impartial, that lawless mobs could no longer come from Missouri, and
that their interference with the affairs of Kansas was brought to an
end, then they immediately raised a hue and cry that they were
oppressed by the United States troops." The complaint had its usual
prompt effect at Washington. By orders dated June 27 the colonel was
superseded in his command, and Brigadier-General P.F. Smith was sent
to Leavenworth. Known to be pro-slavery in his opinions, great
advantage was doubtless expected by the conspiracy from this change.
But General Smith was an invalid, and incapable of active service,
and so far as the official records show, the army officers and troops
in Kansas continued to maintain a just impartiality.

[Sidenote] 1856.

The removal of Governor Shannon a few weeks after Colonel Sumner
once more made Secretary Woodson, always a willing instrument of the
conspiracy, acting Governor. It was under this individual's promptings
and proclamation, Shannon being absent from the Territory, that
Colonel Sumner, before the arrival of the orders superseding him,
forcibly dispersed the free-State Legislature on the 4th of July, as
narrated. For this act the Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, was not
slow to send the colonel an implied censure, perhaps to justify his
removal from command; but not a word of reproof went from President
or Secretary of State to the acting Governor.

It has already been stated that for a considerable length of time
after the organization of Kansas Territory the Missouri River was its
principal highway of approach from the States. To anti-slavery men who
were unwilling to conceal their sentiments, this had from the very
first been a route of difficulty and danger. Now that political strife