Kansas's War: The Civil War in Documents

Timeline

237 Timeline 1854 January Illinois senator Stephen Douglas introduces the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. April In Massachusetts, Eli Thayer begins organizing emigrants to Kansas. May President Franklin Pierce signs the Kansas-Nebraska Act organizing Kansas and Nebraska under popular sovereignty. June Residents of Missouri cross into Kansas, announce that slavery is instituted, and return to Missouri. July Settlers from the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company arrive in Kansas and establish the town of Lawrence. The Platte Country (Missouri) Self-Defense Association pledges to remove emigrants who go to Kansas under emigrant aid societies. October Territorial governor Andrew Reeder arrives in Kansas. November Territorial residents select John Whitfield as territorial delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives in their first election, one marked by fraud and voter intimidation. 1855 March In their second territorial election, again marked by fraud and voter intimidation, Kansas residents select members for the territorial legislature. May A special election is held to fill seats vacated by the governor in April due to fraud. July The first territorial legislature convenes in Pawnee, then adjourns to Shawnee Mission, near the Missouri border. August Kansas’s territorial legislature passes a harsh law protecting slavery. September Wilson Shannon replaces Andrew Reeder as territorial governor. The Free-State Party meets at Big Springs and resolves that African Americans, whether slave or free, should be excluded from Kansas. 238 Timeline The Free-State Party meets in Topeka and issues a People’s Proclamation outlining the troubles in Kansas. October John Whitfield is elected territorial delegate once more, but in a separate election the Free-State Party elects Andrew Reeder. In Topeka the Free-State Party holds a constitutional convention and creates the Topeka Constitution. November The proslavery Law and Order Party convenes. Responding to Missouri’s pleas for settlers, Jefferson Buford of Alabama issues a call in Southern newspapers for men to go to Kansas, funding his expedition, in part, by auctioning his slaves. Proslavery advocate Franklin Coleman kills free-state advocate Charles Dow, sparking the two-week Wakarusa War. December Shannon ends the Wakarusa War by signing an agreement absolving Lawrence residents of complicity in rescuing Dow’s roommate, Jacob Branson, from federal custody. 1856 January Pierce informs Congress of the conflict in Kansas and requests funds to ensure order. Charles Robinson is elected governor and Mark Delahay is elected representative under the Topeka Constitution. February Pierce issues a public proclamation against outside interference in Kansas, asking residents to obey the law and authorizing the territorial governor to call on federal troops at Fort Leavenworth. March The Topeka government selects Andrew Reeder and James Lane as senators-elect and sends a memorial to Congress asking for admission to the Union. The House of Representatives forms a select committee to investigate the troubles in Kansas that is known as the Howard Committee, after its chair. April The Howard Committee opens hearings in Lawrence. May The Buford expedition arrives in Lawrence. Timeline 239 A grand jury in Douglas County indicts the leaders of the Topeka movement for usurpation of office and orders Lawrence’s Free State Hotel, the Herald of Freedom, and the Kansas Free State be abated as nuisances. U.S. Marshal Israel Donelson calls for a posse to help deliver subpoenas after determining that Lawrence residents are resisting arrest. Douglas County sheriff Samuel Jones calls Donelson’s disbanded posse back into service and leads a sack of Lawrence. Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner is caned by South Carolina representative Preston Brooks in retaliation for his Crime against Kansas speech. In retaliation for the sack of Lawrence, John Brown leads a small party to Pottawatomie Creek, where they execute five proslavery men. Charles Robinson is arrested in Missouri and extradited to Kansas, where he and other leaders of the Topeka government are imprisoned near Fort Leavenworth for the summer. June Pierce places General Persifor Smith, commander of the Army of the West, in command of territorial forces. Fighting commences in Kansas, especially in the southeastern counties of the territory where the battles of Black Jack, Franklin, Fort Titus, Osawatomie, and Hickory Point are fought over the next four months. July The House of Representatives accepts the Topeka Constitution by a vote of 99 to 97. Federal troops disperse a meeting of the Topeka legislature. August Wilson Shannon resigns as governor. The House of Representatives unseats John Whitfield as territorial delegate and orders a new election. September Governor John Geary arrives in Kansas...