All of the pro-slavery papers were open in their advocacy of an immediate war of extermination. The _Squatter Sovereign_ in its issue just after the election of January 15, commenting on certain disturbances at Easton and a murder at Leavenworth, did not condemn what took place at Easton and had no word of apology or pity to offer for the murdered man. On the contrary it upheld those who committed the murder and gave them encouragement in their campaign of killing abolitionists. Dr. Stringfellow employed his violent rhetoric to give vent to his feelings and the opening paragraph of his leading editorial in the issue of the _Squatter Sovereign_ he used the following language: “It seems now to be certain that we will have to give the abolitionists at least one good thrashing before political matters are settled in this territory. To do so we must have arms; we have the men. I propose to raise funds to furnish Colt’s revolvers for those who are without them. We say if the abolitionists are able to whip us and overturn the government that has been set up here, the sooner it is known the better, and we want to see it settled.” During the whole of the following winter preparations for attack and defense went quietly on. There was drilling along the border and disquieting rumors came from time to time of companies that had been organized and equipped to move into Kansas as soon as spring opened to uphold the rights of the Southerners. Atchison county took a prominent part in the border warfare. The bold attitude assumed by the Free State forces in and around Lawrence; the Wakarusa war; the Free State elections, and the determination of the Free State party to convene their legislature in March, 1856, kept the partisan pro-slavery sentiment in Atchison in a constant tumult. In March large numbers of South Carolina emigrants, armed and equipped with the avowed purpose of enforcing southern rights in Kansas, arrived on all the incoming steamboats. Capt. F. G. Palmer, of Atchison, commanded one of the earliest if not the earliest company of these emigrants. Robert De Treville was first lieutenant. The home company had been formed prior to the arrival of the South Carolinians. Dr. John H. Stringfellow was captain; Robert S. Kelley, first lieutenant; A. J. G. Westbrook, second lieutenant, and John H. Blassingame, third lieutenant. Their arms were supplied from Ft. Leavenworth and by the last of April they were ready and waiting for the assault and the subsequent “sacking” of Lawrence. The whole countryside was aflame with the passion of war. By May 1 quite a large army of pro-slavery sympathizers was organized. The South Carolinian Company, from Atchison, was among the first to start the assault upon Lawrence and it was not long before “its flag was planted upon the rifle pit of the enemy.” Dr. Stringfellow was there and Robert S. Kelley, his able assistant on the _Squatter Sovereign_, was also there.