These emigrants made a lodgement in the Kansas Valley, where they founded Lawrence[6] (August, 1854), Topeka, Manhattan, and Wabaunsee. Later settlements were begun along the Osage waters, of which Osawatomie was the chief, and most famous in the annals of Kansas.
The directing head of this free-State movement on the spot was Charles Robinson, than whom no more fitting representative of the spirit of his mission, or one possessed of the ability to make head against the multiplied difficulties of time and place, could well have been chosen.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Governors of Kansas. In four years Kansas had five governors; viz., Reeder, Shannon, Geary, Walker, and Denver. Reeder refused to enforce the bogus Territorial laws, and was removed. Shannon tried to put down the free-State movement, but resigned in despair. Geary fell into line with it, had his life threatened, and fled the Territory in disguise. Walker proved too honest to sustain fraudulent voting, and left the Territory when he found himself deserted by those who sent him there. Denver found the controversy practically settled in favor of a free State. Kansas was therefore not inaptly called the "graveyard" of governors.
[2] Leavenworth is finely enclosed by a high ridge on the west which forms a natural amphitheatre. Its site is hardly surpassed by that of any city of the Missouri Valley. Its vicinity to the fort soon made it the first commercial city of Kansas, as it was the most populous. Kansas missed the golden opportunity for having a great city within her own borders.
[3] Senator David R. Atchison was the head of the pro-slavery movement on the spot. Atchison was the residence of Senators Samuel C. Pomeroy and John J. Ingalls, and is now a thriving city.
[4] Lecompton took its name from Samuel D. Lecompte, Supreme Territorial Judge of Kansas.
[5] New-England Emigrant Aid Company was a chartered organization under the laws of Massachusetts. Its history is being written by Eli Thayer, one of its earliest promoters. The men who composed it were representative of the anti-slavery sentiment at large, rather than as politicians. All were of unimpeachable character. Their colonies were the embodiment of the New-England idea, as interpreted by the motto of Massachusetts, "Ense petit placidum sub libertate quietam:"—
"This hand, the rule of tyrants to oppose,
Seeks with the sword fair freedom's soft repose."