Fort Montgomery (Linn County)

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Fort Montgomery was a fortress home constructed of logs by James Montgomery in 1855 five miles west of Mound City, Kansas, in Linn County.

James Montgomery (colonel) Union Army officer

James Montgomery was a Jayhawker during the Bleeding Kansas era and a controversial Union colonel during the American Civil War. Montgomery was a staunch supporter of abolitionist principles and individual liberty and used extreme measures against pro-slavery populations.

Mound City, Kansas City and County seat in Kansas, United States

Mound City is a city in and the county seat of Linn County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 694.

Linn County, Kansas County in the United States

Linn County is a county located in east-central Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 9,656. Its county seat is Mound City, and its most populous city is Pleasanton. The county was named for Lewis F. Linn, a U.S. Senator from Missouri.

Montgomery was a free-state leader in Kansas Territory. This was after southerners burned his previous cabin. Montgomery's new home, dubbed Fort Montgomery, had many features that enabled the occupants to use the building for their defense, including rifle ports. The fort was located on the side of a hill and the occupants had a clear view of everything to the south for miles. [1]

Kansas Territory territory of the United States between 1854 and 1861

The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Kansas.

Especially prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, Montgomery and his family used the defense of his fort home. Several times southerners and border ruffians attempted to shoot persons inside or set the fort on fire. During the Civil War, Montgomery, an officer in the U.S. Army, was away much of the time on military duty. Through the war, however, the fort was intermittently used for refuge against guerrillas active in the area. Eventually, Montgomery abandoned his fort and it was demolished in 1915. [2]

American Civil War Civil war in the United States from 1861 to 1865

The American Civil War was a war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North and the South. The Civil War is the most studied and written about episode in U.S. history. Primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people, war broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States. The loyalists of the Union in the North proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights to uphold slavery.

See also

Fort Montgomery in the town of Eureka, Kansas was built in summer 1861 by local citizens for protection against Indian attacks and Confederate guerrilla forces.

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The history of Kansas, argued historian Carl L. Becker a century ago, reflects American ideals. He wrote:

Jayhawkers and red legs are terms that came to prominence in Kansas Territory, during the Bleeding Kansas period of the 1850s; they were adopted by militant bands affiliated with the free-state cause during the American Civil War. These gangs were guerrillas who often clashed with pro-slavery groups from Missouri, known at the time in Kansas Territory as "Border Ruffians". After the Civil War, the word "Jayhawker" became synonymous with the people of Kansas, or anybody born in Kansas. Today a modified version of the term, Jayhawk, is used as a nickname for a native-born Kansan, but more typically for a student, fan, or alumnus of the University of Kansas.

William Porcher Miles American politician

William Porcher Miles was among the ardent states' rights advocates, supporters of slavery, and Southern secessionists who came to be known as the "Fire-Eaters." He is notable for having designed the most popular variant of the Confederate flag, originally rejected as the national flag in 1861 but adopted as a battle flag by the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee before it was reincorporated.

Prices Raid military campaign during the American Civil War

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Kansas has always been home to many forts and military posts.

Fort Lincoln was established about August 24, 1861, by United States Senator James Lane. Earlier in August, Lane had reestablished Fort Scott as a military post. Soon Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price threatened to overrun the newly reopened post.

Fort Lookout, in the northeast corner of Republic County, Kansas, was established by the US Army near the beginning of the American Civil War, in 1861. Its purpose was to protect the military road running from Fort Riley, Kansas, to Fort Kearney, Nebraska Territory. The area witnessed many attacks by Indians. Fort Lookout was perched on a high bluff overlooking the Republican River. The fort was two miles south of the Kansas-Nebraska border.

Potosi's post, in eastern Linn County, Kansas, was established at the small town of Potosi, Kansas, founded in 1857 by those loyal to the southern cause in Kansas. The other side, the free-staters, soon gained control of the town and it was loyal to the Union when the Civil War broke out in 1861. Potosi was located along the north bank of Mine Creek and it was along the military road running from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Gibson. At its height the town had thirty residents, a store and a post office.

Franklin was a small town established in 1854 in Douglas County, Kansas Territory. Established as a proslavery stronghold, the town played a key role in the "Bleeding Kansas" conflict that troubled the territory in the 1850s.

Fort Saunders, 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Clinton, Kansas, and 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Lawrence, Kansas, was owned by James D. Saunders, a militia captain. What little was left of Clinton disappeared during construction of the Clinton Lake in the 1960s; only an outbuilding that was converted into a museum remains.

References

  1. William A. Mithchell, Linn County, Kansas: A History (Kansas City: Campbell-Gates and Charno Bindery, 1928), pp. 18-9, 32B; Ola May Earnest and Bernard West, interview with William C. Pollard, Jr., Mound City, Kans., October 31, 1992.
  2. Mitchell, pp. 19-20, 32B; Earnest and West, interview, October 31, 1992.