Civil War broke out on the Missouri—Kansas border a good seven years before it engulfed the rest of the nation. Following the passage of the Kansas—Nebraska Act in 1854, settlers moved in representing conflicting interests. Whether Kansas Territory would enter the Union as a slave or free state would be determined by a vote of the people under popular sovereignty.

Slave holding settlers, mostly from western Missouri, moved across the border to vote for slavery. An unforeseen development was the influx of New England and Yankee traders and settlers representing the growing abolitionist movement, often financed and armed by the New England Emigrant Aid Society and its allies.   Settlers from the pro-slavery strongholds of Atchison and Lecompton clashed with the abolitionists from their strongholds in Lawrence and Topeka.

The first vote of the territorial legislature saw many more votes cast than residents and favored slavery. However, fiery politicians arose to inflame the issues to the point of killing and looting. Jim Lane, James Montgomery, Charles “Doc” Jennison, and John Brown led expeditions across the Missouri border to “liberate” slaves. Brown and his sons murdered and mutilated the Doyle family near Pottawatomie Creek in 1856. Missourians retaliated with raids into Kansas which resulted in killings such as the Marais des Cygnes Massacre in 1858. The border area became known as “Bleeding Kansas” although there was blood on both sides of the border.

Things had settled down some by 1860, but with the secession of South Carolina, following the election of Abraham Lincoln, old rivalries soon heated up, this time under the flags of the Union and Confederacy. Lane, Montgomery, and Jennison now rode across the border in the blue uniforms of the Union. However, their troops continued to loot, burn and terrorize as before. Lane rode to Osceola, Missouri in September of 1861 and burned the town to the ground while looting all the money from the bank, goods from the stores, and liquor from the saloons.

In 1862, guerillas bands under the leadership of William C. Quantrill, arose to harass Union operations, tie up troops on the border and support Southern recruiting efforts. Young men such as Frank James, Cole Younger and Bill Anderson rode with Quantrill into skirmishes such as the “Battle of the Ravines” in Cass Countyin July. August of 1862 saw battles at Independence and Lone Jack in Jackson County.  October, 1862 saw the first African-American Regiment in the American Civil War engage and defeat Confederate forces in combat at the Skirmish of Island Mound in Bates County.

The summer of 1863 brought settling old scores to a head. Female relatives of the guerillas were imprisoned in Kansas City in an attempt to control their supposed spying and support. In August, a prison collapsed under suspicious circumstances, killing five women and crippling several others. Quantrill and over 400 men rode into the old free-state stronghold of Lawrence the morning of Aug. 21, and burned and looted the town, killing over 150 men and boys but failing to capture their number-one enemy Senator Jim Lane who escaped into a cornfield.

In response to the escalating savagery, Brig. General Thomas Ewing issued Order Number 11 on Aug. 25, in an attempt to remove all support, forage and hiding places for the guerillas. The order stated that all inhabitants of the border counties of Jackson, Cass, Bates, and Vernon to the banks of the Osage River had 15 days to take their belongings and remove themselves from the area or upon proof of loyalty, move to Union garrison towns of Kansas City, Independence, Hickman Mills, Pleasant Hill or Harrisonville. The result was a drop in the population of Cass County from about 10,000 in 1861 to 600 in 1863. However, this did not solve the problem of guerilla activity for the Union. Guerillas continued under the command of Bill Anderson, George Todd and others, but they moved much of their activity to central Missouri near the Missouri River in 1864.

Skirmishing in the border counties continued into 1865 but at a much diminished rate and severity. Following the end of the war in April 1865, those residents who returned to the four counties affected by Order No. 11 found desolation and destruction. Homes and crops had been burned leaving only chimneys known as “Jennison’s Tombstones”. The area was called “The Burnt District”, and is commemorated by a mural in the Pleasant Hill, Missouri Post Office done by artist Tom Lea.

In Cass County, the railroad came in June 1865 to Pleasant Hill, and the recovery was underway. More than 60% of the residents of the county never returned. Bates and Vernon County residents returned to find their entire counties burned including the Butler Courthouse and the town of Nevada. Settlers from the northern states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa brought a new flavor to the county. Reconstruction began, wounds started to heal, but wrenching stories remain and rivalries continue, not all on the football field nor basketball court.

We invite you to begin your look at this era in history by listening to our podcasts and visiting our Border War Network sites either on the web or in person. Discover for yourself the unique stories found only here. Decide what we should learn from this slice of our history.

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