Massacre of white settlers at Spirit Lake by a predatory band of Indians under the Sioux chief Ink-pa-duta March, 1857 Constitutional convention meets at Iowa City Jan. 19, 1857, completes its labors March 6, 1857; constitution ratified by the people, 40,311 to 38,681.Aug. 3, 1857 State capital removed to Des Moines 1857 State University of Iowa at Iowa City, chartered 1847, opened, Silas Totten president ....1860 Legislature votes a war loan of $600,000 ($300,000 negotiated) . . . . . . ..June, 1861 Upper Iowa University at Fayette, opened 1857, chartered.... ...1862 James Harlan appointed Secretary of the Interior.... .May 15, 1865 Legislature ratifies Thirteenth Amendment to Constitution...... January, 1866 Legislature ratifies Fourteenth Amendment to Constitution...... April 3, 1868 An amendment to the State constitution, striking out the word "white" from the qualifications of electors, is adopted by a vote of the people, 105,384 to 81, 119 ..1868 ..1869 State board of health organized 1880 Frank Hatton appointed Postmaster- Lower house of legislature assembles, Jan. 13, 1890, having two factions, the Republicans with fifty votes, and the combined Democratic, Union Labor, and Independent with fifty votes; no organization until Jan. 27; by compromise, a Democratic temporary speaker and a Republican clerk are elected; permanent organization with a Democratic speaker and Republican clerk, minor offices divided 1890 Feb. 19, 1890 Horace Boies, Democrat, inaugurated as governor.. . Feb. 27, 1890 Legal rate of interest reduced from 10 State board of immigration created to 8 per cent., and the first Monday in Sepby act of legislature.. tember (Labor Day) made a public holIowa Agricultural College at Ames, iday... chartered 1857, opened..... .1869 William W. Belknap appointed Secretary of War.... .Oct. 25, 1869 Legislature ratifies Fifteenth Amendment to Constitution........ Feb. 3, 1870 Corner-stone of new capitol laid Nov. 22, 1871 Law passed restricting sale of liquors and limiting licensees' profit to 33 per cent...... . 1872 Act passed abolishing penalty of death 1872 State convention of Patrons of Husbandry at Des Moines...... January, 1873 Governor Kirkwood, elected United States Senator, resigns, and is succeeded by Joshua G. Newbold 66 Beer sent in sealed kegs from Peoria, Ill., to Keokuk, Ia., and there sold in original packages" by agents, being seized under the prohibitory laws of the State, the Supreme Court decides such seizure was in violation of the clause of the Constitution giving to the United States the exclusive right to regulate inter-State commerce... . April 28, 1890 Wilson "original package bill," as amended, making all intoxicating liquors imported into a State subject to its laws, passes Congress and is approved Aug. 8, 1890 Legislature passes an Australian ballot reform act... ..1892 Cyclone in the northwest part of the State, Pomeroy destroyed, 900 persons homeless... .July 6, 1893 Medical practice act declared consti1893 January, 1876 Geo. W. McCrary appointed Secretary of War... .March 12, 1877 Canal around Des Moines Rapids at tutional.. Keokuk, 71⁄2 miles long, and costing $4,500,000, is formally opened.. Aug., 1877 Bill abolishing capital punishment re.1878 pealed Torpedo boat Ericsson launched at ... [This was the first war-ship built on inland waters.] Memorial Military College at Mason City, established.. .1900 Creation of a State library commis.1900 sion Amendment for a constitutional convention defeated.. ..... November, 1900 Senators Allison and Dolliver re-elected Jan. 23, 1902 KANSAS Indians in June, 1724, but, falling sick Kansas, Alaska excluded, is geograph- expedition to the Paduca (Comanche) ically the central State of the United States, lying between lat. 37° and 40° N., and long. 94° 38′ and 102° W. It is bounded by Nebraska on the north, Missouri on the east, Indian Territory and Oklahoma on the south, and Colorado on the west. Area, 81,700 square miles in 105 counties. Population in 1890, 1,427, 096; 1900, 1,470,495. Capital, Topeka. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, with a force of 350 Spaniards and 800 Indians, set out from Culiacan on the southeast shore of the Gulf of California in search of Quivira. He travelled northerly to the headwaters of the river Gila, crossed the mountains to the headwaters of the Rio del Norte, and followed them to their sources, then, journeying northeasterly, came into the province of Quivira (Kansas), reaching, as he said, the fortieth degree of latitude. He described the earth as black and well watered, the best possible for all kinds of productions of Spain, and the plains full of crooked-back oxen, but he found no gold or silver, and returned in...... ...September, 1541 French explore the Missouri River as far as the mouth of the Kansas River 1705 M. Dutisne, a young French officer, sent out by Bienville, governor of Louisiana, reaches the Pawnee country in Kansas, and, erecting a cross of wood, takes formal possession in the name of the King of France..... ..Sept. 27, 1719 [It is now supposed that Dutisne did not come into Kansas, but visited the Osages in Missouri and the Pawnees in the Indian Territory.] Spaniards from Santa Fé, seeking to found a colony on the Missouri, are destroyed by the Missouri Indians near the present site of Fort Leavenworth, only one settler, a Spanish priest, escaping and returning to Santa Fé...... .1720 March 26, 1804 Lewis and Clark leave St. Louis for the Pacific, under government authority, and find remains of an old French fort near the present site of Atchison May, 1804 Territory of Louisiana admitted to the First steamboat, a stern-wheeler, called the Western Engineer, passes up the Missouri River, carrying Maj. S. H. Long on an expedition up the Yellowstone....1819 Section 8 of act for admission of Missouri into the Union provides that in all Louisiana, north of lat. 36° 30′, and not M. de Bourgmont, commandant at Fort included in the State, slavery “shall be Orleans, Mo., undertakes a commercial and is hereby forever prohibited," but runaway slaves may be lawfully reclaim is now Wyandotte county, in July, and remove to permanent location purchased from the Delawares in the forks of the Kansas and Missouri rivers ed. Act passed..... ....March 6, 1820 Major Sibley, appointed under act of Congress, surveys a wagon-road from Missouri through Kansas to Santa Fé..1825 By treaty with Osage Indians the tribe locate on a tract of 7,564,000 acres in south Kansas, watered by the Arkansas, Verdigris, and Neosho rivers Dec. 30, 1825 Fort Leavenworth, called a cantonment until 1832, established and United States troops stationed there... 1827 Treaty with the Delaware Indians, locates them in the fork of the Kansas and Missouri rivers........ Sept. 24, 1829 Baptist Shawnee mission (Rev. Johnston Lykins and wife, resident missionaries) established 4 miles west of the Missouri line under Rev. Isaac McCoy; also appointed agent by the government for colonizing the eastern Indians within the Territory.. 1831 Indian tribes located in Kansas, including the Shawnees, Ottawas, the Kickapoos, Kaskaskias, Peorias, Piankeshaws, and Weas.. ..1831-32 First printing-press brought to Kansas by Rev. Jotham Meeker, set up at the Shawnee Baptist Mission in Johnson county, fall of.... .1833 First stock of goods landed below Kansas City, at Francis Chouteau's log warehouse.. ..1834 Congress makes all United States territory west of the Mississippi not in the States of Missouri and Louisiana or Territory of Arkansas "Indian country June 30, 1834 Col. Henry Dodge, U. S. A., makes an expedition to the Rocky Mountains, leaving Fort Leavenworth May 29, and returning along the line where the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé Railroad now runs 1835 Fort Scott established on the Marmaton River... ...April 9, 1842 Lieut. John C. Frémont, in his expedition west from St. Louis, reaches site of Lawrence, June 12; Topeka, June 14; and thence travels northwest to the Blue and Platte rivers..... ...1842 Frémont passes up the Kansas River on a second expedition... ..1843 Wyandottes remove from Ohio, encamp December, 1843 Kansas Indians cede to the United States 2,000,000 acres in Kansas Jan. 14, 1846 Gen. S. W. Kearny marches from Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fé...... .1846 Mormon battalion leaves Fort Leavenworth in the employ of the United States for service in the Mexican War August, 1847 Military road built by the government from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Kearny 1850 Fort Riley, near junction of Republican and Kansas rivers, established under name of Camp Centre in the fall of..1852 Willard P. Hall, of Missouri, introduces a bill to organize the Territory of Platte (Kansas and Nebraska)... Dec. 13, 1852 Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society, soon after incorporated as the New England Emigrant Aid Company, organized in Boston.... .March, 1854 Delawares, Shawnees, Iowas, and Kickapoos cede lands in Kansas to the United States. ....May, 1854 Act of Congress passed organizing the Territory of Kansas, to be admitted as a State with or without slavery May 30, 1854 Thirty-two persons associate in Weston, Mo., to lay out Leavenworth, the first city in the Territory........ June 13, 1854 A meeting at Weston, Mo., resolves to remove any and all emigrants coming to Kansas under the auspices of the Northern emigrant aid societies..July 20, 1854 Atchison Town Company formed in Missouri..... ....July 27, 1854 Emigrants under Charles H. Branscomb, of Massachusetts, sent out by emigrant aid company to Kansas as an anti-slavery colony, settle at Lawrence.... Aug. 1, 1854 First newspaper in Kansas, the Leavenworth Herald, pro-slavery, printed under an elm-tree on the levee at Leavenworth.... . Sept. 15, 1854 Atchison laid out by an association from Platte county, Mo., and first sale of lots takes place... ....Sept. 21, 1854 Samuel D. Lecompte, of Maryland, comon the east bank of the Kansas, in what missioned chief-justice......Oct. 3, 1854 Andrew H. Reeder, of Pennsylvania, ap- notice of his removal, and Secretary Woodpointed governor, arrives in the Territory son becomes acting governor Oct. 7, 1854 Secret societies called Blue Lodges begin in Weston, Mo., for extending slavery into Kansas..... October, 1854 Election as territorial delegate to Congress of J. W. Whitfield, pro-slavery, by illegal votes... .Nov. 29, 1854 .Dec. 5, 1854 Topeka founded.. A free-State meeting at Lawrence Dec. 23, 1854 Wyandotte Indians cede to the United States lands purchased by them from the Delawares in Kansas in 1843 Jan. 31, 1855 First census completed: total, 8,501; voters, 2,905; slaves, 192.... Feb. 28, 1855 Five sons of old John Brown settle on the Pottawattomie, near Osawatomie February, 1855 About 1,000 Missourians enter Lawrence with arms, and vote for members of the legislature... ...March 30, 1855 Manhattan located. ...April 4, 1855 Cole McCrea, a free-State man, kills Malcom Clark, pro-slavery, at Leavenworth..... . April 30, 1855 William Phillips, of Leavenworth, protesting against election frauds, is taken to Weston, Mo., tarred and feathered, and ridden on a rail. The outrage approved by the pro-slavery party..... May 17, 1855 At a free-State convention at Lawrence it was Resolved, that in reply to the threats of war so frequently made in our neighboring State, our answer is, 'We are ready'" ..June 8, 1855 Convention of National Democracy at Lawrence.. .June 27, 1855 State legislature meets at Pawnee, and at once drives out the free-State members.. .July 2, 1855 Legislature, overriding Governor Reed er's veto, removes the seat of government to the Shawnee Manual Labor School July 6, 1855 Governor Reeder, charged with irregularities in the purchase of Indian lands by W. L. Marey, Secretary of State, June 11, is removed, and John L. Dawson appointed, who declines to serve July 31, 1855 Legislature selects Lecompton as permanent capitol.... ...Aug. 8, 1855 Governor Reeder announces receipt of Aug. 10, 1855 Rev. Pardee Butler, free-State man, set adrift on a raft in the Missouri River at Atchison for preaching anti-slavery doctrine (on his return the following April he was stripped, tarred, and covered with cotton)..... .Aug. 16, 1855 Delegates elected by a free-State convention at Lawrence, Aug. 14, which repudiated the acts of the State legislature, assemble at Big Springs, and appoint delegates to a convention at Topeka, Sept. 19, to draw up a State constitution and seek admission to the Union Sept. 5, 1855 Wilson Shannon, of Ohio, takes oath of office as governor... . Sept. 7, 1855 Convention at Topeka to take measures to form a free-State constitution and government.... .Sept. 19, 1855 Free-State men take no part in the election of Gen. J. W. Whitfield, delegate to Congress... ...Oct. 1, 1855 Pro-slavery party meet at Leavenworth, ask the "lovers of law and order" to obey the laws of the first legislature, and declare it treason to oppose them Oct. 3, 1855 Free-State party elect A. H. Reeder delegate to Congress... .Oct. 9, 1855 Free-State constitutional convention meets at Topeka, James H. Lane president.... ...Oct. 23, 1855 Charles W. Dow is killed by Franklin N. Coleman, pro-slavery man, near Lawrence, on the 21st. Free-State men meet at the scene on the 22d, and Sheriff Samuel J. Jones arrests Jacob Branson, with whom Dow had lived, for taking part. At Blanton, Branson is released by free-State men. A meeting is held at Lawrence, and Branson addresses the people. Fearing a mob from Missouri, citizens are armed November, 1855 Governor Shannon orders Maj.-Gen. William P. Richardson of the territorial militia to collect as large a force as possible and report to Sheriff Jones Nov. 27, 1855 About 800 free-State men enlist at Lawrence, among them John Brown and four sons, and about 1,500 Missourians gather at Franklin, near the mouth of the Wakarusa... Nov. 29, 1855 Governor Shannon makes a treaty with the free-State men, and orders the militia and sheriff to disband their forces treason in organizing a free-State government.. .May 5, 1856 Governor Robinson arrested at LexingDec. 8, 1855 ton, Mo., while on the way east with his Vote upon Topeka free-State constitu- wife, who continued on her way with the tion results in 1,731 for and 46 against. papers containing the testimony gathered The pro-slavery men carry off the ballot by the Congressional investigating combox at Leavenworth........Dec. 15, 1855 mittee in Kansas. (He was taken to LeOffice of the Territorial Register at compton, held for four months, and reLeavenworth entered by a mob, press and leased on bail).... ......May 10, 1856 type thrown into the river.. Dec. 15, 1855 Israel B. Donalson, United States marConvention at Lawrence nominates shal, issues a proclamation saying that State officers under the Topeka consti- the citizens of Lawrence resist arrests tution. The conservative free-State men under judicial writs. He commands lawbolt and nominate a "free-State, anti- abiding citizens to come to his assistance. abolition" ticket..........Dec. 22, 1855 The citizens of Lawrence ask Governor Dr. Charles Robinson elected governor Shannon to protect them.. May 11, 1856 under the Topeka constitution Jan. 15, 1856 Message of President Pierce to Congress, endorses the " bogus legislature, and calls the Topeka movement revolutionary.... .Jan. 24, 1856 Whitfield takes his seat in Congress, and Reeder announces that he will contest it...... .Feb. 4, 1856 United States forces in Kansas, by order of Secretary of War, are put under requisition of the governor.. Feb. 15, 1856 Free-State legislature meets at Topeka; Governor Robinson delivers his message, and A. H. Reeder and J. H. Lane are elected senators..... ....March 4, 1856 Henry Ward Beecher sends twenty-five Bibles and twenty-five Sharp's rifles to a Connecticut party emigrating to Kansas March 28, 1856 Topeka constitution presented in United States Senate by Lewis Cass, March 24; in the House by Daniel Mace, of Indiana April 7, 1856 Congressional investigating committee reaches Lawrence... ..April 18, 1856 Sheriff Jones attempts to arrest S. N. Wood in Lawrence, charged with aiding in the rescue of Branson in November previous, but is prevented, shot at, and wounded. Colonel Sumner, United States army, arrives at Lawrence with his command... ...April 19-25, 1856 Major Buford, of Alabama, arrives at Westport, Mo., with a large body of men from Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina.... ..April 29, 1856 Grand jury of Douglas county indict Robinson, Reeder, and others for high Governor Shannon replies to citizens of Lawrence that they need fear nothing but the legally constituted posse of the United States marshal and sheriff of Douglas county... May 12, 1856 A meeting at Lawrence declares Donalson's statement to be false, but says an invading mob will be resisted. Anarchy prevails throughout the Territory. The free-State men flee to Lawrence for mutual protection. The force of invaders around Lawrence constantly increases May 13, 1856 In the morning United States Marshal Donalson with a large posse appeared on Mt. Oread; later, Deputy Mar shal Fain entered the city and made arrests without molestation, being a United States officer. He then returned to camp, turned over his posse to Samuel J. Jones, Sheriff of Douglas county, who, not being hampered by the restrictions of the United States marshal, proceeded to destroy the Free-State Hotel, the offices of the Herald of Freedom and Kansas Free-State, and Governor Robinson's dwelling, and to ransack and pillage the town generallyUnited States Senator Atchison, of Mis. souri, is one of the posse....May 21, 1856 George W. Brown and Gaius Jenkins, arrested on May 14, are taken before Judge Lecompte, at Lawrence, to answer to the charge of treason, bail denied, and case continued till September May 22, 1856 Five pro-slavery men on the Pottawatomie, in Franklin county, killed by a party under Capt. John Brown May 24, 1856 |