Civil War Kansas

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We've had some threads with photos of cities and towns during the Civil War, but I thought that for Kansas and Missouri, I'd do threads on photos and maps of the communities in those states, where we often don't get much of a view in histories of the Civil War.

The photographer Gardner produced numerous photographs of Kansas after the war, but still early in Reconstruction, in 1867-1868, so I'll include those.

The Western House, or Pro-Slavery Hotel in Fort Scott, Kansas.

It was burned in 1858 during James Montgomery's raid on Fort Scott.

 

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The Planters Hotel, Leavenworth, Kansas

Abraham Lincoln gave a speech here in 1959 denouncing slavery and popular sovereignty.

 

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The Gale Block, Topeka, Kansas. The state legislature met here during the 1860s.

 

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Camp Saunders, a proslavery "fort" in Douglas County.

 

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Maps of Shawnee Indian Reservation in Eastern Kansas, 1857.

 

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Market Street, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1863

 

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Jilson Hotel, Osawatomie, Kansas

On May 18, 1859, Horace Greeley reorganized the Free-State Party here at the Jilson Hotel as the Republican Party in Kansas.

 

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Constitution Hall, Lecompton, Douglas County, Kansas

 

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The ruins of Lawrence after the raid in 1863, published by Harper's Weekly.

 

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Beecher "Bible and Rifle" Church built during the Civil War, Wabaunsee County, Kansas.

 

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The Governor's Mansion in Lecompton, Kansas, an engraving from Harper's Weekly.
The proslavery legislature proclaimed Lecompton as the capital of the Kansas Territory in 1855. The Territorial governor briefly resided in the house, while the Free State group denounced this legislature as illegitimate.
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Invitation to the Free-State Convention in Big Springs, Kansas in 1855 to join the Free-State Party in the Kansas Territory to attempt to keep the territory as a non-slavery area.

 

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Potawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas

 

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First Capitol of the Kansas Territory in Pawnee, 1855.

 

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Photos of Massachusetts Street in Lawrence by Alexander Gardner.

A photograph of Massachusetts Street just prior to the 1863 raid.

 

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Lawrence, Kansas 1856.

 

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Photo of the University of Kansas at Lawrence in 1866, Alexander Gardner. The university had been in operation a year when this photo was made. The location of the University at Lawrence was the occasion of considerable squabbling, disagreement, and alleged vote buying in the Kansas Legislature as various communities vied to have the state university.

 

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Fifth Street, Leavenworth, Kansas, Alexander Gardner.

 

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Map of Douglas County, Kansas drawn in 1857.

 

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Drawing of Manhattan, Kansas by soldier on his way to Fort Riley.