Governor Geary went at once to the fort, where he spent the day in consultation with General Smith.  That same evening he wrote to W.L.  Marcy, Secretary of State, a report of the day’s impressions which was anything but reassuring—­Leavenworth in the hands of armed men committing outrages under the shadow of authority; theft and murder in the streets and on the highways; farms plundered and deserted; agitation, excitement, and utter insecurity everywhere, and the number of troops insufficient to compel peace and order.  All this was not the worst, however.  Deep in the background stood the sinister apparition of the Atchison cabal.  “I find,” wrote he, “that I have not simply to contend against bands of armed ruffians and brigands whose sole aim and end is assassination and robbery—­infatuated adherents and advocates of conflicting political sentiments and local institutions—­and evil-disposed persons actuated by a desire to obtain elevated positions; but worst of all, against the influence of men who have been placed in authority and have employed all the destructive agents around them to promote their own personal interests at the sacrifice of every just, honorable, and lawful consideration....  Such is the condition of Kansas faintly pictured....  In making the foregoing statements I have endeavored to give the truth and nothing but the truth.  I deem it important that you should be apprised of the actual state of the case; and whatever may be the effect of such revelations, they will be given from time to time without extenuation.”

  [Sidenote] Geary, proclamation, Sept. 11, 1856.  Senate Ex.  Doc., 3d
  Sess. 34th Cong.  Vol.  II., pp. 93-4.

  [Sidenote] Geary to Marcy, Sept. 12, 1856.  Ibid., p. 95.

Discouraging as he found his new task of administration, Governor Geary grappled with it in a spirit of justice and decision.  The day following his interview with General Smith found him at Lecompton, the capital of the Territory, where the other territorial officials, Woodson, Calhoun, Donaldson, Sheriff Jones, Lecompte, Cato, and others, constituted the ever-vigilant working force of the Atchison cabal, precisely as had been so truthfully represented to him by General Smith, and as he had so graphically described in his letter to Marcy of the day before.  Paying little heed to their profusely offered advice, he adhered to his determination to judge for himself, and at once issued an inaugural address, declaring that in his official action he would do justice at all hazards, that he desired to know no party and no section, and imploring the people to bury their past strifes, and devote themselves to peace, industry, and the material development of the Territory.[10] As an evidence of his earnestness he simultaneously issued two proclamations, one disbanding the volunteer or Missouri militia lately called into service by acting Governor Woodson, and the other commanding the immediate enrollment of the true citizen militia of Kansas Territory, this step being taken by the advice of General Smith.