Having returned from a trip to the East (where he visited George Stearns, Horace Greeley, and others in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia), Montgomery writes from Mound City, Linn County, Kansas Territory, that he "found the people greatly excited." News of violence directed against free state men in Texas and Arkansas has awakened Kansans' sense of urgency, as Montgomery continues his efforts to free slaves and undercut the slave economy of western Missouri.