Fort Titus

While touring the Territorial Capital Museum I saw this little display for Fort Titus. This is considered the first battle of the conflict that ends slavery and ends in 1865. This battle was August 16, 1856 when anti-slavery men from Lawrence came to pro-slavery Lecompton to raise hell. Before they reached Lecompton they passed Fort Titus, which was not much more than the thick walled home of Colonel Henry Titus. The pro-slavery men at Fort Titus lost two killed and five wounded. A total of 34 men surrendered. The anti-slavery force lost wight wounded including Captain Henry Shombre who was mortally wounded.

In the chapel part of the museum there was this painting of the battle, which was featured on the sign downstairs. This chapel is also where Dwight D. Eisenhower's parents were married in 1885.

After the tour we took the advice of the tour guide and went to Kroeger's for lunch, which was quite good. We had a variety of things, a sausage sandwich, a hot dog, bbq beef and ham salad (Kroeger's is the town's main shop and sells a bit of everything from books to lunch to liquor, the meat is all made on site as it is also a butcher shop). I would strongly recommend it for anyone else touring Lecompton, and as you will find out there really are no other options for lunch in the area. While there the proprietor also told us where to find the location of Fort Titus. So when we left I talked the car into one small final detour. He said the fort/house was where the propane storage is now. No markers commemorate the place but this is clearly the propane storage area. Where exactly the fort was I have no idea but apparently it was in this general vicinity.