Fort Buchanan was built in 1857 as a combination town and fort by Capt. Richard Mobley, who was sympathetic to the cause to see Kansas Territory admitted to the Union as a slave state. Fort Buchanan was located about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Minneapolis, Kansas; its exact location is unknown. The fort/town consisted of eight log cabins built around a town square.[1]
| Fort Buchanan | |
|---|---|
| Ottawa County, Kansas | |
| Coordinates | 39°06′26″N 97°43′27″W / 39.1071°N 97.7242°W |
| Type | prosouthern post and town during Bleeding Kansas era |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | various people at various times |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1857 |
| In use | 1857; fall 1857 to about spring 1858; early 1859 to at least spring 1860 |
| Materials | wood |
| Garrison information | |
| Past commanders | Capt. Richard Mobley; later occupants considered the site to be a townsite |
| Garrison | same |
Apparently the Mobley family occupied two of the cabins. After the death of their small child they moved to Ogden, Kansas, and the site remained abandoned until fall 1857. A family had received permission to occupy Buchanan through the winter and left sometime after the end of 1857. By March 1859 the site was again occupied and remained so until at least spring 1860. The site was gradually abandoned and some of the cabins may have been moved away. After that Buchanan was not again occupied.[2][3][4][5]
References
edit- ^ John J. Little, "Recollections of the Town of Buchanan as Told by John J. Little of Niles, Kansas," (N.p.: n.d.), p. 1 (from the collections of the Ottawa County Historical Museum).
- ^ Little, p. 1.
- ^ Mrs. W. C. Bocker, "A History of Solomon, Kansas," (N.p.: 1935), pp. 1-2, 57 (in the Dickinson County Historical Society & Museum, Abilene, Kans.).
- ^ "A Historical Study on the Early History of Solomon, Kansas: 1859-1860," master's thesis, Kansas State Teachers College, Emporia, Kansas, July 1969, pp. 1-2 (a copy is located in the Kansas State Historical Society archives, Topeka, Kans.).
- ^ "The Town of Buchanan," The Weekly Kansas Herald (Lawrence, Kans.), March 26, 1859, p. 2.