had summoned the legislative assembly of the Territory to meet at one of the places referred to, denominated in your official proclamation "Pawnee City." I have, therefore, by the direction of the President, to notify you that your functions and authority as governor of the Territory of Kansas are hereby terminated. I am, sir, respectfully, &c., ANDREW H. REEDER, Esq., W. HUNTER, Acting Secretary. Governor of the Territory of Kansas. Governor Reeder to Mr. Marcy. SHAWNEE MISSION, KANSAS TERRITORY, Westport Post Office, Mo., August 15, 1855. SIR The communication of Hon. W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State, dated July 28, 1855, post marked July 31, addressed to Fort Leavenworth, and re-mailed at that office on the 14th instant, was received by me to-day, in which I am notified that my functions and authority as governor of the Territory of Kansas are terminated. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. W. L. MARCY, Secretary of State, Washington. A. H. REEDER. [By Telegraph] WESTPORT, MO., December 1, 1855. I desire authority to call on the United States forces at Leavenworth to preserve the peace of this Territory; to protect the sheriff of Douglass county, and enable him to execute the legal process in his hands. If the laws are not executed, civil war is inevitable. An armed force of one thousand men, with all the implements of war, it is said, are at Lawrence. They have rescued a prisoner from the sheriff; burnt houses, and threatened the lives of citizens. Immediate assistance is desired. This is the only means to save bloodshed. Particulars by mail. WILSON SHANNON. His Excellency FRANKLIN PIERCE, Your dispatch is received. All the power vested in the Executive will be exerted to preserve order and enforce the laws. On the receipt of your letter, the preliminary measures necessary to be taken before calling out troops will be promptly executed, and you will then be fully advised. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WILSON SHANNON, Governor of the Territory of Kansas. EXECUTIVE OFFICE, SHAWNEE MISSION, Kansas Territory, November 28, 1855. SIR: Affairs in this Territory are daily assuming a shape of real danger to the peace and good order of society. I am well satisfied that there exists in this Territory a secret military organization which has for its object, among other things, resistance to the laws by force. Until within a few days past I have looked upon the threats of leading men and public papers who have placed themselves in an attitude of resistance to the laws, as not intended by those who made them to be carried into execution. I am now satisfied of the existence of this secret military organization, and that those engaged in it have been secretly supplied with arms and munitions of war, and that it is the object and purpose of this organization to resist the laws by force. The strength of this organization is variously estimated at from one to two thousand, but I have no satisfactory data from which to estimate its real strength, and I do not believe they can command for any given purpose more than one thousand men. They are said to be well supplied with Sharpe's rifles and revolvers, and that they are bound by an oath to assist and aid each other in the resistence of the laws when called upon so to do. Independent of the disclosures made by those who formerly belonged to this association and the hints thrown out in some of the public journals in their interest, the most practical proof of the truth of these allegations consists in their own acts. A few days since a difficulty took place in Douglas county, some ten miles south of Lawrence, between one of these men and a man by the name of Coleman, from Virginia, in relation to a claim; in which the former was shot and died immediately. Coleman was taken into custody for trial, by the sheriff of that county, and to avoid all ground of objection as to legal authority, Judge Lecompte was written to and requested to attend at the county seat (it being in his judicial district) and sit as an examining court. In the meantime a large body of armed men, said to be from three to four hundred, collected at and near Lawrence for the avowed purpose of rescuing Coleman from the sheriff and executing him without a trial. Coleman claims that he shot the man strictly in self-defence and is willing to abide a judicial investigation and trial. On Monday last a warrant was issued against one of this band of men for threatening the life of one of his neighbors, and placed in the hands of the sheriff of the county for execution, who, with a posse of some ten men, arrested him on Tuesday night, and as he was conveying the prisoner to Lecompton, he was met about two o'clock in the morning by a band of these men, consisting of between forty and fifty, all armed with Sharp's rifles and revolvers, who forcibly rescued the prisoner out of his hands, and openly proclaimed that there were no officers or law in this Territory. In the settlement in which these transactions took place there were from sixteen to twenty law and order families and about one hundred free soil families. At the last advices three of the houses of the former had been burnt down by this armed band. Cattle had been killed, and a considerable amount of corn and other personal property destroyed, and the whole law and order population. of that neighborhood, induced by terror, had fled, except two families, whose lives were threatened. Helpless women and children have been forced by fear and threats to flee from their homes, and seek shelter and protection in the State of Missouri. Measures were being taken by the legal authorities to procure warrants against these lawless men, and have them arrested and legally tried. Under these circumstances the sheriff of the county has called on me for three thousand men to aid him in the execution of the warrants in his hands, and to protect him and his prisoner from the violence of this armed force. The force required by the sheriff is far beyond what I believe to be necessary, and indeed far beyond what could be raised in this Territory. From five to eight hundred men will be amply sufficient, I have no doubt, to protect the sheriff, and enable him to execute the legal process in his hands. With the view of giving to the sheriff the requisite aid, I have issued orders to Major General Richardson, of the northern division of militia of this Territory, a prudent and discreet man, a copy of which I send you herewith. I also send you a copy of a request I have made of General Strickler, who resides in the adjoining county to Douglas. These are the only orders I have thought it necessary to issue, by means of which I believe a sufficient force will be raised to protect the sheriff, and enable him to execute the legal process in his hands. The time has come when this armed band of men, who are seeking to subvert and render powerless the existing government, have to be met and the laws enforced against them, or submit to their lawless dominion. If the lives and property of unoffending citizens of this Territory cannot be protected by law, there is an end to practical government and it becomes a useless formality. The excitement along the border of Missouri is running wild, and nothing but the enforcement of the laws against these men will allay it. Since the disclosure of the existence and purposes of this secret military organization in this Territory, there has been much excitement along the borders of Missouri, but it has been held in check, heretofore, by assurances that the laws of the Territory would be enforced, and that protection would be given to the citizens against all unlawful acts of this association. This feeling and intense excitement can still be held in subordination if the laws are faithfully executed, otherwise there is no power here that can control this border excitement and civil war is inevitable. This military organization is looked upon as hostile to all southern men, or rather to the law and order party of the Territory, many of whom have relations and friends, and all have sympathizers in Missouri, and the moment it is believed that the laws will not furnish adequate protection to this class of citizens against the lawless acts of this armed association, a force will be precipitated across the line to redress real and supposed wrongs inflicted on friends that cannot be controlled, or for the moment resisted. It is in vain to conceal the fact, we are standing on a volcano, the upheavings and agitations beneath we feel, and no one can tell the hour when an eruption may take place. Under existing circumstances the importance of sustaining the sheriff of Douglas county, and enabling him to execute his process, independent of other considerations connected with the peace and good order of society, will strike you at once; and to do this by the aid and assistance of the citizens of this Territory is the great object to be accomplished, to avoid the dreadful evils of civil war. I believe this can be done; in this, however, I may be mistaken. No efforts shall be wanting on my part to preserve good order in the Territory, and I will keep you constantly advised of the progress and state of things here. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, His Excellency FRANKLIN PIERCE. WILSON SHANNON. SIR HEADQUARTERS, SHAWNEE MISSION, Kansas Territory, November 27, 1855. Reliable information has reached me that an armed military force is now in Lawrence and that vicinity, in open rebellion against the laws of this territory, and that they have determined that no process in the hands of the sheriff of that county shall be executed. I have received a letter from S. J. Jones, sheriff of Douglas county,. informing me that he had arrested a man under a warrant placed in his hands, and while conveying him to Lecompton he was met by an armed force of some forty men, and that the prisoner was taken out of his custody, and open defiance bid to the law. I am also duly advised that an armed band of men have burnt a number of houses, destroyed personal property, and turned whole families out of doors in Douglas county. Warrants will be issued against those men, and placed in the hands of the sheriff of Douglas county for execution. He has written to me, demanding three thousand men to aid him in the execution of the process of the law and the preservation of peace. You are, therefore, hereby ordered to collect together as large a force as you can in your division, and repair without delay to Lecompton, and report yourself to S. J. Jones, the sheriff of Douglas county, together with the number of your forces, and render to him all the aid and assistance in your power, if required in the execution of any legal process in his hands. The forces under your command are to be used for the sole purpose of aiding the sheriff in executing the law, and for no other purpose. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, Major General WILLIAM P. RICHARDSON. WILSON SHANNON. HEADQUARTERS, SHAWNEE MISSION, Kansas Territory, November 27, 1855. SIR: I am this moment advised, by letter from S. J. Jones, sheriff of Douglas county, that while conveying a prisoner to Lecompton, whom he has arrested by virtue of a peace warrant, he was met by a band of armed men, who took said prisoner forcibly out of his possession, and bid defiance to the execution of all law in this Territory. He has demanded of me three thousand men to aid him in the execution of the legal process in his hands. As the southern division of the militia of this Territory is not organized, I can only request you to collect together as large a force as you can, and at as early a day as practicable report yourself, with the forces you may raise, to S. J. Jones, sheriff of Douglas county, and to give him every assistance in your power, in the execution of the legal process in his hands. Whatever forces you may bring to his aid are to be used for the sole purpose of aiding the said sheriff in the execution of the law, and no other. It is expected that every good citizen will aid and assist the lawful authorities in the execution of the laws of the Territory and the preservation of good order. Your obedient servant, General H. J. STRICKLER. WILSON SHANNON. EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Shawnee Mission, K. T., December 11, 1855. SIR: In my dispatch to you of the 28th ultimo, I advised you of the threatened difficulties in relation to the execution of the laws of this Territory in Douglas county. The excitement which then existed continued to increase, owing to the aggravated reports from Lawrence and that vicinity in relation to the military preparations that were being made to attack the sheriff and resist the execution of the laws. The excitement increased and spread, not only throughout this whole. Territory, but was worked up to the utmost point of intensity in the whole of the upper portion of Missouri. Armed men were seen rushing from all quarters towards Lawrence, some to defend the place, and others to demolish it. The orders I had issued to Major General Richardson and General Strickler had brought to the sheriff of Douglas county a very inadequate force for his protection, when compared with the forces in the town of Lawrence. Indeed, the militia of the Territory being wholly unorganized, no forces could be obtained except those who voluntarily tendered their aid to the sheriff, or to Generals Richardson and Strickler. The whole force in the Territory thus obtained did not amount to more than three or four hundred men, badly armed, and wholly unprepared to resist the forces in Lawrence, which amounted, at that time, to some six hundred men; all remarkably well armed with Sharp's rifles and other weapons. These facts becoming known across the line, in the State of Missouri, large numbers of men from that State, in irregular bodies, rushed to the county of Douglas, and many of them enrolled themselves in the sheriff's posse. In this state of affairs, I saw no way of avoiding a deadly conflict but to obtain the use of the United States forces at Fort Leavenworth, and with that view I addressed you a telegraphic dispatch, and received on the 5th instant your very prompt and satis |