=The “Army of the North.”= About the first of August a report that Lane was coming with the “Army of the North” spread over the Territory. James H. Lane was one of the free-state men who had been in the northern states, addressing meetings and raising men and money. He was a very eloquent speaker and had influenced many to come to Kansas. The “Army of the North” consisted of several hundred men, women, and children, most of whom had come to make homes for themselves. This army was a combination of several parties that had united to come into Kansas over the new route through Iowa and Nebraska. Lane was with the party, but only a small number were armed or had been gathered by him.
=A Proslavery Army Gathers.= The proslavery leaders began to rally their men along the border. The following sentences are taken from one of the calls they published: “Lane’s men have arrived! Civil war is begun! And we call on all who are not prepared to see their friends butchered, to be themselves driven from their homes, to rally to the rescue.” A large number of men soon gathered on the border, anxiously awaiting permission to move into Kansas; but as Governor Shannon had dispersed the Missouri army a few weeks earlier, he now refused to issue orders for the new army to move into the Territory.
=Governor Shannon Resigns.= About this time Governor Shannon resigned. He had so displeased the proslavery people that he was compelled to flee for his life under cover of night. Daniel Woodson, Secretary of the Territory, now became Acting Governor until the new Governor should arrive. As he was in full sympathy with proslavery interests he opened the Territory to the Missouri invasion. Woodson’s power lasted only three weeks, but they were the darkest days that Kansas had experienced.
=The Burning of Osawatomie.= The proslavery army moved into Kansas. The Pottawatomie massacre had not been forgotten, and when this army reached Osawatomie, “the headquarters of old Brown,” they attacked the town. John Brown had only forty-one men, and so thoroughly did the enemy do their work this time that only four cabins escaped burning.
=Arrival of Governor Geary, September, 1856.= At this time the new Territorial Governor, John W. Geary, arrived. Governor Geary described the situation that he found on his arrival in the following words: “I reached Kansas and entered upon the discharge of my official duties in the most gloomy hour of her history. Desolation and ruin reigned on every hand; homes and firesides were deserted; the smoke of burning dwellings darkened the atmosphere; women and children, driven from their habitations, wandered over the prairies and among the woodlands, or sought refuge even among the Indian tribes. The highways were infested with numerous predatory bands, and the towns were fortified and garrisoned by armies of conflicting partisans, each excited almost to frenzy, and determined upon mutual extermination. Such was, without exaggeration, the condition of the Territory at the period of my arrival.”