“The Immortal Ten”📰 Originally published in the York News-Times.

As men contend with what it means to be a man nowadays, real women worldwide, already know. For me, I always appreciate a good Western story. This time it’s a true story. If you have not heard of them, here’s an epic tale about real men for you – the “Immortal Ten.”

If you haven’t visited Lawrence, Kan. you really should. The fight for our lives for freedom has deep roots there. While my heart was sown and grown in Nebraska, I happen to love the spirit of Kansas too. Stories like the “Immortal Ten” are one of the powerful reasons I do. I learned more deeply of these historic men from the curator of a small, (but very mighty), museum in the basement of the Eldrige Hotel, a hotel with its own rich history as well. But this particular article is reserved for the “Immortal Ten.”

It's very timely this story is surfacing again with the help of a passionate, astute historian in a hotel in Kansas that also has its share of battles that have helped sort out this hefty, hard, and hopeful experiment we call – the United States of America. This is the stuff of blood, sweat, and tears, not “armchair” wannabe warriors and weak men hiding behind screens. Oh no, this was and still is – the real fight by real fighters. 

The gentleman curator gave me a stack of research to read. Here’s a synopsis that scratches the surface, but you’ll get the idea, “The Immortal Ten were a group of militant abolitionists and Free-Staters in the Kansas Territory who, on July 23, 1859, freed Dr. John Doy from a Missouri jail, where he was being held for allegedly abducting slaves. Doy and his 19-year-old son Charles were fellow abolitionists who had been arrested by pro-slavery Missouri bounty hunters while trying to deliver slaves to freedom in the Nebraska Territory via the Underground Railroad. While his son was acquitted for the charges and released, John was sentenced to prison. The ten men who took it upon themselves to rescue Doy were led by Major James Thomas Simmons, Joseph Gardner, Jacob Senix, and Captain Joshua A. Pike. The episode occurred during a period of violent interstate ideological conflict preceding the American Civil War know as ‘Bleeding Kansas.’” 

The plan to rescue Doy was carried out in this way, “Two of the men pretended to be bounty hunters who had caught a horse thief (who was also part of the crew) and distracted the guards while the rest of the men overtook the prison and went after Doy. Doy was found very ill and unable to walk due to exhaustion and disease, so a couple of the men carried him out. A famous ambrotype photograph of the Immortal Ten was taken in Lawrence by photographer Amon Gilbert DaLee shortly after the rescue. It depicts the whole crew together while Doy is sitting in a chair in the front, unable to stand on his own.”

“A bounty was put on Doy’s head for $100 if caught outside Missouri and $50 if caught inside Missouri. Soon after his escape, Dr. Doy left Lawrence for Rochester, N.Y., where he published a book, ‘The Narrative of John Doy of Lawrence, Kansas – A plain, unvarnished tale (1860),’ giving an account of his trial and conviction.”

Another hero of the “Immortal Ten” was Silas Soule (Silas is my favorite) who was a well-known anti-slavery militant and a personal friend of John Brown and Walt Whitman, “During the American Civil War, he joined a Colorado volunteer army fighting for the Union and was eventually promoted to the rank of captain. Soule was present at the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado in 1864, where he ordered his unit not to participate in the slaughter. He also later testified against the units that did participate and was murdered as a result.” 

These are the stories I like to read about real men and real heroes. No doubt there were real women all around these men, supporting them and leading the way too. There you have it. May we strive to be heroes such as this. The times are certainly calling for it. Calling all boys who want to be real men to cowboy up like the Immortal Ten.

Amon Gilbert DaLee photo of the “Immortal Ten.”