USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. IV > Part 24
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In June the Missouri river was closed against free-state immi- grants. Bands of border ruffians stopped steamboats and robbed and sent back all free-state men on their way to Kansas to set- tle. This led to the opening of the "Iowa route," sometimes called "Jim Lane's trail." When the warrant was issued for his arrest, early in the spring, General Lane was in the East. Instead of coming back to the Territory and giving himself up to the authorities, he gathered a party of four hundred immi- grants and brought them into Kansas by the overland route through Towa and Nebraska. A line of forts or stations was established along this route, and, while the river was closed, lutin- dreds of immigrants came into Kansas by way of "Jim Lane's trail."
In June Governor Shannon went to St. Louis, leaving Secre- tary Woodson in charge of territorial affairs as acting gover- nor. The Topeka legislature, it will be remembered, adjourned in March to meet again on the 4th of July. Before leaving the Territory. Governor Shannon ordered Colonel Summer to pre-
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vent the legislature from sitting. After his departure Woodson issued a proclamation forbidding the legislature to assemble. Both houses met at noon on the 4th. Colonel Sumner and Cap- tain Cooke drew up their troops and placed their artillery in a position to command the state house. The colonel visited first the house, then the senate, and commanded them to disperse, explaining that he was acting under orders from the governor of Kansas and President Pierce. The legislature obeyed the order, and this was practically the end of the Topeka govern- ment.
On August 21, Governor Shannon was notified that his resig- nation, tendered some time before, had been accepted. One of his last official acts was to secure a treaty of peace between the warring factions. By this treaty prisoners were to be released, and bodies of armed men were to be disbanded, only United States troops to be used to preserve order. This treaty was dis- approved by the pro-slavery leaders. As soon as Woodson again became acting-governor, it was set aside, and the persecution of free-state men was worse than ever before. Free-state news- papers were suppressed; free-state settlers were plundered with- out compunction ; hundreds of free-state men gave up hope and left the Territory. This period, from the resignation of Shan- non to the coming of his successor, has been not inaptly called the "reign of terror."
John White Geary, the third territorial govrnor of Kansas, was born in Westmoreland county, Penn., December 30, 1810). As a boy he attended an academy conducted by his father, and in iSp graduated from Jefferson college at Canons- burg, Penn. From the time of his leaving school until the beginning of the Mexican war, he was engaged in teaching school and in civil engineering. When the war broke out he raised a company, known as the "American Highlanders," that was assigned to the Second Pennsylvania regiment and fought with General Scott. At the City of Mexico Geary distinguished himself and was made lieutenant colonel. In 1849 he went to California. lle was for awhile postmaster at San Francisco- appointed by President Polk-was the first mayor of that city, and was also a member of the first constitutional convention of California. In 1853 his wife died and he returned to Pennsyl- vania. In July, 1856, he was appointed governor of Kansas, but resigned when Buchanan was elected. When Fort Sumter was fired upon in 1801, he began the formation of a regiment before a call for volunteers was made, and soon after the call
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he reported to General Banks at Harper's Ferry with 1,500 men. In 1866 he was elected governor of Pennsylvania, and at the close of his term was re-elected. He died at Harrisburg, Pa., February 8, 1873.
On September 9, Governor Geary arrived at Leavenworth and spent the day in consultation with Gen. P. F. Smith, who had superseded Colonel Sumner in command of the United States troops in Kansas. The next day he went to Lecompton, and on the HIth he issued his inaugural address. In this address he outlined his policy, as the following extracts will show :
"When I received my commission I was solemnly sworn to support the Constitution of the United States, and to discharge my duties as Governor of Kansas with fidelity. By reference to the act for the organization of the Territory, passed by Con- gress on the 30th day of March, 1854, I find my duties more par- ticularly defined ; among other things, I am 'to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.' .
. The Constitution of the United States and the organic law of this Territory will be the lights by which I will be guided in my executive carcer. The great leading feature of that act is the right therein conferred upon the actual and bona fide inhabitants of this Territory in the exercise of self-government, to determine for themselves what shall be their own domestic institutions, sub- ject only to the constitution and the laws duly enacted by Con- gress under it. . Let us banish all outside influences from our deliberations, and assemble around our council board with the Constitution of our country and the organic law of this Territory as the great charts for our guidance and direction. The bona fide inhabitants of this Territory alone are charged with the solemn duty of enacting her laws, upholding her goy- ernment, maintaining peace, and laying the foundation for a future commonwealth. . . This great right of regulating our own affairs and attending to our own business, without any interference from others, has been guaranteed to us by the law which Congress has made for the organization of this Territory. This right of self-government -- this privilege guaranteed to us by the organe law of our Territory-I will uphold with all my might, and with the entire power committed to me."
Having thus proclaimed his purpose, Governor Geary set to work to carry it out. On the same day this address was given to the public, he issued a proclamation disbanding the militia. In a letter to the secretary of State, W. 1. Marcy, September 12, the governor gave the following reasons for his action: "1
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have determined," said he, "to dismiss the present organized mili- tia, after consultation with, and by the advice of General Smith, and for reasons that they are not enrolled in accordance with the laws; that many of them are not citizens of the Territory; that some of them were committing outrages under pretense. of serving the public; and that they were perpetrating, rather than diminishing, the troubles with which the Territory is agitated."
At the same time he ordered the militia disbanded, the gover- nor issued a second proclamation calling upon all free male citi- zens of the Territory, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, to enroll themselves and be in readiness to take up arms as the territorial militia according to law. Under this call Cap- tain Walker's free-state company, of Lawrence, and the pro- slavery companies of Captains Wallace and Donalson, at Lecompton, were mustered into the United States service as part of the Kansas militia.
Some trouble in disbanding the bodies of armed men calling themselves militia companies was experienced. The day after Governor Geary arrived at Lecompton, a company of free-state men under Capt. J. A. Harvey surprised a body of pro-slavery guerrillas camped on Slough creek, in Jefferson county, and compelled them to surrender. Among the effects captured was a red flag, with a single white star in the center, and the words "South Carolina" above .* Two days later the same company captured Hickory Point, in Jefferson county, but on the way back to Lawrence they were met by a detachment of United States troops under Col. Philip St. George Cooke. Harvey and a few of his men managed to escape; but one linndred and one were captured, taken to Lecompton and tried before Judge Cato, who committed the whole company for murder in the first degree. Twenty were afterward sentenced to five years in the penitentiary, but the sentence was never executed.
In answer to the proclamation of acting Governor Woodson, issued before the arrival of Governor Geary, armed bands of "militia" had been collecting for some days, and marching toward Lawrence. In accordance with General Lane's orders, Harvey had taken about one hundred and fifty men and with them the cannon and all of the best arms kept for the defense of Law- rence on the expedition against Hickory Point ( Jefferson county), leaving the town defenseless. So that while Harvey was march-
"This flag Hlonted for a little while on the Book of Freedom office at 1hin sack of Lawrence In May. 11 Is now la The possession of the Kansas Historieal Surlely,
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ing on Hickory Point at army of two thousand seven hundred men was moving on Lawrence. Governor Geary called on United States troops to capture Harvey and his men and sent a battalion to protect the people of Lawrence and to dispel the invaders under command of Atchison, Stringfellow, Reid, Titus and Jones. .
When Governor Geary ordered General Strickler to disarm and disband the militia, and Ins .- Gen. Thomas J. Cramer to take charge of the arms, the orders were disregarded. A rumor of the intended attack on the free-state stronghold reached the governor, and he sent Theodore Adams as a special agent to reconnoiter and report. This was September 12. Late that afternoon Adams returned to Lecompton with the report that there were about 300 men six miles from Lawrence, waiting for re-enforcements, the plan being to attack on the following day. Governor Geary acted promptly. He called on Colonel Cooke, commanding the United States troops at Lecompton, to go to the defense of Lawrence.
At half past two on the morning of the 13th Colonel Cooke left Lecompton with 300 mounted men and four cannon and arrived in Lawrence about sunrise. Governor Geary accompanied the expedition. For some reason the attack was not made accord- ing to the original program, and in the afternoon Cooke and his men returned to their quarters at Lecompton.
The next morning Adams brought the news that there was a large force-probably two thousand five hundred men-camped on the Wakarusa within three miles of Lawrence. Again Colonel Cooke was called upon. Taking three hundred men and a battery, he again hurried to the relief of the menaced town. The governor ordered Secretary Woodson and General Strickler to go to the pro- slavery camp and order the men to disperse. He then proceeded to Lawrence, where he found the people in arms, Captain Cracklin in command. Instead of obeying the governor's orders to dis- band their army, the pro-slavery leaders decided to attack Law- rence that night. The attack was actually undertaken, but Captain Cracklin, with a portion of the company known as the Lawrence "Stubbs," gave the invaders such a warm reception that operations were postponed until morning. On the moru- ing of the 15th Governor Geary left Colonel Cooke in command at Lawrence and went to the pro-slavery camp, at the month of the Wakarusa, where he found General Reid, Atchison, Whit- field. B. E. Stringfellow, Sheriff Jones, Colonel Titus, and others, with two thousand seven hundred men. The governor called the officers of this force together, had his proclamation read to them,
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made a short address in which he severely reprimanded General Atchison and one or two others, and commanded the army to dis- perse. This time the order was obeyed. The men broke up into small parties and retired to their homes, committing petty outrages against the person and property of free-state settlers as they went. A free-state man named David C. Buffim was killed near Lecomp- ton. Governor Geary visited the man before he died, had Judge Cato take down his statements, and did everything possible to bring the perpetrators to justice. In November Charles lays was arrested for the murder, and was indicted by a grand jury, but was released on bail by Judge Lecompte. The governor refused to recognize the act of the court and ordered Marshal Donalson to re-arrest Hays. A week later, while the governor was absent from the capital, Lecompte released Hays on a writ of habeas corpus. Governor Geary complained to the president of this way of dispensing justice, and C. O. Harrison, of Ken- tucky, was appointed to succeed Lecompte. The senate failed to confirm Harrison's appointment, and Lecompte continued to serve.
The disbanding of the old territorial militia ended the Border War. For three years Kansas had been in a state of violent unrest. Everything had been subordinated to the one great issue of whether Kansas should be a free or a slave state. Crops had been neglected, and now, at the close of the summer of 1856, the people were confronted by pressing necessities, if not actual want. In this emergency an appeal was made to the charitably disposed people of the country. All over the north Kansas Aid Societies were organized; money, clothing, and other supplies were freely given ; and the struggling pioneers were thus enabled to endure through the winter.
Governor Geary's courage and executive ability, not only in ending the war, but in stirring up the courts to grant a speedy trial to the free-state prisoners, were fully displayed. The pris- oners who had been arrested on a charge of treason were released on bail before the governor reached the Territory: A few of these were tried and acquitted, and the rest were dismissed. A majority of the free-state men captured in the engagements dur- ing the Border War were charged with murder in the first degree and lekl for trial. The most of them were acquitted, though a few were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. They were afterward pardoned by Governor sieary.
IV-17
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Albeit actual hostilities had been brought to an end, there was still much bitter feeling between the free-state and the pro- slavery men. This was seen in the election of a delegate to congress on the 6th of October. At the same time a vote on the question of calling a convention to form a state constitution was taken. Free-state men refused to vote. J. W. Whitfield was again elected delegate, receiving 4,276 votes, one-third of which were cast in Leavenworth. The proposition to hold a constitutional convention was carried by a vote of 2,592 to 45.
About a week after this election Colonel Cooke and William S. Preston, a deputy United States marshal, arrested a large party of free-state immigrants near the northern boundary as they came into the state by way of the lowa route. S. C. Pome- roy and S. W. Eldridge were the leaders of the party, which was conducted to North Topeka by Maj. H. 11. Sibley and a guard of United States dragoons. At that time some of Lane's men were on trial for murder, and it was asserted by the pro-slavery men that this body of immigrants had been sent into the Ter- ritory by Lane to effect a rescue of the prisoners. Free-state men denounced the arrest as an outrage, and the immigrants were released by order of Governor Geary. This had the effect of reopening the Missouri river to immigration, and the lowa route was abandoned.
Another instance of lingering animosity was seen upon the assembling of the Topeka legislature, January 6, 1857. Gov- ernor Robinson was in Washington, trying to secure the passage of a bill admitting Kansas under the Topeka constitution. Lieu- tenant Governor Roberts was also absent. Sheriff Jones, who never lost an opportunity to harass the free-state men, took advantage of this absence of the leaders to revive the old charge of treason, and he persuaded the United States marshal to arrest some of the members. His hope was that they would resist arrest, in which case United States troops would be called to assist the marshal, and the Topeka government would be thus brought into direct collision with the federal authorities. Noth- ing was done on the 6th, for lack of a quorum. The next morn- ing the legislature organized and appointed a committee to memo- rialize congress for the admission of Kansas under the free- state constitution. When they adjourned at noon, a deputy mar- shal appeared with writs from Judge Cato's court, arrested sev- eral members and took them to Tecumseh. No resistance was offered and Jones' plan fell to the ground. When the legisla-
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ture met on the eighth, no quorum was present, and a recess until the second Tuesday in June was taken.
On January 12, the territorial legislature, which had been elected on the sixth of October, 1856, began its session at Lecompton. Tlie free-state men had declined to vote at the elec- tion, hence it was not surprising that every member was a pro- slavery man. In his message Governor Geary urged the enact- ment of laws that would secure "equal and exact justice to all;" and asked the legislature to repeal many of the "bogus" laws, and let the people rule in everything. On February 19, the legis- lature passed an act authorizing the election of delegates to a constitutional convention. By the provisions of this act a cen- sus to be corrected by the probate judges in the several coun- ties and submitted to the governor by the first of May, was to be taken April I. The governor was then to apportion the sixty delegates among the election districts: according to this cen- sus, the election was ordered for the third Monday in June; and the convention was to meet at Lecompton on the first Mon- day in September. The bill was so guarded that the election machinery remained in the hands of the pro-slavery officers. Governor Geary vetoed the bill, because it made no provision for a submission of the constitution, when framed, to a vote of the people for ratification or rejection ; but it was passed over his veto by an almost umanimons vote. Other vetoes shared the same fate, and the relations between the governor and the legislature became anything but harmonious. The national administration sided with the legislature, and Governor Geary found himself without power or prestige in the Territory. Under these circumstances he sent his resignation to President Buchanan, March 4, to take effect on the twentieth; but it was not known in Kansas for some time afterward. On the tenth he wrote to Secretary Woodson: "For several weeks my health has been gradually sinking, and I have had several hemorrhages of the lungs. I am convinced my life will not be long, if not properly cared for. I will be absent a few days from Lecompton."
The causes that led directly to Governor Geary's resignation grew out of the appointment of a sheriff for Douglas county. William T. Sherrard was appointed by the legislature; but the governor refused to issue a commission, because of a protest from a number of Douglas county people. An act to legalize Sherrard's appointment in spite of the governor's refusal passed the house, but the council declined to concur. While the matter was in this shape, the governor, accompanied by Doctor Gibion
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and Richard McAllister, went to the house of representatives. Sherrard, intending to provoke an assault, waited outside for the governor to make his appearance. In this he was thwarted by McAllister, who kept between him and the governor. Sher- rard then assaulted John A. Jones, the governor's private sec- retary. Jones, acting in self defense, shot and killed Sherrard at a public meeting. Feeling ran high, and Governor Geary, fearing assassination, resigned; and on the same day he wrote to Secretary Woodson and quietly left the Territory never to return. In his haste to get away he neglected to order the release of the free-state prisoners whom he had pardoned.
Among the acts passed by the second legislature were those organizing the counties of Madison, Breckenridge, Dickinson, Davis, Franklin, and Coffey ; locating a penitentiary at Lecomp- ton ; establishing a territorial university at Kickapoo and, nam- ing therefor a board of governors, consisting of twenty-eight persons ; and incorporating Buchanan university at Tecumseh, Breckenridge college at Lodiana, Centropolis, Haskell and Kan- sas colleges, the Kansas female collegiate institute, the Manhat- ten institute, the Wakarnsa seminary, and the Leavenworth Lyceum.
On the same day that Governor Geary left Kansas ( March 10), Robert K. Walker, of Mississippi, was appointed governor, and Frederick P. Stanton, of Tennessee, secretary, by President Buchanan. May 9, Governor Walker took the oath of office in Washington, before Chief Justice Taney of the United States supreme court, and a few days later set out for Kansas, arriving at Lecompton on the twenty-seventh of May.
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KANSAS'S STRUGGLE FOR ADMISSION.
CHAPTER III
The Struggle for Admission
R OBERT J. WALKER, the fourth territorial governor of Kansas, was born at Northumberland, Penn., July 19, 1801. At the age of twenty he was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and soon after began the practice of law at Pittsburg. In 1826 he removed to Natchez, Miss., where he became active in politics, and ten years later he was elected to the United States senate. While in the senate he introduced the first homestead bill and a bill recognizing the independence of Texas. He strenuously opposed the United States bank charter, and the protective tariff. In 1863, as the financial agent of the government, he placed two hundred fifty million dollars of the 5-20 bonds abroad, and at the same time prevented a second confederate loan of seventy-five million dol- lars. Ile was an ardent advocate of the Pacific railroad and the purchase of Alaska. He died at Washington City, Novem- ber 11, 1869.
Secretary Stanton came to the Territory a month before Gov- ernor Walker. May 20 he issued a proclamation announcing the completion of the census taken in pursuance of the act of the legislature and making an apportionment of the delegates. Nineteen free-state counties in the interior were excluded in the taking of this census, and were consequently without a vote or representation in the constitutional convention. These were called the "disfranchised" counties, The apportionment by counties was as follows: Doniphan 7; Brown and Nemaha 2; Atchison 5; Leavenworth 12; Jefferson 4; Calhoun 2; Mar- shall 1; Riley and Pottawatonie 1; Johnson 3; Douglas 8; Shawnce, Richardson and Davis 2; Lykins 3; Linn 3; Bourbon,
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McGee, Dorn and Allen 4. At the election, June 15, only 2,200 votes were cast, the free-state men refusing to vote.
Following is a list of the delegates who signed the constitution at the close of the convention : Doniphan county-Thomas J. Key, Samuel P. Blair, James J. Reynolds, William Mathews, D. Vanderslice, and Harvey W. Forman. Brown and Nemaha- Cyrus Dolman and Henry Smith. Atchison-J. T. Hereford, Isaac S. Hascall, and James Adkins. Leavenworth-Jesse Con- nell, John D. Henderson, Hugh M. Moore, Jarrett Todd, Wil- burn Christison, Samuel J. Kookagee, L. J. Eastin, William Walker, John W. Martin, and Greene B. Redman. Jefferson- Thomas D. Childs, Alexander Bayne, and W. II. Swift. Cal- houn-Henry D. Oden. Marshall-William Il. Jenkins. John- son-G. W. Mckown, Batt Jones, and J. II. Danforth. Dong- las-W. S. Wells, Alfred W. Jones, O. C. Stewart, L. S. Boling, W. T. Spicely, and H. Butcher. Riley-John S. Randolph and C. K. Mobley. Lykins-Jacob T. Bradford, and William A. Haskell. Shawnee-Samuel G. Reed, and Rush Elmore. Bour- bon-H. T. Wilson, and B. Little.
The convention met on the 7th of September, and the next day it permanently organized with John Calhoun for president, Thomas C. Hughes for secretary, and Sammuel Cramer for sergeant at arms. An adjournment to October 19 was taken on the 11th. When the convention again met on that date, it remained in ses- sion until November 3, when the constitution was finished .* One peculiarity of this constitution was that it did not contain the word "white" in connection with suffrage or citizenship. The reason for this was probably that negroes in slavery were recog- nized as property rather than citizens, and free negroes were pro- hibited from coming into the state. It was provided in the schedule that the constitution should be submitted to a vote of the people on the 21st of December. The only question, however, to be decided by popular vote was whether the constitution should be adopted with slavery or without it; no vote against the instru- ment as a whole was permitted. Governor Walker took the posi- tion that the people could be trusted to regulate their domestic affairs, and that they ought to be allowed to vote upon the rati- fication or rejection of the constitution. He urged the conven- tion to submit it to the people.
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