John William Reid

John William Reid (June 14, 1821 – November 22, 1881) was a lawyer, soldier, one-time slaveholder, and U.S. Representative from Missouri. He was born near Lynchburg, Virginia, on June 14, 1821. Little is recorded about his early childhood, but by the mid-nineteenth century he had established himself as a young adult in the Upper South. Reid married twice. By his first wife he had a daughter, Frances Flournoy Reid (born 1834), and two sons, Thomas Flournoy Reid (born 1836) and John H. Reid (1854–1893). By 1860, after the death of his first wife, the motherless family was living with schoolteacher John C. Reid, a man about a decade older than John W. Reid and born in Pennsylvania, and John C. Reid’s wife. In the 1860 U.S. Federal Census, John W. Reid was listed as owning an enslaved 33‑year‑old Black woman, reflecting his status as a one-time slaveholder. As a widower, he later married Sally Cochrane McGraw (later Bullene), with whom he had a son, William McGraw Reid (1866–1936).

In 1840, Reid moved from Virginia to Missouri, where he initially taught school while studying law. He was admitted to the Missouri bar in 1844 and commenced the practice of law in Jefferson City, Missouri. His legal career coincided with the rapid growth and political ferment of the state in the antebellum period, and he quickly became involved in public affairs. His early professional life combined legal practice with civic engagement, laying the groundwork for his later political career at both the state and national levels.

Reid served as a captain in the Mexican–American War, where he led a company in Doniphan’s Regiment. In that capacity he participated in the Battle of Sacramento and saw extensive service in the Southwest. During the war he was wounded twice and also took part in an expedition against the Navajo in New Mexico. This military experience enhanced his public standing in Missouri and aligned him with many contemporaries whose wartime service became a stepping stone to political office.

Upon his return to Missouri, Reid became active in state politics and in the increasingly violent sectional conflicts along the Missouri–Kansas border. Jackson County voters elected him to the Missouri House of Representatives, where he served from 1854 to 1856. During his tenure in the state legislature he participated in the revision of Missouri’s statutes, contributing to the formal codification of state law. At the same time, he was deeply involved in the pro-slavery cause in the Kansas Territory. In August 1856 he led approximately 200 pro-slavery raiders in what became known as the Battle of Osawatomie, a violent clash with Free-State settlers in which six free-staters, including Frederick Brown, son of abolitionist John Brown, were killed, along with two pro-slavery raiders. The following month, in September 1856, Reid commanded pro-slavery forces that advanced on Lawrence, Kansas, and was ordered by territorial governor (and later Union general) John W. Geary to disperse his men. In 1856 he also purchased land near the junction of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers in what would become Kansas City, and in 1857 he helped organize the town’s Chamber of Commerce, reflecting his growing interest in commercial development alongside his political and military activities.

As a member of the Democratic Party representing Missouri, Reid advanced to national office on the eve of the Civil War. He was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-seventh Congress and served one term, from March 4, 1861, to December 2, 1861, although he had in fact resigned his seat on August 3, 1861. His brief congressional service occurred during a critical period in American history, as the Union fractured and war commenced. In the House of Representatives, Reid was one of only two members to vote against the pro-slavery Crittenden–Johnson Resolution following the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861; the other was fellow Democrat and slaveholder Henry C. Burnett of Kentucky. Both men were later expelled by the Thirty-seventh Congress on December 2, 1861, for having taken up arms against the United States. Reid’s expulsion, despite his earlier resignation, placed him among the small number of U.S. representatives formally removed from office and underscored the depth of division over loyalty and secession in border states such as Missouri.

During the Civil War, Reid aligned himself with the Confederacy. He volunteered in the Confederate States Army and served as a volunteer aide to former Missouri governor and Confederate general Sterling Price. In addition to his field service, he acted as a commissioner responsible for adjusting claims against the Confederate government, a role that involved the adjudication of financial and logistical obligations incurred by Confederate authorities. His participation in the Confederate cause, following his earlier pro-slavery militancy in Kansas, marked the culmination of his antebellum political commitments.

After the war, Reid received a pardon and returned to civilian life in Missouri, settling in the rapidly developing community of Kansas City. There he resumed the practice of law and became active in banking and real estate, amassing a considerable fortune. Working with Charles Kearney, Theodore Case, and Congressman Robert T. Van Horn, he played a key role in securing the construction of the Hannibal Bridge, the first bridge to span the Missouri River at Kansas City. Completed and opened in 1869, the bridge transformed Kansas City into a major railroad hub and commercial center, accelerating its growth ahead of regional competitors such as Leavenworth, Kansas, and Omaha, Nebraska. Reid’s postwar career thus combined legal expertise, political influence, and entrepreneurial initiative in shaping the city’s economic future.

John William Reid died at Lee’s Summit, Missouri, on November 22, 1881. He was survived by his second wife and his sons, including William McGraw Reid, and was interred in the family vault at Elmwood Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri. His life encompassed roles as educator, lawyer, soldier, state legislator, congressman, Confederate officer, and civic booster, and his career reflected the turbulent political and social transformations of mid-nineteenth-century America.