Fort Larned, Kansas Flag Retreat courtesy National Park Service.
Kansas Cavalry Unit.
Fort Blair (Bourbon County)
Fort Harker, Kansas by Alexander Gardner, 1867
Fort Insley
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Fort Montgomery (Greenwood County)
Officer Row, Fort Scott, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.
Kansas had a few military forts before 1854 when it became a territory. The French established Fort Cavagnial near what is now Fort Leavenworth. This was the first military post in what is now Kansas. It operated from 1744 to 1764. By 1854, a handful of U.S. Army posts in the state, most of which primarily protected travelers along several trails from Indian attacks.
Before the rush to settle Kansas Territory, only a handful of U.S. Army posts existed. In June 1854, the Army only maintained Fort Atkinson, Fort Riley, and Fort Leavenworth. Fort Scott had been closed by this time. In the western three-fourths of the state, the Indians were hostile to whites.
Border War between Missouri and Kansas.
During the days of Bleeding Kansas, as settlers fought each other to determine if the state would become a free state or slave state, several semi-permanent Army camps were established to protect the settlers from each other.
Kansas had several permanent military camps, forts, and blockhouses during the Civil War. At least 27 of them were located in various areas of the state. These camps and forts shared some similarities but also many differences.
The forts in Civil War-era Kansas shared at least one similarity: All were maintained by the Union; no Confederate forts existed in the state. However, the differences among the forts were striking. Some forts were established by the regular Army to protect travelers and settlers against Indians. Forts Aubrey, Harker, Larned, Riley, and Dodge were among these.
Some forts established by the Army served as administrative headquarters in the chain of forts stretching across the west. Forts in this category in Kansas included the Camp Ewing complex outside Lawrence and Forts Leavenworth, Riley, and Scott.
Fort Blair, Baxter Springs, Kansas
A few forts established by the Army, including the relocated Fort Lincoln and Fort Blair, were partly established to protect Kansas residents against attacks from Confederate regular and guerrilla forces.
Most of the forts established by the Army were manned at times totally by volunteer or militia forces raised to fight the Confederates.
Some forts operated by the Army had other functions. The original Fort Lincoln, established by Kansas Senator/militia General James H. Lane, was used primarily to house Confederate prisoners. Fort Zarah, at one point, was unique among the Army forts as, for a time, a large part of its garrison consisted of former Confederates. These men were freed from prison camps on the condition they joined the Union forces and were sent west to fight Indians. Many forts served as post offices and as Indian agencies.
To make the history of these historic sites even more interesting, several of these old posts, including Forts Blair, Dodge, Hays, Leavenworth, Riley, and Scott, are said to be haunted.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated December 2024.
Also See:
Haunted Forts & Battle Grounds
Sources:
American Forts
Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, Volume 2, by Francis B. Heitman, Government Printing Office, 1903.
Kansas Historical Society
Wikipedia