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2011 Freedoms FrontierOn the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, visitors to Overland Park don’t have to head east to Virginia or Tennessee to understand the War. Extraordinary events occurred right here that forever changed America. In the 1850s, the nation turned its eyes to the Missouri/Kansas border, where people with diverse definitions of freedom collided, inciting and fueling the Civil War. Established in 2006, Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area is a 31,000 square mile region in eastern Kansas and western Missouri that focuses on telling the area’s stories of the pursuit for freedom.
From the United States’ infancy, northerners and southerners disagreed about slavery and other cultural and economic issues. These struggles first emerged as a hot war, not on April 12, 1861, with the opening shots of the Civil War, but in the mid-1850s on the border between Missouri and Kansas Territory.
The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act provided the spark for the Border War. The Act opened “permanent Indian territory” for white settlement and nullified the Missouri Compromise, which dictated that new states north of the southern Missouri border would be free. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed for the people of the territory to decide whether to enter the Union as a Free State or a Slave State. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, interpreted at the Carnegie Building in Lawrence, set the stage for violent clashes that would come in the decade to follow.
Settlers poured into Kansas Territory with different ideas about the expansion of slavery. One of the best-known abolitionists to move to Kansas was John Brown. Brown’s first violent actions took place here. Following the sack of Lawrence by pro-slavery forces in 1856, Brown and his men attacked pro-southerners near the Pottawatomie Creek. Learn about the Pottawatomie Massacre at the Old Depot Museum in Ottawa.
Pottawatomie wasn’t the only place where Brown sought to strike a blow to slavery. Brown also attacked a pro-southern force encamped on the Santa Fe Trail. The Black Jack Battlefield and Nature Park preserves the site and tells the story of the battle. Visit the site of the Battle of Osawatomie to learn how Brown got the name “Osawatomie Brown” at the John Brown State Historic Site.
As the war on the Border escalated, suspicions and hatred grew. While feuds were based in a difference of culture, they took on a more personal tone. This hatred exploded once again in 1858. Visit the Marais des Cygnes Massacre State Historic Site to learn about the border warfare.
Shortly after the Civil War began in the east, Missourians and Kansans readied themselves for phase two of their fight. Visit the Clay County Museum to learn about the April 20, 1861, raid on the Liberty Arsenal by southern forces. One of the first major battles to take place in Freedom’s Frontier is interpreted at the Battle of Lexington State Historic Site.
Battles, sackings, and burnings continued throughout the war. Historical markers add perspective to guerrilla warfare and Federal responses. A marker located at 15th Street and Grand Avenue in Kansas City tells of the collapse of a Union women’s prison. This event along with General Order Number 10 targeted the wives and families of guerrillas and helped to turn hatred into violence. Days after these events, on August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led a group of men into Lawrence to “burn every house and kill every man.” Stop by the Lawrence Visitor Information Center to pick up a self-guided tour of Quantrill’s Raid and view the docudrama Lawrence: Free State Fortress.
In response to Quantrill’s Raid and the violence of the border, Brigadier General Thomas Ewing issued General Order Number 11, ushering in the first instance of total war the American Civil War witnessed. Visit the historical marker located at the Pacific House Hotel in Kansas City to discover the motives and repercussions of this devastating order. The story of this “Burnt District is told at the Burnt District Monument in Harrisonville.
In 1864, General Sterling Price mounted a campaign to win Missouri for the Confederacy. As Price swung through the region, he engaged in several skirmishes and battles. Visit the Battle of Westport Visitors Center Museum and the Mine Creek Battlefield to learn about Price’s Raid.
While the war ended 145 years ago, these and the many other events that happened here still resonate today. As we remember the past, we carry with us its lessons for the future—the trails, tales, tragedies, and triumphs. Freedom’s Frontier—our stories live on.
Article By: Julie McPike Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area
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