Bourbon County

Bourbon County, Kansas, was one of the thirty-three original counties of Kansas created by the first Territorial Assembly of 1855. It was named after Bourbon County, Kentucky. The area containing the present Bourbon County was part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. In 1806 Zubulon Pike was sent to survey the area. Pike entered the present Bourbon County near where the towns of Hammond, Fulton and Barnesville now stand. It contains the cities of Bronson, Fort Scott, Fulton, Mapleton, Redfield and Union Town. During the early part of the 19th Century, the area was inhabited only by Native Americans, mostly the Osage. A six mile strip across the southern portion of the present Bourbon County was Cherokee Neutral Lands. The remaining area was given to the New York or Iroquois Tribes.In 1837 the War Department ordered the laying out of a military road from Fort Coffey, Indian Territory, to Fort Leavenworth. 1842 saw temporary buildings being erected at the site of Fort Scott. Within a few years, the quarters were among the finest and most commodious of any frontier post. The fort was named in honor of General-in-Chief of the Army, Winfield Scott. During the Civil War, Fort Scott was the base of supplies and the station of several regiments of Union Troops. The Denver Peace Treaty of 1858, promulgated by Territorial Governor James Denver, was an important part of county history. It was created in an attempt to end the long period of hostilities between the pro-slave element of Fort Scott and the free-state supporters of the Marmaton and Little Osage River communities. On December 15, 1858, "Jayhawkers" attacked Fort Scott resulting in the shooting of Marshal John Little. The Marmaton Massacre of October 22, 1864, involved approximately 60 rebels from Missouri attacking the town, and Marmaton, and the subsequent capture and execution of six townsmen. The town was also burned. The first church was the Episcopal church of Fort Scott, founded in September, 1859. The first county fair was held October 24-25 in Marmaton. The first school district was No. 10, founded December 10, 1859, in Marmaton. Important figures from the county include Hiero T. Wilson, the post sutler at Fort Scott, was one of the founders of the county and the city of Fort Scott. Eugene F. Ware, Civil War veteran, legislator, lawyer, and poet, settled in Fort Scott in 1867. Albert Bigelow Paine, a painter and poet, and the personal secretary to Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was a native of the county. In 1860 a young schoolteacher by the name of Guthrie was accused of horse stealing by a posse of pro-slavers. He was caught with a horse supposedly stolen but if so, he did not know it. A kangaroo court met on top of a mound near the city of Mapleton and sentenced him to hang. Before dying he placed a curse upon his killers that each would die a violent death with their boots on, which they did. Today the hill is named Guthrie's Mound and is purportedly haunted by the martyred schoolteacher's ghost.

Location under

Kansas

Related Reports (Primary)