FATHER DICKSON'S MYSTERY

FATHER MOSES DICKSON’S MYSTERY Tuesday, April 08, 2014 Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman “The booklet I picked up at the Father Dickson Cemetery, 845 S. Sappington, Kirkwood, MO (one of those small cities in St. Louis County) says that in late 1846 he organized a secret organization of black Americans for an armed struggle to end slavery in America, the Knights of Liberty, and a smaller sect, the Order of the Twelve. There were at least 50,000 well-armed men. As soon as these men were organized, Moses Dickson determined that a war was about to happen so he turned the Knights of Liberty from open insurrection to underground action. During the Civil War many of the Knights of Liberty fought with the Union forces, incurring many casualties. Dickson survived the war and went on to become an ordained minister working with the legislature to found Lincoln University. “In 1872 he was appointed Elector-at-Large (a representative in the Electoral College) for the Grant presidency. He reestablished The International Order of Twelve: Knights and Daughters of Tabor. “Larry, I am sending this info to Bill Curtis who is our resident expert on the history of African-Americans in Independence, Missouri, to see if he can add information about the Knights of Tabor in Independence. Bill, if you don't mind, please correspond directly with Larry Coleman, but would you please include me in the e-mail distribution. The 9 members of the Civil War Round Table of Western Missouri who visited the Father Dickson Cemetery as a part of the Grant Symposium this past weekend were very impressed with the quality of interpretation at the cemetery and the care with which it has been preserved. Beverly Shaw, Treasurer” The above letter was emailed to me on April 8, 2014, by the Treasurer of the Civil War Roundtable of Western Missouri, Mrs. Beverly Shaw, a very capable researcher and organizer and good friend. Having attended James Milton Turner Elementary School in Meacham Park, Missouri, Father Dickson’s cemetery was well-known to me, as it was nearby our southwest-suburban, historic, all-black enclave, 10 miles from St. Louis, Missouri. Growing up as a child, our family lived adjacent to the street-sign boundary between Kirkwood and Crestwood, where Father Dickson’s Cemetery is located, on Big Bend Blvd. An avid historian, organizer, attorney, and an A.M.E. preacher—also Father Moses Dickson’s denomination--I have always been curious about this magnanimous Civil War-era visionary, who is yet surrounded by so much myth and mystery, about whom so many people seem to know so little! Whoever reads this post, and the link below, please let me know anything that you know about this man! http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/dickson/fdc.htm