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[183] them at first; that they spoke without hesitation before him, because he employed himself as a surveyor; and, as nearly all the surveyors were pro-slavery men, they probably thought he was “sound on the goose.” 1 They told him all their plans; what they intended to do; how they were determined to drive off the free state men, and possess themselves of the Territory, and make it a Slave State at all hazards: cost what it might. They said that the Yankees could not be whipped, coaxed, nor driven into a fight, and that one pro-slavery man could whip a dozen abolitionists. They said that Kansas must be a Slave State to save Missouri from abolition; that both must stand or fall together. They did not hesitate to threaten that they would burn, kill, scalp, and drive out the entire free state population of the Territory, if it was necessary to do so to accomplish their object. the chairman then asked who commanded the free state men at Lawrence? His answer was characteristic of the man, whose courage was only equalled by his modesty and worth. He explained how bravely our boys acted — gave every one the credit but himself. When again asked who commanded them, he said — no one; that he was asked to take the command, but refused, and only acted as their adviser! The Captain spoke, in conclusion, about the emigrants needed for Kansas. “We want,” he said, “good men, industrious men, ”
1 Western phrase: equivalent to, a reliable friend of slavery.
Thayer and Eldridge, 1860.
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