Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

was not well defended in the early part of the Civil War. That ended with

William Quantrill William Clarke Quantrill (July 31, 1837 – June 6, 1865) was a Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War. Having endured a tempestuous childhood before later becoming a schoolteacher, Quantrill joined a group of bandits who ...

's devastating guerrilla raid August 21, 1863. By early 1864 Union soldiers were permanently camped on the top and slopes of

Mount Oread Mount Oread is a hill in Lawrence, Kansas upon which the University of Kansas, and parts of the city of Lawrence, Kansas are located. It sits on the water divide between the Kansas River and the Wakarusa River rivers. It was named after the long ...

, then to Lawrence's southwest. It seems the camp was originally named Camp Ewing, after Brig. Gen.

Thomas Ewing Thomas Ewing Sr. (December 28, 1789October 26, 1871) was a National Republican and Whig politician from Ohio. He served in the U.S. Senate as well as serving as the secretary of the treasury and the first secretary of the interior. He is also ...

. Soon a battery of cannon was placed on the top of Mount Oread and in July 1864 construction began on Fort Ulysses, also on Mount Oread. The citizens of Lawrence helped in the fort's construction. Its date of completion is unknown, although it was still under construction in December. It is very possible it was never finished. The advance of Confederate Maj. Gen.

Sterling Price Major-General Sterling "Old Pap" Price (September 14, 1809 – September 29, 1867) was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded infantry in the Western and Trans-Mississippi theaters of the American Civil War. Prior to ...

in Missouri in October 1864 brought an urgency to efforts to protect Lawrence. The town was placed under martial law and a large guard detail protected the town each night. On October 18 the provost marshal at Lawrence decreed all businesses in Lawrence were to remain open only five hours a day. The situation returned to normal once Price was defeated at the

Battle of Westport The Battle of Westport, sometimes referred to as the "Gettysburg of the West", was fought on October 23, 1864, in modern Kansas City, Missouri, during the American Civil War. Union Army, Union forces under Major General (United States), Major G ...

on October 23 and had to retreat back south.Untitled story, ''Kansas Daily Tribune'', October 14, 1864, p. 3; "Guard Duty," ''Kansas Daily Tribune'', October 13, 1864, p. 3; Capt. Asaph Allen, "A Special Order," ''Kansas Daily Tribune'', October 18, 1864, p. 3; "Our Provost Marshal," ''Kansas Daily Tribune'', October 20, 1864, p. 3; Richard Cordley, ''A History of Lawrence, Kansas, from the First Settlement to the Colse of the Rebellion'' (Lawrence: E. F. Caldwell, 1895), pp. 265-7. The military complex on Mount Oread was used until the end of the Civil War. With the War's end the usefulness of the installations ceased and they were soon abandoned.

References

{{Coord, 38, 57, 47, N, 95, 15, 26, W, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-KS Forts in Kansas Buildings and structures in Lawrence, Kansas 1864 establishments in Kansas