Along the Military Byway
Cheryl Unruh, Emporia
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
It's not a pretty part of our state’s history, the Bleeding Kansas/Civil War era. Nope, not an easy trip through the birth canal for Kansas.
Our pre-statehood days include boiling tensions and border strife, brutal slayings and a bloody battlefield.
On a recent Sunday drive, Dave and I visited Miami County to eat at Hillsdale Bank Bar-B-Q. After that, we had no plans other than to wander around Eastern Kansas. I suggested a visit to the Mine Creek Battlefield site in Linn County and we headed south on U.S. Highway 69.
U.S. 69 is also the Frontier Military Scenic Byway, one of nine scenic byways in Kansas. This one takes travelers on a vertical route from Leavenworth to Baxter Springs.
First, Dave and I stopped at the Marais des Cygnes Massacre State Historic Site which is about five meandering miles off the highway. (Note: Inside the park, erosion has caused deep ruts in the road creating a challenge for low-clearance vehicles.)
Small signs are posted so you can drive and learn at the same time. These signs describe the tense atmosphere following the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act which allowed settlers to decide whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free state or a slave state.
On May 19, 1858, in this lovely forested setting, pro-slavery ruffian Charles Hamilton and his followers captured 11 unarmed, anti-slavery men. These men were lined up in a ravine and shot. Five were killed, five wounded; one escaped uninjured, pretending to be dead.
It was a significant incident on the national scene. The historical marker reads, in part, “Northerners were horrified, and John Greenleaf Whittier immortalized the fallen in a poem, ‘Le Marais du Cygne.’”
Then Dave and I traveled on to the Mine Creek Battlefield State Historic Site about 10 miles away. Unfortunately, the interpretation center was closed on Sundays. Its current hours are 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Wed. through Sat.
There were a couple outdoor informational signs which gave a summary of the dramatic battle that occurred here on Oct. 25, 1864, and that gave us an idea of the immense event which happened on the land on which we stood.
The Mine Creek Battle was the only engagement of the Civil War fought in Kansas. It was a cavalry battle between 2,500 Union men and about 8,000 Confederate soldiers.
On the prairie, armies lined up facing each other. Thirty minutes later, the field was covered with the wounded and the dead, soldiers and horses.
Nearly all the dead were Confederate soldiers. The Union Army lost only eight men and had fewer than 100 injuries, but the Confederate count was close to 1,000 dead, wounded or captured.
The Mine Creek Battlefield is a beautiful site. Now, anyway. It’s a long field of prairie grasses including Big Bluestem, seven feet high in places. And there are luscious wildflowers all over the field.
Two walking trails are on the grounds, a Prairie Loop and a Timber Loop. Dave and I followed a mowed path for a ways, through a tunnel of tallgrass.
Because the historical site’s building was closed, we didn’t have access to the onsite interpretation or brochures. Still, I’m glad we visited the Mine Creek Battlefield. As I stood there, looking across the open field, I imagined the scene that day and could almost hear the horses, the shouting, the gunfire, could almost see gun smoke and dust hanging in the air.
From Mine Creek, Dave and I drove into Mound City (pop. 820). The 1886 Linn County Courthouse has a tired look about it; I’ll bet this 123-year-old, three-story brick building, with a wooden bell tower, is a maintenance headache.
Zigzagging our way back home, we discovered the unincorporated community of Beagle in Miami County. On the town’s falling-down depot, barely visible in the shadow of peeling paint, was the name Beagle.
A few years ago we visited the John Brown Museum in Osawatomie so we didn’t stop this time, but it’s a great place to learn about Kansas’ action-packed past. Next month they host the Osawatomie Freedom Festival, Sept. 19-20, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at John Brown Memorial Park with portrayals of characters and reenactments of battles.
Kansas’ wildest days were before statehood. There was tragedy, triumph, disaster and drama. Kansas has colorful history written all over it.
“Flyover People” is online at www.flyoverpeople.net. Cheryl Unruh can be reached at cheryl@flyoverpeople.net.