Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/771

 and every other state, to come to our assistance, and enable us to expel these invaders.

"Mr. Woodson, since the resignation of Governor Shannon, in the absence of Governor Geary, has fearlessly met the responsibilities of the trust forced upon him, has proclaimed the existence of the rebellion, and called on the militia of the territory to assemble for its suppression.

"We call on you to come 1 to furnish us assistance in men, provisions, and munitions, that we may drive out the 'army of the north,' who would subvert our government and expel us from our homes.

"Our people though poor, many of them stripped of their all, others harassed by these fiends, so that they have been unable to provide for their families, are yet true men; will stand with you shoulder to shoulder in defence of rights, of principles in which you have a common if not deeper interest than they.

"By the issue of this struggle is to bo decided whether law or lawlessness shall reign in our country. If we are vanquished you too will be victims. Let not our appeal be in vain!"

Before Governor Geary's arrival, Secretary Woodson, the acting governor of the territory after the flight of Shannon, issued the following proclamation. This was issued at a time when Woodson was aware that Geary was on his way to the territory:

", satisfactory evidence exists that the territory of Kansas is infested with large bodies of armed men, many of whom have just arrived from the states, combined and confederated together, and amply supplied with the munitions of war, under the direction of a common head, with a thorough military organization, who have been and are still engaged in murdering law-abiding citizens of the territory, driving others from their homes, and compelling them to flee to the states for protection, capturing and holding others as prisoners of war, plundering them of their property, and in some instances burning down their houses and robbing United States post offices, and the local militia of the arms furnished them by the government, in open defiance and contempt of the laws of the territory, and of the constitution and laws of the United States, and of civil and military authority thereof—all for tho purpose of subverting, by force and violence, the government established by law of congress in this territory.

"Now, therefore, I, Daniel Woodson, acting governor of the territory of Kansas, do hereby issue my proclamation declaring the said territory to be in a state of open insurrection and rebellion; and I do hereby call upon all law-abiding citizens of the territory to rally to the support of their country and its laws, and require and command all officers, civil and military, and all other citizens of the territory, to aid and assist by all means in their power, in putting down the insurrectionists, and bringing to condign punishment all persons engaged with them, to the end of assuring immunity from violence, and full