page_title: Kansas
section_title: Kansas in the Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Kansas / History / Kansas in the Civil War
caption_attribution_description: English: Print shows Rebel troops killing the citizens of Lawrence, Kansas, and setting fire to the buildings.
context_page_description: Kansas is a state in the Midwestern United States of America. Kansas has a total population of 2.9 million, with an area of 82,000 sq mi, making Kansas the 34th largest state by population and the 15th largest state by area. The name of the state comes from the Kansa Native Americans, whose name comes from a Siouan-language phrase meaning "people of the south wind". The land that would become Kansas was bought in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Kansas became the 34th state to be admitted to the United States on January 29, 1861. Kansas' capital is Topeka, and its biggest city is Wichita.
  Kansas was first settled by Americans in 1827 when Fort Leavenworth was built. In the 1850s, many more people came to live in Kansas. This was also when people were fighting about slavery. People were allowed to move to Kansas in 1854 due to the Kansas–Nebraska Act. When this happened, anti-slavery Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery people from Missouri quickly came to Kansas. They wanted to decide whether Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Because of this, a lot of fighting happened, and it was known as Bleeding Kansas. The anti-slavery people won.
context_section_description: Four months after Kansas became a state, the Civil War started. Out of the 381 battles in the Civil War, four were fought in Kansas. Throughout the war, Kansas remained a Union state.
  On August 21, 1863, William Clarke Quantrill led a force of 300 to 400 Confederates into the town of Lawrence, Kansas. Quantrill and his troops burned, looted, and destroyed the anti-slavery town. This battle became known as the Lawrence Massacre. In total, 164 Union soldiers and 40 Confederate soldiers died in the Lawrence Massacre. In the Battle of Mine Creek, on October 25, 1864, Union soldiers attacked Confederates as they were crossing the Mine Creek. The Union surrounded the Confederates, and captured 600 men and two generals. 1,000 Confederate soldiers and 100 Union soldiers died in the battle. In total, 8,500 people from Kansas died or were wounded in the Civil War.
caption: The Lawrence Massacre on August 21, 1863
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