NEW INVASION — RELEASE OE STATE PRISONERS. 829 
The plan was to have a general war of extermination before Gov. 
Geary could arrive. Gov. Shannon, most urgently solicited, at 
length resigned the morning of the day his papers of dismissal 
came from Washington. He again asked for an escort from the 
territory ; but the military officer declined, upon the plea that the 
free-state men had asked for an escort upon the same road, stat¬ 
ing it was unsafe for them to travel, being infested by pro-slavery 
camps. The ex-governor’s angry retort was, “ Then, by G—d 
I ’ll fight my way through! ” 
On the twenty-second, a party of Georgians made a descem' 
upon the Quaker Mission in the Shawnee Reserve, plundering if 
of horses and other property, while they treated the people with 
barbarity. 
On the twenty-third it was ascertained that Atchison’s force 
numbering four hundred and fifty men, were mustering at Little 
Sante Fe, on the border of Missouri, and about thirty-five miles 
from Lawrence, preparatory to another invasion of the territory. 
At Lawrence there were about two thousand people, men, wo¬ 
men, and children. There was great scarcity of provisions, and 
not twenty sacks of flour in the whole town. People from the 
Big Stranger Creek, about half way between Lawrence and Leav¬ 
enworth, had been driven from their claims, and in some instances 
both men and women had been most barbarously treated. It was 
considered unsafe to send teams for provisions past the camps of 
the ruffians. The route to Kansas city was also blockaded. Three 
times an escort had been asked of the highest officer in command, 
out of the fort, and three times been refused. 
On the 24th of August, five of the citizens of Lawrence called 
upon Woodson. They found him in the tent of the officers in 
command of the troops. The committee stated that the people of 
Lawrence were out of provisions, that their roads were blockaded 
by armed mobs. They asked whether he intended to allow this 
overwhelming force to murder, burn, and pillage ? He replied, 
“ if the people of Lawrence would obey the laws, this thing 
(meaning the invasion) could be settled in five hours.” C. W. 
Babcock then said, “ Governor, are we to understand that your 
position is this : that if we obey the bogus laws, you will protect 
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