This weekend Lecompton, KS had their annual territorial days. It was very enjoyable despite the undesirable rain. Im a little to old for the kiddy rides, but they did have other things to do. The highlight for me was that they showed a very good 1.5 hour documentary about the Civil War with respect to Kansas and Missouri. Some of the stuff is common knowledge to those of us who have lived in this area. For instance, we all know about Quantrils Raid on 21 August 1863 when they sacked and burned Lawrence, KS and killed between 185 to 200 men and boys. It is rather personal event to me even though no ancestors of mine were involved. That because the land I live on the farm was part of the homestead of the Klaus family. There were 3 men from Lecompton massacred in that raid: Mr ONeal, and two of the Klaus sons who were stone workers working in Lawrence. One was shot in the back as he saved a girls life... (The Klaus boys are buried just 1/8 mile from my house.) Anyway, I had known that Quantrill wasnt even an actual southerner - he was from Ohio. What I didnt know is that plenty on the Confederate side that did not like his groups tactics. Furthermore, after the Lawrence Raid, there were others in his group competing for power that rose from the ranks and were much worse than Quantril. The film talked about an event in Baxtor Springs, KS (extreme SE Kansas) where they told all the passengers on the train if they got off, no harm would come to them. Then he took all the Union Soldiers on leave and had all but one disrobe and shot at point bank range. A Union group that was under armed chased him, then he over powered them. The Bushwackers (such as these raiders were known) shot and killed anybody who surrendered. They even decapitated some of them and put their heads on fence posts... Anyway, it just reminds me how fortunate we are to live in a country where we have NOT experienced a war on our soil for almost 150 years (civil war). (Yes I know about Pearl Harbor, but remember Hawaii was just a territory until statehood in 1959.) A big thank you to the military which has kept our homeland peaceful. Anyway, if those of you from Kansas/Missouri ever get the chance to see this documentary film, I think it is great to learn about our area: lonechimneyfilms.org/the-road-to-valhalla/
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 00:49:06 +0000