Cyrus Adams to his Brother, August 24, 1856

Lawrence, Kansas, Aug. 24, 1856.

Dear Brother, — You probably learn of the state of affairs here in Kansas as well as I can describe them. We live under a republican form of government, so called, — a form of government which allows its people to be murdered every day, and lifts no hand for their protection; and so we are all of us liable to be murdered any day. Every little while we are set upon by bands of ruffians acting under the officers of the General Government; towns are sacked and burned, men murdered, and property destroyed. Until lately the Free-State folks have not offered much resistance to these outrages. It was known that bands of these ruffians encamped in the vicinity, where they carried on their trade of horse-stealing and robbery; and murdered a man with whom I was well acquainted: he was riding by near one of these camps, and was shot dead by some of the guard. His name was Major Hoyt, of Deerfield, Mass. Another man was shot near the same place. A few days ago a brother-in-law of Mr. Nute, whom you saw in Concord, came into the Territory. He intended to stop in Leavenworth. He brought his wife, and left her with Mr. Nute until he could go back and put up a house. When returning, and within two miles of Leavenworth, he was shot, and, horrible to relate, was scalped in the Indian fashion. A man — or a beast — took his scalp and carried it about the streets of Leavenworth on a long pole, saying that he “went out to get a damned Abolition scalp, and got one.” Another man went to Kansas City for a load of lumber; he was shot and scalped in the same way. So you may judge of the folks we have to deal with. If they catch a man alone they show no mercy.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 327-8