William B. Hutchinson of Lawrence, Kansas Territory wrote to Cyrus K. Holliday in Topeka, K. T., requesting support for a People's Mass Convention in Topeka on July 4. The gathering Free-Staters would be armed in case of opposition. Colonel Edwin V. Sumner had received orders on June 4th from K. T. Governor Wilson Shannon to disband unlawful military forces. The camp from which Hutchinson wrote had complied, but John W. Whitfield and his troops, camped at Bull Creek, refused. Hutchinson described northern enthusiasm to aid financially the free state cause. John H. Reeder and James H. Lane were speaking in northern states.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
William B. Hutchinson to Cyrus Kurtz Holliday - p. 1