USA > Kansas > Douglas County > Lawrence > The Kansas memorial, a report of the Old Settlers' meeting held at Bismarck grove, Kansas, Sept. 15th and 16th, 1879 > Part 1
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KANSAS
MEMORIAL
Gc 978.1 G47k 1433881
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
Compliments of F. G. ADAMS, Secretary, Kansas State Historical Society.
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Lest. ten 1056
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00829 4701
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VIEW IN BISMARCK GROVE.
.
THE
K ANSAS M EMORIAL
A REPORT OF THE
Old Settlers' Meeting
HELD AT
BISMARCK GROVE, KANSAS,
September 15th and 16th, 1879.
CHARLES S. GLEED, EDITOR.
ILLUSTRATED.
KANSAS CITY, MO. : PRESS OF RAMSEY, MILLETT & HUDSON. 1880.
Entered according to the act of Congress, in the year 1879, by RAMSEY, MILLETT & HUDSON,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
1433881
TO THOSE
WHO RESCUED KANSAS FROM THE PERILS OF SLAVERY, AND WERE FIRST IN HELPING HER TO WAYS OF PLEASANTNESS AND THE PATHS OF PEACE, THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED.
Luther # 27.50 1-29 68 2w- 2772 N.O. 4990
ATOT a grave of the murdered for Freedom But grows seeds of a wider Freedom, 1 Which the winds carry afar and sow, And the snows and the rains nourish.
Wallace, Kansas, Sept. 19th, 1879.
WALT WHITMAN.
ATOT a grave of the murdered for Freedom But grows seeds of a wider Freedom, Which the winds carry afar and sow, And the snows and the rains nourish.
Wallace, Kansas, Sept. 19th, 1879.
WALT WHITMAN.
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THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
PRELIMINARY.
HIS book is a report of the meeting of the Old Settlers of Kansas, held at Bismarck Grove, on the line of the Kansas Pacific Railway, near Lawrence, September 15th and 16th, 1879. The meeting was held as a celebration of the twenty- fifth anniversary of the settlement of the State, and as such was of extraordinary interest.
The first Old Settlers' celebration at Lawrence was held Sep- tember 15th, 1870. A celebration was held annually thereafter until 1877. Up to this time these gatherings had been of a local character. At the meeting in 1877, it was determined to have no celebration in 1878, but to make that for 1879, a more general one for the whole State of Kansas, and to make preparations for it on a scale commensurate with the importance of a gathering inten- ded to commemorate the lapse of a quarter century since the settle- ment of Kansas was begun. To take charge of such preparations, the following committee was appointed :
James Blood, Robert Morrow, E. A. Coleman, Joseph Sav- age, C. L. Edwards, Joseph P. Root, Cyrus K. Halliday, Charles B. Lines, Joel Grover, Ferdinand Fuller and Charles W. Smith, the last named gentlemen being chosen secretary of the commit- tee. At a meeting of this committee held April roth, 1879, a committee on invitations was appointed, as follows :
James S. Emery, Robert Morrow, and Charles W. Smith. Charles Robinson was also appointed a committee to confer with railroads in relation to transportation. At a meeting held August 6th, the State Historical Society was requested to cooperate with the committee in making arrangements for and conducting the
6
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
proceedings of the celebration. J. S. Emery, Sidney Clarke, and O. E. Leonard were added to the committee on transportion at this meeting, and it was determined that the Celebration should continue through two days, Monday and Tuesday, September 15th and 16th, 1879. On the 20th of August the following officers and committees were designated :
President - Charles Robinson. Marshal -Samuel Walker. Assistant Marshals-H. B. Asher, and John P. Ross. Committee on Barbacue-E. O. Coleman, C. L. Edwards and T. H. Kennedy.
There are reasons why a brief history of Kansas would be ap- propriate in connection with this report. There are reasons to the
contrary. In the opinion of the editor the time has not yet arrived when a full and impartial history of the stirring events which transpired during the territorial government of Kansas, culmina- ting in the admission of the State to the Union as a free State, can be written. For, while the line of demarcation between the pro- slavery and free state parties was strongly defined, and the issue clearly made up, yet neither side brought to the contest a solid organization. Each party was composed of factions, agreeing probably upon the main issue involved, but differing, often widely, upon minor points. There were free state men who demanded total abolition; others who were content to save Kansas alone ; and still others who cared little for the slavery question, one way or another, but much for the preservation of the Union, whose danger they wisely comprehended. On the other hand there were pro-slavery men who believed in the institution of slavery on gen- eral principles; others who maintained, with Douglas, that the doc- trine of State's rights was paramount to that of universal human liberty ; and yet others who lost sight of the slavery question in their anxiety to dismember the Union. On both sides, also, there were adventurous men without convictions of any sort, and selfish men who sought only their own supereminence, being regardless alike of private and public welfare. Of the chief actors in the early troubles, many are now alive, and, as participants in the exercises at Bismarck Grove, gave in their own words, as recorded here, their version of the story of Kansas. But the testimony is by no means all in, and for the editor now to say which of the many conflicting statements and opinions is best substantiated by the weight of evidence, would be a premature and, under the cir- cumstances, an ungracious task. It must be many years, there-
7
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
fore, before this snarl can all be disentangled and the mysteries of it made plain.
Certain facts, however, in regard to the general outline of Kansas history should be borne in mind; and first, there are in Kansas history the four following well-defined divisions :
I. The period prior to January Ist, 1857;
II. The period subsequent to January Ist, 1857, and prior to January Ist, 1861-practically to the commencement of the rebell- ion; ·
III. The period subsequent to January Ist, 1861, and prior to January Ist, 1865; and
IV. The post-bellum period, from 1865 to the present time.
Within the first period are included the pioneer days proper, and the struggle for free soil. This struggle was squarely ended by the date above given. The second period may be characterized as the period of political organization, during which occurred the bitter struggle for leadership among the old free state leaders. This culminated in the election of Lane to the Senate, April 4th, 1861. The third period was the war period, during which the people of the State were in an uncertain, turbulent condition, isolated from other parts of the country, unsettled in their purposes, and apprehensive of calamity of every sort. The fourth and last period covers the years since the war, during which the immediate effects of the war have been almost wholly obliterated by the wonder-working hand of progress. These years, though not with- out their times of trouble and discouragement, have been years of peace and prosperity, witnessing an era of material advancement the like of which has rarely been recorded on the pages of history.
Kansas in 1854: What was it? Only a vast unexplored ter- ritory stretching from the Missouri river westward to the Rocky Mountains. A few settlements clung to the eastern border ; agri- culture had scarcely pushed a rifle's shot into this wild domain; Indians roamed at will over the great plains, swooping down now and then upon the scattered settlements with murderous intent; buffalo in countless herds tramped the boundless prairie to the hardness of pavement; a few faithful missionaries established schools among the tribes; the people were heterogeneous, poor and almost purposeless. Politics stepped into the arena, and the air was filled with strife. The territorial government was formed, and armed conflicts took place; fire, rapine, pillage, bloodshed,
S
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
robbery and a general chaos enveloped Kansas. Bleeding Kan- sas they called it then. After awhile, Kansas was erected into a State. People flocked into the new Commonwealth and a new era was inaugurated.
Out of the smoke and clouds of the earlier conflict has arisen a Commonwealth greater in its present achievements and far greater in its inevitable future than the most sanguine pioneer could have prophesied. A quarter of a century denotes but a small part of the world's duration. Locate it back beyond the days of our grandfathers, and it would, perhaps, cover but few important events; but that quarter of a century which marks the early days of Kansas, is an era of moral and material progress unexampled in the history of nations. Whatever of strife the exi- gencies of politics may have engendered in the past; whatever dif- ferences of opinion may have been entertained; whatever of local disturbances may have occurred in the earlier days of Kansas, hap- pily for her and happily for all the people, the acerbity of those days belongs to the past alone and serves only as a milestone in the history of the State. There were times of strife, now the hour is one of peace.
Something should be said here in regard to the place where the old settlers assembled-Bismarck Grove. One of the best brief descriptions of it was by Noble L. Prentis, author of "A Kansan Abroad," who wrote: "One of the things which may be considered worthy of a little Kansas self-gratulation at this quarter-century celebration is the creation of such a place as Bis- marck Grove. Originally, we believe, a beer garden and dedicat- ed to Gambrinus, it has been transformed into a beautiful place, one of the finest for out door gatherings in the West. It has af- forded an opportunity to gratify a Kansas passion-that for adver- tising. The glaring poster and the modest but insinuating 'dodger ' have made Bismarck Grove much better known in Kansas than the names of the four Evangelists. The Kansas Pacific has become, in a business way, a promoter of free speech, and every variety of it. Here in Bismarck Grove, in the course of a few weeks, the friends of temperance have held the greatest meetings in the in- terests of that reform. Here clergymen and laymen have labored on the bulwarks of Zion, and, following them, came the Liberal convention, where the opponents of orthodoxy marshaled their forces, all classes of dissent being represented, from the mildest
9
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
protestant against eternal punishment, to those so bitter that they recalled a criticism on Lord Amberly's infidel book, 'What can Jesus Christ have done to Lord Amberly, that he assails him with such violence ?' Speaking of Bismarck materially instead of spirit- ually, the trees are broad in their shade, the grass is green, the tents, the cottages and the tabernacle afford ample shelter, while the lakes, wells and fountains furnish an abundance of water for all purposes. Bismarck is a good place, and a credit to Kansas."
In conclusion, those who may chance to be interested in this book should write with the editor in thanking Hon. F. G. Adams, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, for having per- formed the most important part of the work of preparation. To him and the Society, which he so ably represents, the people of Kansas are indebted for that which none but future generations will know fully how to appreciate.
PROCEEDINGS AT BISMARCK GROVE.
ORGANIZATION OF THE MEETING.
ENERAL JAMES BLOOD, of Lawrence, Chairman of the Old Settlers' Committee of Arrangements, called the meeting to order. Prayer was offered by Rev. Richard Cordley, D.D. Dr. Cordley made a simple yet comprehensive and powerful prayer. He alluded to the guiding and protecting power of God in the past, and especially during the dark and bloody period of early days; to what the State had become, and what yet might be before it. He prayed that Kansas might always be true to the principles for which its early settlers had made so many sacrifices.
At the conclusion of Dr. Cordley's prayer, Gen. Blood an- nounced the officers of the meeting as follows :
President-Hon. Charles Robinson, first Governor of Kansas.
Vice-Presidents-Ex-Gov. Thos. Carney, Ex-Gov. J. M. Har- vey, Ex-Gov. S. J. Crawford, Ex-Gov. Geo. T. Anthony, Gov. J. P. St. John, Hon. S C. Pomeroy, Ex-Lieut. Gov. Green, Hon. Geo. A. Crawford, Hon. E. G. Ross, Hon. D. W. Wilder, Col. Wm. A. Phillips, Col. D. R. Anthony, Col. John A. Martin, Col. Samuel Walker, Hon. Robert Morrow, Hon. Sidney Clarke, Hon. John Martin, Gen. Chas. W. Blair, Hon. S. N. Wood, Hon. F. P. Baker, Judge S. D. Lecompte, Hon. T. S. Huffaker, Hon. Sol. Miller, Wm. Hutchinson, Esq., G. W. Hutchinson, Hon. E. N. Morrill, Hon. B. F. Simpson, Hon. James Hanway, Col. Kersey Coates, Hon. Geo. Graham, F. Fuller, J. G. Sands, Hon. C. V. Eskridge, Hon. Jacob Stotler, Hon. M. M. Murdock, Hon. W. R. Wagstaff, Capt. E. A. Coleman, Hon. James S. Emery, Hon. Len. T. Smith, Gen. C. W. Babcock, Hon. Chester Thomas, Hon. P. P. Elder, Hon. D. C. Haskell, Hon. Thos. Ryan, Hon. John A. An- derson, Gen. Charles Leonhardt, Hon. C. B. Lines, Judge John T. Burriss, Capt. Oliver Barber, Hon. James F. Legate, Hon. H.
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THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
Miles Moore, Dr. E. G. Macey, Wm. Yates, Esq., John H. Shim- mons, Col. John Ritchie, Judge L. D. Bailey, Col. S. S. Prouty, Hon John Speer, Col. N. S. Goss, Col. D. W. Houston, Hon. John T. Lanter, Hon. John W. Scott, Hon. John R. Goodin, Capt. James Christian, Hon. Orlin Thurston, Hon. Geo. A. Rey- nolds, Hon D. P. Lowe, Col. H. S. Wilson, Hon. Ed. R. Smith, Col. James D. Snoddy, Capt. A. J. Shannon, Col. Josiah E. Hayes, Hon. A. D. Downs, Judge S. N. Latta, Hon. Josiah Kel- log, Capt. W. I. R. Blackman, Col. J. R. McClure, Henry Hyatt, Capt. N. Cradit, Hugh Cameron, Rev. C. H. Lovejoy, Rev. J. W. Clock, Dr. W. L. Challis, Hon. George W. Glick, Rev. Pardee Butler, Hon. S. D. Macdonald, Maj. H. H. Williams, Joseph Bliss, Rev. S. L. Adair, Hon. Cyrus Leland, Maj. A. S. Johnson, Sam. Kimball, Hon. S. O. Thacher, Hon. Ira J. Lacock, James S. Hug- gins, Maj. Martin Anderson, Col. D. H. Horne, Hon. F. W. Giles, Hon. J. W. Farnsworth, J. S. Gordon, Esq., Col. H. D. McMeekin, Dr. F. L. Crane, Hon. James Rodgers, C. S. Colman, Ed. Smith, Rev. J. W. Fox, Hon. Henry Fox, Capt. G. W. Um- barger, Elder B. R. Reed, John Hammond, Rev. Richard Cordley, Ed. Barton, Maj. T. H. Kennedy, Mrs. Samuel Walker, Mrs. E. A. Coleman, Mrs. S. N. Wood, Mrs. S. J. Willis, Mrs. J. Savage, Mrs. O. A. Hanscom, Mrs. M. E. Lane, G. M. Simcock, Hon. R. G. Elliott, Hon. Isaac Sharpe, Capt. John Armstrong, Hon. J. C. Burnett, Hon. P. B. Maxon, Hon. Wm. Martindale, N. B. Blan- ton, Hon. Henry Bronson, Capt. S. Kauffman, Hon. W. A. John- son, Capt. Charles F. Garrett, Capt. F. B. Swift, Hon. O. A. Bassett, B. W. Woodward, F. A. Bailey, Hon. R. W. Luddington. Secretary-Hon. F. G. Adams, Secretary State Historical Society.
Assistant Secretaries-Hon. J. K. Goodin, Hon. D. B. Em- mert, Hon. J. C. Hebbard, Hon. T. D. Thacher, Capt. A. R. Banks, W. H. T. Wakefield.
ADDRESS BY CHARLES ROBINSON.
The opening address was delivered by Ex-Governor Charles Robinson, and was as follows :
Friends and Fellow Citizens :
Before proceeding with the order of exercises as prescribed by the Committee of Arrangements, I must be permitted to thank the committee for their partiality in asking me to preside on this occa-
12
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
sion. To be selected for such a position at the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the settlement of Kansas, I regard as the crowning honor of my life.
During the quarter of a century closing with this year, many events have transpired of vast import to our State and nation. While twenty-five years from May last not a legal settler could be found on Kansas soil, nor a dollar of taxable property, nor a mile of railroad or telegraph line, the census of 1880 will probably show one million of inhabitants, two hundred millions of dollars of taxa- ble property, and three thousand miles of railroad and telegraph lines in our State.
While twenty-five years ago the States of our Union were part free and part slave, and four millions of people were held in bond- age, neither slave States nor slave men can be found throughout our land.
Before the opening of Kansas to settlement, two methods were advocated to dispose of the "irrepressible conflict" between free- dom and slavery-one was a dissolution of the Union; the other, paper provisos by Congress against the further extension of slavery. But the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill changed the conflict from the forum and halls of Congress to the plains of Kansas. Foreseeing this result, while this bill was pending in Congress, a. member of the Massachusetts Legislature gave the alarm, and called upon the anti-slavery forces to change front, and prepare to meet the enemy on his chosen battle-field. He immediately set about procuring two charters for emigration societies, one from Connect- icut and one from his own State. No sooner was Kansas open to. settlement than the contest opened between freedom and slavery ; and opened not for Kansas alone, but for the entire country.
Warren D. Wilkes, in the Charleston Mercury, thus states the issue :
The importance of securing Kansas for the South may be briefly set forth in a positive and negative form. By consent of parties, the present contest in Kansas is made the turning point in the destinies of slavery and abolitionism. If the South triumphs, abolitionism will be defeated and shorn of its power for all time. If she is defeated, abolitionism will grow more in- solent and aggressive, until the utter ruin of the South is consummated. * *
* All depends upon the action of the present moment.
Charles Sumner, on the night of the passage of the Kansas- Nebraska bill, said :
Sir, the bill which you are about to pass is at once the worst and the best bill on which Congress ever acted. * It is the worst bill, inas- much as it is a present victory of slavery. * * Sir, it is best bill on * which Congress ever acted, for it annuls all past compromises with slavery, and makes all future compromises impossible. Thus it puts freedom and slav- ery face to face, and bids them grapple. Who can doubt the result ? * * * Thus, sir, now standing at the very grave of freedom in Nebraska and Kansas, I lift myself to the vision of that happy resurrection, by which free- dom will be secured, not only in these Territories, but everywhere under the national government. * * Sorrowfully I bend before the wrong you are about to commit ; joyfully I welcome all the promises of the future.
Was this issue actually joined? In the spring of 1855, at a
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THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
meeting of proslavery men at Leavenworth, among others the fol- lowing resolutions were adopted :
Resolved, That the institution of slavery is known and recognized in this Territory ; that we repeal the doctrine that it is a moral or political evil, and we hurl back with scorn upon its slanderous authors the charge of inhuman- ity ; and we warn all persons not to come to our peaceful firesides to slander us and sow seeds of discord between the master and the servant, for much as we may be driven, we cannot be responsible for the consequences.
Resolved, That a vigilance committee, consisting of thirty members, shall now be appointed, who shall observe and report all such persons as shall openly act in violation of law and order, and 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.
The usurpation called the Territorial Legislature, sitting near the Missouri border, enacted the following :
SECTION 12. 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 the 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 a felony, and punished by imprisonment or hard labor for a term of not less than two years.
Here is the challenge. How was it accepted? At the first opportunity that offered, at the Celebration of the Fourth of July, 1855, the issue was publicly joined, not only for Kansas, but for the country. The speaker on that occasion, on behalf of the free state men took up the glove as follows :
" These," gentlemen and Christians, "repel the doctrine that slavery is a moral or political evil," and " hurl back with scorn the charge of inhuman- ity," and warn all persons of different views from their own not to come to Kansas, for they shall be "made to leave the Territory!" if they do. " Made to leave the country !" indeed. Well, a "right smart" good time of it may our neighbors have in making all leave Kansas, who will not bow down and worship the calves they set up. " Made to leave !" Gentlemen, look at that beautiful banner (presented by the ladies to the " Stubbs "). Think from whence it came, and of the motives which prompted its presen- tation, and then think about being made to leave your country for no crime. One thing appears evident if we are made to leave, the ladies will be ashamed to follow, and will let us go alone. Again, " If the people of Missouri make it necessary, by their unlawful course, for us to establish freedom in that State, in order to enjoy the liberty of govern- ing ourselves in Kansas, then let that be the issue. If Kansas and the whole North must be enslaved, or Missouri become free, then let her be made free. Aye, and if to be free ourselves, slavery must be abolished in the whole country, then let us accept that issue. If black slavery in a part of the States is incompatible with white freedom in any State, then let black slavery be banished from all. As men espousing the principles of the Declaration of In- dependence, we can do no less than accept these issues."
At the first general Territorial Convention of the free state men, after the passage of the Leavenworth resolutions, and the enactment of the slave code by usurpation, the following resolu- tion, drafted by Ex-Gov. Reeder, was adopted :
" Resolved, That we will endure and submit to these laws no longer than
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THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
the best interests of the Territory require, as the least of two evils, and will resist them to a bloody issue as soon as we ascertain that peaceable remedies shall fail, and forcible resistance shall furnish any reasonable prospect of success."
These brief extracts from the public utterances of the time are sufficient to show that the charge was made and accepted in terrible earnestness. On the one side was the slave power of the country with all the machinery of the Federal Government at com- mand; while on the other was a handful of earnest men and wo- men, inspired with the spirit of liberty, and with such moral and material support as was afforded by the Emigrant Aid Associations and freedom loving men of the country.
How this contest was waged; how this small number, with three hundred miles of hostile territory between themselves and their sympathizers, managed to defy and resist the usurpation and usurpers and baffle the Federal officials, history must record. It is sufficient for this occasion to know that Freedom to-day is tri- umphant throughout the land.
Kansas can perhaps be pardoned for not only claiming the credit of the first local victory, but was the first State to accept the challenge of the Slave Power when it laid violent hands upon the government. When Kansas went into the Union, seven slave States stepped out, and eight others were on the point of going. Under these circumstances, when the destinies of the nation trem- bled in the balance, and the bravest seemed to hesitate as to the course to be taken, Kansas gave no uncertain sound. In her first official paper, she advised that the nation should do as she had done, accept at once and forever the issue tendered. In her first message she said :
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