nating
conventions followed in a few days and "bleeding Kansas" was the
all-absorbing issue. In spite of the destruction of property in Lawrence
and the arrest of the leaders of the free-state party, Kansas had not
been plunged into a state of civil war. The free-state party had fired
no hostile shot. Governor Robinson and his associates still relied upon
public opinion and they accepted the wanton attack upon Lawrence as the
best assurance that they would yet win their cause by legal means.

A change, however, soon took place which is associated with the entrance
of John Brown into the history of Kansas. Brown and his sons were living
at Osawatomie, some thirty miles south of Lawrence. They were present at
the Wakarusa War in December, 1855, and were on their way to the defense
of Lawrence on May 21, 1856, when they were informed that the town had
been destroyed. Three days after this event Brown and his sons with two
or three others made a midnight raid upon their pro-slavery neighbors
living in the Pottawatomie valley and slew five men. The authors of this
deed were not certainly known until the publication of a confession of
one of the party in 1879, twenty years after the chief actor had won
the reputation of a martyr to the cause of liberty. The Browns, however,
were suspected at the time; warrants were out for their arrest; and
their homes were destroyed.

For more than three months after this incident, Kansas was in a state
of war; in fact, two distinct varieties of warfare were carried on.
Publicly organized companies on both sides engaged in acts of attack and
defense, while at the same time irresponsible secret bands were busy in
violent reprisals, in plunder and assassination. In both of these forms
of warfare, the free-state men proved themselves fully equal to their
opponents, and Governor Shannon was entirely unable to cope with the
situation. It is estimated that two hundred men were slain and two
million dollars' worth of property was destroyed.

The state of affairs in Kansas served to win many Northern Democrats
to the support of the Republicans. The Administration at Washington was
held responsible for the violence and bloodshed. The Democratic leaders
in the political campaign, determined now upon a complete change in
the Government of the Territory, appointed J. W. Geary as Governor and
placed General Smith in charge of the troops. The new incumbents, both
from Pennsylvania, entered upon their la