According to the 1860 U.S. census, Kansas had a
free population of 107,204 and an additional slave population of
2.
After years of small-scale civil war, Kansas was
admitted into the Union as a free state under the "Wyandotte Constitution" on
January 29, 1861. Most people gave strong support for the Union cause. However,
guerrilla warfare and raids from pro-slavery forces,
many spilling over from Missouri, occurred during the Civil War.
See also Kansas Civil War
History and Missouri Civil War
History.
The Union Army, vol. 4,
states, "The Federal census of 1860 gave Kansas a population of 143,643
inhabitants, including Indians, but this total was much diminished by reason of
the drought of 1860, from which the state had barely emerged when the war began.
Consequently her population in 1861 numbered only a few over 107,000. The total
number of men called for by the president of the United States from Kansas
during the war was 16,654; the state not only supplied her full quota under all
calls, but furnished a surplus of 3,443 men, or 20,097 in in all. The report of
the provost-marshal-general is authority for the statement that Kansas lost
61.01 men killed in action and died from wounds out of each 1,000, which is in
excess of the proportion furnished to the item of mortality by any of the other
loyal states; Vermont ranking second with a loss per 1,000 of 58.22. It is also
worthy of note that that no bounty was ever offered by the state, nor did any
city or county offer a bounty to secure recruits. The state's quotas were always
promptly filled up to the end of the war." See also Kansas in the American Civil War
(1861-1865).
The soldiers of Kansas were, for the most part, of
hardy physique and inured to outdoor life. A large proportion of them were
excellent horsemen and it was therefore only natural that, of the 19 regiments
furnished by the state, 9 belonged to the cavalry. Kansans in the Union Army
served in 10 regiments and 5 companies of infantry, 9 cavalry regiments, and 3
artillery batteries. Many Kansans also served in independent, unattached, state
and militia units.
At the start of the war in April 1861, the
Kansas government had no well-organized militia, no arms, accoutrements or
supplies, nothing with which to meet the demands, except the
united will of officials and citizens. During the years 1859 to 1860, the
military organizations had fallen into disuse or been entirely broken up.
The first Kansas regiment was called on June 3, 1861, and the seventeenth, the
last raised during the Civil War, July 28, 1864. The entire quota assigned to
the Kansas was 16,654, and the number raised was 20,097. Statistics indicated
that losses of Kansas regiments in killed in battle and from disease are greater
per thousand than those of any other State. Of the Kansas regiments, the 1st
infantry sustained the heaviest loss in killed and died of wounds, losing 11
officers and 120 enlisted men. The 1st Colored infantry met with the heaviest
loss killed in action — 4 officers and 166 men.
Apart from small formal battles, there were 29
Confederate raids into Kansas during the war. The most serious episode came when
Lawrence, Kansas came under attack on August 21, 1863, by guerrillas, known as
Quantrill's
Raiders, led by William Clarke Quantrill. It was
in part retaliation for "Jayhawker" raids against pro-Confederate
settlements in Missouri.
On August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led Quantrill's Raid into
Lawrence destroying much of the city and murdering over
150 unarmed men and boys. The Confederate partisans in Missouri rode to Lawrence
(a town long hated by Quantrill and many Southerners) in response to the deaths
of women and children. Quantrill also rationalized that an attack on this
citadel of abolition would bring revenge for any wrongs, real or imagined that
the Southerners had suffered. By the time the raid was over, Quantrill and his
men had killed approximately 150-200 men, both young and old.
The Battle of Baxter
Springs, also known as the Baxter Springs Massacre, was
a minor battle in the War, fought on October 6, 1863, near the modern-day town
of Baxter Springs, Kansas. The Battle of Mine Creek, also known as the Battle of
the Osage was a cavalry battle that occurred in Kansas during the
war.
On October 25, 1864, a series of
three battles occurred, the first two in Linn County, Kansas, with the final in
Vernon County, Missouri. The first was the Battle of Marais des Cygnes (also
called the "Battle of Trading Post"), the second was the Battle of Mine Creek,
and the third was the Battle of Marmiton River (over the border in Missouri).
They were between Major General Sterling Price, leading the Missouri expedition,
against Union forces under Major General Alfred Pleasonton. Price, after going
south from Kansas City, was initially met by Pleasonton at Marais des Cygnes. At
the end of the day, the Confederates were forced to withdraw after attacks and
assaults by Union forces. See also Kansas Civil War History and
Kansas in the American
Civil War (1861-1865).
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