| General Smith's attitude toward invaders. |
General Smith now issued instructions that the United States troops should not "interfere with persons who may have come from a distance to give protection to their friends or others, and who may be behaving themselves in a peaceable and lawful manner." This attitude seemed at first view to be friendly to the pro-slavery men; but the friends of the "Free-state" men were now pouring into the Territory by way of Iowa and Nebraska, and Smith's order worked ultimately to their advantage. Unquestionably the General intended to be impartial.
| Marching and counter-marching. |
The attack on Ossawattomie roused the "Free-state" men to new exertions. Three hundred of them, commanded by Lane, advanced upon the camp at Bull Creek. The two forces drew up in battle array, but, after a slight skirmish, they both drew off.
Acting Governor Woodson now ordered Colonel Cooke to attack Topeka with United States troops, but the Colonel refused to obey the order, and General Smith sustained him.
The "Free-state" men now planned an attack upon Lecompton. They moved in two separate columns, one commanded by Harvey and the other by Lane. The attack was to be made on September 4th, but the failure of Lane's column to arrive until the 5th enabled the United States soldiers to reach the town first. When the "Free-state" men learned that the regulars were in the town, they returned to Lawrence.
| The failure of "Popular Sovereignty" in the Territories. |
The Missourians were now roused to serious and decided action. An army of some three thousand of them had gathered on the border, and was on the point of marching in for the purpose of destroying every "Free-state" settlement in the Territory. Only one thing could now save the Territory from thoroughgoing and relentless civil war, and that was the interference of the United States army. The fiasco of "popular sovereignty" in the Territories was at last complete. The general Government must assume control.