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THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

CONTENTS.

Intkoduotiox 9

Chaptek I. Early Life 27

Chapter II. California Adventures 43

Chapter III. The Wager of Battle 87

Chapter IV. Early Settlement of Kansas and the Wakariisa

War 110

Chapter V. The Constitutional Struggle 164

Chapter VI. The Constitutional Struggle (continued ) 190

Chapter VII. Local Affairs 250

Chapter VIII. The First Governor of the State 287

Chapter IX. Subsequent Events 292

Cha pter X. Controversies 313

Chapter XI. Promoter of Education 334

Chapter XII. Character 353

Appendix. Notes, Letters and Papers 383

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ILLUSTRATIONS.

Opposite pane

Portrait of ex-Governor Robinson, taken in 1894 Frontispiece

Portrait of Sara T. D. Lawrence, taken in 1847 39

View of Lawrence in 1854-55 121

Portrait of Sara T. D. Robinson, taken in 1857 158

Portrait of the Congressional Committee 201

Portrait of Robinson and Captain " Bill" Martin of the Kicka-

poo Rangers, — prisoner and keeper 205

Portrait of Doctor Robinson, taken in Boston in 1857 219

View of " Oakridge," the Robinson home 293

Portrait of Sara T. D. Robinson, taken in 1864 298

Portrait of ex-Governor Robinson, taken in 1872 301

View of the city of Lawrence in 1899 304

Portrait of Sara T. D. Robinson, taken in 1898 310

Bust of ex-Governor Robinson, in the University Chapel 347

View of the University of Kansas in 1901 350

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INTRODUCTION.

(v;

INTRODUCTION.

I.

The writer of this biog-raphy has tried to tell a plain, unvarnished story of the life, character and services of one of the foremost men in the struggle to make Kansas a free State. He has written with the consciousness that if only the truth were told, without any excessive laudations or evidence of hero-worship, the subject of this book would stand out as a prominent character in Kansas life, with clearly defined and important relations to individuals, po- litical parties, and to the community at large. The life and character of Charles Robinson are worthy of record. His career in Massachusetts, California and Kansas not only contains lessons for men's individual lives, but in- volves questions that affect human society, — questions which are of moment in the building of States and the protection and preservation of comnmnities.

In presenting this simple biography of a prominent man, no attempt is made to write a history of Kansas. To do this would involve tedious chronological details which could not be incorporated into a work of this nature. Yet it is impossible to portray the life of a prominent maker of history, one who was closely connected with the stirring- events of his time, without giving- much attention to the historical background. In doing this, much care has been taken to make this history not only correct, but full enough

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10 LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON

to be free from the faults of partial knowledge and half- truths.

IT.

It is not an easy task to write a biography of any one of the prominent characters who engaged in the great struggle for freedom in Kansas, — for it was a great strug- gle, a national strngglo localized, — since each individual life came in contact with nearly every phase of the build- ing of a new commonwealth in a wilderness. The diffi- culty is greatly increased on account of the confusion of political and social affairs. People of every variety of political opinion, possessed of different notions of govern- ment, having different personal motives, objects and am- bitions, came from every part of the Republic to mingle their lives and their ideas in social union. Here were Democrats of every shade of belief, from those having liberal views on slavery to the most radical proslavery men ; here were "WTiigs, Free-State men. Independents, Free-Soilers, and Abolitionists, — all crow^ded together under the pressure of an intense political life. Before any permanent government or social order could be estab- lished, these men of widely divergent views must reach a common basis of action regarding government. In other w^ords, they must become socialized before an effective gov- ernment could be put into operation. This diverse and shifting life of intense activity left its impress upon those who passed through it, and therefore to a certain extent also upon the history of Kansas. Strong individuality is char- acteristic of all Kansas history that has yet been written; for with few exceptions, each one who has written or talked has attempted to tell the story with his own individual col-

INTKODUCTION 11

oring, and seldom, especially, has a writer who went through the straggle succeeded in hiding his own person- ality siijfficiently to write impartial history. It stands to reason that if each of ten men tells the same story in a different way, each coloring it by his own personality and viewing the facts from his own standpoint, the other nine will he dissatisfied with his account and will criticize it severely. History so narrated will be a medley, and it is upon such a medley that the student of Kansas History has to look at present. Yet is is fortunate that so many who passed through the struggle have told the story as they viewed it, and unfortunate that many others allowed life to pass without writing what they knew of early Kansas history. The difficulty of collecting, sifting, comparing and classifying the material of Kansas history, so as to make a judgment just and fair to all, is therefore great. The large historical movements are tolerably well defined ; but local events and the details of movements which can only be determined by the corroborating testimony of eye-witnesses, need to be carefully recorded before it is too late. If this is done, perhaps then some historian will at last appear, unbiased in judgment and keen in discrim- ination, who will eliminate the personal element from his- tory, consider faithfully and impartially all of the frag- ments, take each at its true value, and weave the whole mass into one presentable continuous narrative.

Kansas history seems at present, however, to be in the biographical period. Those who now write and talk upon the subject appear to be chiefly desirous of summing up the lives and characters of the prominent actors in the great struggle to make Kansas free, and of those who were

12 LIFK OF CHiLRLES ROBINSON

influential in building the commonwealth. And it is well to pause and find out truly what manner of men engaged in this great struggle, and what they stand for in the pro- cess of state-building, before proceeding to unravel the tangled web of Kansas history. The strong individuality displayed in the early struggle, the fierce controversies that have raged since, render it highly necessary that the achievements of all who were prominent in that struggle shall be carefully defined in order tliat the historical hori- zon may be cleared of clouds of error.

The chief dangers to which those who have written about the early history of Kansas are liable to fall victim are the tendencies to personal bias of the writer, ambition, and hero-worship. Little that has been written of Kansas is without at least one of these defects. Many, indeed, have perhaps innocently fallen victims to current errors, but still more have been blinded by their own sympathies, which have fallen like a curtain over their intelligence paid obscured their discriminating power. Others have been blinded by worshipping at the shrine of their heroes. Too long gazing at their idols has dimmed their vision and rendered inaccurate their delineation. Still others, — and this is the characteristic fault of some who played a leading part in the early struggle, — possessed of vaulting ambition to be regarded as the greatest among their peers, have unconsciously enlarged upon those events with which their own lives were most closely connected. Yet in all that is said and written about the early history of Kansas, there is something of truth, whose unmistakable voice is heard more clearly as time and the passing of passion and prejudice render us more familiar with events and men.

INTBODTJCTION 13

As in all other new countries, so in Kansas, — hero- worship is a prominent feature of the new life of the new State. This is evident in the early as well as the late historical writings, and it will he a long time before it is suffieientlj eradicated to permit the writing of a full his- tory of the State in which justice is meted out to all her sons according to service. The strong partisanship was an essential outcome of the variety of conditions contingent upon the settlement of Kansas. It could not be otherwise than that, where men's passions were deeply stirred, where each one was put to his utmost tension in subduing the soil, fortifying against the climate, endeavoring to make the land habitable, and at the same time fighting the battles of freedom, intensity of desire and purpose should have characterized every movement. Men were either for or against men and measures ; to be otherwise was to be nothing. To be strongly in favor of one party meant a strong opposition to all men or parties on the other side. It would be a blessing to succeeding generations if some one well versed in the affairs of Kansas could obtain accu- rate knowledge of all that was done, and present it in a fair, impartial and wisely judicial way, so that each deed and event should stand out clearly in its proper propor- tion and relation to every other, and each, man should be given full credit and no more for his part in the process of state-making. He who reads all of what has been writ- ten about Kansas history from the many different stand- points will find that the men who made Kansas free were many, and that the writer who attempts to show that one man saved the State has read the history only in part or was himself an actor in that history, and is moved by vain

14 LIFE OF CHARLES KOBINSON

ambition or selfisli motive. When impartial history cornea to make known who it was that saved Kansas to freedom, many names whicli have remained in obscurity will be illumined witli the noble lii^ht of patriotism, and others, of the YauntinjTf and boastful, will pass into deepest ob- scurity.

III.

Yet even now, vital facts of Kansas history stand out clearly and beyond controversy. One of the most impor- tant of these facts is the result produced by the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. The immediate effect of this bill's becoming a law was to open the Territory to settlement by emigrants from various States in the Union. The causes of emigration were two-fold: first, the desire to possess free lands of good soil and in a country having an excellent climate; and second, the desire to settle the country for or against slavery. The long controversy be- tween the slave-power and the free States had reached a crisis. By a decision of Congress the question of slavery was to be henceforth referred to the settlers of new Terri- tories for its final adjustment. This meant either a settle- ment at the ballot-box or a passage at arms ; perhaps both, Kansas became a pivotal point in the controversy between freedom and slavery, an object lesson to the whole country. People rushed in from the Korth to make Kansas a free State, and from the South to make it slave. From the be- ginning, the struggle was to ascertain which side could furnish the most voters. Whatever some might hope to accomplish by prowess, planning and scheming, the Free- State people had really but one hope of victory, and that

IlfTKODUCTION 15

was to outnumber tlie Proslavery voters. This they finally succeeded in doing, and won.

But this struggle for mastery at the ballot-box involved the minor struggle for land; for many spurious claims were staked out by non-residents, chiefly from Missouri, who hoped to hold them from bona fide settlers and to use them as a pretended place of residence for voting purposes. N^or was this struggle for land a small factor in the causing of the border troubles. Indeed, the getting possession of property M'^as to some of far gTeater importance than the question as to whether the State should be slave or free. Following this rapid settlement of the Territory came the fraudulent voting of the proslavery people by hordes of voters who came from Missouri to outnumber regular voters, and by force to " stuff " the ballot-boxes. This caused the election, by unfair means, of a proslavery Leg- islature which made odious laws offensive to Free-State men, in violation not only of the spirit of the Kansas- it^ebraska Bill, but also of the letter of the organic act which opened up the Territory. Thereupon the Free-State men openly repudiated this Legislature and the laws passed by it, and organized opposition to it. Incidents of this struggle were atrocious murders, invasions, the sacking of towns, and robbing and plundering. It is fair to history to say that this was not all done by one side. For while the Free-State men desired no strife and en- tered upon the plan of non-attack, they did not adhere to the principle or practice of non-resistance, but soon showed themselves ready and willing to defend their property, lives and rights to any necessary extent. The Free-State men were a fine class of people, but they were not all saints

16 LIFE OF CILAELES ROBINSON

by any means, for they had among them those who could encourage and even perform dastardly deeds. In the emi- gration to a new country it usually happens that many reckless and vicious cliaracters are mingled among the ma- jority of worthy and substantial people. Surely, Kansas was not an exception to the rule, and it is scarcely possible that all of this class should have hailed from Missouri and the South and none from the Xorth. Yet for earnestness of purpose, integi'ity of life, and desire for justice and fairness in government, there is no comparison between the proslavery and antislavery elements in Kansas. The conduct of the former was from the beginning character- ized by violence and fraud, while the latter in the main desired liberty and justice to all.

In the contest that followed the fraudulent election, the Free-State men showed their political sagacity by adopt- ing tbe so-called Topeka Constitution, completing an or- ganization, applying for admission to the Union, and thus keeping their forces together. By this means they defeated the Proslavery party, preventing the adoption of the Le- compton proslavery constitutions, and finally causing Kan- sas to be admitted to the Union under the Wyandotte Constitution. The change of national administration and the Civil War, followed by the abolition of slavery, com- pleted what the Wyandotte Constitution lacked of making Kansas a free State. For the phrase " white male citizens of twenty-one years of age," still stands in the present State Constitution as a last vestige of the old political struggle over Freedom in Kansas.

INTKODUCTION 17

IV.

As already suggested, no little controversy has arisen as to who was most prominent in the saving of Kansas to freedom. Plainly, however, it was the body of able men who stood shoulder to shoulder, after they had learned the lesson of freedom, persistently insisting that Kansas must be admitted into the Union without slavery. While there were leaders who won renown, much credit is due to many who do not appear prominently in history, but who can answer honorably and with pride when the long roll of heroes is called by the future historian who writes the whole of Kansas history. As to the Brown-Lane-Robinson controversy, it is not easy to get at the whole truth and cause each man to stand forth in his true light. The three men were entirely different, with different characteristics and different purposes. Each was called upon to play a different part in the tragedy of freedom. Hence, granting that each one was sincere, noble and brave, it would be a difficult thing to make a comparison of the three on the same plane. They were too unlike, both in good and bad traits, to admit of a successful classification and com- parison of their qualities, and of their influence on the great national struggle between Freedom and Slavery. Whether this is equally true as regards the relative influ- ence of each in the smaller struggle to make Kansas a free State, the writer has attempted to say fully in the body of the work. Here a few words must suffice.

For two years Eobinson was the resident agent of the

Emigrant Aid Company, and his chief duty was to care

for the affairs of the company in Kansas, and especially

to look after the emigrants sent from New England and —2

18 lAVF. OK CHARLES KOBINSON

other parts <tf the East, and to see tliat there was estab- lished a goveniiueiit in which the rij]jlits of all citizens should he protected ; hence he opposed the laws illefijally made by an illegallv constituted Legislature elected by fraud and violence. Yet he did not wish to rebel against the legally constituted Federal Government, although he felt at liberty to criticize its action when he deemed it wTOug. While he did not hesitate to fight when necessary, bloodshed and violence were in his view ever to be avoided if possible. His characteristic was cool, deliberate judg- ment, and when once he had determined upon a course of action, he never wavered on account of personal conse- quences.

Lane came to Kansas as a politician. Almost his first act after arriving in the Territory of Kansas was an at- tempt to organize the Democratic party for political pur- poses. From the beginning to the end of his career in Kansas, political ambition was his ruling passion. It did, indeed, cause him to do many brave and noble things, but it also caused him more than once to swerve from the path of justice and right; and finally, disappointed am- bition brought him to an untimely death. He was bold, passionate and impulsive, and his impulsive nature and powerful eloquence were of service in keeping up enthusi- asm among a certain element of Free-State men. He came all the way from a Proslavcry to a Free-State plat- form, for he was keen in measuring political forces and he preferred to work with a majority. He was, neverthe- less, a man of action, and whether in the convention hall or open field, he swayed the multitudes by the momentum of his enthusiasm. Often did his fierce plunges compel

INTRODUCTION 19

the cooler-headed of the Free-State men to nish to the re-scue and extricate the cause from a perilous position. While only the hero-worshipper can approve of his course in many of his devious windings, he was, nevertheless, a power in the building of the State and must be reckoned wdth; although it is scarcely safe to agree with some of the sweeping declarations of his eulogists.

BroAvn should not be measured as a Kansan, for his contact with Kansas was little more than an episode. He should be considered from the standpoint of a larger na- tional life. What he accomplished in awakening a nation to its true sense of danger and in precipitating a great struggle can scarcely be measured. Strange and myste- rious was his life, and strange and mysterious was his in- fluence on the nation. The circumstances of his death made him a martyr in the eyes of the people of the North. The dignity of martyrdom lifted him above the status of an ordinary violator of the law, but his heroism was ac- companied by fanatical ideas of making people just by killing them. Had not some one written a song which was subsequently adapted to him and which the nation took up and sang from ocean to ocean, his heroism would have passed and have been forgotten as did the heroism of thousands of others in the conflict for freedom, or would, at best, have been remembered with that of the more ordinary heroes of the earth, who, in their quiet way, did what they considered their humble duty. But he has become prominently and indissolubly connected with one of the greatest events of national history, and this fact alone will, of course, perpetuate his fame. Brown desired to precipitate a rebellion by the shedding of blood. He

20 LIFE OF CHARLES BOBINSON

wished to stir up a war that would never cease without the liberation of slaves. He undoubtedly hastened the coming of the Avar, but the war would have come had Brown never b/een bom. In Kansas he wished to fight, and did so when- ever opportunity offered,^ While he struck terror to the hearts of some of the Proslavery rufiians of the border by his violent massacre and his persistent savage attacks and resistance, yet he was soon away, and left the Free-State settlers of Kansas to bear the brunt of the reaction against bis savage course. Verily, without attempting to detract from his greatness as a national character, but after follow- ing in detail his whole connection with Kansas and all the circumstances connected with it, one is inclined to say that his services to Freedom in Kansas have at times been overestimated.

But of these three men it is idle, after all, to ask which is the greatest, for each in his own way will always have his admirers who will find in him noble qualities to eulo- gize. If, nevertheless, the question be asked, " Who gave the Free-State cause in Kansas the best service, — Brown the hero, Lane the soldier and politician, or Robinson the man and governor?" tbe verdict of history cannot fail to give the palm to Robinson, tlie man and governor, about whom centered the Free-State forces. But of these, the most prominent characters in the Kansas struggle for free- dom, it is difficult, as before indicated, to measure one by the other; for Robinson was the only one to live a com- pleted life and to round out his years in the fullness of time; while one of the remainder met death at his own hands and the other was hanged for treason. In settling

1 See Chapter I.

INTKODUCTION

21

personal relations, however, and the claims to relative greatness among those who figured prominently in early Kansas history, these are the characters that must be most

dealt with.

V.

It is necessary to represent the life of Robinson, not only in relation to the public actions which occurred in the building of a commonwealth, but also in his relations to the lives and characters of his associates in the important events of the history of Kansas. Whether he has been entirely successful in this regard or not, the writer has at any rate tried to avoid throwing unjust discredit upon the actions of others, while presenting the deeds and character of Robinson. Though it is the life of Charles Robinson that is here followed in detail, yet in no case is any praise of his action meant to throw improper discredit upon his contemporaries. If it appears that undue importance is given to Robinson when mentioned in connection with other men, it must be remembered that Robinson is the subject of this biography, and that the services of others are not ignored if not eulogized. If Robinson, Lane and Brown were the most prominent historical characters in the early struggle for freedom in Kansas, there were numbers of other loyal men whose unswerving faithful- ness to duty, unflinching courage, and acute sufferings made freedom possible. Call the roll of the real heroes of Kansas, and the angel of justice will respond for hun- dreds who sleep in their graves, and for those living who are too modest to sing their own praises. How absurd it is, then, in view of the great numbers in the different types, classes, parties, who in different ways rendered efh-

22 LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON

eient service to Kansas, — how absurd to hold up to the jouth of the laud the claim that one man saved Kansas ! Yet each should be zealous in telling of the valiant deeds of friends and foes, that the uncompromising truth of his- tory may be revealed. In this connection there may well be quoted a saying of Governor Robinson in an address to the students of the University of Kansas; " Who saved Kansas ? Not one man, nor any group of men claiming to be leaders. It was the rank and file of the common citizens who saved the State to freedom. It was the union of the people in a common cause that saved the State."

How time is this! For, notwithstanding all of the struggle and confusion, it was the majority at a ballot-box that saved the State. Kot that other potent influences were not prominent in bringing this about, for there were many. There were times, too, when leaders were neces- sary, and then these leaders were not wanting. But here, as elsewhere, there were wise and unwise leaders; there were those who by their folly led on toward destmction and defeat, as well as those who led toward safety and victory. In writing this biography the author has no desire to make Robinson a greater man than he was. The only thing he has sought to do has been to draw a truthful picture of all that this man was and did, and especially to emphasize his public services. This the writer has endeavored to do faithfully, with the sole object of recording history truth- fully.

Men diifer so much in motive, in character, and in life in general ; the nature of their service varies and the con- ditions under which they struggle are so dissimilar, that comparisons are dangerous. It is quite impossible to de-

iJrTKODUCTION

23

termine whether one deed is greater than another, until the services rendered by each can be measured. Who, then, can weigh and measure greatness, or how can motive, or duty, or character be estimated ? Or who can measure sei-vices and strike a balance between two important deeds ? There is no dividual essence of nobility, no ultimate analysis of real greatness. For he who does his duty has served his generation well; he is good and brave, even though the consequences of his service are small. Would that society might leara to recognize faithful service as the true element of greatness and as real heroism ! Look- ing over the history of Kansas and considering the long list of names enrolled as founders and builders of the State, one finds, indeed, that some have had more potent influences than others, not only because of greater indi- vidual power and genius, but also on account of larger opportunity. But not all the gloi-y of the founding and building of the commonwealth may be rightly claimed by the leaders, whether self-constituted or whether so made })y the law of gravity of character or the force of circum- stances. There have been many builders of the common- wealth; great, all of them, in tlie results of their work, for it took the cooperative labors of them all to achieve success in building a State and making it habitable and desirable for free men. Let us therefore ti-y to banish unjust comparisons from our minds and from the printed pa/^e, and endeavor to make the life of each stand alone upon what he actually did.

While it not easy to estimate the services of the prom- inent leaders in early Kansas history, it is even more diffi- cult to determine the positions of those worthy ones who

24 LIFE OF CHARLES ftOBINSON

in their own several stations of life did their whole duty to the cause of freedom. What of Wood, Reeder, Groodin, G. W. Brown, Deitzler, Walker, Blood, Cracklin, Ewing, Parrott, IST. J. Adams, Anthony, Woodward, Thacher, Morrow, Conwav, Speer, S. C. Smith, Tappan, Holliday, Learnard, Legate, Jenkins, Moore, Edward Clarke, and many others who at different times stood firmly for Kan- sas, and did valiant service for the Free-State cause? Their deeds of valor and services to their country must not be overlooked simply because thej are not the subjects of this story. In due time the historian will record their lives, every one in the annals of the State, among those who served their country well. I^or must we forget the great rank and file of settlers and patriots who acted, suf- fered and endured for the sake of humanity, though they cannot receive justice in a single volume confined in the main to a single course of events respecting what one man wrought. Yet the joung Kansan, born under the sunny skies and beneficent influences of the present free com- munity, looks back with pride iipon these actors in this tragedy of a commonwealth, whether leaders of a party of people, actors in legislative halls, or sturdy soldiers in the rank and file of life; and his heart burns udth en- thusiasm, and his cheek glows with pride as he ponders upon this early struggle, and he would count it a privilege to be numbered among the least of these worthy patriots.

VI.

From the life of Charles Robinson much of the early history of Kansas radiates in every direction as from a common center, and hia biography cannot be written with-

INTBODUCTION 25

out touching history at many points. How difficult the task, to extract from the great mass of information at hand that which will give a real life-picture of the man ; how delicate the work of portraying truthfully all that he did and was in private life and public service! In this presentation the writer has endeavored faithfully to abide by the rigid and unyielding truth as it appears to him after a careful ^veighing of all historical evidence at his command. Care has been taken not to write into the life that which did not exist, a common failing of biography and a difficulty not easily avoided; although, perhaps, there is less danger here than elsewhere, because there was no ether of romance enveloping Robinson's earnest life, and no strange mystery about his going and coming among his fellows, l^or was there any transcendent genius, l»r- dering on insanity, that rendered his life and nature diffi- cult to understand. He was a plain man of the people, with an earnest character which inevitably revealed itself to those who came in contact with his daily life. He fol- lowed closely the line of conscientious duty, without fear and regardless of consequences. His life is not a fit sub- ject for the romancer or hero-worshipper. But, as a man who did his duty fearlessly and with great consequences to the community and the State, he is worthy of the ad- miration of Ills fellow-citizens and the affection of those whom he pei"Sonally befriended. He who writes best about Robinson will tell without embellishment the plain stoiy of his life, for the life will then speak for itself, its real nature and its lessons of wisdom.

THE LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY LIFE.

It is not uncommon for men of great importance to Lave made no remarkable or unusual record in their boy- hood days. Such, indeed, was the case with Charles Rob- inson. Born in the town of Hardwick, Massachusetts, July 21st, 1818, his early life was that of the ordinary New England youth of the time. Prosaic and simple as this life was, however, there were in it certain influences which helped to shape his future. And, in the meager data given us concerning his youth, there are revealed many characteristics which point toward the sturdy char- acter of the man.

In the first place, Robinson descended from sturdy Xew England stock. His father, Jonathan Robinson, was a farmer, a zealous antislavery man of decided religious views, who traced his ancestry to the John Robinson of Plymouth Rock fame ; a man strong and uncompromising with any appearance of evil. The mother of Charles Robinson was Huldah Woodward, of a Xew England family not prominent in the records, but not the less for that reason to be honored. There were born to these parents ten children, six boys and four girls, to whom they desired to give as good an education as was possible in New England at that time.

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28 LtVE OF CHARLES ROBINSOJST

Perhaps the homelife in New England, with its fru- gality, neatness, discipline, and close sympathy between the members of the family, was the most important factor in the education of the times. It had been the saving- fact of New England life, as it was to be of that larger life that was to move westward to fill the valleys and plains, and to envelop the mountains of the continent. What a line of sturdy pioneers have emerged from the homes of New England and gone forth to subdue the West!

Their home was a most hospitable one — to and from it friends came and went. In the simplicity of their lives they could give hearty welcomes ; the gathering of warm friends with the family added much to the charm of the homelife. The genuineness of this homelife was not con- cealed by the artificiality so characteristic of modem social life. There were two or three much-loved cousins who often added to the home circle their sprightliness and af- fection. There were other young people, too, who said they always chose their time for a visit at father Robin- son's during vacations, when Charles should be at home, for his constant love of joking and his keen repartee added much to the pleasure of their visit. There was, indeed, a vein of humor in his nature which the stem life-struggle too often suppressed in his after days. He frequently planned little home concerts which were always a joy, for the entertainment of guests.

As' might be expected from a consideration of his subse- quent life, Charles Robinson was a lover of nature, and very fond of straying off by himself, to sit down by the

EAELY LIFE 29

brook, under the shadow of the treses, to catch its sweet music as it rippled over the stones, and to dream of future days when he should own a man's place and bear a man's part in the f^eat struggle of life.

The religious life of the Robinson home was well regu- lated. Mr. Tupper, Congregational minister, was always welcomed to the family circle, and until the close of Gov. Robinson's life he was always spoken of with great affec- tion by the Governor. The mother of the family looked carefully after the Sunday-school lesson, and every Satur- day night the flock of children gathered around the table to learn all this lesson could reveal of morals and religion. They studied the lesson out of the Bible with the little concordance in it, so well known to the mother, aided by the light thrown upon it by Barnes, Greenleaf, and McKnight. She could point out the beauties of the literary style of the Bible, its figures and expressions, and as a daily reader, holding the great Bible in her lap, she was filled with the blessed spirit of Christ. It was often remarked by her children that they had never seen their mother angry, though she lived to the advanced age of eighty-seven years.

Charles was bom with a strong will and a defiant tem- per. During a time of religious awakening, when he was about sixteen years of age, he thought deeply and rever- ently, and at last came to the conclusion that his will must be controlled, that he must not yield to his temper again. A turning-point had been reached, and a change came into hie life. His mother's admonitions, his minister's kind advice and Mr. Stone's life-giving presence had accom-

30 LIKE OF CHARLES KOBINSON

plished a transfonnatlon. He bound to his heart the motto which he loved :

" The Upaa tree when riven,

Perfumes the ax which laid it low. Let man, who hopes to be forgiven, Forgive and bless his foe."

And he promised daily consecration of the best that was in him to holy living. The result of this, his first and only great religious awakening, was to make life and re- ligion henceforth identical with him.

After the New England custom, young Robinson's at- tendance on church was rc^gular.^ He took his place in ihe village choir, playing the clarinet, an instrument of which he was then very fond and which afforded him much pleasure in after life. Later in life, however, he severed hie formal connection with the church. To show the change that subsequently came over his religious beliefs, it may not be out of place here to refer to a few events, insignificant in themselves but of great importance as in- dicating this change.

A small hamlet, named Storrsville, had sprung up at the adjoining comers of four towns. For the accoiumoda- tion of the people a school-house and an unpretentious church were built at the center of the village. As this vil- lage was nearer the Robinson home than was Hard wick, which was situated in the opposite direction, the Robinson family turned their steps thithenvard on Sundays and on other days of religious worship or festival. But, as time went on, the little group of Congregationalists found it

1 A8 one carriage was not sufficient to carry the entire family, young Bobinaon found it necessary to walk. Thus, with work ou the farm, with journeying to and from school and church, he had sufficient opportunity for erercise.

BAELY LIFE 31

difficult to pay their minister and maintain services at Storrsville. Finally the minister was invited to become the pastor of the church at Dana, one of the four towns whose little corner had been taken np by Storrsville, and the church members were to be transferred to Dana with their pastor. But as Charles Robinson was attending school at Hardwick, his name was left upon the church rolls at Storrsville. Subsequently, in tbe year 1852, when Robinson was practicing medicine at Fitchburg, he re- ceived a letter from the pastor of the chnrch at Dana ask- ing him to come over and state his views and belief and take a letter to the Fitchburg church, " if he should prove worthy to receive it." Dr. Robinson complied with the request, and, accompanied by Rev. Elnath.an Davis, pastor of the Fitchburg cliurch, " a most gifted man, full of the spirit of peace and good-will," went to Dana to be exam- ined and to receive his letter. The questions were those which are sometimes asked of young ministers in the church of the present day. They were chiefly as follows: ^' Do you believe in God ? Do you believe the Bible is inspired, every word of it ? Do you believe in future pun- ishment ? Do you believe in the Atonement ? " and various other questions concerning predestination, election, and free will. Dr. Robinson answered these questions in his own way, which indicated the independence of his i*elig- ious belief, and, as it appears, severed his formal relation- ship with the church, for he never afterward formally united with any church organization, although he favored all denominations as agencies for good. His answers to the questions asked were essentially these:

" I believe in God, the maker of all things, who still

32 LIFE OF CHARLES KOBINSON

abideth in all things. In liini we live and move and have our being."

" I believe the Bible inspired, so far as it is tnith. As a history of the Jews, many legends are woven into it-s story, and many statements which no thoughtful man can believe tnie."

" I believe every man will receive his reward for every deed done in the body, and there is no escape from the penalty of sin. Every human being must listen and fol- low the inner voice implanted in him by the great Creator, and look upon his life as a heavenly mission."

" The Atonement is the At-one-ment of the great Father with all his children. They learn by following the blessed life of Christ how to become one with him, as he is one with the Father. Were they not free to follow this most inspiring exhortation, it would be most cniel."

Nothing more was ever heard of that little examination of Dr. Robinson before the pastor at Dana, and for any- thing he ever knew, his name may yet stand alone on the old Storrsville church records, in that little decaying ham- let, which in its loneliness seems almost to be forgotten of God.

He had one great sorrow in those early days, by which he was much influenced. He was exceedingly fond of hie eldest brother, John, who was twenty-five years old, a man of fine presence and excellent countenance, tall and com- manding. Charles often wished as he looked at his broth- er's beauty of form and figure, that he might grow up to be as well formed as this brother. Early in life John thought the time had come for him to leave New England and to try his fortune in other lands. So, one bright

EAELY LIFE 33

autumn day lie bade them all good-by. It was hard for the mother to say the last words and look her last upon her stalwart son, as he took his leave to go to Xew Orleans. One letter came to them from Cincinnati, which an- nounced that he was well, and expected to leave soon for New Orleans ; but they never heard from him again, and though sometimes some little clue would be given whereby they hoped to learn of him, no word ever came, and to them all it was a lifelong sorrow, especially to the younger brother, who had taken such a pride in the eldest bom.

It was exceedingly fortunate that Jonathan Eobinson was zealous concerning the education of his numerous family. Young Robinson was sent to the private school in his native town, which was situated about three miles from his home. Here, under the tutorage of a certain Mr. Goldsbury, he made rapid progress in the elementary branches. Mr. Goldsbury was a Universalist preacher, and he possessed the happy faculty of teaching mathe- matics well. His pupils grew strong imder his instruction. Subsequently, a Mr. William B. Stone, a student from Amherst, taught the neighborhood school, and succeeded in arousing in yoimg Robinson much enthusiasm for study. This was the real beginning of his career, for under the direction of this able instructor his mind began to show independence and originality of thought.

The pleasant little district school-house among the trees

near the roadside was only a fcAv rods from Mr. Robinson's

farm-house, hence it was convenient for Mr. Stone to make

his residence in the Robinson home. He was essentially

a good man, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the

times, and, while using every energy to educate himself — 3

34 LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON

for the hi^li purposes of life, he was careful to ^ive aid to those about him. Hence, his daily pi-esence in the house was of untold benefit to all the members.

In the Robinson home there was much conversation on all matters which were then filling the public mind ; mat- ters so engrossing that life seemed to be absorbed in them. Among other vital questions were : How should the coun- try free itself from the strong grasp of slavery; how should intemperance be suppressed ; how should the grow- ing youth of the country come to the estate of manhood and womanhood, noble and self-sacrificing, pure in heart and pure in all things relating to themselves ? Mr. Stone was an apostle of good not only in the home, but in the neighborhood.^ Temperance practices were strongly ad- vocated. Cold water as it came sparkling from the clear founts of God was the only beverage tolerated. Even the elder Robinson gave up drinking his cider, which he had thought quite necessary to his happiness. Through the in- fluence of such a character, they unconsciously began to follow very closely Mr. Emerson's motto, " Plain living and high thinking." Physical laws were to be kept un- broken as well as moral and intellectual, and health would be the reward.

At the age of seventeen young Robinson was sent to the Hadley Academy.^ While he had sufficient help to enable him to utilize the advantages of education, he was thrown sufficiently upon his own resources to make him develop a sturdy independence and a manly character. For as eight

1 See Appendix A, note (a).

It l3 but a few years sine* the Cambrid^je (Massachusetts) papers paid a glowing tribute to his talent in teaching, and to his graat moral worth. On his last visit to New Englaud Go?ernor Bobinsou said to Mr. Stone, "All that I am I owe to you."

^See Appendix A, note (&).

EARLY LIFE 35

Other cliiklren graced the home of Jonathan Robinaon, it now became necessary for the youth o£ seventeen to begin in some measure to shift for himself ; a great privilege to the boys of olden times, and a fashion which has not quite gone out in modern days. After a year at Hadley, Rob- inson entered Amherst Academy, where he again exercised the privilege of self-support. The authorities gave him the privilege of making the new desks and seats for the use of the academy. Therefore in the basement of the building was established a workshop wherein he wrought at carpentry to pay tuition, and where he at intervals pondered over the principles of philosophy. Subsequently, while pursuing his studies, he taught three winter schools, respectively at l^orth Hadley, West Brookfield, Massa- chusetts, and at ISTorwieh, Connecticut.

It was but a step from Amherst Academy to Amherst College, although he had not completed the full course at the academy. After remaining in Amherst College for a year and a half his eyes failed, and he found it necessary to walk to Keene, ISTew Hampshire, forty miles away, to apply to Dr. Twitchell for medical aid. Always on the lookout for opportimities, as every youth must be, he con- cluded to accept an invitation to study medicine under Dr. Twitchell. Possibly it might have been better had he remained at the academy and subsequently at the college until botli courses were completed, before entering upon his medical studie-s. However, he did what many another X)erson has done, who, lacking the proper direction of others, seeks his own course, abandoning conventional cur- ricula, and succeeding in his own way.

After remaining with Dr. Twitchell six months he at-

36 LIFE OF CHAKLES EOBINSON

tended medical lectures at Pittsfield, Massachnsetts. Dr. Childs, who afterward became Li on ten ant-Governor of Ma B&aehn setts, was tlien president of the institute. After the course of lectures was completod at Pittsfield, he stud- ied for a time with Dr. Gridley at Amherst, and siihse- qiientlj attended lectures at Woodstock, Vermont. Dr. Rush Palmer, much celebrated in his day as an eminent physician and lecturer, was at the head of the Woodstock institution. Robinson finally returned to Dr. Gridley and remained with him until his medical education was com- pleted. His educational career would be considered er- ratic for a medical student of the present day, but it served to give a full medical education according to the require- ments of the times. His peripatetic education, so far as possible, furnished what the youth of to-day finds concen- trated in the modem medical college with hospital at- tached. It appears at least that this education was suffi- ciently thorough for a most successful medical practice.

In 1843 Dr. Robinson commenced the practice of medi- cine at Belchertown, Massachusetts.^ The town was of the old New England type, covering a large area, being four- teen miles long and twelve miles wide. Dr. Robinson's practice was very large, and as the town was situated in a hilly district in Hampshire county, his numerous visits re- quired excessive labor. Wlien he was fairly settled at Bel- chertown, he at once took his place as an active citizen of the town. He used the profession of medicine as a means of educating the people. He never failed in his practice to give valuable hints as to what course of living would give them health, and advised them that it was better to

^ See Appec<Ji2 A, note (c).

EAKLY LIFE 37

keep well than tx> send for a physician to cure them of disease. He tried to impress upon them the fact that health of body, as of soul, was intrusted to their own keep- ing,— hence they should learn thoroughly the laws that govern both. There were many families that looked to him for guidance, rather than for medicines. He never joined the Medical society, because he could not accept its cast-iron rules; for he felt that he had the right as a physician to learn from any practitioner of any school, what was best for poor ailing humanity, and when he met his old instructor. Dr. Childs, at Pittsfield, and the latter rallied him upon his absence from the medical meeting at Fitchburg, his reply was simply, "Am I not following out your teachings ? "

Dr. Robinson was interested in the town schools, and was soon placed upon the School Committee. He identi- fied himself with the people, and was often at the little literary circle. To its program he frequently contributed some fspicy article which would occasion much discussion. He was a frequent attendant at the Sunday-school teachers' meetings, and a constant worker for temper- ance. Then, as later on, he found the question of tem- perance a difficult one to deal with. In the solution of the problem he insisted on justice to all. If the selling of strong drink at the hotels could not be stopped, why should poor old Captain Burt be prosecuted in his little workshop, where he sold an occasional glass to a poor neighbor ?

Just at tliis time, John W. I^oyes was preaching the new salvation from sin; that all days were holy time; that the injunction, " Be ye perfect, as also your Father in Heaven is perfect," could it not be obeyed, would not have

38 LIFE OF CHAKLES EOBINSON

been given. There was a hanilfnl of people at Belclier- town who had beeome much interested in Noyes's preach- ing. 'Noyes was well educated, being a graduate of New Haven Divinity School, and he exercised much influence over his followers. They held their little meetings, and occasionally the stroke of the hammer was heard in their dwellings on Sunday. But the minister of the Belcher- town Congregational Church was not a broad-minded man; hence, he would not ]et the poor harmless people rest unmolested in their beliefs and practices. Law-and- order meetings were called, and much angry spirit was aroused. Dr. Robinson's sympathies were with the perse- cuted Perfectionists, as those who knew him might well suppose, and he was glad when one after another they fol- lowed Noyes to Oneida, New York, and quiet reigned again in that lovely hill town.

At this juncture an event occurred which was of vital importance to Dr. Robinson. He was summoned to attend the daughter of Myron A. Lawrence.^ Miss Lawrence, while at school, had met with a severe accident, having fallen upon some steps with such violence as: to injure her spine. Her natural vigor had declined, and a sympathetic blindness had set in. Various physicians had exercised their skill upon her to bring back her health, with not very good success. One evening in the late autumn of 1843, the lamps had been lighted and the family of Mr. Law- rence were taking their supper, thus leaving the little girl alone, lying on the large sofa in the sitting-room, to watch the firelight in the fireframe and dream her dreams. She was thinking of the days to come, whether they were to

'See Appendis A, note (d).

SARA T. D. LAWRENCE, 1847.

EARLY LIFE 39

be for lier many or few; whether they were to be days of tiresome inactivity, perhaps even of hopeless invalidism. All at once there was a gentle ringing of the doorbell, a quick step in the hall, and then the door into the sitting- room was opened almost instantly and Dr. Gridley of Am- herst walked in. He said " Good evening," to the little girl as he came toward the sofa, but she made no reply. With the firelight only, and her weakened sight, she coiild not at first tell who the gentleman was. Then he said, "Well, don't you know me — Dr. Gridley? And I have come to introduce you to your new doctor — Dr. Robinson." There was a brief consultation over the case, and Dr. Gridley's suggestion to send to Boston for Spanish leeches was' followed out. The next night after they had been used, they crawled out of their bottle and under the thin muslin cover, and went to their death in the bed of coals raked up on the hearth. At least so it was supposed, for they were never seen more. When the young doctor made his next visit he said he thought blisters and cups and leeches had been given sufficient trial. Would it not be better to try some new methods, less wearing upon the nervous system ? Accordingly, Dr. Robinson made a quick journey to Hartford and came home at evening well satisfied with his purchase of a galvanic battery. There was immediate gain from this change of treatment, and it continued to be rapid and sure. The young Miss Lawrence regained her health, and years after became the wife of her successful physician.

Dr. Robinson threw his whole zeal and energy into his work at Belchertown, which proved to be a great strain on his not over-rugged constitution. Consequently, in the

4:0 LIFE OF CHARLES KOBINSON

spring' of 1845 he went to Springfield, Massachusetts, and there opened a hospital for practice. In conducting this hospital he associated with him Dr. J. G. Holland, a well- read physician, and subsequently widely known on account of his literary career. He was a native of Belchertown, and had been a room-inate of Dr. Robinson at Pittsfield, where the two became well acquainted. Dr. Holland was a fine singer and a most companionable man, but not a very successful practitioner. His literary career is well known, as he was the writer of many books, and the first editor of Scribner's Monthly.

While at Springfield, Dr. Robinson found it impossible to confine his work to hospital practice, and so his visits extended far and wide in Springfield and the surrounding towns within a radius of twenty miles.

In the summer of 1843, soon after he commenced prac- ticing at Belchertown, Dr. Robinson was married to Miss Sarah Adams, of Brookfield, Massachusetts. Two children were bom to them, both dying in infancy. On the 17th of January, 1846, while he was practicing at Springfield, his wife passed from this life. This loss had a lasting effect upon his character, and appears to have changed the entire course of his life.

Failing in health on account of excessive practice and broken in spirit on account of his severe loss, he was in- duced, in the spring of 1846, to leave Springfield and go to Fitchburg, where his brother Cyrus was located.^ He at once entered into the life and activity of the town, doing with his might what his hand found to do. It was healing for his spirit, for it was ever his method to find cure for

iSoe Appendix A, note (*).

EARLY LIFE 41

Lis own sorrows in active work for others. His love of music now led him to become the first bass sing^er in Rev. Mr. Davis's church. When possible he met with the choir at rehearsal, and onoe a week with the sin^rs at some private house. Many young men, just commencing prac- tice in law or medicine, had located in the town, and other young men fresh from school were glad to unite with them in a weekly debating lyceum which interested itself in all important matters of a public nature. The t^wn hall contained a full audience when Dr. Robinson was known to be one of the debaters, for he often had a way of looking at the subject which was quite novel to his hearers. It was there he became fully convinced that to make men temperate, not only in what they should drink but what they should eat, and in all matters of living, they must be educated in the laws of their being, and learn to obey them. They must realize that to break one of these laws is to break a law of God, and there can be no escape from its penalty. About this time he became a charter member of the Sons of Temperance, and gave the order his hearty support.

In Fitchburg he was one of the School Committee, and at this time there were some little mischievous boys there who g-^ave the teachers much trouble. The teachers had come to the conclusion that punishing was of no more use, and were at a loss to Imow what to do to make them obey the laws of the school, when Dr. Robinson said, " Send the unruly boys to me." I^ot one of them ever came twice. We do not know what was said, but they were doubtless v/ords convincing them that they were working for their own hurt, words of persuasion that only in themselves lay

42 LIFE OF CHAKXES KOBINSON

the power to be dutiful scholars in school, obedient bojs at home, and respected citizens when they should take their part on the stage of action. The light upon their faces as they went out of the house was very different from their sullen look when they came in, showing that new thoughts had taken possession of them.

It appears that wherever Dr. Itobinson went, he soon became overburdened with excessive practice. This was tnie at Fitchburg to such an extent that he was soon worn out with the duties of his profession. Night sweats and a severe cough which now attacked him indicated his critical condition. While he was casting about what to do for his health, thoughts of a trip to California were prom- inent in his mind. Ahout this time a company was being formed in and around Boston for an overland trip to Cali- fornia. The first party to set out for San Francisco from Boston and central Massachusetts had sailed in Januai^, via Cape Horn. The success of Dr. Robinson as a prac- ticing physician and his wide reputation in different parts of Massachusetts caused the Boston Company to accept him gladly as the company's physician on their route to California. So, on March 19th, 1849, he started out with the first company from Boston to the Golden Gate, passing through St. Louis and overland through Kansas. The adventures of this trip, many of which border on the ro- mantic and even mar\^elous, will be recited in another chapter.^

' See Chapter II.

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES 43

CHAPTER II.

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES.

An incident in tlie life of Robinson is about to occur which will change his entire future. In a peculiar way he is to become interested in the emigration to Cali- fornia.^ For it was at this time the whole countiy was aroused by the discovery of gold in that country. Men evei'ywhere caught the fever, and were hurrying westward in the vain endeavor to be first in locating mining claims. Not only the adventuresome West but the staid East was stirred with unbounded enthusiasm. Thousands from every part of the United States took up the long journey overland to the new El Dorado, or by boat passed by way of the Isthmus, or by steamer " round the Horn," to San Francisco.^

In the winter of 1849 a party Avas formed in and around Boston for the purpose of emigrating and settling in California. " This party was composed of men of all classes and professions, including tradesmen, clerks, manu- facturers, mechanics, farmers, and laborers. It was organ- ized in the form of a militai-y company, with a full list of officers from captain down. The privates and non-commis- sioned officers wore gray uniforms, while the commissioned officers wore navy blue. An assessment was made upon each member, and all property was purchased and con- trolled by the officers." In this strange company, having

^ See Chapter III, Eaneas Conflict.

' The first steamer bearing a party from Kew England left Boston in January, 1849. Two friends of Dr. Robinson, N. D. Ooodale and Enoch Btirnett, were members of the party.

44: lAVK OK CHARLES EOBINSON

the form only of military organization but without military discipline, was found Charles Robinson, who had entered as physician to the company. He was to be relieved of all responsibility other than the care of the sick. The nature of the man, however, rendered it certain that other responsibilities than the care of the sick would be thrust upon him. For in any association of men, those of supe- rior judgment and ability are sooner or later called into general service, and so it proved in this case.

This small party left Boston on March 19th, 1849, and started overland, traveling by railroad and canal to Pitts- burg and thence by steamer to Cincinnati, St. Louis, and finally to Kansas City, or what was then known as West- port Landing. The whole journey was without striking events except the ordinary experiences of a long journey into a new country, which always brings with it a renewed interest from day to day as sights and scenes change. In the short pause at Cincinnati, Dr. Robinson bought a beautiful cream-colored horse, which became a gTcat com- panion and pet throughout the entire journey to Califor- nia, and was subsequently killed in the squatter riots at Sacramento. As they moved farther westward new classes of people boarded the steamer, and the l>[ew Eng- land party had an opportimity of forming the acquaint- ance of people from Missouri and the South. They were introduced, too, to the freedom and recklessness of the wild frontier life. They entered a land where law seemed much farther removed from contact with the peo- ple than in staid old I*few England. Knowledge gained on this trip of the class of people that were pouring into the West was of great service to Dr. Robinson in hia subsequent career in Kansas.

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES 45

Soon after the steamboat left St. Louis on its journey

up the Missouri river, cholera broke out among the pas-

pengers. At this time much less was known about this

dread disease than at present, and medical science in

general had not jet demonstrated its ability to cope with

it under favorable circumstances. The physician of the

Boston party was soon called, into service. He was witli-

out medical library, and without any practical knowledge

of the disease. His information concerning it consisted

of meager descriptions in the few books that he had read

which touched upon the subject. The conditions on board

of a river steamer were not favorable t-o the sup]Dression of

the disease. Thrown upon his own resources, he adopted

the following plan of treating the disease, which is best

described in his own words:

" It was found that all the fluids of the body were leaving the surface and pouring into the alimentary canal. The features became pinched and anxious, the skin pallid and bloodless, and the muscles of the extremities were affected with painful cramps. What was to be done? Evidently the first thing to be done was to reverse the vascular and absorbent machinery and send the fluids back to the surface and other parts of the system and relieve cramps. What would accomplish this result, and did the medicine chest contain the required remedy? On examination, the doctor found tincture of opium (laudanum), tincture of camphor, and compound tincture of capsicum (hot drops). The first two would have a tendency to send the fluids to the brain and surface and relieve spasms, while the last would excite action of the vascular tissue and absorbent systems. Accordingly, these tinctures were taken in a mixture of equal parts, and administered in teaspoonful doses once in fifteen minutes, more or less, according to symptoms, till the flow of fluids should be re- versed and the cramps cease. Fortunately, this treatment proved suc- cessful in every case where applied on first attack of the disease." '

When the boat reached. Kansas City the military com-

^ EaneaK Conflict, p. 29.

46 LIFE OF CHABLES EOBINSON

panj was in a state of dissolution. As is frequently tli© case in all organizations of similar character, suspicions soon attached to the officers, who were accused of mis-- management, and a jj^eneral discontent arose. So intense was the feeling on the part of the members of the asso- ciation that no settlement of difficulties could be reached without a division of the party, and tJiis of course neces- sitated a division of the property. Therefore two parties were formed, and Dr. Eobinson was appointed one of a committee of three to assist in the division of the supplies and the settlement of the difficulty. This process occupied nearly five weeks of time, and it was the 10th of May be- fore the parties were ready to start on their journey westward. But the time was not lost to the observant nature of Dr. Robinson, for he studied the habits and characteristics of the people and learned something of Western farming and stock-raising. Much of his time was also consumed in the care of the sick, for during the first night after their arrival in Kansas City nine citizens were attacked with the cholera, and died. The services of the physician of the Boston party were again called into requisition, and during his entire stay he had an opportunity to exercise his professional skill to the utmost in caring for victims of the cholera. Upon the whole, the delay proved profitable and useful to Dr. Robin- son; and on the other hand, perhaps in no period of his life did he serve humanity better than during these few weeks' stay in Kansas City. ISTor were the days in Kan- sas City without recreation, for in the long delay while they waited for the grass to grow on the plains, or engaged in the tedious division of the property of the company,

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES 4rT

the spare hours at the little house where they boarded were enlivened with music. Dr. Robinson had bought a clarinet in Cincinnati. A young friend of his played the flute well, and the two furnished music to the neigh- bors of the temporary home during the evenings of wait- ing. The old Western farmer thought Dr. Robinson and the young man from Roxbury would do better ''" giviii' con- certs than goin' to the gold diggin's."

Two parties instead of one were now to start on the long overland journey of over two thousand miles to the Pa- cific slope. Their organizations were completed by the lOtli day of May, thirty days after their arrival in Kansas City, and instead of going in boats coursing on the muddy Missouri they were to travel in " schooners " over the rolling prairies of Kansas and the plains of the West, drawn by cattle and mules, or on horseback, as many did. It was a life of wild experiences, especially at first, for inexperienced men were now attempting to manage wild pteers and wilder mules, hitherto unknown to yoke and harness. Thus, with inexperienced drivers and untrained animals, they were to enter upon a journey over a bound- less country with ill-defined roads. A " schooner " would frequently be fastened in the mud, and endless delays occur for want of discipline and order. There was much experience in the way of searching for the best routes, the best crossing of streams, and for the best method of re- sisting attacks from Indians ; indeed, the expedition be- came a little world of experience on wheels, in which all phases of human nature v/ere tested. Those who started from Boston without experience lived years in a short journey across the plains.

48 LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON

A vory interesting incident is related by Dr. Robinson in regard to the discussion which so frequently occurred among overland parties respecting Sabbath travel. On the first Saturday of the journey it appears that darkness over- took the travelers before they had reached water, — a very important consideration in overland travel. The next morning, which was Sunday, it was found upon in- vestigation that the Wakarusa was only two or three miles away, and they decided to hitch up the teams and drive to water even though it was Sunday. This was so neces- sary that every member of the party readily acquiesced, even to the strictest Puritan among them. But when they reached the river and the stock had been watered, a question arose as to whether they should continue travel on Sunday or not, as they were already prepared to go on. After a controversy a vote of the party was taken, which favored Sunday travel. But they had not pursued their journey very far when an accident to one of the animals caused a delay, and Sunday travel had to be given up for that day. The remainder of the day was spent in theolog- ical discussion, one party maintaining that the accident was a judgment of God on account of their Sabbath- breaking, while the other attributed it to improper attach- ments of the coupling-pins and to bad driving. One party appealed to tlie Decalogue and the other called for its reading, and when read it seemed to enjoin the keeping of the seventh day and not the first. From the Decalogue the appeal was made to the New Testament, but it was found on examination that there was no sentence in the New Testament which enjoined, the keeping of the Sab- bath. As in most discussions of this kind, no settled con-

CALIFOENIA ADVENTURES 49

elusion was reached. But it is related that the men who were the strongest advocat€s of Sabbath observance were afterwards seen at the gaming-tables in Sacramento, bet- ting with other sinners at " three-card monte." Dr. Rob- inson closes this narrative with the following sentence, which I give as expressive of his own peculiar character- istics: "Persons who depend upon outside pressure for religion are apt to adopt the customs of their surroundings when that pressure is removed; while the person who is governed by his own convictions of what is right and what is wrong, regardless of public opinion and public custom, will be but slightly influenced by externals."

The journey overland, though full of changes and daily happenings, cannot be followed in detail. They had the typical journey of the plains of those times, consisting of long, monotonous days, alternating with those of wild adventure and positive danger. An immense crowd, fully 20,000, had preceded them, and the grass was eaten off fully haK a mile from the trail on each side, and water was scarce and difficult to obtain. Doctor Robinson had three horses, — Charley, Old " Zach " Taylor, and " Doctor Slop." At one time the party had to camp at night with- out water. During the night the horse " Doctor Slop " broke away from camp, and in the search for him on the following morning he was found quietly feeding by a boun- tiful stream of water, giving evidence of the acuteness of animals in the search for water. Xot long after this they came to the St. Mary's river, in the desert, where they suf- fered for lack of food. Here Dr. Robinson's strength failed and a fever attacked him. His companions waited a day

or two for him to partially recover, and then they all pro- -4

50 LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON

oeeded to cross the desert, Dr. Robinson having packed grass upon two horses for their feed through the waste. They spent one Sunday at tlie new town of Salt Lake City, where, under the direction of Brigham Young, the " desert began to blossom as the rose," although the Mormons had been there but two years.

The most important event concerning Dr. Robinson was an adventure which he had in the Platte river. It appears that some time had been spent in searching for the proper fording-place, the river itself always being deceptive in appearance. Sometimes when moving smoothly and evenly it appears like a deep flowing stream, while in reality the water may not be over three inches deep, flowing over a bottom of mud and quicksand. Searching for a fording- place, Dr. Robinson on his cream-colored horse plunged in to make the crossing. About midway in the river was a small island. This having been passed, the rider and horse floundered in deep water, and, becoming sepa- rated, the horse made for the opposite shore, while the rider returned to the island. While the rider was yet flounder- ing in the water, the horse, from the opposite shore, gave a loud neigh, and plunged again into the stream, swim- ming toward the island, which he reached about the same time as the rider. He immediately came and stood over the prostrate form of Dr. Robinson until the Doctor was able to mount and ride out tO' the further shore. This little act of intelligenoe on the part of the horse endeared it very much to its owner. The horse was so docile that he was at home wherever the camp was, without liitching or tethering, and whenever his master approached he would leave off grazing and place his head over the Doctor's shoulder to be fondled and caressed.

CALIFORNIA ADVENTUEES 51

Wlien the company readied Sacramento, on the 12tli of August, 1849, Dr. Robinson liad changed from a slen- der man of 145 pounds to a robust person of 170, with every trace of his puhnonary trouble gone.

The company, indeed, was no longer properly a company when it reached California. The organization so thor- oughly completed in Boston before the party started west- ward, became finally w^holly disintegrated, and its mem- bers reached the State in straggling groups. Most of the members entered the mines for the purpose of washing gold ; others finally located in towns or on farm lands.

Dr. Robinson soon abandoned the mines and took up his residence in Sacramento, where he in company with others started a boarding-house, and at the same time practiced to a certain extent his medical profession. He found many poor people in the city who were in need of both food and medical attention. From the boarding- house many received aid to keep them from starving, and through the kind offices of Dr. Robinson were given, gratis, medical attention which saved their lives. Here as elsewhere he always showed a kind-hearted disposition to help those who were needy. This disposition to help sufferers and those who were dealt with unjustly led him to become a leader of the settlers' or squatters' cause in Sacramento.^

In order fully to understand the position taken by Dr. Robinson in the squatter riots of Sacramento in 1850, it will be necessary to inquire specifically into the exact condition of the land question in California during the interregnum from the time of the occupation of California

J Bancroft's Works, Vol. XXXV, chapter XVII,— S^uaMerism.

52 LIFE OF CHABLES ROBINSON

l)j United States authorities in 1846 to the admission into the Union in 1850, and the subsequent settlement of land claims. It is one of the principles of modern civilization as regards international rights and usages, that in con- quered territory or territory obtained by purchase, the property rights of all citizens living in the territory at the time of the change shall be respected and guaranteed. In the treaty between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic at Guadalupe Hidalgo February 2, 1848, approved by the President Marcb 16, 1848, and proclaimed July 4, 1848, property rights are guaranteed. All land titles and property of every kind belonging to citizens within the territory are guaranteed to the o^vner. Freedom in the use and protection in the right of said property are guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States. These provisions make all bona, fide titles granted by the Mexican or Spanish: government prior to the occupation by the United States government, valid and secure.

It had been the custom of the Spanish government prior to Mexican independence, and subsequently of the Mexi- can government, through the Governor of California, and by well-defined laws and usages, to grant large tracts of land to individuals for the sake of colonization and oc- cupation, the largest grant not to exceed eleven square leagues of land. The aim of the government was to settle the territory by gi'anting large tracts of land to individuals to whom the government was under special obligations. Unfortunately, in the granting of these titles the language used in defining the territory was usually quite indefinite, and in those days no definite survey was obtained. Usu-

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES 53

ally the limits of the grant were determined by well- defined natural boundaries, such as mountains and rivers. The result of this granting of lands so freely was, that by the time of the discovery of gold and the incoming of the settlers from the East^ and in fact from all parts of the world, a large proportion of the fertile lands located in small tracts along the river bottoms had been covered by numerous grants. In addition to these genuine grants, many fraudulent ones had been made or assumed, which would seem to cover almost every available spot of fertile land in the State,

To add to this confusion, the State Legislature was powerless to make laws for the government of the State, as the latter had not yet been organized and accepted as a member of the Union. The courts also were in a dis- organized condition, being in theory guided and regulated by the Mexican customs, which prevailed everywhere until American customs were adopted, but tending all the time to break away from the Mexican system and to adopt the American. There was, then, no adequate authority for testing land titles. Hence, when there came this sudden influx of settlers who were seeking lands to preempt on the so-called " squatter rights," which had prevailed to such a large extent in the United States, the settlers found the lands all covered by rights resting upon ]\Iexican grants, or by assumed titles which might or might not be legal. This was, of course, a great disappointment to the settlers; and when it was known that large numbers of fraudulent claims were being filed, and that men were using all means within their power, both fair and foul, to obtain possession of large tracts of land for the sake o£

54 LIFE OF CHARLES BOBINSON

holding or speculating, the settlers looked upon themselves as defrauded of the rights of American citizens to settle wherever no legal title to land existed ; for they believed much of this land to be a part of the public domain. They held that at least until title to lands should be decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, they had as good a right to settle on these lands and await the decision as anyone else. Evidently there was a great misunderstand- ing among the settlers because of the fact that the Mexi- can land titles were diiferent from those of the United States. They had supposed that California, being open to settlement, was all public domain, similar to the new Eastern. States and Territories when once these were opened to settlement. They had failed to realize that civilization already existed in California; that a govern- ment had been established prior to the American occu- pation and American purchase; and that persons living within the territory were entitled to property rights supe- rior to those of new-comers or immigrants.

The situation at Sacramento was peculiar. In 1839 Sutter,^ a man from Switzerland, had settled on the Sac- ramento river at the junction of the river with the Ameri- can river, where he built a fort and established a colony. His possessions reached far and wide up and down the Sacramento, American and Feather rivers. He lived on his domains like a feudal lord of old times, with his men as sei-vants, helpers, and a small army drilled for defense. In 1841 he received a grant from the Mexican government of eleven square leagues of land. In December, 1847, Sutter reported the wliite population of his grant as two

1 Eancroffe Works, Vol. XJXV, p. 408. Kaneas ConCict, pp. 38-41.

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES 55

hundred eighty-nine, besides a large number of docile Indians, half-breeds, and Hawaiians. Sixty houses clus- tered around the fort, and six mills and one tannery were within the district. Thousands of bushels of wheat were raised annually in the fertile fields, and thousands of cattle, horses, mules, sheep and hogs grazed in the valleys and on the hills. In 1846 Sutter laid out the town of Sutterville, three miles below the fort, on the Sacramento river. Subsequently the town of Sacramento was laid out between Sutterville and the fort. So far as rights accruing from possession were concerned, Sutter certainly was the owner of this last tract of land. So far, too, as the intent of the grant by the Mexican Governor in 1841 was concerned, he had a clear title to the land. Unfortu- nately, by a blunder in the title deed the boundaries fixed for the territory covered over a thousand square leagues of land, and the southern boundary was placed some twenty miles north of the fort, at the junction of the Feather and the Sacramento rivers; hence, if the deed were strictly constnied, the fort, Sutterville, Sacramento and the surrounding territory would be entirely excluded from the gTant. The third and fourth sections of the grant read as follows : ^

" Third. The land of which donation is made to him is of extent of eleven sitios da ganado mayor as exhibited in the sketch annexed to the proceedings, without including the lands overflowed by the swelling and the current of the rivers. It is bounded on the north by los Tres Picas (Three Summits) and the 39° 41' 45" of north lati- tude; on the east by the border of the Eio de las Plumas (Feather river) ; on the south by the parallel 38° 49' 32" of north latitude; and on the west by the river Sacramento.

" Fourth. When this property shall be confirmed unto him, he

' Tfxt and map of grant. In piunphlet, "Frandnlent Location of the Sntter Grant," C. W. Holt, Sacramecto. 18«9. Kans-aa Cor.fiict, p. 41.

56 LIFE OF CHAKLES KOBINSON

shall petition the proper judge to give him possession of the laud, in order that it may be measured, agreeable to ordinance, the surplus thereof remaining for the benefit of the nation, for convenient pur- poses. Tlierefore I order that this title being held as firm and valid, that the stime be entered in the proper book, and these proceedings be transmitted to the Excellent Departmental Assembly."

It is evident from this tliat tlie intention was that Sutter should locate, by proper surveys, land to the amount of eleven square leaj^ues within the boundaries described, and that the remainder within these boundaries should revert to the Government as national property. It is also clear that it was the intention of the Governor of California to include within this grant the fort and its surrounding ter- ritory, while in fact it excluded it entirely by the state- ments included within the grant.

To make matters worse, Sutter, w'ho had little con- ception of the boundary of his own land, l^eing in doubt at times whether his title covered the territory in which his fort, Sutterville, and Sacramento were located, and being harassed on every side by land speculators, only deepened the confusion of the whole matter by his prodi- gality. The case is thus stated by Josiah Royce : ^

" In 1848, when the gold-seekers began to come. Sutter began to lose his wits. One of the pioneer statements in Mr. Bancroft's col- lection says rather severely that the distinguished captain thence- forth signed any paper that was brought to him. At all events, he behaved in as unbusiness-like a fashion as well could be expected, and the result was that when his atfairs came in later years to a more complete settlement, it was found that he had dee<led away, not merely more land than he actually owned, but, if I mistake not, more land than he himself had supposed himself to own. All this led not only himself into embarrassments, but other people with him; and to arrange with justice the final survey of his El Dorado

' Eoyce : Squattar Siot of '50 la Sacramento ; Orerland Dlonthly, Vol. VI, (second series, ) p. 227.

CALIFOKNIA AUVEIfTUEES 57

grant proved in later years one of the most perplexing problems of the United States District and Supreme Courts."

In 1860, the Supreme Court, in its attempt to settle the Sutter case, located the land, in two tracts: one of two leagues, including the fort and city; the other of nine leagues, on the Feather river, including Marysville. In 1863 the District Court set aside this survey, and lo- cated the land in a long line of thirteen tracts between the same limits as before, with the idea of following Sut- ter's own selection of territory.^ Subsequently the Su- preme Court set aside this last decision, and restored that of 1860. Thus the Supreme Court recognized the grant to Sutter as given in good faith, although the title had been buraed in a Sacramento fire. They attempted, amid great difficulties, to settle the matter justly and equitably. But if commissions and courts found so much difficulty in settling the land title of Sutter, it is easy to see how settlers would readily fall into the idea that the grant was irregular and illegal. Moreover, the grasping for land by Yankee speculators, the shrewd manner in which these Yankees were outwitting the old Spanish grantees and seizing the most fertile spots of California, tended to create a distrust of all land titles. The manner in which the speculators were obtaining control of large bodies of land seemed to the settlers like a process of robbery, by which they were defrauded of the rights of settlement on what they considered the public domain.

The squatter riot of Sacramento, however, arose on ac- count of personal sympathy which certain individuals had for the squatters because of the cold and cruel manner

1 O. W. Holt : Fraudulent Location of the Sntter Oiant, Sacramento, p. 3

58 LIFE OF CHAKLES KOBINSON

in whick many of them were ejected, on a pretended or real legal process, from lands claimed by others. The town of Sacramento was founded on land claimed by Sut- ter, and lots were sold directly by himself or by those per- sons who were granted territory by Sutter. The town, then, derived its right to be from the Sutter grant; and if this grant were valid, persons who bought lots in the town had a legal right to them. In the winter of 1849 settlers flocked to the city, and occupied with tents and shanties the vacant lands in and around Sacramento.

" In the midst of this rainy season, three men, including the Doctor, were passing along the levee between the slough near I street and the river, when they met a pretended sheriff and posse Avell charged with whisky. Curiosity caused the three men to stop and watch the proceedings. The posse went directly to a structure of logs and canvas, where was a sick man who had been fed and nursed liy the Doctor for several days. This man was ruthlessly hauled from his shelter, and the logs and canvas leveled with the ground. One of the three watchers exclaimed, ' That is a damned out- rage! ' and the others joined in the exclamation. It was then and there the movement commenced that culminated in the squatter riot of the next year." '

These men resolved that such actions should be reported to the people, and that if possible, such outrages should be prohibited. A meeting was called to be held on the levee that evening. A cord of wood was procured to fur- nish light, and small handbills advertising the meeting were printed and circulated. When the meeting was called to order the speculators and their friends monopolized the speaking. After several speculators had explained their side of the question in set speeches. Dr. Robinson made

1 Kobinson : Kansas Conflict, p. 37.

CALIFORNIA ADVENTUEES 59

his way to the platform and offered the following resolu- tion : ^

"Whereas, The land in California is presumed to be public land, therefore,

"Resolved, That Ave will protect any settler in the possession of land to the extent of one lot in the city and one hundred and sixty acres in the country, till a valid title shall be shown for it. '

This was a hold assertion to make. It assumed that the Sutter title was not legal, or that Sutter's claims were greater than the law could warrant.^ The resolution was received with great enthusiasm by the assembled crowds, and had its influence in preventing indiscrim- inate ejection of tenants. But in December, 1849, an ordinance was passed by the city council directing the removal of certain improvements from city lots occupied by squatters.^ After the passage of this ordinance a posse of several hundred men under the direction of the city marshal set out to execute the order, but the squatters organized into an association, and the president of the association met them at the first attempt to remove property, and boldly informed them that their authority to meddle with private property was not recog-nized hj the squatters' association, and that if they touched the prop- erty they must kill the whole squatters' association after- wards. The little deputy marshal, well loaded with whisky, cried, '"' Shoot the scoundrel ! " But as no one appeared desirous of obeying his order, the posse retired from the field leaving the squatter in possession.

1 Robinson : Kansas Conflict, p. 38, et seq.

*C. W. Hoit : Fraudulent Location of the Sutter Grant, p. 2. Royce : Squatter Riot of '60 in Sacramento; Overland Monthly, Vol. VI, (eecond series.) pp. 232-4. a Idem, p. 238.

60 LIFE OF CHARLES KOBIN^SOlSr

The next step on the part of the land-owTiers was to have an act passed by the provisional State Legislature, — although the State was not yet admitted into the Union, — to pro- vide for forcible entry and detainer, the land-owners hoping thus to secure possession of the land without a decision of the Supreme Court. ^

Suits in the local courts continued to be held, and in these suits the courts always decided that Sutter's title was connect, and rendered judgment against the squatters. The squatter had a right to appeal to the probate court by giving bonds for the satisfaction of judgment; but all bondsmen must be land-owTiers, and as the squatters were supposed not to be horm fide land-owners, the right of ap- peal was thus really cut off. The city council also pro- ceeded to pass a municipal ordinance forbidding anyone to erect tents or shanties or houses, or to heap lumber or other incumbrances upon any vacant lot belonging to any private person or upon any public street.^ The land- owners also formed a law-and-order association, and cir- culated handbills asserting their intention of defending their property. Numerous encounters of a minor nature occurred, but the agitation was gradually dying out on ac- count of the absence of Dr. Robinsoii from the city for two months.^ On his return, in the latter part of July, the movement had fallen into the background of public atten- tion and great discouragement prevailed among the squat- ters. Obsei*ving the situation of the courts, and seeing that no appeal could be taken from the decision of the local

1 Boyce : Squatter Riot of '50 In Sacramento ; Overland Uonthly, Vol. VI, (aecoad series,) p. 238.

- Ideaa. ■' Idem.

CALIFOENIA AX>VE]S TUBES 61

courts, Dr. Robinson staked off several blocks of land in the outskirts of the city, put up a large tent upon tbem, and moved in. When the next trial occurred, lie offered himeelf as bail. When the court asked him in regard to his title, he said it was as good as there was in the city. The justice held that he could not try titles, and must accept the bondsman on his assertion of a legal right to the property offered, whose value was placed at $100,000. Soon after this came a trial of the appealed case before Judge Willis, of the county court.^ The case was decided against the squatters, and an appeal was made to the Dis- trict Court with the hope of finally reaching the United States Court, but it was denied. The defendant then asked an appeal to the Supreme Court, but at this time there was no law to sustain the appeal, and the motion was overruled, and the squatters were beaten. There was no opportunity to settle land titles in the State of California, except through local courts which had no jurisdiction over the public domain.

The trial caused a great deal of excitement. Both parties were excited to the utmost degree. The squatters had been denied the right of appeal. " They rushed from the court to excited meetings outside, and spread abroad the news that Judge Willis had not only decided against them, but had decided that from him there was no appeal. Woe to such laws and to such judges ! The law betrays us. We will appeal to the Higher Law. The processes of the courts shall not be served. Dr. Robinson was not unequal to the emergency. At once he sent out notices

1 Compare Boyce : Squatter Riot of '50 in Sacramento ; Overland Monthly, Vol. VI. (second series,) pp. 239-40. Bancroft's Works, Vol. XXXV, p. 408. Kansas Conflict, pp.

62 LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON"

calling a mass meeting o£ squatters and others interested, to take place tbe same evening, August 10. It was Sat- urday, and when night came a large crowd of squatters, land-owners and idlers had gathered." ^

In this crowd "svere found all sorts of people. There were the land speculators and laud-owners, settlers and squatters, and idlers and loafers. Quite a large number were disposed to take it all as a huge joke; hut Dr. Rob- inson was serious enough for the occasion. He came for- ward to define his position, asserting that the time for moderation was passed, and offering resolutions denounc- ing Judge Willis and the law. These resolutions, in spite of a few dissenting votes, were carried by a large majority. Subsequently, numerous speakers crowded to the platform and harangued the public. The next day Dr. Robinson drew up a manifesto — an able, bold, and somewhat reck- less document — stating clearly the situation and denounc- ing the attitude of the courts and the land-owners. The following is the manifesto as given by the Doctor's own pen:^

TO THE PEOPLE OF SACRAMENTO CITY.

It is well known that a few individuals have seized upon nearly all the arable lands in this country, and the following are some of the means they have resorted to, in order to retain the property thus taken :

First. They have used brute force and torn down the buildings of the settlers, and driven them from their homes by riotous mobs.

Second. They have used threats of violence, even to the taking of life, if the occupant or settler persisted in defending his property, and thus extorted from the timid their rightful possessions.

Third. They have passed or procured the passage of certain rules

1 Koyce, p. 240.

2 Kansas Conflict, pp. 45-6.

CALIFORNIA ADVENT UKES 63

in the so-called Legislature of California, for the purpose, as their attorneys affirm, of protecting themselves and removing the settlers from the land they may occupy whether right or lorong, — thus set- tling the question of title in an assumed legislative body, which question can alone be settled by the supreme government of the United States.

Fourth. Under said legislative regulations, by them called laws, they have continually harassed the settlers with suits, and in many instances compelled them to abandon their homes for want of the means to pay the costs of the courts. Many others have paid these costs with the hope of carrying their cause through these so-calletl courts to the proper tribunal for final decision, viz., the Supreme Court of the United States.

But these hopes were vain, for Judge Willis, so called, has de- cided that from his decision there is no appeal.

And now, inasmuch as the so-called Legislature is not recognized by Congress, and the rules and regulations not approved and are therefore of no binding force upon the citizens of the United States, but simply advisory, and inasmuch as the so-called law of " Forcible Entry and Detainer," if passed for the purpose affirmed by their counsel, namely, to drive ofi" settlers, with or without title, is un- constitutional, and would be in any State, the people of this com- munity called settlers, and others who are friends of justice and humanity, in consideration of the above, have determined to disre- gard all decisions of our courts in land cases and all summonses or executions by the sheriff, constable, or other officer of the present county or city, touching this matter. They will regard the said officers as private citizens, as in the eyes of the Constitution they are, and hold them accountable accordingly. And, moreover, if there is no other appeal from Judge Willis, the settlers and others, on the first show of violence to their persons or property, either by the sheriff or other person, under color of any execution or writ of restitution, based on any judgment or decree of any court in this county, in an action to recover possession of land, have deliberately resolved to appeal to arms, and protect their sacred rights, if need be, with their lives.

Should such be rendered necessary by the acts of the sheriff or others, the settlers will be governed by martial law. All property, and the persons of such as do not engage in the contest, will be sacredly regarded and protected by them, whether landholders or

64 LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON

otherwise, but the property and lives of those who take the field againet them ■will share the fate of war.

Dr. Robinson's position was bold and liis situation some- what critical, for he had openly defied the local courts and committed himself to defense at arms. It was under- stood that the sheriff Avould take possession of the property under dispute on Monday morning, and it was necessary for the squatters to act then in defense of their property against the courts, if they ever expected to. In a letter written to Sara T. D. Lawrence, afterward the wife of Dr. Robinson, dated August 12, 1850, the situation is clearly and graphically described in the Doctor's own way. The writer feels it better to quote from this letter than to attempt an elaborate description of the situation : ^

"August 12, 1850. — Although I have written one letter, yet, as I have been called upon by circumstances to remain in town, and as I have a little leisure, I will talk with you a little, my dear S. Since writing you we have seen much and experienced much of a serious and important character, as well as much of excitement. The county judge, before Avhom our cases were brought, decided against us, and on Saturday morning declared that from his decision there should be no appeal. The squatters immediately collected on the ground in dispute, and posted, on large bills, the following: 'OUT- RAGE!!! Shall Judge Willis be dictator? Squatters, and all other republicans, are invited to meet on the Levee this evening, to hear the details.' It was responded to by both parties, and the specu- lators, as aforetime, attempted to talk against time, etc. On the passage of a series of resolutions presented by your humble servant, there were about three ayes to one nay, although the Transcript tiaid they were about equal. Sunday morning I drew up a mani- festo— carried it with me to church — paid one dollar for preaching — helped them sing — showed it to a lawyer to see if my position was correct, legally, and procured the printing of it in handbills and in

' Kansas Conflict, pp. 46-8. Koyce : Squatter Eiot of '50 in Sacramento ; Overland Monttily, Vol. VI, (second periee,) pp. 241-2.

CALIFOKNIA ADVENTURES 65

the paper, after presenting it to a private meeting of citizens for their approval, which I addressed at some length. After a long talk for the purpose of consoling a gentleman just in from the plains, and who the day before had buried his wife, whom he loved most tenderly, and a few days previous to that had lost his son, I threw myself upon niy blankets and ' anxiously thought of the morrow.'

"What will be the result? Shall I be borne out in my position? On whom can I depend? How many of those who are squatters will come out if there is a prospect of a fight? Will the sheriff take pos- session, as he has promised, before 10 o'clock a.m.? How many speculators will fight? Have I distinctly defined our position in the bill? Will the world, the universe, and God say it is just? — etc., ete., etc. Will you call me rash if I tell you that I took these steps to this point when I could get but twenty -five men to pledge them- selves on paper lo sustain me, and many of them, I felt, were timid? Such was the case.

" This morning I was early on my feet, silently and quietly visit- ing my friends, collecting arms, etc. Our manifesto appeared in the paper and bills early, and the whole town is aroused. Nothing is thought or talked of but war. About two hundred men assembled on the disputed territory, and most of them sympathized with us. A few, however, were spies. We chose our commander, and enrolled such as were willing and ready to lay down their lives, if need be, in the cause. About fifty names could be obtained. I managed, by speeches, business, etc., to keep the spectators and fighters mingled in a mass, all unarmed, so as to let no one know that all were men of valor and ready to fight. While thus engaged, the mayor appeared and ad- dressed us from his saddle — not ordering us to disperse, but advising us to do so. I replied, most respectfully, that we were assembled to injure no one, and to assail no one who left us alone. We were on our own property, with no hostile intention while unmolested. After he left, I with others Avas appointed a committee to wait upon him at his office, and state distinctly our position, etc., so that there could be no possibility of mistake. He said he would use his influence as an individual to keep anyone from destroying our property, and told us the sheriff had just told him that the executions from the court had been postponed. We returned, and after reporting, and making some further arrangements for another meeting if necessary, we ad- journed. I told the mayor we should not remain together if no at- tempt was to be made to execute their warrants, but I told him that

66 LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON

if in the meantime a sheriff or any otlier person molested a squatter we should hold him responsible according to our proclamation. From this position we could not l>e driven, although we knew it to be in violation of the regulations of the State. We were prepared to abid«» the result.

" It is said that a writ is made out for my arrest, as a rebel, etc. If so, it will not probably be served at present."

The conflict was soon precipitated by the sheriff, who appeared soon after the squatters had dispersed, removed the property and furniture in dispute, and placed a Iceeper in charge. Several squatters were arrested and sent to the prison-ship.^ During the day leading squatters sought to escape arrest, and a meeting was held in Dr. Robinson's tent at night. After a full discussion of the subject, a plan of procedure was adopted. All the squatters who had pledged themselves to defend their interests were to meet early the next morning under an oak tree in the out- skirts of the city, and thence march to the disputed prop- erty and retake it. An ex-soldier of the Mexican War by the name of Maloney was chosen as military leader.^ To avoid arrest Dr. Robinson and Maloney spent the night at the latter's cabin, six miles outside of the town. Early the next morning they rode to the appointed place, but much to their surjn-ise found not a solitary squatter. The courage of those who had asserted boldly that they would defend their rights, seemed t/) have disappeared. Dr. Robinson and Maloney started out to rally their forces, and found after a search that some of the loudest in the protestation against abuses and the boldest in promises were in bed, trembling at the hint of war. It took four or

1 Bancroft's Works, Vol. X5XV, pp. 408-9. Kansas Conflict, p. 48, et oeg. - Compare this and following with Koyoe : Squatter Riot of '50 ; Overland Honthlj, Vol. VI, (second series,) p. 242.

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES 67

five hours to muster fifteen men, who were drilled a short time by Captain Malonej before setting forth on their errand. The soldiers were sworn in to obey the orders of the commander or be shot as a penalty. The situation was not encouraging. After a day and a night had been spent in vigorous work, an army of only fifteen armed and equipped men could be mustered to take the field. Ma- loney, who began to swell with military pride, desired to ride the Doctor's cream-colored horse. Dr. Robinson was armed with a Colt's six-shooter rifle. This had been lent to him by a gentleman who sympathized with the move- ment, and who had recently arrived across the plains. At noon of a very hot day, August 14, the order was given to march, and the little squatter army of fourteen men and one commander marched seven abreast down X street, though insignificant in number, very warlike in appear- ance. They had not gone far before a crisis occurred in their own ranks. The house of a citizen by the name of A. M. Winn, fonner president of the city comicil, was on the line of march, and it appears that the commander, Maloney, had a bitter grudge against him. As the little army approached the house, the commander turned upon his horse and said he vvould order that house destroyed. Up spoke the Doctor from the ranks and denounced such a proceeding as fatal to the entire squatter movement. The commander apparently abandoned his purpose, but when directly opposite the house he turned again and said, " We will never have a better time," and was about to give the order to fire the house. From the ranks of the little army Dr. Robinson sprang forward, rifle in hand, and shouted to the foolhardy commander, " If you order

bb LIFE OF CHAKLES EOBINSON

that house destroyed, I will blow jour brains out ! " This was a peculiar situation. Here was a private who had fifteen minutes before sworn to obey the orders of the com- mander, on penalty of being shot, jumping from the ranks and threat-ening to shoot the commander if he did not obey the orders of a private. Dr. Robinson was not a little disturbed at the commander's apparent lack of judg- ment, and especially his lack of comprehension of the issue involved. It was evident that Maloney must be checke-d or the warfare would be turned from an attempt at the protection of the helpless squatters in their rights to an attempt at the wanton destruction of the property of peaceful citizens. Even with the utmost check upon his reckless conduct, Maloney apparently disgraced the cause by movements lacking in judgTuent.

Finally the house and property in controversy were reached, and as the keeper placed in charge by the sheriff was absent, the squatters took formal possession and re- placed the furniture and property in the house where it belonged.-^ The Doctor, desiring to get the squad out of the city in another direction, advised that they visit a lot on I street, where lumber had been deposited upon a squatter's claim without the owner's consent. On arriving at the lot on I street, it was found that the person who had deposited the lumber there had done it only as a matter of convenience, and had no designs on the lot; hence there was nothing more to be done. The little army soon had numerous followers, who joined the procession largely through curiosity, some armed with rifles or shotguns, and others with revolvers.

^ Oompare Royce: Squatter Riot of '60 in Sacramento ; Overland Monthly, Vol. VI, (second B»riee,) p. 242.

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES 69

Maloney was requested to marcli out of town on I street, which was sparsely settled, as the little band would l>? likely to attract less attention by so doing. He marched up I street to Third, when to the amazement of the Doctor he turned to J street, the busiest part of the town. As they marched through the principal business street the crowd of followers increased, including many of the worst characters in the city. When the squad arrived at Fourth street a turn was made to the south. Soon after the comer was turned at J street and Fourth a shout was raised, and the mayor, sheriff and their adherents opened fire on the little sqnatter army of fifteen.^ It appears that while the squatter army was marching about town the mayor and sheriff were galloping here and there for rein- forcements to put down the rebellion. l^To sooner was the attack made on the little army than Maloney gave the order to face about and fire. As soon as the fire of the mayor's crowd was returned, all fled in hot haste and the space was cleared in front of the squatters. In fact, there was a rapid dispersing of the crowd on both sides. The mayor was badly wounded, losing an arm, and the city auditor, who was foremost in the attack, was killed. One squatter also was killed in the first encounter. While the squatters were still in line a man named Harper passed up J street, and when opposite Dr. Robinson suddenly stopped and fired his revolver, the ball passing through the Doctor's body two inches below the heart. Dr. Robin- son then raised his rifle and returned the fire, the ball striking the breast-bone of Harper and glancing off with- out entering the body.

1 Compare Bancroft : Work'), Vol. XXXV, p. 409 ; and Royce : Squatter Riot of '50 ia Sacramento ; Overland MoQthly, Vol. VI, (second .series,) pp. 243 and 244.

70 LIFE OF CHAELES EOBINSON

Wlien Dr. Robinson returned to consciousness lie found himself in the street on the ,^round. Looking about, he found that no one was in si^ht, and he crawled slowly into an eating-house near by. At first the inmates were afraid t-o give even the water which he craved. Soon after, some physicians appeared, and he was well cared for. The cor- oner and the sheriff appeared ; the former asked Dr. Rob- inson's name and age, and the latter seemed in such a hurry that Robinson smilingly told him if he could wait a little he would be out of his way. He was in a very critical condition at this time, and the pulsation at his wrist having stopped, the physicians caused the sheriff to wait until circulation was restored. As the slow proces- sion moved toward the prison-ship bearing the Doctor on a cot, sidewalks, verandas and roofs were thronged with people silently watching the proceedings. Others came out of the crowd and silently pressed his hand. On reach- ing the prison-ship Dr. Robinson was placed in the fore- castle. The only other occupant was a violent, insane foreigner who muttered in an unknown tongue, beating the sides of the vessel with his head and in other ways most of the time. Here the prisoner w^as placed with the idea that he would not live long, and that probably a burial the next morning would be the only trouble he would cause thereafter. Sucli was Dr. Robinson's critical condition that a person leaving Sacramento on the night of August 14, the day of the riot, brought tbe news to San Francisco that he was dead, and the report was con- veyed to his New England home. The great excitement of the news was only allayed when, a fortnight after, a

CALIFOENIA ADVENTURES 71

long letter written by Dr. Robinson was received, which contradicted the news of his deatli.

The prison-ship was an old hulk situated a considerable distance out upon the Sacramento river. Although the heat on this August day in Sacramento was excessive, the nights on the i^rison-ship were very cold and the prisoner suffered much because he had lost a good deal of his clothing in the examination of the wound, and was fur- nished none in prison. He suffered great pain, but when the jailer arrived next morning at 9 o'clock the Doctor declared that unless inflammation set in he would recover, contrary to the expectations of his friends and the hopes of his enemies. Dr. Robinson attributed his rapid re- covery to his strictly temperate habits, cold w^ater being his only beverage.

It appeared that w^iile Dr. Robinson was lying in the eating-house, wounded, and awaiting removal to the prison- ship, just before his arrest by the sheriff, the small army of squatters had disappeared, each one going his own way to his own home. While Captain Maloney was riding along the street the sheriff galloped up to him and de- nounced him in very severe terms. Though Maloney was unarmed, except with a saber, he turned and pursued his assailant, who ran into a crowed of well-armed speculators. They at once opened fire on Captain Maloney, killed the horse, and planted eighteen bullets in Maloney's body.

Thus ended the first and last real encounter of the squatters with the speculators of Sacramento. The city was greatly alarmed. Lieutenant-Governor McDougal started for San Francisco for help. Wild rumors were afloat regarding the strength of the squatters and their

72 LIFE OF CHARLES KOBINSON

sworn vensfcance upon the citj. But it appears that the panic had bep,iin to subside, when it was found that the squatters proposed to live up to their manifesto. But many of the specuhitors uriyed that with the military leader of the squatters killed and their civil leader badly wounded, it was a g'ood time to make an end of all squatterism. The newspapers were full of glorious boasting" over the re- sult, and the little sheriff was commended for his bravery. Swelling ^v^th pride, he rallied a posse the second day and started seven or eight miles in the country to arrest " Old Man Allen," as he was called. Allen had taken up a claim on the American river, and it appeared that some- body wanted the claim or had attempted to establish a legal right to it. It is stated by some that he was keeping a hotel or boarding-house. Allen was caring for a sick wife, when the sheriff surrounded his house with three squads. When he came to the door his surrender was de- manded. He replied by discharging the contents of a shot- gun into the little sheriff, who was carried back a corpse to the city. Allen was woiuided, and several others were wounded and killed in the struggle. His wife died during the struggle.

The nev.'s of the sherifl''s death caused great excitement in the city. Militia companies turned out, and detailed patrolling parties passed through the streets to keep them clear. But the next morning the steamer returned, bring- ing Lieutenant-Governor McDougal, and this with other events allayed public fear, the excitement soon died out, and the people were ashamed that they had been alarmed. The squatters continued to meet in the mining districts

CALIFORNIA AD V'E If TURKS 73

and at Marjsville, l>ut at Sacramento tliere seemed to be a common consent to drop the subject as soon as possible.^ Dr. Robinson holds that the matter was dropx)ed be- ' cause the speculators were beaten, or at least saw they had to cope with a stem and stubborn foe. Those advocating the other side considered that the squatters were beaten. After the sheriff had attempted to arrest Allen, the keeper of the prison-ship visited Dr. Robinson, who inquired as to the condition of the squatters and what they were doing. " Squatters ? " said the keeper ; '* they are annihilated, or will be as fast as found." Two nights after the transac- tion the keeper again appeared, in a very different frame of mind. He was very much excited, and had come to ask a favor; for it appeared that the next day after killing the sheriff, Allen had reached a mining camp while the miners were at dinner. " He was hatless and coatless, and covered with mud and blood from head to foot. In this plight he told the story of the squatter riot and of his en- counter with the sheriff." ^ A report was soon abroad that the miners had resolved to enter Sacramento, rescue the prisoners and destroy the town, if another squatter was disturbed. The keeper had come to ask Dr. Robinson to send word to the miners that he did not wish to be rescued, as he thought this would quiet the town and allay the ex- citement. Dr. Robinson replied that while he had no de- sire to be rescued, he had no word to send to the miners or to anyone else. At this juncture the militia, which had come from San Francisco to quell the disturbance, called in a body upon Dr. Robinson on the prison-ship. During

> Bancroft : Works, Vol. XXXV, pp. 408-10; and Royce : Sqnatter Riot of '50 in Sac- ramento ; Overland Monthly, Vol. VI, (aecond series,) p. 245. - Kansas Conflict, pp. 56-7.

74 LliE OF CHARLES KOBINSON

this visit an officer whispered in the Doctor's ear that he and his friends had nothing to fear from the militia, as they had investigated the matter and approved the course the squatters had taken, Mr. Kojce ^ states that " a tacit consent to drop the subject was soon noticeable in the com- munity," and that " there was sullen submission near home," and '' a decided sense of common guilt." Dr. Rob- inson holds that the reason for this was the firm stand taken by the squatters to protect occupants of land until a title should be shown, the speculators having finally real- ized the justice of the squatters' position, or at least the cogency of their argument of force in maintaining it.

Mr. Royce writes somewhat facetiously on this subject. He tries to show tlie improper attitude of the squatters in attacking the institutions of California, but he does not question the ability or sincerity of Dr. Robinson as a leader of the movement. Referring to a letter which Dr. Robinson had written to the Placer Times in defense of the position of the squatters, he says : -

" The writer of the letter in question is very probably no other than the distinguished squatter leader, Dr. Charles Eobinson him- self, a man to whom the movement seems to have owed nearly all its ability. And when we speak of Dr. Eobinson, we have to do with no insignificant demagogue or unprincipled advocate of wickedness, but with a high-minded and conscientious man, who chanced just then to be in the Devil's service, but who served the Devil honestly, thought- fully, and, so far as he could, dutifully, believing him to be an angel of light. This future Free-Soil Governor of Kansas, this cautious, clear-headed, and vigorous antislavery champion of the troublous days before the war, who has since survived so many bitter quarrels with old foes and old friends, to enjoy, now at last, his peaceful age at

1 Boyce : Squatter Riot of '50 In Sacramento ; Overland Monthly, Vol. VI, (second series,) p. 246.

2 Idem.

CALIFORNIA ADVEN TUBES Y5

kJB home in Lawrence, Kansas, is not a man of whom one may speak with contempt, however serious his error in Sacramento may seem. He was a proper hero for this tragic comedy, and ' nature, country and God ' were his guiding ideals."

Mr. Royce then goes on to discuss the origin of the culti- vated radicalism of the antislavery generation of Massa- chusetts, who found it convenient when ordinary common- place legal processes failed, to appeal to a so-called higher law. He holds that Dr. Eohinson had a tendency to over- look ihe intricacies of Spanish land grants, to repudiate local courts, and to appeal to the higher law for the solu- tion of the cases in equity. He continues : ^

" For the rest, Dr. Kobinson added to his idealism the aforesaid Yankee shrewdness and to his trust in God considerable ingenuity in raising funds to keep the squatter association at work. He wrote well and spoke well. He was thoroughly in earnest, and his motives seemed to me above any suspicion of personal greed. He made out of this squatter movement a thing of real power, and was for the time a very dangerous man."

In his article in the Overland Montlily, where he gives the history of the squatter riot, and also in his history of California, Mr. Eoyce did some very fine writing. The whole historical aspect is colored with fine bits of phi- losophy, and in many instances with extravagant words and statements. Upon the whole it is a gi'aphic picture of the great squatter movement of California, with an apparent studied attempt to overlook the real details of the situation at Sacramento and the attitude of the men in defending squatter rights in Sacramento, But it is a sparkling philosophy rather than an impartial history. It is graphic, reflective, and entertaining. The following

1 Boyce : Squatter Riot of '50 in Sacramento ; Overland Monthly, Vol. VI, (second eeries,) p. 237.

76 LIFE OF CHAKLES ROBINSON"

statement by Dr. Robinson is a fair representation of the

squatter side of the argument : ^

" It is plain the only higher law the squatters were after was the law of the United States and the decision of a legal tribunal. This law and decision the speculators said should not be had, hence the conflict. Mr. Royce says the Supreme Court is a long way oflf, and to wait for its decision would work great hardship to the claimants under the grant. But where would be the greater hardship? This grant was sufficiently elastic to cover all northern California, and was used to enable a few men, with quitclaim or other deeds from Cap- tain Sutter, to levy tribute upon every person of the many thousand who might want to settle in the country. If the claimants could not wait for a legal adjustment, how could the hordes of destitute people wait that were pouring in from the Eastern States? If the title should prove valid, the grantees would lose nothing. Even should the entire tract of eleven letvgues le densely populated by thriving cities, it would only enhance tlie value of the grant a thousand-fold, while, should the land in question be not covered by the grant, the cormorants would have robbed every occupant of hard-earned money, never to be returned. Thus a valid claimant would lose nothing by waiting for the courts, even the highest court, while the squatter would lose all he might pay for a bogus title at the hands of a bogus claimant or speculator."

So far as concerns tbe position of the squatters in de- fending settlers in their rights until titles could be settled bj the courts, there seems to be no real objection to their course. The denial of the right to appeal to the Supreme Court ought not to have been permitted. The ultimate test of all land titles is in the Supreme Court of the United States. If the governmental machinery was not sufficiently perfected to allow an immediate decision on the appeal, that was no concern of the lower courts, and they should have decided in favor of the right of appeal. That all cases were finally referred to a commission appointed by

J Robinson : Kansas Conflict, p. 60.

CALIFORNIA ADVENTTJKES 77

Congress, and that all contested cases finally readied the Supreme Court for settlement, shows that the squatters were logically correct. In the special case of the Sutter grant, it was evident from the intent and purposes of the Mexican government that he had a i-ight to eleven leagues of land ; and that the description of the boundary of this land located it twenty miles north of Sacramento as its southern boundary. The fact remains that for ten years Mr. Sutter had occupied and settled land in and around Sacramento on the supposition that his grant covered that territoi-y, or possibly with no direct idea that it was in the original claim. He bought the fort of the Russians, but had no title to the land unless he could make the Sutter grant by Alvarado cover it. In point of fact, Sutter had no legal title to the land about Sacramento, and conse- quently could give no legal title in transfer, possession be- ing his only real claim. Holding strictly to the title, he would have been excluded from any right of land in and around Sacramento, including the disputed territory. As a question of equity and justice the court might, on ac- count of his possession, grant him a portion of the Sacra- mento territory. Apparently this is what happened, for in the final settlement the larger portion of his grant was located within the boundaries of the legal title, but a smaller portion was allowed him in the territory occupied in and about the Sacramento, The squatters could scarcely be blamed for believing that the title of Sutter was fraud- ulent, on account of the dispositions of persons in those days to grab and hold great landed estates regardless of right. The Supreme Court decided against two other al- leged Sutter grants, — one for twenty-two leagues, signed

T8 LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON

by Governor Miclieltorena, and the other a list of sub- grants given by the Governor to Sutter's men on the lat- ter's recommendation. On the whole, it may fairly be said that although the squatters and settlers had some just grounds of complaint in this Sacramento affair, yet the general tendency of the California squatters to ignore the Mexican land titles led to a vast deal of trouble. Squat- terism, as it spread over the State, became a synonym of injustice, strife, and waste of property.

The character of Dr. Robinson comes out clearly through the whole struggle. He was convinced that he was right, and that he was defending the oppressed, or those who were deprived of their rights. Throughout his life he never appeared to better advantage than when attempting to defend the helpless or in fighting single-handed open forms of injustice or oppression. In this movement he showed himself clear-headed, conscientious, shrewd and skillful by the manner in which he routed the forces of the speculators and landholders, who had all the odds in tlieir favor. When we remember the critical condition he occu- pied before the law, his subsequent history in California is little less than marvelous.

When Dr. Robinson was sufficiently recovered, he was brought before a local magistrate and formally committed on the charge of murder and other crimes.^ Soon after, the District Court met at Sacramento; the grand jury found four true bills against him, — one for murder, one for conspiracy, and two for assault with intent to kill. Dr. Robinson, with two other prisoners, was soon taken

iFor the ram^initif? incidents of the Sacramento troubles, aeo TUe Kansas Conflict pp. 61-65. See also Bancroft : Works, Vol. XXXV, p. 410.

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES Y9

into court to plead to tlie indictment. All three were again remanded to prison to await trial.

But other and more important events were crowding on, which tended to draw public attention away from the op- erations of the courts. The time was approaching for the election of members of the State Legislature, and the name of Dr. Robinson was proposed bj the squatters and miners as that of a candidate for a seat in this body. At their request a new campaign document in the form of a mani- festo was written by Dr. Eobinson. In this he boldly charged the speculators w^ith murder in the first degree, and declared that the squatters had done nothing more than defend their natural and constitutional rights. The manifesto was printed in the form of a poster and distributed throughout the country, and, although not a speech was made in the entire canvass, the poster did its work, and returned a majority in favor of Dr. Robinson for the Legislature. The papers denounced the manifesto, but the people voted in favor of their hero now in a prison-ship under indictment for murder by the grand jury, and awaiting ti-ial. Soon after the election the prisoner was admitted to bail, and, as editor of the "Set- tlers' and Miners Tribune," entered vigorously upon the work of defending the cause he had espoused. He was thus employed until he took his seat in the Legislature, which met in San Jose, in 1851.

The character of Dr. Robinson is clearly shown in his attitude at this time on the slavery question, which affords a good illustration of the fact that at all times he worked from conviction as to what was right under the circum- stances. While he was in prison, one of the attorneys,

80 LIFE OF CHARLES KOBiNSON

Mr. Tweed, appointed to defend the squatters, came to liim and advocated the division of California into two States, — the southern portion to be a slave State, He desired the opinion of his client on the subject. Dr. Robinson an- swered that he was opposed to slavery from conviction, and could not, on account of its injustice, favor its exten- sion. When Mr. Tweed learned the attitude of Dr. Eob- inson on the slavery question he advised the Doctor not to consent to run for the legislature, because it mig'ht preju- dice his case now ]>ending before the courts. The insight of the prisoner easily discerned that his counsel opposed his candidacy simply because he was opposed to slavery. The Doctor therefore assured him that if the people chose to vote for him he would not interfere, and if the courts chopc to hang him because the people voted for him they could do so. Again, in the Legislature the slavery ques- tion caane to the front. General Fremont had been elected for the short term of the Senate, which was about to ex- pire. In his place Avere nominated, by the Whigs, T. Butler King, of Georgia; and by the Democrats, Judge Heydenfelt, of Alabama, — both favoring the division of California and the extension of slavery. Fremont was opposed to the division and to the extension of slavery, and accordingly Dr. Robinson and some twelve or fifteen others voted for Fremont, — who, by the way, was the pro- prietor of a large Mexican land grant, — and thus de- feated the election for that session. Subsequently, in the next session, the antislavery sentiment was sufficiently strong to elect an antislavery man, a Mr. Weller, from Ohio, which effectually disposed of the matter. In voting thus on the slavery question. Dr. Robinson of course

CALIFORNIA ADVENTUBES 81

pleased the anti&lavery squatters and displeased those of proslavery views.

At this session of the Legislature a law was passed which quieted the legal proceedings in land controversies, and referred all cases to proper tribunals for decision. While Dr. Robinson was absent from the Legislature through sickness, a unanimous vote of both houses in- etnicted the prosecuting attorney to enter nolle pros, in tJie case of The State vs. Robinson, but the acting Gov- ernor, McDougal, who had fled to San Francisco at the sound of war, vetoed the bill. The squatter cases of Sac- ramento were by a change of venue taken to Benicia, but after the close of the session of the Legislature the pris- oners were discharged on account of no prosecution. " Nolle pros, was entered, and the hero was free." Dr. Robinson w^as exonerated by the people of Sacramento valley, who elected him to the Legislature. Also, he was exonerated by the Legislature representing the whole State of California, and by the District Court, which dismissed his case.

The remainder of Dr. Robinson's stay in California was rather uneventful. As soon as he was thoroughly recov- ered from the chills and fever which had attacked him, he t^ok a steamer for Boston by way of the Isthmus. He sailed on the 3d day of July, 1851, and on the 5th they were wrecked on the coast of Mexico, about eighty miles below San Diego. They had struck the rocks about one- fourth of a mile from shore, at three o'clock in the morn- ing. On the coast arose hills between which ran a little dry ravine, each side of this ravine being overshadowed

by perpendicular rocks eighty feet high. This small ra- —6

82 LIFE OF CHARLES KOBINSON

vine proved tlieir salvation. In the course of the day they got the small boats off for the shore, conveying all the passengers safely to land before the ship finally sank. They knew not tlieir location, however, and remained on this inhospitable shore for two weeks without a clue to their whereabouts.

A large amount of gold dust was on board the ship. This was brought on shore, where it was carefully guarded by forty men chosen by the company for this purpose. The men were under the command of Captain Day, with Dr. Robinson second, and were divided into relays of ten each, who watched the treasure day and night. One day, after they had been watching their treasure on land for two weeks, at the same time eagerly scanning the sea for a sail or scouring the country for information, a Mexican suddenly appeared from the interior, and informed them of their location. Ten persons went to San Diego to get a boat to come that way to pick them up. It was necessary for them to walk a considerable distance north to take the boat, as it could not come near shore at that place. They were finally obliged to take a schooner instead of a steamer, and on account of the slow sailing of the former they were delayed. While on their way to the Isthmus they had to stop at Acapulco to see the consul about sal- vage papers to convey to the insurance companies. Through misinformation as to the time of the sailing of the steamer. Dr. Robinson was left in an office in Aca- pulco, and was obliged to take a slow boat for the Isthmus. Consequently he arrived too late to take the fortnightly steamer for Kew York. The two weeks of heat and in- clement weather brought on the chills and fever again. Finally he sailed for l^ew York, stopping at Havana,

CALIFOEIfIA ADVENTURES 83

where lie arrived on the morning of the execution of Gen- eral Lopez. He reached New York in time to file his papers respecting the insurance case which had been given into his charge. It was the 9th of September, when, after various delays, he received a joyful welcome in his ISTew England home at Fitchburg, where he remained until June 28th, 1854. On that day he started for Kansas, where so many stirring scenes were about to be enacted. It is remarkable that Dr. Robinson returned from California much improved in health. The variety of posi- tions that he had held while in California, — physician, editor, restaurant-keeper, leader of a squatter rebellion, a member of the California Legislature, — seemed to indi- cate that in the future he would have a wider sphere than that of practicing medicine in a countiy town. After his return from California his friends, among whom was Mr. Benjamin Snow, father of Chancellor Snow, famous in Kansas as a lecturer, scientist, and head of the Kansas State University, urged him to edit a paper. At their earnest request he took charge of the Fitchburg News. This he conducted with great vigor for a period of two years. On the other hand, his great success as a practicing physician had led other friends to urge him not to abandon his practice. The result was that in attempting to fill both places of usefulness, he was &oon carrying on an extended practice and editing a paper at the same time. Perhaps this was an injudicious thing for a man to do who had deemed it necessary to go to California for his health. Be that as it may, as editor of the Fitchburg News he developed a pungent and virile style, which served him well in his after life in the Kansas conflict.

84 LIFE OF CHAELES KOBINSON

In the mean time, six years of watchful care over the health of Miss Lawrence, prior to the departure of Dr. Robinson to the Pacific coast, had brought about an en- during friendship between the two, and the wedding-day was set about thirty days after Dr. Robinson started west, an event which postponed the marriage for about two and one-half years. But on his return from California he was married to the cultivated and gift.ed daughter of Myron A. Lawrence, on the 30th of October, 18.51. After a trip to Philadelphia and a visit home, they settled permanently in Fitchburg.

Sara T. D. Lawrence^ proved a worthy companion t-o Dr. Robinson, and especially in the Kansas struggle by her excellent judgment and ready pen did valiant service for the cause of freedom. Keen in observation, courageous in all things, she could stand at her husband's side in a determined struggle for the right. . Mrs. Robinson was educated at the Belchertown Classical School and at the New Salem Academy, besides having received private in- struction from a lady of fine accomplishments. Mrs. Rob- inson was well versed in Latin and modern languages and belle^lettres. Her true courage and faithfulness have placed her name among those of the women who made Kansas.

Dr. Robinson was aided in the newspaper office by Josiab Trask, a youth of fifteen years, son of Rev. George Trask of anti-tobacco fame. Young Trask lost his life in the Quantrell raid at Lawrence, in 1863. Often when Dr. Robinson was absorbed in medical affairs Trask would run to him crying for more copy. " More copy, I must have more copy ! " became a household phrase with the

' See Appendix A, note (/).

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES 85

Doctor, and frequently rang in his ears when his mind was centered on some medical case. Not infrequently, when Dr. Kobinson was out on a long ride, Mrs. Robinson would appear in such an emergency, with an article al- ready prepared for Trash's rollicking call under the win- dow, " More copy, I must have more copy ! " ^

While Dr. Robinson was practicing medicine in Fitch- burg and editing a newspaper at the same time, the slav- ery agitation was attracting great notice throughout the ISTorth, especially in I^ew England. The passage of the Kansas-l!>J'ebraska Bill threw the Territory of Kansas open to settlement, and the Xorth and South vied with each other in sending emigrants into the new Territory for occupation under the law of " squatter sovereignty." The Emigrant Aid Company of J^ew England was formed, and meetings were held at different places to agitate the question of colonizing the new Territory with the friends of freedom, and especially to collect money and recruits for settlement there. One day one of the Chapman Hall meetings in Boston was addressed by Eli Thayer, who at the close of the meeting asked if any present would be willing to go to Kansas. Charles Robinson walked up and signed his name to the paper. After the meeting, Mr. Thayer, who had noticed his quiet though self-reliant bear- ing, asked if he were the Charles Robinson who had gone to California. His reply being in the affirmative, Mr. Thayer asked if he would be willing to go to Kansas to live.

"Yes," was the reply.

" Would your wife be willing to go ? "

>See Appendix A., note (g>)-

86 LIFE OF CHARLES EOBINSON

'' I liave 110 doubt of it," replied Robinson.

" Well, then," continued Thayer, " will you come down to Boston ai^'ain to-morrow and meet the directors of the Emigrant Aid Company ? "

The early train brought Dr. Robinson to Boston. The result of the conference was that Dr. Robinson agreed to leave Boston on the 28th of June to make his future home in Kansas. lie accordingly made hurried preparations to close out his practice and arrange his business affairs for the new life. Subsequently he took charge of the affairs of the Emigrant Aid Company in connection with Charles H. Branscomb, of Holyoke, Massachusetts, and Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Southampton, Massachusetts, financial agent.

THE WAGER OF BATTLE 87

CHAPTER III.

THE WAGBK OF BATTLE.

The Kansas conflict is one of the most remarkable facts of American history, from the Revolutionary War to the present time. The great parties of the nation had failed to agree concerning political sovereigntY and the great domes- tic institution — slavery. The nation was rapidly dividing into two great parties, each occupying separate sections of national territory and having different industrial interests. Opinions regarding legislation and justice were widely di- vergent in the two sections, and men were wedded to sec- tional interests rather than to national honor. Even from the adoption of the Federal Constitution in 1789 there had hung a great cloud over the American Republic as a men- ace to free institutions. Men who boasted of freedom and liberty and waxed eloquent over the blessings of free insti- tutions, held a large number of human beings in servitude. The difficulty of regulating domestic institutions by gen- eral laws was soon evident, involving as it did the relation of Federal to State government. In the early period of national life men were too busy with the affairs pertaining to the development of the nation to pay much attention to the question of slavery. But there came a time when agi- tation, slight and almost unnoticed at first, finally stirred widespread enthusiasm for the cause of the enslaved. A little cloud no larger than a man's hand appeared above the horizon, and gradually spread over the sky the black

8S LIFE OF CHARLES KOBINSON

and threatening appearances of war. Step bj step the slave-power was encroaching upon the national life and threatening to rule or ruin the whole country. The na- tional legislators met the determination to spread the do- mestic institution of slavery over tlie entire nation with compromise after compromise, they seeking to avoid the definitive decision of a great moral question. They put off its settlement until it became a great political question, shaking the nation to its very center. Failing finally to settle this question, the legislators thrust it upon the people. They staked out a dueling-ground in the far West, where the people were to settle a great national question in their own way. It was, indeed, one of the most remarkable in- stances on record, of the shifting of a great national ques- tion upon a local community. " The field of battle was thus removed from the halls of Congress to the plains of Kansas." ^ But the nation did not escape so easily ; for the attempt to transfer the responsibility to the plains of Kansas caused an agitation that eventually precipitated the whole nation in a great stiiiggle, and dearly did the nation pay for its evasion of the question.

The slavery question ought to liave been settled with the adoption of the Federal Constitution; and one may well consider with surprise the fact that colonies struggling for their own freedom against oppression could have perpet- uated domestic slavery. But when it is considered how nearly we came to not having any constitution at all, and that the formation of the Federal Constitution was at best the compromise of all interests, it is easy to see how essen- tial it was to compromise on the slavery question in ordor

1 Hobiaion : The Kansas Conaict, p S.

THE WAGEK OF BATTLE 89

that the Union might exist, even without being firmly estab- lished. But there were those who saw that the question deferred must be settled at some future time. A republi- can government could not long exist, professing freedom and equality, while it kept millions of human beings in slavery. The progress of civilization could not tolerate such an inconsistency'.

The Missouri Compromise sought to establish a perma- nent settlement of the difficulty by division of the terri- tory, thus recognizing the justice of the claims made by the slave-power. The bill of 1850 had a tendency to dis- turb rather than to settle the question. It was a partial repeal of the Compromise act and against its spirit. With- out doubt Henry Clay, the author of the act of 1850, was sincere in his efforts to settle peacefully a great national difficulty. After the passage of this act, it seemed that for a few years at least, contention would cease. While the workings of the fugitive-slave clause of the Compromise were producing some agitation, the real struggle would probably have been deferred for twenty years had it not been for the passage of the Kansas-l^ebraska Act, the author and chief defender of which was Stephen A, Doug- las. But this act, which repealed the Missouri Compro- mise and sounded the death-knell of the Fugitive Slave Act, left the country open to the extension of slavery throughout the national territory. Such a receding from the position taken by both the opponents and the advocates of slavery since the constitutional period, was an instance of temporizing uncommon to a self-governed people.

With the adoption of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill the period of temporizing came to an end ; the era of compro-

90 LIFE OF CHAELES ROBIJSfSOJST

mise was past. \Tlie concentration of a great national struggle in a single small Territory, brought the strife to a focus and made bloodshed and war inevitable. The Kansas-l^ebraska Bill turned the intellectual struggle for supremacy in Congress into a struggle of physical strength, and the Territory was thrown open to the possession of opposing forces. These forces met each other face to face, and in that struggle for possession, war w^as initiated. The meaning of the bill M-as clear, for it threw open a broad ex- panse of national territory to the extension of slavery. Referring to the Territory of Kansas, it finally says:

" The same is hereby erected into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Kansas, and when admitted as a State or States, the said Territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission. . . . That the Con- stitution, and all laws of the United States which are not locally applicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said Territory of Kansas as elsewhere within the United States, except the eighth section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved March sixth, 1820, which, being inconsistent with the principles of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the States and Territories, as recognized by the legislature of 1850, commonly called the Compromise measure, is hereby declared inopera- tive and void; it being the true intent and meaning of the act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to revive or put in force any law or regulation which may have existed prior to the Gth of March, 1820, either protecting, establishing, prohibiting, or abolishing slavery."

The introduction of this bill by Douglas precipitated one of the most noted parliamentary struggles in the his- tory of the nation. On one side was Douglas, the most

THE WAGEK OF BATTLE 91

powerful debater in Congress, followed by a strong sup- port of alert men. On the other side were Chase, Sumner, Giddings, Seward, and Wade, with others zealous in the support of their leaders. The lines of battle were close- drawn, and the struggle prolonged and intense.

When the bill was finally passed, the boom of the cannon and the shouts of Southern sympathizers told of its suc- cess; while on the other side, gloom and apprehension hung like clouds over all. The few giants who had stood for justice and for a stay of the slave-power in its triumph- ant march acknowledged the defeat and expressed their feelings in a cry of despair.

Seward said. May 25th, 1854:

" The sun has set for the last time upon the guaranteed and cer- tain liberties of all unsettled and unorganized portions of the Ameri- can continent that lie within the jurisdiction of the United States. To-morrow's sun will rise in dim eclipse over them. How long that obscuration shall last is known only to the Power that directs and controls all human events."

Senator B. F. Wade said:

" The humiliation of the North is complete and overwhelming. . . . I know full well that no words of mine can save the country from this impending dishonor, this meditated wrong which is big with danger to the good neighborhood of the different sections of the country, if not the stability of the Union itself."

Salmon P. Chase, in his speech in the Senate, May 25th, 1854, said:

" This bill doubtless paves the Avay for the approach of new, alarming, and perhaps fatal dangers to our country. It is the part of freemen and lovers of freedom to stand upon their guard and pre- pare for the worst events. It is because this bill puts in peril great and precious interests, reverses the ancient and settled policy of the Government, and breaks down a great safeguard of liberty, that I feel

92 LIFE OF CHARLES KOBINSON

myself constrained to resist it firmly and persistently, though without avail."

Prior to tlie passag'e of the act in the House of Repre- sentatives, May 16, 1854, Hon. Joshua K. Giddings, of Ohio, said:

" Mr. Chairman — Who does not know that the Southern and servile presses are already proclaiming that when this bill shall have been passed, slavery shall next be admitted into Minnesota, Washing- ton, and Oregon? ... To surrender this vast territory will ex- clude free men from it; for, as I have said, free laborers, bred up with feelings of self-respect, cannot, and will not, mingle with slaves. For these reasons it is most obvious that the character of the States to be carved out of this territory will be determined by that of the government now to be established. If the territory be settled by slaveholders, the States will of course be slaveholding States."'

He might have added, if the territory be settled by antislavery people, the States of course will be antislavery, — a sequel to the Douglas bill which had not yet dawned in prospect upon the people. Earlier than this statement of Giddings, on February 21, 1854, Sumner had stated in the United States Senate that —

" It is clear beyond dispute that by the overthrow of this prohi- bition, slavery will be quickened and slaves themselves be multiplied ; while new room and verge will be secured for the gloomy operations of the slave law, under which free labor will group, and a vast terri- tory be smitten with sterility. Sir, a blade of grass would not grow where the horse of Attila had trod: nor can any true prosperity spring up in the footprints of a slave. . . . You are asked to destroy a safeguard of freedom, consecrated by solemn compact under which the country is reposing in the security of peace, and thus con- firm the supremacy of slavery."

Although these chief opponents to the Douglas bill saw with prophetic eyes that a great national issue was to be settled possibly at the expense of union and liberty, they

THE WAGER OF BATTLE 93

eaw in the situation signs of no hope. They saw nothing but an unavoidable conflict, which might end in humilia- tion and defeat. A few papers like the New York Tribune proclaimed the situation. January 6, 1854, Mr. Greeley

says :

" The Thirty-first Congress inaugurated the era of submissions to slavery. Since then eveiything has gone on swimmingly in this line. Not only was the slavery question compromised, but the character and reputation and principles of hundreds of our public men were com- promised by the same operation. . . . Freedom's battle was fought and lost in 1850, and the cowards and traitors have all run to the winning side.

In the issue of March 14, 1854, the same paper asserts:

" We as a nation are ruled by the black power. It is composed of tyrants. See, then, how the North is always beaten. The black power is a unit. It is a steady, never-failing force. It is a real power. Thus far it has been the only unvarying power of the country, for it never surrenders and never wavers. It has always governed, and now governs more than ever."

In the issue of May 24, of the same year, Mr. Greeley hints strongly of the necessity of a bloody contest. He

says :

"The revolution is accomplished and slavery is king! How long shall this monarch reign? This is now the question for the Northern people to answer. Their representatives have crowned the new poten- tate, and the people alone can depose him. If we were only a few steps further advanced in the drama of reaction, he could only be hurled from his seat through a bloody contest."

Subsequently, after the passage of the famous Douglas

bill, in the issue of June 24, 1854, Mr. Greeley says:

"The territory which one short year ago was unanimously con- sidered by all. North and South, as sacredly secured by irrepealable law to freedom forever, has been foully betrayed by traitor hearts and traitor voices, and surrendered to slavery."

94 LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON

Mr. Theodore Parker, in one of his most striking ad- dresses, asserted with a sort of despair that —

" There is not one spot of free soil from Nootka Sound to Key West. In no part of the country is there freedom. The Supreme Court is a slave court, the Senate is a slave Senate, the Senators are overseers, Mr. Dou<?las is a great overseer, and Mr. Everett a little overseer. The press is generally the friend of slavery."

Such were the cries of defeat, of humiliation, such tlie gloomy forebodings that came from the leaders of liberty. People of the ISTorth were oppressed with indigiiation and gloom. But few rays of light were observable anywhere on the whole horizon. | There was a sentiment arising favoring the settlement of Kansas with antislavery people who should build up a free State?, Mr. Sumner had re- marked at the time of the passage of the bill: "Thus it puts freedom and slavery face to face and bids them grap- ple. "Who can doubt the result ? "

Out of the general despair of Seward's speech came one

saving clause :

" Come on, then, gentlemen of the slave States: since there is no escaping your challenge, I accept it in behalf of freedom. We will engage in competition for the virgin soil of Kansas, and trod give the victory to the side that is stronger in numbers as it is in right."

Mr. Seward, however, had no idea as yet of the sudden- ness with which war would be inaugurated for the settle- ment of the great question. He could not free himself from his sense of oppression at the defeat which the party of freedom had just suffered. Mr. Sumner, at the time of the passage of the Douglas Bill, expresses a ray of hope :

" In a Christian land and in an age of civilization, a time-honored statute of freedom is struck down; opening the way to all the count- less woes and wrongs of human bondage. Among the crimes of history

THE WAGEK OF BATTLE 95

another is about to be recorded, which no tears can blot out, and which, in better days, will be read with universal shame. . . . Standing at the very grave of freedom in Kansas and Nebraska, I lift myself to the vision of that happy resurrection by which freedom will be secured hereafter, not only in these Territories but every- where under the National Government.*'

Evidently Mr. Sumner was thinking- of the long, slow constitutional struggle which in the course of human events ^vould cause freedom and justice to triumph. He evidently had no conception of the sharp physical struggle, the civil war that was so soon to follow.

The leaders of the antislavery forces in Congress had only to look to the rising storm in the North to receive encouragement and support. Had they been observant the country would have been spared their fears for the future ; though it would, to be sure, have been deprived of much of their eloquence. It was but natural for them to feel that, having lost the battle in Congress, they had lost it to the whole country forever, and that the slave-powder had won and was to remain dominant. But quick recovery from the humiliation of defeat brought them more hopeful views of the situation. Throughout the entire North agitation had begun vigorously, even before the passage of the Kansas- Nebraska Bill, and was continued with increased vigor after its passage. The Whig and Democratic parties be- gan to disintegrate ; old traditions were giving way to new views of liberty, and public sentiment was rapidly crystal- lizing around a new force, a common sentiment of freedom.

It would seem that the "Appeal of the Independent Democrats in Congress to the People of the United States " against the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was responded to with an unexpected zeal by the people. This ably written ad-

96 LIFE OF CHARLES KOBINSON

dress is strong in the bitterness of the occasion. It ar- raigns the bill " as a gross violation of a sacred pledge ; as a criminal betrayal of precious rights ; as part and par- cel of one atrocious plot to exclude from a vast unoccupied region, immigrants from the Old World and free laborers from our own States, and convert it into a dreary region of despotism inhabited by masters and servants." Referring then to the Missouri Compromise as an acknowledged part of the law of the land, the address expresses its disapproval of the proposal to annul the law. " Language fails to ex- press the sentiments of indignation and abhorrence," which are aroused by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. " Shall a plot," reads the address, '' against humanity and decency so mon- strous and so dangerous to the interests of liberty through- out the world be permitted to succeed ? We appeal to the people. . . . Let all protest earnestly and emphatically, by correspondence, through the press, by memorials, by resolutions of public meetings and legislative bodies, and in whatever other mode may seem expedient against this enormous crime." This important document was only ex- ceeded in brilliancy and strength by the speech of Douglas, " The Little Giant," in favor of the bill. While the latter carried with it the majority vote of Congress, the response to the former in the voice of the people triumphed in the end, and forever settled the slavei^ question in the United States.

The people spoke through the press, ably led by Greeley of the New YorJc Tribune; Bryant and Bigelow of the Evening Post; Raymond of the Times; Webb of tbe Courier and Enquirer; Bowles of the Springfield Republi- can; Thurlow Weed of the Albany Journal; Schouler of

THE WAGEK OF BATTLE 97

the Cmcinnati Gazeite; and followed by the Whig press of the country and many Democratic papers in the North.

Following immediately were public meetings of protest, ])eginning at l^ew York and extending to nearly every city and town throughout the jSTorthern States. The Legisla- tures of Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, ISTew York and Wisconsin, then in session, each passed resolutions pro- testing against the bill. Seward began to be hopeful, and wrote: '"The storm that is rising is such a one as this country has never seen." But in the face of the storm the bill was passed, and signed by the President May 30, 1854.

The battle of the giants in Congress was over, and Douglas had won, but in winning, as Rhodes says, " it must -be adjudged that Douglas hastened the struggle; he pre- cipitated the Civil AVar." It was stated by Mr. Greeley in tlie Tribune of May 17, that " Pierce and Douglas have made more abolitionists in three months than Garrison and Phillips could have made in a half-century." But the agitation went on ; the bill was denounced by the press, from the pulpit, by legislatures, and from the platforms of public meetings. ]Srot only was the Kansas-!N"ebraska Act condemned, but all of its supporters with it, including Douglas, Pierce, and the administration. Douglas stated subsequently that he could travel '' from Boston to Chicago by the light of his own effigies." From this time on the influence of Douglas began to decline, although his genius and intellect were not the less bright.

The North continued to protest in every way against the Kansas-Nebraska and the Fugitive Slave acts. Not only by the expressions of public sentiment from the platform, press and pulpit, but in legislative halls was the opposition

98 LIFE OF CHARLES KOBINSON

manifest. In many of these last, resolntions for liberty were passed. The elections in the l^orth showed very clearly how the people were thinking-, as nearly all the leg- islators chosen were antislavery in sentiment. The " un- dergTOimd railroad " was also a protest against the en- croachments of slavery and the domination of the Southern States, which with others demonstrated the fearful earnest- ness of the people of the !N'orth.

On the other hand, the people of the South rejoiced at the passage of the bill, and at what they seemed to under- stand as the complete triumph of their cause. Alexander Stephens, writing in 1860, said that " ISTever was an act of Congress so generally and so unanimously hailed with delight at the South." With few exceptions, those who were advocates of this measure little dreamed that its pas- sage would be the herald of the death of slavery. A few, however, with prophetic eye, were not sanguine as to the future results of the passage of the Kansas-!N^ebraska Act.

If there had been any doubt as to the meaning of the Compromise Act of 1850, there could be no misunder- standing as to the significance of the Kansas-l^ebraska Act. The question as to whether slavery should exist within a given Territory was to be left to the people of that Terri- tory. The national powers having failed to deal with the real question, it was henceforth to be left for decision to a local struggle of the people. That was the program, and the people of both sections were quick to see and take ad- vantage of the situation. " It was at once urged by the press and by the platform," says Rhodes, "that an effort should be made to have Kansas enter the Union as a free State, and a systematic movement was begun with this end

THE WAGER OF BATTLE 99

in view." Everywhere there was a feelim^ among anti- slavery people that the cause of freedom was at stake, and that an effort must be made to save Kansas from the blight of slavery. Everywhere in the South there was a feeling that efforts must be put forth to establish and perpetuate slavery in Kansas. Thus it was that two hostile powers within the nation directed their eyes toward a single point, — a bit of uninhabited and rolling prairie, — and sent their cohorts forward to the national dueling-ground where a duel to settle national honors was to take place, — a duel without rules or code of arms, — a duel without pretense of fairness in choice of place, occasion, weapons, or methods of warfare. The people of Missouri and the South had resolved that the Yankees could settle in K'ebraska, but should not enter Kansas, as it by its position was their rightful possession. Many people in the Xorth, although they recognized that the odds were greatly against such an outcome, nevertheless believed that Kansas would event- ually be settled by a sufficient number of free people to make it a free State. This was a faint ray of hope shining through the gloom of despair, and people saw it and cher- ished it.

The people of Xew England and the Xorth were thor- oughly aroused, and started emigration to Kansas even be- fore the final passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, in- tending, as was hinted by Mr. Seward, to defeat slavery by numbers ; but the accomplishment of this end was beset with difficulties not contemplated by the law-abiding people of the older States. They knew not the deeds that would be perpetrated in the name of the rights of citizens for or against liberty. WTiile there was a general movement

100 LIFE OF CHAELES EOBINSON

toward Kansas, tlie special agency for peoplinc; the Terri- tory with Free-State men, and one which was the center of the organized effort of the North, was the New England Emigrant Aid Company.

While many people were aronsed to the need of peopling Kansas hy Northern immigration, Mr. Eli Thayer may he said to have heen the originator of the idea of organization for the pnrpose of huriTing on emigrants to settle in Kan- sas and estahlish a free State hy actual possession of the soil. After a careful consideration of the question, and the manner in which Northern people were to settle in Kansas, he expresses himself as follows :

" After much and very careful study, I concluded that if this work could be done at all, it must be done by an entirely new organiza- tion, depending for success upon methods never before applied. This was an organized emigration, guided and guarded by a responsible business company, whose capital should precede the emigrants, and prepare the way for them by such investments as should be best calculated to secure their comfort and protection. This emigration must also be of a kind before unknown, since it must in this ease be self-sacrificing and voluntary, whereas all historical migrations had been either forced or self-seeking. To present this new method of bringing two hostile civilizations face to face upon the disputed prairies of Kansas in such a way as to unite in its support the entire Northern people of whatever parties, was the work next to be done. On this appeal must depend the future of our country. Then arose the important question, 'Was it possible to create such an agency to save Kansas?' I believed the time for such a noble and heroic development had come; but could hope be inspired, and the pulsations of life be started beneath the ribs of death? The projected plan would call upon men to risk life and property in establishing freedom in Kansas. They would be called to pass over millions of acres of better land than any in the disputed Territory was supposed to be, land in communities where peace and plenty were assured, to meet the revolver and the bowie-knife defending slavery and assailing freedom. Could such men be found, they would certainly prove them-

THE WAGEK OF BATTLE 101

selves to be the very highest types of Christian manhood, much above all other emigrants. Could such men be found? "^

In an address before a large assembly in the city hall at Worcester on the 13th of March, 1854, to protest against the passage of the Douglas bill, Mr. Thayer heralded his plan of organization. In concluding his speech he stated :

" It is now time to think of what is to be done in the event of the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Now is the time to organize an opposition that will utterly defeat the schemes of the selfish men who misrepresent the nation at Washington. Let every effort be made, let every appliance be brought to bear, to fill up that vast and fertile Territory with free men — with men who hate slavery, and who will drive the hideous thing from the broad and beautiful plains where they go to raise their free homes. [Loud cheers.]

" I for one am willing to be taxed one-fourth of my time, of my .earnings, until this be done — until a barrier of free hearts and strong hands shall be built around the land our fathers consecrated to free- dom, to be her heritage forever." [Loud cheers.] -

Mr. Thayer at once proceeded to draw up a charter of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company. By persistent work before a committee and the Legislature he succeeded in having a bill passed granting the charter, which was signed by the Governor on the 26th of April. Soon after- ward the incorporators held a meeting to prepare for a plan of work. '^.JThe object of the company was to aid emi- grants in their journey to Kansas and settlement therein. The enterprise also had a commercial side, for it was thought that through investment in lands, the building of hotels, and the carrying-on of business, returns might eventually be obtained for those interested. But the dominant idea was that of advancing settlement in the new Territory. The original capital stock was fixed at

' The Kansas Crusade, p. 24. *Idem, p. 2.5.

102 LIFE OF CHARLES EOBINSON

five millions. The books for stock subscriptions were opened, and tlie undertaking fairly started. For the op- erations of 1854 it was decided to collect an assessment of four per cent, as soon as one million had been subscribed. The whole object of this company organization was to save Kansas to freedom by actually doing it. As Eli Thayer says, " Our work was not to make women and chil- dren cry in antislavery conventions by sentimental ap- peals, but to go out and put an end to slavery."

Two great difficulties were in the way. One was the opposition of the Abolitionists, who held that the coloni- zation scheme was unpatriotic and false in principle. The Abolitionists were uncompromising in everything; they would behead the slave power with the sword, for in no other way could slavery be suppressed. The report that organized efforts were being made in the ]S!^orth to forward emigrants to colonize Kansas, stirred up all western Missouri to prevent the success of any such movement. To overcome, then, the influences of the Abolitionists on the one hand and the hostility of the Missourians on the other, were the chief difficulties to be encountered. But a great work of arousing public sentiment was carried on, and the efforts of Eli Thayer insured the success of the en- terprise. Speeches and addresses were made throughout the North to arouse enthusiasm, and subscriptions to stock were secured to carry on the financial side.

Owing to the fact that the first charter saddled objec- tionable liabilities upon individuals who might associate under it, it was abandoned. " The w^hole business was passed into the hands of Thayer, Lawrence, and J. M. S. Williams, who were constituted trustees, and managed

THE WAGER OF BATTLE 103

affairs in a half-personal fashion until February, 1855, when a second charter was obtained, and an association formed with a slightly rephrased title — ' The 'New Eng- land Emigrant Aid Company' — and with John Carter Brown, of Providence, Rhode Island, as president. In the conduct of the company, the trustees, who bridged the interval between the first and second charters, con- tinued to be a chief directive and inspirational force. Mr. Thayer preached the gospel of organized emigration with tireless and successful enthusiasm, while Mr. Law- rence discharged the burdensome but all-important duties of treasurer." Thus came into being the organization known as the l^ew England Emigrant Aid Company; an organization somewhat more restricted in its nature than the earlier one had been, having all the objectiona- ble features of the latter removed, and devoting itscilf to a single purpose, that of colonizing Kansas.

It is at this juncture that Charles Robinson appears on the scene of the Kansas conflict. He was chosen as financial agent of the Emigrant Aid Company, with his field of operations in Kansas. As before stated,^ at one of the Chapman Hall meetings, Eli Thayer saw for the first time Charles Robinson, and engaged him to act as the agent of the Emigrant Aid Company. Speaking of the wisdom of the choice, Mr. Thayer says :

" A wiser and more sagacious man for this work could not liave been found within the borders of the nation. By nature and by train- ing he was perfectly well equipped for the arduous work before him. A true democrat and a lover of the rights of man, he had risked his life in California while defending the poor and weak against the cruel oppression of the rich and powerful. He was willing at any

1 See Chapter I.

104 LIFE OF CIIAKLES KOIUNSON

time, if tlicrp were noed. to die for his principles. In addition to such brave devotion to his duty, he had the clearest foresight, and the coolest, calmest judgment in determining; the course of action best adapted to secure the rights of the Free-State settlers. No one in Kansas was so mucli as he the man for the place and time. He was a deeper thinker than Atchison, and triumphed over the border ruflians and the more annoying and more dangerous self-seekers of his own party. The man who 'paints the lily and gilds refined gold' is just the one to tell us how Charles Eobinson might have been better qualified for his Kansas work. But his character, so clearly defined in free- dom's greatest struggle, superior to the help or harm of criti(;isni, reveals these salient points of excellence: majesty of mind and hu- mility of heart, stern justice and tender sympathy, heroic will and sensitive conscience, masculine strength and maidenly modesty, leonine courage and Avomanly gentleness, with power to govern based on self- restraint, and love of freedom deeper than love of life." ^

Subsequent events are sufficient to justify this liigh tribute to Governor Robinson's cliaracter and his fitness for the place given him by the recommendation of Mr. Thayer. He was large enough and broad enough in con- ception, and sufficiently careful and judicious to be in- trusted with the management of affairs of a great Terri- tory. Nature had given him a peculiar insight into affairs, and endowed him with a shrewdness and sagacity which enabled him to compete successfully with opposing forces. The actual services of Dr. Robinson in the build- ing of Kansas are more and more apparent to the people and to the historian as years of reflection disclose the real situation of the case. Mr. Amos A. Lawrence, of Bos- ton, who was the strong support of the Emigrant Aid Com- pany, and who watched with care every movement in Kansas during the period of struggle, speaking before the

1 The Kansas Crusade, p. 34.

THE WAGEK OF BATTLE 105

Massachusetts Historical Society in May, 1884, paid this

remarkable tribute to Charles Robinson :

" He was cool, judicious, and entirely void of fear, and in every respect worthy of the confidence reposed in him by the settlers and the society. He was obliged to submit to great hardships and in- justice, chiefly through the imbecility of the United States Govern- ment's agents. He was imprisoned, his house was burned, and his life was often threatened. Yet he never bore arms or omitted to do whatever he thought to be his duty. He sternly held the people to loyalty to the Government against the arguments and example of the ' higher-law ' men, who were always armed, who were not real set- tlers, and who were combined in bringing about the border war, which they hoped would extend to the other States. The policy of the New England Society carried out by Robinson and those who acted with him in Kansas was finally successful and triumphant."

It was through identification with his work as agent of the Emigrant Aid Company that Dr. Robinson began his career in Kansas. In this as in other matters he acted ac- cording to his earnest convictions. He opposed slavery ; he believed in the settlement of Kansas and the conquest of the slave-power by building up homes of freemen on a free soil. Once committed to this proposition, he brought his varied experience and his excessive energy to the support of the work. In this he was greatly aided by his wife, Mrs. Sara T. D. Robinson, who was admira- bly qualified for her responsible position as a support for her husband in his arduous work. She had a keen insight into affairs, a quick perception and ready judgment, as well as a fearless and active nature which brought her services more than once into demand in times of critical moment. Mr. Thayer, speaking of lier adaptibility and eminent services, says :

" Entirely devoted to the cause of freedom, Mrs. Robinson brought to her work a well-disciplined mind, high courage, and an unconquera-

106 LIFE OF CHAKLES KOBINSON

ble faith. She was an inspiration to all the women in the Territory, whona she influenced by her ardent words and her graceful though vigorous pen. Nor did her influence stop at the confines of the field of conflict between the two hostile civilizations, but extended through- out the free States. In 1856 she published a most entertaining book, replete with charming pictures of the daily life of our brave pioneers, and of thrilling incidents of that most exciting period. This had wide circulation, and was a very efficient aid in our great work." '

The book referred to written by Mrs. Robinson was en- titled " Kansas ; Its Interior and Exterior Life." Of all the books that the author has consulted in connection with the subjects treated in this little volume, no other one possesses the peculiar charm of this book of Mrs. Robin- son's. Written upon the spot, while the scenes and inci- dents described were fresh in her mind, her graphic pen- pictures give the reader such a representation of the ac- tual condition of affairs as is not to be found anywhere else in print. The book is not written with any desire to establish a theory or to defend a partisan measure, as un- fortunately so many books about Kansas are written, but it aims to tell just what is seen, is happening, or transpir- ing, before the observation of those active in the Territory. How fortunate it would be had many of those active in the Kansas struggle written at the time, as Mrs. Robinson did, their record of events as seen from their ot\ti stand- point, rather than waited until later years, as so many of them did, t^ tell the story from reflective memory. In attempting to tell things just as they are without any especial embellishment, Mrs. Robinson has lent a peculiar charm to her work, which will be a source of perennial delight t^ the investigator of Kansas history and to the

1 The Kansas Cr«sR<lp, p. 35.

THE WAGEE OF BATTLE 107

peruser of Kansas books. It goes into history as a classic ; it is both literature and history.

The actual services of the Emigrant Aid Company are hard to estimate. It would be as easy to overestimate as to underestimate what it really accomplished. Perhaps its best services are to be found in the work of the Boston agency in forwarding emigrants at reduced fares and di- recting them into the new Territory; in the perpetual agitation kept up by Eli Thayer and other members of the company, by which many were induced to go to Kansas on their own account ; in its provision of an agency at Kansas City and Lawrence for the aid of all immigrants ; in the encouragement it gave to the founding of schools and churches; and, lastly, in building hotels and sawmills. While the company was instrumental in forwarding many citizens directly to Kansas, the first immigrants, so aided, found other Eree-State people already in the Territory on their arrival. But the Eree-State men in and about Lawrence, where the headquarters of the Company were located, met a variety of interests and many difficulties. Lawrence became the storm-center of the Eree-State cause, as well as the Aid Company's base of operation. It be- came the rallying-point of the Eree-State men as well as the object of attack and especial hatred of the Proslavery party. The services of the Company cannot be measured by the actual numbers of voting settlers which it placed in the Territory, for its general services were quite as impor- tant as its special, i^oreover, while many other agencies were at work in helping Kansas, the whole ISTorth felt the impulse of the agitation aroused by the operations of the Emigrant Aid Companyi On the other hand, by vigor-

108 LIFE OF CHAKLES KOBINSON

onslj defending its own it aroused the special hatred of the Proslavery people of the South and increased the intensity of tlie strife.

What would have been the result in Kansas if this Com- pany had never existed, no one can determine ; but as the Avhole question as to whether Kansas should be admitted as a free or slave State finally hinged on the number of voters in the Territory, and as the Free-State people needed protection and defense in order that they might come to Kansas and remain, it does not seem likely that the results actually achieved could have been entirely at- tained without the services of the Company. But it must be remembered that Kansas was not admitted, although the local battle was really w^on, until the cause for freedom had taken national proportions ; until the movement against slavery had become a national one. Hence the services of the Company in focusing the sentiments of the ISTorth on Kansas were not greater than in uniting the !N^orth in its preparation for a great national struggle.

While !N^ew England and the Emigrant Aid Company were powerful in agitation and action, much credit is due to the hardy and courageous pioneers who came from the other States, — particularly those of the ISTorthwest and of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Iowa. Early in 1854 these peo- ple came to Kansas to settle, to make homes, to subdue the soil, and, if necessary, to fight as well as to vote for free in- stitutions. A careful examination into the historical rec- ords will reveal the names of many from these States who bore a manly and active part in the Kansas struggle. Thus did the Northern States contribute to Kansas their several quotas of emigrants who were to become defenders of the soil against the encroachments of the slave-power.

THE WAGEK OF BATTLE 109

It was an interesting spectacle to see the hosts of freedom hurrying forward from all parts of the ]S3"orth and West to meet the slavery hordes of the South ; especially inter- esting as this movement meant the settlement by physical force of what statesmen oould not settle in the halls of Congress. The North had accepted the challenge of the South to meet and settle the difficulty hy votes, and this really meant nothing else than the settling of the account hy a passage at arms, if it appeared necessary. The peo- ple of the jSTorth understood the case, and met the demands of the emergency. But there were grave fears on the part of the opponents of slavery that the ISTorth would not be able to send sufficient numbers to outvote the proslavery element, and great anxiety prevailed lest the Territory should be captured by the advocates of slavery before the Northern emigration was thoroughly set in motion. The Proslavery party realized the importance of an early con- quest, and did all in their power to retard immigration from the North, to harass the Free-State settlers, and to obtain and keep control of the Territorial Government.

But the lines of battle w^ere soon closely drawn. On the one side was the Proslavery party of the South, aided by many Northern Democrats, and having the entire sym- pathy of the Federal Government ; and on the other was the Antislavery party of the North. Each sent forward its representatives to the field of battle, to settle, by mortal combat if need be, one of the greatest and most grievous questions that ever troubled a nation. The war of words, the struggle of laws in Congress, was shifted to the plains of Kansas, and was there turned into bloody strife. But this little cloud of war which arose out of the West was presently to envelop the whole nation.

110 LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON

CHAPTEK IV.

EARLY SETTLEMENT AND THE LAWRENCE WAR.

In June, 1854, Dr. Charles Robinson, of Fitcbburg, and Mr. Charles II. Branscomb, of Holyoke, Massachu- setts, M'ere sent to explore the Territory of Kansas and select a site for the location of the emigrants sent out un- der the protection of the Emigrant Aid Company. As before related. Dr. Robinson had passed from Kansas City to the present site of Lawrence and over the California road to the Pacific slope. The road which he traversed started at Westport, crossed the Wakarusa near what was once the town of Eranklin, and wound over the low hill southeast of where now stands the State University. At this time Robinson and his party climbed the hill on which the University is now situated, and from the top of Mount Oread obtained magnificent views of the surrounding coun- try. When chosen as agent of the Emigrant Aid Com- pany and directed to explore the country for a suitable place for settlement, the magnificent country around Mount Oread must have been prominent in the mind of Dr. Rob- inson.

On arriving in Kansas Dr. Robinson passed up the Missouri as far as Leavenworth, taking note of the natural advantages of the country; while Branscomb passed di- rectly to the present site of Lawrence, where subsequently Dr. Robinson met him. While the exploration of these advance agents was taking place, a company was being formed in ISTew England to establish a colony in Kansas.

I

EARLY SETTLEMENT 111

Twenty-nine emigrants formed this first party, who started off on their long journey with the great enthusiasm char- acteristic of initial movements. They received ovations at Worcester and Albany, and were cheered at all the principal stations on their westward journey. The colony traversed Lake Erie in the steamer "Plymouth Eock," and passing through Chicago, came to St. Louis, where they were met by Dr. Robinson. The Doctor at once looked after general needs, and secured transportation on the steamer " Polar Star," which left St. Louis July 24th, for Kansas City. Leaving Kansas City on July 28th, 1854, they traveled on foot to Lawrence, having an ox team to carry their baggage, and arrived at their destination July 31st. Twenty-five tents were pitched on the north side of Mount Oread, and the emigrants ate their first meal near where the old University building now stands. On the 2d day of August they went to work laying out claims, driving stakes and preparing for permanent settlement. After the Xew England custom, they soon held a town meeting for organization, and discussed the feasibility of locating at this place. Aft-er due consideration, it was decided by the majority to remain and form a t^^vn in this locality, on the supposition that the Massachusetts Aid Company would make this the basis of their operations in the Territory. In a day or two they moved off the hill, v.'hieh they named Mount Oread, after Mr. Thayer's Castle home and the Young Ladies' Institute on Mt. Oread in Worcester, Massachusetts, and camped near the Kaw river. After spending some time in claim-hunting, quite a number of the emigrants returned East for the purpose of brinsrins: their families.

112 LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON

In the mean time Dr. Robinson had returned to St. Tvonis to condnct to Kansas the second party of emigrants, which left Boston the last of An^ist. This party was much larger than the first, containinc^ sixty-seven members in the beginning, and receiving accessions on the way nntil the number was one hundred and fourteen, several ladies and several children being numbered in the company. They arrived at Lawrence, or Wakarusa as it was then called, September 9, when they joined the first party, and soon agreed with them upon plans for the union of the two companies and for the laying-out of the town. Among these early emigrants were many who were to take promi- nent part in the settlement of the future State, — pioneers in a new country who were to lay the foundation of a new commonwealth and to build their structure upon it. The chara(*ter of this ])eople was of old New England quality. They were anxious to transplant New England institu- tions into the fertile soil of the New West, but were not wanting in that practical thrift which ever characterized the early New England settlers ; for they were interested in the fertile lands of Kansas as well as in the institu- tions of New England. " Truly, they sought to establish civil and religious lil>erty in Kansas and at the same time to enter and possess the promised land. The process was to establish homes, to develop the resources of the country, that free institutions might flourish." The Emigrant Aid Company was sending out free men to make Kansas a free State, but in order to do this these men must first be- come bona fide settlers, tilling the soil, building towns, improving the country, and organizing government. Thus, while interested in their own welfare, they sought

EAELY SETTLEMENT 113

the freedom of others ; for, as Col. S. N. Wood, in an ad- dress delivered at the quarter-centeimial celebration at Topeka, said : "' The pioneers who became trusted leaders among the Free-State hosts were men who could not rest in their old, comfortable homes when the demon of human slavery was clutching at freedom's rightful heritage. Many of them were the sons of the old antislavery agita- tors, and had learned from childhood to hate slavery and to love freedom, and to claim it as the right of all men, races, and conditions."

It is interesting to note the effect of the transmission of puritanical ideas from ISTew England to the plains of Kan- sas. The local institutions of Old England which, were developed in ~S&w England have been repeated and per- petuated in the far West. Yet more remarkable than these is the philosophy of right and wrong, of duty and of service, which actuated these people. While after the manner of ISTew England people they were strict in the ob- servance of the law and provincial in their notions of right and wrong, a supreme consciousness of the right regard- less of conventionalities was ever ready to make tiem break forth in denunciation of any opposition to what their conscience told them was right. These sterling qualities made them fit for pioneers, fit to stand in a great struggle for the right against fearful opposition. They must be not alone the architects of their own fortunes, but also the builders of their own commonwealth and the preservers of the liberties of the people.

They brought with them the Bible and their ideas of public schools. They brought with them ideas of New England culture and refinement. They were not forced

114 LIFE OF CHARLES KOBINSON

to leave their homes on account of personal oppression as were the Puritans and Pilgrims of old, but like those early- emigrants they sought to better their economic condition and at tlie same time to build up civil and religious free- dom in a new land. While in the railroad station at Bos- ton tlie second party of emigrants sang Whittier's well- known hymn, which voiced the sentiments of the party:

" We cross the piaii'ies as of old Our fathers crossed the sea. To make the West, as they the East, The homestead of the free.

" We go to rear a wall of men On Freedoms southern line. And plant beside the cotton tree The rugged northern pine.

" We 're flowing from our native hills As our free rivers flow; The blessing of our mother land Is on us as we go.

" We go to plant the common school On distant prairie swells. And give the Sabbaths of the wilds The music of her bells.

" Upbearing, like the ark of God, The Bible in our van, We go to test the truth of God Against the fraud of man."

They further voiced their sentiments in a hymn written for the occasion, as follows :

" We '11 seek the rolling prairies. The regions yet urseen^ Nor stay our feet unweary By Kansas' flowing stream.

EAKLY SETTLEMENT 115

"And then with hands unfettered Our altars we will raise; With voices uplifted

We 'II sing our Maker's praise."

Many of the emigrant-s were opposed to slavery from principle, and they were now to take peaceful possession of a new land, to stand for principles which had been in- culcated in their education. It is an easy matter to make professions and speeches and to agitate, but to enter a field of operation and actually to demonstrate by service what the conscience dictates is very far from easy. To establish a free State by living was the object of the Emi- grant Aid Company. Mr. Eli Thayer, the founder of this Company, states this object as follows :

" The present crisis was to decide whether freedom or slavery should rule our country for centuries to come. That slavery was a great national curse; that it practically ruined one half of the nation and greatly impeded the progress of the other half. That it was a curse to the negro, but a much greater curse to the white man. It made the slaveholders petty tyrants, who had no correct idea of them- selves or of anybody else. It made the poor whites of the South more abject and degraded than the slaves themselves. It was an insur- mountable obstacle in the way of the nation's progress and prosperity. That it must be overcome and extirpated. That the way to do this was to go to the prairies of Kansas and show the superiority of free- labor civilization; to go with all our free-labor trophies: churches and schools, printing-presses, steam-engines, and mills; and in a peaceful contest convince every poor man from the South of the superiority of free labor. That it was much better to go and do something for free labor than to stay at home and talk of manacles and auction- blocks and bloodhounds, while deploring the never-ending aggressions of slavery. That in this contest the South had not one element of success. We had much greater numbers, much greater wealth, greater readiness of organization, and better facilities of migration. That we should put a cordon of free States from Minne- .sota to the Gulf of Mexico, and stop the forming of slave States.

116 LIFE OF CHARLES BOBINSON

After that we i^hould colonize the Bcrthern border slave States and exterminate slavery. That our work was not to make women and children cry in antislavery conventions by sentimental appeals, but

TO GO AND PX;T AN END TO SLAVERY." ^

Sncli was the philosophy behind the emigration move- ment from ISTew England. Bnt the carrying out of this philosophy is what concenis ns now, for it is in this Dr. Robinson appears prominent.

Other emigrants were pouring in from different parts of the North and Northwest. But it is the province of this book to follow more especially the work of the Emigrant Aid Company and the connection of that Company with the settlements of eastern Kansas about Lawrence, because it is wnth this phase of the work that Dr. Robinson had most to do in the early period. But Lawrence from the earliest period of its existence was the storm-center of the struggle. Primarily because of its connection with the company which sought to establish freedom in Kansas, it was an object of especial hatred to the hordes of Missou- rians who sought to fasten the shackles of slavery upon the new Territory. In and around this center took place nearly all of those bitter struggles which characterized the early settlement of the State. Difficulties arose in very many directions. The first trouble was due to contests over disputed claims. Soon after the passage of the Douglas bill, which it will be remembered provided for squatter sovereignty in Kansas, the citizens of Missouri who were determined to make Kansas a slave State rushed across the border and staked out claims on much of the desirable land, in order to preoccupy it and prevent the

' The EaneaR Crueade, p. 31.

EAELY SETTLEMENT 117

N'orthern immi^Taiits from establishing their claims. Nearly all of these people returned to their own homes after their claims were registered in an office in Missouri, The manner of occupation was merely to drive in a few stakes or throw a few logs across one another and call the struc- ture a cabin, or to put up a notice saying that certain ter- ritory was preempted. This was all that was usually done towards settlement. With these pretension and the reg- istration of claims, the Missourians hoped to keep the "Yankees" off the soil. Prior to the establishment of the town-site of Lawrence, several of these claims had been taken on the ground later occupied by the town. When the emigrants arrived and laid out the town, only two of these "squatter sovereigns" were on the ground; but subsequently other " sovereigns " returned, and a strife arose out of the attempt to settle claims. The claim of one of the two " squatter sovereigns," just mentioned, was purchased and paid for, but the other claimant, a John Baldwin, refused to sell. Mr. Stearns had improved a quarter-section, but Mr. Branscomb paid him five hundred dollars out of the Emigrant Aid treasury for his claim, and he relinquished all rights and title. John Baldwin established himself within a few rods of the Steams cabin, and asserted his right to one hundred and sixty acres of the land. The managers of the town company desired to leave the question to the courts, but Baldwin was not so inclined, and employed a young man by the name of C. W. Babcock as his attorney. Dr. Robinson advocated the defense by the Free-State settlers of all claims until the courts should settle the difficulty. Baldwin, however, as- sociated with himself Stone and Freeman, men of some

118 LIFE OF CHAKLES HOBINSON

means and influence, together with the attorney Babcock,

and placed the entire business in the hands of a specu-

hitor named Starr, who immediately proceeded to lay

out a rival city on the same territory, which he named

Excelsior.

As the public survey had not yet been made and mapped,

the titles to lands were not clearly defined, and things

were in a very confused state. The strife over claims

grew very bitter, contentions arising between Free-State

as well as Proslavery men. But the struggle which arose

out of the question of property rights finally was reduced

to a strife between the antislavery and proslavery elements.

An attempt was made by the Baldwin party to remove the

tent of the Emigrant Aid Company's property, but the

representatives of the latter were vigilant and came to the

rescue. The following day, Baldwin and the Missourians

began to assemble in the neighborhood of the tent, and

about four o'clock the following message was sent to Dr.

Robinson :

" Kansas Territory, October 6th.

Dk. Robinson: Yourself and friends are hereby notified that you will have one-half hour to move the tent which you have on my disputed claim, and from this date desist from surveying on said claim. If the tent is not moved within one-half hour, we shall take the trouble to move the same.

(Signed) John Baldwin and Friends."

The following pointed reply was instantly returned :

" To John Baldwin and Friends : If you molest our property you do it at your peril. C. Robinson and Friends."

The Missourians to the number of eighteen, fully equipped and armed, rallied aroimd their tent. Fully thirty of the settlers rallied around their own tent, and

EARLY SETTLEMENT 119

prepared for war. After the notice had been sent, a con- sultation was held between Dr. Robinson and a delegate from the enemy's post. Dr. Robinson proposed to leave the case to the settlement by arbitration of disinterested and unbiased men, or to settlement by the squatter courts then existing, or to the United States court. But a rep- resentative of the Baldwin party insisted that at the end of the half-hour they should proceed to remove the tent, and if they failed in the attempt, three thousand Missou- rians, or if necessary thirty thousand, would be raised in Missouri to sweep the settlers from the earth. The half-hou" passed, however, and no demonstration was made; and another quarter of an hour passed and the Baldwin party were still consulting in sight of the Robin- son party. A little incident perhaps had much to do with the settlement of the question. During the suspense, John Hutchinson, one of the Robinson party, asked Dr. Rob- inson what he would do if they attempted to remove the tent : " Would he fire io hit them, or would he fire over them?" Dr. Robinson promptly replied that he would be ashamed to fire at a man and not hit him. It appears that a man who had been with the Free-State men now went over to the Proslavery men. The latter soon after- ward dispersed, and this ended the struggle for the claim. A report of the strife and its results was circulated far and wide among the Proslavery settlers, who now sent out a call for a meeting, sigTied by many citizens. The sover- eign people of Kansas Territory were requested to meet in Lawrence, January 11th, at eleven o'clock, to adopt measures to protect themselves against moneyed associa- tions and influence, and against the tyrannical encroach-

120 LIFK OV CHAKLES KOBINSON

ments daily made by the Lawrence association. As tlie Lawrence association was composed of Free-State men backed by the Emii^rant Aid Company, whose purpose was known, the efforts of the Proslavery men were therefore to be directed against the association. The meeting was rather mob-like in its character, and during it an attempt was made to shoot Dr. Robinson. There was much bitter- ness manifested in the meeting against the Lawrence asso- ciation, the Emigrant Aid Company, and Dr. Robinson in particular. Believing that the resolutions of this meet- ing were not expressive of the sentiments of the people at large, another meeting was called, by those who were not members of the Lawrence association but were in sympathy with it. This meeting was held in the church, on the 16th, and was composed of both members and non-members of the association, who proceeded to denounce the resolu- tions of the meeting of the 11th. Stirring resolutions were also adopted commending the great work of the Emi- grant Aid Company, and cordially inviting the members of the Lawrence association to remain and cooperate in the settlement of the country. At the same meeting a committee of the Lawrence association passed resolutions discountenancing any acts of violence, trespass, or injus- tice; upholding the protection of the home and the per- son ; denying that the Lawrence association had committed any violation of justice, and refuting the accusations of their enemies. " Dr. Robinson, toward the close of the meeting, made a short and sensible speech, refuting some of the charges made against him, counseling his hearers of the danger of quarrels among themselves, and impress- ing upon them the duty and necessity of union ; but they

EARLY SETTLEMENT 121

miglit, with voice and hand and means combined, defend these hills and valleys, these rivers and broad prairies from the curse of human bondage and chains of slavery." Some time after this meeting an attempt was made to cut down the house of Dr. Robinson, and it was only on the approach of Free-Stat« men that the cutting was given up and the vandals slunk away. Disturbances and annoy- ances and the strife for property were continued for some time. But while Dr. Robinson was in the East, having gone thither to conduct a party of emigrants westward in the spring of 1855, a compromise was made between the land-jumpers and the settlers of Lawrence. The area of the town was limited to six hundred and forty acres, and four or five men were given one hundred shares out of a total of two hundred and twenty into which the site was divided, leaving one hundred and ten shares for the origi- nal Free-State town company, two shares in trust for the endowment of a school, and eight shares for the Emigrant Aid Company. This compromise was a great detriment to the town, and there is no evidence of any reason why it should have been made, as the town-site jumpers had no right whatever to the territory. When the town-site was selected the territory included within the corporate limits was excepted from individual preemption. As Lawrence was selected as the town-site the last of July, 1854, and these lands were not open to settlement, according to the statement of the Land Commissioner, until September 28th of that year, no individual claimant could have any right to the territory either prior to the 28th or afterward, as the land was covered by the town-site. But this com- promise did not settle the difficulties in regard to claims,

122 L11.B OF CHAELES KOBINSON

wliicli were eventually adjusted by Government officials. It was very unfortunate for the town of Lawrence that Dr. Kobinson was absent at this time, because his clear head and shrewd manaoement would not have allowed any such compromise. He would have held out to the last for what was just and ri^^ht, and without doubt Government officials would have eventually settled everything in favor of the hona fide settlers of Lawrence. This would have been much better for the town in very many ways.

But the settlement of claims and town-sites was a small part of the trouble of these early immigrants. While the North was being aroused for the purpose of sending in Free-State men for the settlement of Kansas, Missouri and the South were wide awake to the situation, and determined if possible to make Kansas a slave State, The newspapers of Missouri all along the border denounced the " abolition- ists" and "Yankees" in the vilest terms, and public speakers proclaimed the determination to blot them from the face of the earth. A meeting of Proslavery men at Salt Creek Valley resolved : " That we recognize the in- stitution of slavery as always existing in this Territory, and recommend slaveholders to introduce their property as early as possible. That w^e will afford protection to no abolitionists as settlers of Kansas Territory." At Lib- erty, Missouri, June 8, 1854, the Democratic platform contained the following clause:

" We learn from a gentleman lately from the Territory of Kan- sas that a great many Missourians have already set their pegs in that country, and are making arrangements to ' darken the at- mosphere' with their negroes. This is right. Let every man that owns a negro go there and settle, and our Northern brethren will be compelled to hnnt further north for a location."

EAELY SETTLEMENT 123

The division of j^ebraska Territory into Kansas and Nebraska made many people think that while the latter might he free, the former was necessarily to he slave. The Missourians were thoroughly and practically committed to the latter proposition.

The Platte Argus stated, among other things, the fol- lowing in an address to Missourians :

"Citizens of the West, of the South, and Illinois: Stake out your claims; woe be to the Abolitionist or Mormon who shall intrude upon it, or come within reach of your long and true rifles, or within point-blank shot of your revolvers. Keep a sharp lookout lest some dark night you shall see the flames curling from your houses or the midnight philanthropist hurrying oflf your faithful servant."

Such inflammatory articles, resolutions and speeches as these aroused the Missourians to the point of desperation, until they were ready to adopt any means whatsoever to make Kansas a slave State. They were ready to intimi- dat-e, oppress, rob, pillage, burn, shoot, even murder, for the sake of carrying their point. Hence it was that the people on the borders of Missouri interfered in every way possible in the settlement and government of Kansas. This interference appeared most prominently in the first elec- tions in Kansas.

The Federal administration at Washington was in sympathy with the proslavery movement in Kansas ; and while it endeavored to maintain a tone of respectability, it also endeavored at all times to favor the Proslavery men. Governor Reeder arrived in Lawrence on the 19th of Oc- t>ober. This first Territorial Governor of Kansas had ar- rived at Leavenworth on October 7th. He was received with a great ovation, the Proslavery element predominat- ing in the reception. They intended here to capture the

124 LIFE OF CHARLES KOBINSON

newly appointed Governor and win liiin over to their way of thinking'. On his way to Fort Kiley he visited Law- rence, where he was well received. The whole city of two hnndred inhabitants assembled to welcome the Grov- emor, and addresses, toasts, speeches, a dinner and general good cheer made this a day long to be remembered in the annals of the town. A bit of verse contributed by Mrs. S. ]S^. Wood, full of poetic feeling and fine thought, of- fered to Governor Eeeder a most hearty welcome to the Territory. Governor Reeder was desirous of treating everybody fairly within the Territory. This, of course, was a difficult thing to do. The lines between Proslavery and Antislavery parties were being drawn more closely every day. People were pouring in from the ISTorthem States more rapidly than they could be well cared for, while Missouri and the South sent in some immigrants and kept up a constant agitation against the Free-State cause. Two newspapers were established in Lawrence, — the Kansas Pioneer, a Free-State paper edited by John and J. L. Speer, and the Herald of Freedom., edited by G. W. Brown. The first number of the former was printed at Medina, Ohio, and the first number of the latter at Conneautville, Pa. Mr. Speer took the copy for the first number of his paper to the office of the Kansas City Enterprise to have it printed, but when it was ascertained to be a Free-State paper. Judge Story, the publisher of the Eiiterprise, refused to print it. Mr. Speer met with the same experience in the office of the Leavenworth Her- ald, and was finally obliged to print his paper in his old home, Medina, Ohio, where freedom of the press and free- dom of speech were not restricted.

EAULY SETTLEMENT 125

As progress was made in the settlement and organization of Kansas, troubles began to deepen, clouds began to ap- pear on the horizon, and these hardy pioneers were soon called upon to test their strength in the adherence to the purposes for which they had come to Kansas. Appar- ently the odds were against them, for the few Free-State men were under the shadow of the populous State of Mis- souri, whose inhabitants were determined to make Kansas a slave State and to drive the abolitionists and Free-State men from the country. The attempt at Territorial or- ganization that was now made defined the situation and precipitated the struggle. Governor Keeder made his first election proclamation November 10th, 1854, which defined the qualification of voters and gave a list of elec- tion districts and polling-places. It provided that any free male person who was twenty-one years of age and an actual settler was entitled to vote. This election was called for the choosing of a Delegate to Congress, and was held on the 29th of ]S3"ovember, 1854. Before the day of election, armed hordes poured over the IVOssouri line into the Territory for the purpose of controlling the elec- tions. These people visited the polls, claimed that they were residents because they were in the Territory, and had a right to vote because they were twenty-one years of age, and cast votes for the Proslaverv candidate, General Whitfield, who was thus illegally elected to Congress. Out of a total number of 2,833 votes which were cast for Mr. Whitfield, 1,724 were fraudulent. There is little doubt, indeed, that Mr. Whitfield could have been elected had there been no fraudulent votes cast, for at this time the majority of the citizens of the Territory were Proslavery.

126 LIFE OF CHARLES ROBINSON

Threats were made by tlie Proslavery people that If any- one challenged a vote he would be killed. The eightli dis- trict was a remote, sparsely settled territory. In this district 584 illegal votes were cast and only 20 legal ones. At Leavenworth several hundred men came over from Platte, Clay and Ray counties, and camped around the town to control the polls. After the election was over the men from Missouri mounted their wagons and horses, cry- ing out, "All aboard for Westport and Kansas City ! " and then returned to their homes in Missouri, to await another opportunity to help control Kansas. The only salvation of the Territory seemed to be the multiplication of Free-State men who could outvote the Missourians. In February, 1855, Governor Eeeder caused the census to be taken, which showed the whole number of inhabitants to be 8,501. As soon as the census was completed Governor Eeeder issued a proclamation announcing an election for March 30, 1855, to choose a legislative assembly. The Missourians were preparing to control this election after the manner of the preceding one. General Atchison had made speeches in Missouri ; so had one Stringfellow, who urged a firm resistance to antislavery men. Secret soci- eties, called Blue Lodges, Friends' Societies, etc., were organized in western Missouri for the purpose of blotting