Frank Carlson Library

Bleeding Kansas" has earned its name. A state already scarred from the violence wrought by the likes of John Brown and William Quantrill, Kansas witnessed further episodes of wanton bloodshed in the late nineteenth century when settlers poured into a supposedly peaceful frontier. Focusing on the tumultuous years 1885-1892, Robert K. DeArment's compelling narrative is the first to reveal the complete story of the county seat wars that raged in Kansas-controversial...

"In 1854, after recently arriving from England, twenty-two-year-old Reuben Smith traveled west, eventually making his way to Kansas Territory. There he found himself in the midst of a bloody prelude to the Civil War, as Free Staters and defenders of slavery battled to stake their claim. The young Englishman wrote down what he witnessed in a diary where he had already begun documenting his days in a clear and candid fashion. As beautifully written...

"since the establishment of Kansas Territory in 1855 well into the Twentieth Century, communities have fought over the privilege of being named the county seat. Over 60 of the state's 105 counties have seen some attempt, successful or not, to move the county seat from first designated site. Some have been brief, like the two-mont effor in Reno County. some have been long, like the eight-decade struggle over the seat of Logan County. And some have...