Fitchburg man journeyed west to fight slavery.

Byline: Fred Sullivan 

Early in August 1968, I walked into B.F. Brown Junior High School in Fitchburg to meet with my new principal, John McManus. He informed me that my main assignment for the upcoming school year was to teach eighth-grade U.S. History. I was ecstatic because this was the subject matter that I had always wanted to teach. Mr. McManus gave me two texts, and I immediately began to examine the content. Reaching the chapter on the dramatic 1850s, I saw an interesting illustration.

The picture showed Eli Thayer, one of the founders of the abolitionist New England Emigrant Aid Society, standing before a bulletin board which announced that Mr. Thayer, who resided in Worcester, would be speaking at Leominster Town Hall. His topic would be the events which were unfolding in Kansas territory.

The year was 1854, and America was ready to explode. Congress, under the leadership of Stephen Douglas, had just passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act which introduced the concept of popular sovereignty that said that the people could vote whether the territories should be free or slave. It declared the Missouri Compromise dead, and the North exploded into anger while the South rejoiced.

The congressional act would cause consternation in Leominster, but my particular interest is in the reaction in Fitchburg of Charles Robinson, and how that reaction would

change American history.

This is a story of "Bleeding Kansas," a prelude to the Civil War, and how Fitchburg played a major role in that event.

In 1851, Charles Robinson, a native of Hardwick, Mass., returned to Fitchburg after two years in the gold fields of California with his newly wedded wife, Sara. His profession was dentistry, but Charles Robinson had a well-thought

social conscience. He edited a local newspaper called the Fitchburg News, which was highly critical of slavery and extremely pro-abolitionist. Dr. Robinson realized that the future of Kansas regarding whether the territory would become a free state or a slave state depended upon the makeup of the voters of Kansas when statehood was requested.

The pro-slavery faction held all the trump cards. Kansas' next-door neighbor was Missouri, and it was a slave state. Its citizens could easily cross the border, and vote for slavery when the occasion arose. Robinson and Thayer, along with Amos Lawrence of Boston, realized that drastic actions must be undertaken to stop the southern takeover. The solution was simple: New England's abolitionists must abandon their homes, and move 800 miles west to Kansas. Of course, it was not simple! Charles Robinson asked that this task be undertaken by the citizens of Fitchburg, and youthful young men like Josiah Trask and Joseph Lowe stepped forward to go to Kansas.

But Dr. Robinson, like all strong leaders, realized that he must lead by example, and so on March 13, 1855, Robinson stood on the steps of a train which held more than 200 Free-Soldiers who were heading to Lawrence, Kan. He told the crowd, "It is for us to choose for ourselves and for those who come after us what institutions shall bless or curse Kansas." And so Dr. Charles Robinson set forth into a cauldron which was called "Bleeding Kansas."

Dr. Robinson and the other Free-Soldiers settled in Lawrence, first living in tents, then crude log cabins, and then the famous sod houses of the American prairie. The sweltering summer and bitterly cold winters of Kansas would test the abolitionists' mettle.

Sara Robinson reported, "We can get no butter, no syrup, no milk, no potatoes. There is an abundance of nothing save cheese, beef, ham and sugar."

But they struggled onward, never forgetting their goals. When conflict broke out between the Free-Soldiers and the southern "Border Ruffians," Dr. Robinson tried to maintain some sort of regard for the law. The Emigrant Aid Society selected the good doctor as its leader. Amos Lawrence would later say, "He was cool, judicious, and entirely void of fear, and in every respect worthy of the confidence reposed in him by the settlers and the society...Yet he never bore arms...he strongly held the people to loyalty to the government." That resolve would soon be tested.

On May 21, 1856, the pro-southern Border Ruffians carried out their threats upon Lawrence. They had boasted that they would destroy this Free Soil town. Dr. Robinson organized a guard of more than 100 men, and attacks were postponed. He had written to friends in Fitchburg, "It looks very much like war." On that warm spring day, civil strife came when Lawrence was sacked. Robinson's home was burned to the ground and Sara reported, "Out of its charred and blood-stained ruins will spring the high walls and strong parapets of freedom. The sad tragedies of Kansas will be avenged when freedom of speech and of the press and of the person are made sure by the downfall of those now in power."

Robinson's actions would take a much more dangerous turn shortly after the "Sacking of Lawrence." He and Sara traveled eastward to attempt to get more help for their cause in Kansas. Upon reaching Lexington, Mo., Dr. Robinson was arrested for treason and as a fugitive from justice. Sara was allowed to continue her journey, but Charles was transferred to Leavenworth, where a lynch mob demanded his neck. He was transferred to Fort Leavenworth and placed in a prison camp for five months, during which time he was joined by the ever-faithful Sara.

Finally, through the actions of Sara, Amos Lawrence, his mother and the wife of President Franklin Pierce, Charles was released. For the next four years Charles and Sara Robinson continued the good fight in Kansas, as the nation plunged toward Civil War.

Barely six weeks after South Carolina's secession from the Union, Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state, and the citizens immediately elected as their first governor, Dr. Charles Robinson. As the nation's eyes moved eastward to Washington and a place called Fort Sumter, Kansas would be somewhat forgotten. The Civil War was not kind to Kansas or to its citizens from Fitchburg.

The infamous William Quantrill, who had been a member of the Border Ruffians, was now given official status as a Confederate guerrilla fighter. His 200 men, which included Frank and Jesse James, used the Civil War as an excuse to prey upon the citizens of Kansas.

On Aug. 23, 1863, Quantrill's raiders attacked Lawrence, killing more than 150 of its citizens. Among the victims were the previously mentioned Josiah Trask, Joseph Lowe and another Free-Soldier from Fitchburg named Fred Kimball. The history of Kansas and the United States itself had been greatly influenced by idealists from Fitchburg some who achieved prominence following personal sacrifices, and some who paid the ultimate price for their beliefs. The slave question and ultimately the Civil War would engulf all of America, but Fitchburg had certainly been at the forefront of the Great Crusade.

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: Charles Robinson