Indianola, also known as Indianola townsite, was a settlement in Shawnee County,

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

north of

Topeka Topeka ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeaste ...

. It was established in 1854 along the government and stage road between

Fort Riley Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Ge ...

and

Fort Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...

, and received more visitors than the nearby town of Topeka. At the time, the area was part of the

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

. Samuel J. Reader settled in the area in 1855 and established a farm at the age of 19. He stayed in the area and kept a diary about local events, including

Bleeding Kansas Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War, was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the ...

, Civil War events, and area skirmishes. Prior to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, the town was primarily

proslavery Proslavery is support for slavery. It is sometimes found in the thought of ancient philosophers, religious texts, and in American and British writings especially before the American Civil War but also later through the 20th century. Arguments in ...

and its residents were often at odds with Topeka residents who wanted Kansas to be a free state. For instance, on August 30, 1856, there were proslavery supporters who caused an incident. The local militia was brought in to prevent fire and theft. Although it was called the Battle of Indianola, there was no fighting. Once the war began, however, many Indianola residents joined the Union Army. Company F of the Fifteenth Kansas Cavalry was recruited in the town to fight for the Union Army during the war. Town residents began to move away from Indianola after the

Kansas Pacific Railway The Kansas Pacific Railway (KP) was a historic railroad company that operated in the western United States in the late 19th century. It was a federally chartered railroad, backed with government land grants. At a time when the first transcontin ...

built their railroad line through Topeka in or after 1865. The post office was discontinued December 29, 1868.

References

External links

Sketch of Indianola area
Samuel Reader, 1861
Battle of Indianola
Samuel Reader, 1856 {{Coord, 39, 6, 12.5, N, 95, 42, 6.04, W, display=title Ghost towns in Kansas Shawnee County, Kansas