The Kansas Hermit - Hugh Cameron, 1826-1909 The original Lawrence Old Guard Lawrence Founding Father, Civil War Captain, Treehouse Dweller, Long-distance Walker, Critic of the Lawrence Elite, Scottish Seer

In Cameron's own words... "Early in this century a Lawrence newspaperman went to Cameron's camp, which was located on some bluffs, called Cameron Bluffs, north by northwest of Lawrence. It was a crisp October evening as the reporter sat on a fallen log before a campfire, with the hermit standing silhouetted in the glow from the dying embers of the fire. The reporter listened as Cameron related the following story: You read in the Bible of the prophets of old... how to become a seer, a prophet, one had to bury himself alone in the woods. Your old Scotch bards would often bury themselves in the mountains. (At this point Cameron began to sing a quant and weird Scotch ballad. The reporter had to stop Cameron and bring him back to the subject at hand.) I wanted to become a seer so I buried myself here in my woods. Some day the vision may come." Excerpt from More True Tales of Old-Time Kansas by David Dary, 1987

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I have been producing concerts in Lawrence, Kansas under the name Lawrence Old Guard Productions since 1988. This name is meant to honor Hugh Cameron, the original "Lawrence Old Guard" and by far the most interesting of the Founding Fathers of Lawrence, Kansas.

Here are some notes regarding Cameron, taken from the delightful book More True Tales of Old-Time Kansas by David Dary, 1987, University Press of Kansas. I highly recommend all of Dary's books, available HERE through Amazon.Com.

Larry Carter, 2008

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Who was Hugh Cameron?
Interesting insights from David Dary's book.

Hugh Cameron was born on a farm near Saratoga Springs, New York in 1826 of Scottish heritage. He was largely self-educated, although he did attend "normal school" starting at age 18.

In 1849, at age 23, he was hired to teach mathematics at a private school in Washington DC. There he became life-long friends with such prominent men as Daniel Webster and Stephen Douglas. Throughout the rest of his life, Cameron would walk from Lawrence to Washington DC every four years or so to stay with old friends and witness the inaugeration of a new U.S. President.

His strong-anti slavery stance soon brought him in conflict with the Board of Trustees for the school and, unwilling to back down, he was fired from his position. A day or two later he was attacked by a pro-slavery mob on the streets of Washington. He could have been murdered by the angry crowd were it not for the intervention of Henry Clay, then a United States senator, who stepped in and saved Cameron's life.

At about this same time he developed a lung hemorrhage. Determined to restore his health and eager to explore the largely unexplored West, he started walking west from Washington in 1853. Arriving in St Louis a year later, he happened upon the first Emigrant Aid Society party from Massachusetts that was headed to Kansas Territory to found a free state settlement. He joined up, selling his only coat for boat fare to stay with the party. After arriving in Kansas City, Cameron walked upstream along the Kaw River to a shallow bend where he set up his camp, thus becoming at age 28 one of the youngest Founding Fathers of Lawrence, Kansas.

To be continued...

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