Whitman's April 30, 1858, letter to Stearns described the harmonious work conducted by the "State Convention" and its nomination of state officers under the Leavenworth Constitution. That movement, he told Stearns, would probably not "amount to much if the Lecompton Constitution is rejected. He also mentioned continued tension in Bourbon County and the route of U.S. troops by "the free State boys" of Fort Scott.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
Edmund Burke Whitman to George Luther Stearns - p. 2