Kansas History - Historical Sites, Old Frontier Forts and Landmarks
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There are many frontier forts, historic sites and memorial in Kansas. The First territorial capitol was on the Fort Riley reservation. The Indian mission is at Council Grove and the Shawnee mission is in Kansas City.

Historic Sites

Allegawaho Heritage Park is the site of the last Kaw Indian Village in Kansas.

Council Grove National Historic Site is where the Kaw or Kanza Indians granted right-of-way for the Santa Fe Trail.

Dodge city was a Cow Town made famous by Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. Today, you can tour the Boot Hill Museum and Old Front Street.

Fort Larned National Historic Site has living history exhibits with costumed guides. The fort was built in 1859 for the purpose of protecting the wagon trains traveling on the Santa Fe Trail. You can tour the barracks and the blockhouse.

Kidder Massacre is northeast of Goodland. In 1868, the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians trapped US Cavalrymen.

Pawnee Rock rises above the Arkansas River Valley between Larned and Great Bend. Historically, this was the point from which Pawnee and Kiowa Indian war parties launched attacks on wagon trails.

Fort Scott in the mid 1800's garrisoned troops guarding the area. It grew into one of the largest settlements in the Kansas territory as well as the largest railroad center west of the Mississippi River. It now has antique and specialty shops, a visitors center downtown, a national cemetery. Guided tours of Fort Scott take you to the mansions built in the late 1880 s, the restored and reconstructed buildings of the fort. These include the guardhouse, horse stables, parade grounds, quartermaster's storehouse, officers homes and the canons. There are historic reenactments. You can visit the downtown Memorial hall where country music and comedy shows are performed. The US cemetery No. 1 was established by Abe Lincoln  in 1862 for Union troops. The Courtland is a restored railroad hotel built in 1906. Lyon's Victorian Mansion was built in 1876. Nearby is the Mine Creek Battlefield State Historic Site and Marais de Cygnes Massacre State historic site.

History

Early Expeditions

Explorer and Conquistador Coronado led an expedition in search of gold into Kansas. The French explored the region from 1719-25. The region was held by the Indians until 1803 when the US took over most of the land as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis and Clark Visited the Northeast section in 1803 Major Stephen Long led an expedition through the state in 1819.

Overland Route to the West

Kansas was used as the main overland route to the west. The Santa Fe Trail was opened by 1824 from Independence Missouri through Kansas territory to Santa Fe New Mexico. Other trails were used by pioneers to California and Oregon crossed through Kansas. Still the Mormons and gold seekers used other trails to get to their intended destinations. Nobody actually settle in Kansas until the area was secured in 1854. It was still Indian lands.

Native American Indian Tribes

There is evidence of Ancient Indian Cultures living along the Republican and Blue rivers from 1200-1500. Indian tribes that lived in Kansas during the time the pioneers were headed west were: The Kansa, Wichita, Osage, Pueblos and Pawnee. Other tribes that hunted in Western Kansas were: the Apache, Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Comanche and Kiowa. In 1850, as part of the Indian Removal act, the US government sent 19 tribes to Kansas. At this time, about one fourth of the territory was Indian lands. After 1868, Indian tribes were removed to an other designated Indian territory. However, Indian raids still occurred until the late 1880 s.

The Potawatomi reservation is the largest in the state. Its near Holton.

Indian Missions established

Frontier Military Forts

Free State Struggle

Kansas Nebraska bill of 1854 provided that the people should decide whether the territory would be a free or slave state. This created much turmoil during the following 6 years which is referred to as bleeding Kansas. Antislavery guerrilla bands were known as Jayhawkers, a free soil militia established in Lawrence. A Proslavery militia was raised. John Stringfellow organized Southern sympathizers in Leavenworth. What followed was a reign of terror. Men were murdered. Farms and houses were burnt. Raids were done. The city of Lawrence was sacked. The abolitionist John Brown led the Potawatomi massacre. Many other atrocities occurred. In 1856, federal troops helped ease the tension. The controversy continued until the end of the Civil War.

Kansas was granted statehood in 1861.

Kansas supplied about 20,000 men to the union army. The largest battle in Kansas was the battle of Mine Creek in 1864 where the Confederate army were badly defeated.

During the Civil war, border raids were led by Guerrilla, Indian and Confederate forces. Quantrill raided Kansas border towns in August 1863. He raided Lawrence burning the town and killing 150 citizens.

After the Civil War, many union veterans settled here

The coming of the Railroads

Railroads were chartered about 1857. The first train ran through the state in July 1860. By 1890, a total of 8,700 miles of track had been laid within the state. The coming of the railroads helped speed up settlement.

Before the Civil War, cattle began grazing on the open range. The railroads were used to transport the cattle to market. Cow towns sprang up along the railway. The cattle would graze on open graze near the railway that way it wasn't far to herd the cattle to transport. Saving lots of money, time and effort. Cattle trails such as the Chisholm trail were famous roadways to the cow towns. Cattle raising became a major industry here.

Partial list of Cow Towns