40 Jf^. L. Fleming if need be for our section, or in default of doing so, that I will on de- mand refund the donation with interest from the day of its receipt. I will keep an account of the obligations so issued, and each successive one shall specify one emigrant more than its immediate predecessor, — thus: No. I shall pledge me to take one emigrant ; No. 2, two ; No. 3, three, etc., and if the state makes a contribution it shall be divided into sums of fifty dollars each and numbered accordingly. Here is your cheapest and surest chance to do something for Kansas, — something to- ward holding against the free-soil hordes that great Thermopylae of Southern institutions. In this their great day of darkness, nay, of ex- treme peril, there ought to be, there needs must be great individual self- sacrifice, or they cannot be maintained. If we cannot find many who are willing to incur great individual loss in the common cause, if we cannot find some crazy enough to peril even life in the deadly breach, then it is not because individuals have grown more prudent and wise, but because public virtue has decayed and we have thereby already become unequal to the successful defense of our rights. T B fo ' " November 26, 1855. In a letter written near the close of December,- Major Buford describes the prospective settlers whom he had already enrolled as " honest, clever, poor young men from the country, used to agri- cultural labor, with a few merchants, mechanics, printers, and car- penters." The organization of the party was to be military, with officers corresponding to those of the regular service, the officers below the rank of captain to be elected by the emigrants. By a majority vote a company could expel a member. Four places of rendezvous were appointed: Eufaula, Silver Run (now Scale), Columbus, Ga., and Montgomery. A date was set for assembling at each of these places, and the issue of rations began on that day.^ On his return Buford was to make a report giving the name and place of enrollment of each settler, and showing where in Kansas he was left. Contributions were asked for and those who could not contribute in cash were asked to do so in notes, thus : Cross Road P. O., Barbour Co., Ala., January i, 1856. One year after date I promise to pay to Jefferson Buford per head for every emigrant he may take to Kansas within that time, provided that I shall in no event be liable to pay over dollars. (Signed) ' ' Published in the Eufaula Spirit of the South and copied on re(juest in other Southern papers. The time of departure was subsequently changed to a date about the first of April, when the rivers should be free from ice. 2 Eufaula Spirit of the South, copied in Advertiser and State Gazette o{ December 29, 1855. <> Alabama Journal, February I, 1S56. •Letter from Buford in Advertiser and State Gazette, December 29. 1S55.
