When the news came of the sacking of Lawrence, the great mass of the
squatters had not yet lost faith in the nation, nor had they lost hope
that justice would be done, tardy though it might be; but the utmost
limits of human endurance were fast being reached. There were,
however, many that had already gone beyond this point, and they
returned an answer that made the hearts of the people stand still with
horror. It was the answer of a wild beast that had been hunted to its
lair, and that turns with savage ferocity on its pursuers. It was an
answer framed not in words, but in deeds. It said, "We have come to
an end. We have been robbed of the rights guaranteed to us by the
Kansas-Nebraska bill. We have been robbed of the rights of American
citizens. We have been given the alternative of abject and degrading
submission or of extermination. And now we make our answer. We will
return blow for blow, wound for wound, stripe for stripe, and burning
for burning. Murder shall be paid back with murder, robbery with
robbery; and every act of aggression shall be paid back with swift and
terrible retaliation." It must be remembered that at that time news
traveled slow, and that it was slow work to take men from their
ordinary farm life and organize them into bands of soldiers, and it
was some days before "Old John Brown, of Osawatomie," appeared on the
scene of conflict with a company of men. Of this company his son, John
Brown, Jr., was captain. But the "old man" had come too late. He was
terribly excited, and denounced as a set of cowards the "Committee of
the Public Safety Valve" that had dug up the hidden cannon and had
surrendered it to Sheriff Jones. Captain Brown and his company
determined to return. Old John Brown selected a squad of six men to go
on a secret expedition. Of these, four were his own sons, and one was
his son-in-law. His son, Captain Brown, was unwilling that his father
should go, and when the old man would not be persuaded, he cautioned
him, "Father, don't do anything rash." "Old John Brown" took old man
Doyle and two sons and two other men in the dead hour of night and put
them to death. The facts of this awful deed have never been made
public--there has never been a judicial investigation. It is said that
Doyle and his sons were desperate characters, and were in the act of
driving off Free State men; but nothing is certainly known.
And now it appeared that the whole country south of the Kaw River was
full of armed Free State guerrilla bands. They rose up out of the
earth as if they had been specters--their blows were swift, terrible
and remorseless. They visited and robbed the houses of Pro-slavery
men, as the houses of the Free State men had been visited and robbed.
They stole the Pro-slavery men's horses, stopped them on the public
highways, and repeated in every detail and in every act of violence
the cruel atrocities that had been so long perpetrated on themselves.
They showed no partiality--if they stole the horses of Pro-slavery
men, they also stole Gov. Shannon's horses, and the Governor posted
over the country with a squad of soldiers to find them. The town of
Franklin, six miles from Lawrence, that had been a rendezvous for the
"Law and Order" robbers, and out of which they issued to visit Free
State settlers' houses, rob Free State men on the public highway and
make raids on Lawrence, was cleaned out. H. Clay Pate, leader of a
"Law and Order" company of militia, went to hunt John Brown and put
him to death as he would go to hunt a wild beast. An African lion
hunter, when questioned, "Is it not fine sport to hunt lions?"
replied, "Yes, it is fine sport to hunt lions, but if the lion hunts
you it is not so fine." H. Clay Pate went to hunt the lion, and found
the lion was hunting him. John Brown attacked Pate with an inferior
force, dispersed his command, and took him prisoner, together with
twenty-eight of his men, and kept them in an inaccessible fastness
which he made his hiding place. A number of Pro-slavery men fled from
the Territory, telling everywhere a blood-curdling story of hard and
cruel treatment. The people of the State of Missouri were filled with
rage and horror, and its presses groaned with frantic appeals to the
people to rise in their might and avenge the blood of their murdered
brethren. Hitherto they had witnessed with perfect composure the
savage butchery of the Free State men, and the outrage of Free State
families; but now the case was bravely altered. It was their ox that
was being gored.
Gov. Shannon passed as usual from the extreme of insolence to the
extreme of helpless imbecility, and called on Col. Sumner to come
forward and put a stop to this riot of confusion, blood-shedding and
violence. The Governor really wanted Col. S. to disarm only the Free
State guerrillas; but Mr. S. made a more liberal interpretation of his
orders, and proceeded to disarm all armed bands in the Territory. He
visited Old John Brown's hiding place, told him he must consider
himself under arrest, and intimated to Deputy Marshal Fain that he was
at liberty to arrest these men, who were under charge of murder. But
the Marshal replied _that he had no arrests to make_. Marshal Fain had
no stomach for the business of lion hunting. It is said that Col. S.
gave Marshal Fain a piece of his mind that was more explicit than
polite.
Col. Sumner ordered John Brown to give up his prisoners, and disband
his men. John Brown expostulated with him, that it was not right to
require him to do this, while the country was full of armed bands of
Pro-slavery militia and guerrillas. Col. S. agreed to disband and
disarm all companies of persons armed, and then John Brown agreed to
comply with his requests. Gen. Whitfield was in the vicinity, and at
the request of Col. S. agreed to remove his men from the Territory;
but while doing this they continued the business of riot, robbery and
murder.
Thus wearily passed the month of June of 1856, on the south bank of
the Kaw River. The coming Fourth of July was looked forward to with
intense interest by both parties, and on the north side of the Kaw
River, as well as on its south side. The Fourth of July was the day on
which the Legislature, elected under the Free State Constitution, was
to meet at Topeka; and on that day, and at that place, a mass
convention of all the Free State men in Kansas had also been called to
meet and agree on their future policy. Col. Sumner had at least done
this good service, that the highways were clear, and traveling was
safe; but not knowing what might happen, the men generally carried
their muskets hidden in their wagons. The writer of these
"Recollections" went to Topeka with the Free State men of Atchison
county. At this convention it appeared that there was the greatest
possible divergence of judgment as to the best policy for the Free
State party to pursue. There was nothing of the noise and bluster that
characterizes a drunken mob; they were sober and quiet men;
nevertheless, they evidently labored under an intense and burning
excitement. Some were for war, bloody, relentless and unforgiving war;
others advised a more pacific policy. If the reader can imagine the
savage determination with which the old Scotch Covenanters turned at
bay when hunted into their mountain fastnesses by their bloody
persecutors, then he will have some idea of the spirit that animated a
great part of that assembly. Two companies of soldiers, handsomely
equipped, armed and drilled, one from Topeka and one from Lawrence,
were drawn up in front of the Topeka House, where the Free State
Legislature was to meet. It is probable that this crowd of men
assembled at this convention could have laid their hands on five
hundred muskets hidden away in their wagons, in ten minutes.
Meanwhile Col. Sumner had quietly drawn up his company of dragoons
just outside of the crowd. In front of the dragoons were two loaded
cannon, and by them grimly stood soldiers with burning fuse. While the
members of the convention were discussing among themselves their
proper policy, United States Marshal Donaldson came forward,
accompanied by Judge El-more, and taking possession of the stand from
which the speakers were addressing the people, Judge El-more read a
proclamation from the President and from acting Gov. Woodson,
commanding the Legislature to disperse.
To this Col. Sumner had appended the following note: "The
proclamation of the President and the orders under it require me to
sustain the Executive of the Territory in executing the laws and
preserving the peace. I therefore hereby announce that I shall
maintain the proclamation at all hazards."
This act of Marshal Donaldson was fiercely denounced as an impertinent
intermedding with other men's business. The general drift of the
reasoning was as follows: "Our act in framing a constitution and in
electing a legislature is not treasonable nor revolutionary. There is
no law against it: consequently we are breaking no law. It is,
moreover, something that has to be done at some time by the majority
of the citizens of this Territory, and we hope to be able to convince
Congress and the President that we are that majority. If we had
undertaken to set in operation a government in contravention to the
one now recognized by the President, then might there have been some
apology for this interference; but we have done nothing of the kind."
The writer will say to the reader that Gov. Walker, an ex-Senator from
Mississippi, and the ablest Governor Kansas ever had, admitted
afterwards that this reasoning of the Kansas squatters was perfectly
correct. But however this might be, here was a patent fact. Here was
Col. Sumner with his United States dragoons, and he was a man to obey
orders; and what were we going to do about it? Should we fight, or
should we not fight? The writer submitted the following resolution:
_Resolved_, That this Convention expresses its
determination not to resist the United States troops.
The resolution was carried, and a committee was sent to Col. Sumner to
inform him of its adoption. His answer was one to draw the hearts of
the people to himself: "I knew," said he, "that you were loyal to the
old flag."
Our readers will be incredulous that such a resolution should be
needed, or that there should be any division of sentiment as touching
its adoption. It is for this reason we call this incident up. It is
that the reader may understand how strained was the state of feeling
of many of the Free State men. They had spent the past months
fighting, and they, in their own minds, associated the United States
troops with the oppressors of Kansas Free State men.
When Mr. Sumner went into the Legislative hall to disperse the
Legislature, he spoke as tenderly as a woman. He said: "Gentlemen,
this is the most painful act of my life But I must obey orders, and
you must disperse." When he wheeled his dragoons to march away the
boys cheered Col. Sumner. They cheered the old flag and the United
States soldiers, but they gave such groans for the Lecompton
Legislature as, it was said, frightened the dragoons' horses.
There was now no further cause that the writer should tarry longer,
and he immediately mounted his horse and rode towards home, with a
heart heavy with the thought of all the distempers that had come on
unhappy Kansas.