Leavenworth Kansas - First City in Kansas

KANSAS LEGENDS

Leavenworth - First City in Kansas

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The City of Leavenworth was founded in 1854 largely to support Fort Leavenworth, but quickly became the springboard to the west. The settlement was the first official town in Kansas.

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Leavenworth in 1870, photo courtesy

www.leavenworth-net.com

Long before Kansas was acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, it belonged to eight Indian tribes, including the Kansa, Osage, Wichita and the Pawnee. During the 18^th century the French and Spanish competed for the area, but the French succeeded due to better relations with the Native Americans. Founding Fort de Cavagnial in 1744 in the approximate vicinity of where Fort Leavenworth stands today, the French evacuated 20 years later when France ceded the Louisiana territories west of the Mississippi to Spain. Then the territory reverted back to France before it was acquired by the United States.

Lewis and Clark explored the area in their famous expedition between 1803 and 1806 and the area became known as the “Great American Desert.” Considered unsuitable for settlement because of its barrenness, the region was designated as a permanent home for the Native Americans. From 1825 to 1840, nearly 30 tribes gave up land in the northern and eastern part of the nation, moving to the Kansas territory. Some of these tribes included the Shawnee, Delaware, Chippewa, Iowa, Wyandotte, and Kickapoo.

Then, in 1827, the white men officially came to the area when Colonel Henry Leavenworth and the third Infantry Regiment from St. Louis, Missouri established Fort Leavenworth. Fort Leavenworth was the first settlement in Kansas territory and is the oldest active Army post west of the Mississippi River. Sitting on the bluffs overlooking the western bank of the Missouri River, the Fort initially served as a quartermaster depot, arsenal, and troop post, and was dedicated to protecting the fur trade and safeguarding commerce on the Santa Fe Trail.

Leavenworth quickly became a primary destination for thousands of soldiers, surveyors, and settlers who were passing through on their way to the vast West. During these early years, soldiers from Fort Leavenworth protected wagon trains hauling supplies over the Santa Fe, Oregon and other trails to most forts, posts and military camps of the West, some as far as the Pacific Ocean. In 1839, Colonel S. W. Kearney marched against the Cherokees with ten companies of dragoons, the largest U.S. mounted force ever assembled.

In the 1840's, Kansas lay in the path of the settlers rushing to Oregon and California. Though thousands of wagons passed through; other pioneers, seeing the agricultural promise of Kansas, settled in the area instead.

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Fort Leavenworth, courtesy Library of Congress

The City of Leavenworth was founded in 1854 largely to support Fort Leavenworth, but quickly became the springboard to the west. The settlement was the first official town in Kansas. With the rush of white settlers, many treaties with the Indians were made and broken, and the Indians along the westward trails began to retaliate with uprisings and raids that continued until 1878. Though the city of Leavenworth and the fort were never attacked by Indians, it was the military men of Fort Leavenworth that first attempted to protect the pioneers on these early trails. Later, dozens of forts would be erected west of Fort Leavenworth.

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Kansas Wagon Train, courtesy Denver Public Library

In 1858, the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth established a base of operations in the new settlement, that would eventually grow into a hospital and a college that still exist today.

In the same year, gold discoveries in Colorado brought another rush of settlers through the state and more Indian retaliation. For the next 30 years, Fort Leavenworth was also the chief base of operations on the Indian frontier, their primary mission – to control the American Indian tribes on the Western plains. Between the years of 1865 and 1891, the Army had more than 1,000 combat engagements with Apache, Modoc, Cheyenne, Ute, Nez Perce, Comanche, Kiowa, Kickapoo and other tribes.

In 1863, the legislature passed an act to erect the Kansas State Penitentiary on a site which is now located within the city of Lansing. Work on the prison started in 1864; however, because of money difficulties connected with the Civil War, work stopped and did not resume again until 1866. The building was first occupied in 1868.

In 1866, the U.S. Congress authorized the formation of four black regiments – the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments and the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments. The 10th Cavalry Regiment was formed at Fort Leavenworth under the command of Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson on September 21, 1866.

Continued Next Page

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Kansas State Penitentiary

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The Sisters of Charity College is now called University

of St Mary's. February, 2004, Kathy Weiser.

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