When Idealistic New Englanders Moved to Kansas Territory to ‘Put an End to Slavery’
Hundreds of Abolitionists Founded Manhattan, Kansas, in the Hope of Creating a Free State
When a Union soldier from upstate New York marched through Manhattan, Kansas, during the dismal Civil War summer of 1862, he was astounded: “All at once, as if by magic, a beautiful village rose around us, with large commodious churches, hotels, stores and [a] schoolhouse. We were surprised and delighted to see, where we supposed at most a few settlers’ cabins, a village combining the neatness, thrift, and comfort of New England, with the freshness and fine natural scenery of the West. Such is Manhattan, standing at the advance guard …
