“Hundreds of Free State men who have committed no overt act, but have only given countenance to those reckless murderers, assassins and thieves, will, of necessity, share the same fate of their brethren. If Civil war is to be the result of such a conflict, there cannot be, and will not be any neutrals recognized. ‘He that is not for us is against us,’ will of necessity be the motto, and those who are not willing to take either one side or the other are the most unfortunate men in Kansas and had better flee to other regions as expeditiously as possible. They are not the men for Kansas.”

In another issue Dr. Stringfellow said:

“The abolitionists shoot down our men without provocation wherever they meet them. Let us retaliate in the same manner. A free fight is all we desire. If murder and assassination is the program of the day we are in favor of filling the bill. Let not the knives of the pro-slavery men be sheathed while there is one abolitionist in the territory. As they have shown no quarters to our men they deserve none from us. Let our motto be written in blood upon our flags. ‘Death to all Yankees and Traitors in Kansas.’ We have 150 men in Atchison ready to start in an hour’s notice. All we lack is horses and provisions.”

And then follows an exhortation from Dr. Stringfellow to his friends in Missouri to contribute something that will enable his constituents to protect their lives and their families from the outrages of the assassins of the North, and ends by stating that the war will not cease until Kansas has been purged of abolitionists.

Pro-slavery committees from Doniphan, Atchison and Leavenworth counties were organized to call on their friends in the South for arms, ammunition and provisions, and a circular letter appeared in the Leavenworth Herald, and an urgent invitation was issued to all the pro-slavery papers to give the circular wide publicity. It read, in part, as follows:

“To our friends throughout the United States:

“The undersigned, having been appointed a committee by our fellow citizens of the counties of Leavenworth, Doniphan and Atchison, in Kansas Territory, to consult together and to adopt measures for mutual protection and the advancement of the interests of the pro-slavery party in Kansas Territory, this day assembled at the town of Atchison, to undertake the responsible duty assigned us; and in our present emergency deem it expedient to address this circular to our friends throughout the union, but more particularly in the slave-holding states. * * * * The time has arrived when prompt action is required and the interior of Kansas can easily be supplied from various points in the above named counties. The pro-slavery party is the only one in Kansas which pretends to uphold the Government or abide by the laws. Our party from the beginning has sought to make Kansas a slave state, only by legal means. We have been slandered and vilified almost beyond endurance, yet we have not resorted to violence, but steadily pursued the law for the accomplishment of our objects. * * * * We have proclaimed to the world that we recognize the principle of the Kansas Bill as just and right, and although we preferred Kansas being made a negro slave state, yet we never dreamed of making it so by the aid of bowie-knives, revolvers and Sharpe rifles, until we were threatened to be driven out of the territory by a band of hired abolitionists, brought up and sent here to control our elections and steal our slaves. We are still ready and intend to continue so, if our friends abroad stand by and assist us. Our people are poor and their labor is their capital. Deprive them of that, which we are now compelled to do, and they must be supported from abroad, or give up the cause of the South. The Northern Abolitionists can raise millions of dollars, and station armed bands of fanatics throughout the territory and support them, in order to deprive Southern men of their constitutional rights. We address this to our friends only, for the purpose of letting them know our true condition and our wants. We know that our call will meet a ready, willing and liberal response. * * * * Heaven and earth is being moved in all the free states to induce overwhelming armies to march here to drive us from the land. We are able to take care of those already here, but let our brethren in the states take care of the outsiders. Watch them, and if our enemies march for Kansas let our friends come along to take care of them, and if nothing but a fight can bring about peace, let us have a fight that will amount to something. Send us the money and other articles mentioned as soon as practicable, and if the abolitionists find it convenient to bring their supplies, let our friends come with ours. Arrangements have been made with Messrs. Majors, Russell & Company, Leavenworth, K. T.; J. W. Foreman & Company, Doniphan, K. T., and C. E. Woolfolk & Company, Atchison, K. T., to receive any money or other articles sent for our relief, and will report to the undersigned, and we pledge ourselves that all will be distributed for the benefit of the cause. Horses, we greatly need—footmen being useless in running down midnight assassins and robbers.”

The following residents of Atchison county signed the circular: P. T. Abell, chairman; J. A. Headley, A. J. Frederick, J. F. Green, Jr., C. E. Mason.

This circular was signed June 6, 1856, and was published in the Lawrence Herald of Freedom, June 14, 1856.

From this time forward the conflagration spread with ever increasing fury, and not only did the appeals for aid from the pro-slavery forces find immediate response, but likewise the anti-slavery forces throughout the whole North came to the rescue of the Free Soilers in Kansas, and during all of this great excitement Atchison county was the focal point of pro-slavery activities. The news of the “sacking” of Lawrence served to awaken the Nation in the North. It was at this time that Henry Ward Beecher, with all of the great eloquence at his command, advocated from his Brooklyn pulpit the sending of Sharpe rifles instead of Bibles to Kansas, and pledged his own parish to supply a definite number. And on and on they came to Kansas out of the North with determination in their hearts and Sharpe rifles in their hands, to help the Free Soilers in their battles against the forces of Atchison and Stringfellow and Abell. Then came Lane’s “Army of the North,” which sounded more terrible than it really was, following in quick succession the second battle of Franklin; the siege and capitulation of Ft. Titus, and the famous battle of Osawatomie. At last the mobilization of the forces of Atchison and Stringfellow not far from the outskirts at Lawrence in September, 1856, for the purpose of a final assault on that Free State stronghold, marked the collapse of the Atchison-Stringfellow military campaign. It was a critical hour for Lane. Old John Brown was there, and the citizens were ready for whatever might befall them, but further hostilities were averted by the action of Governor Geary on the morning of September 15, 1856, when he appeared in person in the midst of the Missouri camp several hours after issuing a proclamation for the Missourians to disband. He found both Senator Atchison and Gen. B. F. Stringfellow (brother of Dr. Stringfellow) there, and in the course of his speech severely reprimanded Atchison, who “from his high estate as Vice-President of the United States, had fallen so low as to be the leader of an army of men with uncontrollable passions, determined upon wholesale slaughter and destruction.”

When Governor Geary had concluded his remarks his proclamation and order to disband the army were read and the more judicious obeyed.

The troops thus disbanded, marched homeward. Those enlisting at Atchison returned to Missouri by way of Lecompton. This was the last organized military invasion from Missouri and ended the attempts of the pro-slavery forces to rule Kansas by martial law.

It must not be concluded, however, that the Stringfellows and other pro-slavery leaders in Atchison county were not law-abiding citizens. They believed in the institution of slavery, as many good men of that day did, and they had the same rights to peacefully enter the territory of Kansas and endeavor to make it a slave State under the principle of Squatter sovereignty, as Dr. Charles Robinson, and Lane, and John Brown did to make the territory a free State. It would not only be unjust to the memory of the Stringfellows and their compatriots, but unjust to posterity also to leave the impression that they had no semblance of justification, for many of their acts, which the impartial historian will admit, were very frequently in retaliation of wrongs and outrages suffered. The terrible stress and strain under which good men on both sides labored in those critical days led them to extremes, and in the midst of the discordant passions of good men, the bad men—those who are the lawless of every age and clime—flourished and their lawlessness only served to complicate the dangerous and ever threatening situation. Calm judgment may not have been lacking in the territory in and around Atchison and Lawrence in the days between 1854 and 1857, but if it existed at all it was lost in the riot of partisan feeling and did not evince itself until later.

Following the disbanding of the “Territorial” militia before Lawrence, General Atchison seemed to have somewhat recovered his composure and in an address to the troops after Governor Geary had retired, he said:

“As was well known to all present the gentlemen composing this meeting had just been in conference with Governor Geary, who in the strongest language had deprecated the inhuman outrages perpetrated by those whom he characterized as bandits, now roving through the territory, and pledged himself in the most solemn manner to employ actively all of the force at his command in executing the laws of the territory and giving protection to his beloved citizens, and who had also appealed to us to dissolve our present organization and stand by and co-operate with him in holding up the hands of his power against all evil doers, and who had also retired from the meeting, with a request that he would consult and determine what course would be taken. Now the object of the meeting was thus to consult and determine what should be done.”

General Atchison also impressed the meeting with the solemnity and importance of the occasion and said that it was time for men to exercise their reason and not yield to their passions and also to keep on the side of the law which alone constitutes our strength and protection. These words of General Atchison breathed a far different message than his strong language of a few years before and indicated more plainly than anything else the general trend of pro-slavery sentiment.

After the cessation of military movements in the territory, more or less peaceful elections, sessions of the legislature and conventions, at which constitutions were framed and voted upon, took place, and the work of preparing the territory to become a State went forward.

Four constitutions were framed before Kansas was admitted to the Union.

The Topeka constitution, which was the first in order, was adopted by the convention which framed it November 11, 1855, and by the people of the territory at an election December 15, 1855.

The Lecompton constitution was adopted by the convention which framed it November 7, 1857, and was submitted to a vote of the people December 21, 1857, and the form of the vote prescribed was: “For the constitution, with slavery,” and “For the constitution, without slavery.” As no opportunity was afforded at this election to vote against the constitution the Free State people did not participate in it. The Territorial legislature was summoned in extra session and passed it without submitting this constitution to a vote of the people, January 4, 1858, and at that election 138 votes were cast for it and 10,226 against it. In spite of this overwhelming vote against the constitution it was sent to Washington and was transmitted by President Buchanan to the Senate who urged the admission of Kansas under it, thus starting the great contest which divided the Democratic party, the election of Abraham Lincoln as President, and the final overthrow of the slave party. The bill to admit Kansas under this constitution failed, but a bill finally passed Congress, under the provisions of which the constitution was again submitted to the people August 4, 1858, with the result that there were 1,788 votes cast for it and 11,300 votes cast against it.

The convention which framed the Leavenworth constitution was provided for by an act of the Territorial legislature, passed in February, 1858, at which time the Lecompton constitution was pending in Congress. The Leavenworth constitution was adopted by the convention April 3, 1858, and by the people May 18, 1858.

The Wyandotte constitution was adopted by the convention which framed it July 29, 1859, and adopted by the people October 4, 1859. It was under the Wyandotte constitution that the State was admitted into the Union January 29, 1861.

In this last convention Atchison county played a very important part. Three members were sent from this county: Caleb May, to whom reference has been made before, a farmer, born in Kentucky, and residing near the now abandoned townsite of Pardee; John J. Ingalls, a lawyer at Sumner, who arrived in Kansas from Massachusetts, October 4, 1858, exactly one year previous to the adoption of the constitution by the people of the Territory, and Robert Graham, a merchant at Atchison, who was born in Ireland. John A. Martin, the editor of Freedom’s Champion, the successor to the Squatter Sovereign, at Atchison, was secretary of the convention.

Caleb May remained a successful farmer and leading citizen of the county for many years after this convention, subsequently drifting to the Indian Territory, where he died.

John J. Ingalls became United States senator from Kansas, where he remained for eighteen years, part of the time as president protempore of that body.

John A. Martin became one of the leading military heroes of Kansas, and served as governor of the State from 1886 to 1888. He played an important part as an officer of the convention, as also did Mr. Ingalls, who, Samuel A. Stinson says, was the “recognized scholar of the convention, and authority on all questions connected with the arrangement and phraseology of the instrument.” For this reason he was made chairman of the committee on phraseology and arrangements. Robert Graham was chairman of the committee on corporations and banking, and on the ballot to locate a temporary capital of the State Atchison received six votes. Topeka received twenty-nine and was chosen as the temporary capital and afterwards became the permanent capital of Kansas.