An article relative to Kansas appeared in the Charleston [S.C.] Daily Courier, 19 Jun 1856, p. 2, c. 3, 4, copied in turn from the Charleston Evening News.
It reported that Warren D. Wilkes was in South Carolina soliciting support, both in money and men, to aid the Southern effort in Kansas. It reported that Maj. Wilkes would appear on behalf of his cause in Charleston, and quoted from letters previously published in Anderson [S.C.] newspapers, which have been previously cited in posts ofn this board. It then quotes two letters, one from Wilkes to John Cunningham, and another relative to a propsoed settlement on the Big Blue, as follows:
" ANDERSON C. H., Juen 13, 1856
Col. John Cunningham:
Dear Sir -- Enc;posed I send you the proceedings of a meeting of South Carolian emigrants, held at Atchison, kansas Territory, May the 29th. From utter exhaustion it will be impossible for me to visit your city [Charleston] until the lapse of a week or two, and hence I forward the documents by letter. If agreeable to the citizens of Charleston, I will take great pleasure in appearing before them at the earliest possible moment, give them a true and full account of the desparate condition of affairs in the Territory, and bear testimony to the gallant bearing of the gentlemen whose names are appended to the within address. I was with them at the battle of Lawrence; and assure you that they reflected credit upon the good old State, and rendered efficient service to the pro-slavery party; and I trust that their appeal for aid will meet with a prompt and gratifying response from the people of the State.
Muchy was imposed upon the emigrants form South Carolina in the Lawrence expedition, and, with a genorosity and bravery characteristic of our people, they met every responsibility in person and with their purse, and are they asking too much of South Carolina when they appeal for aid?
Will you, Colonel, take the matter in hand? I am young, comparatively unknown, and cannot expect to accomplish much, unless aided by gentlemen of prominence and influence.
Whatever sums may be contributed, I will faithfully guard and convey to the Carolina emigrants at Atchison.
Your obedient servant,
WARREN D. WILKES.
[The "enclosed proceedings" were as follows:]
ATCHISON, KANSAS TERRITORY,
May 29, 1856
To our Fellow-Citizens of South Carolina and the Executive Committee and Offciers of Associations favorable to the Southern Settlement of Kansas Territory:
The undersigned, emigrants from South Carolina, in Kansas Territory, having located a large body of land in Marshallcounty, on the Big Blue River, with a view to the establishment of a Carolina settlement and the erection of Palmetto City on a site at the Independence Road Ferry, in Kansas Territory, would most earnestly represent to their friends and their fellow-citizens of their native State, that in taking the essential steps towards the accomplishment of their purpose, heavy expenses are incurred -- that the pecuniary situation of many who have come to the Territory to battle for Southern rights, will not enable them to afford any material aid except the fruits of their bodily labor -- that such a settlement, as a haven for our co-laboreers, where they can realize in their distant home some of the blessings of kindred, custom and society, is absolutely necessary as a source of encouragement, and that politically they should contend at the ballot-box with a large Ohio settlement on the Vermillion in the same county, and within ten miles of their claims, and who, if left to themselves, will surely control the fate of Central Kansas; when abetted and supported by Abolition Aid Societies. Under these circumstances, and with a view to obtain what means our Carolina fellow-citizens may be disposed to assist us with, we hereby commission and authorize our friend, Major W. D. Wilkes, of Anderson District, who returns home for a short time, to represent us and receive whatever contributions are made toward our enterprise. We recommend him to our friends and the State as a true and gallant representative of the Palmetto Banner here.
J. R. Alston, R. DeTreville, W. H. Jenkins, J. R. Boyd, W. R. Simons, A. [Alonzo] G. Whitney, Wm. H. Grierson, J. F. Townsend, Vincent Starr, Thos. J. Calhoun, John A. Wanless, S. B. Alexander, Wallace Jackson, A. [Armistead] Burt, J. H. Meyer, L. Thomlinson, J. W. Gibson, Antony S. Vaught [Vogt], B. M. Lebby, J. W. A. Vaught [Vogt], K. L. Palmer, R. A. West, N. B. Merritt, A. B. Courtenay, P. H. Larey, John H. Swift, G. F. Larey, J. Campbell Holmes, J. H. Ashby, Robert D. White, T. Strohecker, John H. Blasingame, W. D. Walter, Alfred J. Frederick, Benjamin R. Scott, Geo. H. T. Alexander, W. D. Johnson, J. B. Laborde, J. R. Quarles, Thos. J. China, C. B. Buist, Julius Gamble, J. L. Rice, George Rewder, G. W. Ashby, J. H. Stafford, Jno. Vanderhorst, Samuel Calder, J. W. Stevens, F. G. Palmer, W. S. Brewster, Newton Rice, John Bowen, E. C. Wilkes, H. B. Addison, George Rearding [Rearden], G. C. Pinckney, A. T. Harllee.
We observe a communication from Mr. W. J. Jenkins, as Chariman of a Committee appointed to enclose the resolutions of the meeting to Major Wilkes, appointing him their agent, that a number of the Carolina emigrants, being at Doniphan, were not able to sign the address."