ond edition of
imbecility or corruption!"

Animated by such a spirit, they now bent all their energies upon
concentrating a sufficient force in Kansas to crush the free-State
men before the new Governor could interfere. Acting Governor Woodson
had by proclamation declared the Territory in a state of "open
insurrection and rebellion,"[9] and the officers of the skeleton
militia were hurriedly enrolling the Missourians, giving them arms,
and planting them in convenient camps for a final and decisive
campaign.

[Sidenote] Gihon, p. 104.

[Sidenote] Gihon, pp. 104-6.

It was on September 9, 1856, that Governor Geary and his party landed
at Leavenworth. Even on his approach he had already been compelled to
note and verify the evidences of civil war. He had met Governor
Shannon fleeing from the Territory, who drew for him a direful picture
of the official inheritance to which he had come. While this interview
took place, during the landing of the boat at Glasgow, a company of
sixty Missouri Border Ruffians was embarking, with wagons, arms, and
cannon, and with the open declaration that they were bound for Kansas
to hunt and kill "abolitionists." Similar belligerent preparations
were in progress at all the river towns they touched. At Kansas City
the vigilance committee of the blockade boarded and searched the boat
for concealed "abolitionists." Finally arrived at Leavenworth, the
Governor saw a repetition of the same scenes--parades and military
control in the streets, fugitives within the inclosure of the fort,
and minor evidences of lawlessness and terror.

[Sidenote] Geary to Marcy, Sept. 9, 1856. Senate Ex. Doc., 3d Sess.
34th Cong. Vol. II., p. 88.

Governor Geary went at once to the fort, where he spent the day in
consultation with General Smith. That same evening he wrote to W.L.
Marcy, Secretary of State, a report of the day's impressions which was
anything but reassuring--Leavenworth in the hands of armed men
committing outrages under the shadow of authority; theft and murder in
the streets and on the highways; farms plundered and deserted;
agitation, excitement, and utter insecurity everywhere, and the number
of troops insufficient to compel peace and order. All this was not the
worst, however. Deep in the background stood the sinister apparition of
the Atchison cabal. "I find," wrote he, "that I have not simply to
contend against bands of armed ruffians and brigands whose sole aim and
end is assass