Freedom's Struggle
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Freedom’s Struggle i ii Freedom’s Struggle On the cover: This 1983 illustration by artist Hugh Brown depicts a dragoon escorting a wagon train across the prairie. The wagon ruts that remain today at such sites as Mount Mitchell near Wamego are a testament to the state’s history and how its stories are imbedded in the landscape. Illustration: courtesy ofHugh Brown and the National Park Service, Harper’s Ferry Center iii Topeka Capital-Journal ©2016. All Rights Reserved. These articles ran in the Topeka Capital-Journal between February 2015 and January 2016. They are reprinted here with permission of the Topeka Capital-Journal. This book was printed on an Espresso Book Machine at Woodneath Press, Woodneath Library Center, Mid-Continent Public Library, in Kansas City, MO. Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area, PO Box 526, 200 W 9th Street, Lawrence, KS 66044 www.freedomsfrontier.org iv Contents Contents ..................................................................... v Forward ..................................................................... ix About Jan Biles .......................................................... xi Scope of Project ........................................................ xii Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area Timeline .................................................................. xiii Freedom’s Frontier: Heritage area borne from struggle – ‘Bleeding Kansas’ proposal ruffled Missourian’s feathers (February 11, 2015) ..................................................... 1 Free or slave Kansas? A decision that split the nation – Slavery question creates 2 governments, 2 capital in Kansas Territory (March 9, 2015) ................................ 9 John Brown’s legacy remains controversial – Kansas battle cemented abolitionist’s reputation (April 13, 2015) ................................................................................. 21 One war atrocity, two different accounts – Questions remain about senator’s involvement in burning of Osceola (May 12, 2015) .......................................................... 33 Who were the bushwhackers? Guerrillas were known for their ambush tactics (June 10, 2015) .......................... 43 General Order No. 11: Scorching of Missouri – Missourians exiled, property burned in attempt to get rid of bushwhackers (July 14, 2015) ................................ 49 Battle of Island Mound: First fighting in Civil War for any black troops – 1st Kansas Colored’s bravery allowed regiment to enter federal service (August 11, 2015) ..... 63 v Secret network in Kansas helped blacks escape slavery – Underground Railroad in Kansas transported as many as 2,000 passengers (September 14, 2015) ....................... 73 Freedom’s Frontier: Union betrayal leads to war atrocity – Thousands of Indians, slaves die in S.E. Kansas (October 13, 2015) ................................................................... 81 Black exodus: A journey fueled by hope – African- Americans migrate west to escape post-war oppression (November 9, 2015) ................................................... 93 Surviving segregation: first-hand accounts from Kansas, Missouri – Jim Crow laws restricted lives of blacks for nearly 100 years (December 7, 2015) .........................103 Freedom’s Struggle: History parallels happenings in today’s world – Ongoing fight for equality plays out on college campuses (January 4, 2016) ...........................115 Sites to Visit .............................................................125 Special Thanks .........................................................131 vi vii viii Forward We’ve always had storytellers. From the first people who painted the walls of their caves to our present day digital displays, telling a good story engages and enlivens. Sharing, preserving and telling stories of the western migration, of the border war and the enduring struggle for freedom, lead volunteers on both side of our shared state line to create the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area. It helps to have good friends who are good storytellers. That’s the blessing of Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area’s partnership with the Topeka Capital-Journal. Thanks to the commitment and permission of TCJ Publisher Zach Ahrens, we are able to share this exceptional collection of stories and pictures of our heritage area with you. While always available online, we wanted to create this physical copy of those stories and pictures to help you understand what all of us working together under the Freedom’s Frontier banner are attempting to do in sharing, preserving and telling these stories. Enjoy! Jim Ogle Executive Director FFNHA – Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area ix x About Jan Biles Jan Biles wrote the articles in this book. She has worked since 2002 for the Topeka Capital-Journal, where she has served as weekend editor, senior writer and currently niche products editor. Prior to coming to the Topeka Capital-Journal, she worked at the Lawrence Journal-World, Hutchinson News and Pittsburg Morning Sun, all in Kansas. Before embarking on her journalism career, Biles was an English and journalism teacher at Jayhawk-Linn High School in Mound City; a teacher of students with learning disabilities at Louisburg middle and high schools; and education consultant for the Joplin Regional Center for Developmental Disabilities. Her most recent teaching assignment was as an adjunct professor teaching advance reporting at Baker University in Baldwin City. Biles holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in counselor education, both from Pittsburg State University. xi Scope of Project “Freedom’s Struggle” was an ongoing project of The Topeka Capital-Journal about the events that unfolded in the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area in Kansas and Missouri, from pre-Civil War battles to the enduring struggle for freedom. “Freedom’s Struggle” included several online components that can be viewed at http://cjon. co/1IW9NAe. Those features include: A slide show of Freedom’s Frontier sites in Kansas and Missouri A calendar of events for the heritage area Video walking tours of various Freedom’s Frontier sites Maps and timelines Additional features were added as the project progressed. xii Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area Timeline 1999: Territorial Kansas Heritage Alliance formed to plan for the sesquicentennial of the Kansas Territory in 2004. 2001: TKHA brings in National Park Service and heritage area representatives to provide information about developing a heritage area in eastern Kansas. 2002: Lawrence City Commission/Douglas County Commission appoint a committee to explore the feasibility of establishing a heritage area in Douglas County. January 2003: About 75 people from several counties in Kansas attend Heritage Summit in Lawrence. Working name of emerging heritage area determined to be Bleeding Kansas and the Enduring Struggle for Freedom Heritage Area. 2004: Required feasibility study presented to NPS and Kansas congressional delegation. In March, identical bills establishing Bleeding Kansas heritage area introduced in both House and Senate; both died in committee. 2005: Legislation to establish the Bleeding Kansas heritage area re-introduced in Congress. After pushback from Missouri congressional delegation, Sen. Jim Talent adds 12 Missouri counties to the bill. June 2006: House Committee negotiations led to an agreement that the official name would be Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area. xiii xiv Freedom’s Frontier: Heritage area borne from struggle ‘Bleeding Kansas’ proposal ruffled Missourian’s feathers Looking north to northwest, the Topeka Fort Riley Road runs through the grasslands toward Mount Mitchell near Wamego. Photo: Courtesy of Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards About 34 miles west of Topeka, Mount Mitchell rises from the prairie. In July and August, the ungrazed grasses on the mound are known to grow 7 feet high. The landscape is strewn with pink quartzite boulders, carried to the area 600,000 to 700,000 years ago when glacial ice sheets from what is now Wisconsin and South Dakota stretched into the area. On the summit is an Indian burial ground, a reminder of the native peoples who lived there 1,000 to 2,000 years ago and later were removed by the government to land designated as Indian Territory. 1 Ruts and swales of an old trail on the eastern side of the mound are testaments to the nation’s westward expansion. John C. Fremont and his guide, mountain man Kit Carson, led an expedition along the trail in 1843. A decade later, the route would provide reliable passage between newly established Topeka and Fort Riley. Between 1857 and 1861, as border wars over slavery spilled blood in Kansas and Missouri and the Civil War loomed, the trail became a branch of the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses that helped escaped slaves reach freedom. Chapters of the nation’s history were written on Mount Mitchell and other natural environments in eastern Kansas. About 15 years ago, a group of historians and tourism agencies launched a grassroots effort to establish a national heritage area to preserve the stories embedded in the territorial landscape. They narrowed the focus to Bleeding Kansas, the violent confrontations between free- state and pro-slavery forces along the Kansas-Missouri border from 1854 to 1861. Establishing the heritage area, however, proved to be dicier than expected. The words “Bleeding Kansas” would cause simmering North versus South resentments to bubble to the surface,