ENGLISHMAN IN KANSAS:
.4
T. H. GLADSTONE, ESQ.,
AUTHOR OF THE LETTERS FROEI KANSAS IS THE "LONDON TIMES."
WITH AN INTRODUCTION,
BY
FRED. LAW OLMSTED,
AUTHOR OF "A JOURNEY IN THE SEABOARD SLAVE STATES,"
"A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS," ETC.
NEW YORK:
MILLER & COMPANY, 321 BROADWAY,
LATE Dix, EDWARDS & Co.
1857.
THE
on,
2,Uttr gift an Noxtfr Warfart.
'BY
.  4-0, 
Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1857, by
FRED. LAW OLMSTED,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for
the Southern District of New York.
the Southern District of ew York.
MILLER & COMPANY,
Printers and Publishers, N. Y.
z
I I - 
.I 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S
INTRODUCTION.
vIAVING been requested to edit and introduce an American edition of this English book,
I have thought I could best serve a public purpose by examining and setting forth its value
and purport as evidence and intelligent European commentary upon the present exciting
questions of our politics.
MiI,. GLADSTONE,  a kinsman  of the distinguished ex-chancellor of the Exchequer  of
England, visited Kansas, at a moment of interest in its history, and in the history of our
country. His opportunities of obtaining trustworthy information were good, and he appears
to have used them calmly and diligently. As
a foreigner, with claims of friendship, or even 
iv    AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
acquaintance, upon no one in the territory,
except Colonel Sumner, who, as the military
representative of the federal authority, was
respected by both parties, he occupied a neutral position in their warfare.
Going back of these circumstances, I find
that MIr. Gladstone arrived in New York near
the beginning of the year 1856, with the ordinary motives of an English traveler of his class.
From all I can learn of those who knew him
here, his testimony on any subject should be received with particular respect. He is thought
to observe closely and accurately, to study
carefully, and to be slow in expressing the
conclusions of his judgment. He is not known
to have had, at this time, more knowledge of, or
interest in, American politics, than is common
among English conservative gentlemen-about
as much, that is to say, as is common among
us with regard to the affairs of Sweden or
Brazil.
He proceeded, very soon after his arrival, to
Washington, and thence further south, and,
during the winter, enjoyed the hospitality of
South Carolina and Mississippi. In the spring 
AMERICAN EDITOR',S INTRODUCTION.
he continued his journey through Missouri, and
so, finally, to Kansas, arriving at Leavenworth
city on the 21st of May.
Our whole country was then hotly engaged
ill the presidential canvass. So great was the
tumult in Kansas, and such was the temptation
upon our editors and newsmongers to disallow
or exaggerate the conflicting reports of its condition, according as their influence was likely
to be favorable, or otherwise, to the success
of one or another candidate, that it became,
and has continued to be, very difficult for a
cautious mind, not possessing private means
of information, to form a confident judgment,
first, as to the reality or extent of the alleged
calamity of Kansas, and second, as to the absolute or relative culpability of either of the contending parties.
Readers, who have been accustomed to hear
the "disturbances" in Kansas spoken of only
as such as are "incidental to all new settlements," will, perhaps, be inclined to set down
this calmly observant traveler as an impostor,
or a romancer, when they find him describing
the condition of the territory, upon his arrival, as
v 
Vi   AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
"a holiday of anarchy and bloodshed."  Readers at the South, who have been accustomed to
rely for contemporary history on Southern
newspapers, or on those of the North in which
information is given in a form adapted to
the Southern market, may question if he were
in his fight mind when they find him testifying that: " among all the scenes of violence I
witnessed, the offending parties were invariably
on the pro-slavery side." Those who have
seen nothing inconsistent with the official
assurances of our late president, in the rapid
humiliation of his three successively appointed
governors, will hardly believe that the sympathies of an impartial, dispassionate, but justiceloving Englishman, could have been so immediately engaged, on his arrival in the territory, for
the Free-state party, as is implied by this narrative, unless his mind had been previously
prejudiced against their opponents.
He had been in intercourse, almost from the
moment of his landing in America, chiefly with
Southern minds. He came to Kansas fresh
charged from Southern social influence. And
yet, before he had met a single avowed free-soiler 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION. vii
in the territory, he evidently had a most painful impression of the injustice, tyranny, and
persecution to which the majority of the actual
settlers were subjected, and was well convinced
that the pro-slavery party, and the influence of
the South, acting through the federal government, was wholly to blame for this.
"But, surely," some indignant "democrat"
will ask, " he would  not have  us suppose
that the truth about Kansas has been mnonopolized all along by one party; that the
black republican newspapers have been all
right, and the rest all wrong?" This may
have been the case without any advantage
in veracity of character to those who told the
truth. It may have happened that nothing
could have served their purpose better than the
truth. Certainly, if that purpose was to be
served by proving a desperate determination
on the part of the administration to establish
slavery in Kansas, if necessary, at any cost
of justice and humanity, and of our reputation
with the world as a civilized people, nothing
could have answered it better than what Mr.
Gladstone, carefully studying the facts upon 
Viii  AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
the ground, was led to consider the truth. lie
attributes the most honorable conduct, in all
respects, as good citizens, to the Free-state
party in the territory, while it would be difficult to describe a people more unfit to exercise
the rightful privileges of citizenship than those
whom he represents to be engaged, under the
patronage of the federal authorities, in persecuting that party.
Such a contrast between the character of the
emigrants from the Slave States and of those
from the Free-both being, not many generations back, of the same origin and blood-would,
indeed, be incredible, if there were not anterior
reason to expect ill the former a special proneness to violence, and a distrust, or habitual
forgetfulness of law and civilized customs under
exciting circumstances.
Such a dangerous quality - gravely dangerous, wherever this policy of so-called squatter
sovereignty, involving, as it does, squatter warfare, shall be tried; and ten-fold grave to us
of the North, since the recent decision of the
Supreme Court,-such a dangerous quality is
inbred and with every generation growing more 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.   ix
established in the character of the citizens of
the South. It is so from the inexorable force
of circumstances-thus:
The title to property in slaves is derived
at no remote period, from certain vindictive
and  lawless  barbarians, who,  having  overpowered  an  enemy,  considered  his  life as
forfeited, and if they spared it, did so from
no regard to the abstract right or sacredness
of life, or any motive of humanity, but simply
for the purpose of enjoying the profits of his
labor.  HIis labor and abject submission to all
their demands upon him was the price of his
life, and with this understanding he was transferred to America. At first the only persons
so held were "Black-a-moors," and all Blacka-moors in the country were so held and considered, and only by terror of death, legalized and
insured by legislation and military force, continued to be held in the requisite habit of subordination for profitable labor, by their purchasers and
inheritors. Hence, exceptional laws, exceptional
customs, and hence, irresistibly, a defection firom
the usual sentiment of the sacredness of human
life, as far as the negro was concerned. But as
A 
X    AMERICAN EDlTOR'S INTRODUCTION.
the negro is, after all, really a human being,
whatever affects him, inevitably affects all human
beings associated with him. Thus arises a peculiar influence which must produce and reproduce
peculiar qualities among people nurtured in a
slaveholding community.
Hence, however our Southern fellow-citizens
may continue to talk, and sentimentalize, and
clothe themselves under ordinary circumstances
in accordance with the customs, literature, laws
and religious maxims of the rest of the civilized
world, it is an inevitable effect of their peculiar
institution to diminish in them that constitutional and instinctive regard for the sanctity of
human life, the growth of which distinguishes
every other really advancing people  just in
proportion to their progress in the scale of
Christian civilization. Mr. Gladstone is not the
first traveler whose studies among them have
taught us this; nor is it necessary to assume
the truth of his testimony to prove that there
is this essential difference between the people
of the Free and the Slave states. In what
community, uninfluenced by slavery, could
such a record be made, of recklessness unre 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.   Xi
strained in regard to the life of its citizens, as
the following, which is taken from the Louisville Journal (June, 1S54), and was suggested by
the "Mat Ward case," in which case, again,
the alleged murderer was presently allowed to
go free.
"There have been scores of notorious cases
of murder and acquittal in this city. There
was the case of Kunz who  killed Schaffer.
Kunz, hearing that Schaffer had spoken lightly
of a member of his family, went to his coffeehouse and cursed fim. Schaffer picked up a
small stick and went around the counter as if
to strike Kunz, whereupon the latter thrust a
deadly weapon into his breast and killed him.
He was tried and discharged without punishment.
There was the case of Delph who killed his
uncle, Reuben Liter. Delph armed himself
deliberately, and went to the upper markethouse to meet Liter. IHe met him, sought a
quarrel with him, and shlot him dead on the
spot. The quarrel was about a prostitute.
Delph was tried and acquitted bya jury. There
was the case of Croxton who killed Hawthorn.
Hawthorn was in a coffee-house, sitting in a
Io 
Xii  AMERICAN EDITOR S INTRODUCTION.
chair, drunk and asleep. Croxton struck him on
the head in that condition with a brick-bat,
and killed him.  He teas acquitted by a jury.
There was the case of Peters who killed Baker.
In Natchez, a long time before, Baker, in a fight,
had wounded Peters, and made him a cripple.
Peters being thus disabled, Baker supported
him. The latter, after about a year, became
very poor, and discontinued his bounty. Thereupon, Peters pursued him to this city, rode in
the night in a hack to his house, sent the hackman to inform him that a gentleman and friend
wished to see him on business, and when Baker
came out and stood at the window of the hack,
shot him dead instantly. Peters was acquitted by
the jury and lived here for some years afterwards
-long enough indeed to murder or try to murder
a prostitute, upon whose bounty he subsisted.
There was the case of the Pendegrasts, who killed
Buchanan, a schoolmaster. The elder Pendegrast, with two of his sons and a negro, went
to Buchanan's school-house with loaded guns
and killed him, without giving him a chance
for his life. The jury gave a verdict of acquittal.
There was the case of Shelby who killed Horine 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.  xiii
in Lexington.  The two dined at the same
public table, and, upon Horine's going into the
street, Shelby demanded of him why he had
looked at him in such a manner at the table.
Horine answered that he was not aware of
having looked at him in any unusual manner.
Shelby said-' You did, and if you ever do it
again, I will blow your brains out. I don't
know who you are.' Horine responded-'I
know you, and suppose a man may look at you,
if your name is Shelby.' At that, Shelby
struck him with his fist, and without any
return of the blow, and without any display
of a weapon by Horine, for he was unarmed,
Shelby shot him dead. Shelby was indicted,
but the jury found no verdict against him.  There
was the case of Harry Daniel, of Mount Sterling, who killed Clifton Thompson. Daniel
and Thompson were lawyers, and brothers-inlaw. Thompson made some imputation upon
Daniel in open court. Daniel drew a pistol and
shot him dead in the presence of judge and jury.
Thompson had a pistol in his pocket but did not
draw it.  Daniel was acquitted by a jury."
Similar cases might be cited by the volume 
XiV AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
in which public sentiment, finding its expression
in the action of a jury, is proved to be constantly
triumphant over all laws and ecclesiastical formulas in justifying homicide when it results from
the quick and vehement anger of an undisciplined intellect. This is the natural consequence
of the lurking danger everywhere present at the
South, by which its citizens are compelled to
hold themselves always in readiness to chastise,
to strike down, to slay, upon what they shall
individually judge to be sufficient provocation
or exhibition of insubordination.
Southerners themselves may, perhaps, affirm
that they are unconscious of this sense of
insecurity, and this habit of preparation. But
every habit breeds unconsciousness of its existence in the mind of the man whom it controls,
and this is more true of habits which involve
our safety than of any others. The weary
sailor aloft, on the lookout, may fall asleep;
not the less, in the lurch of the ship, will his
hands clench the swaying cordage, but only the
more firmly that they act in the method of
instinct. A hard-hunted fugitive may nod in
his saddle, but his knees will not unloose their 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
hold upon his horse. Men who live in powder mills are said to lose all conscious feeling of
habitual insecurity; but visitors perceive that
they have acquired softness of manner and of
voice.
If a laborer on a plantation should contradict
his master, it may often appear to be no more
than a reasonable precaution for his master to
kill him on the spot; for, when  a slave has
acquired such boldness, it may be evident that
not merely is his value as property seriously
diminished, but the attempt to make further
use of him at all, as property, involves in danger
the whole white community.  "If I let this man
live, and permit him the necessary degree of
freedom, to be further useful to me, he will
infect, with his audacity, all my negro property,
which will be correspondingly more difficult to
control, and correspondingly reduced in value.
If he treats me with so little respect now, what
have I to anticipate when he has found other
equally independent spirits among the slaves?
They will not alone make themselves free, but
will avenge upon me, and my wife, and my
daughters, and upon all our community, the
XV
I 
Xvi   AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
injustice which they will think has been done
them, and their women, and children." Thus
would he reason, and shudder to think what
might follow if he yielded to an impulse of
mercy.
To suppose, however, that the master will
pause while he thus weighs the danger exactly,
and then deliberately act as, upon reflection, he
considers the necessities of the case demand, is
absurd. The mere circumstance of his doing
so would nourish a hopeful spirit in the slave,
and stimulate him to consider how he could
best avoid all punishment.
But how is it in a similar case at the North?
I have seen it.  "I am sorry," says the farmer;
"I  am  sorry you have such a bad temper,
John.   I can't afford to have you live with
me, if you have not more respect for yourself
and for me, than to play the blackguard. I
will pay you what I owe you, and then we will
part-part friends, if you please, for I bear no
malice." And John goes, ashamed of himself,
and with a sensible resolution to acquire a
better self-government. The man who would
knock John down, under these circumstances, 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.   xvii
especially if John were the weaker man, or
taken at disadvantage, from behind, or with a
weapon, would live without the respect, the
confidence, or the affection of his neighbors.
He would be called a vindictive, irritable, miserable old fool.
Mark the difference at the South. The same
man would be called, and, perhaps, rightly, a
brave, generous, high-toned, and chivalric gentleman. And, perhaps rightly, I say, for the
impulses which would lead him, in the instant,
and without reflection, to act decisively, that is,
perhaps, to kill, and, at all events, to very
cruelly hurt his fellow-being, and that without
the smallest regard to fairness, it is not impossible might have been based on a generous sense
of his duty to the public, and a superiority
to merely selfish considerations.  Thus slavery
educates gentlemen in habits which, at the
North, belong only to bullies and ruffians.
But, "planters sleep unguarded,  and with
their bedroom doors open."    So, as it was
boasted, did the Emperor at Biarritz, last summer, and with greater bravery, because the
assassin of Napoleon would be more sure, in
. 
xviii  AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
dispatching him, that there would be no one
left with a vital interest to secure punishment for such a deed; and because, if he failed,
Napoleon dare never employ such exemplary
punishment for his enemies as would the planters for theirs. The emperors of the South are
the whole free society of the South, and it is a
society of mutual insurance. Against a slave
who has the disposition to become an assassin,
you find his emperor has a body-guard, which,
for general effectiveness, is to the Cent garde as
your right hand is to your right hand's glove.
It is but a few months since, in Georgia, or
Alabama, a man treated another precisely as
Mr. Brooks treated Mr. Sumner-coming up behind, with the fury of a madman, and felling him
with a bludgeon; killing him by the first blow,
however, and then discharging vengeance by
repeated strokes upon his senseless body.*  The
* "There are tender souls," says Mr. Elliott, in the " New
England History,"" who feel that after death the good alone
live, and should only be spoken of, and this, in a degree,
is true;" but "it is safest, it is most manly, to see men fairly,
as they are, whoever they are, alive or dead." The late MAr.
Brooks' character should be honestly considered, now that
personal enmity toward him is impossible. That he was 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.   xix
man thus pitifully abused had been the master
of the other, a remarkably confiding and merciful master, it was said-too much so; "it never
does to be too slack with niggers." By such
indiscretion he brought his death upon him.
But did his assassin escape? He was roasted, at
a slow fire, on the spot of the murder, in
courteous, accomplished, warm-hearted, and hot-blooded,
dear as a friend, and fearful as an enemy, may be believed by
all; but, in the South, his name is yet never mentioned
without the term gallant or courageous, spirited or noble, is
also attached to it, and we are obliged to ask, why insist on
this? The truth is, we include a habit of mind in these
terms which slavery has rendered, in a great degree, obsolete
in the South. The man who has been accustomed, from
childhood, to see men beaten when they have no chance to
defend themselves; to hear men accused, reproved, and vituperated, who dare not open their lips in self-defense, or reply;
the man who is accustomed to see other men whip women
without interference, remonstrance, or any expression of
indignation, must have a certain quality, which is an essential part of personal honor with us, greatly blunted, if not
entirely destroyed. The same quality, which we detest in
the assassination of an enemy, is essentially constant in all
slavery. It is found in effecting one's will with another
man by taking unfair advantage of him. Accustomed to
this in every hour of their lives, Southerners do not feel
magnanimity and the "fair-play" impulse to be a necessary
part of the quality of "spirit," courage, and nobleness. By
spirit they apparently mean only passionate vindictiveness
of character, and by gallantry mere intrepidity. 
XX   AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
the presence of many thousand slaves, driven
to the ground from all the adjoining counties,
and when, at length, his life went out, the fire
was intensified until his body was in ashes,
which were scattered to the winds and trampled under foot. Then "magistrates and clergymen" addressed appropriate warnings to the
assembled subjects. It was no indiscretion to
leave doors open again, that night.
Will any traveler say that he has seen no
signs of discontent, or insecurity, or apprehension, or precaution; that the South has appeared
quieter and less excited, even on the subject
of slavery, than the North; that the negroes
seem happy and contented, and the citizens
more tranquilly engaged in the pursuit of
their business and pleasure? Has that traveler
been in Naples? Precisely the same remarks
apply to the appearances of things there at this
moment. The massacre of Hayti opened in
a ball-room.  Mlr. Cobden judged there was not
the smallest reason in the French king's surrounding himself with soldiers the day before
the hidden virus of insubordination broke out
and cast him forth from his kingdom. The 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.  XXi
moment of greatest apparent security to tyrants
is always the moment of their greatest peril.
It is true, however, that the tranquillity of the
South is the tranquillity of Hungary and of
Poland; the tranquillity of hopelessness on the
part of the subject race. But, in the most
favored regions, this broken spirit of despair
is as carefully preserved by the citizens, and
with as confident and unhesitating an application of force, when necessary to teach humility,
as it is by the army of the Czar, or the omnipresent police of the Kaiser.  In Richmond,
and Charleston, and New Orleans, the citizens
are as careless and gay as in Boston or London,
and their servants a thousand timnes as childlike and cordial, to all appearance, in their
relations with them, as our servants are with
us. But go to the bottom of this security and
dependence, and you come to police machinery,
such as you never find in towns under free government: citadels, sentries, passports, grapeshotted cannon, and daily public whippings of
the subjects for accidental infractions of police
ceremonies. I happened myself to see more
direct expression of tyranny in a single day and 
XXii  AMERICAN EDITOR S INTRODUCTION.
night at Charleston, than at Naples in a week;
and I found that more than half the inhabitants
of this town were subject to arrest, imprisonment, and barbarous punishment, if found in
the streets without a passport after the evening
" gun-fire."  Similar precautions and similar
customs may be discovered in every large town
in the South.
Nor is it so much better, as is generally
imagined, in the rural districts.  Ordinarily
there is no show of government any more
than at the North: the slaves go about with as
much apparent freedom as convicts in a dockyard. There is, however, nearly everywhere,
always prepared to act, if not always in service,
an armed force, with a military organization,
which is invested with more arbitrary and cruel
power than any police in Europe. Yet the
security of the whites is in a much less degree
contingent on the action of the patrols than upon
the constant habitual and instinctive surveillance
and authority of all white people over all black.
I have seen a gentleman, with no commission or
special authority, oblige negroes to show their
passports, simply because he did not recognize 
AMERAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.. xxiii
AMERICAN EDITOR S INTRODUCTION. XX~lll
them as belonging to any of his neighbors. I
have seen a girl, twelve years old, in a district where, in ten miles, the slave population
was fifty to one of the free, stop an old man on
the public road, demand to know where he was
going, and by what authority, order him to
face about and return to his plantation; and
enforce her command with turbulent anger,
when he hesitated, by threatening that she
would have him well whipped if he did not
instantly obey. The man quailed like a spaniel,
and she instantly resumed the manner of a
lovely child with me, no more apprehending
that she had acted unbecomingly than that her
character had been influenced by the slave's
submission to her caprice of supremacy; no
more conscious that she had increased the security of her life by strengthening the habit
of the slave to the master race, than is the
sleeping seaman that he tightens his clutch of
the rigging as the ship meets each new billow.
The whole South is, in fact, a people
divided against itself, of which one faction has
conquered, and has to maintain its supremacy. 
Xxiv   AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
The  "state of siege" is permanent.   Any
symptoms of rebellion on one side, or of treachery on the other, cannot safely be left to the
slow process of civil law; every white man is
expected to deal summarily with them, and in
such a manner as to pervade with terror, cowardice, and hopelessness all the possibly disaffected; and in many districts, where the contagion of a bold or hot brain would be most
dangerous, the life of the whole white population is that of a " vigilance committee," every
man and woman grim-faced for a possible ferocious duty.
There is no part of the South in which the
people are more free from the direct action of
slavery upon the character, or where they have
less to apprehend from rebellion, than Eastern
Tennessee. Yet, after the burning of a negro
near Knoxville, a few years ago, the deed was
justified as necessary for the maintenance of order among the slaves, by the editor of a newspaper (the Register), which, owing to its peculiarly
conservative character, I have heard stigmatized as" an abolition print."  "It was," he observed, "a means of absolute, necessary self 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION. XXV
defense, which could not be secured by an
ordinary resort to the laws. Two executions
on the gallows have occurred in this county
within a year or two past, and the example
has been unavailing. Four executions by hangimg have taken place, heretofore in Jefferson,
of slaves guilty of similar offenses, and it has
produced no radical terror or example for the
others designing the same crimes, and hence
any example less horrible and terrifying would
have availed nothing here."
The other local paper (the Whig), upon the
same occasion, used the following language:
"We  have to say, in defense of the act, that
it was not perpetrated by an excited multitude,
but by one thousand citizens-good citizens at
that-who were cool, calm, and deliberate."
And the editor, who is not ashamed to call
himself " a minister of Christ," presently adds,
after explaining the enormity of the offense
with which the victim was charged-" We
unhesitatingly affirm that the punishment was
unequal to the crime. Had we been there we
should have taken a part, and even suggested
the pinching of pieces out of him with red-hot
B 
Xxvi AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
pincers-the cutting off of a limb at a time,
and then burning them all in a heap. The
possibility of his escaping from jail forbids the
idea of awaiting the tardy movements of the
law."
How much more horrible than the deed are
these apologies for it. They make it manifest
that it was not accidental in its character, but
a phenomenon of general and fundamental significance. They explain the paralytic effect
upon the popular conscience of the great calamity of the South. They indicate that it is a
necessity of these people to return in their
habits of thought to the dark ages of mankind.
For who, from the outside, can fail to see that the
real reason why men, in the middle of the nineteenth century, and in the centre of the United
States, are publicly burned at the stake, is one
much less heathenish, less disgraceful to the
citizens than that given by the more zealous
and extemporaneous of their journalistic exponents-the desire to torture the sinner proportionately to the measure of his sin. Doubtless,
this reverend gentleman expresses the uppermost feeling of the ruling mind of his commu 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.  xxvii
nity. But would a similar provocation have
developed a similar and equally tumultuous,
avenging spirit in any other nominally Christian
or civilized people?  Certainly not.  All over
Europe, in every free-state - California, for
significant reasons, temporarily excepted-in
similar cases, justice deliberately takes its
course; the accused is systematically assisted
in defending or excusing himself. If the law
demands his life, the infliction of unnecessary
suffering, and the education of the people in
violence and feelings of revenge, is studiously
avoided. Go back to the foundation of the
custom which thus neutralizes Christianity,
among the people of the South, which carries
them  backward blindly against the tide of
civilization, and what do we find it to be? The
editor who still retains moral health enough to
be suspected, as men more enlightened than
their neighbors usually are, of heterodoxy,
answers for us.  To follow the usual customs
of civilization elsewhere would not be safe.
To indulge in feelings of humanity would not
be safe. To be faithful to the precepts of
Christ would not be safe. To act in a spirit of 
Xxviii AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
cyuel, inconsiderate, illegal, violent, and pitiless vengeance, must be permitted, must be
countenanced, must be defended by the most
conservative, as a "means of absolute, necessary self-defense."   To  educate  the people
practically otherwise would be suicidal. Hence
no free press, no free pulpit, nor free politics,
can be permitted in the South, nor in Kansas,
while the South reigns. Hence every white
stripling in the South may carry a dirk-knife in
his pocket, and play with a revolver before he
has learned to swim.  "Self-preservation is the
first law of nature."
I happened to pass through Eastern Tennessee shortly after this tragedy, and conversed
with a man who was engaged in it-a mild,
common-sense native of the country. He told
me that there was no evidence against the negro
but his own confession. I suggested that he
might have been crazy.  "What if he was?"
he asked, with a sudden asperity.
What if he was?  To be sure; what if he
was? In fact, he was not burned because he
deserved it; nor, if we consider, because he
was believed by his rulers to have committed 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION. xxix
the offenses charged upon him. It was not a
question of evidence, of morality, but of expediency-simply, of self-preservation.  His life
depended not upon a conviction of his guilt, in
the minds of his judges, but upon the opinion
which the subject people of the county were
likely to have about it, the same necessity
requiring this jury of his peers to be degraded,
cunning, and suspicious. To make them sure
that their rulers are a strong and hard-hearted
race, quick, sure, and terrible in their vengeance,
was the object. It was a question no more
of justice than of mercy, to the victim used
in accomplishing the object.
Is it incredible that men, nurtured in communities whose most conservative and respectable classes, whose very professional teachers
feel themselves justified in taking part in such
barbarity, upon such grounds, should have been
found, by Mr. Gladstone, guilty of purely barbarous conduct towards a people whose patient
and self-controlling habits were so new to them
that they could only ascribe them  to a slavelike cowardice? Evidently, to the invaders
of Kansas, it must have seemed a merciful
L 
XXX AMERICAN ED)ITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
treatment of those they had been taught to
consider their enemies, when they fell into
their hands, merely to hang, or shoot, and scalp
them, without torture.
"No  people," it has been said, " are ever
found to be better than their laws, though
many have been known to be worse."  If, in
the following advertisement, which was recently published in North Carolina, the propernames and technical phrases were suitably
changed, and it were presented to us by a
traveler as coming from the Sandwich Islands,
would it not strike us that it had been rather
premature to class the natives of those islands
among the Christian nations of the world?
"STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, JONES COUNTY. — Whereas,
complaint upon oath hath this day been made to us, Adonijah
McDaniel and John N. Htyman, two of the Justices of the
Peace of said county, by Franklin B. Harrison, of said
county, planter, that a certain male slave belonging to him,
named Sam, hath absented himself from his master's services,
and is lurking about said county, committing acts of felony
and other misdeeds. These are, therefore, in the name of
State, to command the said slave forthwith to surrender
himself and return home to his master; and we do hereby
require the Sheriff of said County of Jones to make diligent
search and pursuit after the said slave, and him having
found, to apprehend and secure, so that he may be conveyed to 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION. XXXi
his said master, or otherwise discharged as the law directs;
and the said Sheriff is hereby authorized and empowered to
raise and take with him such power of his county as he shall
think fit for apprehending the said slave; and we do hereby,
by virtue of the Act of Assembly, in such case provided, intimate and declare that if the said slave, named Sam, doth
not surrender himself and return home immediately after the
publication of these presents, that any person may kill and
destroy the said slave, by such means as he or they may think
fit, without accusation or impeachment of any crime or offense
for so doing, and witlwout incurring any penalty andforfeiture
thereby.
"Given under our hands and seals the 29th day of September, A. D., 1856.
'A. McDANIEL, J. P.: SEAL.:
. N  * -....
:........
*
"J. N. HYMAN, J. P."  * BEASL.:
.. 
.....o..
"$100 REWARD.
"I will give Fifty Dollars for the apprehension and
delivery of the said boy to me, or lodge him in any jail in the
State, so that I get him, or ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS
FOR HIS HEAD.
"F. B. HARRISON."
May not the most conservative of us soon be
obliged to consider less what we can do and
suffer to retain the fellowship, than what we
can do to guard against the sinister influences
upon our own politics and society, of contiguous
States, under the laws of which there is still
the liability of such an exposition of constitu
..,y 
XXXii AMERICAN EDITOI'S INTRODUCTION.
tional barbarism?  Wheat is to be expected of
such seed but such bitter fruit as that of Kansas, under the heat of Squatter Sovereignty?
The supreme judicial authority of the
same State has declared that it would be preposterous, while the intention of holding the
slaves in their present subjection was maintained, to consider it a crime for a white
man to shoot a woman attempting to escape
from the ordinary chastisement of indocility.
It was decided (in the case of the State vs.
3lann), by Justice Ruffin, "essential to the
value of slaves, as property, to the security of
the master, and to the public tranquillity," that
such recklessness with human life should be
unrestrained by the law.*
Let the reader who thinks there must be
"two sides" to this story of Kansas, and that
lIr. Gladstone has chosen to give his country
* " Such service as is required of a slave, can only be expected
of one who has no will of his own; who surrenders his will in
implicit obedience to that of another. Such obedience is the
consequence only of uncontrolled authority over the body;
there is nothing else which can operate to produce that effect.
The power of the master must be absolute to render the obedience of the slave perfect."-2. DEvEREAUx's N.  C. Rep.,
263. 
AMERICAN  EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.  xxxiii
men but one of them, remember that the necessity which has made the South thus exceptional among civilized States, in its law, must have
made the people of the South much more exceptional among civilized mankind- in their
habits and character. SIr. Gladstone demonstrates but one consequence-that one which,
being defended and apologized for by the President of the United States, has most injured the
reputation of democratic institutions throughout the world. The world should recognize the
fact that the disgraceful condition of Kansas, the
atrocious system, which the federal government
of the United States has been forced to countenance in Kansas, is the legitimate fruit of despotism, not of free government.
There are, however, many other characteristics of the people of the South which have had
their origin in this necessity, which we of the
North-since the absence of slavery is likely
hereafter to depend on a local ordinance, since
slavery is officially intimated to be national, and
all opposition to slavery declared to be "sectional"-cannot afford to overlook. Would to
God we had "nothing to do with it."  But, as
PB 
XXXiV AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
a Southern-born man said to me, lately, "It is
a white man's question." Shall we hereafter
exercise our rights as citizens of the United
States, which are simply our natural rights as
men, only by favor of Sharp's rifles and in entrenched villages?
It is, for instance, the foundation of that peculiar political cooperativeness and efficiency which
we see in the people of the South. Nothing is
safe if the slaves rise. Towards any party or
measures, therefore, which, however indirectly,
militate in the least against the everlasting
subordination of the slave race, they act, as
they do towards the slaves themselves, with the
self-preserving instinct of a community always
prepared for the attacks of a savage enemy.
Hence, the intensity and completeness with
which they give themselves up to any political
purpose in which an increase of wealth, and,
consequently, of stability in power, is involved
for the slaveholding body. They engage in
it as in war, and hold ordinary rules of morality
and social comity to be suspended till they have
gained their ends.
Their orators are wonit to boast that they 
AMERICAN EDIT'OR' INXTRODUCTION.  XXXV
belong to a military people.  What are termed
the military qualities of the South are, again,
the natural effects of this inherited watchfulness and readiness to meet, instantly and decisively, with cruelty and bloodshed, the first
symptoms of insubordinate disposition on the
part of their slaves.   These military qualities
are, in fact, not such as are most valued for
modern armies-individual staunchness,  patience, and endurance of character, contributing
to combined concentrativeness, precision, and
mobility-but rather those of the feudal ages,
or of savage warriors, the chief being mere
belligerent excitability, readiness of resort to
arms, an idolatrous estimate of the virtue of
physical courage, and an insane propensity of
that kind which leads Indian braves to amuse
or disgust their visitors, as the case may be, by
"scalp-dances" and monotonous recitative of
their glorious achievements, past and prospective. A government of force is ordinarily a
government of threats and gasconading ostentation. The subject must continually know
that the master is confident in his strength.
We are well instructed by Humboldt, that the 
XXXVi AMERICAN LDITOR'S INTRODUCTIOn.
only worthy purpose of the student of history
is to learn the influence which different circumstances have had on the development of character in mankind.  Doubtless, slavery has not
wholly failed of good effects upon the character
of our fellow-citizens of the South. I do not
now inquire what those effects are, because
such an inquiry is not pertinent to the subject
of this book. In the conduct of those who
represent the influence of slavery in Kansas,
only the worst qualities which it is possible for
men to acquire have hitherto been displayed.
Even the measurable success with which they
have, to this moment, maintained their conquest,
is due to no good judgment, energy, or bravery
of their own, but is evidently entirely dependent
on what, to such observers as Mir. Gladstone,
must be the most incredible and inexplicable
circumstance in the whole sad business-the
encouragement they receive in their villainy
from the democratic party of the Free-states, and
the constant countenance, supplies, reinforcements, and patronage of the federal administration. Withdraw this; let the oppressed citizens
generally feel that it would be right, anid proper, 
A1ERICAN EDITORL'S INTRODUCTION. XXXVii
and lawful to deal with their present rulers as
they have been dealt with by them, and the savages would disappear from the land as the more
manly Indians have before them, and then the
present scandal of Kansas would be lost in the
natural peace, order, and prosperity of a society,
no member of which need have aught to fear but
from his own folly, nor aught to hope but from
his own industry, as surely as the fire-blackness of its winter prairies is submerged in the
green flood of its spring.
Is it unpatriotic to thus show the incompatibility of slavery with good citizenship?
The people of the South are "my people."
I am attached to them equally as to those of
Massachusetts or Pennsylvania. My blood and
my fortune are equally at their service. I
desire their prosperity as I do that of no other
people in the world.  I look upon slavery as
an entailed misfortune which, with the best
disposition, it might require centuries to wholly
dispose of. I would have extreme charity for
the political expedients to which it tempts
a resort.
But it seems to me now, that such inexcusa 
Xxxviii AMERICAN EDITOR S INTRODUCTION.
ble scoundrelism in our common matters, as
has been shown in Kansas, should make us
consider if charity has not been carried too far;
if the forbearing, and apologetic, and patronizing disposition towards everything in the
South, or of the South, or for the South, is not
as much calculated to bring us into difficulty
as the reckless and denunciatory spirit attributed to the abolitionists. Have not thousands
of our Northern people so habituated themselves to defend the South that they have
become as blind to the essential evils and dangers of despotism as if they were themselves
directly subject to its influence?
In the South itself, there has been for many
years a school of fanatics, who maintain that
slavery is essential to a high form of civilization; who, in their selfish anxiety to maintain
it, have trained themselves to think that its
influence  is wholly ennobling  and refining,
christianizing and civilizing. These views are
so flattering to the predominant bad propensities developed  by slavery that  they  are
propagated with a zeal and a success like that
of the immediate followers of Mahomet. The 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION. XXXiX
characteristic vices of the middle ages are
unearthed and enshrined under the name of
chivalry, and the youth of our country is
taught to reverence a reckless, blundering,
and blood-thirsty buccaneer as a " second
Washington," and a silly, romantic, swaggering
poltroon, who can talk wickedly of women and
wear a graceful feather, as "the Marion of
Kansas."
Against this gospel no one dare contend with
a spirit and boldness at all comparable to that
of its apostles. Books, periodicals, and newspapers, are interdicted, if they maintain the faith
which was universal among its friends in the
South when our Union was formed. However
calm and respectful their manner, they are denied
the service of the United States mails; those who
receive them are denounced as abolition traitors; gentlemen who acknowledge themselves
to privately hold similar opinions, and who are
on terms of friendship with their authors, feel
obliged to "discountenance"  them.   "If I
should express my real opinions," said one,
himself a large slaveholder," it is not unlikely
I should be mobbed and my life placed in 
xl    AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
jeopardy by men who never have owned and
never will own a single negro."
Nay, have we not recently seen that, for a
mere act of customary politeness to a political
opponent, and of respect to a high official of
our national government, Mr. Aiken, of South
Carolina, the wealthiest citizen and the largest
slave-owner of that state, has been denounced
and insulted, as guilty of a "grosswrong" to his
constituents? There is no "democratic paper"
in all the South, believes the editor of the
South Carolina Times, that has not condemned
the act; no paper which has approved of
it.  In all the South, not one editor still
lives to sympathize with the instincts of a
gentleman of the old school. So complete
is the success of the new gospel of slavery in
its own country.*
* The argument with which the South Carolina Times, in
the article referred to, disposes of the claim of courtesy,
strikingly sustains the opinions I have expressed, that it is to
an habitual precaution  against  insubordination  of the
slaves that we are chiefly to attribute the peculiar customs
and manners of the South. Speaker Banks is an opponent
of the extension of slavery-not an abolitionist in the political sense; "but," says the Times, " we regard hinl as beyond 
AMERICAN EDITOR' S INTRODUCTION.    xli
At the North, we have not only "public
documents" sent us by the ton, but many selfstyled democratic newspapers, which follow,
as near as can be thought discreet for propagandists, in the same course-denying the evils
of slavery, apologizing for them, or, with astounding impudence, in the case of these Kansas
barbarisms, charging them upon the persecuted
and long-suffering victims, whom, also, they
hold up to scorn, as "traitors" and "abolitionists." The most successfiul journal in the
service of the administration  here in New
York, is not satisfied thus negatively to serve
the purposes of the slavery fanatics, but takes
the aggressive against freedom, daily arguing
"the universal failure of free society," earnestly combating " the wide-spread delusion
that Southern institutions are an evil, and
the pale of a refined courtesy —excluded by his own acts.
If incurable fanaticism be a merit, Speaker Banks has it.
If inexpiable treason be a virtue, Speaker Banks can claim
it. To prove this we need only repeat what we have said
before. Mr. Speaker Banks avows sentiments that lead
directly, and lead inevitably, to insurrection, rapine, and
murder!  He  boldly proclaims himself an enemy to the
South —to the institutions of the South." 
xlii  AMERICAN EDITOR' S INTRODUCTION.
their extension dangerous," and diligently advocating the claims to universal adoption of a
system, living under the influence of which
Jefferson declared  the citizen "must be a
prodigy who retained his morals and manners
undepraved;" which Patrick Henry testified to
be " at variance with the purity of our
religion;" which Masonl held "to produce the
most pernicious effects on manners," and calculated to draw "thejudgment of heaven upon a
country;" which Franklin termed" an atrocious
debasement of our nature," and "a plan for the
abolition" of which Washington declared to be
"among his first wishes."
When the Supreme Court finds slavery to have
been considered a national institution by these
statesmen in the construction of our constitution; when this opinion, at variance with
every impression we have received from our
fathers, is welcomed with cheers and congratulations in the North, as by the State Democratic Convention of Connecticut; when nearly
all the newspapers of the South, and one
quarter of those at the North, express nothing
but satisfaction with the criminality of the 
AMERICAN EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.  Xliii
late administration in Kansas; nothing but
charity or admiration for the savages nurtured by
slavery to fight its battles; nothing but sneers
and maledictions for the grand results of free
government manifested in the patient, orderly,
and industrious character of their victims;
when with the ruling, though minor party, of
our citizens, freedom and the "Rights of man"
are subjects only of ridicule-slavery only of
apology or laudation; when foreigners find
border-warfare the most interesting subject of
observation on our continent; when the subjects of every crowned head in Europe are
pointed to Kansas for a caution against dreams
of self-government; when our army is used as a
reserve force for bands of robbers, while they
murder the sons, and ravish the daughters, and
devastate the property of our dearest friends
and neighbors, and all in the service of slavery,
is it not reasonable to believe that there is
greater danger of our forgetting the evils which
the people of the South suffer from slavery
than of our overlooking the advantages which
they claim to enjoy from it?  
PREFACE.
THE following pages comprise the chief substance of a series of letters on the condition of
Kansas which appeared during the past winter
in the columns of The Times newspaper. By
the kind permission of the Editor, the material
then used has been introduced into the present
volume, in which a more complete and detailed
portraiture is attempted of those scenes of
peace and war which came under the author's
observation whilst travelling in the western
territories of America in the early summer of
1856.
To enable the reader better to comprehend
the political strife of which Kansas has been
the arena, the author has introduced into this
volume a few concluding chapters, which comprise in brief outline the principal events 
PREFACE.
which have marked the history of this contest.
The author has not attempted argument upon
the political questions involved. He has carefully avoided the subject of Slavery, except
where he speaks incidentally of the economics
of free and slave labour. He has not made
himself the advocate of the measures adopted
by the Free-state party to form a State Government, although the Committee of Investigation appointed by Congress report in favour
of the Constitution thus adopted, as one which
embodies the will of a majority of the people.
His simple desire has been to present facts,
and he cheerfully leaves it to others to draw
such inferences as they may deemn legitimate.
As it has been the author's object to restrict
his statements to that which he has seen or
been able personally toverify whilst in the territory, it necessarily follows that the events
which have occured since his visit are nmore
cursorily noticed.   He  has only introduced
these later events in order to give completeness
to the narrative; but, as his information has
been gathered solely from those of whose
trustworthiness he has had full proof in con
xlvi 
PREFACE.
nection with the events with which he is personally familiar, the author feels confidence in
the accuracy of the statements which the few
closing pages contain.
To the two interesting volumes which have
recently appeared in America upon the subject
of Kansas, by Mr. William Phillips and Mrs.
Robinson, the author is especially indebted for
facts contained in the concluding chapters of
this Book. Had they reached his hands before
his own volume was in the press, they might
have been further serviceable to him. As it is,
they have aided him in writing of that which
has occurred since his visit, whilst they give
valuable confirmation to the statements contained in the narrative of his own investiga,
tions.
Lastly, the author hopes it will not gire
pain to any one of his many valued friends in
America, that he should have addressed himself to a subject which they cannot but grieve
over as he does. He can assure such, that he
has had no object in view but to hasten the
application of a remedy to that which is a sore
evil. Had similar events taken place in his
x*.i 
xlviii             PREFACE.
own country, he would have felt warranted in
speaking of them with far greater severity. If
any feel yet aggrieved, he can only repeat the
maxim:  "Amicus Socrates, amicus Plato, sed magis
amicus veritas."
But of those whose friendship is a prize
worth treasuring-and many such the author
rejoices to number in America-he feels assured it will never be said that their friendship
was conditional on silence as to the truth.
The author commits his Book, therefore, to
his true friends and to all others, known or unknown, in the belief that the truth, spoken
without animosity and with a sincere desire to
render beneficial service, will, whilst it contributes towards this end, be misapprehended
or misjudged by none.
xlviii 
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
PREFACE.
CHAPTER I.
Excitement in relation to Kansas.-Difference of Opinion.-The
President's Special Message.-Washington.-Contest as to a
Seat in Congress.-Rival Legislatures.-Appointment of a Com mittee of Investigation.-Southern M1eetings.-Volunteems in
Arms.-Missouri. - Powder  and Shot. - Advertisements. - A
Crisis at Hand.-Visit to Kansas.....        I1
CHAPTER II.
Outburst of Violence.-Burning of Lawrence.-Contents of the
following Chapters.-Political Parties.-Dramatis  Personae. Federal Appointees.-Border-ruffian Ring-leaders.-Leaders of
the Free-state Cause............      10
CHAPTER III.
Situation of Lawrence.-Eventful History.-The Winter Campaign
of 1855.-Earthwork Fortifications.-Organized Defence.-De termination to "wipe out Lawrence."-The Southern War-cry.
-Peaceful Policy of Free-state Inhabitants.-Reinforcement of
the Border-ruffian Army.-Sheriff Jones's reported Assassination.
-Sheriff Jones's Tours of Arrest.-Hotel and Newspaper offices
to be abated as Nuisances.-M-ay 21st.-Position of the besieg ing Army.-The War.flag raised.-Arrests of Citizens.-Sur render of Arms demanded by Jones.-Entry of the Forces. General Atchison's Address to his men.-Demolition of Printing offices.-Cannon.-Burning of Free-state Hotel.-Flight of the
Women and Children.-General Pillage.-Firing of Governor
Robinson's House.-Southern Hearts filled with Joy and Pride.
-" Law and Order" trinumphant.....   21
C
iii
xlv 
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
The day after the Sack.-Disbanding of the Forces.-Ruffians exe cuting the Law.-Thirst.-Double Rectified.-A Night at Kan sas City.-Appearance of the Mob.-Desperate Characters. Grotesque Costume.-A Fearful threat.-Night-trip on the Mis souri.-Fellow-travellers.-" Border-ruffians."-A Popular Ora tor.-Pleasant Repose.-Morning.-" Extras."-An Incident.-A
respectable Merchant.-His Opinions.-The "Old Hoss" does
not care about Breakfast.-A gentle Hint.-A better Set.-Civil ities.-The persevering Merchant.-A Western Man.-Quiet
Conversation.-Friendly Advice.-A Yankee is a Nuisance, and
must be put down.-A candid Opinion....   39
CHAPTER V.
Leavenworth City.-Going on Shore.-A State Prisoner.-Gov ernorRobinson in Custody.-Scanty Accommodation.-Governor
Robinson's Examination.-Horrid Threats.-Office of the Hotel.
-A Border-ruffian Armoury.-A Free-soiler Silenced.-How to
settle the Abolitiouists.-Southern "Fixins." - Fort Leaven worth.-Gambling Houses.-A Night of shamless WVickedness
and unchecked Outrage.-Governor Robinson's Arrest.-Fierce
Threats.-Feare of a Rescue.-Committee of Investigation. Beware of the Hemp.-Arrest of Free-state Men.-State of
Parties.-Revulsion of Feeling.-Organization of Guerrilla Par ties.-Frequent Collisions.                               54
CHAPTER VI.
WVhy are such Outrages permitted?-Total Failure of Justice. The Jeffreys of the Territory.-A Test required.-An impious
Oath.-Affirmation of the Nebraska-Kansas Act and the Fugi tive Slave Law.-Judge, Jury, and Law.-All one Way.-Sam pie of the Kansas Statutes.-Ball and Chain.-Freedom  of
Speech forbidden.-Punishment of Death.-Abuse of the Term
"Law."-No Hope of Justice for Free-state Men...   67
CHAPTER VII.
Southern Law-makers.-Perversion of Authority.-A fiaudulent
Legislature in Poweer.-The  "Blue Lodgo."-The  Electors
overawed.-General Stringfellow's Speech.-The Physical Force
I 
CONTLENTS.
Argument.-Itow to get a Majority.-Illeg,al Votes.-Not Four
per Cent. Legal.-Terrorism.-Polling.-The Congress Report.
-Right of Might.-A forcible Persuader.-Conclusions of the
Committee of Investigation.-A  Poll-tax.-Pro-slavery Votes
purchasable by Law.-Anti-slavery Votes pronunced void
by Law.-Public Documents cited.-Laws worse than Draconian.........       77
CHAPTER VIII.
Recapitulation.-The" bogus" Legislature.-3Men and Things in
Kansas.-Different Classes of Settlers.-Immense Extent of
Country.-Physical Aspect.-Rivers.-The Kansas and Missouri.
-Undulating Prairie.-Caravans.-Indian Tribes.-Fertility of
the Soil.-Salubrity of the Climate.-Commercial Advantages. The "mad Missouri."-Excellent Market.-" Nebraska-Kansas
Act."-A Race between North and South.-Pro-slavery Party
in the Ascendant.-Struggle between the two Parties.-Tarring
and Feathering.-Sale of a Free Man.-Model Legislators.-Dis cordant Elements.-Development........    90
CHAPTER IX.
Striking Contrast. —Freedom and Slavery.-Rapid Progress of
Kansas.-Northern Emigrant Aid Societies.-Spirit of Enterprise.
-The "Regulators."-" Law and Order" Mfen.-The Widow's
Son.-Barbarous Outrage.-The Western Frontiersman.-IIis
Character.-Generous Reciprocity. —Mode of Intercourse. The  Pioneer of the New World.-His  Appointments-The
Romance of Peril.-Achievements of the Western Pathfinder. Contempt of the Yankees.-The Source of Life and Vigour. Effect of Politics on the Western Character....  102
CHAPTER X.
Varieties of Population in Kansas.-Types of Mankind on board a
Missouri Steamer.-The Border-ruffians.-Loud  Men.-Silent
Free-soilers.-New  Mexican Spaniards.-Nuns.-Miormons. German Jews.-" Dutchmen."-Professed Gamblers.-High
Stakes.-Government Officials.-United States Officers.-The
African Race.-Freedom of Speech forbidden.-A curious Illus
tration.-Judge O'Trigger.-His Appearance-Conversatiou
11 
CONTENTS.
Hisi Legal Wisdom.-Lynch Law.-The Judicial Functionary's
Plan..........   114
CHAPTER XI.
Two great Divisions.-Pro-slavery Men and Free-soilers.-Sub divisions.-Slaves.-Small Number of Slave-owners in Kansas.
-Their Works.-" Border-ruffians."-King of the Fire-eaters.
- Their  Numbers. - Volunteer  Companies. - An  American
"Groggery."-A Border-ruffian's Boast.-A fair "Border-ruffian."
-The Free-state Party.-General Lane.- Governor Robinson.  His Services. —Enormities of Naples and Austria reproduced in
America.-Relative Numbers in Kansas of Southerns and North  erns.-Migration.-Permanent Settlers.-Floating Population.  Western Cities.-Contrast between Free and SlaveTowns.   123
CHAPTER XII.
Subject of the following Chapters. -Leavenworth City.-Far
Western Life.-Its accidental Features.-Fort Leavenworth. Appearance of the City.-Buildings.-Plan of the City. —Re mains of the primeval Forest.-Situation of the Houses.-Laying
out a City.-Most desirable Locations.-Increased Value of
Property. -Rapid Rise of a City. - Substantial Buildings. Wooden Shanties.............   138
CHAPTER XILI.
Kansas Interiors.-The Log-hut.-Discomforts.-WAind and Mud.
-Strange IMedley.-Various Modes of Construction.-Different
Stages of Log-hut building.-The Wooden House and Shanty.
-How it is built.-Tent-life.-Interior Economy.-" Temperance
House." -The Company. -Occupations. — Unreasonable I)e mands for Accommodation.-Alligators  turned out.-Travel
teaches Contentment.-Disallowed at Night, but enforced by
Day.-Conveniences of the Toilet.-Meals.-Pride of the Host
-Rapid Eating.-Population of Leavelnworth.-Commerce of
the Plains.-Value of Stock.-Caravan Trains.    I.   146
CHAPTER XIV.
Traffic with the Indians.-How it is carried on.-Business and
Pleasure.-Good Per-eentage.-Busy Appearance of Loave
li,i 
CONTENTS.
worth.-Necessaries of civilized Life.-Steamboats.-Railroads.
-The Electric Telegraph.-Squatter-life.-Land without a Title.
-The "Claim."-Division of New Lands.-A "Bee."-" Logrolling."'-Squatter Sovereignty.-" Tomahawk Rights."-" Entering," or" Pre-empting."-Abuses of the System.-" Jump.
ing."-"' Foundations."-A " Caution."-Right of Suffrage. 160
CHAPTER XV.
The Geography of Kansas.Junction of the Kansas and Missouri
Rivers.-Kansas City.-The Santa Fe6 Road.-Settlements up the
Kansas River.-Lawrence.-Lecompton.-Topeka.-Kaw Half.
breeds.-Fort Riley.-Mounds.-California Road.-The Oregon
Trail.-Crossing the Plains.-Character of the Country.-The
Great American Desert.-The Rocky Mountains.-Bailks of the
Missouri.-Leavenworth City and Fort.-Western Routes.-The
Upper Missouri.-Osawatomie.-Climate and Soil of Kansas. Production.-Wages.......    173
CHAPTER XVI.
The Red Races of Kansas.-Variety of Condition.-Deep Debase ment.-Preju icial Intercourse with White MIen.-Fire-water. Civilization.-Efforts for the Elevation of the Indian Tribes. Good Fruit.-The Indigenous Tribes of Kansas.-Kaws, Osages,
Ottoes, Pawnees.-A Total Abstinence Tribe.-The Immigrant
Tribes.-Shawnees, Delawares, Wyandots.-A Wyandot Family.
-Kickapoos, Sacs and Foxes, Iowas.-Pottawatamies, Sacs and
Foxes, Ottawas.-Results.......   189
CHAPTER XVII.
Visit to a Company of Sioux Indians.-Their Crimes and Punish ment.-A timid Companion.-Ho! ho! ho! ho!-Friendship
accepted.-Friendship mistrusted.-Exhibition of Displeasure.
-The Calumet of Peace.-Indian Hospitality.-Te-o-kun-ko's
Appearance, Dress, and Feats.-Torn Belly in a Blanket.-Tho
Squaw and Pappoose.-Furnishings of the Tent.-Teaching the
young Idea how to Shoot.-Solemn Melancholy.-Parting Friend ship.-Mother and Child.-Description of Kansas Life concluded.
-The Reign of Terror.......   204
CHAPTER XVIII.
The COmtrversy.-Shall Kansas be Slave or Free?-Savery a
iiii 
CONTENTS.
Barrier to a Country's Advancement.-Influence of Slavery on
Population, Education, Cultivation of the Soil, Price of Land.A fair Competition would make Kansas Free.-Pecuniary and
Political Interests of the South.-A fair Competition from the
first denied..........   216
CHAPTER XIX.
The Commencement of the Troubles in Kansas.-Its Organization
as a Territory.-Slavery prohibited previously by the Missouri
Compromise.-Senator Douglas.-Conception of a bold Idea. The Compact broken.-Passing of the Nebraska-Kansas Act. Squatter Sovereignty.-Unskilled Legislators.-The People to
regulate their Domestic Institutions in their own Way.-Mr.
Seward's Speech........   230
CHAPTER XX.
Missouri takes an Interest in Kansas.-Claims staked off.-Sover  eignty taken up in the new Territory.-Blue Lodges.-Slavery,
"at whatever Cost of Blood and Treasure."-Hostile Resolu  tions.-Indian Lands ceded.-Northern Immigration.-The Chal lenge accepted.-Appointment of Governor and Judiciary.  Governor Reeder.-Lawrence founded.-Leavenworth and other
Settlements.-Election of Delegate to Congress.-The Contest.
— Missourian Invasion.- General Stringfellow's Programme of
Operations.-Return of General Whitfield....   239
CHAPTER XXI.
Election for the Territorial Legislature, March 30, 1855.-Spirit of
the Press.-Preparations for an Invasion in Missouri.-Numbers
of the Invading Forces.-The Hemp.-Incidents of Bowie-knife
Voting.-Ninety out of every Hundred Votes Illegal.-Incidents
at Bloomington.-Sheriff Jones' Exploits.-Windows Smashed.
-IHouse Lifted.-Ballot-box Stolen.-Hurrah for Missouri!-Re turning Home.-Piratical Symbols.-Victory.-Protests against
Elections.-Unpopularity of Governor Reeder.-Summary Pun.
ishment of a Newspaper Press.-The Fraudulent Legislature Or ganized.-Exclusion of Free-state Members.-Two Months of
Legislation. - Appointment of Officers. -Reciprocity. -Public
Companies..............     253
CHAPTER XXII.
Removal of Governor Reeder. —Appointment of Governor Sh - 
liv 
CONTENTS.
non.-Character of the two Governors contrasted.-Shannon's
Declaration of Political Views.-Organization of the Free-state
Party.-Independent Action to form a State Government. —Public Sentiment among the Southern Party.-Outrages.-A Clergyman floated on the Missouri.-Murder.-Slackness of the Law.
-Singular Use of Judicial Power.....   271
CHAPTER XXIII.
Murder of Dow.-The Guilty acquitted, the Innocent arrested.-The
Midnight Rescue.-Rally to Arms.-The Wakarusa War —Posi tion of the Encampments.-First Siege of Lawrence.-Its De fence. -Amusing Incidenlts. -_ Mournful Events. -The Treaty
of Lawrence.-Peace Festivities. -Disbanding of the Ruffian
Forces.-Discontent.-Barbarous Treatment of Prisoners.-Mur  der of Mr. Brown.-Fiendish Cruelty.....    283
CHAPTER XXIV.
Change in Popular Feeling after the Destruction of Lawrence. Retaliation.-M3assacre at Osawatomie.-Personal Experience. Battles of Black Jack and Franklin.-Sack of Osawatomnie. Road-side Horrors.-Hanging.-Repulsion of Northern Immi grants. - A Barbarous Wager. - Murder and Scalping. - The
Atrocity Completed.-August.-Murder of Major Hoyt.-Burn ing of Pro-slavery Forts.-Colonel Titus Seized and Liberated.
-Treaty of Peace.-Militia Called Out.-Proclamnation of Re bellion.-" The Army of Law and Order in Kansas Territory." Second Fight at Osawatomie.-General Lane's Free-state Army.
-Expulsion of the Free-state Inhabitants of Leavenworth.-The
President's Messages........                  296
CHAPTER XXV.
Governor Geary.-His Pacific Proclamation.-Its Interpretation. Release of State Prisoners on Bail.-Capture of Ninety-eight
Free-state Men.-Their Condition in Prison.-Revolting Inhu manity towards the Prisoners.-Sufferings of the Settlers.-Sick ness, Cold, Hunger, and Orphanage. -The Present and the
Future of Kansas.-Action of Congress......310
CHAPTER XXVI.
Supplement by the American Editor.
IV
..     319 
p 
KANSAS.
CHAPTER 1.
Excitement in relation to Kansas.-Difference of Opinion. —
The President's Special Message.-Washington.-Contest as
to a Scat in Congress.-Rival Legislatures.-Appointment
of a Committee of Investigation.-Southern Meetings. Volunteers in arms.-Missouri.-Powder and Shot.-Adver tisements.-A Crisis at HIand.-Visit to Kansas.
WHEN  in New York, during the latter part
of the winter of 1855-6, I heard daily discussions on the condition of affairs in the far
western territory of Kansas.   Some  of  the
newspapers had their special correspondence at
what was termed "the seat of war," and all
were eager to supply the latest intelligence
from the scene of contest. At Washington,
whilst the house of Representatives was busy
choosing a Speaker,-a process which lasted
through nine weeks, and required one hundred
and thirty-three ballots,-the President, without waiting for the organization of the house,
made Kansas the subject of a special message.
Yet, while all parties agreed in recognizing the
1
Do 
KANSAS.
existence of disorder iii Kansas, there were
strange differences in the light in which that
disorder was regarded.
AIany of the public  journals spoke with
indignant censure of bloodshed and forcible invasion from neighbouring states, as well as of
violent interference with the people of Kansas
in the exercise of their rights of suffrage. The
President spoke in mild terms of "disturbing
circumstances," "irregularities,"  and "inauspicious events," adding, that "whatever irregularities might have occurred in the elections,
it seemed too late now to raise that question."
The papers spoke of a legislative body claiming authority over the residents of Kansas,
which they had not elected, but which had
been forciby thrust upon thenm with pistol and
bludgeon by a lawless horde from the State of
Missouri.  The  President said, that "for all
present purposes the legislative body, thus
constituted and elected, was the legitimate
assembly of the territory."
The people of Kansas were represented by a
large portion of the press as groaning under a
most oppressive legislation, and as craving de
2 
THE PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE.   3
liverance from- a fraudulent legislature, and
from tyrannical laws enacted by that legislature. The President made it the conclusion of
his message, that he felt it his imperative duty
to exert the whole power of the federal executive for the vindication of these laws, for the
suppression of all resistance to them, and for
the support thereby of public order in the territory. Hle begged all good citizens to help him
thus to restore peace, and asked for an appropriation to defray the expense of enforcing the
laws, and thus maintaining public order in
Kansas.
The difference was apparent. A large portion of the people denied the legality of the
legislative power in the territory, and bitterly
complained of the injustice with which that
power was exercised, and the oppressions under
which they were  consequently placed.  The
President said it was too late now to raise the
question of legality,-they must submit; that
if they did submit, peace would ensue; but, if
otherwise, the federal force and the army of the
United States would be employed against them
to compel their submission. 
KANSAS.
At Washington I gained farther insight into
the question.
I saw the tall figure of General Whitfield
moving about the House of Representatives,
and heard lengthened arguments whether he
or the ex-govenor Reeder was the rightful delegate of Kansas. These discussions ended in
permission being given to Mr. Whitfield, the
pro-slavery delegate, to occupy a seat in the
house without voting, the question of right between him and Mr. Reeder being reserved.
Every day I heard Kansas and its contest
argued upon in the Senate Chamber and in the
House of Representatives, in the bustling hall
of the National Hotel, and in private political
circles. I heard that which I conceived to be
the extreme on the one side and on the other,
.and was not long in discovering that, while the
President and the advocates of Southern views
maintained the authority of the illegally constituted Territorial Legislature of Kansas, and
of the judiciary and other officers appointed by
it, the opposite party, with a large portion of
the people of Kansas themselves, asserted the
claims of an incipient State Legislature, which
4 
COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY.
they had elected in the prospect of its being
admitted as a state.
A double legislature, a double judiciary, a
double set of civil appointments throughout
each claiming sole prerogative, the State Legislature calling the Territorial a fraud, and the
Territorial calling the State Legislature a sham;
such a political condition appeared strangely
anomalous.
On the one side of the question a very long
report from the Committee of Territories was
presented to the Senate by lMr. Douglas, and
on the other side, a "minority report," from
the same committee by Mr. Collamer. At
length, on the 19th of March, Congress gave a
temporary check to the protracted discussion
by accepting a motion which sprang from the
Committee on Elections, to the effect that a
committee should be appointed to investigate
and collect evidence in regard to the troubles
in Kansas generally, and particularly in regard
to any fraudulent or violent proceedings that
might have accompanied the elections in the
territory. No member from any one of the
Southern states voted in favour of the investi
6 
KANSAS.
gation, but happily a majority was given by
the Northern states, and the Committee on
Inquiry was appointed. This resolution was
passed whilst I was in Washington, and I made
up my mind at the same time, if practicable,
in the spring of the year, to carry out an
investigation on my own account, and to satisfy myself, if possible, as to where the truth
lay, which seemed buried beneath so overwhelming a mass of contradictory assertions.
Later,' when in South Carolina and other
Southern states, I witnessed extraordinary
meetings, presided over by men of influence,
at which addresses of almost incredible violence were delivered on the necessity of" forcing slavery into Kansas," of "spreading the
beneficent influence of Southern institutions
over the new territories," and of " driving
back at the point of the bayonet the niggerstealing scum poured down by Northern fanaticismn."
These meetings generally terminated by an
urgent appeal for men and money. The result
of this public agitation was, that large compa
6 
POWDE.R ANiD SHOT.
nies were formed of young  meni  who were
enthusiastic for slavery, and subscriptions of
large amount were made to send these, who
were already at blood-heat with excitement,
armed into the territory, and furnished with
means of support during the continuance of
the campaign.
In the latter part of May I found myself in
the State of Missouri.   For  two  or three
months I had read none but Southern journals,
I had spoken with none but Southern men, I
had heard none but Southern views, and, as a
consequence, I was fully furnished with the
South-side aspect of the controversy.
The accounts from Kansas indicated a most
threatening condition of affairs.  Party bitterness had apparently increased.   Law existed
only for party purposes, and deeds of violence
were of almost daily occurrence.
The St. Louis papers contained advertisemenits, by the half-column, of rifles, revolvers,
gunpowder, and lead. One of these advertisemients may serve as an example of the whole.
I extract the following from the Daily lissouri
7 
KANSAS.
Re)ublican, published at St. Louis.   Attention
is arrested by the heading, "K ANSAS," in large
type, and the representation of a revolver in
the margin.
KANSAS.
JUST RECEIVED, by Adams 4,
Co's. Express, a large and fine Assort
ment of DOUBLE and
SISHOT-GUNS,
which will be sold cheap for Cash.
We have also on hand an Assortment of our own Manufacture of
RIFLES,
so well known for the past thirty years throughout the
WIestern country.
Emigrants to Kansas should not fail to call at 
, and examine our Stock before purchasing else
where.
The  Committee  of Inquiry appointed by
Congress I understood to be at the time in
Kansas,  carrying  on  their  investigations.
Through the kindness of fiiends, I had been
furnished with letters to Colonel Sumner, who
8 
VISIT TO KANSAS.
was in command of the United States troops,
and other persons of influence in the territory.
Being already in the adjoining State, and
events of great moment in the history of
Kansas, if not the breaking out of civil war
itself, being evidently at hand, I felt disinclined
to forego my purposed visit.   Five hundred
more miles of river navigation would take me
to the scene of conflict.   I resolved to go and
see for myself.
1*
9 
KANSAS.
CHAPTER II.
Oatburst of Violence.-Burning of Lawrence.-Contents of
the following Chapters.-Political Parties.-Dramatis Per sone.-Federal Appointees.-Border-ruffian Ring-leaders. Leaders of the Free-state Cause.
COULD I have made choice of a period in which
to visit Kansas, which should be most rife with
incident and best adapted for the successful
prosecution of my inquiries, I could not have
selected one more favourable than that of my
actual visit. The affairs in the territory had
reached a crisis. At that moment unresisted
oppression had reached its highest point, and
the severest blow was struck which Kansas has
yet received. Greater individual suffering may
have been inflicted later, but May 21st, 1856:
was a day which turned the tide of popular
feeling, and thus terminated one era in the history of the Kansas struggle, and introduced
another.
On that eventful day the town of Lawrence,
tO 
BUTRNIN-G OF LAWRENC,E.
without offence or crime, was attacked by armed
forces, some six or eight hundred strong; its
principal hotel, the largest private building in
the territory, was battered down and then reduced to ashes; the printing-offices of the Freestate journals were set fire to, the editors having
been previously captured and carried off as prisoners; the type and presses were destroyed and
cast into the Kaw river; and the city itself was
given over to a merciless sack.  On the same
day, and by the same agency, occurred the firing
of Governor Robinson's house on MIount Oread,
after it had been made throughout the day the
head-quarters of the invading troops. Governor Robinson himself had been arrested a few
days before while travelling eastward, and was
a prisoner during the attack upon Lawrence, as
well as for four months subsequent. His arrest
was made without a legal warrant, and his tedious confinement in the gaol at Lecompton
was equally without sentence or trial.
But the blow aimed at the Free-state cause
in the destruction of Lawrence, and the seizure
and imprisonment of some of its most active
adherents, brought a severe recoil. A spirit of
11 
KANSAS.
resistance was evoked, public feeling throughout
the country was aroused, and it is not improbable that this great temporary triumph of the
pro-slavery party in Kansas may prove itself in
the end its most signal defeat.
In the following chapter I purpose describing,
as accurately as possible, from information gained
on the spot, the events of the siege of Lawrence.
It may be right to add that, whatever testimony
I gathered in Kansas was, for the most part,
obtained from pro-slavery men. My account,
therefore, is rather the result of the admissions of
these than of the assertions made by Free-soil
advocates. I have endeavoured to omit all
statements which are not admitted by the
concurrent testimony of both parties.
In a succeeding chapter I will give some detail of events witnessed by myself, which will
illustrate the earlier portion of Governor Robinson's captivity and the spirit of his captors,
during a short period when it was my fortune
to be his companion in travel.
As an introduction to these narratives, however, it may be of service to many readers to
bave presented in a single view the names of
12 
DRAMATIS PERSONAE.
the principal personages who have borne their
part, whether nobly or ignobly, in the earlier
stages of Kansas history. A more particular
delineation of some of the most noted of these
characters may be attempted later, when occasion requires. But the following list will
interpret for the reader the names most frequently occurring in the narrative, and will
indicate the official capacity or political views
possessed by the individuals themselves.
Of political parties in Kansas, the two main
divisions are, of course, the Free-state and the
pro-slavery parties; but the latter exhibits a
further distinction, according as its adherents
are moderate and constitutional in their maintenance of Southern views, or endeavour to
force their principles upon the territory by
powder and shot. The latter policy is known
as "border-ruffianism."
COLONEL E. V. SUMNER. — Colonel of the 1st
regiment of cavalry, and, until the latter part
of 1S56, commander of the United States troops
in Kansas. Colonel Sumner won distinction in
the Mexican war, and has had much experi
13 
KANSAS.
ence of military affairs in the Western territories. 
ANDREW H. REEDER.-The first Governor of
Kansas appointed by the President. A man of
erect form and determined aspect, hair slightly
gray, more apt to listen than to commit himself
by speech. He received his appointment as a
friend of the Southern interest, but offended his
party by failing to espouse the border-ruffian
cause. Hie was removed from the governorship
by the President in the summer of 1855, and
was subsequently elected by the Free-state
people as delegate to Congress, in opposition to
Whitfield.
DANIEL WooDSoN.-The Secretary of the territory during Reeder's governorship, and afterwards acting Governor until the appointment
of Shannon. He is a tall, somewhat handsome
young man; comes from Arkansas, and is true
to the South, but did not join in all particulars
the extreme party.
WILSON SHANNON.-The second Governor of
14 
DRAMATIS PERSON.E.
Kansas appointed by the President. An extreme
Southern man in politics, of the border-ruffian
type. Under Shannon's governorship, all the
worst deeds that have marked the history of
Kansas have taken place. As the head of the
executive in the territory during the borderruffian rule, Governor Shannon's name will
need to be mentioned only too frequently.
J. W. WHITFIELD.-The  delegate returned
chiefly by Missourian votes, to represent Kansas
in Congress.  "General" Whitfield, as he is
commonly called, is a resident of Missouri, and
was formerly an Indian agent. He is a tall
man, of uninviting expression of countenance
and somewhat sinister aspect. Latterly the
General took the field, and became very active
in the border-ruffian campaign.
SAMUEL  DEXTER  LECOMPTE.-The  Chief
Justice of Kansas territory, appointed by the
President. A small, fair-complexioned, keeneyed lawyer, Judge Lecompte has rendered
himself infamous as the type of judicial borderruffianism, even as Shannon represents the same
15
I 
IKANSAS.
principle in the executive. The town of Lecompton has been named in honour of the
Judge, and has been designated by the territorial legislature as the capitol of the territory.
J. B. DO,NALDSON.-The Marshal of the territory, also appointed byfederal authority. Like
Shannon, a native of Ohio, and, like him, also
determined to serve the power which placed
him in office. He is a man somewhat advanced
in life, but has made himself remarkable, even
amongst his associates, for his unscrupulous surrender of his powers as United States Marshal
into the hands of the border-ruffian leaders.
W. P. FAIN.-Deputy U. S. Marshal. A
Georgian, and a despicable follower of Donaldson in his measures of extermination.
SAMUEL J. JONES.-Formerly Postmaster in
the town of Westport, Missouri; afterwards
made Sheriff of Douglas County in Kansas,
and chief agent in the execution of the behests of the border-ruffian judiciary. A remarkably mean and contemptible man, but
16 
PRO-SLAVERY LEADERS.
one who has had much power placed in his
hands.
DAVID R. ATCHISON, of Platte County, M3issouri, formerly Senator for the State, President
of the Senate, and Vice-President of the United
States; known  on the border as "General
Atchison," or "Old Dave,"  Captain of the
Platte County Rifles, and a prime leader among
the border-ruffians.  A thorough Missourian in
his language and habits, as well as in his political views. To General Atchison and the four
or five whose names follow, belongs the credit
of having commenced and been the chief
agents in sustaining the border-ruffian policy in
Kansas.
J. IH. STRINGFELLOW, living in the town of
Atchison,  K. T.   A  doctor; editor of the
Squatter Sovereign, a violent border-ruffian paper; member  of the  House  of Representatives in the Territorial Legislature, and chosen
to the Speakership of the same. Called generally
Dr. Stringfellow. His editorial articles breathe
out threatenings and slaughter continuallv.
17 
KANSAS.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN  STRINGFELLOW.-   A
brother of the former, practising as a lawyer,
in partnership with Peter T. Abell, in Weston, Missouri.  Called by distinction" General"
String,fellow.   A  border-ruffian  to the core.
Rather over the middle age, fair in complexion,
but furious in his crusade against freedom.
WILLIAM P. RIcHARDSON.-Another of the
Missourian brotherhood, who has been engaged
in the plot from the commencement. He was
elected to the Teritorial Legislature as Member
of Council, and, on the organization of the
militia by the legislature, was made MajorGeneral of the Kansas Teritorial Militia.
DR. GEORGE W. BAYLESS, COL. BROWN, COL.
YOUNG, COL. BOONE, all residents of Missouri,
and leaders in the cause of slavery extension.
REV. THOMAS JOHNSON.-Superintendent of
the Shawnee Manual Labor School and Mission;
appointed by the United States Government to
teach the Shawnee Indians farming, letters, and
the principles of Christianity. It will be well
18 
LEADERS OF THE FREE-STATE CAUSE.   19
for the Indians that they should not follow his
practice. He is a warm adherent of borderruffianism. As President of the Council, he has
been elevated to the highest office in the Territorial Legislature, and some absurd attempts
were once made to make him Governor.
COLONEL BUFORD, of Alabama, and COLONEL
TITUS, of Florida; two zealous Southern men,
who came with other officers into Kansas about
April, 1S56, at the head of large companies of
volunteers from the Southern States, to aid the
border-ruffian cause.
CHARLES ROBINSON.-A native of Massachusetts, by profession a physician, and who has
had some experience of life in California. Although under forty years of age, his cool selfpossession, caution, and soundness of judgment
marked him out as the leader of the Free-state
cause. When the Free-state party formed a
military organization, Dr. Robinson became
Major-General and Commander-in-Chief; and,
on their forming a civil power, he was elected
Governor under their State constitution. 
KANSAS.
COLONEL JAMES H. LANE.-A young man,
full of impetuosity and fiery daring; obtained
his rank as Colonel in the Mexican war; has
also sat in Congress. He- has devoted himself
with great spirit to the Free-state cause in
Kansas, was made Brigadier-General in the
Free-state army, and was chosen as President
of the Constitutional Convention which met at
Topeka.
SAMUEL C. POMEROY.-Also a Free-state
General, and one who has taken, from the
first, an active interest in the settlement of
Kansas.
WILLIAM  Y. RoBERTS.-Made  LieutenantGovernor under the Free-state constitution.
A mnan who likes, apparently, to see himself
in office, but lacks the nerve for high occasions.
20 
SITUATION OF LAWRENCE.
CHAPTER III.
Situation of Lawrence.-Eventful History.-The Winter Cam paign of 1855.-Earthwork Fortifications.-Organized De fence.- Determination to "wipe out Lawrence." — The
Southern War-cry.-Peaceful Policy of Free-state Inhabit ants.-Reinforcement of the Border-ruffian Army.-Sheriff
Jones's reported Assassination.-Sheriff Jones's Tours of
Arrest.-Hotel and Newspaper offices to be abated as Nui  sances.-May 21st.-Position of the besieging Army.-The
War-flag raised. —Arrests of Citizens.-Surrender of Arms
demanded by Jones.-Entry of the Forces.-General Atchi son's Address to his men.-Demolition of Printing-offices. Cannon. —Burning of Free-state Hotel.-Flight of the Wo men and Children.-General Pillage.-Firing of Governor
Robinson's House.Southern Hearts filled with Joy and
Pride.-" Law and Order"' triumphant.
SOME forty miles up the Kaw or Kansas
river, and some forty miles, therefore, from the
Missouri state-line, stands the town of Law
rence. It is situated at a very beautiful spot
on the right bank of the river. Behind the
town, on the southwest, at the distance of
nearly a mile, rises a hill of considerable elevation, known as Mount  Oread.   Towards the
21
II 
KANSAS.
east, undulating prairie-land stretches for many
miles, intersected by the Wakarusa Creek.
And at a spot where the prairie, at the foot
of a somewhat high bluff, slopes towards the
woody margin of the Kaw, stands the busy
little town itself, now so famous in Kansas
annals.
The autumn of 1854 witnessed the erection
of the first log-huts of Lawrence by a few families of New England settlers. During the year
1855 its population increased rapidly, chiefly
by the arrival of emigrants from the Northern
States.  Its log-hut existence gave way to a
more advanced stage, in which buildings of
brick and stone were introduced; and the
growing prosperity of the "Yankee town" early
began to excite the jealousy of the abettors of
slavery. Viewed as the stronghold of the Freestate party, it was made the point of attack
during what was called "the Wakarusa war"
in the winter of 1855. Before the termination
of this its first siege, the necessity of some
means of defence being manifest, the inhabitants
of Lawrence proceeded to fortify their town by
the erection of four or five circular earthworks,
22 
wiVNTER CAMPAIGN.
thrown up about seven feet in height, and
measuring a hundred feet in diameter. These
were connected with long lines of earthwork
entrenchments, rifle-pits, and other means of
fortification. Whilst these engineering operations were being carried on, the men might
have been seen, day and night, working in the
trenches, in haste to complete the defence of
their Western  Sebastopol.   The inhabitants
were also placed under arms, formed into conmpanties, with their respective commanders,
under the generalship of Robinson and Lane,
had their daily drill, mounted guard day and
night upon the forts, and sent out at night a
horse-patrol to watch the outer posts, and give
warning of approaching danger.
The pacification which followed the Wakarusa campaign in December, 1855, afforded only
a temporary lull. Although war had ceased,
the people did not cease to carry arms, and used
them, when occasion offered, with fatal effect.
The Missourians did not conceal that they were
organizing another invasion, which should
effectually "wipe out Lawrence,"  and  win
Kansas for slavery, "though they should wade
23 
KANSAS.
to the knees in blood to obtain it."   The
Southern states were being appealed to far and
wide, to aid by men and money in the extirpation of every Northern settler. The spirit of
the pro-slavery party may be gathered from
their journals, from the columns of which extracts like the following might be made in any
number. After speaking of Free-state men as
being "willing to violate the constitution of
their country, which explicitly recognizes
slavery," the Kickaloo Pioneer (Dec. 26) pro
ceeds:
"Should such men receive any compassion
from an orderly, union-loving people?   No!
It is this class of men that have congregated at
Lawrence, and it is this class of men that Kansas must get rid of. And we know of no better
method, than for every man who loves his
country and the laws by which he is governed,
to meet in Kansas and kill off this God-forsaken
class of humanity as soon as they place their
feet upon our soil."
Again, in an extra number of the same journal, published Jan. 18, 1856:
" Forbearance has now ceased to be a virtue;
24
0 
POLICY OF FREE-STATE INHABITANTS. 25
therefore we call upon eveWy pro-slavery man
in the land to rally to the rescue. Kansas must
be immediately rescued from the tyrannical dogs.
* * * *  Pro-slavery men, law and order men,
strike for vour altars! strike for your firesides!
strike for your rights! sound the bugle of war
over the length and breadth of the land, and
leave not an abolitionist in the territory to relate their treacherous and contaminating deeds.
Strike your piercing rifle-balls and your glittering steel to their black and poisonous hearts!
Let the war-cry never cease in Kansas again,
until our territory is wrested of the last vestige
of abolitionism."
Surrounded by so much fire and fury, which
was not confined to mere words, the non-resistance of the Free-state people was remarkable.
-Lawrence kept itself fortified, continued its
drills, had its "Committee of Public Safety,"
and did not return the shots frequently fired
against it by passers-by at night. In the mean
time the Free-state delegates met at Topeka,
organized the State Legislature, made application to the federal power for the admission of
Kansas into the Union with a free constitution,
and petitioned the President, although vainly,
20 
KANSAS.
for protection from wrong.   Their steadfast
adherence to these peaceful measures, and their
remarkable moderation in the midst of much
that might have excited a spirit of resistance,
was doubtless due chiefly to the peaceable policy
ever counselled by their Commander-in-Chief
and Governor, Charles Robinson, whose wise
caution preserved the Free-state party from
doing a single act which might serve their
adversaries as a reasonable excuse for an appeal
to arms.
The month of May arrived, and the state of
parties continued as before. The pro-slavery,
or, as it was commonly termed, the border-ruffian army, had, however, gained strength by
large reinforcements from the States. Colonel
Buford was there with his determined bands
from Alabama, Colonel Titus from Florida,
Colonel Wilkes and others with companies from
South Carolina and Georgia, all of whom had
sworn to fight the battles of the South in Kansas. The President, too, through his Secretaryat-War, had placed the federal troops at the
command of Governor Shannon, and the Chief
Justice Lecompte had declared, in a notable
26 
ASSASSINATION OF SHERIFF JONES.  27
charge to a grand jury, that all who resisted
the laws made by the fraudulently elected
Legislature were to be found guilty of high
treason.
In the mean time the people of Lawrence,
some fifteen hundred, probably, in number,
silently awaited the coming blow.
The chief aim of the party in power was to
find an excuse for an attack upon Lawrence.
The inhabitants of the town, and especially
their " Committee of Public Safety," were as
resolute in not giving any such occasion.  At
length the report went through the country,
that Samuel Jones, the Sheriff of Douglas
County, who had been most active in making
arrests of Free-state men, with a view to excite
provocation, was shot-shot in the  spine
basely assassinated by blood-thirsty abolitionists. His murder must be avenged, they said,
though at the sacrifice of every abolitionist in
the territory. Yet Jones was not murdered.
He had been slightly wounded by a ball, from
whose pistol none could say; but how little
the Free-state party was chargeable with the
act may be judged from the indignation meet 
KANSAS.
ing held on account of it in Lawrence on the
following day, the resolutions they passed condemnatory of the act, the reward they offered
for the apprehension of the guilty person, and
the care they took of Jones himself, lodging
him in their own Free-state Hotel, and attending to his wants until he was able to go forth
and persecute them anew, with a more deadly
rage than ever.
That Sheriff Jones had been assassinated,
that Governor Reeder had resisted a deputy
marshal in an attempt to arrest him, that the
people of Lawrence were turning the Freestate Hotel into a fortress, with parapets and
port-holes for the use of cannon and small
arms, that there were mines beneath the streets
of Lawrence, to be sprung in case of attackthese were the stories current in every one's
mouth when I first approached the territory,
and out of which abundant capital was made,
in order to inflame the people against Lawrence.
Mleanwhile, Sheriff Jones rode about the
country with a "posse"  of United  States
troops, arresting whomsoever he pleased - the
28 
ARRESTS, INDICTMENTS, AND MURDERS.  29
grand jury declared the Free-state Hotel and
the offices of the Herald of Freedom and Ka(nsas
Free-State newspapers in Lawrence to be nuisances, and as such to be removed; Governor
Robinson and several other men of influence in
the Free-state cause were severally seized and
held as prisoners; Free-state men were daily
molested in the highway, some robbed, and
others killed; and a constantly increasing army
was encamping right and left of Lawrence,
pressing daily more closely around it, and
openly declaring that their intention was to
"wipe out the traitorous city; and not to leave
an abolitionist alive in the territory."
- The policy pursued by the inhabitants of
Lawrence during these events was a very
pacific  one.   They  resolved,  through  their
Committee of Public Safety, to offer no manner of resistance to the acts, however unjust,
of those possessed of authority, and even tendered their services to the Marshal, to aid him
in serving his processes on those whom he desired to arrest. They also made representations
of the danger of their position to the federal
and territorial authorities, but without effect. 
KANSAS. -
At length the day approached when Lawrence was to fall. On the night previous to
May 21st, could any one have taken a survey
of the country around, he would have seen the
old encampment at Franklin, four miles to the
southeast of Lawrence, which was occupied
during the Wakarusa war, again bristling with
the arms of Colonel Buford's companies,
brought from the States.  This formed the
lower division of the invading army. On the
west of Lawrence, at twelve miles distance,
he would have seen another encampment in
the neighbourhood of Lecompton, occupied by
the forces under Colonel Titus and Colonel
Wilkes. These were reinforced by General
Atchison, with his Platte County Rifles and
two pieces of artillery; by Captain Dunn,
heading the Kickapoo Rangers; by the Doniphan Tigers, and another company under General Clark, as well as by General Stringfellow,
with his brother, the doctor, who had left for a
time his editorship to take a military command,
and other leaders, who brought up all the lawless rabble of the border-towns, to aid in the
attack.   These  on the west  of Lawrence
30 
COMMENCEMENT OF THE SIEGE
formed the upper division. A large proportion
were cavalry.   The general control of the
troops was in the hands of the United States
Marshal, Donaldson, the whole body, of some
six or eight hundred armed men, being regarded as a posse comitatus to aid this officer in
the execution of his duties.
By three o'clock on the morning of the 21st,
Colonel Titus, with about two hundred horsemen, appeared on the crown of Mount Oread,
overlooking the town of Lawrence. In a few
hours the remaining portion of the upper division had reached the same position. Some
occupied Governor Robinson's house, situated
on the declivity of the hill towards the town,
which they made their headquarters; others
planted their cannon, of which they had several
pieces, on the brow of the hill, in a position
which commanded the city.  Shortly after, the
besieging army was reinforced by the arrival
of the lower division, under Colonel Buford.
A blood-red flag,. inscribed with the words
Southern  Rights"  on  the one side, and
"South Carolina" rudely painted on the other,
was then raised over the invading troops.
31 
KANSAS.
During the forenoon Fain, the Deputy-MIarshal, entered Lawrence with some assistants,
to make  arrests of its citizens.  Hie failed,
however, in provoking, the resistance desired,
on which to found a pretext for attacking the
city; for the citizens permitted the arrests to
be made, and responded to his demand for a
"posse" to aid him. Ile dined at the Freestate Hotel, at Messrs. Eldridge's, the proprietors', expense, and returned with his posse
and his prisoners to the hill occupied by the
troops.
The  United States Marshal had now,  he
stated, no more need of the troops;  but, as
Sheriff Jones had some processes to serve in
Lawrence, he would hand them over to him
as a 1)osse cornitatits.
Accordingly, inr the afternoon, Jones rode
into Lawrence at the'head of twenty or more
men, mounted and armed, and placed himself
in front of thie Free-state Hotel, demanding of
General Pomeroy the surrender of all arms.
He gave him five minutes for his decision, failing which the posse would be ordered to bombard the town.  General Pomeroy gave up
32 
GEN. ATCHISON'S ADDRESS TO HIS MEN.  33
their brass howitzer and some small pieces,
the only arms that were not private property.
Jones then demanded the removal of the furniture from the hotel, stating that the District
Court for Douglas County had adjudged the
hotel and the two free-state newspaper offices
to be nuisances, and as nuisances to be removed, and that he was there as Sheriff to execute
these indictments, and summarily remove the
obnoxious buildings.
In the mean time the forces had left the hill,
and were at the entrance of the town, under
Titus and Buford, Atchison and Stringfellow.
General Atchison's address to his men on this
occasion may be cited as an example of the
mode of speech adopted by a late Vice-President of the United States.   From  various
reports of it made at the time, the following
is gathered, being in substance and language
that in which all agree
"Boys, this day I am a Kickapoo ranger, by
. This day we have entered Lawrence,
' Southern Rights' inscribed on our banners,
and not one          abolitionist has dared to
fire a gun.  No, by —, not one!  This, boys,
C,* 
KA,NSAS.
is the happiest day of my whole life. We have
entered the         city, and to-night the abolitionists will learn a Southern lesson that they
will remember to the day of their death. And
now, boys, we will go in with our highly honourable Jones, and test the strength of that
Free-state Hotel, and learn the Emigrant Aid Society that Kansas shall be ours.
Boys! ladies should be, and I trust will be,
respected by all gentlemen; but, by-, when
a woman takes on herself the garb of a soldier
by carrying a Sharpe's rifle, then she is no longer
a woman, and, by, treat her for what you
find her, and trample her under foot as you
would a snake..  By, come on, boys!
Now to your duties to yourselves and your
Southern friends! Your duty I know you will
do; and if a man or woman dare to stand before you, blow them to hell with a chunk of
cold lead!"
Thus inspirited by their leaders, the Sheriff's
posse, or rather the armed and inflamed rabble,
proceeded to their work of demolition. The
South Carolinians planted the red flag, with
its lone star and its inscription of "Southern
Rights," upon the roof of the large hotel.
The banner of the Doniphan Tigers bore the
34 
REMOVAL OF NUJISANCES.
device of a tiger rampant. Another flag had
black and white stripes; and a fourth displayed
in blue letters on a white ground the following
admonitory lines:        "Let Yankees tremble,
And abolitionists fall!
Our motto is,
' Give Southern rights to all.'"
The newspaper offices were the first objects
of attack. First that of the Free State, then
that of the Herald of Freedom, underwent a
thorough demolition. The presses were in
each case broken to pieces, and the offending
type carried away to the river. The papers
and books were treated in like manner, until
the soldiers became weary of carrying them to
the Kaw, when they thrust them in piles into
the street, and burnt, tore, or otherwise destroyed them.
From the printing offices they went to the
hotel.   The Eldridge House, or Free-state
Hotel, was a building of size and strength. It
was solidly built of stone and concrete,
consisted of three stories above ground,
had a breadth of five windows in the front, and
35 
IKANSAS.
six windows on the side of the house. The
Messrs. Eldridge had just completed its furnishing, and had well filled its store-rooms and
cellars in anticipation of the wants of their
guests.
As orders were given to remove the furniture, the wild mob threw the articles out of
the windows, but shortly found more congenial
employment in emptying the cellars. By this
time four cannon had been brought opposite
the hotel, and, under Atchison's command,
they commenced to batter down the building.
In this, however, they failed. The General's
"Now, boys, let her rip!" was answered by
some of the shot missing the mark, although
the breadth of Massachusetts-street alone intervened, and the remainder of some scores of
rounds leaving the walls of the hotel unharmed. They then placed kegs of gunpowder in
the lower parts of the building, and attempted
to blow it up.   The only result was, the shattering of some of the windows and other limited damage.   At length, to complete the work
which their own clumsiness or inebriety had
rendered difficult hitherto, orders were given to
86 
OENERAL FILLAL,E.
fire the building in a number of places, and, as
a consequence, it was soon encircled in a mass
of flames. Before evening, all that remained
of tile Eldridge House was a portion of one
wall standing erect, and for the rest a sl-hapeless
heap of ruins.
The firing of the cannon had been the signal
for most of the women and children in Lawrence to leave the city.  This they did, not
knowing whither to turn their steps.  The
male portion of its citizens watched, without
offering resistance, the destruction Of the buildings named, and next had to see their own houses
made the objects of unscrupulous plunder.
The sack of Lawrence occupied the remainder of the afternoon.  Sheriff Jones, after gazing on the flames rising from the hotel, and
saying that it was "the happiest day of his
life," dismissed his "posse," and they immediately commenced their lawless pillage.   In
this officers and mein all participated, and they
did not terminate until they had rifled all the
principal houses of whatever articles of value
they could lay their hands upon, and had destroyed that which they could not carry away.
37 
KANSAS.
Finally, Governor Robinson's house on Mount
Oread was set fire to, after it had been searched
for papers and valuables, and its burning walls
lit up the evening sky as the army of desperadoes, now wild with plunder and excesses, and
maddened with drink, retired from the pillaged
city.
The value of the property stolen and destroyed during the day in Lawrence is estimated
to have amounted to nearly thirty thousand
pounds sterling.
Life was fortunately not taken, as the inhabitants of Lawrence disappointed their invaders
of a fight, by offering no resistance. The only
deaths which occurred were of two young men
in the pro-slavery ranks. One shot himself
accidentally through the shoulder; the other
was killed by the'South Carolina flag sweeping
a brick from the roof of the hotel, which fell upon
the young man's head and caused his death.
Thus ended a day which filled Southern
hearts with joy and pride. The next day the
journals were filled with glowing accounts of
victory, and of the glorious triumph obtained
by law and order over fanaticism.
38 
THE DAY AFTER THE SACK.
CHAPTER IV.
The Day after the Sack. —Disbanding of the Forces.-Ruffians
executing the Law.-Thirst.-Double Rectified.-A Night
at Kansas City.-Appearance of the Mob.-Desperate Char~
acters-Grotesque  Costume.-A  Fearful Threat.-Night trip on the Missouri.-Fellow-Travellers.-" Border Ruf fians."-A popular Orator.-Pleasant Repose.-Morning.  "Extras."-An  Incident.-A respectable Merchant. —His
Opinions.-The "Old Hloss" does not care about Breakfast.
-A gentle Hint.-A better Set.-Civilities.-The persever ing Merchant.-A Western Man.-Quiet Conversation. Friendly Advice.-A Yankee is a Nuisance, and must be
put down.-A candid Opinion.
THE day following the attack upon Lawrence being that of my own arrival in the
territory, I am able to supply its later history
from personal observation, and will endeavour to
illustrate the condition of Kansas at that excited time by a narrative of things seen and heard
during the period of my visit.
The border-ruffian forces employed in the
siege and sack of Lawrence being disbanded,
were to be seen on the following day spreading
over the roads towards the east, carrying fury
39 
KANSAS.
and violence wherever they went.   Having
once been taught that robbery and outrage, if
committed in the service of the South, were to
be regarded as deeds of loyalty and obedience,
these ministers of a self-styled "law and order"
were slow to unlearn a doctrine so acceptable.
The day, like the preceding, was extremely
hot, the thermometer standing at above ninety
degrees;  their thirst knew no bounds; and
when a barrel of Bourbon, or Monongahela, or
Double Rectified was accessible, they forgot
even in some instances to ask the politics of its
possessor. Thus through the day they sustained their turbulent fury, and when night came,
it found them prepared for any excesses.
It was on that night that I first came in contact with the Missourian patriots. I had just
arrived in Kansas city, and shall never forget
the appearance of the lawless mob that poured
into the place, inflamed with drink, glutted with
the indulgence of the vilest passions, displaying
with loud boasts the "plunder" they had taken
from the inhabitants, and thirsting for the opportunity of repeating the sack of Lawrence in
some other offending place. Men, for the most
40 
RUFFIANS AT LARGE.
part of large frame, With red flannel shirts and
immense boots worn outside their trousers, their
faces unwashed and unshaven, still reeking with
the dust and smokle of Lawrence, wearing the
most savage looks, and giving utterance to the
most horrible imprecations and blasphemies;
armed, moreover, to the teeth with rifles and
revolvers, cutlasses and bowie-knives,- such
were the men I saw around me. Some displayed a grotesque intermixture in their dress,
having crossed their native red rough shirt with
the satin vest or narrow dress-coat pillaged from
the wardrobe of some Lawrence Yankee, or having girded themselves with the cords and tassels
which the day before had ornamented the curtains of the Free-state Hotel. Looking around
at these groups of drunken, bellowing, bloodthirsty demons, who crowded around the bar of
the hotel, shouting for drink, or vented their
furious noise on the levee without, I felt that
all my former experiences of border men and
Missourians bore faint comparison with the
spectacle presented by this wretched crew,
who appeared only the more terrifying from
the darkness of the surrounding night. The
41 
KANSAS.
hotel in Kansas city, where we were, was the
next, they said, that should fall; the attack was
being planned that night, and such, they declared, should be the end of every place which
was built by Free-state men, or that harboured
"those rascally abolitionists."   Happily this
threat was not fulfilled.
A number of these men became my companions for the night, as I went up by one
of the Missouri steamboats from Kansas to
Leavenworth city, which, as a convenient
centre, I desired to make my headquarters
whilst investigating the condition of affairs in
the  territory.   The  other fellow-passengers
were, for the most part, of a like order. A
few Germans,  carrying  their stock-in-trade,
to turn an honest penny by peaceful traffic,
while other people were fighting; a company
of New Mexicans, making their way through
Kansas to Santa Fe'; three or four persons
more gentlemanly in appearance, to whom I
shall again have occasion to refer; and, for
the rest, a crowd of adventurers little better
than those just taken on board, who might
be classed generally under the head of " bor
-42 
A NIGHT-TRIP ON THE MISSOURI.
der ruffians," made up, with a single exception
or two, our travelling party for the night.
A general rush to the bar ensued. Already
maddened with whisky, each would treat his
fellow in arms:
"Step up, and liquor here, you sir. A heap
finer this stuff than that there rot-gut ashore.
Here, you sir; don't be askeard. One of our
boys, I reckon? All right on the goose, eh?
No highfalutin' airs here, you know. Keep that
for them Yankee Blue-bellies down East. If
there's any of that sort here, I reckon they'd
better make tracks, mighty quick, and that's a
fact, while I'se on board, unless they want to
make a quicker road out than they came in. Yes,
sir, this yere tool of mine [handling a pistol],
it isn't the first time it has seen a Blue-belly.
If there's any of that'ere sort aboard, I say
they'd better clear out, that's sartin. We ain't
agoin' to stand them conming here, we ain't.
Isn't their own place down East big enough
for them, I should like to know?  We  ain't
agoin' to stand their comin' and dictatin' to us
with their — nigger-worshipping, we ain't.
I reckon we'll make the place hot enough for
them soon, that's a fact. Here, boys, drink.
Liquors, captain, for the crowd. Step up this
way, old hoss, and liquor."
43 
KANSAS.
And thus the midnight talk went on- talk
which I neither care to remember nor to repeat, and in which I am compelled to omit the
fearful expletives of blasphemy which interrupted, not every sentence merely, but every
word or two of the dialogue. Others sat down
to cards, and quarrelled over their losses; some,
more sleepy, threw themselves upon the cabin
floor to rest, for it was already two hours past
midnight. In all, there were nearly two hundred on board; and as it was evident that the
majority must sleep on the floor, I hastened to
secure one of the berths, and thus to seek relief,
if possible, from the distracting noise. In a
smaller degree, I had had so much of a similar
experience before, that I managed to sleep, only
awakened at times by a louder shout from the
bar or the gaming-table.
In the morning, like my fellow-travellers, I
was early astir. My Western companions, accustomed to frequent potations, seemed already
sobered down by their few hours' rest. If less
boisterously demonstrative, however, in relation
to "Yankee Abolitionists" than in the night,
the change was only to an animosity of a more
44
i. 
" EXTRAS."
calculating and determined character. News
of fresh strife had been received during the
night. "Extras" of the different journals, in
the form of printers' slips, containing the latest
intelligence, were put on board and largely
circulated. These invariably contained distorted accounts of the events of the hour, and
appeals of a most inflammatory character. As
they were read aloud to the eager listeners, they
gave occasion to renewed determination to
"fight the nigger-worshipping crew to the last
drop of blood." One "extra" I obtained, issued
by the Border Times at Westport', in which the
outrages at Lawrence were announced beneath
the heading, "THE KANSAS BALL OPENEDWAR IN EARNEST."  In another, a Lecompton
paper, the narrative was headed, " LAWRENCE
TAKEN -  GLORIOUS TRIUMPH OF THE  LAWAND-ORDER PARTY OVER FANATICISM IN KANSAS." When cold-blooded murder, which has
left behind it destitution, widowhood, and orphanage, comes to be regarded by journalists as
the mere opening of a ball and a ground for
exultation, it is not to be wondered at that the
men who perpetrated these deeds were eager to
45 
KANSAS.
acquire fresh glory in the achievement of fur
ther "triumphs."
A single incident must suffice as an illustration. Before I bad left my berth many minutes,
I was attracted by the blustering talk of one
of my fellow-travellers —" one of the most respectable merchants in Weston,"  as I was
informed, but one who, as was evident, did not
deny himself in the rum-punch, gin-sling, whisky-straights, brandy-cocktails, and other compounds issued at the bar.
This respectable merchant was surrounded,
as he stood in the cabin of the boat, by a
circle, which I joined. Out of a side-pocket
protruded the head of a pistol; in his hand
he brandished another, loaded, as he told us,
and ready for action. With threatening aspect
and attitude, he poured forth, amid many oaths,
the following language, addressed to us all:
"I am bound to bring down some one before
I'm done; I tell you, by        I am.  I'll teach
these infernal nigger-stealing Free-soilers a lesson right peartly, that's a fact. If there's a doggauned Abolitionist aboard, I should like to see
him, that I should. I'm the man to put a chunk
46 
POLITICS BEFORE BREAKFAST.
o' lead into his woolly head, right off; yes, sir,
that's what I'll do."
Then, looking round at each of us, "I reckon
I can raise the top off the head of ere a one of
you with this hyere tool. Speak the word,
and, by, I'm your man.  That's  so.  I
should like to see the first Free-soiler that opens
his mouth; that I should. I'd send him to hell
pretty quick, afore he know'd what he was
about; that's What I'd do.   I'm a mighty
ce-urious customer, I am."
And so thought, probably, one of his hearers,
for he said to the curious customer, "1Come,
old hoss, won't you have some breakfast?"
The old horse was not to be so easily diverted,
however.
" Breakfast! think I'd be after breakfast
when I've got my duty before me?  No, sir,
exercise is the thing for me-not eating.  I
tell you I'm bound to drop some one afore I'm
done-that I am.  I've got to fight for the
liberties of my country and our glorious constitution, and rid the place of those cowardly
blue-bellied Yankies. Yes, sir, that's what I've
got to do. I should like to know what they've
to do in this hyere place, with their snirhin',
sneakin', whittlin'-o'-nothin' ways. I tell you
47 
KANSAS.
there's not a man amongst them as knows how
to fight. I should like to see the first one as'11I
open his mouth here,-that's what I should
like to see. I tell you I'm a ce-urious customer. Yes, sir-ree; my dog knows that,"
pointing to a large dog that seemed prepared
to stand by his master for better or worse.
Then, "I should like to sot my eyes on the
man as would touch that'ere dog of mine. I'd
lay him dead in a moment, that I would. Just
see me."
None of us felt inclined to touch the dog, and
the respectable merchant returned to his politics and patriotism.
"No Northern nigger-stealers here.  I'll fix
'em up mighty smart, I will. I ain't here for
nothing, and that you'll see, just about as soon
as anything. Yes, sir, I only want to see the
first Free-soiler here. I'll drop the first one of
you that opens his mouth for abolition cusses;
I be dog-gauned if I don't."
And thus this valiant patriot went on for
about half an hour, ringing the changes on these
few forms of expression, and giving everyone
an opportunity to accept his challenge and take
the consequences.
48 
FELLOWV-TRAVELLERS.
I remained no longer in this Western mner chant's immediate presence than was necessary
to prevent my becoming an object of his
suspicion. Being anxious to obtain some inform ation as to the hotels or other places of resort
in Leavenworth, I went up on the hurricane deck, having been told I should there meet
with some who could answer my inquiries. I
found on the upper deck the few more gentlemanly persons to whom I have referred, but
whom, until this moment, I had not seen. One
or two appeared to be United States officers,
men of education and refinement. Another, a
gentleman more advanced in years, held himself somewhat apart, and appeared engaged in
anxious thought. He had an eye full of bright
intelligence, and wore the aspect of one who
was superior to those about him. I gained the
information I sought from one of the officers,
and took his recommendation to go to M'Carty's hotel at Leavenworth, where he himself
was about to stop. I did not know as yet,
however, who were my companions, and could
only get evasive replies to my inquiries on the
subject from the clerk of the boat.
3'
49 
KANSAS.
! again descended to the cabin. The respectable merchant from Weston was still continuing
his challenges, pistol in hand.
"I should like to see the first one as'11 open
his mouth. I reckon he'd have to take the
change mighty smart. Lead's the best argument for these infernal white-livered Yankees.
Let me alone for tamin' them down; yes, sir;
let me alone for that, I say. I reckon they
won't be a tryin' on this game again a little
whiles. That's just about what I think."
And so on without intermission.
At my side stood a young man who had lived
for some years in Kansas territory, trading with
the Indians. We had travelled in company during
four or five days in coming up the Missouri,
and our intercourse had led to a certain degree
of mutual confidence. He was a thorough
Western man, and, at the same time, a favourable specimen of his class, possessing in a large
degree the better traits which mark the Western
character, and displaying few of the worse.
As we should soon have to part, he inquired of
me what part of the Union I came from.  I
replied, in a tone which I hoped would not
50 
FRIENDLY COUNSEL.
catch the ear of the noisy patriot in arms, that
he had mistaken me as a native of the Union,
and that I belonged to the old country, my
home being London.
" Indeed," said my friend the Indian trader,
"I calculated you were a Northern man.  Your
dress and looks aren't like our people's out
West."
"That is probable," I replied.
Yes, that's so," he proceeded, "and there's
several aboard as have been talking about
you, and they've all set you down for a
Northerner."
I hinted, in reply, that I had no desire to
excite remark on board, and glanced suggestively at our neighbour who was threatening to
blow the brains out of the first Northern man
who should open his mouth. My friend perceived my meaning immediately, and, dropping
his voice to a whisper, said':
"Well, Colonel, just let me, as one that
knows the ways of the people here, give you a
word of caution, which you may find useful,
now that you're setting foot in these here
Western diggins. Don't let a soul of them
51 
KANSAS.
know that you're an Englishman. Should it
get out, it's just as much as your life is worth,
mind that. That's the state we're in just now,
all alongside of that cursed slavery question.
If you say you're an Englishman it's all the
same~ as being a Yankee; not a bit better.
And you know the law there-a Yankee is
a nuisance, and nuisances must be abolished.
That's what they all say there. So you mind,
Colonel; and don't forget what I say."
I thanked  my  friendly adviser, and  told
him: I had already determined to follow his
counsel.
As for himself, he said, he did not believe
the Southern men had any right to do what
they had done in Kansas; but being a thorough
Western man, and known in the territory for
years, he could go about and they would not
touch him, especially as he did not take part
with the Abolitionist' fanatics   If they did
touch him, everybody knew what would be the
consequence. And as I looked at his fine athletic frame, and noticed the powerful muscle
of his arm and the steady gaze of his eye, long
trained to guide the bead of his rifle, I thought
I, too, could perceive what would be the cono
52 
FRIENDLY COUNSEL.
quence of having this Western man for an
enemy. But he had given me wise counsel and
kind, and I was glad to think the son of the
prairie was my friend.
,63 
H~ANSA.
CHAPTER V.
Leavenworth City.-Going on Shore. —A State Prisoner. Governor Robinson in Custody.-canty Accommodation. —
Governor Robinson's Examination.-Horrid Threats.-Office
of the Hotel.-A Border-ruffian Armoury.-A  Free-soiler
Silenced.-How to settle the Abolitionists.-Southern "Fix ins."-Fort Leavenworth.-Gambling Houses.-A Night of
shameless Wickedness and unchecked Outrage.-Governor
Robinson's Arrest.-Fierce Threats.-Fears of a Rescue. Committee of Investigation.-Beware of the Hemp.-Arrest
of Free-state Men.-State of Parties.-Revulsion of Feeling.
-Organization of Guerrilla Parties.-Frequent Collisions.
By about nine o'clock, A.M., the steamboat had
reached Leavenworth city. It would excite a
smile if I were to describe the aspect of this
"city" of log-houses and wooden shanties; as
it would if I were to narrate the manifold
adventures incident to Western travel.   But
that is beside my purpose. The majority of
the passengers, with myself, landed. A great
crowd received us, all evidently eager with
expectation and excitement. To my astonishment, the moment after landing I perceived
64 
A STATE PRISONER.
that the older gentleman whom I had seen on
the hurricane-deck of the steamboat was a
prisoner. Surrounded by a number of persons,
including the United States officers, he was led
off towards M'Carty's hotel, my purposed place
of stay.   "Who's that they've got there?"
" Who's that been caught, eh?" were the eager
questions put on many sides.  "It's Governor
Robinson, been brought round from Lawrence
by way of Kansas city," was the reply of one
in the crowd.   " Governor Robinson, Governor
Robinson! Who taught you to call that infernal nigger-stealer Governor, I should like to
know?" was the instantaneous rejoinder. "Say
the word again, and I will blow your brains out
for an Abolition traitor; he is Doctor Robinson,
and nothing else, that's what he is, and he
shan't be that long. It's time we'd got shet
of these dog-gauned Abolitionists." Thus surrounded by the menaces and imprecations of a
savage mob, the Free-state Governor was led
up the steep road which conducted to the small
wooden house known as M'Carty's hotel.
I followed, and, first inquiring for my own
accommodation, was met by the answer that if
56 
KANSAS.
I would come in again at night I might take a
chance of a place on the floor. This was sufficiently unpromising. I then went to a larger
house, the headquarters of the Pro-slavery
party, but met with no better reception. Leaving, therefore, the question of accommodation,
I returned to M'Carty's, where I was informed
I could get a meal. Governor Robinson I
found in the front room of the house; he was
standing up, and was being put through a close
examination by those in the room. A larger
number had collected outside the open windows
and door, and, as I stood amidst this crowd, I
heard  the  constantly  repeated  expressions,
"Let us get hold of him;          if we don't
sarve him out, powerful quick.  The hangin'
bone villain, he may say his prayers mighty
smart now.   I'll be dog-gauned if we don't
string him up afore the day's out. HIangin's a
'nation sight too good for him, the mean cuss.
He ought to have a shot through his head right
away-that's how I'd sarve him."
Sick of hearing such expressions, mingled
with the vilest oaths, I went into the office of
the hotel, and sat down on a vacant chair to
56 
A BORDER-RUFFIAN ARMIOURY.
meditate and to observe. In the corner of the
room, in place of trunks and travelling-bags,
were rifles and double-barrels, dirks and sticks,
of that weight and calibre which only a Western
American thinks of carrying.  The clerk and
the persons passing in and out had nothing to
speak of but "the fighting."  On the counter
were papers, heading their columns with the
words-" War  to  the  knife."   Everything
around was suggestive of warfare and bloodshed.
I had sat for a few minutes, when there
entered a man-a Southerner by his very looks.
"Hand me a pair out of them hundred pistols
I left with you, Captain," were the words
which, with a slow drawling voice, he addressed
to the clerk at the counter. The large number
of instruments owned by our visitor suggested
that he was taking advantage of the existing
demand, by "trafficking" a few  small-arms.
We awaited, however, his remarks.  Glancing
his cool eye at me and another in the room, and
anticipating probably that we might desire an
explanation, he slowly added —" I've just had
a turn down here with a           Free-soiler."
3.s
57 
KANSAS.
We still looked inquiringly, and as he adjusted
his pistols in his belt, he proceeded for our
satisfaction —" I'd got nothing with me.   I
didn't ought to have left these here tools behind
this morning, I allow. Anyways, I didn't leave
him till I made him give in. He came out
with his onremittin' abolitionism. I settled
him though, a heap quicker, I reckon, than he
expected. I tell you how I done. I jest put
my hand behind me, like this, the same as
though I had got my pistols with me, and
looked kinder ugly-down on him like, you
know; and so, with my hand upon the pistols,
as he reckoned, he didn't stand out long. But
I felt mighty bad, I tell you, till I got the
draw on him, as he expected. Still I wasn't
goin' to stand his sarcy talk, in course, so I jest
shut him up mighty quick." By this time the
pistols were adjusted, and as he walked out,
their valiant wearer continued a kind of soliloquy-" Well, reckon I'm fixed now!  They
won't be so sarcy with their talk now that I've
these here fixins on. I brought him down a
kinder smart, I reckon. Expect he felt chawed
up some. Well, I calculate they won't be
58 
SCENES ON LEAVENWORTH.
so sarcy now.   I'll see jest who  next  I'll
meet."
From the city of Leavenworth I went before
noon to visit the Fort. I found it at about
three miles' distance, beautifully situated on a
lofty bluff, overlooking the Missouri, and sufficiently elevated in position for its white walls
and familiar flag-staff to be seen for many miles
across the far-stretching prairie. There was a
feeling of security and retirement about the
Fort, which rendered a resort to it an agreeable
relief from the angry excitement which prevailed in all other places. Add to this, a visit
to Fort Leavenworth gave one the opportunity
of meeting the only society the neighbourhood
afforded. I have many pleasing recollections
of my intercourse on these occasions with the
officers stationed at Fort Leavenworth, chief
among whom must be mentioned Colonel
Sumner, at that time in command of the garrison, with whom I had much interesting
conversation on the troubled condition of the
territory, and from whom I received, during my
stay in Leavenworth, much kindness and hospitality.
59 
KAVNSAS.
The scenes of the twelve hours I have
described-from midnight of the 23rd of May,
1856, to noon of the 24th-were repeated during my few days' stay in Leavenworth, without
intermission.   As the  night advanced, the
ceaseless whisky-drinking showed its fruits.
Pistols went off sometimes unguardedly; knots
of people collected at each street-corner. The
bar-rooms in the hotels, which were all political clubs, became crowded with noisy debaters,
planning the great deeds they were to perform
on the morrow.   Numberless gambling-houses
were the resort of others. Cards could have
been picked up in the streets by the score;
and in a town where the very first demands of
civilization were wanting in the furnishing of
the house, there was no lack of such costly
indulgences as gaming-tables, which reminded
one of Baden-Baden or Hamburg. No element
of vice or crime seemed to be absent.   Every
species of shameless wickedness and unchecked
outrage met one's gaze at every turn.
IMy own accommodation at night was of the
worst. I was subject to frequent interruptions
of armed intruders, whom I could not keep out
60 
GOVERNOR ROBENSON'S ARREST.
of my room; and by day I had to listen perpetually to conversation which was painfully
revolting.   On  the day of my  arrival, the
seizure of Governor Robinson was, of course,
the principal topic.   He  had been seized, I
ascertained, during the previous week, at Lexington, in Missouri, whilst openly travelling
towards St. Louis, in company with Mrs.
Robinson. His captors were not at the time
possessed of any indictment against him, but
detained him by main force, and threats of
murder at the hands of the crowd, if he should
fail to consent. He was then conveyed to
Westport, on the border line, and detained
there until the attack upon Lawrence was
completed. The following night he arrived
under guard at Franklin, within four miles of
Lawrence, where he was intercepted by a message from Governor Shannon, requiring him to
be taken to Leavenworth by way of Kansas
city, to avoid a rescue. By a circuitous route,
therefore, he was again brought down to Kansas
city, where he arrived in the night, a short
time before the departure of the steamboat on
board of which I first met him.
61 
KANSAS.
Throughout the day stories were circulated
about the Free-state governor, for which there
was not the shadow of a foundation. Every
minute some fresh charge was brought, or some
new threat uttered against him.
" If I had caught his track, - - if I wouldn't
have  shot him  dead.   I told him so at the
inquiry. I'd have smashed his head right out.
I don't care if it isn't true. I told him I
should believe it, all the same, till he proved it
wasn't.   He is a flung up, pilfering,       puppy; that's what he is, fix it which way you
like."
Judge Lecompte came down to Leavenworth
in the evening to see Dr. Robinson. The next
day I also saw Governor Shannon. Rumours
were put into circulation that the Free-state
men intended to attempt a rescue of their leader during the night.  Committees were held in
consequence to organize a defence; and few
probably retired to rest that night in Leavenworth city with the expectation of remaining
till morning without a summons to arms.
The Committee of Investigation appointed
by Congress was also sitting at Leavenworth
62 
A HEMP CAUTION.
during my stay. The enormities that were
brought to light embittered exceedingly the
Pro-slavery party; and many threats were
made against the persons of those who gave
their testimony, as well as the lives of the commissioners. Some of these threats, whilst they
were terribly real, were at the same time sufficiently ludicrous; as, for example, the following manifesto, which appeared one M1onday
morning during my stay in Leavenworth,
scrawled upon a piece of paper, which was
affixed to the door of the office occupied by
the Committee.
"May, 26.
"MESSRS. HOWARD AND SHERMAN.
"SIRS, with feelings of Surprise and Disgust wee have been noticeing the unjust manner in which you have been Conducting this
Investigation. Wee wish to inform you can
no longer sit in this place.
"Wee therefore request You to alter your
Obnoxious course, in order to avoid the Consequences which may otherwise follow.
"Capt. HEMP-in behalf of the citizens.
"Leavenworth City- 1866."
63 
KANSAS.
Mr. Howard, on entering the office, was observed to take down the paper containing the
symbolical Capt. Hemp's declaration of intentions, and, folding it up with a smile, placed it
in his pocket.
On the third day of my stay, several Freestate men were arrested; among them Judge
Conway, then acting as clerk of the Committee
of Investigation, and two of the witnesses.
They announced it also as their intention not
to let a single Free-soiler escape.
Among all the scenes of violence I witnessed, it is remarkable that the offending parties
were invariably on the Pro-slavery side.   The
Free-state men appeared to me to be intimid
ated and overawed, in consequence, not merely
of the determination and defiant boldness of
their opponents, but still more through the
sanction given to these acts by the Government.
I often heard the remark, that they would
resist, but that they were resolved not to bring
themselves into collision with the Federal
power. The policy of the Free-state party,
prior to the 21st May, was one of determined
64 
HOSTILITIES PROVOKED.
non-resistance, the people being counselled to
give no ground of offence or pretext for violence, and to seek a restoration of justice and
order through legal redress alone. That this
was the spirit in which they acted, is very evident from the documents and public appeals
which issued from them at that period. These
documents indicate, indeed, a degree of submission which it is difficult to reconcile with a
proper independence, and which gives some
colour to the charge often brought against the
Free-state men by their opponents, that they
were "a set of cowards, who, when it came to
fighting, would be certain to give in."
Their later conduct, however, was different.
In the hands of their oppressors all justice had
been set at defiance. They had been driven
out of house and home by an armed mob, acting under territorial authority. The Federal
power had been appealed to in vain. The
Free-state men were driven to desperation.  It
was but natural that some revulsion of feeling
should be experienced. As it was, guerrilla
parties were organized by some of the less
passive spirits on the Free-state side, corre 
KANSAS.
sponding with those already existing amongst
their opponents.   These thought themselves
justified in recovering stolen horses and other
property. Other acts of retaliation occurred.
In several instances the opposing parties came
into collision, and violence ensued.   For some
time, therefore, after the attack upon Lawrence,
an irregular strife was maintained, and a bitter
remembrance filled each man's mind, and impelled to daily acts of hostility and not unfrequent bloodshed.
66 
WHY ARE SUCH OUTRAGES PERMITTED.  67
CHAPTER VI.
Why are such Outrages permitted?-Total Failure of Justice.
-The Jeffreys of the Territory.-A Test required.-An im pious Oath.-Affirmation of the Nebraska-Kansas Act and
the Fugitive Slave Law.-Judge, Jury, and Law.-All one
Way.-Sample of the Kansas Statutes. —Ball and Chain. Freedom of Speech forbidden. —Punishment of Death. Abuse of the Term "Law."-No Hope of Justice for Free state Men.
EACH party in Kansas lays claim to the title
of "law-abiding and order-loving."  The Proslavery party, being in power, especially boasts
of its affection for "law and order,"  and
preaches to its political opponents submission
to the constituted authorities.
Yet the brief history of the territory has
been little else than a succession of unjust oppressions and violent usurpations.   It has
been the holiday of crime and wrong, anarchy
and bloodshed.  Month after month, Englishmen living in their peaceful homes have been
startled by the intelligence of new oppressions 
'KANSAS.
and new outrages committed in Kansas, until
they have begun to ask, Are these events occurring in a civilized land?  Does the country
really possess a government?  Is it true that it
is under the direct control of the Congress of
the United States? Has it really its Governor
and Secretary, its Chief Justice and Associate
Judges, its Marshals and Sheriffs, its laws and
law-officers, of which we read, or are these
mere empty titles? In general, how are the
extraordinary anomalies, which a condition of
affairs like that in Kansas implies, to be accounted for?  How comes it that such enormities are permitted?   Why is not a remedy
applied?
To the solution of such inquiries I propose
to devote the present and succeeding chapter.
The first and most natural question is, If
such fearful outrages, as every mail brings us
intelligence of, are being committed in Kansas,
why are not the perpetrators of these enormities brought to justice?  Is there no judge, no
jury, no Iaw, to which appeal can be made for
protection?
The answer is simple.  First, the man is
-68 
JUDGES ANI JURIES.
wanting who possesses boldness or rashnes
enough to bring the offending parties to justice. Murder and cold-blooded assassination
were of almost daily occurrence at the time of
my visit; but whoever should dare- to report
such a case would be at once: a marked man,
and his life, in all probability, before the day
had expired, would be the penalty for his imprudence in the: cause of right.
But, supposing the offender to be broughtto justice, who is the judge, of what character
the jury, and what the law by which he has to'
be tried?
The judge would be such a man as Chief
Justice Lecompte-the Jeffreys of the territory.   Or, if not the chief of the "bloody
assizes" of Kansas, it would be some other
minion of the slave power, panting after the
extermination of every Free-state advocate,
and pledged by his oath of office to sustain:the
most offensive measures which the slave power
has introduced. It cannot be otherwise, for all
the public offices are occupied by most reso]lte adherents of the pro-slavery cause; ands
lest any one of a different: stamp should creep
4
66, 
KANSAS.
in, a test is demanded, contrary to the constitution of the United States, of every candidate
for office, according to which he is required to
subscribe an oath, "solemnly swearing upon
the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God," that
he will "support and sustain the provisions of
the act entitled'An Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas,' and the provisions of the law of the United States commonly known as the' Fugitive Slave Law."'
-(Vide "Statutes of the Territory of Kansas,"
page 438.) Thus, by the law of the territory,
no man can sit on the bench, or hold any other
public office, unless he have first specially
indorsed and pledged himself to sustain the
two most extreme pro-slavery measures that
can possibly be cited.
If such be the judge, the jury would also be
of a character no less accurately defined by
statute. What is the law of Kansas concerning
jurors?   "No person who is conscientiously
opposed to the holding of slaves, or who does
not admit the right to hold slaves in this territory, shall be a juror in any cause in which the
right to hold any person in slavery is involved,
70 
JUDGES AND JURIES.
nor in any cause in which any injury done to,
or committed by, any slave is in issue, nor in
any criminal proceeding for the violation of
any law enacted for the protection of slave
property, and for the punishment of crime
committed against the right to such property."
-(Statutes of Kansas, p. 37S.)  Again, by the
first section of the act, the power is placed in
the hands of the "Marshal, Sheriff, or other
officer, to summon a sufficient number of
jurors."-(p. 377.)  And who are Marshal and
Sheriff? Donaldson and his deputy Fain are
the former; Samuel Jones is the most noted
of the latter: together, the destroyers of Lawrence, and the hunters of Free-state men, even
to the death. With such a law, and with a
discretionary power vested in such hands, it
will be seen at once what kind of jury must,
of necessity, be procured.
And if such be the character of judge and
jury, what are the laws they have to dispense?
Take a sample:
"If any person print, write, introduce into,
publish, or circulate, or cause to be brought
into, printed, written, published, or circulated,
71 
KANSAS.
or shall knowingly aid or assist in bringing
into, printing, publishing, or circulating, within this territory, any book, paper, pamphlet,
magazine, hand-bill, or circular, containing any
statements,  arguments,  opinions,  sentiment,
doctrine, advice, or innuendo, calculated  to
produce a disorderly, dangerous, or rebellious
disaffection among the slaves in this territory,
or to induce such slaves to escape from the
service of their masters, or to resist their authority, he shall be guilty of felony, and be
punished by imprisonment at hard labor for a
term of not less than five years."- (Statutes,
cap. 151, sec. 11.)
"If any free person, by speaking or writing,
assert or maintain that persons have not the
right to hold slaves in this territory, or shall
introduce into this territory, print, publish,
write, circulate, or cause to be introduced into
this territory, written, printed, published, or
circulated in this territory, any book, paper,
magazine, pamphlet, or circular, containing
any denial of the right of persons to hold
slaves in this territory, such person shall be
deemed guilty of felony, and punished by imprisonment at hard labor for a term of not less
than two years."-(Statutes; cap. 151, sec. 12.)
Aid what kind of hard labour is the North-,
72' 
BALL AND CHAIN.
ern man to undergo who should be lucklessly
brought before a Kansas judge and convicted of denying the right to hold slaves in the
territory?  This is defined in the same code,
where, after providing that every person so sentenced shall be deemed a convict, and shall be
put to hard labour on the streets, roads, public
buildings, or other public works of the territory, the act continues:
"And the keeper shall cause such convict,
while engaged in such labour, to be securely
confined by a chain six feet in length, of not
less than 4-16ths nor more than 3-Sths of an
inch links, with a round ball of iron of not
less than four ioor more than six inches in diamneter attached, which chain shall be securely
fastened to the ankle of such convict with a
strong lock and key; and such keeper or other
person having charge of such convict may, if
necessary, confine such convict while so engaged at hard labour, by other chains or other
means, in his discretion, so as to keep such
convict secure and prevent his escape; and
when there shall be two  or more  convicts
under the charge of such keeper or other person, such convicts shall be fastened together
by strong chains, with strong locks and keys,
4
73 
KANSAS.
during the time such convicts shall be engaged in hard labour without the walls of
any  jail or  prison".-(Statutes,   cap.   22,
sec. 2.)
Further, the  convict  may be "employed
upon private hiring at labour" for the benefit of
the territorial treasury (cap. 22, sec. 3). The
person who gives utterance to a free thought,
therefore, may be placed at the will of the Proslavery rulers, at the side, if they please, of
their negro slaves, to labour in their fields or
elsewhere, whilst they drag after them the
heavy ball and chain, symbol of their subjection to the slave power.
For greater " offendes against slave property"
the law provides, of course, a severer penalty.
To aid in any rebelliori of slaves against their
masters, to bring into the territory any book
or tract calculated to excite rebellion on the
part of slaves, free negroes, or mulattoes, to
carry out of the territory a slave belonging to
another, Or to assist in the same, are all capital
offences, to be punished by death.
The man, therefore, who possesses a copy of
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" is, in Kansas, on a par
74 
LAW. 
with the murderer. His guilt demands the
heaviest penalty the law can inflict. But without arguing from cases so extreme, let it be remembered that the utterance of even a syllable
against the right of holding slaves is made
punishable by two years' imprisonment and
hard labour on the public roads, with a chain
of six feet and a round ball of iron attached to
the ankle, and it will at once be seen whether
the law was made for the Pro-slavery or for the
Free-state men.   Add to this the fact that
every act of the Free-state party, if viewed in
the light of the laws as interpreted by the
Federal government, is an act of treason against
the Federal power, and it will be perceived
what opportunity is given for the most cruel
despotism and the grossest wrong to take refuge
in the name and under the sanction of the law.
"Law," in fact, was the word constantly in
the mouths of the self-styled border ruffians,
with whom I myself came daily into contact
in Kansas. So far from not appealing to it,
everything they did, every enormity they committed, was done in the name of the law of
the land. The constant taunt thrown out
75 
KANSAS.
against the Free-state party, and the chief difficulty they themselves experienced, was the opposition in which they stood to the recognized
law. "Law and order" became the watch-word
and war-cry of the most lawless in the territory;
and the words "a posse of law-and-order men"
were synonymous with a company of freebooters
and murderers ranging the country in search
of their political opponents. The law, therefore,
was all on one side. And it will be seen that,
with enactments demanding the conviction of
all who spoke or acted against slavery, and a
judge and jury no less desiring their extermination, the wronged Free-state man, though he
should have been struck down in the highway
and robbed of his all, had more to lose than
gain by a recourse to the legal power.
76 
WHENCE DO SUCHI LAWS COME 
CHAPTER VII.
Southern Law-makers.-Perversion of Authority.-A fraudu lent Legislature  in Power.-The "Blue Lodge."-The
Electors overawed.-General Stringfellow's Speech.-The
Physical Force Argument.-How to get a Majority.-Ille gal Votes.-Not Four per Cent. Legal.-Terrorism.-Poll ing.-The Congress Report.-Right of Might.-A forcible
Persuader.-Conclusions of the Committee of Investigation. A Poll-tax.-Pro-Slavery Votes purchasable by Law.-Anti Slavery Votes pronounced void by LaW.-Public Documents
cited.-Laws worse than Draconian.
THE reader may be tempted further to ask, how
laws so glaringly unreasonable and unjust as
those cited in the preceding chapter could have
become the laws of the land? By what power
or authority were they enacted?
Answer.-They were enacted by a falsely
chosen but authoritatively recognized Territorial Legislature.  This Legislature, viewed by
the general Governmient as the voice of the
people, becomes, of necessity, lawgiver to the
people of the territory; and not only gives the
laws, but assumes to itself the right to define
77 
KANSAS.
its own authority.   In this way  the legal
existence of this assembly as a legislative body
has been determined by itself, and, being backed by the United States troops, the so-called
Kansas Legislature has had almost all power in
its own hands. This is the Legislature for
which the votes were taken on the 30th of
March, 1855, and which, first meeting at Pawnee, was afterwards removed to the Shawnee
Mission, to be more conveniently near the
Missouri border. It is true, the election was
repudiated as fraudulent and unfair by the
Free-state population, and that they acted
independently of it in causing a fresh election
to take place on the 9th of October, 1855.
This resulted in the convention for organizing
a State Government, which met at Topeka, and
the subsequent election of State officers and
members of the General Assembly. When this
Assembly met the second time at Topeka,
on the 4th of July last, it will be remembered
that Colonel Sumner forcibly dissolved the
Assembly at the head of a considerable body of
United States troops, at the same time indicating his own view of the proceeding by stating
78 
THE LEGISLATURE IN OFilICE BY FRAUD. 79
that it was "the most painful duty of his whole
life."  Repudiated, however, as the "bogus"
Legislature is on the part of the whole Freestate population, it still maintains its power,
and gives laws to the territory.
But how, it may next be asked, is this
charge established, of the Legislature to which
the Federal Government gives the sanction of
its approval and the aid of its troops, being thus
falsely and fraudulently chosen?
This fact admits of very easy proof. Long
before the first election in Kansas, a secret society had been in existence in Missouri, generally
known as the " Blue Lodge," the avowed purr
pose of which was, by a systematic organization, to control the elections in Kansas. By
this agency immense armed bands of men from
Missouri were poured into Kansas, and, under
the generalship of efficient leaders, so distributed
through the electoral districts as to outnumber
and overawe the resident voters. The character
of these men may be inferred from ant address
delivered by one of their chief leaders, General
Stringfellow, of Weston, in Missouri.  General
Stringfellow is the brother of the Speaker in 
KANSAS.
the Legislative Assembly. The style of his
address is very characteristic.
" I tell you to mark every scoundrel among
you that is the least tainted with free-soilism
or abolitionism, and exterminate him. Neither
give nor take quarter from the          rascals.
I propose to mark them in this house, and on
the present occasion, so you may crush them
out. To those who have qualms of conscience
as to violating laws, state or national, the time
has come when such impositions must be disregarded, as your rights  and property are in
danger; and I advise you, one and all, to enter
every election district in Kansas, in defiance of
Reeder and his vile myrmidons, and vote  at
the point of the bowie-knife and the revolver.
Neither give nor take quarter, as our case demands it.  It is enough that the slaveholding
interest wills it, from which there is no appeal.
What right has Governor Reeder to rule Missourians in Kansas? i His proclamation  and
prescribed oath  must  be repudiated.   It is
your interest to do so. Mlind that slavery is
established where it is not prohibited."
And as their leader advised them so they
did. They neither gave nor took quarter; they
allowed no qualms of conscience as to violating
so 
IIOW TO GET A MAJORITY.
laws; and they entered every electoral district
in Kansas, and, in defiance of the rightful governor, voted at the point of the bowie-knife
and the revolver. The result was a majority,
almost as ten to one, in favour of the proslavery candidate, General Whitfield. Exact
returns from each district have since been
obtained by the Committee of Investigation,
and from their report presented to Congress, I
will extract one or two examples of the fraud
practised by this invading army.
The seventh district is a remote settlement,
as yet very sparsely inhabited, and containing
by census not more than 53 voters. In this
district alone no less than 597 votes were cast
for Whitfield, and seven for another candidate,
making in all 604, of which it has been ascertained that not more than 20 were legal, the
remaining 584 being consequently illegal votes.
In the eleventh district, Marysville, " the total
number of white inhabitants, including men,
women, and children, was 36, of whom 24 were
voters. Yet the poll-lists in this district show
that 245 votes were cast at this election! * * *
By a comparison of the census-roll with the
4.4,
81 
KANSAS.
poll-books it appears that but seven resident
settlers voted; and 238 votes were illegally
and fraudulently given!"
And what was done  at the election of a
delegate to Congress was repeated at the election of the members of the Legislative Assembly.
By the report of the Committee of Investigation it appears that the proportion of illegal to
legal votes was as 4,908 to 1,410! From the
census it appears there were but 2,905 voters
in the whole Territory, yet 5,427 votes were
recorded on the Pro-slavery side alone!  Many
of the Missourians returned the same night,
after giving their vote, to their own State. At
Leavenworth, a great number came down by
steamboat from Weston, and having effected
their object, returned by the same boat. Many
affirmed their right to vote as residents, although
they might have been only an hour in the territory, and had their home in Missouri. The
enormities committed by these armed bands
were fearful. Some we read of standing around
the polling-place and saying that "no difficulty
would be made if they were allowed to vote in
peace, but that they were determined to vote
82 
THE POLLS CARRIED BY KNIFE AND PISTOL. 83
anyhow, and that each one of them was prepared for eight rounds without loading, and
would go to the ninth round with the butcherknife." If the judges who presided over the
elections refused to receive their votes without
administering the oath of residence, the Missouian invaders held their pistols at their heads,
while they appointed fresh judges from their
own number, and proceeded with the election,
"masters of the position."  So violent was
their hatred to the oath, that any voter who
professed himself ready to take it was threatened with instant death, amid cries of "Shoot
him!" " Cut his guts out!" &c.   "One of
them," we read in the report of the commissioners,
"M ir. J. N. Mace, was asked if he would take
the oath; and, upon his replying that he would
if thejudges required it, he was dragged through
the crowd away, from the polls amidst cries of
'Kill the --   nigger thief,'' Cut his throat,'
'Tear his heart out,' &c. After they got him
to the outside of the crowd, they stood around
him with cocked revolvers and drawn bowieknives; one man putting a knife to his breast
so that it touched him; another holding a cocked 
KANSAS.
pistol to his ear, while another struck at him
with a club."
Thewhole of the voluminrous evidence accompanying the report submitted to Congress goes
to establish a succession of similar enormities
in each of the polling districts. These investigations were being carried on within two doors
of the place where I was myself staying when
in Leavenworth; and it was sufficient to hear
the manner in which the Missourians affirmed
their right to come over from their own State
and vote in the Territory of Kansas, and their
determination to do so on every occasion and
at all hazards, to understand the violence with
which they would assert that right when confronted with their political opponents at the
polling-places.
Another question may be suggested on this
topic. By what right do these Missourians or
others firom the neighbouring States vote in the
Kansas elections?
By no right whatever except that of might.
The Missourians have no more right to vote in
Kansas than the voters in Middlesex have, after
using their rightful suffrage in their own county,
84 
ORGANIZED INVASION.
to go with their knives into Surrey and record
their votes a second time, with a pistol at the
head of the election officer, in order to control
the Surrey elections. Indeed, as the States of
the Union are by their constitution perfectly
independent of one another and self-governed,
the parallel would be truer if we were to picture an army of Frenchmen, larger in number
than the aggregate of all our voters, who should,
at the point of the sword, choose for us our
representatives, and return without exception
as our rulers men from among themselves or
pledged to their own political sentiments.
So much was it an act of main force and
illegal oppression, that among the conclusions
which the Commissioners of Investigation report as established by the testimony adduced,
they give the first place to the following:
"That each election in the Territory, held
under the organic or alleged Territorial law,
has been carried by organized invasion from the
State of Missouri, by which the people of the
Territory have been prevented from exercising
the rights secured to them by the organic
law."
S5 
IKANSAS.
And as being the fruit of an organized invasion they conclude,
"Secondly, that the alleged Territorial Legislature was an illegally constituted body, and
had no power to pass valid laws, and their enactments are therefore null and void."
While, however, in the first instances, the
interference of the Missourians was wholly illegal, the Legislature thus illegally constituted
took care to legalize the act for the future.
Hence we find them enacting in the "Act instituting a poll-tax:"
"Sect. 1. That every free white male above
the age of twenty-one years who shall pay to
the proper officer in Kansas Territory the sum
of one dollar as a poll-tax, and shall produce to
the judges of any election within and for the
Territory of Kansas a receipt showing the payment of said poll-tax, shall be deemed a legal
voter, and shall be entitled to vote at any election in said Territory during the year for which
the same shall have been paid, provided that
the right of suffrage shall be exercised only by
citizens of the United States and those who
have declared on oath their intention to become
such, and shall have taken an oath to support
66 
PRO-SLAVERY VOTES PURCHASED BY LAW. 87
the constitution of the United States and the
provisions of the act organizing the Territory
of Kansas."
In other words, by the payment of a single
dollar any citizen of any one of the United
States can purchase a voting power in Kansas
for a twelvemonth, provided he pledges himself
to the support of the Organic Act. In contrast
to this, in the 11th section (Statutes, p. 282) it
is expressly enacted that while every inhabitant
of Kansas paying a-territorial tax is a qualified
elector, yet should he, on being challenged to
take an oath to sustain the provisions of the
Nebraska-Kansas Bill and the Fugitive Slave
Law, "refuse to takle such oath or affirmation,
the vote of such person shall be rejected."
Hence, in the election of members for the
new Legislature, the results of which we recently received, the pro-slavery Missourian who
paid a dollar was entitled to a vote, while the
Free-state settler in Kansas, though an owner
of land in the Territory, was denied his right
of suffrage by the Territorial law. The same
law required the candidates also, in order to be
eligible at that election, to take oath in support 
KANSAS.
of the Fugitive Slave Law (Statutes, p. 332).
The prediction, therefore, as to the results of tile
election, which was ventured when these facts
were first laid before the English public, was
one in relation to which no room for speculation
could be said to exist. The complete verification of it in the return of a wholly pro-slavery
Legislature, of which we have recently received
the intelligence, was the only result which
could reasonably be anticipated.
At the risk of writing that which is less generally interesting, I have presented in this and the
preceding chapter numerous extracts from public documents.  I have deemed it right to do
this, because the whole value of the present
statements rests on the authority whence they
are derived.  The references I have made are,
firstly, to the "Statutes of the Territory of
Kansas," issued by the legislative body, to
which, though chosen by the inhabitants of
another State, the Government at Washington
gives the sanction of its approval and its mili tary aid; and, secondly, to the report and evi dence of "the Special Committee appointed to
investigate the troubles in the Territory of
88 
OBJECT OF THE AUTHOR.
Kansas"- -a report which, though dissented
from by one member of the committee, contains testimony which can never be overthrown
or gainsaid.
Mly simple object has been to show that the
dark deeds of which I was an eye-witness in
Kansas, some of which I have detailed in former chapters, are no darker than the public
acts of the slave-power in that territory, as
exhibited in the archives of its House of Assembly; and that the fearful anarchy and unrestrained lawlessness which reign throughout
the territory find both their parallel and their
key in the flagrant  unrighteousness of their
legal enactments.
89 
KANSAS.
CHAPTER VIII.
Recapitulation.-The "bogus" Legislature.-Men and Things
in Kansas.-Different Classes of Settlers.-Immense Extent
of Country. —Physical Aspect.-Rivers.-Tbe Kansas and
Missouri.-Undulating Prairie.- Caravans.-Indian Tribes.
-Fertility of the Soil.-Salubrity of the Climate.-Com mercial Advantages. —The "mad  Missouri."- Excellent
Market. —" Nebraska-Kansas Act."-A Race between North
and South. —Pro-slavery Party in the Ascendant. —Struggle
between the two Parties.-Tarring and Feathering.-Sale
of a Free Man.-Model Legislators. —Discordant Elements.
-Development.
IN my earlier chapters on the subject of Kansas, I attempted to depict some of the scenes
of riot and exhibitions of maddened hostility
which fell within my own experience as a
traveller in that territory immediately after
the burning and sack of the town of Lawrence.
In others I have endeavoured to explain the
extraordinary fact of such lawlessness being permitted, by showing from the statute-books of
the territory that such acts were not the fruit
of a sudden and exceptional outbreak of pas
90 
THE " BOGUS " LEGISLATURE.
sion, but were the reflection of the deliberate
injustice of their legislative enactments.   I
have also indicated the fact that the Legislature, which has thus shamefully abused its
power, is not the choice of the people of Kansas, but mainly of the inhabitants of an adjoining State, who controlled the elections by entering and voting in the territory in far larger
number than the total of its own voting population. Further, that this Legislature-commonly called a "bogus," that is, a spurious
Legislature-possesses the sanction of the general Government, and the aid, consequently, of
the United States' troops. On the same ground,
every act of the people of Kansas to gain for
themselves a true representation and a better
government is regarded as "treason" or " rebellion;" and the leaders of such " rebellion" have,
as in the instance of General Robinson and
others, suffered, although untried, a long and
painful imprisonment.
This fact of an unrepresented minority, or,
with more truth, an unrepresented majority of
the people of Kansas, is alone sufficient to
shield the settlers in that territory from the
91 
KANSAS.
charge of universally participating in this system  of legalized ruffianism.   There  are, in
truth, large numbers of people occupying
claims in the territory, whose sole purpose
evidently is to act as peaceful pioneers of civilization by transforming the rich prairie lands
of Kansas into a home for themselves and their
children. In justice to these and all others
concerned, I purpose devoting one or two chapters to a description of men and things generally in Kansas; comprehending, if possible, some
description of the external aspect of the country, its towns and cultivation, with a more
special portraiture of the classes of men there
to be met-the Western settler, the Free-state
advocate, the Southern planter, the border-man,
and all other varieties of inhabitant that constitute the existing elements of Kansas society.
This may meet the wants of those whose interest in the political struggle, of which Kansas
is the theatre, may lead thenm to inquire what
kind of appearance the place presents, and what
objects meet the eye of one travelling in that
distant territory.
And first, in addition to that which Kansas
92 
IMMENSE EXTENT OF COUNTRY.
has of its own, those characteristics must be
presupposed which it possesses in common
with all the other vast territories of the American" far West."  There is immense extent of
country. Add together England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and the aggregate superficies
will yield almost precisely the area of Kansas;
which, nevertheless, is small compared with its
sister territory, Nebraska.  There is interest
attached to its physical aspect. Rivers of immense proportions roll their vast and muddy
volume along, ordinarily at a great depth beneath the elevation of the general surface,
through which they have cut their deep broad
channel, leaving a margin of high bluffs, sometimes covered with a thick growth of cottonwood and elm,-at others too steep to admit of
more than the scantiest vegetation. Near these
rivers, and especially on the borders of the Kansas and Missouri, are fine bottom-lands covered
with a rich and most fertile soil, needing nothing but the plough to convert them into
fruitful fields. Then follows prairie-beautiful,
undulating prairie-here and there a grove of
walnut, hickory, oak, or sugar-maple, but for
93 
KANSAS.
the most part a broad treeless and shrubless
pasturage, stretching its velvety surface of grass
as far as the horizon, decked, too, at the spring
season- when I saw it —with prairie flowers of
every hue, and alive with the hum of insects
no less variegated in colour and delicate in form.
Let the traveller put himself upon one of the
trails joining the caravan for Santa Fe, or
Oregon, or Utah, and he may spend his month
or six weeks amid the monotony of this sea of
grass as on an ocean voyage, traversing the
green waves of its rolling surface, with a circular
horizon always around him, till, having crossed
twelve and a half degrees of longitude, he finds
himself at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and
at length at the western boundary of Kansas.
With the exception, however, of these trains,
which pass and repass with their long waggons
and innumerable oxen during the summer
months, the broad prairie-lands of Central and
Western Kansas are left to the occupancy of
the wandering tribes of Indians, of whom it has
been estimated that there are yet 25,000 in the
territory; while the better-watered, betterwooded, and more fertile lands in the East are
A
Ole 
ATTRACTIONS OF KANSAS.
occupied by the 10,000, or more, belligerent
settlers of our own blood, of whom we have
heard so much.
Were there nothing else to attract settlers
but the fertility of the land, the salubrity of the
climate, and the commercial advantages it possesses, Kansas would still have been sought
out as a favourable spot for Western emigrants.
Its soil, so far as I had opportunity to observe
it, in the lands watered by the Kansas and
Missouri rivers, is as rich as in any part of the
whole West of the United States, admirably
adapted for pasturage, suitable for Indian corn
and other crops, and, in some parts, for the cultivation of hemp or tobacco. Its climate, hot
in summer, is nevertheless healthy, and free,
according to all accounts, from the fever and
ague so prevalent in many parts of Missouri.
Its economical advantages are quite peculiar.
It is, by virtue of its situation, the key to all
the vast territory which, westward and northward, opens out from the junction of the Kansas
and Missouri rivers.  The Kansas itself is no
inconsiderable stream.  It receives into it the
Smoky-hill, the Grand Saline, Solomon's, and
05 
KANSAS.
the Republican Forks, besides smaller tributaries, each of these greater in length, and in
the spring very much larger in volume, than
our own Thames.  The "mad" Missouri, although having more than 1,600 miles to run
when it passes Leavenworth before it reaches
the sea, and having already traversed 2,600
miles since it left the Great Falls, is, for the
whole distance, open to steam navigation;
while above the Falls the stream may still be
navigated by smaller craft for hundreds of
miles towards its source in the Rocky Mountains. But, independently of this prospective
commerce, the settler in Eastern Kansas already
possesses the advantage of water communication
by which at once to forward his produce to the
southern market, and, above all, an excellent
market at his own door in the necessities of
produce and of stock arising from the constant
fitting out of the trains for New Mexico, which
make the cities on the Kansas border their
starting-place and entrepot.
But with much in these respects to attract
the settler, Kansas owes, doubtless, the rapidity
of its settlement principally to the political
96 
ATTRACTIONS OF KANSAS.,
interests which have gathered around it. From
the first moment  when the Nebraska-KIansas
Act was passed, which, whilst it organized
Kansas into a Territory, swept away all former
stipulations as to the exclusion of slavery, it
was perceived alike by North and South that
the future of Kansas in relation to slavery, and
with it, probably, of all territories that might
afterwards be admitted, must be determined by
the numerical proportions of its population.
A race was commenced between North and
South, and that party was to be the winner
who should send in the largest number of its
own adherents, whether Free-state men or
pro-slavery men, to determine the law for the
new Territory. Measures were taken by the
pro-slavery party to prevent the allotment of
lands to any but their own partisans; and when
Free-state men still came in, squatter meetings
were held in Kansas by inhabitants of MIissouri, who passed resolutions to the following
effect:
"That we will afford protection to no abolitionist as a settler on this Territory.
"That we recognize the institution of slavery
5
97 
KAN' SAS.
as already existing in this Territory, and advise
slaveholders to introduce their property as early
as possible."
To meet these efforts on the part of organizations in Missouri, Emigrant Aid societies were
formed in Boston and elsewhere in the Eastern
States to promote the movement on the side of
the North, and to give facilities to settlers
intending to make Kansas their home.  That
these were bonda fide settlers, and not an invading army of illegal voters like the Missourians,
we have abundant proof. Indeed, it is idle to
suppose that men went from Boston to Kansas,
an overland journey equalling in distance that
from  London to Odessa, their expenses not
being paid by the society, merely with a view
to record their votes, and then return.
The two parties, as might be anticipated,
soon came to blows.   Public meetings were
perpetually being held, secret committees
formed, political clubs organized. A single
instance selected out of many will illustrate the
operation of these hostile measures.
A Vigilance Committee was appointed in the
spring of 1855, having for its object " to observe
98 
TARRING AND FEATHERING.
and report all such persons as shall, * * * by
the expression of abolition sentiments, produce
disturbance to the quiet of the citizens or
danger to their domestic relations; and all such
persons so offending shall be notified and made
to leave the territory."   On this committee
were several members of the Legislature. The
first person "observed and reported" by the
committee as acting so as to endanger "their
domestic relations" (by which delicate expression is meant the institution of slavery) was Mr.
William Phillips, a lawyer residing in Leavenworth, whose offence was that he had sworn to
a protest against the validity of the election in
his district, in consequence of which protest
Governor Reeder had ordered a new election.
Mr. Phillips was "notified" to leave the territory. He refused to do so, whereupon he was
seized by a party of MIissouri men to the number
of fourteen, taken across the river, and carried
several miles into Missouri.   They then proceeded to shave one side of his head, next
stripped off his clothes, and put him through
the horrible ordeal of tarring and feathering.
This being completed, they rode him on a rail
a
99 
KANSAS.
for a mile and a-half, and finally put him up at
auction, a negro acting as auctioneer, and went
through the mockery of selling him, not at the
price of a slave, but for the sumn of one dollar.
Eight days after this outrage a public meeting
was held, at which the following resolution
was unanimously adopted: "That we heartily
endorse the action of the committee of citizens
that shaved, tarred and feathered, rode on a
rail, and had sold by a negro, William Phillips,
the moral perjurer." The meeting was presided over by MIr. Rees, a member of Council
in the Kansas Legislature, and the resolution
was offered by Mr. Payne, a Judge and also
member of the House of Representatives! The
outrage committed against Mr. Phillips was
not, therefore, the hasty act of a few murderous
ruffians, but one advisedly carried out and
afterwards deliberately endorsed by a number
of citizens and by members of both Houses of
Legislature. Mr. Phillips returned to Leavenworth, but has since, according to accounts
received in the autumn of 1856, been shot.
To return, however, from this digression. It
was out of elements thus discordant that the
a
100 
DISCORDANT ELEMENTS.
social life of Kansas had to develope itself.
The settler fiom the North brought his shrewd
intelligence and hard-working industry; the
man of the South his fearless spirit and cavalier
independence. Both were animated by a determination to conquer.   United they might
have made of Kansas a garden of plenty and an
advance-post of civilization. But their work
in the territory was to oppose one another.
And, although this might have been done by
pacific means, yet, differing widely as they did
in natural characteristics, in their sympathies
and their political aims, they soon yielded to
the influence of party bitterness, so that the
Northern man's persevering energy and the
Southerner's high-spirited daring found exercise,
not in furthering a common cause, but in acts
of mutual hostility.
1.01 
KANSAS.
CHAPTERt IX.
Striking Contrast. —Freedom and Slavery.-Rapid Progress of
Kansas.-Northern Emigrant Aid Societies.-Spirit of En terprise.-The "Regulators."-" Law and Order" Men. The Widow's Son. —Barbarous Outrage.-The Western
Frontiersman.-His  character.-Generous  Reciprocity. Mode of Intercourse.-The Pioneer of the New World. His Appointments.-The Romance of Peril.-Achievements
of the Western Pathfinder.-Contempt of the Yankees. The Source of Life and Vigour. —Effect of Politics on the
Western Character.
NOWHERE  in America, probably, is the contrast between the Northern and the Southern
man exhibited in so marked a manner as in
Kansas. He who would see the difference
between  comfort  and  discomfort, between
neatness and disorder, cleanliness and filth,
between farnning the land and letting the
land farm itself, between trade and stagnation,
stirring activity and reigning sloth, between
a   wide-spread intelligence  and anl almost
universal ignorance, between general progress
102 
CONTRASTS.
and an incapacity for all improvement or
advancement, has  commonly  only  to  cross
the border-line which separates a free from
a slave State. But he who would see these
broad contrasts in a single view, the evidences of well-directed enterprise anid intelligent energy mixed up with the ugly features
of backgoing and barbarity, should seek out
Kansas and make its strange varieties of inhabitants his study.
Kansas is not altogether bad. It has its redeeming features, its fairer as well as its darker
aspects, as if to justify Byron's line,-" None are
all evil."  An impulse more thian ordinary has
been given on the part of the iNorth, and the
necessities of the settler have been more than
ordinarily anticipated. Usually life in the bush
or life on the prairie implies a long apprenticeship of toil before the reward of industry is
reached. The Western settler must in most
instances make up his mind to years of lonely
struggle, hard battling with the earth and elements, before he finds himself surrounded by
the life of civilization even in its most rudimentary forms.  But it has not been wholly so in
103 
104
Kansas. The want of capital, which is a principal source of the difficulties and embarrassments that so long retard the progress of settler
ill a new country, has been in a great degree
met by the active exertions of the Northern
emigrant-aid societies. The appliances of civilized life are, as a consequence, by no means
wanting. The church, the school-house, the
public hall, the necessities of commerce, sawmills, and other erections of industry, are all in
a certain degree provided; and large public
works and costly undertakings are promised,
and already have an existence on paper, which
are in advance of the wants of the place for
many years to come. Hence, trade has been
greatly stimulated and a degree of enterprise
developed which, had not the pursuits of industry been diverted by the rude checks of war,
would have made this new territory remarkable
in the annals of successful progress and rapid
increase.
Unfortunately, as I had too many proofs at
the time of my visit, the labours of the honest
and well-disposed among the settlers were most
grievously interfered with by the necessity of
li:AN',S'A,S. 
'rTJl  wVowIDOW',S  SON.t
bearing arms and shielding themselves from
political oppression.  The farmers were neglecting their corn fields to form committees of defence. Others found themselves mercilessly
robbed of their produce and of their horses and
other stock, to supply the wants of the "Regulators," who, in the name of " law and order,"
scoured the country in search of political victims.  A  young man, when I was there, was
attacked by a band of men, who demanded his
horse.  He refused.   They held their pistols
before him, and renewed  the demand: "He
mtist give his horse, or drop."  He again asserted his right to his own.  The "Regulators"
were firm.  He pleaded, ifnot justice, mercytelling them that he was the only son of a widowed mother, and that to take his horse would
be to rob him of his chief means of supporting,
not himself alone, but her.  The "Law-andOrder" men were weary of the discussion.  A
single shot terminated both it and the young
man's life.
But where these acts of violence were not
committed, the diversion of the settlers' labour
from the cultivation of their farms, to the organ
105
5,k 
KANSAS.
izing of means of defence, was sufficient to lead
to serious apprehension as to the consequences.
It was my intention to have referred to this before the sad intelligence arrived that the Freestate inhabitants of Lawrence were suffering
from scarcity, and that the merchant in Weston
who sold them a quantity of flour had been arrested by a band of men from Platte City, with
the renowned Stringfellow at their head, who
denounced the flour-dealer as an Abolitionist,
and threatened to hang him. Fortunately, the
people of Weston, who love free-trade, it appears, if they love nothing else that is free, came
to the rescue of their fellow-citizen, and compelled the Platte party to take their departure.
To draw a true picture of Kansas life it is
necessary, of course, to place in the foreground
the true typical Western frontiersman. Coming
originally, whether from the cultivated farms of
New England or from the broad plantations of
the South, the settler in the West speedily
acquires those general characteristics which
belong to the border, and which mark out the
Western man as of a species distinct from either
Northerner or Southerner. It would be diffi
106 
THE VWESTERN FRONTIERSMAN.
cult, perhaps, to define it precisely, but there
is an element in the Western character which,
in the case of the majority I believe of our own
countrymen, would gain for it their natural
sympathies more readily than they are yielded
to the Eastern inhabitants of the States, either
North or South. This is the secret, probably,
of that strange attraction which belongs, notwithstanding all its discomforts and all its
perils, to the border life of the furthest West.
Placed in circumstances where they have to
endure frequent hardship and privation, called
oftentimes to encounter great danger, and to
expose their lives to the most imminent perils,
these hardy men become in a short time wholly
indifferent to all considerations of personal comfort or safety. By a natural transition they are
next found deriving pride and pleasure from the
life of hardship to which they have become
inured, despising the softness of civilization and
conventional society, and loving only the proud
independence and excitement of a life, in which
the surmounting of obstacles, the subduing of
nature and perpetual hair-breadth escapes, form
the chief staple of each day's experience.
107 
K ANSAS.
Further, the border-man is so situated with
regard to his fellow settler that lie is most
naturally led to share all he has with his neighbour, and to make common stock of whatever
little conven-iences each can afford.   If A is
felling timber, he will cut for B too, who lives
in the log-hlouse four miles off. and who perhaps has unfortunately lost or broken his axe;
and if B's wife has got a saucepan, A's betterhalf shall not want the means wherewithal to
prepare the "hog and hominy" for the family's
wants.   And why not?   If there were  no
such generous interchange, a weary week's
journey might need to be undertaken before
MIr. B  could  replace his axe or Mrs. A her
saucepan. A Western man will take no recompense for services rendered, however kind
or valuable; he dislikes to be offered thanks.
In my own experience, the most simple acknowledgment of favour by a plain "if you
please," or "I thank you," has been received
with very evident displeasure that I should
introduce the coldness of Eastern conventionalism to mar the freedom of friendly intercourse.
The most unbounded hospitality reigns, the
ios 
OPEN HEARTS AND OPEN DOORS.  109
talk of the  stranger and the news he may
bring being the set-off against all he may receive.   This set-off, however, he must give;
for the Western man, while he holds that you
have a free right to everything in his cabin
without asking so much as his permission, considers that you and yours are equally at his
disposal, and that, should he detain you for a
night beneath his roof, you are bound to answer every one of the endless questions he has
to present for your solution. Whatever is not
generous and free, the true border-man with
difficulty comprehends and most heartily hates.
Let the stranger leave behind him all home
prejudices, all the chill formalities of conventional society-be ready to accept the rough
fare set before him, which, if not good, is yet
the best the country will afford-show no fear,
no suspicion, no restraint-handle his rifle as if
it were his cherished companion-be hearty
and cheerful and ready to communicate, not in
word only, but by handing out his brandy-flask,
or participating anything else he may have
with his entertainers, without allowing it to
appear in the smallest degree an act of favour, 
KANSAS.
and tell the rough settler that, though "of
Eastern raising," his heart is with the West,
and there is not a log-cabin in the whole border-land from north to south which is not open
for his reception.  Except in Kansas, one is
compelled to add; for there, although the
Western nature is still the same-and rightly
managed, there is little to fear even from the
man who glories in the name of border-ruffian
-yet, through this detestable war, the generosity of the Western character is marred, and
each man looks with suspicion upon either
stranger or neighbour.
It is impossible, however, rightly to comprehend life in Kansas without taking into consideration the natural characteristics of the Western borderer. Take him at his best, and the
pioneer of the New World possesses a noble
character.   There he  stands, in  his  rough
woollen shirt of yellow or red, his big boots
forming a large circumference around his leath
ern hose, a buffalo-skin upon his back-at once
his covering by day and his bed, sheet, and
blanket all combined by night-his coonskin
cap, or slouched felt hat, covering a face which
110 
THE PATHFINDER $ CONQUESTS.   111
hot suns and keen frosts have made brown as
an Indian's, his rifle across his shoulder, powder-horn and shot-pouch hanging from his neck,
his belt stuck full of twine and knives, and
hatchets and ammunition, and all the minor
necessaries of his life-the produce of his last
shot perhaps upon his shoulder, his visage the
fiercer for uncombed hair and thick bristly
beard; there he stands, ready for the widest
river, or the thickest forest, or the broadest
prairie, or the wildest Indian; or the most savage
beast that it may be his lot to light on, ready
to do or die.
That there is a charm in all this, at least to
"those whose hearts are fresh and simple," and
who are sick of the luxury and display, the
hollow pretence and unmanly refinements of
the Eastern cities, will be understood by every
one. There is romance about the unheeded
perils and unthought-of hardships, there is at traction in the manly generosity of these brave
pioneers of civilization.   They are the men to
conquer the wild woods and stern nature that
is before them; and they do it. Step by step,
not gradually, but rapidly, they have carried 
KANSAS.
forward the outposts of civilized life; the red
man has receded before them; the waste wilderness has been transformed into a fruitful
field; hundreds, thousands of miles have submitted to the steady march of their conquest;
population has followed to fill up from behind
the lands they have cleared; and hating, as
"crowded up like a city," the place where
they can see in the distance the smoke of another man's log-hut, or cross another man's
claim, they ever move on, loving only the act
of conquest, and the pride of giving to the
world new lands for its enjoyment.
Open-hearted, hospitable, manly, enterprising, reckless of danger, careless of comfort, full
of cool courage and determination as the Western pathfinder is, it may readily be supposed he
holds in most hearty contempt the delicately
raised Yankee, that is, inhabitant of the Northeastern States.  To him the Yankee appears
the embodiment of all that is stiff and cold,
calculating and selfish.  He would not exchange
the "rough and ready" welcome to one of his
own Western log-huts, for all the gorgeous
saloons and costly display of the most brilliant
112 
THE WVESTERN PATHFINDER.
receptions in the Easterin cities. And well it
is that, in some part of the Union, the manly
strength of its first founders is thus perpetuated. With all his faults, there is life and vigour
in the Western borderer, and although capable
of being transformed into the worst of ruffians,
because the most reckless and determined, yet
there are elements of character, as it has been
my object to show, in this rough population of
MAlissouri and other border  lands, which  are
noble in themselves, and of the highest value
to the interests of the States.
How this Western character has been affected by the strife of politics, how it has been
engrafted upon other stocks and transmuted
into new forms, I shall next describe.   But
this subject must be reserved for another chapter, in which I hope to pourtray more particularly the varieties of inhabitants to be met with
in the seat of Western war and thus to place
before English eyes a picture of log-hut life in
Kansas.
113 
114
CHAPTER X.
Varieties of Population in Kansas.-Types of Mankind on
board a Missouri Steamer. —The Border-ruffians.-Loud
Men.-Silent Free-Soilers.-New  Mexican Spaniards. Nuns. — Mormons.- German  Jews.-" Dutchmen." — Pro fessed Gamblers. —High Stakes. —Government Officials. United States Officers.-The African Race.-Freedom of
Speech forbidden.-A curious Illustration.-Judge O'Trig ger.-His Appearance-Conversation-His Legal Wisdotm.
-Lynch Law.-The Judicial Functionary's Plan.
THE population of Kansas comprehends various
classes of inhabitants, each distinguished firom
the others  by very marked  characteristics.
Leaving out of view its native Indians, the
country cannot be rightly understood, without
some apprehension of the varieties of humankind existing among its white settlers.
The company I had on board the steamboat
in the ascent of the Missouri, described in an
earlier chapter of this book, might be taken as
representing not inadequately the various classes
of population in Kansas. The loudest men on
KANSAi9. 
TYPES OF MANKIND.
board-the rulers and men of authority by
virtue of noise-were the Missourians and
border-ruffians generally. Early or late, in the
saloon or on deck, at the bar or in the berths,
there was no release from their ceaseless clamour. The rifles on the table or in the corners,
and the pistols in their pockets, were so many
fresh arguments to strengthen the bravado of
their words. No contrary opinion need attempt to stein the torrent of their turbulent
bluster. Even so is it in Kansas. The loudest
men whose authority is gained by the defiance
they bid, revolver in hand, to all opposition,
are the supporters of the political views of the
South. The majority of these are natives of
Missouri, but many whom I met had come from
States as distant as Georgia and South Carolina,-to appearance the off-scourings of the
population; young men of spirit and fire, whose
love of a fight had tempted them to engage in
the strife.
Next, there were doubtless among my fellow passengers silent Free-soilers-so silent as to
their views that it would be impossible to
identify them, were it not that a Northern man
116 
KANSAS.
can scarcely conceal his more unimpassioned
manners, his more careful attention to his dress,
and his colder and more formal demeanour in
general. So, also, is it in Kansas. There are
abundant proofs of the existence of quiet and
industrious settlers from the North, silently
trying to live out the storm, and thus prevent
the triumph of a mighty wrong.  A considerable portion of these reach Kansas, by a somewhat tedious overland route, through the
Northern State of Iowa, to avoid the risk of
travelling through a Slave State. This accounts
for the fact that, were I to set all cool temperaments and men silent on slavery to the credit
of the Free-soilers, that party would still have
been very poorly represented among my fellow passengers.
Further, there were on board Spaniards belonging to New 3Mexico, filthy as to their persons,
disgusting in their manners. These, also, form
a part of the transient population of Kansas.
Moreover, there were several nuns going up to
one of the Roman Catholic missions, and some
adherents of the Mormon faith, making their
way, probably, across the plains to Utah.  Be
116 
TYPES OF MANKIND.
sides these were Jews, for the most part of
German origin, of whom a large class carry on
the trading and storekeeping in the towns of
Kansas. There were Germans also-called by
the - Americans " Dutchmen"- who, intent on
making a livelihood, have settled so thickly in
Kansas, as they have done in all the Western
lands, that there are more German than English
names upon the shops and warehouses, and
they almost bid fair to monopolize the commerce of the country. Then there were others
intent on making gain, but not the honest gain
of the German-namely, the professed  gamblers. These were men who played a trick
with cards, well known on the Western waters,
which occupies but a single minute.  They
never accepted a stake of less than $100. They
began their work late at night, and left the
boat about daylight, carrying with them many
hundreds of dollars which they had got from
the drinking, maddened ruffians, fresh from the
spoil of Lawrence.  These, unfortunately, are
too numerously represented also in the Territory. Again, there were of our number agents
of the Federal as well as the Territorial Govern
117 
KANSAS.
ment, and officers in the United States' army;
and, lastly, the African race was represented,
not only by the waiters and others employed
on the boat, but also by a poor slave, who, for
safety's sake, was handcuffed, and sat ordinarily
in a corner, where the black barber found for
him a seat, dropping only his wrists between
his knees when a stranger approached, to
hide, apparently, the shameful shackle from his
gaze.
But amid all these-Pro-slavery men, Freesoilers, New Mexicans, Mormons, Nuns, Jews,
Germans, professional gamblers, Federal officers,
and slaves-there was no liberty of speech, unless the license claimed by the Southern braves
be deemed a species of liberty.  In an undertone, and keeping to the German language, I
ventured to condemn the existing outrages,
while conversing with two Germans. I found
them of my own mind, but, they added, no one
durst open his mouth. Of the denial of freedom of speech a curious illustration occurred
as our-steamer was approaching the border-line
of Kansas.  The word" abolition" had unguardedly dropped from the lips of the clerk of the
118 
FREEDOM OF SPEECH FORBIDDEN.   119
boat, not with the customary oath, but with a
laugh.  "Shut up," was the instant rejoinder,
proceeding from a gruff, hoarse voice, "reck'n
we're in a section now, where you can't say
that there word, not even in jest, so don't
crowd on so mighty powerful. You'll have to
allow to respect the wishes of the sovereign
people; it's them that's to rule;-d'ye hear,
Mister?"
Another fellow-passenger held the same views.
He was a Judge, and resident in Missouri. I
forget his name, but it might have been O'Trigger. Judge O'Trigger was one of the bestlooking of the Missouri men.  He was evidently well to do, and had the respect of the others,
forming often the centre of a circle before
whom he would deliver his opinions.  Hie was
a man of fine frame and handsome appearance
-tall, but also stout; his eye betokened determination, and his countenance was not unattractive, albeit his cheek was unceasingly,
except at mealtime, distended with the tobacco
quid.  He was well dressed, wore a "KnowNothing" hat, and had a black coat on his
back, which, however, he removed when he sat 
KANSAS.
down to meals, thus making more conspicuous
his tobacco-stained shirt-front.  This worthy
judge was a leader of the talk on board, and I
believe I owe much of my personal safety to
the fact of nay not refusing to form one of his
circle of auditors. But let Sir Oracle speak for
himself.
"I've got some boys* up hyar, and I expect
I'll bring them down. Reckon property's a
'nation sight safer at home than among those
mean, cantankerous Abolition cusses. That's
what I'm goin' up for, gentlemen. Got a
steep lot, I reckon, altogether; but they're no
account in these hyar diggins now, with them
Abolition rascals; that's a fact." Next, discoursing on the agitating politics of the day,
the subject to which he always reverted, "Tall
times these, gentlemen.  Those Aiassachusetts
men calculated they'd have it all their own
way, I reckon.  Get us only on their
tracks. We'll soon knock the wind out of
*By  "boys" in the Southern States are meant negroes.
The appellation, however, has no reference to age.. "Old
man" is another frequent form of address, in speaking to
negro slaves.
120 
JUDGE O'TRIGGELR.
them, that's sartin. What on airth have they
to do hyar, I should like to know? Let Massachusetts govern itself, I say; and we'll govern
ourselves. That's so. Let Massachusetts govern itself, and we'll govern ourselves, I say.
That's right and fair; and they've no right to
interfere." All joined heartily in admiring the
legal wisdom of Judge O'Trigger, interpreting
his conclusion as it was meant,-namely, that
Missouri should govern Kansas. Then, in
order to prevent the intrusion of Massachusetts
men, he had his remedy at hand.  "We're not
agoin' to let them pass in, no how. There's
too many in it, by a long sight, a'ready. We're
most agen the border now, I reckon. Catch
e'er a one of them passing; by -, if I won't
scalp him. There's one thing we'll do. We'll
pass the word round the boat at the last landing, so as they can jest kinder have their choice
which way they like. They must just be good
on the hemp or land. That's how we'll crowd
it on'em, or they'll have to allow to take the
change out of this hyar revolver of mine. That's
so; they must just be right on the hemp or
put ashore. We've stood them a mighty steep
6
121 
KANSAS.
time, but they ain't agoin' to carry on that
powerful any longer.  That's a fact."  The
judicial functionary repeated many  times his
plan, whereby to separate the wheat fiom the
chaff among the passengers; but, fortunately,
when we reached the boundary line the excitement was too great to admit of its execution.
3Iost probably the whole of it was mnere bravado.
J22 
THE TWO RIVAL ARMIES.
CHAPTER XI.
Two great Divisions.-Pro-slavery Men and Free-soilers. Subdivisions.-Slaves.-Small Number of Slave-owners in
Kansas.-Their Works. —" Border-ruffians."-King of the
Fire-eaters.-Their Numbers.-Volunteer Companies.-An
American "Groggery."-A Border-ruffian's Boast.-A fair
"Border-ruffian."-The Free-state Party.-General Lane. Governor Robinson.-His Services.-Enormities of Naples
and Austria reproduced in America.-Relative Numbers in
Kansas of  Southerns  and Northerns.-Migration.-Per manent Settlers.-Floating Population. —Western Cities. —
Contrast between Free and Slave Towns.
THE two great divisions in the population of
Kansas are, of course, the pro-slavery men and
the free-soilers.  These are the two rival armies
which, having poured during the past two years
into the territory, form the bulk of its inhabitants, and now stand side by side contending
for the mastery of power in the filture State.
These parties are susceptible also of a sub-division, according as their purposes in entering the
territory are peaceable orwarlike.  A most notable distinction is that which separates the man
123 
KANSAS.
who, whatever be the policy he has espoused,
seeks to carry the day by his right of suffrage as
a permanent honest settler, and the lover of disturbance who comes to assert victory at the
expense of falsehood, treachery, robbery, and
bloodshed.  Judge O'Trigger, who  had "got
some boys up to Kansas," and who spared executing his threat against those who would not
wear the pro-slavery badge,- namely, a bunch
of hemp, symbolic of a rope, stuck into the
buttonhole-is, thus far, greatly more to be
respected than the Northern man who, in the
pursuit of his cause, should turn his Yankee
acuteness to dishonest account.
There are, therefore, bonafide settlers among
the pro-slavery men. Judging by the number of
slaves, which, according to the census of 1855,
was 192, and has not, probably, increased since
that time, those who have brought their " live
stock" with them, in order to cultivate the
soil, are not many. A single Southern planter
will often own four or five times the whole
number of slaves existing in Kansas. But in
the Western States the ownership is generally
limited. Supposing, therefore, the average of
124 
PRO-SLAVERY SETTLERS.
"hands" owned by one master in Kansas to be
as small as four, which my own observation
would lead me to think a sufficiently low estimate, we still have fewer than fifty as the total
number of slave-owning settlers in Kansas. It
is singular that for the sake of fifty men, to protect them in their " right" to hold property in
slaves, so many other rights have been trampled
under foot, and thousands of honest men interdicted in the peaceful possession of their lands
and the legal exercise of their political suffrages.
There are, as may be supposed, many besides,
who, although not owning slaves, are yet rightful pro-slavery settlers. Still, if we are to
estimate their number by the evidences of
their industry, and ask what cities have they
built, what buildings have they erected, what
lands have they brought under culture, what
commerce have they introduced, where are
their farm-houses in the country, and their
stores,  and  warehouses,  and  schools,  and
churches in the towns, we should come to
the conclusion that if they are as numerous as
they profess to be, their powers are so absorbed
by their much talking that they are unable to
125 
KANSAS.
exhibit any proportionate fruit of the labour
of their hands.
Of the pro-slavery men who are not permanent settlers, little need be said. These are the
"border-ruffians," who have figured so much and
so ill in the short history of Kansas. Their
acts sufficiently indicate their character. Bold,
reckless men, intent upon one object, and that
the extermination of every Free-soiler from the
territory, utterly unscrupulous as to the means
by which their object shall be attained, they
are to be seen and heard on every side -now
standing in knots at the street corners, or in
the bar-rooms, concocting their schemes of
strife; now as marauding " posses," armed to
the teeth, galloping across the country, ready
to waylay and hang on the nearest tree any
one they may meet who will not join their
faction; again, in large numbers assembling in
some "grocery," surrounded by whisky and
rumn barrels, or in the open air, addressed:by
some one of their leading men, some king of
the "Fire-eaters," who makes them swear to
follow him till the last drop of Abolition blood
is shed; or, led on in troops by such masters
126 
BORDER-RUFFI[AN POPULATION.
in infamy as Donaldson, Marshal of the United
States, or Jones, the Sheriff of Douglas County,
or David R. Atchison, who left his seat at
Washington as President of the United States'
Senate to engage in this unjust war, and under
their generalship planting their cannon before
the Free-state buildings in Lawrence, and
reducing them to ashes, notwithstanding the
unresisting surrender of the inhabitants.
It is of necessity impossible to estimate the
number of this border-ruffian population, as the
number itself varies with the political occasions
which call them out.  In a single day of election, their number has been increased sometimes by the advent of at least 3,000, who have
crossed the border in order to control the
elections.   Many  hundreds  are at all times
organized into volunteer companies, bearing
such titles as " Kickapoo Rangers," "Platte
County Rifles," "Shot-gun Militia."   In a
circular issued by one of the Missouri societies
a few weeks before my visit, the system is openly confessed, while they appeal for help to
sustain more vigorously this organized borderruffianism:
127 
KANSAS.
"The western counties of Missouri have, for
the last two years, been heavily taxed, both in
money and time, in fighting the battles of the
South. Lafayette county alone has expended
more than $100,000 in money, and as much
and more in time. Up to this time the border
counties of Missouri have upheld and maintained the rights and interests of the South
in this struggle, unassisted, and not unsuccessfully."
Not quite unassisted, either; for when I was
in South Carolina, not long before, immense
meetings were being held and large sums subscribed, in order, although far more than 1,000
miles removed, to express active sympathy with
those who were fighting the pro-slavery battles
in Kansas.
As these border-ruffians form a fluctuating
population, so their mode of life and place of
habitation are not those of permanent settlers.
They collect mostly about the large hotels and
groceries (which is the American emendation
of the word "groggery") and bar-rooms and
gambling-houses, where they remain " loafing
about," as an American would term it, during
the day, and at night throw themselves on the
12S 
ROMANCE OF RUFFIANISM.
floor, if beds be scarce, their revolvers at their
side, and thus, a dozen in a row, prepare themselves for next day's action.
The name border-ruffian is one they glory in.
"I am a border-ruffian, I am; none of your
city-raised  Down-easters.   I  can draw  my
bead at forty rod, and bound to shoot centre,
anyhow. If the crowd wish, I don't care if we
have a hand-fight before this here bar. I'm
dreadful easy to whip; yes, sir-ee, dreadful
easy. So jest jump me up, stranger, and we'll
smash in all-createdly." This, stripped of its
many oaths, is a specimen of the ordinary way
in which a border-man introduces himself. I
have seen instances in which the name of
"border-ruffian" has been given to a steamboat,
or to a favourite horse or dog, or as a sign for a
grocery. A peculiar style of hat enjoys the
same very popular appellation. And the story
is told-I know not with what truth-of one
of the Missouri fair at a Kansas ball declining
the hand of a Free-soiler on the ground that
" she was a border-ruffian, and could not be
seen dancing with an Abolitionist." There is
romance, therefore, even in ruffianism.
6*
129 
KANSAS.
Quitting, however, the chivalry of the South,
the Free-state party claim notice. There are
among  these, as in the Southern party, the
noisy as well as the quiet-those that take
pleasure in political strife as well as those
whose object is honest, peaceful settling. On
the side of freedom there has been a needless
amount  of speech-making,  and, committeeforming, and resolution-passing, and pen-andink indignation, as well as more active efforts
in the way of fortifying and trenching their
stronghold, Lawrence, and organizing into volunteer armed corps.  There has also been scrip
issued and credit taken on the strength of the
hoped-for Free-state of Kansas. But, injudicious
as many of the acts of the Free-soil party may
have been, they are at least free from the graver
charge of unrestrained violence and lawlessness,
of which the Southern party have given so
many grievous exhibitions.
In General Lane the adherents of the Freestate cause have as a leader a man of spirit and
determination, not numbering more than thirtyfour years, but who, ten years ago, won laurels
in the war with Mexico, and has since distin
130 
GOVERNOR ROBINSON'S SERVICES.   131
guished himself in a political career as Lieutenant-Governor of his native State, Indiana, and
latterly as a member of Congress.  The fiery
energy of Lane is counterbalanced by the cooler
temperament of the other most noted leader of
the Free-state forces, as well  as Governor
under the Free-state constitution, General Robinson. Robinson is by some years Lane's senior,
but is probably not more than forty years old,
although his careworn looks might betoken (a
greater age. By profession he is a physician.
He, too, has seen rough service in the field, can
tell of hair-breadth escapes, and has had some
experience in politics in the Legislature of
California. lHe was returned to the Californian
Legislature, from the district of Sacramento,
whilst yet a prisoner on account of the part he
took in the disturbances which occurred there
in 1850, and in which he espoused the cause of
the squatters.  He was  at  the  same time
wounded,  to all appearance  mortally.  iHe
recovered, however, from his wounds, was
acquitted from the charges of murder and con spiracy, under which he was arraigned, and
took bis seat in the State Legislature. During 
KANSAS.
the same year he was wrecked on his passage
to New York by way of Panama.* Governor
Robinson's chief value as a leader consists
in those qualities-of cautiop, foresight and judgment, which, added to determined energy,
make a man wise to deliferate and bold to
act. These rare qualities he has combined in
a remarkable manner. As a man of cool, de
liberate action and never-failing resoluteness
* A few days after the above references to Dr. Robinson's
eventful experiences in California were written, our public
journals contained an account extracted from El Jicaraguense,
of the execution of Lieutenant Jennings Estelle in the city of
Granada, for the murder of his fellow-officer, Lieutenant
Charles Gordon. As the name of Charles Robinson occurs in
the declarations committed to writing by Estelle shortly before
his execution, it may be interesting to extract a few lines of
the confession, as little doubt can exist that the "Charles Robinson" referred to is the later Governor Robinson of Kansas.
The following are Estelle's words:  "I was born in Marshall, Tennessee, in the year 1833, and
was raised from my infancy in Hinds County, Mississippi. I
started to California in 1852. On the road I had a difficulty
with a man of the name of Howard, and shot him. I afterwards shot a man of the name of Hays, but the wound did not
happen to prove fatal. In the same year I had a difficulty
with Charles Robinson, and stabbed him in three places. My
last two difficulties, while in California, occurred at the State
Prison, where I had been employed for the last two years.
After getting in the last scrape, I came to Nicaragua, and shot
Thomas Edwards. I afterwards shot Charles Gordon."
132 
FREE-STATE- POPULATION.
of character, Governor Robinson has been in valuable to his cause, and has won the admiration of the opposite party. To such an extent
has the value of his services unfortunately been
recognized, that the party in power thought it
expedient to place their hands upon him and
detain him all the summer months of 1856 as
a prisoner, although untried and uncondemned.
The enormities of Naples and Austria are
reproduced in the United States of America.
In point of number the Free-state cause is
more largely represented in Kansas, I have
good ground for concluding, that the cause of
the South. In the election with a view to a
State constitution which took place on October
9, 1855, 2,710 Free-state men voted. In the
election of the Free-state candidate, Ex-Goverrlor Reeder, as a delegate to Congress, 2,849
votes were cast. Allowing for an increase of
population during the succeeding year, and
making the necessary addition for the wives
and families of the voters, I have no doubt that
these figures will give a tolerably near approximation to the Free-soil population of Kansas.
That a Northern should flow in more readily
133 
KANSAS.
and more numerously than a Southern population is what might naturally be anticipated.
To the Northern man it is a small matter to
migrate towards the West in search of broader
lands and richer harvests.   To the Southern
planter it involves the removal of his stock of
slaves and the introduction of a system most
ill-adapted to the necessities of first settlement.
As a practical result, we have but to cast our
eye over the Western States and territories belonging to the North of the Union, and we see
a constant stream of immigration, so that fifty
waggons will sometimes be ferried across the
Mississippi in a single day, conveying in motley
grouping the earthly all of Eastern' families
who have traversed probably a thousand or fifteen hundred miles to seek a new home in the
West.  It is estimated, indeed, that in the
Northern States there is an annual westward
flow of between 200,000 and 300,000 souls. In
the South, on the other hand, the Western
migration advances with the slow steps which
attend the removal of a cumbersome machinery.
While, however, the Northern man has the
advantage in the facility of transit, and in that
134 
FRUITS OF NORTHERN ENTERPRISE. 135
instinct which impels the true Northerner, if he
do not succeed in one place, to seek better fortune in another, the inhabitant of the South,
and especially of the State of Missouri, has a comnpensation in the nearness of Kansas to his own
homne, and the consequent ease with which he
can remove thither.  We should anticipate, as
a result, that the Free States of the North
should give Kansas the larger number of its
permanent settlers, who have not journeyed
500, or 1,000, or 1,500 miles, simply to retrace
their steps; and that the Southern Slave States
would furnish the majority, if not the whole,
of its merely fluctuating and non-resident population. And so it is. Of its peaceable, industrious, order-loving population, nearly all are
true to the cause of liberty. This was not
only my own conclusion after coming in contact
with the settlers very generally, but was coln firmed to me by the observation of one whose
opinion is entitled to the highest respect, and
whose official position must have enabled him
to form a very sound judgment upon the sub ject. This gentleman stated to me without
any hesitation, that "were the will of the ma 
KANSAS.
jority of the Kansas settlers to determine, as
the Organic Act prescribes, the territory's admission as a Free or Slave State, the question
would, beyond a doubt, be decided in favour of
freedom." My informant added the mournful
remark, that he saw no near prospect of such a
result, however much it was the will of the
majority of those who had a right to will in
the matter.
What the Free-state men have done in Kansas may be seen by a glance at their well-ordered " claims," or at Lawrence, Topeka, Pawnee, Osawatomie, Tecumseh, Council City, and
the other places to which they have given an
existence and a name. Lawrence is dignified
with the name of city, and with its earth-works
and circular forts intended to ward off a Proslavery attack, and  its broad  "Massachusetts street" occupied by stores and offices
of greater and less architectural pretence, it
is, for a Far-Western town, no inconsiderable
place. The new Free-state Hotel, which was
battered down with the aid of United States'
cannon, was a substantial building of three
stories, by far the finest as well as largest
136 
FRUITS OF NORTHERN ENTERPRISE. 137
house in the whole territory. For the rest,
Western cities must not be judged by European
rules. They are always more remarkable on
paper than in reality; and, whatever they can
show in existence, they have much more in
prospect. > Still, the Free-State settlers in
Kansas have, by the introduction of capital,
given a more than usual impulse to settlement
in that territory, and the steam saw-mill,
the school-house, and the church attest the
enterprise and the intelligence with which
they have commenced their labours. Contrasting the towns built by the Free-state
population with Leavenworth or other places
where the majority are from the South, one
remarks in the former a greater number of
mechanics, shopkeepers, useful artisans, farmers, and rough labourers; and in the latter an
excess of lawyers, doctors, land-speculators,
rum-sellers, and bar-keepers.
Leavenworth City, and the manner of life in
Kansas, both in town and country, I must
reserve for another chapter. 
KANSAS.
CHAPTER XII.
Subject of the following Chapters.-Leavenworth City.-Fai
Western Life.-Its accidental Features.-Fort Leavenwvorth.
— Appearance of the City.-Buildings. —Plan of the City. Remains of the primeval Forest. —Situation of the HIouses.
-Laying out a City.-Most desirable Locations. —Increased
Value of Property.-Rapid Rise of a City.-Substantial
Buildings.-Wooden Shanties.
IN the following chapters I propose concluding
mzy description of life in Kansas by drawing in
outline a portraiture of Leavenworth City, as
the most populous and important place the
Southern men have had any hand in building;
and by glancing, in illustration of life in the
country, at the system pursued of entering,
claiming, clearing, log-hut erecting, and generally improving the land.
While, however, Leavenworth is the best
example of what a Southern population has
done in Kansas, I must in justice premise that
any rudeness which may be discovered in it
must not be wholly attributed to Southern
138 
LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY.
barbarity, but belongs rather to the essence of
Far Western life. I only describe Leavenworth and the external appearance of Kansas
Territory generally, with a view to enable
those who are interested in the great struggle
now taking place on that soil, to bring before
their minds more vividly and truly the scenes
and localities in the midst of which these important political events are occurring. I have
withheld in these pages a description of much
that is rough and uncivilized, lest a false argument should thence be constructed. There
are many discomforts and many dangers on the
border land which it were very unfair to associate with the perils arising from the revolvers
of the "Regulators."  In ascending the Afissouri, for example, the steamboat was twice
during the passage discovered to be on fire at
a tender point near the furnaces; five or six
times, also, it ran upon sandbanks, and had to
be lifted off by a curious machinery of spars
and derricks, by means of which the vessel is
raised and made to walk over the bank, like
some long-legged leviathan. Yet, in narrating
the events which occurred on board, I felt
139 
KANSAS.
bound to omit all notice of such accidental
circumstances, lest they should unfairly be put
to the charge of the border-ruffian company
which it was my particular object to describe.
They have enough that is bad to bear on their
own account, without being made responsible
for those other irregularities which universally,
and as if by nature, characterize the rude life of
the border.
"The finest city on the Missouri, heaps of
stone buildings-quite a place," was the description given me of Leavenworth, shortly
before reaching it, by my friendly adviser, the
Indian trader of Easton. Too flattering an
expectation only led to disappointment when I
was put ashore among the rough log tenements
which constitute the most prominent features
of this embryo city. Three or four miles above,
stands Fort Leavenworth, the chief garrison in
the Territory, and the entrept for the supply
of the forts beyond, as well as the place of
departure for the Government trains. It stands
upon a boldly-projecting bluff, far elevated
above the Missouri, which rolls turbulently past
its base, and, commanding a widely extending
140 
LEAVENWORTH CITY.
view of the broad prairie ground towards the
west, its white walls and well-known flagstaff
form a most welcome signal of approaching
home to the traveller returning from the
plains.
A spot where the banks of the Missouri ard
less elevated and abrupt has been wisely chosen
for the site of the city of Leavenworth. Landing from the river, there is first a broad levee of
about half a mile, with a frontage of stores and
warehouses full of bustle and activity. The
levee is the natural river bank, in the wet season
muddy, in the dry season parched and dusty,
against the steep acclivity of which the steamboat is thrust to discharge itself of its freight
and passengers.   The  quay is broad, being
designed to receive all the business of the place
and of the country behind, which receives its
supplies through Leavenworth. At the time
of my visit, goods of every kind lay in piles
upon the quay, while the road was further
blocked up with long waggons, each with six
or more yoke of oxen, preparing to cross the
plains. The stores fronting the levee presented
an irregular line of erections, for the most part
141 
KANSAS.
built of wood; some of one story, some of two,
but in all cases covered almost from top to bottomn with signboards, inscribed in characters
more remarkable for size than beauty. Passing
back from the front street, other streets parallel and rectangular are reached, very regular as
to their latitude and longitude, but very irregular in their grading.  The city spreads over, in
fact, an irregular space of about a square mile,
the surface of the ground being exceedingly
uneven, and occupied with buildings before it
has received the needed levelling.
As in most Far Western towns, the houses
are scattered over the place in detached erections at considerable intervals, with out-houses,
commonly at a distance behind each.  Could
the plan of the city be carried in mental vision,
the houses would be found to be very regularly
built upon broad avenues, which, upon paper,
make Leavenworth an imposing city. But as
the trees of the primeval forest are not wholly
removed, and their stumps continue to interrupt the intended thoroughfares, it is impossible
at times to keep to the authorized avenue or
street. The old pathway through the wood is
142 
CITY AND FOREST.
still most naturally followed, and, with nothing
to prevent the most direct route being taken,
the pedestrian finds himself following a track
which conducts him now along the line of a
future avenue, now diagonally intersecting it,
again branching off through a projected "im
provement," and then crossing what is one day
probably to be a garden, between some log-hut
and its yet humbler outhouse.
The houses are widely scattered over the
ground, according to a custom in all Western
towns, which originates, doubtless, in the high
price charged for land. As soon as a spot is
recognized as a site of future greatness, the
land, which has been sold probably before for
one or two dollars per acre, rises, it may be, to
50 or 100 dollars. Land surveyors draw elaborate plans. Streets are laid off, as rectangular
and equidistant  as  geometer  could  desire.
Broadway and Washington, Jefferson and Madison Avenues immediately take up the latitudes; First, Second, Third, and Fourth Streets
are assigned the longitudes.  As yet, probably,
not a tree has fallen before the axe. Town lots,
however, are sold to persons living at a dis
l 
KANSAS.
tance. Lawyers help the surveyors, and surveyors help the lawyers, while both together
help the speculators.  "Most desirable locations" meet speedy purchasers, who judge of
the value of their purchases from the map.
The few first settlers enter on their claims.
"Improvements" begin; the trees fall; the
prices rise; the speculators, the surveyors, and
the lawyers have all got well paid, and, in the
following year, by a process of which we might
question the straightforwardness, a whole city
has come into being, and all the representations
and promises of the map, so false in themselves,
have become actually realized. The consequence is that, in the city which, a twelvemonth before, was occupied only by the
Indian's wigwam, property has already acquired a high value, and every one is profiting
by a rising market. If the game is played
too hard by the speculators, a reaction will
sometimes ensue, and the settler suffers a
loss. But ordinarily he is no exception to
the general gain; for, although all the profits
realized are at his expense, the value of land
thus entered upon and constituted into a little
144 
HOW WESTERN CITIES ARE BUILT.  145
centre of commerce is sufficiently great to
leave him in possession of a profitable invest ment. Singular as it may appear to us, this is
the history of nearly all the towns and villages
which, by the hundred, rise up yearly through
the west of America; and the high price which
is put by anticipation upon the land is a sufficient
reason why, in Leavenworth, as elsewhere, the
settlers have preferred to get cheaper sites by
spreading to a distance from the centre of busiHess.
Some few of the buildings in Leavenworth
are substantial stone erections of fair exterior,
and a hotel on a large scale is projected; but
for the most part the houses are confined to the
wooden shanty or the plain rough log-hut.
The latter, however, belongs more to country
than to city life, and is only to be seen in all
its rude simplicity upon the " claim," where
the settler is turning the bush into cultivated
and productive farm land.
7 
KANSAS 
CHAPTER XIII.
Kansas Interiors.-The  Log-hut.-Discomforts. —Wind and
Mud.-Strange Medley.-Various Modes of Construction. Different Stages of Log-hut building.-The Wooden House
and Shanty.-How it is built.-Tent-life.-Interior Economy.
-"Temperance House."-The Company.-Occupations. —
Unreasonable Demands for Accommodation.-Alligators
turned out.-Travel teaches Contentment.-Disallowed at
Night, but enforced by Day.-Conveniences of the Toilet. Meals.-Pride of the Host. —Rapid Eating.-Population of
Leavenworth.-Commerce of the Plains. —Value of Stock. —
Caravan Trains.
A  DESCRIPTION of the home-life of Kansas
must commence with the log-hut as the most
elementary form of dwelling.
The external form of the log-hut is probably
familiar to most readers. But it would be difficult to convey to those accustomed to the
-homies of England an idea of the dirt, discomfort, and misery which often reign within. In
justice I must add that I have seen remarkable
exceptions to this - especially in the backwoods
of Canada and of the North Western States of
146 
THE LOG-CABIN.
the Union. The Western border-man, however, loves his rude cabin with all its apparent
discomforts.   The wind which enters in gusts
through the broad gaping chinks betwixt log
and log is to him an agreeable ventilation;
wanting this, the place would feel close and
reminid him of the pitiable habitations of" cityraised Down-Easters."   The filth upon  the
floor, the smoke which fills the air, the blending of diverse odours arising from the cooking
of hog-flesh over the fire and the presence of
the living hog-flesh in the room, the intermingling of pig and poultry, parent and child, within
the same few yards square, the strange decking
of sides and roof with household stores and
buffalo-skins, rifles, hatchets and powder-horns,
all these things seem to be elements of charmed
life to the true-born Western man.
There are stages of progress, too, in log-hut
building.  The most elementary is that in which
the logs are piled one above another in a single
square, notched and saddled so as to fit into one
another angularly at about a foot short of the
extremity of each log, and thus to form a stout
framework, sawn through at the place where
147 
KANSAS.
the door is intended, and the whole capped by
a roofing of timber covered with broad flat
pieces of wood, called "shakes."  If the settler
desires to have his cabin plastered, he uses mud.
Within, for furniture, he contents himself with
a few tree-stumps, nicely trimmed, for seats,
and a shelf or two, to do service in place of
bedsteads. In dry weather the cooking is most
conveniently managed outside the dwelling.
This is the first stage of log-hut building. The
second is marked by the introduction of the
chimney.   This is commonly built outside the
house, as an adjunct; or rather, one might say,
the house seems to be built against the chimney,
so speedily has that which is but a novel invention come to be regarded, if one may judge from
its size and prominence, as the most important
feature. The third stage- if one may pass
over the introduction of a second floor, reached
by a rough ladder of home manufacture -is
that in which further accommodation is sought
laterally. This is accomplished by building a
second square hut at, probably, twelve feet distantce from the first and carrying the roof across
the intervening space, so that a single house is
148 
KANSAS HOMES. 
formed, consisting of rooms right and left, and
an open reception-room in the centre, where
meals can be taken if desired, free to the air at
its two sides, but shielded above by the roof
covering. This is the highest style of log-house,
and one much in favour in some parts of the
Far West.
For the city life of Leavenworth, however,
the log-hut is naturally discarded for the more
polished shanty, or the yet larger wooden house.
Sawn timber costs less in many parts of Kansas
than the rough log, the groves and forests being
far from plentiful, even in the east of the territory. A frame is run up and the planks nailed
together, much as in any other place, understanding always that the rough settler is not
particular about the right relation of the door
to the doorway, or the nice fitting together of
the plank sides, or the general finish and architectural correctness of either exterior or interior.
That, when built, it is next furnished can
scarcely be said of one of these Western houses.
The settler commonly arrives at the place of
his choice, strikes his tent, deposits his household furnishings and implements of husbandry
149 
KANSAS.
and war, and it then remains to build his house
around his furniture rather than to introduce
his furniture into his house. I have seen many
instances in which a family has been living
half within and half without their house, their
domestic arrangements being in a state of
incompleteness. On the very outskirts, too,
of Leavenworth, I have remarked families
living, Indian-like, beneath a rude covering
of branches and mud, or under a simple awning
stretched across a pole, amid the thick brushwood which skirts the steep banks of the 3lissouri. In the city itself, however, there are
many houses of two stories, and comparative
comfort, such as would be called in the vernacular of the West  "mighty fine," "elegant,"
"right smart," "all-fired grand and Down-East
like."
As an illustration of the interior economy
of one of these better houses, I will attempt
a brief sketch of that which was my own home
while in Leavenworth  City.   "Temperance
House" was  a newly erected,  low-roofed,
wooden building, with two rooms in front,
and others at the rear. The name was an
150 
TEMPERANCE HOUSE.
attraction to me, from the certainty that the
worst of the Missourian borderers would most
decidedly eschew a house where the bar-room
was destitute of " liquor." I had reason to be
satisfied with it, for the company was the
quietest and most sober I saw in Leavenworth,
and permitted me to stay there without the
customary inquiry "whether I was sound on
the goose."  They were evidently for the most
part Free-state men, although in their constant
political discussions none ventured to make the
admission. The house was approached by a
narrow gallery, with steps at each end, always
occupied by a row of men who sat, some on the
gallery rail, others on chairs tilted against the
house, others with their feet upon the rail-top.
Their employment was to chew, to spit, to talk
politics, and to whittle. From the gallery were
entered the two front rooms. That on the left
was the bar-room, with nothing stronger wherewith to satisfy thirst than a bucket of water
and a tin dipper, placed upon the counter; and
beyond it the dining-room and other apartments.
That on the right was my own bedroom.
There was a certain air of cleanliness and of
161 
KANSAS. 
the intention of comfort about the place which
bespoke it the work of a Northern man. MIost
generously, too, the host granted me exclusive
right and privilege in relation to the front
sleeping apartment, which he "allowed to believe was the finest room in the house."  This
concession was not made, it is true, without
the exercise of some tact and persuasion. The
room contained, unfortunately, two large beds.
Mine host "calculated the stranger could not
want more than one, at most." There were
several, he said, occupying the room at the
time.  Beds were scarce in Leavenworth.  I
had myself been offered at the two principal
hotels nothing better than "a chance on the
floor." My request for the whole room, with
its accommodation for at the least four persons,
was evidently highly unreasonable, and as unaccountable as it was unreasonable. I explained,
however, that I had a singular love for privacy
at night, albeit he would not find me unsociable
as a guest by day.  I gave him to understand,
also, that the indulgence of my peculiarity of
taste was the condition of my staying in his
house, but that he would not find me indis
152 
DOMESTIC ECONOMA Y.
posed to meet any just claim he might have
upon me in consequence. MIine host was conquered. He engaged to do what he could to
accommodate the occupants of the room elsewhere, with much consideration adding, "If
any of the alligators come in, just make them
put, Colonel." I promised, and acted upon my
promise.
When I returned to my room at night, I had
opportunity to examine it at leisure. Looked
at   with Eastern eyes, it was open to unfavourable criticism. The apartment itself was rude
and cheerless; its sides of rough, unpainted
deal were not proof against the entrance of
draughts, and permitted communication with
adjoining rooms by either sound or sight; its
floor was, of course, uncarpeted; its two beds
offered nothing better than shuck mattresses
and  dirty blankets; washing-stands and lookingglasses were out of the question; three or four
chairs and a small rickety table formed the only
additional furniture. Nevertheless, travel in
the West soon teaches one that, if the essentials
are present, it is a folly to distress oneself about
minor accessories.  I was not long in discover     7.
153 
;KANSAS.
ing that a mattress, though made of the crackling leaves of the Indian corn, is welcome
to weary bones, and that the draughts of air
which passed through the open chinks were
more than compensated by the relief they
afforded from the suffocating heat. Locks and
bolts had not yet been introduced for use on
the door. The door opened upon the street,
and in that street were collected some of the
basest ruffians that ever disgraced humanity.
But an adjustment of a chair against the door
caused an alarm with every incursion, and,
as very fortunately the most violent did not
intrude, a discreet assertion of my prerogative
in relation to both beds was sufficient to preserve the privacy of my room   Not so, however, during the day; but, knowing that to the
Western man a refusal is an incomprehensible
selfishness, I made, for the sake of peace and
goodwill, a free surrender throughout the day
of the room, with its beds, chairs, table, and
floor, all of which were as freely used, that
I might have the better claim for indulgence at
night. The conveniences of the toilette were
wanting, but, as in all Far WAVestern places,
154 
TiHL C ROWD EATING.
there was a board behind the house on which
stood a couple of tin basins filled with the
muddy water of the Alissouri, while a square
foot of mirror, with brush and comnb attached
by means of a string, hung upon the wall for
the use of " the crowd."  In all this there was
evident intention to provide for the necessities
of the guests, and I very heartily thanked the
worthy host for setting so good an example of
hotel keeping in Kansas.
The host particularly prided himself on the
powers of his cook, and the superiority of his
table  generally.   " Step  in, stranger;  the
crowd's going in to eat," was my summons,
soon after six o'clock, to breakfast; the same
at half-past twelve for dinner; and at six in
the evening for supper. These are the good
hours  kept  generally by Western folk.   I
entered the dining-room, saw the table covered
with breakfast fare, including the usual small
dishes of meat and cakes and apple preserve.
The " crowd" was standing around the table,
each man with a hand upon the back of his
chair.  The female portion of the company
having been seated, a signal was given, and a
155 
KANSAS.
simultaneous action ensued. The movement
of the chair with one hand, the seizure of
the nearest small dish with the other, the
sudden sitting down, and the commencement
of a vigorous eating, were the work of a
moment. In five minutes the company had
left the table for the gallery on the street front,
the better for damper, Indian-corn bread eaten
with molasses, sliced bacon cooked, apparently,
in grease, and tea or coffee. Some few, more
fortunate or more quick to seize opportunities,
had obtained a piece of Johinny-cake, or some
apple-sauce, or other delicacy from the smaller
dishles, in addition. At dinner it was the same
-fat bacon, corn-bread, and tea or coffee.  At
supper, the same; and at each meal in about
equal quantity. The next day the same, and so
every day. I concluded, in relation to the
whole subject of the domestic economy of
Kansas, that unsophisticated nature is contented
with little, and that in Kansas, nature is allowed
to have very much her own way in this particular.
The population of Leavenworth City fluctu
ates much with political occasions.  It would
1,-56 
COMMERCE OF THE PLAINS.
be safe to estimate it, however, at about
1,500. I speak of the time of my visit, when
it had been little more than eighteen months
in existence as a settlement. It owes its prosperity, in great part, to its favourable position on
the Missouri, which brings to it much of the great
commerce of the plains and the traffic with the
Indians, in addition to the home trade of the
territory. The commerce of the plains, which,
during more than thirty years, has been rising
in importance, has become, since the war with
New Mexico, and the removal of commercial
restrictions which has followed the war, a most
valuable feature in the Kansas trade. Setting
aside the very numerous trains in the service of
the Government, which maintain communication
between Fort Leavenworth and the outposts
on the Santa F6 and Oregon routes, the annual
value of the regular commerce amounts to
from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. This employs
many hundreds of waggons, and a still larger
number of men, and tends materially to keep
up the price of labour in the territory. Each
waggon, again, requires twelve or more oxen,
and a great number of mules are also emplovyd
157 
KANSAS.
on the expeditions. This makes the rearing of
stock a very profitable employment for the
farm lands in Kansas and Missouri. The trains
go almost exclusively during the spring and
summer months, when the prairie grass furnishes
the necessary food for the animals. According
to the season, they get over from ten to twenty
miles in the day. A waggon is estimated to
carry about 5,500 lb. The expense of transport
varies with the season. It ranges from a little
over $1 in the best months to as much over
$2 in the worst months, per hundred-weight
per 100 miles. The distance from Leavenworth to Santa F6 is between 800 and 900
miles. In the winter months, when the journey is accompanied by great hardship and peril,
the mail is the only communication, which is
transported once a month by means of mules.
With Oregon the trade on the plains has almost
ceased in favour of the route by the Pacific; but
the Government has still occasion to use the
Oregon track as far as Fort Kearney and Fort
Laramie, a distance of 600 miles. The great
traffic, however, is to Fort Riley, Fort Munn,
and thus to Santa FP.  Independence in Mis
158 
CARAVAN TRAINS.
souri, Kansas City on the border, and Leavenworth, are all made use of as the entrepots
of this trade; and few things can be imagined
more strangely picturesque than the sight
which these cities present when, in the spring
or early summer, their streets are filled with
scores of long, cumbrous-looking covered waggons, and hundreds of oxen and mules; while a
noisy crew of light-hearted adventurers —Iissourian, Spanish, half-breed, and Indian-dressed in every variety of romantic costume, are
busied in fitting out their train for its many
weeks' journeying over the rolling grassy plains
of the Western prairies.
159 
KANSAS.
CHAPTER XIV.
Traffic with the Indians.-How it is carried on.-Business and
Pleasure.-Good Per-centage.-Busy Appearance of Leaven worth.-Necessaries of civilized Life.-Steamboats.-Rail roads.-The Electric Telegraph. —Squatter-life.-Land with out a Title.-The "Claim."-Division of new Lands.-A
"Bee."-" Ltog-rolling."-Squatter Sovereignty.-" Toma hawk Rights."-" Entering," or "Pre-empting."-Abuses
of the System. —" Jumping."-" Foundations."-A "Cau  tion."-Right of Suffrage.
AN important item in the commerce of Leavenworth is that which is brought to it by the
Red Rovers of the prairie.
The traffic with the Indians is a feature by
itself, and one of not inconsiderable importance,
in the trade of Kansas. It rests almost exclusively, however, in the hands of one or two
parties, who, having been known by the Indian
tribes for years, are able to monopolize the
trade. The chief mode of carrying it on is
thie following:
Every quarter of a year the Indian tribes to
160 
TRAFFIC WITH THE INDIANS.
which allowances are due receive their payment firom the Government agent. On the day
of payment a grand feast is prepared by the
merchant, and notice is sent to the various
Indian tribes of the hospitalities to which they
are invited. The entertainment is often very
costly; the more costly the more profitable.
On quarter's day the Indians come down, after
long journeying, men, women, and children,
often to the number of three or four hundred, to
receive their pay and to make their purchases of
white men's manufacture. With their pockets
full, they sit down to the feast; eat, drink, and are
merry; at the same time are forgetful ordinarily
of the rules of prudence. The result is a large
sale, and the next day the tribes are seen
returning, the men with their hatchets and
knives and accoutrements of all sorts; and the
squaws with their shawls and blankets, and
beads and trinkets, often to the value of thou
sands of dollars.   One  Indian  trader sells
annually about  $10,000.  At a recent sale
the amount expended by the Indians reached
$3,000. The account might be analyzed a%
follows
161 
;KANSAS.
Dollars.
. 1,000
500
. 1,500
Cost price of articles.
Expenditure on feast.
Balance of profit cleared
3,000
Many of the articles yield 200 per cent.
profit; but 150 per cent. is probably a fair
average. In the traffic with the Indians generally there are more tact and shrewdness manifested by the traders than fair dealing. In fact,
honour, honesty, morality, all that is good, is
lamentably rare in the Western border-land.
The frontiersman has a manliness and generosity
of his own which all must admire, but these
qualities spring from the peculiarities of his
position on the outskirts of civilization. There
is little, it is to be feared, of higher motive.
For the rest, the Western borderer is almost as
untutored as a savage. He thinks little about
his maker, God; as a consequence it comes, also,
that he thinks and cares little about his fellowman.
With a commerce thus extended, the quays
162 
PLEASURE AND PROFIT.
of Leavenworth present a busy appearance,
and had not peaceful industry been diverted by
the turbulence of evil passions into other channels, the newly-settled Territory would have
been blessed already with a large measure of
prosperity. As it is, large steamers daily pass
up and down, and find active employment in
the transport of goods and passengers. The
imports of manufactured goods are very large;
and, while some of what we should deem the
necessaries of civilized life are but beginning
to be introduced, I have observed, as a contrast, one or two piano-fortes being landed, to
supply the wants, no doubt, of some refined
denizen of the Eastern States.
The size and number of the steamboats on
the Missouri would occasion surprise to one
unaccustomed to the rapid progress the Western
world exhibits in all that furthers the building
up of cities and the extension of commerce. I
counted upon its waters from ten to fifteen
large steamboats, each capable of accommodating, on the average, a hundred passengers
at the least, and in effect carrying many more,
in addition to their cargo, besides a much larger
163 
KANSAS.
number of steamers of less capacity; all of
which were regularly employed upon the trade
of the Missouri. This large traffic is in great
part sustained by Kansas. Yet eighteen months
before, there was not so much as a village of
white settlers within the whole extent of the
Territory. Railroads are already projected, but
how far their formation is to be looked for as a
speedy occurrence is doubtful, because the bills
which empowered their construction, and which
passed the first Legislature, were evidently a
part of a false system of legislation, which
grants the constitution of companies in order
to gain the constituents as adherents and supporters of the granting power. The electric
telegraph, however, is a mark of progress which,
if not already, soon will be among the things
accomplished. I remember observing the wires
for several hundred miles up the Missouri, as
far as Independence and Liberty, which are
close to the Kansas border-line.   In a very
brief space of time they would, doubtless, be
carried into the Territory.
It is rather remarkable that, so far as Leavenworth city is concerned, the "improvements,"
164 
BUSY APPEARANCE OF LEAVENWORTH. 165
as all erections are called in America, are made
upon land the tenure of which is not yet ascertained to the holders. The truth is that
Leavenworth is built upon land still of right
belonging to the Delaware Indians, and for
which the price to be paid as purchase-money
is not yet determined.   It might occasion
wonder that men should be induced, without a
title to the soil, to expend the sums which have
been laid out on some of the more solid and
permanent buildings in the city. Sales are already effected, and land stands at a high price in
the market for which the title does not yet exist,
except the title of long occupation, which
assigns it to the Delawares. All these mysteries, however, become unravelled as the eye
is opened to the methods of dealing adopted by
our astute American cousins towards the Indian
race. The day soon comes when the lots, on
which the city stands, are put up to auction
for the benefit of the old possessors of the soil.
Bidding takes place. The price is perfectly
understood beforehand. Occupant A bids his
price for his own lot, B for his; A does not interfere with B, and B does not interfere with A. 
KANSAS.
Western honor forbids over-bidding, although
the market value of the land may be ten times
that offered. The auction terminates; the accounts are settled; the Indian must take his
money, with the usual deductions, and go
further West; and the President of the United
States grants a title-deed in his own name to
the preemptor of the soil. Many in Leavenworth are only speculators, who have entered
lots in the city in order to realize with the advancing value of land.
Passing from town to country, the squatter
life of Kansas claims notice by peculiarities of
its own, as well as those which it has in common with other Western territories. The loghut, which I have already described, will furnish
the reader with one important element in the
life of the country. The log-hut stands in the
midst of the "claim," generally of 160 acres,
called a quarter-section; and there, on his own
freehold, the settler copes with the first difficulties, and commonly also reaps the after-fruit
which belongs to the pioneer in the wilderness.
In Kansas, however, as indeed in a less degree
in other newly-settled Western lands, this pro
166 
SQUATTER-LIFE.
cedure is not marked by so much definiteness
and regularity as might at the first be supposed.
Even granting that all is previously arranged
with the Indians, the title cannot be given
until the Government-survey is made, which,
by an excellent system, divides all new lands
in the United States into counties, townships,
sections, and quarter-sections, of equal size and
perfect regularity of latitude and longitude.
But long before the survey is completed, the
squatter is upon the ground. He has already
paced out his 160 acres, or his 320 acres, or
whatever larger or smaller quantity of land he
wishes to possess. He has begun to clear. The
first trees he fells are already shaped into logs
for his hut; with smaller wood he is beginning
his fencing.  He has summoned a "bee," and a
" log-rolling" has taken place; that is, he has
asked neighbouring settlers to lend him their aid
by rolling the logs to the site of his future
home-a service which they are at liberty to ask
of him in return when occasion requires. Lastly, the arrow is marked over his doorway, and
his name probably added besides, to warn all
after-comers to respect prior rights.
167 
KANSAS.
It is this system which constitutes "squatting." The land is free. The settler may
choose his home wherever he may please,
provided no one else is before him in the field.
"Squatter sovereignty," and what are called
"tomahawk rights," are introduced, and become the incipient law of the future territory.
None durst interfere, if he might, with a "claim"
thus made. The notice given to the Government authorities secures the pre-emption. The
act itself is called that of " entering," or "preempting." When, probably a couple of years
later, the survey is completed, and land-offices
are opened in the territory, the squatter, if he
chooses to retain the land, of which he has had
the free use, offers at the land sale the upset
price of $1~ per acre, over which no one bids
against him, and the land becomes his by legal
right and title. During the first stage, mutual
protection is given to the squatters by their
forming into "Squatters' Associations;" and
the" squatter-right" to a lot of ground is bought
and sold on the strength of the law which emanates from these associations, and which asserts
its power by rifle and tomahawk.
168 
169
Such is squatting theoretically, and as practised in its purest forms,- a rough method, btit
one well adapted for the country to which it is
applied. But there are many abuses to which
this system has become, in Kansas, at least,
subject in practice.   Such  an abuse is the
practice technically called "jumping a claim,"
-one which has been only too frequent in the
unsettled condition of the territory. To jumap
a claim is'to take it, notwithstanding that it is
pre-occupied by one who has already given
notice of his claim to a pre-emptive title. The
temptation to jump lies in the advantage of
entering into another man's labours, and becoming the happy possessor of improvements
without  the necessity of toiling  for  them.
The price of jumping is ordinarily a fighlt.
There is no other way of settling such matters.
Neighbours, however, will generally help, being
guided by their political sentiments as to the
side they shall espouse.   The  weaker then
goes to the wal],-a result which many Freestate settlers have had occasion to deplore in
the numerous instances in which the act of
jumping has been sustained by numbers and
8
"jumprxG." 
KANSAS.
combined strength beyond their power to resist.
The fighting which follows has sometimes led
to very serious consequences.   MIore than one
of the chief movements in the political history
of Kansas have had their origin in difficulties
arising from this prolific source. Even the
House of Assembly has not been free firom
angry debates between members of the Le,gislature resulting from disputed claims. And
one instance, at least, is known in the Upper
House in which violent blows between the
eyes, and other expressions of injured honour,
were interchanged by two members of Council, in order to settle a difficulty originating in
the precarious rights of Squatterdorm.
There are other abuses to which the system
is subject, which it is unnecessary to explain in
detail; but it may not be uninteresting to
advert to one development of Kansas squatting,
which, to the eye of the traveller, appears
singularly ridiculous. Often, in riding over the
prairie, the traveller meets with a small clearance, sufficient, at least, to show that some one
has been there. Then, probably, a few stakes
are seen; the settler has evidently intended to
170 
" FOUNDATIONS" AND " CAUTIONS."  171
stake off his ground.  Next appears the "foundation"-four logs, perhaps, placed in a quadrangle, the earnest, apparently, of the log-hut
that is to follow. And, on a bit of stick, lastly,
or on a piece of paper nailed to a tree, appear
the words, in a scarcely legible scrawl, "This
is Jim Barton's claim; and he'll shoot the
first fellow as comes within a mile of it." Such
an announcement is technically called a " caution."   As you read, you instinctively draw
back; and, if on the look-out for a claim yourself, you seek fortune further on. But Jim
Barton's "foundation" will probably never be
occupied. If you are pleased with the site,
you may avail yourself of Mr. Barton's beginning, and little fear his caution. Most probably
that gentleman lives in a neighbouring State,
but desires the elective franchise in Kansas.
Anxious to give some colour to his claim as
a voter, he has set his mark on a piece of land,
and henceforth  claims the privileges of an
owner of the soil. But this is against all squatting law and precedent, which requires that
every squatter personally reside upon his claim.
The men of Missouri, however, framed squatter 
KANSAS.
laws for themselves in relation to Kansas;
among them, that " protection should be afforded to no Abolitionist settlers;" and, with the
dangerous power conferred by recent legislation
on "squatter sovereignty,"  they have found
themselves free to exercise with impunity their
own sovereign will. Many affirmed their right
to a vote in the territory, although they only
threw down an axe upon the ground; others,
if they only intended at some time to make
a claim; others, again, if they were only on the
ground on the day of election. 
172 
KANSAS TOPOGRAPHY.
CHAPTER XV.
The Geography of Kansas.-Junction of the Kansas and Mis souri Rivers.-Kansas City.-The Santa Fe Road.-Settle ments up the Kansas  River. —Lawrence.-Lecompton.
Topeka.-Kaw IHalf-breeds.-Fort Rilcy.-Mound(s.-Cali fornia Road. —The Oregon Trail. —Crossing the Plains. Character of the Country.-The Great American Desert. The Rocky Mountains.-Banks of the Missouri.-Leaven worth City and Fort.-Western Routes.-The Upper Atis souri. —Osawatomie.-Climate and Soil of Kansas. —Produc tion. —Wages.
A  TRAVELLER, approaching Kansas from the
East by way of the Missouri, first sees the territory at the point of confluence of the Missouri
and Kansas Rivers. On his rilght, the Missouri,
which at this point suddenly changes its course,
pours down its muddy volume from the North,
bringing the washings of thousands of miles,
which render its waters at some seasons of the
year so densely turbid, that an object cannot be
seen if lying a few inches beneath the surface.
On his left, flows into it a somewhat purer and
less turbulent stream, the Kaw or Kansas River,
173 
KANSAS.
which, intersecting the Territory which bears
its name in a direction almost due West and
East, leaves fertility all along its course, and
from between thickly clustering oak and elm,
maple and hickory, which beautifully shade its
banks, terminates its windings in the rolling
flood of the Missouri.
At the point of junction between the two
rivers, the traveller will discern amongst the
wood the little Indian village known as Wyandot city, planted on the reserve belonging to
the pale-faced tribe, which Cooper has rendered
famous by his novel of" Wyandotte."  On the
left, facing the Missouri, at a short distance
below the junction, stands the bustling little
town called Kansas city, where the traveller
will probably be induced to land. If its crowded levZe or quay were to be taken away, little
would be left to Kansas city. It is oddly
wedged in, like the lower town of Quebec in
Canada, upon a narrow slip of land between
the river and a steep bluff, so that if the city
wish to extend its boundaries, it can only do so,
as in the Canadian city, by mounting the bluff
behind it, and forming an upper town.
174: 
THE SANTA FP ROAD.
From Kansas city the traveller may strike
for the West, in order to form his first acquiaintance with the territory. He may take the "Santa Fe Road," in which case he will enter Kansas, after passing Westport, at the Shawnee
Mllanual Labour School. He will see the Rev.
Thomas Johnson's farm, as well as the Baptist
and the Friends' Mission. Forty miles will
bring him to Hickory Point, after which lhe
will, in a second or third day's journey, ride
through Willow Springs to Hundred and Ten.
Sixty miles more of rolling prairie and grassy
plain will take him to Council Grove, or Big
John Spring, where, as the name indicates, the
traveller may hold his council, and determine
whether, having followed the Santa Fe Road for
a hundred and thirty miles, he will trust himself to the trail for a prairie-ride of weeks into
the territory of New Mexico. This is the most
Southern of the great routes. As far as Council Grove, it carries the traveller across an undulating tract, often over high wave-like ridges,
commanding extensive views across the broad
savannahs; and, before he has reached Hickory
Point, the course of the streams, or creeks as
175 
KANSAS.
they are there termed, will have indicated to
the observer that he has left the valley of the
Kaw, and that he is skirting the basin of the
Osage and other large rivers of the South.
Or, from Kansas city, the traveller may take
the more frequented "California Road," in
order to trace upward the Kansas river, and see
the towns and settlements which have risen so
rapidly upon its banks. In this case he has a
ride of about forty miles, passing through a
woody tract of country belonging, by Government-grant, to the Shawnee Indians, until he
reaches the shady banks of the Wakarusa.
Crossing the creek, he sees the spot famous as
the camping-ground of the Governor's troops
during the siege of Lawrence; then, passing
through Franklin, a strong pro-slavery village,
he has four miles yet before hinm, and at length
finds himself in the Free-state stronghold of
Lawrence. Following for twelve miles more
the southern margin of the Kaw, the traveller
reaches Lecompton, the capital of the Territory, according to the designation of the Territorial Legislature. The situation of Lecompton
is less attractive than that Lawrence, but it
176 
SETTLEMENTS ON THE KANV RIVER. 177
has received some impulse by being made the
seat of Government. The military tents are
probably now removed, but there for long the
soldiers' tents marked the site of the Western
encampment, and the place of confinement for
the Free-state Governor, editors, and a hundred
more political offenders. Another twelve miles'
stage takes the traveller through Tecumseh to
Topeka, where he sees the little building
known by the Free-state people as Constitution
Hall, and finds himself at the seat of Government and intended capital under the Free-state
regime.
Here our explorer will probably cross the
river, and as he wanders about its northern
bank, and passes from grove to thicket, and
creek to prairie, he will see, here and there, a
curling smoke, and, on nearer approach, will find,
he is on a spot where a few families of Kaw
half-breeds have erected their wigwams, and
made for themselves a home. From the Indian
village he may return, if he please, through the
Delaware reserve to Kansas city; following in
this case the left bank of the river, and coming
out by the old Delaware road at Wyandot city,
8* 
KANSAS.
whence he reaches his destination, after a
homeward journey of about seventy miles;
or he may take the military road to Leaven worth, a distance of about fifty miles, passing
on  his way  the Grasshopper and  Stranger
Creeks, and gently ascending or descending
with the wavy roll of the prairie. It may be,
however, that the traveller wishes to strike for
the West, in which case he may follow upward
the course of the Kansas River by the Fort
Riley Road, passing the St. Mary's Catholic
Mission, crossing the Vermilion and Big Blue
Rivers, and glancing at a few small villages
founded by Free-state settlers, until he reaches
Pawnee and Fort Riley, at the confluence of
the Smoky Hill and Republican Forks. At
various points in the course of his journeying,
the traveller will have observed mounds, apparently natural, but sometimes showing indications of artificial erections upon their summit,
which will remind him of the interesting mounds
in the Ohio and the Mississippi valleys, and
suggest speculations as to the earlier dwellers
upon the banks of the Kaw.
Should the inclinations of the traveller lead
178 
THIE OREGON TRAIL.
him towards California, he has but to take the
California road branching out in a northwesterly
direction after crossing the Vermilion Creek, and
he will strike, in about forty miles, the great
Oregon and California trail, which, patiently
followed through a number of weary weeks,
will conduct him in safety to the golden State.
For the first thousand miles, as far as Bear
River, the Oregon, Californian, and Utah parties journey together, taking the North Fork
of the Platte River, and crossing the Rocky
Mountain chain by the great South pass. At
Bear River they part. The few who go to
Oregon have another thousand miles before
them. The Californians have an equal distance,
dropping  their Mormon  companions  eighty
miles upon their route, as they pass the city of
the Great Salt Lake. According to the route
traversed, the entire length of the ride varies
from 2050 to 2350 miles. A like distance,
could it be laid off from London in a direct line,
would transport a person eastward to the bor ders of Tartary, or to the banks of the Tigris
and Euphrates; or southward, it would lead
him beyond the limits of the Great Desert of
179 
KANSAS.
Africa. Yet, as many as eighty thousand travel lers have been known to cross the plains in
a single year. It is unnecessary to remark
that these overland expeditions, with the large
waggons and long teams of oxen and innumerable mules which accompany them, imply a prairie traffic of not inconsiderable
activity.
By all accounts, these long overland journeys,
after the first novelty is passed, are far from
attractive. The slow ascent and descent of the
prairie waves, the crossing of interminable savannahs, without an object, except the faithless
mirage, to relieve the dead uniformity of the
scene, the horizon of prairie-grass ever encircling
the traveller, however interesting for the first
day or two, become after a time unspeakably
monotonous. The flying of the eagle overhead,
the starting of a herd of buffalo, the meeting
of another train of travellers, the encounter of
a party of Indians, friendly or hostile, come to
be the notable events of the pilgrimage, even
as, on an ocean voyage, the dull monotony is
relieved by the sighting of a distant sail, the
exchange of news with a returning ship, the
18I 
CROSSiIG TH] PLAINS.
disturbance of a shoal of sharks, or the catching
of some luckless whale.
On the Westward route, moreover, the attractions of the landscape and the comforts of the
traveller suffer a speedy decrease, while dangers
multiply and miseries of every kind grow apace.
For the first hundred and fifty miles the road
traverses richly-wooded, rolling prairie, on which
the fertile soil has caused so luxuriant a growth
of prairie-grass, that the traveller may sit down
and conceal himself in its midst. The fertile
region of "tall grass" being left behind, broad,
sandy plains are reached, almost destitute of
timber, but carpeted with the fine, slender "buffalo-grass," which countless herds of buffalo,
elk, and antelope keep short by their constant
browzing. These pasture lands continue for
about 350 miles westward. The rivers, which
cut their deep channels through this region,
afford the traveller only too frequent occasions
for practice in the art of fording, which, with
the scores of oxen and the long heavy waggons
which accompany the caravan, is a process
involving difficulty and frequent danger. The
larger streams are crossed by boats
181 
KANSAS.
At length the finely-cropped buffalo-grass
disappears, and nothing is left but a sterile
waste, of a ligl4 sandy color, unrelieved by
river, rock, or tree. The soil is a kind of mar],
with indications of limestone. This tract is
known as the "Great American Desert," and
stretches from North to South over 1,000 miles
of country. In following the Santa F6 trail,
wild, roving tribes of Cheyennes and Arapahoe
Indians will probably be met in this district, as
in the preceding the hunting-grounds of the
Kaws are traversed. On the Oregon trail, the
unfortunate traveller may cross the path of the
savage Sioux, who, if they have come down
from the North on an expedition of warfare or
revenge, will not spare. The western boundary of the desert region exhibits a curious phenomenon. Here and there, and in some parts
in considerable number, appear elevations of
the soil, platforms rather than mounds, perpendicular at the side, and flat upon the surface,
varying in height from fifteen to fifty feet, and
of exceedingly various breadth.   These flat
mounds are commonly called buttes, a word
adopted  from  the  Canadian  French.   The
182 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
Spaniards Of -New  3Iexico call them  cerros.
Through the action of the weather, these buttes
assume frequently most fantastic shapes, reminding one of gaunt battlements and towers. Hence
the well-known Court House, Cathedral, and
Chimneys, familiar to the traveller on the Oregon trail.
From this point to the Rocky M'Iountains, the
country is represented by travellers in glowing
colours. They speak of a rich soil, of fertilizing
streams, of well-timbered groves, of a genial
climate, of attractive landscape, of sunny
slopes and sheltered valleys, of laughing waterfalls, and green quiet meadow-lands, of fruits
for every taste, and flowers of every hue.
Whether an actual paradise or not, these
pleasant characteristics seem to belong to
the slopes and spurs of the Rocky iMountains throughout the Southern portion of the
chain.
I have thus far attempted to describe the
geographical features of Kansas, as seen by the
traveller who ventures across the plains, gathering my information from the narratives of the
expeditions of Colonel Fremont, Colonel Emory,
183 
KANSAS.
and other explorers. I must again return to
ground trodden by myself.
I have already accompanied the traveller
from Kansas city up the Kaw River to the
various settlements upon its banks. It remains
that that portion of Kansas be visited, which
lies upon the Missouri bank, and confronts the
counties of Clay, Jackson, and Platte, in Mis h
souri State.
In ascending the Missouri, the thirty miles
which intervene between Kansas city and
Leavenworth, present little to detain the traveller. Both in Kansas on his left, and Missouri
on his right, he sees a rich reddish soil of great
depth, inviting to the agriculturist and the raiser
of stock, and giving promise of speedily yielding
support to a busy population. Delaware city
is passed,-a small cluster of houses, which
would probably not have attained civic honours,
were it not for the sanguine aspirations of
land-speculators. Within a few miles is the
MIoravian Mission to the Munsees,-a  mere
fra,gment of that tribe, who, with a few families
of Stockbridge Indians, do not number more
than about a hundred and fifty souls. Then
184 
TlE WESTERN ROUTE.
come Leavenworth city and Fort Leavenworth, of which some description has been
already attempted.
From the Fort, should the traveller desire to
explore the interior, he has choice of two
roads, both leading Westward. The more
Southern one, called the Fort Riley Road,
passes through Easton, and strikes the Kaw
nearly opposite Topeka.  The more Northern,
likewise a Government road, takes to Fort
Kearney, where it joins the great trail up the
valley of the Platte, and conducts, by the route
already described, to the South Pass, and thence
to the Pacific Ocean.
Ascending the Missouri from Leavenworth,
Kickapoo is speedily reached, after which Weston is seen on the Missouri side. At thirty
miles distance is Atchison, the home of Dr.
Stringfellow, and the town whence his furious
Squattcr Sovereign is issued.  Doniphan, Lewiston, Palermo-small places chiefly settled from
Missouri-succeed; and then, sixty miles above
Leavenworth, the steamboat reaches ordinarily
its last landing-place at St. Joseph's-popularly
called St. Joe's-in Missouri. Some steamers
186 
KANSAS.
ascend the river higher to Nebraska, in which
case they make Council Bluffs, 270 miles above
Leavenworth, their final destination, embarking
or disembarking at that point those passengers
who reach the Territory by the Northeirn route
through Iowa.
Having reached the end of population Northward, it remains only to say that there are one
or. two roads Southward from Kansas city,
which conduct to the Osage River, besides the
Sac trail which leads from the Santa F6 road to
the Neosho or Grand River.  Upon the Osage,
near the junction of the Pottawatomie, is a
Free-state settlement, which, very much in
defiance of sound pl-hilology, has been named
Osawatomie, the design being to preserve in
the name of the town some respectful remembrance of the two streams, by the side of which
it is built. Unphilosophical, however, as such
a system of nomenclature may be, it has a
better claim to originality than that exhibited
in a small town in the extreme North, for
which the fertile brains of the inhabitants
could invent no better name than Lawrence
No. 2. 
THE CLIMIATE AND SOIL.
The climate and soil of Eastern Kansas offer
much  that is inviting to the settler.   The
extremes of heat and cold in the summer and
winter seasons are indeed much in excess of
anything experienced in England. Nevertheless, the temperature is more moderate than in
many parts of the American continent, and the
Territory is situated within that favoured zone
which makes it rich as a corn and hemp
producing country. The crop of Indian corn,
as far as I could ascertain, has generally yielded
from fifty to eighty bushels per acre. Wheat,
fifteen to twenty bushels. Hemp, which on the
Missourian side of the river is the chief staple, is there found to yield in favourable
situations 1,000 lbs. to the acre. Tobacco may
probably be grown in some portions of the
Territory.
The wages paid for farm labour at the time
of nay visit, were about the same as those paid
for white labour in Missouri. Mlen employed
in sawing and clearing-the principal work of
the Western settler-obtained twenty dollars
per month and their board. But a fine field
for the intelligent and enterprising is offered
187 
by the overland trains, which give employment
at high wages to a large number of the younger
men. In some instances I learned that superior
hands were in the receipt of a hundred dollars
per month.
From the same cause an important branch of
farming in Kansas and Missouri is the raising
of stock.   The  Western expeditions absorb
annually a very large  number of oxen and
mules. They, at the same time, furnish a valuable market for the consumption of the produce
raised on the farms.
188
KANSAS. 
THE RED RACES OF KANSAS
CHAPTER XVI.
The Red Races of Kansas.-Variety of Condition.-Deep De basement.-Prejudicial Intercourse with White Mlen.-Fire water.-Civilization.-Efforts for the Elevation of the Indian
Tribes.-Good Fruit.-The Indigenous Tribes of Kansas. Kaws, Osages, Ottoes, Pawnees.-A Total Abstinence Tribe.
-The Immigrant Tribes. —Shawnees, Delawares, Wyan dots.-A Wyandot Family. —Kickapoos, Sacs and Foxes,
Iowas.- Pottawatomies, Sacs and Foxes. Ottowas. —Re suits.
THE white man's occupancy of Kansas is
an event only of yesterday. So recently as
August, 1854, it could be written that there
was "not a town or village of whites in
either Kansas or Nebraska." Till then these
vast territories were, as they still in great
part continue to be, the red man's huntinggrounds.
These Indian aborigines exist in great variety
of tribes, and in almost equal variety of complexion, physical form, and degree of civilization, throughout the hundreds of thousands of
square miles that lie between the United States
189 
KANSAS.
and the Rocky Mountains. Very much, according to which of these tribes a traveller may
fall in with, will be his impression as to
whether the American Indians are living in a
state of brutal debasement, and wasting away
under the influence of vice and disease combined with frequent war and famine, or whether
they are advancing in the arts of peace and
civilization, and forming populous and happy
commonwealths. I have myself witnessed, in
tribes removed but a short distance from one
another, the extremes of a brutality akin to
that of the beast, and a civilization which might
with advantage be copied by the white men in
their neighbourhood. This remarkable difference
of condition is not easily associated with the
distinction of tribe, but is very readily connected with the diversity of circumstance and
influence by which the particular tribe may
have been surrounded.
Where no civilizing influence is brought to
bear, the red man lives out his rude, savage
life, hunting the buffalo and the elk, gorging
himself when his chase is successful until he is
insensible through repletion, and then. awaking
190 
CONDITION OF TIE INDIAN TRIBES.  191
to spend days, perhaps, without a morsel of
food; never cultivating tile soil, but loving only
the life of the nomade; ever warring against
his neighbours of another tribe, and himself the
victim of the most cruel superstitions and torturing fears. In such a state, there is no progress towards civilization. One generation goes
and another comes, no whit the better than
its predecessor, and often very much the
smaller through famine or the ravages of smallpox, or through extermination by a more powerful tribe. Thus the Pawnees, who once spread
over Kansas and Nebraska, to the number of
nearly thirty thousand, and made other tribes
submit to their power, have been reduced to a
few thousand in number by visitations of smallpox, and by the superior power of the yet more
savage Sioux, who have come down upon them
from the North. Those that remain owe probably their existence to the fact that, in their
relations of the white man to the Indian 
KANSAS.
been accompanied by unhappy influences, the
result is seen in the red man knowing something of civilization, but knowing and imitating
only its vicious side.  Where there has been
tyranny and wrong on the part of the white
man, the Indian's native suspicion and vindictiveness have been confirmed and increased.
Where the Government agent has, with the one
hand, dealt out in large amount the annuities
voted by Congress, and with the other received
the money back in exchange for rum; or where,
the agent being more honest, some speculating
trader has done his left hand's work for him;
the result has been a fearful drunkenness, and the
growth of a passion which the Indian knows
not how to curb.  For a draught of the "firewater," the Indian will sometimes give all that
he has. And it is undeniable that the cupidity
of the white man has dealt out destruction
amongst tens of thousands of the Indian face.
There are other ways besides, which it were
a shame to dwell upon, in which contact with
the races called civilized has only more brutalized the brutal, spread disease and death
among the red men's ranks, and given an out
1.92 
CIVILIZATION.
ward garniture of seeming civilization only to
hide new shapes of vice and hideous deformity.
Instances I need not give, for, to a greater or
less degree, every Indian tribe is an example of
the prejudicial influences of contact with the
superior race.  I may remark, however, as a
further special illustration, that thle half-breeds,
wherever they exist in America, almost univerally exhibit a union of the vices of the two
races whence they are derived, whilst their corresponding virtues are lost.
As I have looked at the white men  with
whom the aboriginal tribes have to deal,I have
often wondered how any very happy influence
upon the Indian character could be anticipated
from their companionship and example.
But in some of the red races, civilization and
Christian teaching have shown marvellous
power. The instances just adverted to, where
drunkenness and debauchery are the two chief
lessons learned from association with the whites,
are not instances of the failure of civilization
and Christianity to elevate the savage, but of
that which is not truly the one as it is eminently not the other It would be very unfair,
9
193 
KANSAS.
however, to charge the United States' Government with wholesale injustice, or even with
neglect, in relation to the native tribes. Equally unfair would it be to bring its agents under
a universal censure, as forgetful of the claims of
humanity, and grasping only at self-advantage.
It is true the history of the Indians in America,
as from territory to territory they have been
pushed out Westward before the advancing tide
of white population, has been a most mournful
one-mournful, I mean, not because they have
had to yield to another race, but because of the
barbarous cruelty with which the conquest has
been, in former years at least, pursued. It were
easy to gather from among the inhabitants of
the States whole volumes of traditionary history as to the dealings of their fathers with the
Indians; and nine-tenths of these traditions are
traditions of bood, telling of the white mnan's
cruelty and the red man's revenge. But for
long the United States' Government has attempted to act honourably with the aboriginal
possessors of the land. Congress votes yearly
large sums as annuities to the dispossessed
tribes. It sends an agent to arrange with the
194 
TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS.
heads of the tribe for the sale of their land; and,
although the Indians are not aware how disproportioned the sum offered is to the value of
the land, still they accept the terms; and, fair
or unfair as to the means by which the negotiation is concluded, the Government thus pays
for what it takes.  Further, it grants the dispossessed tribes reservations for their exclusive
right. It establishes schools, sustains missions,
provides farming implements and stock, introduces agriculture, and seeks to encourage
labour and thrift, and thus to mould them into
the habits of civilization.
Amongst the best examples of the happy
effects of this mode of treatment, are those
tribes which are now located in what is called
the Indian Territory, immediately South of
Kansas. This Territory contains a population
of about a hundred thousand, principally Cherokees, Creeks, and Choctaws. These people
have come under the influence of Christian
teaching, and exhibit in a remarkable manner
the fruits of the better policy adopted towards
them. They have ceased to exist as tribes,
and, possessing houses and farms, have formed
195 
KANSAS.
themselves into a social order. Each nation
has its own government, republican in form,
and framed generally after the model of the
United States. Each has its written constitution and laws. They have their public schools,
education being provided for through their
public funds. Large quantities of cotton and
other produce are yearly sent by them to the
New Orleans market. In the mechanical arts
they have made considerable progress. The
Scriptures and other books are in circulation
in their own languages.  The  Cherokees and
Choctaws each have their newspaper; and the
former of these, being the most advanced, have
two seminaries for higher instruction, as well
as an orphan school-the former costing 70,000,
the latter 18,000 dollars. Amongst the Cherokees are also some who have sought higher
education in the universities of the States, and
distinguished themselves by their attainments.
And there are many who, as large planters,
own negro slaves, for which practice they are
also indebted to white civilization, and prove,
I was informed, to be kind rather than tyrannical masters.  These Indians are very anxious
196 
REAL CIVILIZATION.
to be in no particular behind their white neighbours, and look forward to their government
being recognized by the Confederacy, and
themselves admitted to representation in Congress.
According, therefore, as they have been
brought under elevating influences or otherwise, the Indians of North America may be
found, either living in the lowest depth of savage barbarism, steeped in the most loathsome
vice and misery, and dwindling away as a consequence of their corruption; or, on the other
hand, thriving and prosperous, possessing in
some degree the refined enjoyments, and exhibiting the good fruits which belong to a
civilized condition.
Amongst the Indians inhabiting Kansas, may
be seen examples of almost every stage, from
the lowest to the highest. It is convenient to
classify the Indian tribes as indigenous and immnigrant. The former are natives of the soil
they inhabit, and are commonly found in their
native debasement unaffected by civilizing influences. The latter belong originally to other
parts of the continent, now occupied by a large
197 
KANSAS.
and busy population, and have been transported
to the country they inhabit, or driven to it by
the Westward advance of the dominant race. It
is among these that the examples of a high
social condition to which I have adverted, are
to be found.
Of the tribes indigenous to Kansas, the most
numerous are the Kansas or Kaw Indians, from
which the Territory derives its name, whowith the Osages in the Southern, and the Ottoes in the Northern portion of the Territory,
and some smaller tribes- make up the wild,
roving population which scours its Central and
Western plains. The Osages, all savage as
they are, honourably distinguish themselves by
their firm adherence to temperance principles.
Their abhorrence of the "fire-wvater" is very
remarkable, and is as rare as it is praiseworthy.
These tribes all speak dialects of the Dacotah
language, and thus identify themselves as members of the great family of the Sioux, one of the
most savage of the Indian tribes, which has
descended at different periods like a Northern
scourge, spreading its blood-thirsty armies for a
thousand miles over the savannahs of the West.
198 
THE RED ROVERS OF KANSAS.
The Pawnees are a distinct race, and belong to
Kansas, but are now much reduced in number.
These, with the several Sioux tribes mentioned,
form the native Indian population of Kansas,
estimated at about eleven thousand, tenanting
the broad open prairie, and often causing terror
to the travellers crossing in the trains.
The Indian populations introduced from the
East, and owning lands which have been assigned to them by the Government, are more
numerous. They reach probably fourteen thousand. They vary much as to their degree of
civilization. The fertile banks of the lower
Kansas are cultivated by the Shawnees on the
right or Southern bank, and by the Delawares
and Wyandots on the North, following the
margin of the Missouri as far as Leavenworth.
The Shawnees have been well cared for, are
good agriculturists, and have acquired generally
the arts of civilized life. For fifty years the
Society of Friends has sustained a Mission
amongst them; and the Methodists and Bap tists have likewise their schools for manual la bor and instruction. The Wyandots are equal ly advanced. They own some beautiful lands,
199 
KANS-4AS.
purchased froiom tile Dela.wares, at the junction
of the Kansas and Miissouri rivers.  They are
remarkably fair in complexion, and I have met
with many whose appearance, were they transported to our own country, would hardly betray their Indian origin.  I journeyed for a
week in company with a family of Wyandots,
coming from one of the mnissions.  The family
consisted of two women, with several children,
the eldest a grown lad.  On board the steamboat, American etiquette, which is wonderfully
tenacious of the rights of color, required that
the Wyandot family should wait at each meal
until every white passenger had eaten, when
they were at liberty to sit down with the
slaves and partake of whatever might remain.
Yet they paid their full fare, and their deportment was a contrast in refinement to that of
the self-styled "ladies," with whom they were
accounted unworthy to sit at the same table.
FolloQwing the Missouri Northward from the
Delaware reserve, we meet: first, the Kickapoos, a few miles from Fort Leavenworth;
and upon their lands some few hundreds of Winnebagoes and Pottawatomies; further North,
200 
wYANDOTS, DELAWARES, ETC.
some of the Sacs and Foxes of Missouri; and,
lastly, the Iowas, whose reservation reaches
to the Nebraska border. The condition of the
Iowas is very deplorable. They are of that
class of Indians to whom contact with the
whites, and participation in Government allowances, have wrought harm rather than good.
They lead a life of miserable idleness, wear no
dress beyond the blanket, and seem to set no
value on efforts made for the amelioration of
their condition.
Again, if we go from the Kansas river Southward, after passing the Shawnee reserve, we
meet with the Pottawatomies, and small numbers of Weas and Piankeshaws, Peorias and
Kaskaskias. These, with the 3Miamis, cluster
about the banks of the Osage river and its
tributaries.  Further Westward, upon the Marais des Cygnes Creek, are to be found upwards
of two thousand of the Sacs and Foxes from the
Upper Mississippi. But more interesting is
the small community of Ottowas and Chippewas, in the same district, whose condition
a devoted Baptist missionary, the Rev. J.
Meeker, has raised to one of a most  eneour     9*
201 
KANSAS.
aging character. The people have been induced
to give up their tribe system, and under the
stimulus of independent property, they advance
in numbers, in wealth, and, above all, in moral
and intellectual elevation. Further South, we
come upon the highly civilized Cherokees of
the Indian territory.   The  whole  of  these
reservations are in the Eastern portion of Kansas. And one effect of the rapid immigration of
white settlers which has taken place during
the last two years, will be, to dispossess many
of these Indians, to cause their transference
once more to a district further West.
Upon  the whole, there is more to sadden
than to cheer in the aspect presented by the
Indian race on the Western plains of America.
In their natural condition, unutterably debased,
sunk almost to the level of the brute, their
contact with the white race has generally contributed but little to their moral and social
elevation.   Where  the circumstances of this
contact, however rarely, have been more favourable, a different result is manifested, and in
instances of complete civilization, elements of
character are developed which command admi
202 
RESULTS.
ration. TIlere is sufficient in this to prove that
the Red Indian is perfectly susceptible of elevating influences, and capable of being raised
to his true position and dignity as a man;
sufficient, therefore, to indicate the responsibility of the white man in relation to the race,
and to call for a regret that the intercourse
which has hitherto existed, has been of a character so little calculated to discharge that
responsibility alight.
203 
KANSAS.
CHAPTER XVII.
Visit to a Company of Sioux Indians.-Their Crimes and
Punishment.-A timid Companion.-Ho! ho! ho! ho!
Friendship accepted. —Friendship mistrusted.-Exhibition
of Displeasure. —The Calumet of Peace.-Indian Hospital ity. —Te-o-kun-ko's Appearance, Dress, and Feats.-Torn
Belly in a Blanket. —The Squaw and Pappoose.-Furnish ishings of the Tent.-Teaching the young Idea how to Shoot.
— Solemn Melancholy.-Parting Friendsbip.-Mother and
Child. —Description of Kansas tfe conclinded.-The Reign
of Terror.
ONE hot afternoon, having paid a visit at Fort
Leavenworth, I spent a while before returning
to the exciting scenes in the city, in strolling
about the grassy slopes and shady groves in
the neighbourhood of the Government reserve.
Suddenly my eye fell upon a little cluster
of tents, within a spacious inclosure, upon the
flank of a gently-swelling prairie-wave. As I
looked, there sprang from under one of the
tents a savage-looking figure, to whom paint
supplied the place of more seemly apparel.
The streaked and spotted savage darted forth
204 
VISIT TO A SIOUX ENCAMPNIENT.    205
as if under some resistless impulse, raised his
arrow towards the sky, shot high and far, raii
for the fallen shaft, and returned to his hidingplace, in less time than is needed to recount the
feat. Next appeared a woman, who crossed,
in her blanket, from one tent to another. I
knew at once that the Indians before me were
the company of Sioux of whom I had heard, anl
hour previously, from Colonel Sumner.
These Sioux - belonging to the most savage
of the prairie tribes -had been guilty, during
the previous year, of stopping the mail on its
way across the plains to Utah, and of murdering
one of the officers in charge.  It was not the
first occasion on which they had attacked parties
of travellers on the Western route. For this
act a number of the tribe implicated had been
taken as prisoners. Each man was privileged
to select from his wives the squaw of' his choice;
and the captive band had been conveyed to Fort
Leavenworth, and kept in confinement upon the
Government reserve. In the spring of 1856
the President granted them a pardon. Colonel
Sumner had the pleasing duty of ordering their
shackles to be knocked off, and of beholding 
KANSAS.
their gratitude in high leaps and joyous antics.
They were now waiting an opportunity of convoy, by which they might be safely returned to
their native wilds-the presence of many hostile tribes in the intervening territory being
sufficient to make Fort Leavenworth a prisonhouse to them, from which they could not
escape without a protecting force. Such was
the history of this Dacotah band, as related to
me by Colonel Sumner.
I crossed the fence and walked towards the
tents, designing  to  form  a more  intimate
acquaintance with the warrior tribe of which
I had so often heard. I found I was not alone.
A white man was looking from a distance at
the lodges and their wild tenantry, whom I
approached with the inquiry whether he had
come to see the Indians. fly white brother
was not very communicative, but, on being
pressed, said he was " took aback some, just a
spot; he'd never sot eyes on such a salvagerous
set of coons; he was nary lick afeared, not by
a long sight, but he kinder druther keep tracks
a little ways off such a salvagerous, onairthly
set; they smelt so powerful bad." I told him
206 
Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!       20
I comprehended his meaning, and placing
myself between him and his supposed danger,
induced him to accompany me round the side
of the little encampment to get a front view
of the tents and their occupants. In the mean
time I told my companion briefly what I knew
of the Indians; that they were Sioux, had
attacked a train and committed murder, &c.
M5y friend listened in silence.
We had examined from a short distance one
or two interiors without attracting notice. At
length we stood in front of a tent at some
twenty yards distance, within which were two
men, a woman, and a child.  "Ho! Ho! Ho!
Ho!" A shout, shrill and startling, showed
that we were seen.  It came from the head of
the family; I cannot recall his name, but Te-okfin-ko, the Swift, will answer the present
purpose not inappropriately. The tall grim
savage, who beyond a girdle had no covering
except a thick sheathing of vermilion, ochre,
and other pigments mingled with grease, sprang
forward as he shouted, bow and arrow in hand,
and made a beckoning motion with his arm.
My companion was behind me, so that I was
207 
KANSAS.
not in a position to see how the invitation
affected him; but for myself, acting upon
former experience, I accepted it immediately,
and as I stepped quickly forward, found hands
extended from within the tent, which I shook
with a hearty cheerfulness.
But it was with Tah-zee-keh-dA-cha, the Torn
Belly, and Tch6n-su-m6ns-ka, the Sand-Bar,
mistress of the lodge, in her robe of blue and
belt of shining buttons, that I was shaking
hands, for Te-o-kfin-ko was already levelling
his arrow at some offending object, on which
he fixed an eye glaring with rage.  I looked
round, and to my horror discovered it to be none
other than my companion, whom the shrill cry
of the Sioux, half a minute before, had evidently
pierced with terror, and who, panic-stricken,
was " making tracks" as fast as his legs would
bear him. Indians, thought I, never miss their
aim. Te-o-kuin-ko's rage was horrible to behold.
A tragedy was surely to take place instantly
before my eyes. No, a comedy! Te-o-kufn-ko
raises steadily his arrow towards the sky,
whilst he bends his body backwards for a far
upward shot. His head falls carelessly over his
208 
TIHE CATIUMET OP PEACE.
shoulder towards his pale-faced guest, his countenance relaxes, the eye loses its fiery rage, and
with an unearthly "Hia! ha! ha!" the arrow
is sprung from the bow; it makes an acute
arc far up in the blue sky, and descends, as its
owner intended it should, at the feet of a horse,
midway between himself and the mean-spirited
runaway who had mistrusted his friendship.
I was now  received into the family, and
honoured as a guest.  There was little space to
spare beneath the tent; but he of the Torn
Belly, TAh-zee-keh-dA-cha, made me sit upon
the ground, and drew me close to his side, that
I nmight be sheltered from the scorching sun.
Te-o-ku'n-ko the meanwhile lit the calumet
of peace, and paid his guest the highest respect it is in the power of Indian host to
offer.   The  ugly, squat-shaped,  broad-faced
child played about my feet; so I patted his wild
little head, and won the mother, Tchon-sum6ns-ka.
Te-o-ku'n-ko was of a restless disposition.
Hlie never laid down his bow, but sprang out
frequently from beneath the tent to shoot an
arrow high aloft, run after it, and return.  His
209 
KANSAS.
dress I have described in saying he had a blue
girdle sustained by a leathern strap.  He was
tall, and of that extreme slenderness of limb
only to be seen amongst certain wild races.
His hair was parted in the centre, and brought
down over each shoulder in a plait of two feet
in lengthi, into which horse-hair and other substances were introduced, and which terminated
in a ball of thyme or other scented herb. Behind the head the hair was brought back, and
terminated by a brass ring. He wore ear-rings;
also a necklace of beads, long and short, alternately, and a second, looser necklace of brass
chain.  Further, he had armlets-five or  i%x
coils of stout brass wire above the elbow, two
coils at the wrist. Each little finger had its
ring. In his hand was his bow and a few
arrows-the arrows broad at the point, and
fledged with goose quill and other feathers
brightly dyed. Other adornment had he none,
save streaks of bright paint across his brow and
cheeks, and spots and patches, red and yellow, about his naked body.
Tah-zee-keh-d,-cha, at my elbow, was a quiet
sprite. He had a blanket loosely thrown around
-210 
INDIAN FAMILY LIFE.
his shoulders; and whether he had lost his scalp
or not, I cannot say, but he shielded his head
with a handkerchief, which he held tightly
beneath his chin.   This attitude gave  him
very much the appearance of an old woman.
He wore, also, beaded moccasins, and exhibited
a larger number of finger-rings than his companion.
The squaw was dressed in a blue robe, which
was held around her person by a broad leathern
strap of unusual stoutness. Had the intentions
of its manufacturer been carried out, this strap
would doubtless have found its place in the
harnessing of some Western team; but it was
now ornamented with a triple row of brass
buttons, and put to fairer use. Sand-Bar had
ear-rings, armlets, big and little finger-rings;
her hair was parted and plaited, not wholly
unlike that of any European; her forehead
was daintily streaked with lines of beauty
and grace, in bright blue and flaming ver milion.
The little pappoose was dressed simply in
vest and leggins. From each ear hung two
rings with watch-keys attached, the rings being
211 
KANSAS.
passed through both the lobe and the upper
cartilage of the ear. Around its neck a brass
medal was suspended. On examining the medal,
I beheld the image and superscription of Queen
Victoria!
Behind the family group there hung, on the
sides of the tent, arrows, bows, pipes, furs,
buffalo-skins, painted robes, goose-quills, eagles'
claws and beaks, porcupines' spines, feathers,
hair, beads, paints, and all else that an Indian
counts valuable.   The complexion of these
Indians was of the darkest red, differing very
much in depth of shade from the more civilized
tribes.
As we could not exchange intelligibly a
single word, our intercourse was limited to
looks and gestures. They examined my dress
with solemn curiosity. The child began this,
and my neighbour, the Torn Belly, followed it
up. He pulled my coat-tails, drew out my
neck-tie, pushed his finger up the same until
he tickled my neck, altogether surveyed me
thoroughly. Afterwards we fell to amusement. I stuck a coin upon a stick, and invited
the pappoose to shoot with his miniature bow
212 
PARTING FRIENDSHIP.
and arrow. The young Sioux warrior entered
into the game with zest, his father sustaining
his arm, whilst he again and again shot only to
miss the mnark. At last he won his prize, gave
the bit of silver into his mother's keeping-an
office which she discharged by putting it into
her mouth-and eagerly demanded a renewal
of the practice.
Through the half-hour during which I sat
under their tent, these solemn figures never
smiled, never indicated in the countenance the
least presence of feeling. Even the child never
laughed. When it triumphed with the bow,
the father said, "Ha! ha! ha!" and the child
said, "He! he! he!" but the countenances
never relaxed their mournful expression. Every
Indian that I ever saw, has exhibited the same
strange characteristic. The red races are said
to be cheerful, even jovial, amongst themselves. Be this true or false, in the presence
of strangers they divest themselves of every
indication of the emotional, and leave upon
the mind an impression of the profoundest
melancholy.
When I rose to go, my entertainers shook me
213 
KANSAS.
warmly by the hand, and indicated their desire
that I should repeat my visit, and especially
remember to bring some tobacco withl me the
next time. Having passed behind the tent, I
heard a foot-step following me. It was the
little marksman, who, when I stopped, ran
towards me, and seized my legs as if to detain
me. Next came the Sand-Bar, rushing to the
rescue, lest white man should steal red man's
child. I surrendered that which it would have
been a sore affliction to keep, and left, convinced, that whether under a white skin or a
red one, a mother's heart is still the same.
When I returned from my friendly visit to
the Sioux to the riot and savage turmoil of the
white settlement, I felt doubtful whether I had
not left civilization behind me.
With these Indian sketches, however, my
description of the country and its inhabitants
must terminate. Much indeed remains unsaid,
which is characteristic of Kansas and its homelife in town and country. But having yet to
treat more particularly of the fierce struggle
between slavery and freedom of which it has
214 
REFLECTIONS.
been the theatre, and to supply some passages
in its brief but stormy history, I must close
this portion of the subject. It is impossible,
however, to leave the consideration of its
beautiful prairies and fertilizing streams, its
busy settlers and active commerce, without
giving expression to the mournful regret, that
a country on which Nature smiles so beautifully, and towards which Providence has been
so bountiful in the gifts of material wealth and
natural advantages, should have been turned
by the foul hand of man into a land of sorrow
and suffering, bloodshed and crime.  Now the
widow wrings her hands, and orphans shed
tears of bitterness over that rich and lovely
soil; discord and anarchy have taken the place
of law; poverty and partial famine are seen
instead of abundance; wrong has been legal ized, right subdued; and, amid the heavings
of an uncontrolled lawlessness, men have cast
from them every moral restraint, and intro duced a Reign of Terror, in which every base
passion of man finds free exercise for its ener gies of evil.
215 
KANSAS
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Controversy.-Shall Kansas be Slave or Free?-Slavery
a Barrier to a Country's Advancement. —Influence of Slave ry on Population, Education, Cultivation of the Soil, Price
of Land.-A fair Competition would make Kansas Free. Pecuniary and Political Interests of the South.-A fair Com petition from the first denied.
IT is strange that men should fight so hard to
introduce so bad a thing as slavery into a land.
We have been so accustomed to dwell on
the moral evils of slavery, the essential enormity of the system, and the wrongs which
almost of necessity arise out of it, that we are
apt to overlook that which otherwise we
should not be slow to recognize, namely, how
baneful the system is in its influence upon the
white race, and how seriously it impoverishes
a country, and retards the progress of its people.
The celebrated Jefferson, himself a slaveholder, has left in his writings a strong testimony against the system in its reflex influence
216 
THE CONTROVERSY.
upon the masters, when he said, that " the man
must be a prodigy who can retain his manners
and morals undepraved" whilst living in the
midst of such a system. "The whole conmmerce," he writes, " between master and slave
is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous
passions-the most unremitting despotism on
the one part, and degrading submission on the
other." As one of the chief founders of the
republic, Jefferson,,-in common with Washington, Franklin, 3Iadison, Henry, and all the
leaders of his time,-regarded the abolition of
what he calls "this great political and moral
evil," as essential to the prosperity of the
Union.
But slavery is as great an economical, as it
is a political or moral evil. The day on which
I first set foot in a slave state, and a few hours
before I crossed the border-line, I was conversing with a gentleman residing in Pennsylvania,
whose views appeared to be Southern, but who
expressed them in a tone of candour and moderation.  " WVell," said he at length, " this
afternoon you will be in our Southern states.
You expect, I dare say, to find the difference
1D
217 
KANSAS.
the moment you cross the state-line. Whichever way you look, you will calculate on seeimg nothing but what is bad. I should like very
much to know, whether you find it as bad as it
is most likely you expect."
The truth is, I had no expectation to "feel
the difference the moment I crossed the stateline." I was not prepared for any visible sign
of the geographical boundary being passed.
How great, then, was my surprise to find that,
in going into a state naturally richer, I was in
effect entering one practically and visibly poorer; and that the enterprise and progress I had
been accustomed to admire in the Northern
states, were exchanged, on the passing of a
geographical line, for lethargy and almost backgoing. It was evident that I was in the midst
of new conditions of society, and that new
social conditions had brought with them a
wholly new and widely different order of
things, one that reached the length of changing the entire aspect of the country. Had I
met my friend afterwards, I must have confessed
to many and great surprises; and, had he asked
me my  opinion as to the "institution" after
218 
SLAVERY A VISIBLE BLIGHT.
travelling throughout the Southern states,passing the moral evil-I must have characterized it, as a visible blight upon the en~re
economical and commercial, as well as social,
existence of the South.
Now in Kansas we have a country, immense
in extent and most rich in its capabilities of
production, till recently guaranteed to be free
from this blighting influence as well as great
wrong, but now thrown open to its unrestrained
introduction. In the persons of their respective
advocates, the rich soil of Kansas has become
the battle-ground of the two systems, Slavery
and Freedom. All who have interest in the
progress of humanity, and many besides, ask
anxiously, which is to be the victor? Is slavery
to find in it a new soil over which to extend its
pernicious influence, or are the energies of freemen to make it a land which shall smile with
the blessings of social happiness and general
prosperity?
By all unprejudiced witnesses the fact is
acknowledged, that slave labour in any temperate climate cannot hold its ground when
brought into fair competition with free labour.
219 
KANSAS.
As a system, slavery ever brings with it a
heavy entail of disorder, slovenly negligence,
stereotyped adhesion to old methods, disregard
of all improvements, costly and unnoticed expenditure, and general impoverishment in all
that pertains to the cultivation of the soil.
This is not a matter of controversy. It is
sufficient to see the " thrown out" or "turned
out" lands of Virginia,-thousands of acres
now no longer cultivated, naturally far richer
than the soil of Massachusetts, enjoying a more
genial climate, adapted to the growth of more
remunerative products, and in a state colonized
at an earlier period,-and to compare the poverty of the one with the wealth exhibited in
the other state, to lbe convinced of the terribly
pernicious influence of the slave system on the
agriculture of a country. Whether we illustrate the contrast between a slave state and a
free state, in -the market price of the land,
in the difference of population, or in the relative extent of unimproved soil, we arrive at
the same conclusion, and gain sure indices
of the prejudicial economic results of slavery.
To cross the border from  Pennsylvania to
2eo 
A FREE STATE AND A SLAVE STATE. 221
Virginia, is to cross from land at forty-nine
dollars, to land at twenty-one dollars per acre,
as shown by the Government returns. In
South Carolina, with its far-famed rice plantations, the returned value of the land is only a
fraction over five dollars per acre; in free Connecticut, it is upwards of thirty dollars the
acre. Or, passing to the states of the West, it
would be sufficient for intending settlers in
Kansas to glance at the neighbouring slave
state of Missouri. They would there see the
twelve southern counties in that state showing
in the Government returns a value for their
land of thirteen dollars per acre; whilst its
ten northern counties, bordering on free Iowa,
although naturally less productive, support a
population one-fourth larger; that population
has improved one-half more of soil; has raised
the soil it has improved to a value about
one-half higher, namely, nineteen dollars an
acre; and is possessed, as a consequence, of an
assessed value in land two and a half times as
large as that of the finer counties in the south
of the same state. It may further be mentioned that, for 339 scholars in the public schools 
KANSAS.
ill thle twelve southern counties, the ten counties bordering on Iowa can show a school
attendance of 2,329. Yet this is but the result
of the proximity of freedom
And if the slave system, as contrasted with
free labour, is always accompanied by an inferior agriculture, a depreciated value of the
land, a smaller population, a fettered commerce, and a remarkable prevalence of almost
barbarous ignorance, there are yet further many
special reasons why slavery should not be permitted to introduce its paralyzing influence
upon the free soil of Kansas. The climate is
temperate; hence those products for the raising
of which negro slavery is sometimes claimed to
be necessary, are not grown on its soil.  Slave
labour, again, is unprofitable, except where the
slaves can work in gangs, and can be kept
within the view of the overseer. Hence, the
Indian corn and other grain crops which are
best adapted to the soil and climate of Kansas,
are quite unsuitable for any but free labour.
Further, of planters owning slaves, but a small
number can be expected for many years to
come to transport their stock into this new
122 
ECONOMIC ARGUMENTS AGAINST SLAVERY. 223
territory, whilst the remaining settlers, even
from the South, are not necessarily slave-proprietors.
From a consideration of facts such as these,
the conclusion has been drawn, that Kansas
left to itself (as is guaranteed by the Organic
Act, passed in May, 1S54) to determine its own
institutions, and to legalize or not to legalize
slavery, according to the will of the majority,
must inevitably determine in favour of freedom.   Some  writers, even  in this country,
have with too much haste concluded, that so
unequal a race as that between slavery and
freedom cannot be long sustained; that, with
the pernicious fruits of slave labour before
their eyes, the settlers in Kansas cannot long
hesitate in their choice; that the territory
must soon, therefore, settle down, and make
its application for admission into the confederacy with a constitution guaranteeing fireedom.
Hence these writers infer, moreover, that, if
the strife existing in Kansas has disturbed the
whole Union, the anxiety exhibited on both
sides is very unnecessary,-at any rate on the
part of the North,-seeing that very speedily, 
KANSTS.
by th-e working out of natural causes, Kansas
must of necessity become free.
Such a conclusion, reasonable as it may appear, is founded on an imperfect view of the
question. The question is not whether Kansas
ought to be a free or a slave state, in order
best to secure its ultimate prosperity and the
development of its resources; but whether
Kansas, free or slave, will most enrich those who
are able to profit by its being opened to them.
In a case like that of Kansas, the most profitable will be always deemed, by the majority
of men, the most reasonable policy. And as
the majority are to rule, the question reduces
itself to this: Is there not a large class to
whom the extension of slavery is a source of
profit?  And if so, is that class in preponderating number?
Whilst it is perfectly true, therefore, that
between slavery and freedom in Kansas, it is a
folly on material, as much as it is a wrong on
moral grounds, to choose the former, it is not
to be forgotten that the self-interest of many
may conflict with the requirements of right
reason. In concluding that men can never
c) -— ) 4 
SHALL KITANSAS BE SLAVE OR FREE?  225
commit the folly of making  Kansas a slave
state, we lose sight of the important fact, that
the South has an immense interest in upholding
slavery and in extending it over new territory.
The history of slavery in the United States
has always been ultimate loss for the sake of
present gain; an impoverished inheritance left
to the child for the sake of immediate profit
to the father. To supply the depreciation consequent on the land being left almost to itself,
and, therefore, not rising in  value, it is of
immense importance  to the planters of the
South, that the value of their slave-property
should be maintained, and, if possible, increased.
Though a fictitious source of wealth, a rise in
the price of his slaves is of more importance
to the planter than a rise in the value of his
land, in proportion as he has more money invested in the one than in  the  other.   To
bring about this result there is no means so
effectual as the extension of slave territory,
which is, in effect, the opening of a new  market for the slaves.
Virginia alone is drawn upon by the states
on the Mississippi, for as many as ten thousand
lo* 
KANSAS.
annually,-  a rare encouragement, it must be
confessed, for slave-breeding.
Governor Wise is reported to have told the
Virginians that, if California were made a
slave state, the value of their negroes would
rise from a thousand to three, or even five,
thousand dollars.
Every slaveholder, therefore, has a direct immnediate interest in the extension of the area of
slavery, although it should brin  eventual ruin
to the development of the country's resources.
Add to this, that to gain fresh political power
is of highest moment to the Southern interest.
The ascendancy of the North is an event the
slaveholder with reason dreads, as likely, if not
to jeopardize his property, at least to curtail
his privileges. Hence the favour with which
he regards all filibustering, Southern annexation, and extension of slave territory in general.
Every new slave state admitted to the confederacy gives two more votes for slavery in the
Senate, and a further addition to Southern
votes in the House of Representatives, besides
engaging another whole population in the support of the Pro-slavery interest.   M'ore need
226 
INTERELSTS OF THE SOUTH.
not be said, to show that, if the voice of the
South were to decide it, Kansas would be
given not to freedom, but to slavery.
But the truth is, the question extends itself
far beyond the limits of Kansas.  The ultimate
fate of this territory will very materially influence the subsequent history of territories beyond, as well as of states in its neighbourhood.
With all its vehemence in the cause, Missouri
is not strong as a slave state; its northern portioni is eminently unfitted for slave labour;
and, if Kansas were to be made a free state,
Missouri itself, having free soil on its north,
wvest, and east, would probably ere long become to a great extent practically free. Again,
with a free Kansas, freedom must be given of
necessity to Nebraska, and whatever other new
states may be formed north of the old compromise  line.   Hence,  Kansas is made  the
battle-ground of a great principle.  "Squatter
sovereignty," forced upon the country by the
abettors of Southern views, must there work
itself out to its legitimate issues; and the
issue with relation to Kansas will, to a great
extent,. determine the ultimate condition of the
227 
KANSAS
other vast territorial possessions of the American Union.
It is of yet greater significance, however, to
remark, that the supposition that in Kansas the
slave system must yield eventually to free
labour, is unfounded, because, from its first
settlement, two years ago, this fair competition
between the two systems of labour has never
been permitted. An equal race would, unquestionably, result in the triumph of freedom;
but this has been from the first denied. The
partisans of thie South, insisting on their own
views, have proscribed all opposition;  and
possessing the aid and authority of the federal
Government, have decreed that nothing shall
be legal which does not favour their own side
in this contest of principles.
To reveal the base infamy of these transactions,-transactions in which the Government at Washington is as deeply implicated as
the border-ruffians of Missouri-as well as to
exhibit the revolting barbarity which has been
associated with them, I invite attention to the
brief history of the Kansas struggle contained
in the following chapters. A consideration of
2298 
A PAIR COMPETITION DENIED.
its varied events will suffice, I think, to carry
the conviction that a fair competition between
the systems of slavery and freedom has not
hitherto existed, and by those in power was
never intended to exist, in Kansas.
229 
KANSAS.
CHAPTER XIX.
The Commencement of the Troubles in Kansas.-Its Organi zation as a Territory.-Slavery prohibited previously by the
Missouri Compromise.-Senator Douglas.-Conception of a
bold Idea.-The Compact broken. —Passing of the Nebraska
Kansas Act.-Squatter Sovereignty.-Unskilled  Legisla tors.-The people to regulate their Domestic Institutions in
their own Way.-Mr. Seward's Speech.
KANSAS dates the commencement of its troubles
from the day on which the Act was passed by
the Congress of the United States, which gave
it a political existence as a duly organized
Territory. This was in May, 1854.
Its previous history in relation to slavery
was very simple.  In virtue of what is commonly called the Missouri Compromise Measure of 1820, the North conceded to the South
that Missouri, which lies north of latitude 36~
30', should be admitted into the Union as a
slave state; accepting as an equivalent the
enactment, that in all the remaining portion of
280' 
THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLE.
the Louisiana Territory lying north of that
geographical line, slavery "shall be and is
hereby for ever prohibited." Kansas is north
of that line of latitude, which very accurately
divides the northern from the southern half of
the possessions of the United States.  The
question was finally, and for ever, settled by a
strictly defined line, confirmed by many subsequent acts of legislation. And thus, for four
and thirty years, Kansas had peace.
Prominent among those of Northern politicians in America, who are devoted to Southern
interests, is the Honourable Stephen Arnold
Douglas. MIr. Douglas is a short, thick-set
man, of dark complexion, determined in action,
and vehement in speech;  but withal clever,
full of tact and ability, and well fitted to carry
whatever measure he may set his heart upon.
He was, it is understood, in his earlier career a
labouring man or mechanic; and, it is probable,
set his heart upon the Presidential Chair. At
any rate, he has made great steps towards the
attainment of that  coveted honour.  Still a
young man, he has risen from his lowly station,-and now sits atE  Sen-ator for.Illinois.  It
23l 
KANSAS.
would be a pleasing reflection, if this rapid
elevation had taken place side by side with
independent action and faithfulness to the
great trust of one who rules his country.
Probably Mr. Douglas may say, he has been
faithful to his own  convictions.   Still, the
truth remains:-A Northern man, he has
espoused Southern politics; swimming with
the stream of official favour, he has, in befriending those in power, most befriended himself; he has struck well for the highest honour
America has to bestow, and, having achieved a
great past, has opened for himself the way,
should fortune still favour, for a great future;
finally, he may take to himself the credit of
having made more noise than almost any other
member of the Senate in the present Congress,
and having done more by public acts to influence his country- albeit that influence is to
curse it-than probably any man of his time.
Senator Douglas, as a trusty servant of the
South and friend of the Administration, sat as
Chairman upon the Committee of Territories.
When, in December, 1853, a bill was submitted by -Mr. Dodge, Senator for Iowa, for
232 
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE REPEALED. 233
the organization of the Territory of Nebraska,
3Ir. Douglas took the bill in hand in committee, and returned it to the House amended,
in the shape of a wholly new bill. The little
alteration he had to suggest was nothing less
than that the Compromise of 1820 should be
revoked, or rather that it should be held to be
inoperative and void, because Congress had no
right to legislate upon the subject of slavery,*
and that; the new territories should be placed
under that peculiar rule now known as Squatter Sovereignty.   What rewards  are  great
enough for the daring ingenuity that devised,
and the energy that carried through the House,
a measure like this, contemplating ends which
minds cast in the ordinary mnould would never
have ventured even to conceive!
Such genius was irresistible. The man being found who had the hardihood to say, " Let
us break faith and we can carry all our own
way," the scheme had not to wait for willing
adherents.   From thirty to seven-and-thirty
voted at the different divisions in favour of the
* In the territories, that is to say.-Am.  Eg. 
KANSAS.
measure; from ten to fourteen were all who
opposed it in the Senate. A majority was
likewise found for it in the Hiouse of Representatives. And thus the bill, which broke a
compact solemnly entered into, for which an
equivalent had been received, and which had
often been reaffirmed,-a bill which declared
impossible that which was enacted "for ever,"
and had been acted upon for thirty-four years,
became the law of the land.
By virtue of another provision of the substituted bill, the great tract of country formerly
called somewhat indefinitely Nebraska, was divided into two distinct territories; the more
promising portion at the south, bordering on
the State of Missouri, being organized under
the name of Kansas, and the remaining portion, reaching as far north as the British possessions, receiving the specific title of the
Territory of Nebraska. This was sagacious,
even as all the other provisions of the Act.'
To subjugate to the slave power a territory
stretching so far north as the orignal Nebraska,
would have been an almost hopeless task. To
fight the battle on a comparatively narrow
234 
SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY INSTITUTED. at
strip of country in the south, with Missouri on
its entire flank from south to north, was a task
comparatively easy and full of promise as to
ultimate success.
Thus was Kansas organized as a Territory of
the Union, under the dominion of that new
form of government known, in modern history,
as " Squatter Sovereignty." In the settlement
of all new territory, there is in most instances
a period during which, the surveys being yet
uncompleted, men are found to throw down
their hatchet upon land to which as yet they
have no title. Such men are called squatters.
Much almost inevitable evil springs out of this
system, as has been shown in former parts of
this volume. For purposes of mutual defence,
societies are formed, understandings are come
to, and thenceforward all is regulated in accordance with " Squatter Law," and for the
maintenance of " Squatter Rights."   There
exists little definable distinction between Squatter law and Lynch law; and when nien speak
of holding land by Squatter right, they often
mean what is otherwise expressed as Tomahawk
right 
KANSAS.
When General Cass first made use in the
Senate ofthe expression "Squatter Sovereigns,"
he had reference to the legalization of power
in the hands of the class of men above described. Uncertain as to their dwelling-place,
unpossessed of titles to their so-called " claims,"
believing in law only so far as it favours themselves, as unskilled in relation to the principles
of justice as they are unscrupulous in the methods of its administration, it might be reasonably supposed that the squatters are not the best
men to constitute the rulers of the land. Yet,
according to the enlightened legislation of the
last few years, the squatters have been made
the sovereigns through most of the territories
of the United States.
Kansas is an example of the legitimate working out of the much admired system of squatter
sovereignty.  By the Act organizing it as a
territory, it was  stipulated that, whilst the
compact under which it had been guaranteed
free from slavery since 1820 was to be held as
inoperative and void, the people were to be at
liberty to "form and regulate their domestic
institutions in their own way." The squatter
'236 
ECLIPSE,
sovereigns, being very far from harmonious in
their views of the peculiar domestic institution
intended by this expression, have been quite
unable to agree as to how it is to be regulated,
and have very naturally resorted to fighting, in
order to decide whether slavery is to be legislated into, or excluded from, the territory.
M1r. Seward, the Senator for New York, was
not far fiomn the truth, when, on the memorable night of the passing of the Nebraska-Kansas Bill, he closed his fruitless opposition to it,
by designating the act of that night as one that
would mark an era in American legislation.
" We are on the eve of the consummation of a
great national transaction-a transaction which
will close a cycle in the history of our country-and it is impossible not to desire to pause
for a moment, and survey the scene around us
and the prospect before us.  *  * * The sun has
set for the last time upon the guaranteed and
certain liberties of all the unsettled and unorganized portions of the American continent
that lie within the jurisdiction of the United
States.   To-morrow's sun will rise in dim
eclipse over them." Hlow long the obscuration
2:,37, 
KAN$AS.
would last, Mr. Seward continued to say, no
human mind could foresee. One thing is certain: the Senator's prophecy of a comining darkness has been verified in Kansas to the full;
from the moment of the passing of that bill
there has been nothing but darkness, thick
darkness enwrapping the land; and the light
has scarcely yet even faintly begun to dawn.
238
4 
MISSOURIANS IN KIANSAS.
CHAPTER XX.
Missouri takes an Interest in Kansas.-Claims staked off. Sovereignty taken up in the new Territory.-Blue Lodges.
-Slavery"  at whatever Cost of Blood and Treasure."-Hos tile Resolutions. —Indian Lands ceded. —Northern Immigra tion.-The Challenge accepted.-Appointment of Governor
and Judiciary.-Governor Reeder.-Lawrence founded. Leavenworth and other Settlements.-Election of Delegate
to Congress.-The Contest.-Missourian Invasion.-General
Stringfellow's Programme of Operations.-Return of Gene ral Whitfield.
AT the time when Kansas was thus organized
and opened for settlement, the inhabitants of
the contiguous State of Ilissouri had very much
their own way in the new Territory. For
some time previously, they seem to have been
possessed of the secret, that the Compromise of
1620 was to be broken, and that the squatter
was to have the sovereignty of Kansas. Accordingly, most of those living near the border
took occasion, at some time or other, to cross
the river, and "stake off a claim."  This was
239. 
:KANSAS.
done in order to give them  the sovereignty
they desired.  Each man, although his "staking off a claim" should have consisted merely
in pacing out forty acres and leaving a notch
with his axe on one of the trees, considered
himself thereby constituted a squatter, and
invested consequently with a share in the sovereignty of the future Territory. Each man
also agreed to respect the rights of his brothersquatter. This is part of squatter law; and is
self-evidently the only condition on which to
have one's own right maintained.   "If you
will say I am lord of the soil, I will say you
are; and so, we shall be all lords together, and
none, who is not of our way, shall invade our
sovereign right." Whilst each recognized his
brother-squatter, it occurred apparently to no
one to respect the rights of the Indian tribes.
These not merely occupied the land, but had
had the land specially assigned to them by
the government in compensation for their removal from, and surrender of possessions,
further East.  Hence, the "claims," on which
these inhabitants of Missouri rested their right
to rule Kansas, had the additional detraction
240 
MISSOURI TAIRES UP SOVEREIGNTY.  241
that the land which, although unpaid for, they
called their own, belonged by public treaty to
other people.
At about the period of the passing of the act,
blue lodges" and other secret societies were
formed;  and, throughout the year 1854, numerous meetings were held in Western 3lissouri, at which the people were addressed by
General David R. Atchison, then Vice-president of the United States,* General Stringfellow, Dr. Bayless and others. Thus a powerful movement was organized, having for its
object the settlement of Kansas by the people
of Missouri, and the exclusion of all emigrants
from the North.
At the earlier of these meetings, the people
"pledged themselves, if the territory of Kansas
be opened to settlement, to co-operate to extend the institutions of Missouri [i. e. slavery]
over the territory, at whatever cost of blood and
treasure." And, as they were ready before the
opening of the territory, to shed their blood
* He had been elected President of the Senate in place of
W. R. King, V. P., in December, 1852.-AM. ED.
11 
KANSAS.
that slavery might be introduced, so at a later
period, when settlers began to come from the
North under the protection of Eastern Emigrant Aid Societies, they encouraged each
other )by resolutions still more violent, and
meetings more directly hostile in their character.  At the meetings of the "Platte County Self-defensive Association" and othersimilar organizations, the resolutions generally
adopted were to the effect, that protection
should be afforded to none but Southern settlers in Kansas; that Abolitionists arriving
there should be immediately removed from the
territory; and that all coming from any place
North of Mlason and Dixon's line were Abolitionists, and to be treated as such, whatever
they might say to the contrary.
In the mean time arrangements were made
by the government for the cession of lands by
the Indians. This was not effected in the
ordinary manner, by a commissioner appointed
to negotiate with the tribes on their own soil.
But delegates from the Indians were taken privately to Washington, a treaty negotiated with
them, and information immediately telegraphed
242 
IOSTILE RESOLUTIONS.
to the Missouri associations, which were ready
at once to take up the ceded lands. Much
complaint was made by the Indians afterwards
in relation to these treaties.  "The chiefs, head
men, and counsellors of the Delaware nation"
published also a protest against the acts of
"their white brethren," in settling on lands in
violation of the treaties made with them. But
the Missourians had gained their end. They
had, by their interest at Washington, obtained
precedence of the Northern men in taking up
the lands. They held large districts under
squatter right; and under the sovereignty of
squatterdom, they considered themselves p)ossessed of authority to rule, if need were, the
Indians out, and to legalize themselves in.
There was activity, however, on the part of
the free States. The State of Massachusetts
especially showed itself energetic in promoting
the settlement of Kansas by its own New England sons. In this, they accepted the challenge
which the principle of the Nebraska-Kansas
act offered, and showed themselves willing to
run the race with the South, encouraged by
the idea that the majority of the population of
243 
KANSAS.
the new Territory was to decide the question
of its institutions. Hence sprung the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society, and the American Settlement Company of New York, as well
as minor associations, known as the Octagon
Settlement Company, the Vegetarian Settlement Company, and the New York Kansas
League. The object of these associations was
to assist settlers in Kansas by making arrangements for their transit, aiding them in the
choice of locations, and especially enabling
them, by an advance of capital, to erect sawmills and other valuable appendages, for genlleral use. As a consequence of this agency, and
tempted by the increased advantages of protection and comfort which settlement held out
under the operation of such a system, large
numbers from the free States were induced to
make Kansas their home. And the Territory
still presents, in consequence of the peculiarities of its history, a contrast of population very
unusual in the Far Western lands. Oni the one
hand are those in great number who by their
thoughts and feelings, habitudes and wants,
indicate that they have been nursed amidst the
244 
NORTHERN IMMIGRATION.
social refinements of New England or New
York, and that Western life is yet strange to
them; and on the other hand, in constant contact with these, there are exhibitions of savage
coarseness and brutality, which are happily
rare even amidst the rough forest-life of the
first pioneers.
By the Organic Act, the Governor and Judiciary of the Territory were to be appointed by
the President of the United States. 3MIr. Andrew H. Reeder of Pennsylvania received the
appointment as head of the Executive, with
Mr. Daniel Woodson of Arkansas, as Secretary.
Samuel Dexter Lecompte was made Chief Justice of the Territory, with Sanders N. Johnston
and Rush Elmore as Associate Justices, and
Isaacs and Donaldson respectively Attorney
and Marshal. These were all appointed as unflinching supporters of the Southern cause.
Some of them have remarkably justified whatever was expected of them. But Reeder, the
Governor, appears from the first to have hesitated to yield himself as the instrument of giving effect to the base designs of the Missourian
party.  He exhibited a caution and reserve,
245 
KANSAS.
which were very becoming in one holding the
highest civil power in the Territory, but which
were very unpalatable to those who looked to
him for plain-spoken, unshrinking partisanship.
In his public acts, he seemed to aim at impartiality. In speech, he always avoided committiug himself, and as to any expression of his
opinions or intentions observed strict silence.
He probably found the abettors of the principle
of Squatter Sovereignty to be men very different in character from that which he had anticipated; and shrinking from allying himself
with a border-ruffian horde, he soon became
mistrusted by the party he was expected to
support, and thus prepared the way for his
dismissal from his office.
The Governor arrived in the territory early
in October, 1854. During the two or three
months preceding, settlers had been entering
at a rapid rate; and at a pretty spot on the
Southern bank of the Kansas river, some forty
miles from its mouth, a number of Free-state
emigrants had founded what is now called the
City of Lawrence. In July, 1S54, consisting
of but a single log-hut; in October, comprising
246 
APPOINTMENT OF GOVERNOR AND JUDGES. 247
a score, or thereabouts, of rough wooden tenements, within which its inhabitants had to
make their bed upon the floor with buflf4o-robe
and blanket; Lawrence has since risen to the
dignity of a city, possesses the best buildings
in the territory, has its public edifices, supports
several newspapers, has its literary society, is
protected, moreover, by earthwork fortifications,
has twice sustained a siege, and has achieved for
itself a history and a name. At about the same
time, the foundations were laid of Topeka,
Pawnee, Grasshopper Falls, and other places,
which being the work of Free-state settlers,
called forth the jealousy and threatened hostility
of the opposing party. The Southern men who
"moved into" Kansas, settled chiefly in Leavenworth, and at Kickapoo, Atchison, Doniphan,
and otherplaces upon the MIissouri, conveniently
near to the State fromn which they principally
came.  Leavenworth, although now a " City,"
had not yet probably more than a dozen houses;
but it became a great centre for land speculators, and, with its advantages as a point for
commerce, has experienced a wonderfully rapid
growth. 
KRANSAS.
Each organized Territory of the United States
is permitted to be represented in Congress
by one delegate, who has liberty to speak,
but possesses no voting power. One of the
first duties of Governor Reeder, on arriving in
Kansas, was to appoint a day for the election
of the Territorial Delegate. Hie appointed
Nov. 29, divided the territory into nineteen
electoral districts, and appointed judges for each
district, who were to administer the oaths,
especially that of actual residence, and to preside
generally over the election. The candidates
for the office were three: Mr. Whitfield, the
nominee of the border counties of Missouri, a
tall, determined-looking man, whose antecedent
history belonged to the annals of Indian trading;
Judge Wakefield, a plain-spoken and thorough
Free-soiler, a man who had been a long lifetime
in the West, and possesses the respectable
and comfortable appearance which belongs to
the portly judge of olden time; and Mr. Flenniken, theoretically an advocate of squatter sovereignty,who had accompanied Governor Reeder
into the territory, and held views probably not
far differing from his own.
24S 
ELECTION oF DELEGATE TO CONGRESS. 249
The election day came, and with it the first
day of that open violence which has since
plunged Kansas into so much misery. General
Whitfield was the nominee of the people of
Missouri. By fair means or by foul, he must
be elected. The "Blue Lodge" gathered its
forces, summoned to its aid its secret pass-words,
signs, and grips, and speedily had obtained
means, and mustered forces sufficient to control
the election in the neighbouring territory. They
could not but be successful; for, although all
the legal votes that were recorded in the territory had been given undividedly to either of the
other candidates, there were yet as many, and
more than half as many more, friends of slavery
who came to secure the victory to Whitfield.
Independently, however, of this overwhelming
number of illegal votes, General Whitfield had
a majority. A very large proportion of the
settlers did not vote: others were ignorant of
Whitfield's true character, and voted for him.
In Kansas he had declared himself to be in favour
of the people deciding their institutions for
themselves, according to the true theory of
squatter sovereignty,-that is, A governing A.
11* 
KANSAS.
This gained him votes. Afterwards it proved
that he was in favour of the institutions of
Kansas being decided by the people of Missouri,
-that is, B governing A.
In this election the Missourians were lavish
in their provision for a thorough conquest. One
might suppose that in a district like Marysville, which at the best could scarcely boast of
more than half a dozen log-houses, 238 armed
men were not needed in order to carry the poll.
Yet 238 went thither, and recorded their votes
for Whitfield, against seven residents voting for
the other candidates. In all, the 1729 who were
subsequently recognized by the Committee of
Investigation as non-resident voters, appear to
have spread their force over eight of the electoral districts.  It is needless to say they conquered.
These invaders from Missouri made no concealment of their purpose in visiting Kansas;
they freely said that they intended to make
Kansas a slave state.  Where the judges were
not compliant, they removed them, and extemporized judges from their own number. Some,
to make a show of residence, struck a stake
250 
INVASION AND CONQUEST. 
into the ground, or nailed a piece of paper with
their name upon it to a tree, or entered their
names upon lists as persons who meant to settle in Kansas at some time.  All, if their own
statements be relied on, either had a "claim,"
or intended to have a "claim," or had some
friend who had a "claim;" and therefore all
had votes. And a great portion not only had
votes for themselves, but votes for friends also,
left behind probably in Missouri, but who were
going to settle in Kansas, and, wishing to have
a hand in shaping the laws and institutions of
the territory, had asked them to vote for them.
In the majority of instances, it was sufficient
to surround the approach to the balloting-box
with a crowd of armed ruffians to deter the
Free-state men from voting.  A few days previously their operations had been marked out
for them by General Stringfellow. They were
to "mark every scoundrel that was the least
tainted with free-soilism or abolitionism, and
to exterminate him;" they were to have no
"qualms of conscience as to violating laws,
state or national, the time had come when
such hinpositions must be disregarded;" they
251 
KANSAS.
were to " enter every election district in Kansas, in defiance of the Governor and his vile
myrmidons, and vote at the point of the bowieknife and the revolver;" they were to "crush
out the abolition rascals," and to "mind that
slavery be established." " It was enough that
the slaveholding interest willed it, from which
there is no appeal.'
And that day, the 29th of November, 1854,
the slaveholding interest, from which there is
no appeal, achieved the first of its great bowieknife victories, and witnessed the establishment
of rifle-rule in Kansas.
252 
ELECTIONS FOR THE LEGISLATURE,. 253
CHAPTER XXI.
Election for the Territorial Legislature, March 30, 1855. Spirit of the Press.-Preparations for an Invasion in Missou ri.-Numbers of the Invading Forces.-The Hemp.-Inci dents of Bowie-knife Voting.-Ninety out of every Hundred
Votes Illegal.-Incidents at Bloomington.-Sheriff Jones'
Exploits.-Windows Smashed.-House Lifted.-Ballot-box
Stolen.-Hurrah for Missouri!-Returning Home.-Pirati cal Symbols.-Victory.-Protests against Elections.-Un popularity of Governor Reeder.-Summary Punishment of a
Newspaper Press.-The Fraudulent Legislature Organized.
-Exclusion of Free-state Members.-Two Months of Legis lation.- Appointment of Officers.-Reciprocity. — Public
Companies.
THE next event of importance in the history
of Kansas was the election of members of council and representatives to form a Territorial
Legislature. This was fixed for March 30,
1855.
During the interval, nothing was done either
to rectify past illegalities, or to pacify the illfeeling which thence resulted. The temper of
the men of influence in Missouri maybe gathered 
KANSAS.
from their public papers. The Squatter Sovercign, Dr. Stringfellow's organ, published at
Atchison, reflects the spirit of the Pro-slavery
men as follows:
"Monday of last week a fight came off at
Doniphan, Kansas territory, in which bowieknives were used freely. The difficulty arose
out of a political discussion, the combatants
being a Pro-slavery man and a Free-soiler.
Both parties were badly cut, and we are happy
to state that the Free-soiler is in a fair way to
'peg out,' while the Pro-slavery man is out and
ready for another tilt. Kansas is a hard road
for Free-soilers to travel."
Again, in their editorial columns:
' We can tell the impertinent scoundrels of
the Tribune, that they may exhaust an ocean
of ink, their emigrant aid societies spend their
millions and billions, their representatives in
Congress spout their heretical  theories  tilldoomsday, and his Excellency Franklin Pierce
appoint Abolitionist after Free-soiler as our
governor, yet we will continue to lynch and
hang; to tar and feather, and drown every
white-livered Abolitionist who dares to pollute
our soil."
254, 
WARLIKE PREPARATIONS.
When the 30th March came, the leaders of
the Pro-slavery party were prepared for it by a
thorough organization, extending through all
the Western counties of Missouri, as a result
of which they were enabled to pour into the
Territory of Kansas an invading force, in comparison of which that called out on the former
occasion was small.
The voters were marshalled into distinct
bands under separate leadership. Those that
were to exercise the suffrage in more remote
districts, mounted their horses and got ready
their waggons a few days in advance. Every
warlike equipment was provided, and on the
day of election, the testimony from Lawrence
tells us, they were seen upon the field, marching to the sound of drum, with banners waving
in the wind, plentifully supplied with arms and
ammunition, the more warlike in appearance
for a couple of field-pieces, and furnished with
waggons and horses, tents, supplies of food, and
every other necessity of a campaign. A white
or blue ribbon or piece of tape in the buttonhole, was the badge adopted in the districts
near Lawrence. In the northern districts, the
* 955 
KANSAS.
piece of hemp was the more customary mark
of those who were ready to use the halter in
proof of the soundness of their views. " Neither give nor take quarter," and "All right on
the hemp," were their two pass-words.
As the number of illegal votes recorded by
non-residents was 4,908, it may be estimated
that this invading army numbered about five
thousand men. The number of votes legally
given, was 1,410; of which about 800 were
given to the Free-state candidates. General
David R. Atchison, recently Vice-president of
the United States, announced at a convention
held a short time previously, that there were
1,100 coming from his own county of Platte in
Missouri; and "if that wasn't enough, they
could bring 5,000 more; that they came to
vote, and would vote, or kill every     Abolitionist in the Territory."
Of course they conquered. The legal voters
were for the most part driven away. Where
they could not stuff the ballot-box, they stole
it. Where the authorized election judges were
strict in the performance of their duty, they
held a pistol at their heads till they resigned,
256 ~ 
BOWLIE-KNIFE VOTING.
when they elected judges inl)iromnptu from their
own number. All the fraud and brutality of
the former election were re-enacted, only with
more undisguised shamelessness and daring
violence.
The testimony obtained by the Committee of
Investigation, is very full with relation to this
election. There is little room for choice in
selecting from the report of the Commissioners
one or other of the districts as an example of
the account they have to tell. For shortness,
I will extract the report of the Doniphan precinct in the 14th district, as a fair sample of
the less violent of these electioneering specimens:
"The evening before the election some 200
or more Missourians from Platte, Buchanan,
Saline, and Clay counties, Missouri, came into
this precinct, with tents, music, waggons, and
provisions, and armed with guns, rifles, pistols,
and bowie-knives, and camped about two miles
from the place of voting. They said they came
to vote, to make Kansas a slave state, and
intended  to  return  to  Missouri after they
had voted. On the morning of the election,
the judges appointed by the governor would
257 
KANSAS.
not serve, and others were chosen by the
crowd.
" The Missourians were allowed to vote without being sworn, some of them voting as many
as eight or nine times; changing their hats and
coats, and giving in different names each time.
After they had voted they returned to Missouri.
The Free-state men generally did not vote,
though constituting a majority in the precinct.
UponI counting the ballots in the box, and the
names on the poll-lists, it was found that there
were too many ballots, and one of the judges
of election took out ballots enough to make the
two numbers correspond."
A carefulness so praiseworthy, that the ballots should not exceed in number the aggregate of the names on the poll-lists, does not
appear to have been practised elsewhere. It
is legitimate to infer this, from the fact, that
whilst the whole number of persons in the
Territory possessing a vote, according to the
census taken the previous month, was only
2,905, the number of votes recorded on the
Pro-slavery side alone was 5,427. Of this
number, probably 530 were cast by residents.
For every one legal vote, consequently, nine
t68 
SHERIFF JONES'  XPLOITS,
illegal votes were given. On the other hand
the Free-state candidates received 791 votes,
notwithstanding the intimidation which in
some districts entirely prevented the Freestate men from exercising their rights.
This election was the occasion of bringing
into prominence one whose name has since
been an important one in Kansas annals,Sheriff Jones. This Samuel Jones, at that time
post-master in Westport, Missouri, had the
command of the five or six hundred Missourians who were charged with the attack on the
polls in the second district. The voting took
place at Bloomington, a place chiefly inhabited
by-Free-state men, situated on the Wakarusa
Creek, about twelve miles above Lawrence.
The judges appointed by the Governor were
Messrs. Burson, Ramsay, and Ellison, by whom
the polls were opened in a log-house. The
notable Jones, approaching the window of the
log-house, demanded for his Missourian cohort,
that they should be permitted to vote without
being sworn as residents of Kansas. This was
refused. The invading forces were then fobrmed into small bands, and got ready their arms,
269 
KANSAS.
of which they had brought in ox-waggons an
ample store.
"They again demanded," the Congressional
Committee reports, "that the judges should
resign; and, upon their refusing to do so,
smashed in the window, sash and all, and presented their pistols and guns to them, threatening to shoot them. Some one on the outside
cried out to them not to shoot, as there were
Pro-slavery men in the house with the judges.
They, then, put a pry under the corner of the
house, and lifted it up a few inches, and let it
fall again, but desisted upon being told there
were Pro-slavery men in the house. During
this time the crowd repeatedly demanded to be
allowed to vote without being sworn, and Mr.
Ellison, one of the judges, expressed himself
willing, but the other two judges refused.
Thereupon, a body of men, headed by Sheriff
Jones, rushed into the judges' room with cocked pistols and drawn bowie-knives in their
hands, and approached Burson and Ramsay.
Jones pulled out his watch, and said he would
give them five minutes to resign in, or die.
When the five minutes had expired, and thil
260; 
PIRATICAL SYMBOLS.
judges did not resign, Jones said he would
give them another minute and no more. Elli.
son told his associates that, if they did not
resign, there would be one hundred shots fired
in the room in less than fifteen minutes; and
then, snatching up the ballot-box, ran out into
the crowd, holding up the ballot-box and hurrahing for Missouri." This was followed by a
complete row. The chief events were, the removal of the poll-books by Mr. Burson, the
capture of the said books by Jones, the choice
of two new judges, and the final and signal
triumph of Sheriff Jones and his cohort of Missourianls, in the proportion of more than ten
illegal to one legal vote. The incident which
occurred on this occasion to one of the residents
of the district, Mr. Mace, I have already in a
former chapter narrated.
A Presbyterian clergyman, the Rev Frederick Starr, who was an eye-witness of the
fraud and intimidation practised at Leavenworth city, and has published a statement of
this and preceding events, describes a scene by
no means rare on the occasion of this election.
"Some four days later," he writes, "I was on
261 
ANSAS,.
my horse, returning from Platte city to Weston, when four waggons came along, and on the
bottom sat six men. A pole, about five feet
high, stuck upright at the front of the waggon; on its stop stuck an inverted empty
vwhisky-bottle; across the stick at right angles
was tied a bowie-knife; a black cambric flag,
with a death's-head and bones daubed on in
white paint, and a long streamer of beautiful
glossy Missouri hemp floated from the pole;
there was a revolver lashed across the pole,
and a powder-horn hanging loosely by it.
They bore the piratical symbols of Missouri
ruffians returning from Kansas." The clergyman then describes his surprise at being saluted by the driver of the waggon as a friend.
Begrimed with dirt and with an eight or nine
days' absence from home, he scarcely knew
him.  But the hand was held out, and to his
pain he had to recognize a gentleman  wellknown and much respected in Platte City, belonging to the legal profession, son of a distinguished physician, "the most gentlemanly
and talented Southerner whom he ever met in
the South," with whom, moreover, he had
262 
PROTESTED ELECTIONS.
been associated two months previously in canvassing the county in favour of a Maine Liquor
Law.  He was the captain of his party; they
numbered over forty in all; they had been to
vote at Fort Riley, the most distant of the
electoral districts, and had had a journey,
therefore, of nearly three hundred miles; they
"had had a good time."  The clergyman went
his way, " wondering how education, custom,
interest, and sin could blind the eyes of Godlike intellect, and turn to stone the noblest
and most generous hearts."
Thus was elected the famous Legislature of
Kansas, which has since given laws to the territory, received the sanction of the Federal
Government, become the fountain-head of
legislative authority, and, backed by United
States troops, had ridden rough-shod over the
liberties and guaranteed privileges of the people, by perverting its power to the legalization
of the darkest injustice and oppression.
The returns from six of the districts were set
aside by Governor Reeder, on account of mani.
fest illegality, and the elections consequently
in these districts were not confirmed.  Had
,P63' 
KANSAS.
more than four days been allowed for protesting against the validity of the returns, and had
all persons who might venture so to protest not
been threatened with immediate hanging, it is
reasonable to suppose that the Governor would
have had to deal with other districts in like
manner.   Failing  information, however,  he
was compelled to grant certificates of election.
For the six districts disputed, he ordered new
elections for May 22nd. " This infernal scoundrel will have to be hemped yet," writes the
editor of one of the Missouri journals, in commenting upon this act of the Governor. In
one of the contested districts, Leavenworth,
the Missourian forces again carried the poll by
violence, on the occasion of the new election.
In the others, the Free-state settlers alone
voted, and of course returned their own candidates.
In the mean time Governor Reeder,-who was
far too independent, as well as too honourable
a man, to become the pliant tool of the Proslavery party,-became increasingly unpopular
amongst his democratic friends. Threats of
assassination were fiequent, if he should dare
264 
PUNISHMENT OF A PRESS.
to refuse his confirmation of the illegal elections. Meetings were held, at which he was
declared unfit to be Governor. One or two
small attempts were made to elect a Governor
in his place, whilst secret plots more efficacious
in their nature were laid, by which to bring
about his removal.
The fraudulent election of March 30th left
the two parties in Kansas more widely sundered than before. The Free-state people were
exasperated through finding themselves mercilessly trampled upon without a chance of
redress. The advocates of slavery made'io
secret of what they had done: and, as the
Missouri journals of that date abundantly show,
openly exulted in the triumph Missouri had
gained for slavery in Kansas. One newspaper,
The Parkville Luminary, itself an advocate of
Pro-slavery principles, yet venturing to demur
to the interference of Missouri in the elections of
Kansas, was branded as abolitionist and incendiary; and on the 14th April, an armed mob
came down from Platte City, to inflict summary punishment. They destroyed the press
and ty e, throwing them into the river, and
265 
KANSAS.
seized upon the editor, who escaped being
lynched only through his wife refusing to be
severed from him.
The illegal Legislature, being now invested
with power, proceeded to organize itself, and
to commence the exercise of its authority. It
assembled, therefore, as ordered by the Governor, at Pawnee, the highest settlement up
the Kaw river, close to Fort Riley, and commnenced its sittings on the 2nd July.  One of
the prime movers in the Missourian outrage,
the Rev. Thomas Johnson of the Shawnee
Mission, was elected President of the Council.
The Speakership of the lower house was given
to Dr. J. H. Stringfellow.  There  was one
Free-state man  in the Council, Mr. Conway.
The legislature arranged that matter by expelling him, and giving his seat to his Pro-slavery
opponent in the election.  There remained one
white sheep in the House of Representatives,
Mr. Houston, returned by the settlers about
Big Blue.  That gentleman resigned his seat,
having no wish to act in a Legislature illegally
constituted. The five Free-state members who
claimed their seats in consequence of the new
266 
TWO MONTHS OF LAW-MAKING.
election ordered by the Governor in the contested districts, were excluded, the Legislature
ruling that they were the wrong members, and
that the Pro-slavery men were the right, to
whom accordingly their places were given.
Thus was the Kansas Legislature purged of all
opposing elements.
Elected by Missourian votes, and composed
almost exclusively of residents of that State,
notwithstanding that the law requires the delegates to be residents of Kansas, the Legislative
Assembly sat during the months of July and
August, 1855.  For the sake of being nearer
their home, they removed early in July, in
spite of the veto of the Governor, to Shawnee
Mission, on the border line of Missouri. There
they-legislated by day, and at Westport, in
Missouri, two miles distant, they carried on
their drunken revels at night.
Being in haste to give a code of laws to
Kansas, they transferred into a volume of more
than a thousand pages, the greater part of the
laws of their own State, substituting the words
"Territory of Kansas" for "State of Missouri."
In protection of slavery, they enacted far more
-267 
KANSAS.
rigorous laws than obtain in Missouri, or than
were ever before conceived of; making( it a
felony to utter a word against the institution,
or even to have in possession a book or paper
which denies the right to hold slaves in Kansas. Some of these laws have already been
quoted in this volume. It will have been seen
that for every copy of a Free-state newspaper
which a person might innocently purchase, the
law would justify that person's condemnation
to penal servitude for-two or five years, dragging a heavy ball and chain at his ancle, and
hired out for labour on the public roads, or for
the service of private individuals, at the fixed
price of fifty cents per diem. So comprehensive did these legislators make their slave code,
that by the authority they thus gave themselves, they could, in a very short time, have
made every Free-state man in the territory a
chained convict, standing side by side, if they
so pleased, with their slaves, and giving years
of forced labour for the behoof of their Proslavery fellow-citizens.
The Legislature proceeded also to appoint
officers for the Territory. Even the executive
268 
RECIPROCITY.
and judiciary were made to hold office from itself; and a Board of Commissioners chosen by
the Legislature, instead of the inhabitants
themselves, was empowered to appoint the
sheriffs, justices of the peace, constables, and
all other officers in the various counties into
which the territory was divided.
Every member of succeeding Legislatures,
every judge of election, every voter, must
swear to his faithfulness on the test-questions
of slavery.   Every  officer in the  territory,
judicial, executive, or legislative, every attorney admitted to practise in the courts, every
juryman weighing evidence on the rights of
slaveholders, must attest his soundness in the
interest of slavery, and his readiness to endorse
its most repugnant measures.
For further security, the members of the
Assembly submitted their enactments to the
Chief Justice for confirmation. This judicial
confirmation was gratefully given; all they
had done was declared legal. And the sheriffs
and other local officers appointed by the Legislature, were equally ready with their aid in the
execution of these unjust laws.
269" 
KANSAS.
There was a wonderful reciprocity in all
this.  Still more will this be evident, on the
perusal of the hundred and forty pages of acts
of incorporation, passed by the Legislative Assembly, by virtue of which joint-stock comnpanies are called into being, and charters given
to railway, mining, insurance, land-holding
and other companies, to toll-bridges, ferries,
plank-roads, even universities, beyond all that
the territory can require for many years to
come. In these public trusts, the champions of
the Pro-slavery cause have a monopoly of power
for years conferred upon them. And, whilst
the members of the Legislature have more
than amply repaid themselves, they have also,
by a judicious introduction of other names into
their grants, bound to themselves four or five
hundred individuals, who, as favoured grantees,
have become interested in upholding those laws
upon the legality of which their grants depend.
270i 
CHANGE OF GOVERNOR.
CHAPTER XXII.
Removal of Governor Reeder.-Appointment of Governor
Shannon.-Character of the two Governors contrasted. Shannon's Declaration of Political Views.-Organization of
the Free-state Party.-Independent Action to form a State
Government.-Public Sentiment among the Southern Party.
-Outrages.-A Clergyman floated on the Missouri.-Mur der.-Slackness of the Law.-Singular  Use of Judicial
Power.
IN consequence of the removal of the Houses
of Legislature from the place he had designated
as the capital, Governor Reeder declared their
proceedings irregular and void. This heightened the enmity his impartial and cautious
conduct had already aroused against him.  He
had been many times threatened with hanging,
shooting, stabbing, and other forms of death;
and he had been knocked down and kicked by
General Stringfellow, while sitting in his office,
and without having offered any offence. His
removal, however, was essential to the success
of the Missourian party.  To effect this, there
271
-4 
KANSAS.
fore, they had used their influence with the
federal Government; and, on a charge of some
purchasers of land from the Kaw Indians, in
the matter of which he appears to have been
perfectly innocent, Andrew Reeder was, in the
month of July, 1855, removed by President
Pierce from the governorship of'Kansas.
Reeder's successor in office was Wilson Shannon, who arrived in the territory on the 1st of
September. In their new governor, the slavery
party had a man after their own heart. He
had formerly been governor of Ohio, and had
held other high positions.   But he had also
seen rough life, and learned rough practices, in
California and Mexico; and it would be difficult to conceive of a man more undignified in
his whole conduct, or more ill-fitted by natural qualifications for the responsibilities attaching, to a country's rule.
Shannon was the direct contrast to Reeder,
as well adapted to satisfy the wishes of the
Missourians, as his predecessor was the reverse.
Reeder was so firm in purpose and in act, that
it was vain to seek to turn him from his own
convictions.   "Gentlemen," he said on one
272 
GOVERNOR SHANNON S SENTIMENTS.  273
occasion, when, shortly after the election of
March, he was waited upon by a Pro-slavery
deputation, who informed him that he must
grant their candidates certificates of election or
die —" Gentlemen, two or three of you can
assassinate me, but a legion cannot compel me
to do that which my conscience does not approve." Shannon, on the other hand, was so
weak and pliable in the hands of those to whom
he had surrendered himself, that they could shape
his conduct perfectly at will. The first governor
of Kansas, notwithstanding that he came as
a man of the administration, was remarkable
for his moderation and impartiality; he wished
apparently to put into practice the principle
of squatter sovereignty, according to the pure
and perfect ideal in which it had theoretically
presented itself to him. The second governor
saw in squatter sovereignty only another word
for the domination of the slave power,-never
so much as attempted to be moderate or impartial, and was prepared for the darkest tyranny
that ever disgraced human rule. Reeder was
ever reticent, and cautious of committing himself. Shannon was open and free; came
12* 
KANSAS.
committed, and never intended it should be
otherwise. The first declined the invitations
made to him when he assumed office in the
territory, and thereby saved his independence,
as well as kept himself sober, although from
that moment he fell in Missourian esteem.
The second governor of Kansas accepted the
hospitalities and convivialities of the Missourians in Westport the night before he entered the
territory, displayed that love of good cheer
which seems never to forsake him, and in the
course of his speeches defined his intended
policy in Kansas, with a point and plainness of
speech which left his Missourian entertainers
nothing to desire.  "The enactments of your
Legislature," he said, addressing the people of
Missouri, "are valid, and I have the will, and
am clothed with the power, to employ whatever force is necessary to carry them into
execution; and I call upon you (again, the
people of Missouri), to sustain me in the discharge of this duty."  "As to slavery," writes
the Missouri Democrat in reporting his speech,
"he had no intention, he said, of changing his
political faith; he thought, with reference to
274 
FREE-STATE GOVERNMENT ORGCANIZED. 275
slavery, that as Missouri and Kansas were adjoining States, it would be well if their institutions should harmonize, otherwise there
would be continual quarrels and border feuds.
He was for slavery in Kansas. (Loud cheers.)"
During the same month in which Governor
Shannon commenced his administration? the
Free-state party, as an independent political
body, was organized.  From their new  governor the Free-state people saw that they had
nothing but high-handed oppression to expect;
to the Federal power which they had memorialized in the hope of obtaining justice, they
looked in vain for redress; the law of the
territory defined their opinions as felonious, at
least if put into language, and condemned their
acts as rebellious  and  treasonable.   They,
therefore, held their mass-meetings and conventionls, passed resolutions without number,
and, treating the fraudulent Legislature as spirious and consequently unpossessed of legislative authority, they availed themselves of the
right of American citizens to assemble together
in a peaceable manner to make provision for
their own government. Thus was set on foot 
KANSAS.
the Free-state organization, which, whether
constitutional or otherwise  in  its mode of
action, has brought itself into competition with
the territorial authority, and given rise to the
double governorship, double judiciary, double
legislature, double militia, and in general, double
claim to obedience, which has constituted so
peculiar a feature in the politics of Kansas.
The Territorial Legislature had appointed
Oct. 1, for the election of the delegate to Congress. The Free-state party, repudiating the
acts of the Legislature, appointed Oct. 9 for
the same purpose. General Whitfield, as before, was elected on the one occasion, Missourians again having the chief share in the polling.
Andrew Reeder, the late Governor, was elected
on the other, by a large vote from tbe Freestate population. The two candidates were
sent, therefore, to Washington, to contest the
seat. Delegates were also chosen to represent
the Free-state people in Kansas at a convention for the purpose of framing a constitution.
This convention met at Topeka between Oct.
23 and Nov. 11, and framed a constitution embodying Free-state views, under which  appli
276 
ABOLITIONIST BLOOD.
cation was made to Congress for the admission
of Kansas into the confederacy as a State. In
the following month the people voted upon
and adopted this constitution; in January,
1856, they elected their Governor and other
State officers, as well as a Senate and House of
Representatives; on March 4, the State Government was organized, and the Legislature
met to adopt a memorial to the Federal Government, and to adjourn till July; and at the
same time they received the President's special
message and subsequent proclamation, in which
their movement was denounced as rebellion,
and power was granted to Governor Shannon
to employ the United States troops for the
suppression of every movement which placed
itself in opposition to the Territorial Legislature, although that Legislature owed its existence to force and fraud.
Thus far the history of the efforts of the
Free-state party to organize a State Government, in relating which I have anticipated by
a little the narrative of the course of events
generally in the Territory.
Possessing a code of laws which would jus
277 
KANSAS.
tify the extermination of every Free-soiler in
the Territory, and having obtained in Wilson
Shannon a Governor ready from the heart to
execute those laws, the Slavery party had little
to interrupt its designs. The vow was often
expressed that " Missouri river should run red
with the blood of Abolitionists." The Squatter Sovereign uttered the feeling of the Southern party in words that admit of no second
meaning:
"It is silly to suppose for an instant that
there can be peace in Kansas as long as one
enemy of the South lives upon her soil, or one
single specimen of an Abolitionist treads in the
sunlight of Kansas territory."
Again, the editor of the same organ waxes
yet warmer:
"We are determined to repel this Northern
invasion, and make Kansas a Slave State;
though our rivers should be covered with the
blood of their victims, and the carcasses of the
Abolitionists should be so numerous in the territory as to breed disease and sickness, we will
not be deterred from our purpose."
During the autumn of 1855, many enormi
278 
A CLERGYMAN FLOATED.
ties were committed by the warm adherents of
slavery. But none probably was more revoltingly cruel than their treatment of a Western
preacher, the Rev. Pardee Butler. This gentleman unfortunately set foot in the violently
Pro-slavery town of Atchison. His sentiments
were known, and for the purpose of proving
them, and obtaining a pretext for the intended
assault, a number of the "most respectable
citizens" requested his signature to some Proslavery resolutions. He declined to give it.
This was his crime. He was hurried away to
the river, painted, lashed to some logs, and
floated down the rapid tide.
But let the editor of the Squatter Sovereign
tell the tale in his own words, for he was no
passive spectator of the scene, and his own
account of what his own hands took part in
doing, will assuredly not err on the side of ex aggeration.
"After the various plans for his'disposal had
been considered, it was finally decided to place
him on a raft, composed of two logs firmly
lashed together; that his baggage and a loaf
of bread be given him; and, having attached a
279 
KANSAS.
flag to his primitive bark, emblazoned with
mottoes indicative of our contempt for such
characters, Mr. Butler was set adrift on the
great Missouri, with the letter R legibly painted on his forehead.
"He was escorted some distance down the
river by several of our citizens, who, seeing
him pass several rack-heaps in quite a skilful
manner, bade him adieu and returned to Atchison.
"Such treatment may be expected by all
scoundrels visiting our town for the purpose of
interfering with our time-honoured institutions,
and the same punishment we will be happy to
award all Freesoilers, Abolitionists, and other
emissaries."
Thus was a minister of the Gospel treated,
against whom no heavier charge could be
alleged, than that his opinions were not
favourable to the extension of slavery. Mr.
Butler fortunately escaped with his life, and
from his own account we learn that the following were some of the mottoes emblazoned on
his flag:-" The way they are served in Kansas."
"Cargo  insured,- unavoidable danger of the
Missourians and the Missouri river excepted."'
280 
A FREE-STATE MAN SHOT.
"Let future emissaries from the North beware.
Our hemp crop is sufficient to reward all such
scoundrels."
Two months later, M!r. Collins, who owned a
saw-mill at Doniphan, was shot on similar
political grounds, by a violent Pro-slavery man,
named Patrick Laughlin. Pat came, it is said,
originally from Ireland, and had rendered himself famous by an exposure, as it was termed,
of the Kansas Legion. Laughlin was aided in
this attack by three or four armed associates,
and Mr. Collins' sons were present, and sought
to defend their father. There was a considerable interchange of bowie-knife cuts and pistolfiring on this occasion, and the murderer himself
was wounded. But the victim being a Freestate man, the law took no cognizance of the
murder, and Laughlin found protection, and
was rewarded by a situation in a shop in
Atchison.
This reference to the slackness of the law
suggests the remark that, through the whole
course of the Kansas struggle, the idea of holding office for the administration of justice seems
never to have entered the minds of those hold
281 
KANSAS.
ing the legal appointments in the territory.
They. were appointed-whether judges, marshals, sheriffs, or constables-by a certain party
which through fraud had got into power, for
the extermination of the other party. The
power of arrest, the power of imprisonment,
the power of hanging, was theirs only that
they might arrest, imprison, or hang Free-state
men. Hence, murderers, if they have only
murdered in behalf of slavery, have gone
unpunished; whilst hundreds have been made
to suffer for no other crime than the suspicion
of entertaining Free-state sentiments.
282 
MURDER AT MID-DAY.
CtAPTER XXIII.
Murder of Dow. —The Guilty acquitted, the Innocent arrested.
-The Midnight Rescue. —Rally to Arms.-The Wakarusa
War.-Position of the Encampments. —First Siege of Law rence.-Its Defence. —Amusing Incidents.-Mournful Events.
— The Treaty of Lawrence. —Peace Festivities.-Disbanding
of the Ruffian Forces.-Discontent.-Barbarous Treatment
of Prisoners.-Murder of Mr. Brown.-Fiendish Cruelty.
IT was in the month of November, however,
that the great outburst of legalized violence
commenced, since which time the rule of
bloodshed and crime has not ceased. On the
21st of that month, in open day, a Pro-slavery
man named Coleman, living at Hickory Point,
shot dead his Free-state neighbour, Dow, as he
passed his cabin door. Dow's body lay in the
road, where it fell, till night, when Branson, at
whose house Dow boarded, carried it home.
The Free-state men were naturally indignant
at the murder, and held a meeting on the subject.  Coleman, being alarmed, fled to the Gov
283 
-KANSAS.
ernor. His murder being on the right side, his
act was politically a work of merit. The Freestate men, however, followed him, and insisted
on his arrest. The anthorities refused either
to issue a warrant, or to examine the murderer.
On the other hand, Jones, the Sheriff, obtained
a warrant for the arrest of Branson, whose only
offence was that he had shown respect to the
dead body of Dow. Summoning a posse of
about twenty-five men, including two who were
parties to the murder of the morning, Jones
rode across to the scene of the murder, and
reaching it at night, entered the cabin of the
unoffending Branson.  Finding him in bed, the
sheriff drew his pistol, cocked it, and holding
it at Branson's breast, said, " You are my prisoner, and if you move I will blow you through."
The other men cocked their guns, and gathering
around Brarson, took him prisoner.  As they
were riding off with their prisoner, some Freestate men who had heard of the deed, came up
to the party and rescued Branson, without,
however, shedding blood.
This transaction gave rise to what is known
in Kansas as the "Wakarusa War."   Jones,
284 
RALLY TO ARTMS.
immediately after the rescue of Branson, wrote
to Governor Shannon that an open rebellion
had commenced on the part of the Free-state
men, that he had been forcibly interfered with
in the discharge of his duties, and that he
expected the Governor to furnish him with a
force of three thousand men, to aid him in the
execution of the law. The Governor then
issued a proclamation, calling on all to rally to
arms in order to suppress the rising rebellion.
He wrote to Richardson, Eastin, and Strickler,
Generals of the new Territorial Militia, to collect
all the forces they could command, and to place
them at Sheriff Jones' disposal; whilst all the
border-counties of Missouri were canvassed and
taxed to supply men and arms for the new
campaign.
The town of Lawrence, which had no share
in the rescue of Branson, and whose only offence
was that it was inhabited for the most part by
Free-state people, was declared by the Governor to be in insurrection. By the Governor's
own admission, not a single warrant was in the
hand of any officer against any one of the citizens of Lawrence. But as the main object was
285 
KANSAS.
to "wipe out the Yankee city," the forces that
were enrolled were gathered at different points
around Lawrence. In this manner an encampment was formed on the west, at Lecompton:;
a second, under General Atchison's command,
toward the north, on the opposite side of the
river; but the principal encampment was that
on the eastern side, below Franklin, on the
WVakarusa Creek, which has given its name:to
the campaign.
From Franklin, which stands upon the edge
of the prairie-level, a grassy slope descends
towards the stream, from which it is separated
by the thick belting of timber which skirts the
creek. In this bottom and timber-land, the
lawless forces were herded, as day by day they
came in succession from the lMIissouri bordertowns. All passers-by were arrested, so that
Lawrence was  shut off from communication
with the east. Acts of assault were numerous;
drunkenness was universal and incessant. They
possessed cannon, rifles, powder, and ammunition of every kind, some of which had been
forcibly taken by order of one of the judges
from the United States arsenal at Liberty, in
2S6 
THE WAKARUSA WAR.
Missouri. "These men," as Governor Shannon subsequently stated, "came to the Wakarulsa camp to fight; they did not ask peace; it
was war —war to the knife." In another statement, referring to this rabble host, the Governor says with enthusiasm, "Missouri sent not
only her young men, but her gray-headed citizens were there; the man of seventy winters
stood shoulder to shoulder with the youth of
sixteen." In all, Governor Shannon admits
that there were as manry as fifteen hundred men
under arms, collected by the 1st or 2nd December. They continued to flow in after that date,
and only waited until they felt themselves sufficiently strong in number, to make the longedfor attack upon Lawrence.
Within Lawrence, arming, drilling, fortifying,
meeting-holding, and resolution-passing, went
on continually amongst its Free-state inhabitants. Dr. Robinson was appointed-Commanderin-Chief, and urged ever moderation and caution;
General Lane, his associate in command, inspirited his soldiers, and prepared them to stand
boldly at the expected blow. Many strange
incidents occurred during this anxious time.
.2'. 87 
KANSAS.
Some were curious, as, for example, the conveyance of the brass howitzer from Kansas City
in a box, in the course of which, being "stalled
down" in ascending from the ford, a party of
border-ruffians, who stopped to question, were
induced by the Yankee-driver of the team to
help him out of his difficulty, and to forego their
examination of his questionable merchandize.
No less amusing was the stratagem of two intrepid Lawrence ladies, who, in order to replenish
the supplies of gunpowder and rifle-caps, found
space for two kegs of the former, and a quantity of caps and lead, beneath the wide circumference of their fashionable dresses, and walled
round with combustible, safely passed the ruffian patrol, and reached the city with their
precious charge.
But other events were of a sadly different
character. Most mournful of all was the shooting of poor Thomas Barber, and the distracting
grief of his widow. For no fault of his own,
except that he was on the road when General
Richardson, Judge Cato, Judge Wood, Colonel
Burns, Major Clarke, and some others were
passing, he was shot.  Burns and Clarke were
288 
INCIDENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN.E
the two by whom the death-stroke was given,
for they both shot him; but as he continued to
keep his saddle for some minutes, the others,
judges and generals as they were, joined in the
pursuit of his two companions and the sinking
body, until one of these, the brother of poor
Barber, unable longer to sustain the lifeless
corpse, left it on the road, and the two, pressing forward their horses, saved their lives by
flight. And who was to arrest the murderers 9
No one. A judge of the Supreme Court, holding office by Federal appointment, was of the
party, an approving spectator, if not an actor
in the outrage. Higher legal sanction could
not be given.
Fortunately for humanity, Governor Shannon, who is almost as weak as he is tyrannical,
became frightened of the lawless host he had
collected around Lawrence, and finding Colonel
Sumner unwilling to aid him without definite
instructions from the Government, he concluded
a treaty of peace with the leaders of the Freestate party. This was on Sunday, the 9th
December, twelve days after the issue of his
proclamation of war.  The treaty was signed
13
289 
KA"SAS.
at Lawrence by Governor Shannon on the one
hand, and Generals Robinson and Lane on the
other. The following day, the people of Lawrence invited their late besiegers to a supper
and dance, and celebrated the pacification by
joyous festivities.   The  Governor, however,
did not wait for these convivialities. To show
how true his heart was, and how friendly his
feelings, he drank the health of every Free-state
man that came into the Cincinnati House.  As
he went his way, with Jones and others as an
escort, he is reported by Sir. Phillips the correspondent of the New York  Tribune, to have
explained how  his character was misapprehended by the people of Lawrence. " Now,
ge-entlemen, you-hic-you don't understand
me.  You all abuse me, but-hic-but it's bebecause you don't know me. Get to know
me right-hic-well,  and you'll-hic-you'll
find I'm a-hic-I'm a h-11 of a fellow."
The news of the pacification was received
with much indignation by the rabble forces
collected at the Wakarusa camp. Governor
Shannon was accused of having played false,
and manty talked of lynching him.  Howeverr
290 
DISBANDING OF THE FORCES.
the orders came from the Governor to disband
the forces, and neither Atchison nor Stringfellow durst lead them on to the attack of Law
rence, much as they wished  it, when  not
shielded by the territorial authority. Above
all, the whiskey was, as the Western men say,
a'most gi'n out"- a circumstance which was
of itself sufficient to cause the abandonment of
the enterprise; and the cold had become so
intense, that even their great camp-fires scarcely
sufficed to make the exposure endurable. The
consequence was that the camp on the Wakarusa was broken up; the forces retired in like
manner from Lecompton and the left bank of
the Kaw; and the first campaign in Kansas had
reached its termination.
To those accustomed to more settled methods
of government, it may seem incomprehensible
that a town should be surrounded by a besieging army, and should have more than fifteen
hundred men placed under arms against it
by the ruling power, when no crime had been
committed against the State' by any of its
inhabitants, when not a single legal warrant
was in existence against any of the people, and
291
10 
KANSAS.
when they testified their readiness to give up
to the proper officers any person against whom
such warrants might be issued. Yet such was
the position of Lawrence.  The Committee of
Investigation, after fully weighing all the testimony upon the subject, reported that they could
see "no reason, excuse, or palliation" for the
feeling of hostility evinced in this invasion of
Lawrence.
Of the gross cruelty which was practised
against those of the Free-state men who fell
into the hands of the officers of the territory, it
may suffice to present one example out of
many-that relating to the arrest of Dr. Cutler
and  Mir. Warren.   I have  heard  very  full
accounts of this transaction, but prefer giving
it in the words of the Congressional Committee:
"They were  taken without cause or warrant, sixty miles from Lawrence, and when Dr.
Cutler was quite sick.* They were compelled
* The place of arrest was in the neighbourhood of Doniphan, where Dr. Cutler resided. IHe was returning home
after a severe illness, from which he had endeavored to
recruit himself by a stay at Dr. Robinson's house in Lawrence.
292 
TREATMENT OF PRISONERS.
to go to the camp at Lecompton, and were put
into the custody of Sheriff Jones, who had no
process to arrest them.  They were taken into
a small room, kept as a liquor-shop, which was
open and very cold. That night Jones came in
with others, and went to'playing poker at
twenty-five cents ante.' The prisoners were
obliged to sit up all night, as there was no
room to lie down when the men were playing.
Jones insulted them frequently, and told one
of them he must either' tell or swing.' The
guard then objected to this treatment of prisonlers, and Jones desisted. G. F. Warren thus
describes  their subsequent  conduct:'They
then carried us down to their camp. Kelly,
of the Squatter Sovereign, who lives in Atchison,
came round and said he thirsted for blood, and
said he should like to hang us on the first tree.
Cutler was very weak, and that excited him
so that he became delirious. They sent for
three doctors, who came. Dr. Stringfellow
was one of them. They remained there with
Cutler until after midnight, and then took
him up to the office, as it was very cold in
camp.'"
Of the many acts of infamy which occurred
during the short interval between the termination of the Wakarusa War and the opening of
293 
KANSAS.
the second campaign already described in the
early chapters of this volume, I will only refer
to one, which occurred in January, 1S56; this
was the murder of Mr. Brown, of Leavenworth.
Mfr. Brown's offence was, that he had rescued a
Free-state man from the hands of a party of
ruffians who were about to take his life. Whilst
thus acting, a band of Kickapoo Rangers arrived,
armed as usual with their rifles and hatchets. A
fight of some hours' duration ensued, notwithstanding that it was night; wounds were given
on both sides, and a Pro-slavery man, named
Cook, fell in the encounter.  After this, Mr.
Brown, returning with seven others to Leavenworth, wvas again attacked by the company of
the Rangers, by whom they were taken prisoners and carried into a shop in Easton. There
some of the citizens of the place joined in the
outrage.  The Captain of the Rangers did his
best for a time to protect Mr. Brown. At
length, however, he l.eft him, when the crowd,
infuriated by liquor, surrounded their victim,
and takling their hatchets literally hacked him
to death. The wound of which he died was a
deep aatchct-gash on the side of the head, in
294 
PRESIDENTIAL MIODERATION.
flicted by a man named Gibson. Poor Brown
lingered long enough after the fatal blow to
suffer yet more exquisite refinements of cruelty,
Nwhitst the ruthless savages kicked him, jumiped
upon his fallen body, spat tobacco-juice into
his eyes, and barbarously mutilated his body.
This murder was again on the right side of
politics, and no attempt therefore was made to
bring to justice the perpetrators of the foul
deed. Many, however, are well known. Some
were officers of the law; one of the most refined in cruelty has already been mentioned in
these pages as the United States Deputy M{arshal; and others were of "the most respectable" inhabitants of the place.
It is difficult to believe that, after acts of
such enormity, the President declared in his
message on Kansas, that "no acts prejudicial
to good order have occurred under circumstances to justify the interposition of the federal
government."
295
7 
KANSAS.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Change in Popular Feeling after the Destruction of Lawrence.
-Retaliation.-Massacre at Osawatomie.-Personal Experi ence.-Battles of Black Jack and Franklin.-Sack of Osa watomie.- Road-side Horrors.-Hanging.- Repulsion of
Northern Immigrants.-A Barbarous Wager.-Murder and
Scalping.-The Atrocity Completed.-August.-Murder of
Major Hloyt.-Burning of Pro-slavery Forts.-Colonel Titus
Seized and Liberated.-Treaty of Peace.-Militia Called
Out.-Proclamation of Rebellion.-" The Army of Law and
Order in Kansas Territory."-Second Fight at Osawato mie.-General Lane's Free-state Army.-Expulsion of the
Free-state Inhabitants of Leavenworth.-The  President's
lessages.
THE events described in the preceding chapters
bring the history of the contest in Kansas
down to the spring of 1856. The still more
stirring events which succeeded have already
been described in the chapters of personal narrative, with which this volume commenced.
The later history of the territory claims a brief
notice.
The attack and burning of Lawrence wrought
296 
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1S56.
a great change in popular feeling. Of this
many evidences came under my own observation.  "We will stand it no longer," was the
substance of what I heard on every side from
the Free-state adherents. Before I left, it had
become the universal conviction, alike of the
Pro-slavery and the Free-state party, that a
civil war had fairly commenced; and this conviction was shared in even by those in authority.
The territory was placed, not under martial
law, but under territorial law maintained by
the United States forces; and the well-mounted
dragoons from Fort Leavenworth might be
seen stationed at various points along the valley of the Kaw, to sustain the authority of the
governor. At the same moment came the
news from Washington of the outrage commit ted in the Senate chamber upon the person of
Mr. Sumner. I well remember the effect this
had upon many, who concluded that the rule
of force and violence had been fairly inaugu rated even in the highest places of the land,
and was no longer restricted to the lawless in habitants of the frontier. Bands of men under
military command paraded the streets of Lea      13~
297
I 
KANSAS.
venworth; others guarded the points of egress
fromn the city. They held lists in their hands,
containing the names of Free-state men, whom
they made rapid work of seizing and placing in
confinement.  The Committee of Investigation,
although holding appointment from Congress,
found itself compelled to interrupt its sittings.
Every hour brought intelligence of some fresh
deed of violence or wrong.
The exasperation, however, wrought in the
minds of the Free-state men, led to many acts
of retaliation. Convinced that a civil war had
begun, they ceased in many places to hesitate,
and boldly met the sword by the sword, violence by violence.  The marauding bands of
Pro-slavery men, who had been long scouring
the country and committing inhuman outrages
upon all who were politically obnoxious, were
met by guerrilla parties on the Free-state side,
whose repeating fire-arms frequently-proved
more than a match for the heavy, long-barrelled Mississippi guns of their opponents. At
Osawatomie a horrible massacre took place, of
which the actual circumstances will probably
never be known. I was at Leavenworth when
298 
THE SWORD MET 3BY THE SWORD.  299
it happened; but as far as I could ascertain, a
fight had occurred between half a dozen Proslavery menel and as many or more of the opposite party. Every Pro-slavery man was left
dead, as well as three of the Free-state men.
At the time when this took place, the spirit
which pervaded the minds of both parties in
that district, was one of war even to extermination. As long as I remained in the Territory, outrages and bloodshed were of daily, frequently much more than daily occurrence. It
were easy to fill many chapters with the details.
There was not unanimity, however, in the
Free-state councils; for, whilst one portion
engaged in open warfare, especially with a
view to the recovery of stolen horses and other
property, others:. adhered to the last to their
former policy of non-resistance, and held meet ings, made speeches, and passed resolutions,
condemnatory of the active measures of their
brother Free-state men.
Thus ended MIay, 1856, and June came in
with a continuance of the same measures of
* And much the larger portion, including all the origfal
lea  of the Fstato party. —A. ED 
KANSAS.
hostility and frequent collision. On the 2nd
of June occurred the battle of Black Jack, near
Palmyra; on the night of the 4th occurred that
of Franklin. Each of these terminated favour ably to the Free-state men. On the 8th oc curred the sack of Osawatomnie; its offence,
like that of Lawrence, being that it was inhabited by Free-state settlers. This abominable outrage was effected by some Missouri
companies, which General Whitfield had organized, and was making use of in various
parts south of the Kaw.  Colonel Sumner was
on the field, also, with his dragoons, during all
the early part of June, endeavoring to restore
order and prevent collisions. Why the attack
was permitted, however, on the defenceless
town of Osawatomie, does not appear.
On the road in the neighborhood of Westport and Kansas City, outrages were of daily
occurrence at the time I left the Territory.
Companies of armed plunderers, under Captain
Pate and other leaders, used to camp out near
the Lawrence road, and attack all Free-state
men who might fall into their hands.  One
New England man, by name  Barlow, they
300 
ROAD-SIDE HORRORS.
proceeded to hang on the bough of a tree as
an Abolitionist, and, with the rope around his
neck, raised him from the ground. But one
of their number induced them to relent, having
extorted from the poor man, who had settled
in Lawrence, a promise that he would leave
the Territory within twelve hours; and having
also robbed him of his oxen, waggon, and
goods. He, therefore, lived to tell the tale.
But many were not so fortunate, and oftener
than once or twice dead bodies were found
dangling from the boughs of trees, or murdered
and mutilated forms discovered by the bare
road-side.
Towards the end of June, the Pro-slavery
men adopted the system of stopping all the
parties of emigrants from the free States, and,
after robbing them, sending them back whence
they came. In the following month, the passage through the State of Missouri was wholly
interdicted to men of northern views; armed
forces were stationed and batteries erected on
-the river-side; hence the only approach from
the north was by a tedious route through Iowa
and Nebraska.
301 
KAN SAS.
Individual instances of barbarity continued
to occur almost daily.  In one instance, a man
belonging  to General Atchison's camp made a
bet of six dollars against a pair of boots, that
he would go out and return with an Abolitionist's scalp within two hours. He went forth
on horseback. Before he had gone two miles
from Leavenworth on the road to Lawrence,
he met a Mr. Hops, driving a buggy. Mir.
Hops was a gentleman of high respectability,
who had come with his wife, a few days previously, to join her brother, the Rev. Mr. Nute,
of Boston, who had for some time been labouring as a minister in Lawrence.  The ruffian
asked MIr. Hops where he came from. He replied, he was last from Lawrence. Enough!
The ruffian drew his revolver and shot him
through the head. As the body fell from the
chaise, he dismounted, took his knife, scalped
his victim, and then returned to Leavenworth,
where, having won his boots, he paraded the
streets with the bleeding scalp of the murdered
man stuck upon a pole. This was on the 19th
August of last year. Eight days later, when
the widow, who had been left at Lawrence
302 
ACTS OF ATROCITY AND RETALIATION. 303
sick, was brought down by the Rev. Mr. Nute,
in the hope of recovering the body of the murdered husband, the whole party, consisting of
about twenty persons in five waggons, was
seized, robbed of all they had, and placed in
confinement. One was shot the next day for
attempting to escape.  The widow and one or
two others were allowed to depart by steamer,
but penniless. A German incautiously condemning the outrage, was shot; and another
saved his life only by precipitate flight.
To  narrate the history of  these  summer
months, would be to present a succession of
similar atrocities, committed under the name
of law, and "with a view to maintain public
order in the territory."
During the month of August alone, besides
the brutal homicide just mentioned, there occurred another in which a company of Georgians, in their vengeance against Mayor Hoyt,
fiirly riddled his body with their bullets.  This
took place at a fort on Washington Creek,
which was one of a number of military posts
that had been erected in different parts, and
garrisoned by southern bands. The murder 
KANSAS.
led to retaliation. The Free-state men burned
the fort, and the Georgians took to flight.
They also attacked the post at Franklin,
which, after a keen contest and some loss, was
surrendered in like manner, the cannon and
arms being left in the hands of the Free-state
men.   The next day, Colonel Titus's house
near Lecompton, which was another of the
southern head-quarters, was attacked, and after
loss of life on both sides, Titus himself and
eighteen others were taken prisoners. These
aicts of the Free-state party were those of men
exasperated by the presence of murderous
bands, who were daily putting into execution
their threats of extermination, who did not
hesitate at times to shoot their prisoners, and
who were carrying on a ceaseless system of
rapine and murder.  Neither did the Free-state
people thus resort to arms, until they had
asked and been refused their personal protec tion at the hands of the federal troops, which
were stationed in the neighbourhood for the
ostensible purpose of preventing violence and
restoring good order in the territory.
The successes of the Free-state party led
304 
ADVANCE OF ATCHISON'S ARMAIY.
Governor Shannon to conclude a second treaty
at Lawrence, which stipulated for peace, and
led to an exchange of prisoners. No sooner
had peace been made, however, than hostilities
were resumed.   The following day General
Richardson had called out the mnilitia to put
down the Free-state men; and, three days
later, the Governor proclaimed the territory to
be in a state of insurrection, and rallied all to
arms. General Atchison, who had been recruiting in Missouri, was advancing into the
territory with 450 men. This number increased in a few day to 1,150 rank and file, a large
proportion mounted, and well supplied with
cannon and arms. The whole body was formed into two regiments under Generals Atchison
and Reid, and assumed the name of "The
Army of Law and Order in Kansas Territory."
Plundering parties continued to commit almost
incredible outrages. Fights occurred whenever opposing parties met.   Atchison's army
moved towards Osawatomie, and, before the
month of August had expired, that small town
had for a second time been subjected to a merciless attack. The disparity in number was
305 
KANSAS.
overwhelming, and, after a hot contest of several hours, Captain Brown's little Free-state
band was finally driven out from the wood in
which they had sheltered themselves.   The
besiegers then burned a considerable portion
of the town; but the loss on the side of the
southern army was very large. Three waggonloads of dead and wounded were removed from
the place.
The presence of this southern army of extermination, which effectually blockaded the
country east of Lawrence, and prevented supplies from reaching the Free-state settlements,
called out General Lane from Lawrence, who
again put the  Free-state  stronghold  under
defence, and organized forces by which he
drove back the southern army to Mlissouri.
Then ensued attack and repulse, victory and
defeat, and all that chaini of hostile events
which have been rendered familiar to us by
the accounts of the operations of the two conflicting armies. Leavenworth at this time became a scene of daily outrage. The Freestate residents —many of them merchants in
qie place, having valuable stocks of goods, and
306 
PUBLIC FREEDOMI NOT TO BE INFRINGED. 307
possessed of property besides-were literally
driven out of the place, a hundred at a time, at
the point of the bayonet, some escaping by the
boats, others seeking refuge in the woods and
ultimately at the fort. Their property fell for
the most part into the hands of the administrators of "law and order;" and some who
escaped by the river had not the means to pay
their passage out of the scene of strife.
Thus commenced September, for I have only
related the events of a single month, as an
illustration of the wild anarchy and bloodthirsty fury which reigned throughout the
summer of 1S56.  In view of these events, it is
almost an insult to read the message of President Pierce upon the condition of Kansas.
Mark how careful hlie is to sustain the authority
of the party which assumed to be that of" law
and order," and to guard against all infringement of the liberty to do wrong:
'"But it is not," he said in his first Special
Message, "the duty of the President of the
United States to volunteer interposition by
force to preserve the purity of elections either
in a State or Territory.  To do so would be 
KANSAS.
subversive of public freedom. And whether a
law be wise or unwise, just or unjust, is not a
question for him to judge. If it be constitutional-that is, if it be the law of the land-it
is his duty to cause it to be executed, or to
sustain the authorities of any State or Territory
in executing it, in opposition to all insurrectionary movements."
President Pierce regarded the monstrous
code of Kansas as constitutional, and therefore
to be backed by his executive power, because it
is, by the enactment of a false Legislature, the
law of the Territory. Could he have forgotten,
that no law is constitutional which violates the
Constitution? Now, the Constitution of the
United States guarantees every citizen liberty
of speech; the laws of Kansas make speech in
favour of freedom a punishable crime. The
Constitution guarantees freedom of the press;
the Kansas code forbids on pain of imprisonment the printing of so much as an" inuendo"
that might be dangerous to slavery, and Kansas
mobs, aided by federal troops, raze to the ground
and burn to ashes Free-state printing-offices.
The Constitution guarantees trial by jury for
every accused person; the law of Kansas forbids
SOS 
BLESSINGS OF LAW AND GOVERNMENT. 309
Free-state men to sit as jurors; and the idea
of a jury is in practice treated as a nullity
The Constitution guarantees liberty, and prom ises protection in the exercise of the electoral
franchise; in Kansas every election that is
recognized by the central Government, has
been carried by rifle and revolver. The Con stitution guarantees the sacredness of personal
right, promises to guard the citizen's property,
and to protect his liberty of person and of
residence; in Kansas, men are driven by hundreds from their intended homes, robbed of
their possessions, held in forced confinement,
compelled to leave the land, for no crime but
that of holding Free-state views, or that of
being natives merely of northern soil.
And when a second and a third time the
President was appealed to by the Free-state
people in Kansas to exercise his power for the
prevention of wrong, they only received the
same cold answer.  They were referred to the
laws,-laws which condemned many of them
to death, and all to imprisonment and penal
labour. They were told to value the political
blessings they enjoyed. 
810
CHAPTER XXV.
Governor Geary.-His Pacific Proclamation.-Its Interpreta tion.-Release of State Prisoners on Bail. —Capture of
Ninety-eight Free-state Men.-Their Condition in Prison. Revolting Inhumanity towards the Prisoners.-Sufferings
of the Settlers.-Sickness, Cold, Hunger, and Orphanage. The Present and the Future of Kansas.-Action of Congress.
IN the autumn of 1856, Wilson Shannon was
succeeded in the governorship of the territory
by its present Governor, John W. Geary.* For
the Free-state inhabitants the change could not
be for the worse, such was the character of the
man from whose tyranny, and at the same time,
despicable weakness, they were thus relieved.
Some were led to hope for peace and protection;  and many in this country may have
inferred from the apparently pacific tone of the
new Governor's proclamation, that a brighter
* Who  resigned in March, 1857, and is succeeded by
Robert J. Walker.-AMr. ED.
KANSAS. 
GOVERNOR GEARY.
day was at length dawning  upon  Kansas.
Such anticipations have not, however, been
realized. The Governor's pacific proclamation
must be interpreted on the same principles
with the  President's pacific messages.   He
promised to quell insurrection; but the law
defines as insurrectionary every organized ac tion of the Free-state party.  He promised to
enforce laws; but law is only another name for
oppression. HIe promised, if the people would
obey, to restore peace, tranquillity, and order;
but the price of that peace is a surrender to the
slave power. And that he might make the
people obey, he said he should feel justified in
calling out the militia, employing the federal
troops, and using the utmost firmness and
authority in his power.  And very much in
accordance with his proclamation thus interpreted, the new Governor has acted
Dr. Robinson and his fellow-prisoners, who
had been confined at Lecompton since the
month of May, on a charge of usurpation of
office and high treason, were indeed admitted
to bail in the month of September, notwithstanding the strenuous attempt made to defer
Bll 
KANSAS.
the case until April, when the prisoners would
have been eleven months in confinement before
their charge was brought up. The Free-state
Legislature, which met in July, and was dispersed by colonel Sumner at the head of the
United States dragoons, endeavoured again to
meet in the spring of the present year, but
were prevented by the Governor. But would
we know what spectacle Kansas has presented
during the rigour of the past winter and under
the present governorship, let the voices from
the political prisons of Lecompton answer. I
have before me an address to the American
people, signed by ninety-eight Free-state men,
who were then suffering a long and wretched
imprisonment for their political offences.
After narrating at length the particulars of
their capture, shortly after the arrival of Gov ernor Geary, they proceed as follows:
"We  come now, at last, to speak of a subject too immediate, too vital, to admit of our
passing it unnoticed, yet too full of horror to
dwell upon.  We allude to our treatment and
condition since our confinement here, any description of which must come far short of the
312 
THE POLITICAL PRISON AT LECOMPTON. 313
terrible reality. A few of our guard will ever be
remembered by us with emotions of the deepest
gratitude for their kindness; but the greatest
portion of them are drunken, brawling demons,
too vile and wicked for portrayal.   Times
without number have they threatened to either
shoot or stab us, and not unfrequently have
they attempted to carry out their base and
hellish threats. Several nights have the guard
amused themselves throughout their different
watches, by cursing us, throwing stones at the
house, breaking in glass, sash, &c. Two large
cannon stand planted but a few yards from our
prison, and two nights has the match been
swung several hours in the hands of the gunners, with orders to discharge both, heavily
loaded with shot and slugs, upon us, in case our
friends should come in sufficient force to avenge
our wrongs. These, however, are only slight,
compared with other insults and sufferings
heaped upon us daily. Most of us are poorly
clad-few have any bedding. Our prison is
open and airy, yet small; without, surrounded
with unearthly filth; within, all is crawling
with vermin, all, everything, mixed with misery.
When youths, we listened with doubt to the
dark stories of the Jersey prison-ships, and the
Black-hole of Calcutta, never dreaming that
we should at last be a sad, actual part of their.
14 
KANSAS.
counterpart! Mlore than once have we prophesied to one another, that all would not leave
this charnel-house alive. Our assertions have
been verified; several have been dangerously
sick, one has died. His name was William
Bowles, and formerly from St. Charles, 5lo.
He laboured with us nobly for our God-givelii
rights, and it was with feelings of unutterable
sorrow that we parted with him. After an
illness of two days, hlie left his sufferings this
morning, at one o'clock.  Before his death, we
requested the officers of the guard to have him
removed to a place of quiet. We talked and
became tired, yet nothing was done.  Last
night all the physicians in town were sent for,
and each refused to come. Dr. John P. Wood,
who is also judge of probate and committal justice, could not come,' because hle was sick;' yet
he was seen that evening, as well as the following morning, doing hard labour. Others had
reasons, we know not what.  Dr. Brooks was
sent for five times; but as he was at a cardtable playing poker, he swore he' would not
leave the game to save every       Abolitionist
in the territory.'
"Sickness and death of the most horrid forms
are in our midst; the scrapings of Pandemonium surround us; we can see nothing left us
but an appeal to the last tribunal, with God as
314 
SICKNESS, COLD, AND HUNGER.
our judge, and our jury the great American
people."
But it is not in the prison alone that the
unoffending settlers of Kansas have had to
endure fearful suffering.  A  gentleman from
Chicago, who visited the territory in the winter
on behalf of a committee of relief, whilst he
confirmed the preceding statements, reported
further that he found many of the settlers
reduced by these acts of political oppression to
the very verge of starvation. In one district
he met with forty families entirely destitute,
some of the fathers being confined in the Lecompton prison; their food green pumpkins
and green Indian corn, grated by the hand. In
another he found a family of five motherless
children, the eldest only seven years old, in a
state of starvation, their father a prisoner at
Lecompton.  In a third he discovered a hundred families, so destitute of clothing that they
were ashamed to be seen. Again, a neighbourhood where nearly every person was sick; and
another place where a family had subsisted for
four weeks on nothing but wolves' meat. This
gentleman visited all the settled portions of
315 
KANSAS.
Kansas, and everywhere he had visible proof
that sickness and hunger had followed, as is
usual, in the train of war.
Looking at the prospects of Kansas in the
future, it affords some encouragement to know
that the territory has been relieved of some
few of those who were foremost in plotting
strife and upholding the Reign of Terror. The
present Governor has not permitted himself to
be the too] of the border-ruffian leaders, in a like
manner with his predecessor.  Lecompte, "the
Jeffreys of the territory," has been removed
from the office of Chief Justice.*  Colonel
Titus, who with Buford commanded the southern bands from Georgia and other States, and
filled the land when I was there with the terror
of his deeds, has recently left the territory to
join Walker in Nicaragua, and thus resume his
former career as a filibusterer.  3ilany besides,
throughout the struggle, who have gone from
the South to engage in the Kansas war, have
become disgusted when they witnessed the
* It was so stated with authority at the close of Pierce's
administration; but the rumor proved to be unfounded.-AM.
ED.
316 
FUTURE PROSPECTS OF KANSAS.   317
reality, and have in a better spirit returned to
their homes.
Nevertheless, peace is not yet in Kansas,
and the question is not yet decided whether
the new territory shall be an accession of soil
to slavery or to freedom. Right has not yet
taken the place of wrong, nor liberty been
substituted for despotic oppression. At Washington there are indeed hopeful signs in relation to the action of the Federal Government.
The Committee on Territories has presented to
Congress a report, which recommends the repudiation of the acts of the Kansas Legislature
as those of a spurious body, and the repeal of
the whole Kansas code, which has given sanction to the bloodshed and crime under which
the  territory  has groaned.   This measure,
which, if adopted, would be a first great step
towards remedying the wrongs of Kansas, has
obtained a majority in the House of Representatives. On the other hand, whilst these sheets
have been passing through the press, the intelligence has arrived of the bill having been rejected in the Senate.   How  the contest will
end, time alone can show. 
KANSAS.
CHAPTER XXVI.
SUPPLEMENT BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
APRIL 13, 1857.
ALL the federal offices in Kansas continue to
be filled by the ring-leaders of the conspiracy
against firee-labor. Some of them are guilty
directly in their own persons, and all are guilty
indirectly, as conspirators and abettors, before
and after the fact, of the murder of citizens
whose only offense was a confession that they
preferred that slavery should not be established
in the territory. Let the reader not slight this
statement.   It would  be a disgraceful and
wicked thing for one to make such assertions
without adequate ground of perfect conviction
of their truth. If undeniable or if convincing
testimony of their truth is readily within his
reach, no man who respects himself, and who
would live with a clear conscience, can fail to
regard them gravely, anxiously, indignantly.
318 
SUPPLEMENT BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 319
It is a simple, undeniable, indefensible fact,
that the new President of the United States not
merely still refrains from executing justice iii
Kansas, but also that he has renewed and extended the countenance, patronage, honors, and
friendship of the government to men who regard
it as a merit and a matter of boasting that, for a
political purpose, they have shot, in cold blood,
and in the back, citizens of several independent,
sovereign free states, of whomn they knew no
harm but that they intended to vote against the
establishment of slavery in territory belonging
to those states, and of which they were residents and land-owners.
With a possible exception in the new secretary, there is no mau now in Kansas recognized
by our federal government, including its judicial
branches, to have any official authority there,
who is not a notorious plotter and probable
pledged conspirator to prevent an honest
action of the law of Squatter Sovereignty,
as it is defined by the President and all its
friends.
There are plenty of Free-state men from the
North, capable and respectable, who have 
KANSAS.
always belonged to the Democratic party, and
who supported Mr. Buchanan in the hope that
he would be just to Kansas, but not one such has
been appointed to office.
The Hon. R. J. Walker has been selected
to succeed Governor Geary, who resigned his
office, either because, as his enemies say, he
considered his life in danger from the Proslavery faction, or, as his friends say, because
the President refused to sustain him in taking
any measures inclining towards justice. Governor Walker has been recently known to the
public chiefly for his efforts to have a railroad
built from his state of Mississippi through a
district at present occupied chiefly by nonslaveholding farmers in Texas, and thence a
thousand miles across a desert country to that
portion of California which is nearest to the
cotton-soils of Sonora, and which it is thought
might be made a slave state even without this
assistance. He asserts that he desires to have
the free-soil party in Kansas treated with fairness. He is the only one at present holding
office for Kansas, who has ever made this profession. He remains yet in Washington, attend
320 
SUPPLEMENT BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 321
ing to some necessary private business: he is a
business man, and was a subscriber for one million dollars' worth of the stock of the Grand
Southern California Railroad Company. Nevertheless, it is thought he may take a look at
the territory in May.
Under a process of law, which the President
recognizes as constitutional and valid, many
good citizens, accused of resistance to the
tyranny of an organization made by the Missourians for the purpose of establishing slavery
in Kansas, have been torn from their families, and held in unwholesome confinement
until some died and all were greatly impoverished. Of the many hundred boasting robbers
and murderers of Free-state settlers, none yet
are punished or even rebuked by the officers
appointed to execute justice in the name of the
majesty of the people of the confederate states.
The body of men who were last year appointed by the partisans of slavery for the purpose of preventing the success of any movements unfavorable to the establishment of
slavery in the territory, and whose acts for
that purpose are laws to the President of the 
KANSAS.
United States and all those whom he appoints
to office, have recently pretended that they
were willing to give an opportunity to the
people of the territory to indicate, by a vote,
what they demanded in their government. The
instrument of this pretension-just now warmly
commended by the Northern friends of Slavery
extension, because it is the first act of this
body which assumes to be intended to carry out
their petted principle of Squatter Sovereigntyis the same which ex-Governor Geary vetoed on
the ground of the absurd inconsistency of its
provisions with its alleged purpose. It provides for a census of the citizens of the territory
who were resident in it, on the 15th March,
when no emigrants from the Free states would
be likely to have recently become resident, but
when, as it has now been made manifest, multitudes would have just come in by land from
Missouri. From the census thus taken by officials, every one of whom is a sworn enemy of
freedom, a voting list is to be made up, which
is to be revised by sworn friends of slavery.
The territory is then to be formed into nineteen
voting districts, the size, and shape, and rela
322 
SUPPLENeNT BY THE-AMERICAN EDITOR. 323
tions of which, to each other, and to Missourt,
are to be determined by men who are ashamed
of nothing which has been done to subdue the
free-soil party of the territory in the last two
years.   The  number  of delegates who  are
to represent the people of each district, is to
be proportionate to the population returned by
the special census. This proportion, not very
difficult for a business man to ascertain, is to be
declared by the Governor and Secretary, appointed by the President, and as this is the only
duty connected with the election assigned to
the governor, it is evident that the "Legislature" had some misgivings that the friends of
Mr. Buchanan, in the Free states, were speaking
the truth when they declared that he was disposed to do the fair thing with Kansas.
Finally, the votes are to be taken, not by
ballot, but viva voce, by vocal declaration, so
that the slavery party may not be voted against
by one man who is not willing to make himself
known as a free-soiler to the land-officers, who
are to settle disputed claims-and there are
comparatively few claims which are not disputed-these land-officers being all men com 
KANSAS.
mitted to, and identified with, the conspiracy,
to establish slavery on the soil of Kansas. The
inspectors of election are to be men similarly
pledged or sworn to disregard the rights of the
free-soilers, and by such trusty hands, the vote
is to be recorded, and returned. The whole
process, in short, is in the hands of the same
unscrupulous miscreants, who have been protected in every crime of which the reader has
read in this book, by the present federal judiciary. It has been often reported, of late, that
the scandalous laws enacted last year by the
Legislature, established by Missouri in the territoiT, have been repealed under the conciliatory policy of the session of this year. Certain
laws which it would have been impracticable
to attempt to execute, have been repealed. It
yet remains a legal felony for any man in the
territory to order a book, such as this, for instance, to be sent to him. Any one who offers
to receive a free-soil newspaper, is liable to five
years imprisonment. No conscientious freesoiler is eligible to sit upon a jury; and, in
general, no practicable means of harassing,
persecuting, and silencing, those who would
324 
SUPPLEMENT BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 325
act effectively against the establishment of
slavery in the territory, are left unprovided for.
And, yet, it is very plainly declared by Governor Walker, after long consultation with the
President, pending his acceptance of the governship, that he will attempt to carry 6ut these
laws, and force the people to accept this tyrannical usurpation of authority as a constitutional
republican government. Hie believes, we are
told, that it will be impossible to establish
slavery in Kansas, because of its ungenial climate, (though it is milder than that of Virginia)
therefore we are to believe that he will not
lend himself to the schemes of his old friends,
who have shrunk from nothing to conquer
those who are opposed to its establishment, and
if the foolish people firom the North will only
kiss the hand that smites them, and lie quietly
under the heel that crushes them, he has confidence that he will restore peace and order in
the territory.
What of their rights as men and as citizens?
What of justice? What of squatter sovereignty?  What of the honor and faith of the
nation? Not one word. 
KANSAS.
The hope that constitutional liberty can be
maintained in America, now rests on the integrity of the independent state governments in
declaring, demanding, and securing the rights
of their citizens.
It is impossible, if the policy of the new
administration is to be judged from present
symptoms, that the thinking citizens of each
state in which men can yet afford to think
freely, should not before long ask themselves:
"What are the delegated, and what the
reserved rights of this state? Why should it
remain in union with others for whose convenience and satisfaction its citizens are forced to
relinquish, on common ground, their fundamental rights-rights, the free use of which is
essential to the preservation of a decent and
civilized state of society? Is it firom a craven
devotion to political tranquillity we allow these
rights to be suppressed, systematically, formally,
and year after year, and administration after administriation, suppressed? Is it from pride in
holding our state part of a Great Nation?  Have
we no patriotic duty but to keep men of our
own party in office?
326 
SUPPLEMENT BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 327
"What is the value of the federal constitution
to us, if, in ourterritories, more than half our people can be deprived of the rights to which those
who made the Constitution declared all men,
everywhere, to be justly entitled, and which
they fouglht a long, desperate, and bloody war to
secure?"
It is the crime of a coward and not the wisdom of a good citizen to shut his eyes to the
fact, that this Union is bound straight to disastrous shipwreck, if the man at the helm maintains hIis present course.
The prophetic mind of Jefferson, unconsciously but clearly described the process by
which we have suffered ourselves to be broug ht
to our present perilous condition.
" Is this the kind of protection we receive in
return for the rights we give up?
" Our rulers will become corrupt, our people
careless.  A single zealot may comalence persecutor, and better men be his victims. It can
never be too often repeated that the time for
fixing, every essential right on a legal basis is
while our rulers are honest, ourselves united.
From the conclusion of this war, we  shall be 
KANSAS.
going down hill. It will not then be necessary
to resort every moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten and their rights
disregarded. They will forget themselves but
in the sole faculty of making money, and will
never think of uniting to effect a due respect
for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which
shall not be knocked off before the conclusion
of this war, will remain on us long; will be
made heavier and heavier till our rights shall
revive or expire in a convulsion."*
"The time to guard against corruption and
tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold
on us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the
fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and
talons, after he shall have entered."t
* Notes on Virginia. London, 1787, p. 269.
t Ibid. p.197.
328