The Way West

In light of modern-day standards, the trials of turning Kansas Territory into the 34th state in the nation are not easily understood. Harrowing stories of the Free State/ pro-slavery conflict make for exciting reading, but how often are the undercurrents of uncertainty considered rippling through each day and unsettling those who ventured forth into the promised land?

Editor George W. Brown’s Lawrence, Kan., Herald of Freedom bore witness to those uncertain days. Established in 1854, the Herald of Freedom chronicled the upheaval that held the territory in a state of “revolutionary confusion” in the spring of 1856. The Herald’s office was burned and the press destroyed by pro-slavery forces, but Brown and his newspaper endured.

The bloody “days of ’56” were behind him when Brown published a letter from a friend from Mound City in the southeastern Kansas county of Linn. The letter was found on page 2 of the Saturday morning, Jan. 8, 1859, edition of the Herald.

“I regret to observe that there are newspapers in Kansas, whose editors profess to be governed by principle, which continue to uphold the crimes daily perpetrated by sustaining highway robbery, murder and expulsion of our population from Kansas because of a mere difference of opinion.”

Having lived in Linn County since October 1855, he had seen “crimes of every grade, perpetrated both by night and day ... Little did I think in ’56 that professedly Free State men would be guilty of the same crimes for which we denounced the pro-slavery men of that year, and which raised such a storm throughout the nation.”

The closing months of 1858 gave Kansans hope that hostilities were ebbing, giving rise to an agreed upon accord of harmony between the factions. All parities were to lay down their arms. Yet, according to the writer, “the Montgomery faction, in the face of that compromise” liberated a murder suspect (Benjamin Rice) from confinement at Fort Scott. Sources other than the letter supplied the missing details.

Hearing the commotion caused by the release of Benjamin Rice, John Little wiped the dust from his store window to look out. His action was discovered, and thinking the store was defended by a band of armed men, a Sharp’s rifle was fired, the bullet striking Little in the forehead.

“Once they entered the store, the Jayhawkers followed their old habit of looting of the dry goods, boots and saddles,” estimated by the writer to be “some $5,000 worth of goods...”

Drawing a comparison to the bloody raid on Lawrence, Kan., in 1856, the writer noted, “It only proves that human nature, under the influence of a bad heart, is about the same everywhere.”

Another letter from an unnamed clergyman of Moneka, Kan., declared, “... I am sick, heart sick with humanity. Here are men claiming to be Christians, and even ministers of the gospel who profess to be guided in their actions by the teachings of the Prince of Peace, who have organized a body of murderers, robbers, gamblers and horse thieves ... subsisting by plunder, they are riding over the country and committing the basest of crimes. If this is Christianity, anything would be preferable to it; but it is not!”

Southeast Kansas was in turmoil. Territorial Governor Samuel Medary’s office was inundated with letters of complaint against the outrages of Montgomery and other Free State leaders operating in the region. The governor offered a $250 reward for Montgomery’s arrest. United States President James Buchanan added another $250 to the reward.

For his part, Montgomery actively continued to work for the cause of peace in spite of the bounty placed upon his head. A letter chronicling past difficulties, written by Montgomery on Jan. 15, 1859, was published in the Lawrence Republican on Jan. 20. He did not deny that driving violent pro-slavery men from the country required a certain suspension of legal standards, however, since the call to lay down arms, Montgomery insisted he had disbanded his company six months before on July 5, 1858. According to the compromise of peace, the courts were to “let bygones be bygones.” And now they were offering a reward for his arrest.

Mongomery called the release of Benjamin Rice, “a popular movement,” that involved some men from his former company and many who had never been with him before. John Little had been killed in the heat of the moment. When the looting began, Montgomery explained that he could do little to stop them.

Montgomery insisted that he desired peace and would work to obtain it on honorable terms. Three days after penning his letter, Montgomery arrived in Lawrence to give himself up to Rush Elmore, associate judge of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Kansas. He was released on a $5,000 bond posted by friends, and went to work speaking for peace. By Feb. 2 he returned to Lawrence with six men of his former company, surrendering to Judge Elmore.

Governor Medary noted Montgomery’s actions and wrote to President Buchannan that “...the worst is over and peace will soon be generally restored.”

The path to Kansas Statehood as a Free State was nearly won, but the ultimate goal would take another two years on The Way West.

“The Cowboy” Jim Gray can be reached at 220 21st Rd., Geneseo, KS 67444, (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@ kans.com.