Burlingame's Fort (Burlingame, Kansas)
Burlingame · Kansas · Civil War
History & Significance
In 1862, citizens of Burlingame, Kansas constructed a stone fort around the town well to prevent burning by Confederate guerrilla William Anderson, later known as Bloody Bill Anderson. Anderson's family had settled near Council Grove, Kansas in 1857, and by 1861 he and his relatives had earned notoriety as horse thieves and murderers.
The completed fort measured twenty-five feet across with walls thirty inches thick and eight feet high, featuring twenty-five gun holes for defense. Mrs. G. W. "Aunt Fanny" Hoover commanded the fort when local men left to fight Confederates elsewhere, with women and children manning the fortification.
When townspeople abandoned it in September 1864 upon false reports of Union defeat at the hands of Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, the fort proved unnecessary. After the Civil War, the fort's stones were repurposed to construct a Baptist church.
Key Facts
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlingame%27s_Fort
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlingame,_Kansas
- https://www.ksgenweb.org/archives/1912/b/burlingame.html
- https://civilwaronthewesternborder.org/encyclopedia/anderson-william-bloody-bill
- https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/anderson-william-t