| Battle of Fort Titus | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Bleeding Kansas | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Free-State settlers | Pro-slavery settlers [1] | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Samuel Walker | Henry T. Titus  | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| ca. 400 | More than 21 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1 killed, 8 wounded | 2 killed, 5 seriously wounded, 17 captured | ||||||
The Battle of Fort Titus occurred during conflicts in the Kansas Territory between abolitionist and pro-slavery militias prior to the American Civil War. The era is known as Bleeding Kansas.
Fort Titus was built about April 1856 to be the fortress home of Henry T. Titus, a colonel in the militia of the Southern-oriented of the two governments of Kansas Territory. It was said Titus squatted on the claim of a free-state settler while he was away and built his cabin on this land. Fort Titus was a fortified log cabin with gun loopholes built into its walls to allow it to be defended from the inside. [2] This fort had at least one window and it had a small log addition on the north side that served as a kitchen. [3]
In August 1856 Camp Sacket, a U.S. Army post, was about a mile away from Fort Titus. Camp Sacket was established to provide some aid to the pro-slavery government of the Kansas Territory, in Lecompton. The Territorial government was sympathetic to the expansion of slavery into Kansas. In January 1856, to counter those sympathetic to the expansion of slavery, Free-State advocates illegally elected Charles L. Robinson as Territorial Governor of Kansas under the Topeka Constitution. Robinson's government was not recognized by the Federal government. From the spring of 1856 until September, Robinson and several other free-state leaders, including the son of abolitionist John Brown, were held in custody in Camp Sackett. The troops at Camp Sacket were supplied by Fort Leavenworth and did their best to maintain a neutral stance between the two sides. Both sides accused the Army of favoring the opposing side. [4]
Some distance south of Fort Titus was another pro-slavery partisan stronghold known as Fort Saunders. When Fort Saunders came under attack and was destroyed by free-state partisans on August 15, 1856, pro-slavery partisans sought revenge. Since it was known that free-state men at times garrisoned in another nearby fortified residence, known as Judge Wakefield's house, this became the focus of retaliation for the destruction of Fort Saunders. At 2 A.M. on August 16 pro-slavery partisans, including Henry T. Titus, attacked Wakefield's fortress home, but they were unable to take it. Later that day free-state men retaliated against Titus, and attacked and destroyed Titus' fortress home. [5]
About 400 free-staters under the command of Samuel Walker attacked Fort Titus. Titus had a force of at least twenty-one men, including thirteen German stonemasons from nearby Lecompton, Kansas, with him. [6] The attack was launched before a brass cannon had arrived on the site. This attempt was unsuccessful and the leader of this first attack was killed. Apparently some of the men from this attack placed themselves between Lecompton and the Army troops, so no messages could be sent between Wilson Shannon, the governor, and the troops. [7]
Once the cannon arrived the battle ended quickly, since the fort's walls were no match for the cannonballs, which passed entirely through the fort. This cannon, named Old Sacramento, had changed hands between the Northern and Southern partisans three times prior to this battle. The cannonballs were made from type from a Lawrence newspaper. [8] The battle probably lasted no more than thirty minutes. The Camp Sacket commander, Maj. John Sedgwick, moved toward Fort Titus to stop the battle, but it was over before troops arrived. [9]
As soon as the battle was finished, the prisoners were taken to Lawrence and Fort Titus was burned, never to be rebuilt. [10]
A correspondent for The New York Times wrote the following, dated Lawrence, Sunday, August 17, 1856, after the battle:
When the advance guard of the Free-State forces arrived at Judge Wakefield's, on the California road, they were fired upon by a company of Pro-slavery men under Col. Titus. The fire was returned, and Titus and his men retreated, leaving one of their number dead.
Colonel Titus's cabin was within two miles of Lecompton, and like the other brigand leaders, he fortified it against attack. Early in the morning a party of Free-State cavalry made a charge upon some tents near the cabin, the inmates of which ran for the cabin, and were followed by the horsemen, who went too near the cabin, when they were fired upon by those inside, wounding four one, Capt. Shombre, from Indiana, mortally. The cannon was then brought up, and Cpt. Bickerton cooly[ sic?] brought his piece to bear upon it. Seven balls had been fired into it, when Col. Titus showed the white flag, and surrendered. Seventeen prisoners, twenty-five stands of arms and a quantity of provisions were taken; the cabin was then burned. During the attack, the United States troops, who were encamped near by, took a position between the Free-State forces and Lecompton, directly upon the road. Unwilling to attack the troops, as they feared they would be compelled to, instead, of attacking Lecompton the Free-State men with their prisoners marched to Lawrence.
Col. Titus was wounded in the head and shoulder, another of his men was wounded, and two others killed. There were six wounded on the Free-State side. Col. Titus had taken an active part in the sack of Lawrence, and on that day publicly declared, That if he ever came into that place again he would kill every Abolitionist in it. Some of the prisoners taken with him participated in this sack and assisted in destroying the presses of the Herald of Freedom and of the Free-State, and throwing the type in the river. The cannon balls used in firing at the cabin of Col. Titus were made of the lead melted down from the type of those presses, dug from the sand on the bank of the river; and as they plowed their way through the walls of Titus's cabin, they shrieked, Surrender to Freedom! as they sped on their way. Capt. Bickerton, when he pointed his cannon sat the walls of the cabin, calmly announced that he should give them a new edition of the Herald of Freedom. Col. Titus, instead of coming to kill Abolitionists, came whiningly begging of the Abolitionists to save his miserable life. He was supplied with comfortable quarters, and a physician to attend him. The other prisoners were confined in the Herald of Freedom building, where, on the 21st of May, some of them thought they had struck a death-blow to the freedom of speech, with the blood-red banner of South Carolina disunion waving over them. How strange the contrast! Yet such is the fortune of war.
The Southern partisans sought retaliation for their string of defeats in August, when not only Fort Titus, but New Georgia's fort, Franklin's Fort, and Fort Saunders were all taken by free-state partisans. On the night of September 1, 1856, the Southerners burned six houses and one other building, including Judge Wakefield's house. The Wakefield family lost all their possessions. [12]
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The Pottawatomie massacre occurred on the night of May 24–25, 1856, in the Kansas Territory, United States. In reaction to the sacking of Lawrence by pro-slavery forces on May 21, and the telegraphed news of the severe attack on May 22 on Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, for speaking out against slavery in Kansas, John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers—some of them members of the Pottawatomie Rifles—responded violently. Just north of Pottawatomie Creek, in Franklin County, they killed five pro-slavery settlers in front of their families.
The Wakarusa War was an armed standoff that took place in the Kansas Territory during November and December 1855. It is often cited by historians as the first instance of violence during the "Bleeding Kansas" conflict between anti-slavery and pro-slavery factions in the region.
The Battle of Black Jack took place on June 2, 1856, when antislavery forces, led by the noted abolitionist John Brown, attacked the encampment of Henry C. Pate near Baldwin City, Kansas. The battle is cited as one incident of "Bleeding Kansas" and a contributing factor leading up to the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865.
The Battle of Osawatomie was an armed engagement that occurred on August 30, 1856, when 250–400 pro-slavery Border ruffians, led by John W. Reid, attacked the town of Osawatomie, Kansas, which had been settled largely by anti-slavery Free-Staters. Reid was intent on destroying the Free-State settlement and then moving on to Topeka and Lawrence to do more of the same. Abolitionist John Brown first learned of the raiders when they shot his son Frederick. With just 40 or so men, Brown tried to defend the town against the pro-slavery partisans, but ultimately was forced to withdraw; five Free-Staters were killed in the battle, and the town of Osawatomie was subsequently looted and burned by Reid's men. The battle was one of a series of violent clashes between abolitionists and pro-slavery partisans in Kansas and Missouri during the Bleeding Kansas era.
Lecompton Constitution Hall, also known as Constitution Hall, is a building in Lecompton, Kansas, that played an important role in the long-running Bleeding Kansas crisis over slavery in Kansas. It is operated by the Kansas Historical Society as Constitution Hall State Historic Site.
Samuel Dexter Lecompte was an American jurist best known for his extreme pro-slavery views, his involvement in the events of Bleeding Kansas, and for being the founder and namesake of Lecompton, the erstwhile capital of the Kansas Territory.
John Henry Kagi, also spelled John Henri Kagi, was an American attorney, abolitionist, and second in command to John Brown in Brown's failed raid on Harper's Ferry. He bore the title of "Secretary of War" in Brown's "provisional government." At age 24, Kagi was killed during the raid. He had previously been active in fighting on the abolitionist side in 1856 in "Bleeding Kansas". He was an excellent debater and speaker.
Henry Theodore Titus was a pioneer, soldier of fortune, and the founder of Titusville, Florida. His military adventurism included expeditions to Cuba and Nicaragua, fighting on the side of pro-slavery forces in the Kansas Territory, and blockade running during the Civil War. Never commissioned, Titus retained the honorary title of Colonel.
Franklin is a ghost town in Douglas County, Kansas, United States. Established as a proslavery stronghold, the town played a key role in the "Bleeding Kansas" conflict that troubled the territory in the 1850s.
Franklin's Fort was a small fortification that had been erected in Franklin, Douglas County, Kansas by pro-slavery settlers. During the "Bleeding Kansas" period, the fort was the site of two minor battles between pro- and anti-slavery factions.
Camp Sacket, sometimes spelled Camp Sackett, was a field post southeast of Lecompton, Kansas, that moved a number of times for various reasons. It was established probably in May 1856 or possibly a bit earlier. It was named for Capt. Delos B. Sackett, who was stationed there during part of the post's existence. Sacket served in the American Civil War and was with the U.S. Army until 1881, when he retired as a brigadier general.
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.
New Georgia's Fort was located in Miami County, Kansas, southeast of Osawatomie. During the partisan warfare in Kansas Territory in 1856 commonly known as Bleeding Kansas, a colony of Southerners, possibly all Georgians, established New Georgia. This colony was located on the Marias des Cygnes River. A blockhouse fort was constructed there and entrenchments were begun but the fort destroyed before the entrenchments could be completed. Northern settlers in the area claimed settlers at New Georgia harassed them. In reality, some settlers from both the North and South had groups who caused trouble with their neighbors.
John Allen Wakefield and his family was one of the first settlers to come to the newly created Kansas Territory. Free soilers, they arrived in western Douglas County, Kansas, in July 1854, one month after the territory was opened to settlement. They built a large log house to serve primarily as their living quarters. It had six rooms and was 6 miles (9.7 km) west of the free-state stronghold of Lawrence, Kansas. For protection the family built loop holes for guns into the sides of the house.
Fort Titus was the fortress residence of pro-slavery advocate Henry T. Titus, built in Kansas in April 1856, during a period when forces aligned with Titus came into conflict with free-state settlers. The wider conflict, which emerged from a political and ideological debate over the legality of slavery in the proposed state of Kansas, became known as Bleeding Kansas.
Newell W. Spicer was a Union Army lieutenant colonel of volunteers during the American Civil War and a commander of the 1st Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry. He was also a leader of pro-abolitionist forces during Bleeding Kansas, a violent period in the history of Kansas when factions fought over proposals to abolish slavery in that state.
The Stubbs were a Free-Stater militia group active in Kansas, United States during the Bleeding Kansas era. They fought in the Battle of Franklin and the capture of Fort Saunders. Along with their duties as a military defense force, the Stubbs also operated as a policing force, arresting criminals. The Stubbs had a membership of 60 on their absorption into the Union Army.
