75th Enrolled Missouri Militia regiment in August, 1862, again serving for the entirety of the unit's existence.
However, it was around this time that William Sehrt began to experience controversies with some of Augusta's citizens. These disagreements began to surface in October, 1862, when Augusta's town board created a three-man street committee, which included board members Henry Dammann, Frederick Brinkmeier, and William Sehrt. Later the town board considered a proposal to build a causeway along the riverfront. Sehrt opposed construction of the causeway, but he was opposed by board members George H. Mindrup and Frederick Brinkmeier. Soon after this the town board removed Sehrt from the street committee. A second controversy occurred in the first part of 1863 when Sehrt created a “major confrontation” by reporting to the street committee that overflow water from Mindrup's riverfront inn property had damaged his property in the adjacent block. The street committee did not act on Sehrt's complaint. A third controversy occurred about the same time when Sehrt and the rest of the board could not agree about whether or not to require John F. Schroer to tear down his damaged building on the riverfront.
In the Augusta election of April, 1863, William Sehrt was not reelected to the town board. However, when two of the newly reelected board members, Mindrup and Brinkmeier, resigned within days of the vote, a special election to replace them was held in July. William Sehrt and Gustave Muhm were chosen by their fellow citizens.
Relationships among the residents of Augusta and the immediate area were tense in early 1863 for another reason. In the middle of March, some slaves from the area, including at least one belonging to William Coshow of Darst Bottom (near present day Matson), had tried to escape their owners by fleeing to the riverboat landing at Dutzow. The local justice of the peace was notified of the escape and then enlisted the help of Captain Frederick Bickhaus of the 59th Enrolled Missouri Militia in the slave's capture. When Dickhaus captured Coshow's runaway and returned him to his owner, controversy exploded within the German community of the area. George Muench, one of the area's most ardent abolitionists; Frederick Dickhaus; and others used the St. Charles Demokrat to vilify one another with “divisive and abusive language.” Muench called Dickhaus “a bastard of his national tribe” and “unworthy of the honored name German.” Another individual wrote in order to present “the truth” of the “misrepresented lies” printed about Dickhaus. (For a fuller treatment of this incident, see “A Civil War of Words in Boone-Duden Country” at justawalkdowntheroad.blogspot.com.)
It is probable that this acrimony in Augusta and the surrounding area acted as kindling for the firestorm that ignited later in 1863. During the first week of October, a slave of William Coshow came to Augusta as a runaway to take the ferry to Washington and then enlist in the Union army in St. Louis. This, of course, is the same Coshow whose slave had attempted escape seven months earlier. In fact, since Coshow, formerly the owner of twenty slaves in 1850, owned only two adult male slaves in 1860, it is possible that the same slave who had tried to escape in March was making another attempt in October. When the slave arrived in Augusta, he went to the saw mill of William Sehrt, who took him in. Since the ferry would not go to Washington until the next day, the slave spent the night in the saw mill. The next day William Sehrt told Justice of the Peace George Murdock there was a runaway slave in his mill. Murdock came to the mill yard with a wagon. According to the newspaper account, Sehrt's boys went to a nearby store, obtained some rope which was used to tie the slave's hands and feet. He was then “thrown” into the wagon and Murdock left for Coshow's place.
“The news of this betrayal” spread quickly, and “the bitterness against Sehrt took on a threatening character.” That same day William Sehrt was expelled from the Board of Directors of Augusta Savings and Loan Association and the Augusta town board on which he had served for ten years. That evening a public meeting was called in Augusta. George Muench was selected as its chairman. The attendees unanimously adopted the following:
“Almost without exception, the residents of Augusta and the surrounding area until now have been members of the Radical Liberal Party. From the beginning they have contributed with extraordinary willingness to repressing the rebellion by volunteering, forming Home Guards, and actively participating in all liberal movement to break the rebellion.
“They have regarded the emancipation of slaves not as an unqualified political demand, rather more as the first commandment of humanity. Thus, they have permitted hundreds of slaves to find the way to freedom and have overwhelmed with shame everyone who tried to hinder the achievement of that first and holiest of all human rights. And since, despite everything, it was possible for one out of their midst to commit the humiliating act of human betrayal, the following is resolved by us at public meeting:
We express our deepest scorn of W. Sehrt for betraying and turning in a run-away slave.
We declare him unworthy of holding any public office among us.
We want to force G. Murdock to again return the abducted Negro to the place from where he was taken.
We want at once to form a corps of volunteers whose task it will be to carry out the previous resolution.
At this opportunity we again obligate ourselves unanimously not to rest and halt until the last ring in the chain of slavery is broken.”
Volunteers were then requested for an “expedition” to free the slave from William Coshow. According to the newspaper account, every man present volunteered to go. “Captain Schroer” asked to take command. This was John Schroer, owner of the warehouse on the riverfront, who had been a captain in a disbanded Enrolled Missouri Militia regiment. The next morning a group of fifty armed men rode to Coshow's place and demanded the slave's release. Coshow agreed that the slave would be taken back to Sehrt's saw mill and there given the choice of freedom or continued bondage. Later that day the men returned to Augusta with Coshow's slave. The next day the slave left Augusta for freedom. According to the newspaper, all of Justice of the Peace George Murdock's slaves also escaped that day.
Within a month yet another special election was held in November, this time to replace William Sehrt and fill one other vacancy. The two men who had resigned their town board positions in April, Sehrt adversary George Mindrup and Frederick Brinkmeier, were elected. One historian writes that “William Sehrt, of course, was gone” by this time, forced to move to Franklin County by Augusta's enraged German community, taking his wife Catherina and their five young children, the oldest eleven years old, with him.
Several documents, however, provide ample evidence that William Sehrt did not leave Augusta for for well over two years. First are the records of the 27th Enrolled Missouri Militia which formed in October, 1864. At that time several citizens from Augusta enlisted at Augusta in Company F of the 27th EMM including George Mindrup, Frederick Brinkmeier, and William Sehrt. In fact, Sehrt's captain in Company F was none other than John Schroer, the very man who had led the armed men to liberate Coshow's slave. The regiment was disbanded one month later. All men between the ages of sixteen and forty-five were required to enlist in the EMM. Business operators were exempted, although Sehrt and other business operators like him, often declined their exemptions. Clearly Sehrt was still in Augusta in the fall of 1864 and still working with his fellow citizens, hardly run out of town in October, 1863.
Then there are the property records which also clarify that Sehrt's move to Franklin County was not made in the immediate aftermath of his decision to turn in the runaway slave. In July, 1864, Sehrt sold one of his Augusta town lots to Eberhard Fuhr. The document states that Sehrt was a resident of St. Charles County. It is not until December, 1865, more than two years after his supposed departure from Augusta that William Sehrt, according to the transaction's document a resident of St. Charles County, purchased property in Boles Township in Franklin County on the southern bank of the Missouri River. He acquired eighty acres for $600 and began farming and raising stock (eventually he would own nearly 200 acres). It was even later, in March, 1866, that Sehrt sold the remainder of his Augusta properties, including the saw mill, to area residents Stephan Jeude, Charles Jeude, and Charles Koch for $2,225. These records indicate that Sehrt departed Augusta near the end of 1865, not October of 1863. In fact, in the Atlas Map of Franklin County, Missouri, 1878, 1865 is the date given for Sehrt's arrival in the county.
These property records, tax records, and census records also suggest that William Sehrt was not hurt financially by continuing to do business in August. He made a profit of 125% on the saw mill property, which was actually less than the 150-200% profit he made on the rest of his Augusta properties when he sold out. Tax records for St. Charles County, besides indicating Sehrt paid taxes as a resident of that county through 1865, show that the saw mill he sold for $900 in 1866 was assessed at a value of only $300 in 1865. Census records from 1860 show that his real estate and personal property were worth $4,285. This 1870 census the figure had increased to $27,000.
How was it possible for William Sehrt, a member of Augusta's German community, to continue live and work in the town for over two years while subject that community's “deepest scorn”? Perhaps the answer to this question is that the “unanimously adopted resolutions” at the October public meeting were not representative of the entire community. Even the opening words of the resolutions, “Almost without exception,” acknowledge a lack of agreement in the community. Certainly the circumstances surrounding the attempted slave escape in March, 1863, indicate that there was significant disagreement within the German community of Augusta and its environs. The resolutions passed at that meeting by “the Germans of Augusta and the area,” state that the justice of the peace had been elected “with the votes of Germans who did not recognize the fanatical secessionist under the briefly-worn mask of loyalty.” Certainly the results of the municipal elections, and the need to have special elections, at least suggest that there was a significant difference of opinion as to who should be on the town board. It seems likely that Sehrt stayed in Augusta for more than two years after his “betrayal” of Augusta's Germans because he had at least a measure of community support.
Of course, one question remains unanswered: “Why did William Sehrt turn in the runaway slave?” That will remain a mystery. As one historian wrote, “Augustans of the time knew the answers . . ., but historians unfortunately did not share them with later generations.” What is less mysterious is the fact that, after being vilified by a significant portion of the German community in 1863, William Sehrt continued to live and work in that community for more than two years.
Sources: 1875 Atlas Map of St. Charles County, Missouri; “A Civil War of Words in Boone-Duden Country” by Bob Brail (justawalkdowntheroad.blogspot.com); “According to the Law”: Immigrant Experiences at Augusta, Missouri by Anita M. Mallinckrodt; Atlas Map of Franklin County, Missouri, 1878 (cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/digital); “Augusta's Expansion Uptown and the Civil War” by Ellen Knoernschild (boonecountryconnection.com); Familysearch.com; Federal Population and Slave Censuses; Findagrave.com; A History of Augusts, Missouri, and Its Area 1850s-1860s as Reported in the St. Charles Demokrat by Anita M. Mallinckrodt; Land Records, Recorder of Deeds, St. Charles County, Missouri; “Missouri, U. S., Wills and Probate Records, 1766-1988” (ancestrylibrary.com); Tax Books, St. Charles County, Missouri, St. Charles County Historical Society; “Soldiers' Records: War of 1812 – World War One” (s1.sos.mo.gov).
Map of August in 1875. William Sehrt's saw mill was located on Lots 5 and 6 of Block 12. He also owned sevearl lots in Blocks 17 and 18. George Mindrup's inn was located in Block 7.