Kansas entered the Union as the Less than three months later, on April 12, Fort Sumter was attacked by Confederate troops and the Civil War were afloat that President Abraham Lincoln was to be kidnapped or assassinated. James H. Lane, a senator from Kansas, recruited 120 Kansas men who were in the city and organized them into the "Frontier Guard." For nearly three weeks they were billeted in the White House to protect the President. Most Kansans strongly favored the cause of the Union. Governor Charles Robinson began recruiting troops for the Union armies, and Senator Lane returned from Washington to do the same. Before the war ended, the federal government issued several calls for troops, asking Kansas for a total of Kansas, this was a remarkable showing for an infant state with only 30,000 men of military age. Kansas soldiers suffered nearly 8,500 casualties. Confederate units took place along the Missouri border in 1861, but the first real action for Kansas troops came at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, Missouri, on August 10, 1861. Both the First and Second Kansas Volunteer Infantry regiments were engaged, but the First saw the most action and suffered heavy losses. During 1862 several Kansas units served in campaigns in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. In Arkansas a brigade commanded by James G. Blunt, the first Kansan to become a major-general, fought in the battles of Rhea's Mills, Cane Hill, and Prairie Grove. Kansas regiments, both white and black, were used in the Indian territory in 1862 and 1863. In 1863 Kansans also served under General U.S. Grant in the Vicksburg campaign, under General Rosencrans at Chickamauga, and against Morgan's Raiders in Indiana. Price's RaidIn 1864 several Kansas units were stationed in Arkansas. There had been no organized warfare in Kansas other than occasional raids. That fall, however, Confederate forces under General Sterling Price moved objective was St. Louis; they also were ordered to seize supplies and rally Missourians to the Southern cause. Price failed to reach St. Louis as Union troops forced him to swing west toward Kansas City. Actions were fought at Lexington, and the Big and Little Blue Rivers. Fighting continued at Westport and on October 23, 1864, Price was defeated and forced to retreat south along the Kansas- Missouri border. He decided to try to seize Fort Scott, a Union supply center. He was defeated again at the Battle of Mine Creek in Linn County, Kansas, by Federal troops under Generals Samuel Curtis, Alfred Pleasanton, and Blunt. Approximately 25,000 men were involved in the pursuit and series of rear guard actions on October 25. Nearly 10,000 soldiers were engaged at Mine Creek alone, the largest battle fought on Kansas soil. This Union victory ended any threat of a Southern invasion of the state. Flag from Quantrill's raidMore devastating than any battle between regular troops in Kansas were the raids and pillaging of guerrilla bands. Such raids and atrocities were committed by both sides, but by far the most notorious came on August 21, 1863. William Clark Quantrill and several hundred followers attacked Lawrence at dawn. By the time they Lawrence, much of the town had been destroyed and nearly 200 men and boys had been killed. |
| Civil War |
Kansas was susceptible to attack along the southern and eastern borders at the outset of the Civil War. There was much excitement along the eastern border of Kansas due to anticipated invasion by Confederate forces. Kansans knew western Missouri still harbored strong feelings over abolitionist raids, and in the southwest corner of Missouri, lead mines were important to the southern war effort. In order to protect Kansas’ border, Sen./Gen. James H. Lane opened a recruiting office in Leavenworth on Aug. 4, 1861. That same evening, Lane “held a ‘Great War Meeting’ in front of the Planters’ house.” According to Albert Castel in “Civil War in Kansas,” Lane told the crowd that Kansas was in immediate danger of invasion, and Kansas would have to be defended by its own men. In Dec. 1861, the Union Army established a military post at Paola. The 10th Kansas Volunteer Infantry was organized at Paola on April 3, 1862. The 12th Kansas Volunteer Infantry was mustered into service at Paola in September 1862. In September 1864, the 17th Kansas Volunteer Infantry was ordered to Paola based on reports of Gen. Sterling Price’s invasion of Missouri. Kansas’ eastern border was defended by a series of outposts established at Aubrey, Coldwater Grove, Rockville and Trading Post. Paola was very active during the Civil War. The administration of Union forces was conducted as a district and subdistrict headquarters. Paola was a major supply depot for Union military units as they passed through on their way to engagements in Missouri, Arkansas and Indian Territory. Kansas soldiers fought east of the Mississippi River. An example is the 10th Volunteer Infantry, which fought with distinction in Tennessee and Mississippi and ended its service in 1865 at Montgomery, Ala. Jim Bousman is a volunteer at the Miami County Historical Museum |
American Civil War On Sept. 1, 1864, the Confederate Army abandoned Atlanta to William Tecumseh Sherman’s Army of the West. Thus began the fall of the Confederate Armies and the eventual end of the Civil War in 1865. Several years before Gen. Phil Sheridan and Gen. Sherman began their “scorched earth” policy in the east, the concept of “total war” was an everyday event along the Kansas–Missouri border. Three years before “a crow flying over the Shenandoah Valley needed a haversack to carry food,” jayhawkers and Union soldiers were burning out local southern sympathizers. Why? Because the guerrilla bands led by Quantrill, Anderson and Todd were sustained by the local population. Without the local population’s support, these bands would not have been able to operate so far from the Confederate base of supplies in Arkansas. The devastation caused by Order No. 11 drove the guerrilla bands into central Missouri, which positioned them to support General Sterling Price’s invasion into Missouri. With the Confederacy cut in half by the fall of Vicksburg, the Confederate troops assigned to the Trans-Mississippi Theater of War were isolated from the rest of the southern armies. In May of 1864, Sherman began his march to Atlanta, and Sheridan started his Valley Campaign. To apply additional pressure on the Confederacy and to keep Confederate troops in the Trans-Mississippi, General Frederick Steel started his Camden Campaign and General Nathaniel Banks his Red River Campaign. Both campaigns resulted in a Union defeat. The Confederate Armies and Confederate Gen. E. Kirby Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi, were desperate for arms, supplies and men. The generals also recognized a need to keep the Union Army from transferring soldiers from Missouri and Kansas to reinforce General Grant and Sherman. The only place in the Trans-Mississippi where adequate supplies and men could be secured was in Missouri. (Note: Smith did receive supplies across the Mississippi, but Union Naval patrols kept the supplies to a minimum. Additional supplies were obtained locally.) On Aug. 4, 1864, Gen. Smith ordered Gen. Price to make St. Louis his objective and take possession of its military supplies and arms. The order also said that if Price was unsuccessful, to head for Kansas and strip it of livestock and military supplies as he retreated to Arkansas and Indian Territory. On Sept. 19, 1864, Gen. Price and his 12,000-man “Army of Missouri” crossed the Arkansas border. By Jim Bousman Miami County Historical Museum |
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