During and after the Civil War, bands of marauders arose, among them a group called Quantrill's Raiders. The group's leader was William Clarke Quantrill, who was the oldest of eight children and born to Caroline Cornelia Clarke and Thomas Henry Quantrill in Ohio. He was considered by some to be a bloodthirsty villain, and by others just a man standing up for his rights. William Clarke Quantrill was called Bloody Bill because of his many raids and killings. Quantrill's Raiders were known for their raids on such towns as Lawrence, Kan., which was burned and all the men killed. On Oct. 6, 1863, Quantrill's Raiders tried to capture the fort at Baxter Springs, Kan. While unsuccessful, the group did attack and destroy a wagon train led by Union Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt.
Dwight David Eisenhower (Oct. 14, 1890 -- March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States. Although he was born in Texas, he was raised in Abilene, Kan. His boyhood home and the Eisenhower Presidential Library are located in Abilene. He attended West Point and was a brigadier general at the start of War World II. During his presidency, he signed the bill to authorize the Interstate Highway System.
Kansas is the setting for much literature. Some of this literature is nonfiction and some is fiction, but it all gives a feeling of what the state is about. Among these are "The Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum; a collection of short stories by Antonya Nelson called "Nothing Right"; "In Cold Blood," which is a true story by Truman Capote; and Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks' poems such as "A Street in Bronzeville."
The Kansas Flint Hills are set in the middle of the state. The landscape is rolling and flowing. It has canyons, trees and prairie grasses. Buffalo range freely in the Flint Hills. From 1978 to 1992, a project to introduce antelope to the Flint Hills was ongoing. The project started with about 2,000 antelope but as of April 2011, only about 50 survive. The food supply is not conducive to antelope as there is no sagebrush, which is their main staple. Part of the Oregon Trail goes through the Kansas Flint Hills.
