CHAPTER X

"KANSAS WAR" -- PRO-SLAVERY SETTLERS VS. "FREE STATE MEN" -- THE AGITATED, EXCITED PUBLIC MIND -- FACTS BETWEEN LINCOLN'S ELECTION AND INAUGURATION -- BORDER LAND INFLAMED -- WAR REPORTS -- OSAWATOMIE JOHN BROWN

The condition which prevailed on both sides of the line between Missouri and Kansas Territory, beginning in 1854 and lasting through 1858, or say about five years, is what is referred to when the "border troubles" are mentioned. It was sometimes spoken of as the "Kansas War." But later the expression "Border Warfare" came to mean not only that, but included the warfare carried on along the line after the Civil War had broken out, for two or three years. The original trouble grew out of the slavery question almost wholly. The pro-slavery settlers in Kansas Territory were determined to make Kansas Territory into a slave state; and in this they had the earnest support of the pro-slavery men in western Missouri; and substantially all Missourians in this part of the state were pro-slavery. But the vigilant "free state men" who had settled in the Territory were equally resolute to make Kansas free. The excitement grew and conditions became worse and worse until neither person nor property was safe anywhere along the border from Westport to Ft. Scott. Marauders, thieves and murderers developed; outrages were perpetrated by both sides. There seemed to be no responsible government anywhere. Blood flowed freely. Crimes were avenged, retaliation indulged, and many harmless and innocent citizens injured and ruined, if not killed.

During all this time the war spirit was growing all over the nation and the issues joined in Kansas over the slavery question intensified and inflamed the minds of the people everywhere. Secession, disunion, began to be discussed seriously in the halls of Congress, in the newspapers, and from every stump in every political campaign. The leaders of the South, in Congress and out, held and believed that the states had a right under the Constitution to peaceably secede from the Union and organize a new nation. This was denied by the Unionists of the North, and so the public mind became wonderfully agitated and excited.

Lincoln was elected in November 1860. South Carolina seceded December 20th; then followed Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, in January and February 1862. The Southern Confederacy was formed at Montgomery, Alabama, February 4, 1862; and when Lincoln was inaugurated, March 4, 1862, he found seven states already out of the Union so far as forms of civil procedure could put them out; on April 13th, Ft. Sumpter was surrendered by Major Anderson; and on the 15th, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers. From that date the Civil War was on. On January 29, 1859, Kansas was admitted to the Union with a constitution prohibiting slavery. These were the outstanding facts which had occurred between Lincoln's election in November and his inauguration the following March.

No part of the country had been more inflamed than this border land up and down the state line, of which section Bates county was near the center. The population of this county was overwhelmingly pro-slavery and for secession, disunion and the formation of the Southern Confederacy. It became the rendezvous and hiding place of bushwhackers, marauders and irresponsible, lawless gangs who perpetrated all manner of outrages upon peaceable citizens and their property. Gangs, largely of the same general character, from Kansas, invaded this county either in retaliation or merely to plunder our citizens. The feeling was intense on both sides -- the result of about six years of struggle over the Kansas free state question. Conditions were such that these bushwhackers and lawless bands could neither be controlled nor punished by the armies in the field; so after fruitless marchings to and fro by Union commands, in less or larger units, without being able to catch or kill or run out of the county this disloyal and treasonable element, as a last resort and after mature consideration. General Thomas Ewing issued his celebrated "Order No. 11" in 1863, four days after Quantrill's sack of Lawrence, and the brutal murder of unoffending and unarmed citizens. It used to be popular to refer to this only as "Ewing's infamous order." History has approved it as wise and proper, and salutary as a war measure. The necessity was urgent and the results beneficent.

Not desiring to go into a discussion of details, possibly involving matters of opinion, it is deemed proper to give extended authentic war records from both sides touching this order, and showing conditions in Bates county during the Civil War. This generation, and the present citizenship of Bates county are free from the passions of that unhappy strife; and yet few have an opportunity to read this interesting history of or touching our county, and in order to make the official "War Reports" available to the readers of this history, we have gathered together from the official reports printed by the government the following:

Headquarters Department of the Missouri,

Saint Louis, August 25, 1863.

Brigadier-General Ewing, Commanding

District of the Border, Kansas City, Missouri:

General: I inclose a draught of an order which I propose to issue in due time. I send it to you in order that you may make the necessary preparations for it. Such a measure will, of course, produce retaliation upon such loyal people as may be exposed to it, and they should, as far as possible, be removed to places of safety before the execution of the order is commenced or the purpose to execute it is made public. Also, it is necessary to be quite certain that you have the power to put down the Rebel bands, and prevent retaliation like that recently inflicted upon Lawrence, if, indeed, that can be regarded or was intended as an act of retaliation. My information relative to that distressing affair is too imperfect to enable me to judge accurately on this point. But it occurs to me as at least probable that the massacre and burning at Lawrence was the immediate consequence of the inauguration of the policy of removing from the border counties the slaves of rebels and the families of bushwhackers. If this is true, it would seem a strong argument against the wisdom of such policy. You are in position to judge of all this better than I can. At all events. I am pretty much convinced that the mode of carrying on the war on the border during the past two years has produced such a state of feeling that nothing short of total devastation of the districts which are made the haunts of guerrillas will be sufficient to put a stop to the evil. Please consider the matter fully and carefully, and give me your views in regard to the necessity for the application of such severe remedy, and of the wisdom of the method proposed. I will be guided mainly by your judgment in regard to it. If you desire the order to be issued as I have written it, or with any modifications which you may suggest, please inform me when you are ready for it.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. M. SCHOFIELD,

Major-General.

(Inclosure)

A band of robbers and murderers, under the notorious Quantrill, has been for a long time harbored and fed by the disloyal people of Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties, Missouri, and have driven out or murdered nearly all the loyal people of those counties; and, finally on the ---- of the present month these brigands, issuing suddenly from their hiding places, made a descent upon the town of Lawrence, in Kansas, and in the most inhuman manner sacked and burned the town, and murdered in cold blood a large number of loyal and unoffending citizens. It is manifest that all ordinary means have failed to subdue the rebellious spirit of the people of the counties named, and that they are determined to harbor and encourage a band of scoundrels whose every object is plunder and murder. This state of things cannot be permitted longer to exist, and nothing less than the most radical remedy will be sufficient to remove the evil. It is therefore ordered that the disloyal people of Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties will be given until the ____ day of ____ to remove from those counties, with such of their personal property as they may choose to carry away. At the end of the time named all houses, barns, provisions, and other property belonging to such disloyal persons, and which can be used to shelter, protect, or support the bands of robbers and murderers which infest those counties, will be destroyed or seized and appropriated to the use of the government. Property situated at or near military posts, and in or near towns which can be protected by troops so as not to be used by the bands of robbers will not be destroyed, but will be appropriated to the use of such loyal or innocent persons as may be made homeless by the acts of guerrillas or by the execution of this order. The commanding general is aware that some innocent persons must suffer from these extreme measures, but such suffering is unavoidable, and will be made as light as possible. A district or county inhabited almost solely by Rebels cannot be permitted to be made a hiding place for robbers and murderers, from which to sally forth on their errands of rapine and death. It is sincerely hoped that it will not be necessary to apply this remedy to any other portion of Missouri. But if the people of disloyal districts wish to avoid it, they must unite to prevent its necessity, which is clearly in their power to do.

This order will be executed by Brigadier-General Ewing, commanding District of the Border, and such officers as he may specially detail for the purpose.

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Headquarters District of the Border,

Kansas City, Mo., August 25, 1863.

Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield, St. Louis, Mo.:

Sir: I got in late yesterday afternoon. I send in inclosed paper General Orders No. 11, which I found it necessary to issue at once, or I would have first consulted you. The excitement in Kansas is great, and there is (or was before this order) great danger of a raid of citizens for the purpose of destroying the towns along the border. My political enemies are fanning the flames, and wish me for a burnt-offering to satisfy the just passion of the people.

If you think it best, please consider me as applying for a court of inquiry. It should be appointed by the General-in-Chief, or the Secretary of War. General Deitzler, of Lawrence, is the only officer of rank I think in Kansas who would be regarded as perfectly impartial. He is at Lawrence now on sick furlough, but is well enough for such duty, and knows the district.

I do not make unconditional application for the court, because I have seen no censure of any one act of mine, or omission even, except my absence from headquarters. It is all mere mob clamor, and all at Leavenworth. Besides. I do not, with my want of familiarity with the custom of the service in such matters and with the horrors of the massacre distressing me, feel confidence in my judgment as to the matter. I therefore ask your friendly advice and action, with the statement that if a full clearance of me, by the court, is worth anything to you, or me, or the service, I would like to have the court.

I left my headquarters to go to Leavenworth the day before the massacre, on public business. I have never taken an hour of ease or rest with anything undone which I thought necessary for the protection of the border. No man, woman, or child ever suggested the idea of stationing troops permanently at Lawrence. The whole border has been patrolled night and day for 90 miles, and all the troops under my command posted and employed as well as I know how to do it. I have not the slightest doubt that any fair court would not only acquit me of all suspicion of negligence, but also give me credit for great precaution and some skill in my adjustment of troops. I assure you. general, I would quit the service at once if I were accused, after candid investigation, of the slightest negligence or of a want of average skill in the command of the forces you have given me.

I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

THOMAS EWING, JR.,

Brigadier-General.

(Inclosure)

Headquarters District of the Border.

Kansas City, Mo., August 25, 1863.

1. All persons living in Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties, Missouri, and in that part of Vernon included in this district, except those living within one mile of the limits of Independence, Hickman Mills, Pleasant Hill, and Harrisonville, and except those in that part of Kaw township, Jackson county, north of Brush creek and west of the Big Blue, are hereby ordered to remove from their present places of residence within fifteen days from the date hereof. Those who, within that time, established their loyalty to the satisfaction of the commanding officer of the military station nearest their present places of residence will receive from him certificates stating the fact of their loyalty, and the names of the witnesses by whom it can be shown. All who receive such certificates will be permitted to remove to any military station in this district, or to any part of the state of Kansas, except the counties on the eastern border of the state. All others shall remove out of this district. Officers commanding companies and detachments serving in the counties named will see that this paragraph is promptly obeyed.

2. All grain and hay in the field or under shelter in the district from which the inhabitants are required to remove within reach of military stations after the 9th day of September next will be taken to such stations and turned over to the proper officers there, and report of the amount so turned over made to district headquarters, specifying the names of all loyal owners and the amount of such produce taken from them. All grain and hay found in such district after the 9th day of September next not convenient to such stations will be destroyed.

3. The provisions of General Orders No. 10, from these headquarters will be at once vigorously executed by officers commanding in the parts of the district and at all the stations not subject to the operation of paragraph 1 of this order, and especially in the towns of Independence, Westport, and Kansas City.

4. Paragraph 3, General Orders No. 10, is revoked as to all who have borne arms against the government in this district since the 21st day of August 1863.

By order of Brigadier-General Ewing.

H. HANNAHS,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

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Leavenworth, Kansas, August 26, 1863.

His Excellency Abraham Lincoln,

President of the United States:

The result of the massacre at Lawrence has excited feeling amongst our people which make a collision between them and the military probable. The imbecility and incapacity of Schofield is most deplorable. Our people unanimously demand the removal of Schofield, whose policy has opened Kansas to invasion and butchery. 

A. C. WILDER,

J. H. LANE.

(See Lincoln to Schofield, August 27, p. 142, and reply. August 28, p. 144.)

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Saint Louis, Mo., August 26, 1863.

Brigadier-General Ewing, Kansas City:

I wrote you yesterday about measures to be taken in the border counties of Missouri. Do not permit irresponsible parties to enter Missouri for retaliation; whatever of that is to be done must be by your troops, acting under your own orders.

J. M. SCHOFIELD.

Major-General.

------

Kansas City, Mo., August 26, 1863.

Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.:

I shall not permit any unauthorized expedition into Missouri. No citizens are in now, and none went in except with my troops. I do not much apprehend any attempt of the kind, except, perhaps, secret efforts of incendiaries to destroy Independence, Westport, or Kansas City, although the people of Kansas are mortified and exasperated, and those of the border considerably alarmed. I will have to clear out a good many Rebels in Independence, Westport, and Kansas City. I need Lieutenant-Colonel Van Horn, Twenty-fifth Missouri, to command this post. Please detail him, if you can. He is now at Saint Louis.

THOMAS EWING, JR.,

Brigadier-General.

------

Kansas City, Mo., August 26, 1863.

Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield, Commanding

Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis, Mo.:

My troops are still in pursuit, Quantrill's men are scattered, the worst having gone out of the border counties. At last reports we have killed from 50 to 60. I have ordered all families out of the border counties of Missouri in fifteen days, allowing Union men to remain at or come to military stations or go to the interior of Kansas, and compelling all the rest to leave the district. I will destroy or take to stations all forage and substance left in those counties after date fixed for removal. I have written you the reason for issuing the order; I am sure you would approve if here. This raid has made it impossible to save any families in those counties away from the stations, for they are practically the servants and supporters of the guerrillas. I anticipate the collection on the border of a large part of the guerrillas of southwestern Missouri to resist or revenge the execution of this measure. If you can send me more troops, please do so. I can use the Twenty-fifth Missouri or the Tenth Kansas to good advantage garrisoning the posts. There has been no failure to exert every possible effort to catch Quantrill, except at Paola, Friday night, when a great occasion was lost. I will see that the censure for that falls where it belongs. The charges set afloat from Leavenworth are false and malignant, so far as they apply to me and Major Plumb, and are instigated and paid for by political Quantrills. 

THOMAS EWING, JR., 

Brigadier-General.

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Washington, D. C, August 27, 1863, 8:30 a.m.

General Schofield, Saint Louis:

I have just received the dispatch which follows from two very influential citizens of Kansas, whose names I omit. The severe blow they have received naturally enough makes them intemperate even without there being any just cause for blame. Please do your utmost to give them future security and to punish their invaders. 

A. LINCOLN.

(See Wilder and Lane to Lincoln, August 26, p. 141)

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Washington, D. C, August 27, 1863, 8:30 a.m.

Hon. A. C. Wilder, Hon, J. H. Lane, Leavenworth, Kansas:

Notice of your demand for the removal of General Schofield is hereby acknowledged.

A. LINCOLN.

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Kansas City, Mo., August 27, 1863.

Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.:

Quantrill's men are scattered in their fastness throughout the border counties, and are still being hunted by all available troops from all parts of the district. Many of them have abandoned their worn-out horses and gone to the brush afoot. They were all remounted at Lawrence, with horses they captured there, and they led their own horses back, packing the plundered goods. The led horses and stolen goods were nearly all abandoned in the chase before they got far into Missouri; 300 horses have already been taken by our troops, including some of those taken at Lawrence. Most of the goods and much of the money stolen have been retaken, and will, as far as possible be restored. Reports received since my dispatch of yesterday of 21 killed, making in all about 80. I think it will largely exceed 100 before any considerable part of our troops withdraw from the pursuit. No prisoners have been taken and none will be. All the houses in which Lawrence goods have been found have been destroyed, as well as all the houses of known guerrillas, wherever our troops have gone. I intend to destroy the houses of all persons in the border counties, outside of military stations, who do not remove, in obedience to my last general order, by the 9th day of September next.

THOMAS EWING, JR.,

Brigadier-General.

------

Kansas City, Missouri, August 27, 1863.

Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield:

Reports reach me from Leavenworth that Major Anthony is endeavoring to get up expedition into Missouri. Uncertain whether expedition is to cross the Missouri river or enter southern borders, I have notified Governor Carney, whom, I have reason to know, has done nothing to quiet the excitement, warning him that I would resist such an invasion of Missouri. I have notified General Guitar and commanding officers at Liberty, and ordered provost-marshal at Leavenworth to keep commanding officers at Weston advised. I do not apprehend serious trouble. My dispatch this morning should have read "150 horses."

THOMAS EWING, JR.,

Brigadier-General.

------

Headquarters Department of the Missouri,

Saint Louis, August 28, 1863.

Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, Washington, D. C.:

Mr. President: In reply to your telegram of the 27th, transmitting copy of one received from two influential citizens of Kansas, I beg leave to state some of the facts connected with the horrible massacre at Lawrence, and also relative to the assaults made upon me by a certain class of influential politicians.

Since the capture of Vicksburg a considerable portion of the Rebel army in the Mississippi valley has disbanded, and large numbers of men have come back to Missouri -- many of them, doubtless, in the hope of being permitted to remain at their former homes in peace, while some have come under instructions to carry on a guerrilla warfare, and others, men of the worst character, become marauders on their own account, caring nothing for the Union nor for the Rebellion, except as the latter affords them a cloak for their brigandage.

Under instructions from the Rebel authorities, as I am informed and believe, considerable bands, called "Border Guards," were organized in the counties of Missouri bordering on Kansas, for the ostensible purpose of protecting those counties from inroads from Kansas, and preventing slaves of Rebels from escaping from Missouri into Kansas. These bands were unquestionably encouraged, fed, and harbored by a very considerable portion of the people in those border counties. Many of those people were in fact the families of these bushwhackers, who are brigands of the worst type. Upon the representation of General Ewing and others familiar with the facts, I became satisfied there could be no cure for the evil short of the removal from those counties of all slaves entitled to their freedom, and of the families of all men known to belong to these bands, and others who were known to sympathize with them. Accordingly I directed General Ewing to adopt and carry out the policy he had indicated, warning him, however, of the retaliation which might be attempted, and that he must be fully prepared to prevent it before commencing such severe measures.

Almost immediately after it became known that such policy had been adopted, Quantrill secretly assembled from several of the border counties of Missouri about 300 of his men. They met at a preconcerted place of rendezvous, near the Kansas line, at about sunset, and immediately marched for Lawrence, which place they reached at daylight the next morning. They sacked and burned the town and murdered the citizens in the most barbarous manner.

It is easy to see that any unguarded town in a country where such a number of outlaws can be assembled is liable to a similar fate, if the villains are willing to risk retribution which must follow. In this case 100 of them have already been slain, and the remainder are hotly pursued in all directions. If there was any fault on the part of General Ewing, it appears to have been in not guarding Lawrence. But of this it was not my purpose to speak. General Ewing and the governor of Kansas have asked for a court of inquiry, and I have sent to the War Department a request that one may be appointed, and I do not wish to anticipate the result of a full investigation. I believe, beyond doubt, that the terrible disaster at Lawrence was the immediate consequence of the "radical" measures to which I have alluded. Although these measures are far behind what many, at least, of the radical leaders demand, they surely cannot attribute the sad result to "conservative policy."

Had these measures been adopted last winter, when the state was easily controlled, because the absence of leaves from the brush rendered it impossible for the bushwhackers to hide from the troops, and there was a large force in the state lying idle, they might have been carried out without injury to the loyal people. The larger part of my troops having been called off for service in Arkansas and down the Mississippi, and the summer being favorable for guerrilla operations, it may have been unwise to adopt such measures at this time. If so, they have no right to complain who have been continually clamoring for such measures, and who couple their denunciations of me with demands for more radical measures still, and hold up by way of contrast, as their model, the general who did not see fit to adopt such measures when they could have been carried out with perfect ease and security. You will, perhaps, remember that while in command of Missouri, in 1862, I adopted and enforced certain very severe and radical measures towards those in open rebellion and their sympathizers. I believed at the time, and still believe, that those measures were wise and necessary at the time they were adopted, and they seemed to meet with the hearty approval of at least the ultra-Union people of Missouri. After I was relieved by General Curtis, these measures were all abandoned. None of them were revised by him during his administration except that of banishment of Rebel sympathizers, and no other of like radical character adopted by him, except that, perhaps, of granting "free papers" to slaves, and confiscation of property without any form of trial known to any law, either civil or military. The banishment of Rebels I have continued, and I have conformed to the laws as nearly as possible in reference to slaves and property subject to confiscation.

I have revised my former severe mode of dealing with guerrillas, robbers, and murderers which General Curtis had abandoned, and have treated with some severity, though of a far milder form, those law-breakers who profess to be Union men. Among the latter were several provost marshals and members of commissions whom I have been compelled to arrest and punish for enormous frauds and extortions. They are, of course, loud-mouthed radicals.

I have permitted those who have been in rebellion, and who voluntarily surrender themselves and their arms, to take the oath of allegiance and give bonds for their future good conduct, and release them upon condition that they reside in such portion of the State as I shall direct. For this I am most bitterly assailed by the radicals, who demand that every man who has been in rebellion or in any way aided shall be exterminated or driven from the state. There are thousands of such criminals, and no man can fail to see that such a course would light the flames of a war such as Missouri has never yet seen. Their leaders know it, but it is necessary to their ascendancy, and they scruple at nothing to accomplish that end.

I am officially informed that a large meeting has been held at Leavenworth, in which a resolution was adopted to the effect that the people would assemble at a certain place on the border, on the 8th of September, for the purpose of entering Missouri to search for their stolen property. Efforts have been made by the mayor of Leavenworth to get possession of the ferry at that place for the purpose of crossing armed parties of citizens into northern Missouri.

I have strong reasons for believing that the authors of the telegram to you are among those who introduced and obtained the adoption of the Leavenworth resolution, and who are endeavoring to organize a force for the purpose of general retaliation upon Missouri. Those who so deplore my "imbecility and incapacity" are the very men who are endeavoring to bring about a collision between the people of Kansas and the troops under General Ewing's command. I have not the "capacity" to see the wisdom or justice of permitting an irresponsible mob to enter Missouri for the purpose of retaliation even for so grievous a wrong as that which Lawrence has suffered.

I have increased the force upon the border as far as possible, and no effort has been or will be spared to punish the invaders of Kansas and to prevent such acts in future. The force there has been all the time far larger than in any other portion of my department except on the advanced line in Arkansas and the Indian Territory.

I deem it proper to remark here that the allusions to my predecessor are in no wise intended as a reflection upon him or his official acts, but merely because those who so bitterly assail me hold him up as their model.

Please accept my apologies, Mr. President, for the length of this letter. I could hardly, in justice to myself or to truth, make it shorter.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. M. SCHOFIELD,

Major-General.

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Saint Louis, August 28, 1863.

Hon. Edward Bates, Attorney-General United States:

My Dear Sir: I regret extremely the necessity which compels me to write you at this time, but the sad condition of the western counties of our state prompts me to do so, and I certainly know of no one to whom Missourians can appeal with a greater certainty of being favorably listened to. At the earnest request of many of our citizens, who fear that the recent outrages in Kansas would be visited upon our own section of the state, I came down to see General Schofield, and to ascertain, if possible, what policy he proposed to adopt. I find, on conversation with him, that he is greatly excited, and seems entirely disposed to offer no obstruction to the contemplated invasion of our state by the people of Kansas indeed, he expressed a wish that such might be the case.

Now, sir, at the same time that no one would strive harder or risk more to bring those lawless murderers to justice than I would, I cannot see the propriety of adopting a policy which is to involve the innocent and the guilty in common ruin, and General Schofield's duty, under the circumstances is rather to throw himself into the breach, and to withstand the wild popular excitement of the moment, than, yielding to its influence, to add a thousand-fold to the miseries under which the country is already suffering. I can well imagine how General Schofield, situated as he is, would be reluctant to pursue any course which would bring down upon him the increased displeasure of the radical party in Missouri but it is not less his duty, and as the military commander of the department he ought to discharge his duty regardless of consequences. It is a fact well known to me that hundreds of the people of Jackson and Cass counties are true and loyal men; they have already been robbed of their property, insulted, and in many instances murdered by these troops from Kansas. The policy pursued has caused hundreds of good men to leave their homes and fly to the bushes for protection, while others have actually joined the guerrillas as a measure of safety, believing that they would be less liable to danger there than at their homes. These are generally men of little intelligence, who do not take consequences into consideration, and are not prompted by a very high order of patriotism; they act from motives of present interest, and for the temporary safety of their persons have been induced to commit a great crime against their country. Others, I regret to say, who in the beginning were disloyal, have under the various proclamations of the President and the Governor, returned to their homes, and, after doing so, have been ruthlessly shot and hung by the soldiery. The good faith of the Government has been broken in so many cases that the people have become reluctant to return, believing that it would be violated towards them. The Government is not to blame for this, but the officers in command are, for failing to punish their soldiers for such acts of faithlessness and brutality. Our population, loyal as well as disloyal, are unarmed, by order of the military authorities of the state, and in that helpless condition, I understand General Schofield to say, that it will meet his approbation for them to be invaded by the people of Kansas -- not by an organized force but an irresponsible mob, already excited and enraged, and who, even before the commission of these outrages by Quantrill, were ready at all times to seize on any pretext which would justify the pillage of our state and the indiscriminate murder of our citizens. The absence of the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor is at this time a misfortune; they might successfully and with propriety appeal to General Schofield to act differently from what he proposes to do. Mr. Glover, in whose assistance and advice I have at all times relied with confidence, is also absent and sick in the northern part of the state. I have conversed with Colonel Broadhead, and find him fully coinciding with me in the policy which, in my opinion, should be adopted, and which I humbly beg to suggest. The great mistake was annexing a part of our state to the Military District of Kansas, and the next great error was in placing but a soldier, a man who has no purpose to subserve and no popularity to gain, by permitting one state to be robbed to enrich the people of another, and who would rigidly and fearlessly discharge his duties. A firm, just policy is what will give peace to the country, and nothing else will.

I have no motive other than the good of our state and people. I desire to see the country at peace once more, and peace can and will follow a judicious administration upon the border. Inclosed is a memorial addressed to the President, which I have been requested to forward to you, begging that you will present it. Mr. Henderson is in Washington, and would, I have no doubt, co-operate with you in any way you might wish.

I am, sir, most faithfully, your friend, 

RICH'D C. VAUGHAN.

(Inclosure)

His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States:

Your memorialists would respectfully state that they are loyal citizens of the United States and of the State of Missouri, and, having been such at all times, they regard it as their right and duty to represent to Your Excellency the unhappy condition of affairs now existing along the western border of their state, and to pray Your Excellency's interposition in behalf of a suffering people. Your memorialists feel that justice and humanity demand at least this much at their hands. They therefore beg Your Excellency's attention to the facts hereinafter appearing.

For more than two years past our western border has been the theater of strife and bloodshed, and has been overrun by lawless bands of desperadoes, who, with a reckless and unrestrained soldiery, have rioted upon the substance of the people and have wantonly destroyed their property and trampled upon their most sacred rights. Theft, robbery, house-burning, and other crimes have been perpetrated with impunity, and to such an extent has this system of plunder and vandalism prevailed that it has impoverished and almost depopulated one of the fairest and most wealthy and prosperous parts of our state, and, unless arrested, it will certainly involve in similar ruin many other sections of the state that have hitherto, in a measure, escaped its ravages.

During the past month theft, robbery, arson, and murder have been of almost daily occurrence, and the fearful threat that the border shall be made a desolation, it appears, is about to be executed. During the past fortnight these evils have existed in a most fearful and intensified form, and but little has been done to arrest them. Why they should be allowed your memorialist cannot perceive. They had their origin as far back as the fall of 1861, in the burning of Osceola and other small villages along the border, and from that time to the present they have gradually increased, and the horrible barbarities that have uniformly attended them have at last become as appalling as those which characterized savage warfare in the early history of this country. The lives of the people and the material wealth of the country have been wantonly and wickedly destroyed in a manner and to an extent that have been hitherto unknown and unheard of among a civilized people. That which cannot be carried away is committed to the flames, and thus helpless and defenseless women and children are left destitute of food, raiment, or shelter, and without the means of escape from suffering and ruin.

These evils have produced a degree of consternation that language cannot describe, and which none can comprehend save those who have witnessed it; yet it is the natural result of the retaliatory warfare and of the unrestrained lawlessness that have existed in western Missouri for the last two years, which, if not speedily checked, will involve in ruin by far the greater parts of this state and Kansas, and will be productive of other evils the magnitude of which no one can now estimate. Your memorialists greatly fear that the recent outrages perpetrated in both Missouri and Kansas but faintly foreshadowing the future history of these states if some means cannot be adopted to allay the excitement and arrest the lawless violence now prevailing along the border. Whatever may have been the errors of many of our citizens in the beginning of this terrible rebellion, your memorialists entertain no kind of doubt that an overwhelming majority of the masses are now sincerely determined to support the Government of the United States and the provisional government of Missouri, nor the least doubt that they, in good faith, accept the ordinance of emancipation adopted by the late convention as a final and complete settlement of the question of slavery in this state. There can be no question of these facts, nor have your memorialists a shadow of a doubt that a firm and just policy in the future conduct of the military affairs of this state will prove more conducive to her peace and to the interests of the Federal Government than any other that can possibly be adopted. It will do more in thirty days, if honestly carried out and rigidly enforced, to restore our state to her wonted condition of peace and prosperity than the system of pillage and burning, now enforced, will accomplish in as many years.

Your memorialists further beg leave to say that one of the most fruitful sources of trouble in western Missouri is the attachment of a part of her territory to the District of the Border. This arrangement, however well intended, your memorialists fear will, while it is continued, occasion incessant trouble, and will greatly hinder the restoration of law and order, no matter what policy may be adopted or who may be placed in command. Old animosities existing between the people of Missouri and Kansas, embittered and intensified by the recent barbarous acts of a guerrilla band perpetrated upon the citizens of Lawrence, in the latter state, will develop themselves, and will seek gratification in retaliatory acts upon the citizens of the former, although they are, with rare exceptions, as sincerely opposed to those infamous outlaws as the people of Kansas ever have been. But this late and atrocious outrage has furnished a pretext for future and greater and infinitely more unjust acts of retaliation upon our people than any from which they have hitherto suffered.

The following telegram, published in the "Missouri Democrat," of this city, speaks volumes on this point. The statement that there were citizens of Missouri engaged in the raid, except such as have nearly two years been regarded as outlaws, is not worthy of credit. It is made for effect and to palliate acts of retaliation.

(Special dispatch to the "Missouri Democrat.")

Leavenworth, August 26.

General Lane has returned to Lawrence. A meeting was held on his return. Lane said the citizens had killed 41 of Quantrill's men. Majors Clark and Plumb were denounced. The people of Baldwin disputed Quantrill in passing a ford, and say if Plumb had done his duty they could have whipped the Rebels. Lane is organizing forces, and says he will go into Missouri on the 9th of September. He left General Ewing only on a pledge that Ewing would issue an order directing all the citizens of Jackson, Cass, Bates and part of Vernon counties, except those in Kansas City, Westport, Harrisonville, and Independence, to leave the county within fifteen days. Ewing has issued the order, and the people of Kansas are going into Missouri to see the order executed. The people have demanded the order issued by the general commanding, and the people will see it executed. They say they will have no more of the Schofield-Ewing orders. Ewing is frightened, and in the chase after Quantrill was in a complete quandary. He is looked upon as being a general without a heart and brains. About 50 of the most noted secesh of Platte county have subscribed from $1 to $10 each for the Lawrence fund. By so doing they expect to escape the anticipated devastation of western Missouri.

General Ewing has returned to Kansas City. Quantrill had with him Sam. Hays, brother of Up. Hays, Dick Yeager, Holt, George Todd, and Younger, with 150 men, on whom they could depend in a fight, with about 150 more of the citizens of Platte, Clay. La Fayette, Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties, not over 300 in all. One thousand Kansas men will be in Missouri this week.

Up to this morning 183 bodies were buried in Lawrence. The remains of 7 more bodies are found. One hundred and eighty-two buildings were burned; 80 of them were brick; 65 of them were on Massachusetts street. There are 85 widows and 240 orphans made by Quantrill's raid. Lane has commenced rebuilding his house. Three men have subscribed $100,000 to rebuild the Free State Hotel, known as the Eldridge Hotel. Several merchants have commenced rebuilding. All the laboring men in town will set to work to-morrow to clear off the ruins. In spite of the terrible calamity, the people are in good spirits. All the towns in the state have sent in large sums of money. Even the men burned out on Quantrill's retreat have sent in loads of vegetables, and provisions.

A man was to-day tried in Lawrence, and found guilty of being a spy for Quantrill, and was hung.

The chiefs of the civilized Indians of the Delawares and Sacs and Foxes offered their services to Lane.

Reports just in say the buildings in Cass county, Missouri are on fire, and over 100 of the sympathizers are killed. A fearful retribution no doubt awaits Missouri.

In view of these facts, your memorialists respectfully, but most earnestly, pray Your Excellency to rescind the order by which a part of Missouri is attached to the District of the Border, and to order that it be reattached to the Central District of Missouri, or to any other district in our state.

All that your memorialists desire in the premises, aside from the change above indicated, is that some tried and faithful officer may be placed in command over the soldiers and people in the counties of the border -- some officer whose sense of duty and of love to his country rises far above his political aspirations and party ties and prejudices, and whose sole desire and efforts will be to guard and foster the interests of the Government in that region, and to bring law and order out of the chaos that now prevails.

This is all that the masses of the people desire, and for this your memorialists will ever pray, &c.

A. A. KING.

R. C. VAUGHAN.

A. COMINGO.

(Indorsement.)

It is not improbable that retaliation for the recent great outrage at Lawrence, in Kansas, may extend to indiscriminate slaughter on the Missouri border, unless averted by very judicious action. I shall be obliged if the General-in-Chief can make any suggestions to General Schofield upon the subject.

A. LINCOLN.

August 31, 1863.

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Leavenworth. Kansas, August 24, 1863.

Major-General Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.:

Sir: Disaster has again fallen on our state. Lawrence is in ashes. Millions of property have been destroyed, and, worse yet. nearly 200 lives of our best citizens have been sacrificed. No fiends in human shape could have acted with more savage barbarity than did Quantrill and his band in their last successful raid. I must hold Missouri responsible for this fearful, fiendish raid. No body of men large as that commanded by Quantrill could have gathered together without the people residing in western Missouri knowing everything about it. Such people cannot be considered loyal, and should not be treated as loyal citizens; for, while they conceal the movements of desperadoes like Quantrill and his followers, they are in the worst sense of the word their aiders and abettors, and should be held equally guilty.

There is no way of reaching these armed ruffians while the civilian is permitted to cloak him. There can be no peace in Missouri -- there will be utter desolation in Kansas -- unless both are made to feel promptly the rigor of military law. The peace of both states and the safety of the Republic demand alike this resolute course of action. I urge upon you, therefor, the adoption of this policy as the only policy which can save both western Missouri and Kansas, for if this policy be not immediately adopted, the people themselves, acting upon the common principle of self-defense, will take the matter in their own hands and avenge their own wrongs. You will not misunderstand me. I do not use, or intend to use, any threats. I tell you only what our people, to a man almost, feel. The excitement over the success of Quantrill is intense -- intense all over the state -- and I do not see how I can hesitate to demand, or how you can refuse to grant, a court of inquiry by which the cause of that fatal success may be fully investigated and all the facts laid before the public. I go even further: I demand that this court of inquiry shall have power to investigate all matters touching military wrong-doing in Kansas; and I do this most earnestly to guarantee alike our present and future safety.

As regards arms, we are destitute. There are none at the fort and none in the state. I telegraphed the Secretary of War this fact, asking him to turn over to me here arms in sufficient quantity to meet our wants. He ordered it done, and replied further, that anything the Government could do to aid Kansas should be done. This being so, will you not express to me arms for cavalry and infantry sufficient to arm the regiments? I enclose the copy of the dispatch of the Secretary of War to me, (See p. 170) that you may see its purport and understand its spirit.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

THOMAS CARNEY,

Governor.

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Kansas City, Missouri, August 28, 1863.

Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.:

At the meeting last night, in Leavenworth, Land had a resolution passed proposing a meeting of citizens of Kansas at Paola, on the 8th of September, to search for their stolen property in Missouri. It was intended partly, I think, to scare the people in the border counties into a prompt compliance with my order, and partly for political capital. He telegraphed me this morning that they would place themselves under my orders. I have but little doubt I will be able to control matters so as to prevent any considerable acts of retaliation.

The provost-marshal at Leavenworth has been threatened by Anthony to make him (release) control of the ferry and that boats at Leavenworth for a raid into Platte county, but I do not think he will attempt to carry the threat into execution. Captain Joy will prevent (the crossing) I feel sure. You may rely on my doing everything to prevent a collision with citizens of Kansas; but if one must occur, my soldiers will do their duty.

THOMAS EWING, JR.,

Brigadier-General.

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Headquarters Department of the Missouri,

Saint Louis, August 29, 1863.

His Excellency Thomas Carney, Governor of Kansas:

Governor: I have forwarded a copy of your letter of the 24th to the War Department, and requested the President to appoint a court of inquiry, with full powers to investigate all matters touching military affairs in Kansas, and have urged it strongly. I have no doubt the court will be appointed, and that the responsibility of the sad calamity which has befallen Lawrence will be placed where it properly belongs. Be assured that nothing in my power shall be omitted to visit just vengeance upon all who are in any way guilty of the horrible crime, and to secure Kansas against anything of the kind in future. Meanwhile let me urge upon you the importance of mollifying the just anger by your leaving it to the United States troops to execute the vengeance which they so justly demand. It needs no argument to convince you of the necessity of this course; without it there would be no end of retaliation on either side, and utter desolation on both sides of the border would be the result.

Anything you may require in the way of arms for your militia and complete outfit for your new regiment of volunteers shall be furnished at once. Immediately upon the receipt of your letter I ordered three thousand stands of arms to be shipped to you at once, and to-day have ordered some horses for the Fifteenth Regiment. The arms are not of the best class, but are the very best I have, and are perfectly serviceable.

Permit me to suggest that your militia should be thoroughly organized throughout the state, and that every town should have arms in store, under a small guard, sufficient to arm the militia of the town. The arms can be easily supplied by the General Government. Without such organization, no town in Missouri or Kansas near the border is safe unless it be occupied by United States troops, and to occupy them all you will perceive is utterly impossible with the force under my command. To entirely prevent the assemblage of such bands of desperate outlaws as that under Quantrill, in the summer season, is simply impossible without five times my present force. In a state like Kansas, where everybody is loyal, such a state of things could not exist; but when half or more of the people are disloyal, of all shades, as in western Missouri, and consequently cannot be permitted to carry arms, whether willingly or unwillingly, they are the servants of these brigands and are entirely at their mercy. If they resist their demands or inform upon them, it is at the peril of their lives. I do not wish to extenuate in any degree the crimes of those who are responsible for these inhuman acts; they shall suffer the fullest penalty; but I simply state what at a moment's reflection will convince you are facts, to show the necessity for full preparation on your part to assist me in preventing the recurrence of any calamity like that which befell Lawrence.

I am informed that a meeting was held in Leavenworth a few days ago, in which it was resolved that the people should meet at Paola, on the 8th of September, for the purpose of entering Missouri, to recover their stolen property. If this was the only result of such expedition, or if their vengeance could be limited to those who are actually guilty, there would be no objection to it; but it is a simple matter of course that the action of such an irresponsible organization of enraged citizens would be indiscriminate retaliation upon innocent and guilty alike. You cannot expect me to permit anything of this sort; my present duty requires me to prevent it at all hazards and by all the means in my power. But I hope a few days of reflection will show the popular leaders in Kansas the folly and wickedness of such retaliation, and cause them to be abandoned. I shall confidently rely upon your powerful influence to prevent any such action on the part of the people of Kansas as will force me into the painful position of having to oppose them in any degree, particularly by force.

Be assured, Governor, of my earnest desire to do all in my power to promote the peace and security of Kansas. I shall be glad at all times to know your views and wishes touching your state.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. M. SCHOFIELD,

Major-General.

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Report of Col. Edward Lynde, Ninth Kansas Cavalry.

Paola, May 11, 1863.

Sir: I have the honor to report that, on the 3d instant, I left camp with small detachments from Companies A, D, E, F, and K, of this regiment, for a scout in Cass and Bates counties, Missouri. I scoured Cass county and found no enemy; then returned into Bates county, and when about 10 miles north of Butler received your letters of instructions, dated Fort Leavenworth, ___, 1863; also your letter dated Fort Leavenworth, May 5, directing Company D, Captain (Charles F. ) Coleman, to move his company from Rockville to Butler, Mo., which was immediately complied with. I moved on to the Osage, intending to cross to Hog Island, but found the river too high, and did not cross; then turned east, and on the morning of the 8th, on Double Branches, found a gang of Bushwhackers, under Jackman and Marchbanks, Quantrill having left on the night of the 6th instant for Henry county, Missouri, with 40 men. We found Jackman and Marchbanks with about 20 men, who fled by ones and twos, and then escaped, except 7, who were reported killed by my soldiers. I found county rapidly filling up by bushwhackers families, who are returning from the South under the impression that Price is coming up, and had again taken possession, with their stock. This stream, called the Double Branches, is their rendezvous, and has been since the outbreak of this rebellion; but four loyal families live on it, and they are doubtful. About fifty or sixty families inhabit that country bordering on that stream. I notified them to leave and go south of the Arkansas river. A great part of them positively refused. I burned eleven houses inhabited by bushwhackers' families, and drove off all the stock except that belonging to the reported loyal persons. We broke up four camps of bushwhackers and pursued them to the eastern side of Bates county. I think for the present no danger need be apprehended from that quarter. I will keep a close watch, for I am satisfied they intend to organize a force somewhere in that country; I think in Henry county. About 24 persons were wounded.

Since the fall of Vicksburg, and the breaking up of large parts of Price's and Marmaduke's armies, great numbers of Rebel soldiers, whose families live in western Missouri, have returned, and being unable or unwilling to live at home, have joined the bands of guerrillas infesting the border. Companies which before this summer mustered but 20 or 30 have now grown to 50 or 100. All the people of the country, through fear or favor, feed them, and rarely any give information about them, thus practically their friends, and being familiar with fastnesses of a country wonderfully adapted by nature to guerrilla warfare, they have been generally able to elude the most energetic pursuit. When assembled in a body of several hundred, they scattered before an inferior force; and when our troops scattered in pursuit, they reassembled to fall on an exposed squad, or a weakened post, or defenseless strip of the border. I have had seven stations on the line from which patrols have each day traversed every foot of the border for 90 miles. The troops you have been able to spare me out of the small forces withheld by you from the armies of Generals Grant, Steele, and Blunt, numbering less than 3,000 officers and men for duty, and having over twenty-five separate stations or fields of operation throughout the district, have worked hard and (until this raid) successfully in hunting down the guerrilla and protecting the stations and the border. They have killed more than 100 of them in petty skirmishes and engagements between the 18th of June and the 20 instant.

On the 25th instant I issued an order (See Ewing to Schofield, August 25, 1863, Part II pp. 139, 140.) requiring all residents of the counties of Jackson, Cass, Bates, and that part of Vernon included in this district, except those within one mile of the limits of the military stations and the garrisoned towns, and those north of Brush creek and west of Big Blue, to remove from their present places of residence within fifteen days from that date; those who prove their loyalty to be allowed to move out of the district or to any military station in it, or to any part of Kansas west of the border counties; all others to move out of the district. When the war broke out. the district to which this order applies was peopled by a community three-fourths of whom were intensely disloyal. The avowed loyalists have been driven from their farms long since, and their houses and improvements generally destroyed. They are living in Kansas, and at military stations in Missouri, unable to return to their homes. None remain on their farms but Rebels and neutral families; and practically the conditions of their tenure is that they shall feed, clothe, and shelter the guerrillas, furnish them information, and deceive or withhold information from us. The exceptions are few, perhaps twenty families in those parts of the counties to which the order applies. Two-thirds of those who left their families on the border and went to the Rebel armies have returned. They dared not stay at home, and no matter what terms of amnesty may be granted, they can never live in the country except as brigands; and so long as their families and associates remain, they will stay until the last man is killed, to ravage every neighborhood of the border. With your approval, I was about adopting, before this raid, measures for the removal of the families of the guerrillas and of known Rebels, under which two-thirds of the families affected by this order would have been compelled to go. That order would have been most difficult of execution, and not half so effectual as this. Though this measure may seem too severe, I believe it will prove not inhuman, but merciful, to the noncombatants affected by it. Those who prove their loyalty will find houses enough at the stations and will not be allowed to suffer for want of food. Among them are but few dissatisfied with the order, notwithstanding the present hardship it imposes. Among the Union refugees it is regarded as the best assurance they have ever had of a return to their homes and permanent peace there. To obtain the full military advantages of this removal of the people. I have ordered the destruction of all grain and hay, in shed or in the field, not near enough to military stations for removal there. I have also ordered from the towns occupied as military stations a large number of persons, either openly or secretly disloyal, to prevent the guerrillas getting information of the townspeople, which they will no longer be able to get of the farmers. The execution of these orders will possibly lead to a still fiercer and more active struggle, requiring the best use of the additional troops the general commanding has sent me. but will soon result, though with much unmerited loss and suffering, in putting an end to this savage border war.

I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

THOMAS EWING, JR.,

Brigadier-General.

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Report of Col. Edward Lynde, Ninth Kansas Cavalry.

Headquarters Troops on the Border,

Trading Post, Kansas,

September 28, 1863, 11 p.m.

Sir: A dispatch is just in from Captain (G. F.) Earl, in command of scouts that left yesterday to scour Bates county, Missouri. The captain says he met a small party at the crossing of Marais des Cygnes, south of Butler; killed 4 of them, and had 2 men wounded; the colonel escaped. He afterward found the trail of about 40, and followed it on to the Miami, and there learned, by some women living on that stream, that Marchbanks, with 40 men, passed up on to Grand river yesterday. The captain also writes that quite a number of families still inhabit the houses in the timber, and that the town of Butler is entirely burned. I shall take measures to have all the families removed at once. I think by the last of the week I can give you a definite account of all this part of your district.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. LYNDE,

Colonel Ninth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, Commanding.

Assistant Adjutant-General. District of the Border.

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Butler, Bates County. Mo.,

April 12, 1862.

Capt. Lucien J. Barnes, Assistant Adjutant-General:

The detachments under Captains Leffingwell and Caldwell returned with their prisoners (34) this evening. One of the jayhawkers was killed by a rifle shot in attempting an escape, and one of our men was captured, but was retaken after being robbed of horse, saddle, arms, and clothing, except shirt and drawers. Most of these men are of the worst, and ought to be shot or hung. The whole wooded country of the Marais des Cygnes, Osage, and their tributaries is full of them.

I shall move three columns early next week by different routes from this point and Clinton, making Montevallo, Vernon county, the point of junction. We shall not be able to get any fight out of them. We can only chase them down. Very few arms are captured. They immediately throw them away when close pressed. I have no instruction what to do with captured horses. I am obliged to use many to remount my men. The high speed and mud break down our own and make them for the time unserviceable. But there are many of no use for cavalry, if they were needed. I beg instructions what to do with them. I must also remind you again of our need of effective arms. It is important that we act now with energy. In a short time the foliage will place us at a great disadvantage. I only regret that the weather is so bad.

Very truly, your obedient servant, 

FITZ HENRY WARREN,

Colonel, Commanding Cavalry.

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Report of Brig. Gen. James H. Lane, Commanding Kansas Brigade.

Camp Montgomery, West Point,

September 24, 1861.

Sir: Your dispatch of September 18 is this moment received. My brigade is now marching to this point from Osceola, where I have been on a forced march, expecting to cut off the enemy's train of ammunition. The enemy ambushed the approaches to the town, and after having been driven from them by the advance under Colonels Montgomery and Weer, they took refuge in the buildings of the town to annoy us. We were compelled to shell them out, and in doing so the place was burned to ashes, with an immense amount of stores of all descriptions. There were 15 or 20 of them killed and wounded; we lost none. Full particulars will be furnished you hereafter.

(Note: Further reports not found, but see Plumly to Scott, October 3, post. Remainder of above letter in the general correspondence, post.)

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Headquarters Kansas Brigade,

Camp Montgomery, West Point, Mo.

September 14, 1861.

Commandant of Post, Kansas City: 

We have moved this far with our limited force, clearing our front and rear as far as practicable, for the purpose of co-operating with the force under your command and the column under Colonel Peabody. We have been unable to hear anything from either column. Can you give us any information as to either column? If Peabody has been driven back, Kansas City should be largely re-enforced, and a column moved down the border until we get into communication. The enemy yesterday were concentrating at Rose Hill, intending, I think, to prevent a junction of Peabody's command and my men and as a flank movement upon Kansas City, and should be met by a counter-movement, as I have suggested.

I started a dispatch to Captain Prince last night, which he will get to-day, communicating the same information and making the same suggestion. I have a force actually engaged at Forts Scott and Lincoln and Barnesville, and am now starting a small force at the Trading Post, and occupying this place with 700 cavalry, 700 infantry, and two pieces of artillery. Yesterday I cleared out Butler, and Parkville with my cavalry about 20 miles.

You are now posted as to my command and of my movements; reciprocate by letting me hear from your column and Colonel Peabody's at the earliest possible moment.

J. H. LANE,

Commanding Kansas Brigade.

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Headquarters Kansas Brigade, Camp Montgomery,

West Point, September 17, 1861.

Capt. W. E. Prince, First U. S. Infantry, Commanding Fort Leavenworth: 

Sir: I am here within 24 miles of Harrisonville, and there is nothing in the way of forming a junction with any troops that may be moved upon that point. You will find enclosed Colonel Blunt's report of what he is doing south and Captain Hayes' and Lieutenant-Colonel Moore's reports of the forces at Fort Lincoln and Barnesville.

I very much doubt the policy of forming a junction which will require my moving farther north than Harrisonville. There is nothing in Jackson county in the way of a force moving from Kansas City on Harrisonville. If a column could move from there while I am moving upon it through Butler, we might catch some of the cowardly guerrillas between us and the border, while, if I move up the border and form a junction near Kansas City and then move on Harrisonville, the effect would be to herd the enemy, as Sigel did at Carthage and Lyon did at Springfield.

Can you not induce Captain Reno to send me down a 12 pounder? I am told you have one. I have as brave and skillful artillery officers as there are in the world.

J. H. LANE.

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Headquarters Kansas Brigade,

Camp Montgomery, West Point,

September 24, 1861.

Major-General Fremont,

Commanding Western Department, Saint Louis:

Sir: Although Lexington has fallen since your order of September 18, I propose to move on Kansas City, there to form a junction with General Sturgis. I will be able to move with about 700 cavalry, 500 infantry, 100 artillery, with a battery of two 6-pounder howitzers and two 12-pound mountain howitzers. I will leave here Friday morning, September 27, at 5 o'clock a.m., and will reach Kansas City, Sunday, 29th.

I will leave at Fort Scott Major Judson's command of about 800 men, about 100 men at Fort Lincoln, and an irregular force which I have had organized and placed in forts all along the southern and eastern border. Inclosed you will see all that has transpired at those points. (Note: Not found.)

You will see by the reports I inclose that rumors are rife that there is a force moving on southern Kansas. If such is the case, God only knows what is to become of Kansas when we move on Kansas City.

I hope, as you have now opened communication with me, to hear from you frequently. I trust you will approve the march on Osceola and its destruction. It was the depot of the traitors for southern Missouri. The movement was intended, first, to destroy the ammunitions train; second, as a demonstration for the relief of Peabody; third, hoping to hear of a force moving from Sedalia; and fourth, a covered movement I suppose we would have to make to the north. Our march east was through Papinsville, Prairie City, down the south side of the Osage, returning through Pleasant Gap and Butler to this point.

I inclose you a printed copy of a proclamation which I have issued, which it is hoped will meet your approbation. (Note: Portion of this letter omitted above appears as report of skirmish, September 22 at Osceola, Mo., p. 161.)

But for the misfortune at Lexington this part of Missouri was safe.

J. H. LANE.

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Report of Col. Edward Lynde, Ninth Kansas Cavalry.

Paola, Kansas, May 26, 1863.

Sir: I have the honor to report that Captain (C. F.) Coleman, with a small detachment from Companies F and K, made a descent on Hog Island, in the southern part of Bates county, Missouri, last week, and found about 300 Rebels, who had erected light breastworks, and were preparing for defense. They were attacked by Captain Cole- man's detachment and routed, leaving 3 killed and 5 wounded, but no prisoners. Coleman had 1 man killed. The detachment also destroyed about 2,000 pounds of bacon, and a quantity of corn the Rebels had gathered on the island. The Rebels scattered and fled to Henry county. I have adopted the plan of hiding a few men in the bushes to watch for the Butternuts that infest our border, and have sent two small detachments back into the country to watch the route they seem to travel in going west. I hope in a few days to be able to give you an account of a good haul, but I have not enough troops at these headquarters to do so well as I might, if another company was here.

Captain (John F.) Stewart, of Company C, has not reported yet, and I have no knowledge of any troops at Olathe. If it would meet your approbation, I would change some of the companies, and station them a little different from what they are. I think they would be more effective; but I shall not do so without your consent. Would it not be possible to send two companies of infantry down here, and let them be divided between these stations, and they can hold the place and take care of the Government stores, and then all the mounted troops can be in motion? It would help very much.

I am, captain, respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. LYNDE,

Colonel Commanding.

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Commanding Department of the Missouri.

Headquarters Department of the Missouri,

Saint Louis, Mo., September 14, 1863.

Colonel: I have the honor to forward herewith, for the information of the General-in-chief, Brigadier-General Ewing's report of the burning of Lawrence, Kans., and massacre of its inhabitants, and of the operations of his troops in the pursuit and punishment of the Rebels and assassins who committed the atrocious deed.

Immediately after his return from the pursuit of Quantrill, on the 25th of August, General Ewing issued an order depopulating certain counties, and destroying all forage and subsistence therein. The reasons which led him to adopt this severe measure are given in his report.

The people of Kansas were, very naturally, intensely excited over the destruction of one of their fairest towns, and the murder of a large number of its unarmed citizens, and many of them called loudly for vengeance, not only upon the perpetrators of the horrible crime, but also upon all the people residing in the western counties of Missouri, and who were assumed to be greatly unjust to the people of Kansas, in general, to say that they shared in this desire for indiscriminate vengeance; but there were not wanting unprincipled leaders to fan the flame of popular excitement and goad the people to madness, in the hope of thereby accomplishing their own selfish ends.

On the 26th of August, a mass meeting was held in the city of Leavenworth at which it was resolved that the people should meet at Paola, on the 8th of September, armed and supplied for a campaign of fifteen days, for the purpose of entering Missouri to search for their stolen property and retaliate upon the people of Missouri for the outrages committed in Kansas. This meeting was addressed by some of the leading men of Kansas in the most violent and inflammatory manner, and the temper of these leaders and of their followers was such there seemed to be great danger of an indiscriminate slaughter of the people in western Missouri, or of a collision with the troops, under General Ewing, in their efforts to prevent it. Under these circumstances, I determined to visit Kansas and western Missouri, for the purpose of settling the difficulty, if possible, and also for the purpose of gaining more accurate information of the condition of the border counties of Missouri, and thus making myself able to judge of the wisdom and necessity of the severe measures which had been adopted by General Ewing.

I arrived at Leavenworth City on the 2d of September, and obtained an interview with the Governor of the state and other prominent citizens. I found the Governor and his supporters opposed to all unauthorized movement on the part of the people of Kansas, and willing to co-operate with me in restoring quiet, and in providing for future security. I then sought and obtained an interview with the Hon. J. H. Lane, United States senator, who was the recognized leader of those engaged in the Paola movement. Mr. Lane explained to me his views of the necessity, as he believed, of making a large portion of western Missouri a desert waste, in order that Kansas might be secured against future invasion. He proposed to tender to the district commander the services of all the armed citizens of Kansas to aid in executing this policy. This, I informed him, was impossible; that whatever measures of this kind it might be necessary to adopt must be executed by United States troops; that irresponsible citizens could not be entrusted with the discharge of such duties. He then insisted that the people who might assemble at Paola should be permitted to enter Missouri "in search of their stolen property," and desire to place them under my command he (General Lane) pledging himself that they should strictly confine themselves to such search, abstaining entirely from all unlawful acts. General Lane professed entire confidence in his ability to control, absolutely, the enraged citizens who might volunteer in such enterprise. I assured Mr. Lane that nothing would afford me greater pleasure than to do all in my power to assist the outraged and despoiled people to recover their property as well as to punish their despoilers; but that the search proposed would be fruitless, because all the valuable property which had not already been recovered from those of the robbers who had been slain had been carried by the others far beyond the border counties, and that I had not the slightest faith in his ability to control a mass of people who might choose to assemble under a call which promised the finest possible opportunity for plunder. General Lane desired me to consider the matter fully, and inform him, as soon as possible, of my decision, saying if I decided not to allow the people the "right" which they claimed, he would appeal to the President. It was not difficult to discover that so absurd a proposition as that of Mr. Lane could not have been made in good faith, nor had I much difficulty in detecting the true object which was proposed to be accomplished; which was to obtain, if possible, my consent to accept the services of all who might meet at Paola, and then take them into Missouri under my command, when I, of course, would be held responsible for the murder and robbery which must necessarily ensue.

I soon became satisfied that, notwithstanding Mr. Lane's assertion to the contrary, he had no thought of trying to carry out his scheme in opposition to my orders, and that the vast majority of the people of Kansas were entirely opposed to any such movement. On the 4th of September I published an order, a copy of which is inclosed, prohibiting armed men, not in the military service, from passing from one state into the other, and sent a sufficient force along the state line to enforce the order against any who might be disposed to disobey it. The people quietly acquiesced. The Paola meeting, which had promised to be of gigantic proportions, dwindled down to a few hundred people, who spent a rainy day in listening to speeches and passing resolutions relative to the senator from Kansas and the commander of the Department of the Missouri.

I inclose copies of correspondence with Governor Carney, showing the measures which have been adopted to place the state in a condition to protect itself against such raids as that made against Lawrence. These measures, together with those which are being carried out in western Missouri, will, I believe, place beyond possibility any such disaster in future.

Not the least of the objects of my visit to the border was to see for myself the condition of the border counties, and determine what modification, if any, ought to be made in the policy which General Ewing had adopted. I spent several days in visiting various points in the counties affected by General Ewing's order, and in conversation with the people of all shades of politics who are most deeply affected by the measures adopted. I became fully satisfied that the order depopulating certain counties, with the exception of specified districts, was wise and necessary. That portion of the order which directed the destruction of property I did not approve, and it was modified accordingly.

The evil which exists upon the border of Kansas and Missouri is somewhat different in kind and far greater in degree than in other parts of Missouri. It is the old border hatred intensified by the rebellion and by the murders, robberies, and arson which have characterized the irregular warfare carried on during the early periods of the rebellion, not only by the Rebels, but by our own troops and people. The effect of this has been to render it impossible for any man who openly avowed and maintained his loyalty to the Government to live in the border counties of Missouri outside of military posts. A large majority of the people remaining were open Rebels, while the remainder were compelled to abstain from any word or acts in opposition to the rebellion at the peril of their lives. All were practically enemies of the Government and friends of the Rebel guerrillas. The latter found no difficulty in supplying their commissariat wherever they went, and, what was of vastly greater importance to them, they obtained prompt and accurate information of every movement of our troops, while no citizen was so bold as to give us information in regard to the guerrillas. In a country remarkably well adapted by nature for guerrilla warfare, with all the inhabitants practically the friends of the guerrillas, it has been found impossible to rid the country of such enemies. At no time during the war have these counties been free from them. No remedy short of destroying the source of their great advantage over our troops could cure the evil. 

I did not approve of the destruction of property, at first contemplated by General Ewing, for two reasons, viz: I believe the end can be accomplished without it, and it cannot be done in a reasonable time so effectually as to very much embarrass the guerrillas. The country is full of hogs and cattle, running in the woods, and of potatoes in the ground and corn in the field, which cannot be destroyed or moved in a reasonable time.

I hope the time is not far distant when the loyal people can return in safety to their homes, and when those vacated by Rebels will be purchased and settled by people who are willing to live in peace with their neighbors on both sides of the line. 

The measure which has been adopted seems a very harsh one; but after the fullest examination and consideration of which I am capable, I am satisfied it is wise and humane. It was not adopted hastily, as a consequence of the Lawrence massacre. The subject had long been discussed between General Ewing and myself, and its necessity recognized as at least probable. I had determined to adopt the milder policy of removing all families known to be connected with or in sympathy with the guerrillas, and had commenced its execution before the raid upon Lawrence. The utter impossibility of deciding who were guilty and who were innocent, and the great danger of retaliation by the guerrillas upon those who should remain, were the chief reasons for adopting the present policy. In executing it, a liberal test of loyalty is adopted. Persons who come to the military posts and claim protection as loyal citizens are not turned away without perfectly satisfactory evidence of disloyalty. It is the first opportunity which those people have had since the war began of openly proclaiming their attachment to the Union without fear of Rebel vengeance.

It is possible that General Ewing might have done more than he did do to guard against such a calamity as that at Lawrence; but I believe he is entitled to great credit for the energy, wisdom, and zeal displayed while in command of that district. The force at his command was larger, it is true, than in other portions of the department, yet it was small for the service required -- necessarily so, as will be readily understood when it is considered how much my troops have been increased by our advance into Arkansas and the Indian country.

I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. M. SCHOFIELD,

Major-General.

(Inclosure No. 2.)

Washington, August 24, 1863.

Governor Carney:

The order for arms and ammunition requested in your telegram of this morning has been given. They will be turned over on your requisition. Any other aid you require will be given if in the power of the Government.

EDWIN M. STANTON.

Secretary of War.

(Inclosure No. 5.)

Leavenworth, Kans., September 3, 1863.

Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, Commanding Department of the Missouri:

Sir: The brutal outrages committed upon the unoffending and unarmed citizens of Lawrence by Quantrill and his band have not only aroused every man in the state, but shocked the whole country. The wish of both is that the doers of these bloody deeds -- their aiders and abettors -- shall be steadily pursued and surely punished, for there can be no safety in the present or the future while these miscreants are permitted to live. 

The 9th day of this month, by order of your district commander, is the day fixed upon to begin this summary punishment. That this punishment may be swift and sure, I offer you any forces at my command. You have promptly sent me a sufficient quantity of arms to meet the wants of the state. With these arms in their hands, and organized, our citizens can repel any raid which brutal marauders like Quantrill and his band may attempt, or punish, instantly and severely, those who shall aid or abet them. I have confidence only in organized action, and satisfy both of your ability to lead our forces and your resolve to punish the guilty, I shall be happy to place the military of the state at your disposal.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

THOMAS CARNEY,

Governor.

(Inclosure No. 6.)

Kansas City, Mo., September 3, 1863.

His Excellency Thomas Carney, Governor of Kansas:

Governor: I am in receipt of your letter of this morning. I fully sympathize with your feeling of anxiety to give security to the Kansas border, and to avenge on the Rebels in Missouri the unparalleled atrocities of the Lawrence massacre. My forces in Missouri and Kansas having been greatly reduced by re-enforcements sent to Generals Grant, Steele, and Blunt, I am glad to avail myself of your offer of a part of the Kansas militia to aid the United States forces in this district. 

With the chief towns on the eastern border of Kansas garrisoned by the militia of the state, and with two regiments of volunteers, which I have lately ordered to re-enforce the troops already in the district, the military authorities will be able not only to execute the orders for the expulsion of disloyal persons, but also to pursue and destroy the guerrilla bands which have so long ravaged the border.

For the purpose named, I will accept the services of so many companies of militia as may be deemed necessary by you and the district commander to protect the towns referred to.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant.

J. M. SCHOFIELD,

Major-General.

------

Commanding District of the Border.

Headquarters District of the Border,

Kansas City, Mo., August 31, 1863.

Sir: Some commanders of detachments engaged in the pursuit of Quantrill are still out after his scattered forces. In advance of their return, I submit a report of the raid, which, in some respects, may be deficient, for want of official information from them.

Three or four times this summer the guerrillas have assembled, to the number of several hundred, within 20 or 30 miles of the Kansas border. They have threatened, alternately, Lexington, Independence, Warrensburg, and Harrisonville, and frequent reports have reached me from scouts and spies, that they meant to sack and destroy Shawnee, Olathe, Paola, Mound City, and other towns in Kansas near the eastern border. I placed garrisons in all these Kansas towns, and issued arms and rations to volunteer militia companies there. From reliable sources I learned toward the last of July, that they were threatening a raid on Lawrence, and soon after they commenced assembling on the Snibar, in the western part of La Fayette county. I at once ordered a company of infantry which was then coming down to Fort Riley, to stop at Lawrence, which they did for more than a week, and until after the guerrilla force had been dispersed by a force I sent against them. 

From this time, though constantly receiving information as to their movements and plans, I could learn nothing of a purpose to make a raid into Kansas. Their forces were again scattered in small predatory bands, and I had all available forces in like manner scattered throughout the Missouri portion of this district, and especially the border counties, besetting their haunts and paths. 

Quantrill's whole force was about 300 men, composed of selected bands from this part of Missouri. About 250 were assembled on Blackwater, near the eastern border of this district, at least 50 miles from the Kansas line, on the 17th and 18th instant, and I am informed by Major (J. T.) Ross, Missouri State Militia, who has been scouting in the southwest part of Saline county that the rendezvous was there.

Lieutenant-Colonel (B. F.) Lazear, commanding two companies of the First Missouri, at Warrensburg, heard, on the morning of the 20th, that this force had passed the day before 12 miles north of him, going west, and moved promptly after them, sending orders to Major (A. W.) Mullins, commanding two companies, of the same regiment, at Pleasant Hill, to move on them from that point.

On the night of the 19th, however, Quantrill passed through Chapel Hill to the head of the Middle Fork of Grand River, 8 miles northwest of Harrisonville and 15 miles southeast of Aubrey, the nearest station in Kansas, passing 5 miles south of Aubrey at 6 p.m. going west. Aubrey is 35 miles south of Kansas City, and about 45 miles southeast of Lawrence. Kansas City is somewhat farther from Lawrence.

Captain (J. A.) Pike, commanding two companies at Aubrey, received information of the presence of Quantrill on Grand river at 5:30 p.m. of the 20th. He promptly forwarded the information up and down the line and to my headquarters, and called in his scouting parties to march upon them. One hour and a half later he received information that Quantrill had just passed into Kansas. Unhappily, however, instead of setting out at once in pursuit, he remained at the station, and merely sent information of Quantrill's movement to my headquarters, and to Captain Coleman, commanding two companies at Little Santa Fe, 12 miles north of the line. Captain (C. F.) Coleman, with near 100 men, marched at once to Aubrey, and the available force of the two stations numbering about 200 men, set out at midnight in pursuit. But Quantrill's path was over the open prairie, and difficult to follow at night, so that our force gained but little on him. By Captain Pike's error of judgment in failing to follow promptly and closely, the surest means of arresting the terrible blow was thrown away, for Quantrill would never have gone as far as Lawrence, or attacked it, with 100 men close on his rear.

The first dispatch of Captain Pike reached here at 11:30 p.m.; the second an hour later. Before 1 o'clock Major (P. B.) Plumb, my chief of staff, at the head of about 50 men (which was all that could be got here and at Westport), started southward, and at daylight heard at Olathe, 25 miles from here, that the enemy had passed at midnight through Gardner, 18 miles from Lawrence, going toward that town. Pushing on. Major Plumb overtook Captains Coleman and Pike, 6 miles southeast of Lawrence, at 10:30 o'clock Friday, the 21st instant, and by the light of the blazing farm houses saw that the enemy had got 6 miles south of Lawrence, on their way out of the state. The enemy were overtaken near Palmyra by Major Plumb's command, to which were there added from 50 to 100 citizens, who had been hastily assembled and led in pursuit by General Lane. By this time the horses of our detachments were almost exhausted. Nearly all were young horses, just issued to the companies, and had marched more than 65 miles without rest, and without food from the morning of the 20th. Quantrill had his men mounted on the best horses of the border and had collected fresh ones going to and at Lawrence, almost enough to remount his command. He skillfully kept over 100 of his best mounted and best trained men in the rear, and often formed line of battle, to delay pursuit and give time and rest to the most wearied of his forces. By the time our scattered soldiers and citizens could get up and form line, the guerrillas' rear guard would, after a volley, break into column, and move off at a speed that defied pursuit. Thus the chase dragged through the afternoon, over the prairie, generally following no roads or paths, until night, when Quantrill's rear guard formed line of battle 3 miles north of Paola, and 20 miles from where they entered the state. A skirmish ensued, the guerrillas breaking and scattering, so that our forces, in the darkness, lost the trail, and went into Paola for food and rest, while search was being made for it. Lieutenant-Colonel (C. S.) Clark, Ninth Kansas Volunteers, with headquarters at Coldwater Grove (13 miles south of Aubrey), Rockville (13 miles south of Coldwater Grove), Chouteau's Trading Post (15 miles south of Rockville), and Harrisonville. There were two companies at each station, but the force out patrolling rarely left 50 men in camp at each post. He received Captain Pike's message as to the gathering of Quantrill's forces troops at Rockville and Trading Post to march up to Coldwater Grove. At 3 o'clock on the morning of the 21st, he received a dispatch from Captain Coleman, at Aubrey, saying that Quantrill had crossed into Kansas, and he set out with 30 men. following Quantrill's trail nearly to Gardner, and thence going south to Paola. reaching there at 5 p.m. with this command, and a force of perhaps 50 citizens, and a part of Captain (N. L.) Benter's company of the Twelfth Kansas Infantry, which had been garrisoning Paola, he prepared to attack Quantrill at the ford of Bull creek, 3 miles south of Paola, toward which he was then retreating. But Quantrill, on coming within 4 or 5 miles of that crossing, soon after dark, formed line of battle, as I stated above, broke trail, turned sharp to the north, and dodged and bewildered the force in waiting for him as well as that in pursuit.

These troops at the ford returned to Paola about the time the command which had followed Quantrill reached there. One of the parties in search of the trail found it 5 miles north of Paola, and reported the fact to Lieutenant-Colonel Clark, who was the ranking officer there, at between 1 and 2 o'clock. He was slow in ordering pursuit, which was not renewed until daybreak. He, at that time, sent Captain Coleman forward, with 30 men of the Ninth Kansas, which he himself had brought to Paola, and 40 of the same regiment, which had got there from the Trading Post at about 2 o'clock that morning, and about 70 militia, chiefly of Linn county. He marched soon after himself with the troops which had followed Quantrill the day before.

Half an hour before Major Plumb started from Kansas City on the night of the 21st, Captain Palmer, Eleventh Kansas, was sent by him from Westpoint with 50 men of his company down the line to near Aubrey, where he met a messenger from Captain Coleman, directing re-enforcements to Spring Hill, at which point he struck Quantrill's trail, and followed it to within 7 miles of Lawrence. Thence, learning that Quantrill had gone south, he turned southeast; and at Lanesfield (Uniontown) was joined by a force about 80 strong, under Major Phillips, composed of detachments of Captain Smith's company. Enrolled Missouri Militia, Captain (T. P.) Killen's Ninth Kansas, and a squad of the Fifth Kansas. This latter force had been collected by Major (L. K.) Thacher, at Westport, and dispatched from there at noon on Friday, the 21st, via Lexington, Kansas. The command of Major Phillips, thus increased to 130, pushed southeast from Lanesfield, and struck Quantrill's trail about sunrise, 5 miles north of Paola, and but a little behind the commands of Coleman and Clark.

Major Thacher, commanding at Westport when news arrived that Quantrill was returning by way of the Osage valley, took the rest of the mounted troops on the upper border (Company A, Ninth, and Company E, Eleventh Kansas, numbering 120 men) and moved down the line. He struck Quantrill's trail below Aubrey, immediately in the rear of Lieutenant-Colonel Clark's command.

Quantrill, when, after dark, he had baffled his pursuers, stopped to rest 5 miles northeast of Paola, and there, after midnight, a squad of Linn county militia, under Captain Pardee, in search of the trail, alarmed the camp. He at once moved on, and between that point and the Kansas line his column came within gunshot of the advance of about 150 of the Fourth Missouri State under Lieutenant-Colonel (W.) King, which had been ordered from the country of the Little Blue, in Jackson county, down the line, to intercept him. The advance apprised Lieutenant-Colonel King of the approach of another force. Skirmishers were thrown out, but Quantrill, aided by the darkness and broken character of the prairie, eluded the force, and passed on. Lieutenant-Colonel King was unable to find his trail that night.

The pursuing forces thus thrown behind, Quantrill passed out of Kansas and got to the timber of the Middle Fork of Grand river in Missouri, near his last rendezvous before starting, about noon of the 23rd, an hour in advance of the head of the pursuing column. There his forces scattered, many dismounted or, worn out through fatigue or wounds, sought concealment and safety in the fastnesses of the region. About 100 moved down Grand river, while the chief part of the force passed northeast towards Chapel Hill. Our forces divided in like manner at that point, Major Plumb and Major Thacher following the main body.

On the 20th of August, I went to Leavenworth on official business. The dispatches of Captain Pike were not sent to Leavenworth until 8 a. m. on the morning of the 21st, because the telegraph offices at Leavenworth City and Fort Leavenworth close at 11 p.m. for want of relief operators. I received those dispatches, and the one announcing that Quantrill had passed through Gardner going toward Lawrence, not until 10:45 a.m. on the 21st. There was no cavalry stationed at Fort Leavenworth, though five companies of the Eleventh Ohio were there outfitting for Fort Laramie, but without arms. There was one company at Leavenworth with nearly 300 men of these companies. News reaching me at Leavenworth City of the burning of Lawrence, and of the avowed purpose of the Rebels to go thence to Topeka, I thought it best to go to De Soto, and thence, after an unavoidable delay of five hours in crossing the Kansas river, to Lanesfield. Finding there, at daybreak, that Quantrill had passed east, I left the command to follow as rapidly as possible, and pushed on, reaching, soon after dark, the point on Grand river where Quantrill's force had scattered.

Lieutenant-Colonel Lazear, with the detachment of the First Missouri, from Warrensburg and Pleasant Hill, numbering about 200 men, after failing to find Quantrill on Blackwater on the 20th. encountered him at noon on the 21st on Big creek, broke up his force, and has since had five very successful engagements with different parties of his band. The pursuit of Quantrill, after our forces had caught up with him at Brooklyn, was so close that he was unable to commit any further damage to property on his route, but was compelled to abandon almost all his horses and much of the plunder from the Lawrence stores; and since he reached Missouri a large part of his men have abandoned their horses and taken to the brush afoot. The number of equipments so far captured exceeds one hundred, and the number of participants in the massacre already killed is fully as great. The most unremitting efforts are being made to hunt down the remainder of the band before they recover from the pursuit.

Familiar as many of Quantrill's men were with our prairie -- unobstructed as to course by any roads or fords, with a rolling country to traverse, as open as the sea -- to head off his well-mounted, compact, and well-disciplined force was extremely difficult. The troops which followed and overtook him south of Lawrence, without a co-operating force which did not follow, but undertook to head him, failed, though nearly all exerted themselves to the utmost to accomplish it. There were few of the troops which did not travel a hundred miles in the first twenty-four hours of the pursuit. Many horses were killed. Four men of the Eleventh Ohio were sun-stricken, among them Lieutenant Dick, who fell dead on dismounting to rest. The citizens engaged in pursuit. Though they were able, generally, to keep close upon the enemy between Brooklyn and Paola, killing and wounding many stragglers and men in the rear guard, they were without the requisite arms, organization, or numbers to successfully encounter the enemy.

Although Quantrill was nearly eleven hours in Kansas before reaching Lawrence, no information of his approach was conveyed to the people of that town. Captain Pike, at Aubrey, sent no messenger either to Paola, Olathe, or Lawrence, one or the other of which towns, it was plain, was to be attacked. Captain Coleman, on getting the news at Little Santa Fe, at once dispatched a messenger to Olathe asking the commanding officers there to speed it westward. That officer, not knowing in what direction the guerrillas were moving, sent a messenger out the Santa Fe road, who, when nearly at Gardner, hearing that Quantrill had just passed through there, returned to Olathe.

With one exception, citizens along the route who could well have given the alarm did not even attempt it. One man excused himself for his neglect on the plea that his horses had been working hard the day before. A boy living 10 or 12 miles from Lawrence begged his father to let him mount his pony, and, going a by-road, alarm the town, but he was not allowed to go. Mr. J. Reed, living in the Heser neighborhood, near Fudora, started ahead of Quantrill from the place to carry the warning to Lawrence, but while riding at full speed, his horse fell and was killed, and he himself so injured that he died next day.

Thus surprised, the people of Lawrence were powerless. They had never, except on the occasion I referred to above, thought an attack probable, and, feeling strong in their own preparation, never, even then, asked for troops to garrison the town. They had an abundance of arms in their city arsenal, and could have met Quantrill, on half an hour's notice, with 500 men. The guerrillas, reaching the town at sunrise, caught most of the inhabitants asleep, and scattered to the various houses so promptly as to prevent the concentration of any considerable number of men. They robbed most of the stores and banks, and burned one hundred and eighty-five buildings, including one-fourth of the private residences and nearly all of the business houses of the town, and, with circumstances of the most fiendish atrocity, murdered 140 unarmed men, among them 14 recruits of the Fourteenth Regiment and 20 of the Second Kansas Colored Volunteers.

------

The proximity of the John Brown farm, and the John Brown Fort, so-called, to Bates county makes a brief sketch about him pertinent to this history.

There is no record, so far as I know, that John Brown ever sought to do any one in Bates county harm, or to commit an unlawful act of any kind in this county. His name is connected with Spy Mound, but it appears that he used it, if at all, merely as an outlook into Missouri. There is some history of an invasion of Vernon county for the purpose of carrying off some negroes to send them to Canada and freedom. But no antebellum character looms larger upon the horizon of that excited period.

The story of his career after going to Kansas Territory is interesting, and it depends largely upon the sympathies of the writer of the story whether he is pictured as saint or sinner, bandit or hero. In a sense he paid the price of his folly on the scaffold; in another sense, he paid the full measure of devotion of truth and the great principle of human freedom. History since his execution for what was regarded at the time as a great public crime by the law, and in the minds of the great body of the American people, suggests the thought of Bryant in "The Battle Field":

From an editorial by the author printed in the Bates County Record, April 5, 1918, after a personal visit to the Brown farm, the following excerpts are taken:

John Brown's mound lies about a mile and a half north and about a mile west of Amoret. just west of the state line road; and Spy mound a little to the southeast, just east of the state line road in Bates county, Missouri. This mound is quite large and has a large acreage almost level on top. Just south of the Brown mound in Kansas is the beautiful Taylor home mound, and just a short distance from that "Toadhead" mound looms up. This mound looks exactly like an egg with the little end up and is a striking feature of a landscape otherwise broken and beautified by a number of mounds and lovely valleys between as far as the eye can see in every direction. From the top of Brown's mound there is nothing to break the view to the east and northeast within the limit of human vision, but to the southeast the vision is arrested by Spy mound. From this fact must come the story that "Old Osawatomie John" frequently left his fort and and ambled over on Spy mound whence he could get an unobstructed view to the eastward and all angles for forty or fifty miles with his trusty field glasses. His object was to spy out the pro-slavery men from Missouri and elsewhere who were marching to Kansas to help make her a slave state. We can not go into the stories of his life in connection with the 'war in Kansas' from '54 to '58: our only purpose is to give a brief account of what we saw. To get to the Brown farm go west from Amoret, Missouri, to the State line road, turning north at the cemetery corner, thence about a mile and a half to a private road turning to the left into the state of Kansas. This is about a quarter from an old dilapidated, unoccupied house just on the rise of the mound, and when you are through the gate by this old house you will be fairly on Brown's mound, and it is about a quarter thence to the summit, over a fairly rough road.

Over the top, on the west side, in a deep, rock-embattled ravine you will come to the two-story farm house dwelling, abutting a solid stone formation, with a front two-story porch or veranda built of wood. The rock formations all about the place are wonderful, and no more obscure or defensible location could have been selected for "military purposes" as old John Brown spoke of it. The original John Brown house or fort stood about fifty yards to the southwest of the present dwelling, but only a few of the huge logs used in its construction may now be seen. These logs with the score marks of the axe left by the hewer still plainly visible, and the dove-tail cuts at the ends, were of curious interest. They seemed to be about 18 feet long, 6 inches thick and from 12 to 15 inches wide. They have recently been used as a part of an old barn or cattle coral. It seemed an ignoble use after the heroic association of history. The gulches or ravines run south by west, and as we followed a foot path up the ravine about half a quarter from the site of the fort to the big hawthorn tree, all scarred up, on trunk and branches, by the initials of visitors to that historic spot, we had a curious sense of treading upon sacred soil -- where the blood of men "whose only offense was that they were free-state men" was spilled by a gang of outlaws and ruffians. Here, by this great old hawthorn tree, a tragedy was enacted known in history as the "Hamilton massacre," which marked an epoch in the life of Kansas and which had much to do with blotting out the stain of African slavery in this nation. Eleven men were lined up and ruthlessly shot down to make a ruffian holiday. Five were instantly killed, and the others were wounded, except one, who fell and feigned death and thus escaped unhurt.

In 1888 a splendid monument was erected in the Trading Post cemetery some four miles away from the spot of the bloody tragedy, which has carved upon it the names of the men shot, the date, two stanzas of Whittier's poem on the "Marais du Cygnes Massacre," all in memory of the "martyrs."

The Hamilton massacre occurred on May 19, 1858.

In just one year, six months and thirteen days from this foul massacre of innocent men old Osawatomie John Brown was executed by hanging by the neck at Charlestown, Virginia, now West Virginia, for his insurrectionary move upon Harper's Ferry; and in an old encyclopedia we read: "After a trial of three days, in which Brown was unable on account of his wounds, to stand up, he was found guilty and sentenced to death on the scaffold within 48 hours. He died calmly on the 2nd day of December 1859. It may safely be assumed that his execution hastened the downfall of slavery in the United States. Brown was a man of stern and uncompromising moral principle; and though open to the charge of fanaticism, and regarded as justly and necessarily condemned to death under the law, he seemed to be increasingly viewed as a martyr and a hero." Brown was fifty-nine years of age when hung. The book quoted was published in 1880, thirty-eight years ago, and in that time "Osawatomie Brown" has taken his place among the heroic and martyred dead of our country.

Strange is the mutation of time! A felon and an outlaw yesterday! Executed by his fellow human beings; today admired, honored and worshiped as an example of the world's real heroes the -- forerunner of a higher and more righteous civilization!

We are reminded of Lowell's line: "Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne." In the light of the present era it is not pleasant to think of an old man so wounded in his fight for right that he could not stand up to be sentenced to die "within 48 hours" an ignoble death on the scaffold. But this was only one of a multitude of similar things which has been enacted by society in the full conviction that society was only defending and preserving itself. But society has moved up somewhat since then, and few men are now hanged by the neck until dead.

Supplementary to the foregoing I append the letter of William E. Connelley, secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas, author of a "Life of John Brown," a "History of Kansas," and other historical works. He is an authority on all matters touching Kansas history and this letter is an important contribution:

October 8, 1917.

Mr. W. O. Atkeson,

Butler, Missouri.

Dear Sir: I have received your favor of the 1st inst., requesting me to write you a letter on the John Brown raid into Missouri in 1858.

This raid was not made into Bates county, but into Vernon county.

John La Rue lived at that time half a mile north of the Osage river, on Duncan's creek, and on the northwest 1/4 of the southeast 1/4 of section 8, township 37, range 33. He owned five slaves. Harvey G. Hicklin lived on the south 1/2 of the southeast 1/4 of section 5, township 37, range 33, on the estate of James Lawrence, deceased. Hicklin had married a daughter of Lawrence. Near the village of Hoover, on the south side of the Osage, David Cruise lived on the northeast 1/4 of the southeast 1/4 of section 21, township 37, range 33.

John Brown during the summer of 1858 had built his fort on the Snyder claim, in Linn county, Kansas, which was less than half a mile from the Missouri line, being the northwest 1/4 of fractional section 26, township 20, range 25.

Among the Lawrence negroes under the care of Mr. Hicklin, was a young man named Jim. On the night of Sunday, December 19, Jim rode into Kansas to see John Brown. It is said that Brown was at that time at Bain's fort. Jim told Brown that the slaves of his neighborhood were to be taken to Texas and sold in a few days and implored Brown to rescue them. This, Brown agreed to do. On Monday night Brown organized two parties to go into Missouri. He led one party himself. It was composed of about fifteen men. The other party numbered nine men and was led by John H. Kagi. Brown went to the Lawrence farm and to the house of La Rue. Kagi went to the house of David Cruise. Brown took from Hicklin on the Lawrence farm, five negroes, two men, one woman and two children. Kagi found the door to the residence of Mr. Cruise locked, and demanded that it be opened. Mr. Cruise attempted to fire on Kagi and his men but his weapon was not discharged. He was, however, shot and killed. Kagi took a slave woman from the premises of Mr. Cruise. He also took two yoke of oxen and a wagon laden with provisions and clothes. It is said that he also took eleven head of mules and two horses. Brown secured five additional slaves from John La Rue, although in the statement of Harvey G. Hicklin it is said that these slaves belonged to Isaac La Rue. These slaves and the other property taken by John Brown and his party, and by Kagi and his party, were carried into Kansas, and eventually found their way into Canada over the underground railroad.

This raid, in connection with the Marais des Cygnes massacre by Hamilton, in the preceding May, gave rise to the famous "Parallels" written by John Brown, and which are as follow:

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Trading Post, Kansas, January __, 1859.

Gents: You will greatly oblige a humble friend by allowing me the use of your columns while I briefly state two parallels in my poor way. Not one year ago, eleven quiet citizens of this neighborhood (Viz.) Wm. Robertson, Wm. Colpetzer, Amos Hall, Austin Hall, John Campbell, Asa Snyder, Thos. Stilwell, Wm. Hairgrove, Asa Hairgrove, Patrick Ross, and B. L. Reed, were gathered up from their work and their homes by an armed force (under one Hamilton) and without trial; or opportunity to speak in their own defense, were formed into a line and all but one shot. Five killed and five wounded. One fell unharmed, pretending to be dead. All were left for dead. Now I inquire what action has ever since (the occasion in May last) has been taken by either the President of the United States; the Governor of Missouri; the Governor of Kansas or any of their tools; or by any pro-slavery or administration man?

Now for the other parallel. On Sunday, the 19th of December, a Negro man called Jim came over to the Osage settlement from Missouri and stated that he, together with his wife, two children, and another Negro man were to be sold within a day or two and begged for help to get away. On Monday night of the following day two small companies were made up to go to Missouri and forcibly liberate the five slaves, together with other slaves. One of those companies I assume to direct. We proceeded to the place, surrounded the buildings, liberated the slaves; and also took certain other property supposed to belong to the estate. We however learned before leaving that a portion of the articles we had taken belonged to a man living on the plantation as a tenant and who was supposed to have no interest in the estate. We promptly restored to him all we had taken so far I believe. We then went to another where we freed five more slaves, took some property, and two white men. We moved all slowly away, into the territory for some distance and then sent the white men back, telling them to follow us as soon as they chose to do so. The other company freed one female slave, took some property; and as I am informed killed one white man (the master) who fought against liberation.

Now for a comparison. Eleven persons are forcibly restored to their natural and unalienable rights with but one man killed; and all "Hell is stirred from beneath." It is currently reported that the Governor of Missouri has made a requisition upon the Governor of Kansas for the delivery of all such as were concerned in the last named "dreadful outrage;" the Marshall of Kansas is said to be collecting a posse of Missouri (not Kansas men) at West Point in Missouri, a little town about ten miles distant, to "enforce the laws," and all pro-slavery conservative Free State dough faced men and administration tools are filled with holy horror.

Respectfully yours,

John Brown.

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The Marais des Cygnes massacre occurred on the 19th of May 1858. The men who committed this massacre were commanded by Charles Hamilton, who came to Kansas from Cassville, Georgia. He was a notorious and rabid pro-slavery man. He had no particular grievance against any of the murdered men. His animosity was toward all free-state men. He regarded those massacred as the leading free-state men in the community. He was in command of 32 men. He made his first arrest at Trading Post. He went to the houses of the settlement north of Trading Post, and arrested men until he had eleven prisoners. These he took to the high land on the east half of the northeast 34 of section 27, township 20. range 25. He left them there in charge of his band, and went to Snyder's claim to arrest Snyder, the blacksmith. Snyder resisted and fought him off, severely wounding a man named Bell, who died a few days later. This repulse by Snyder angered Hamilton, who returned to his command having the prisoners. The men were driven into a ravine, ranged in line, and fired on by the Missourians. Five were killed, five wounded, and one was unhurt but feigned death. Trusting this will give you the information you desire.

Sincerely yours,

WILLIAM E. CONNELLEY,

Topeka, Kansas

October 8, 1917.

Secretary.