cupying, while _en route_, the prisons of a half-dozen
Rebel cities. Mr. Colburn was soon released, but the companions of his
adventure were destined to pass nearly two years in the prisons of
the Confederacy. By a fortunate escape and a midwinter march of nearly
four hundred miles, they reached our lines in safety. In books and in
lecture-rooms, they have since told the story of their captivity and
flight.

I have sometimes thought my little quarrel with General Sherman proved
"a blessing in disguise," in saving me from a similar experience of
twenty months in Rebel prisons.

CHAPTER XXVI.

KANSAS IN WAR-TIME.

A Visit to Kansas.--Recollections of Border Feuds.--Peculiarities
of Kansas Soldiers.--Foraging as a Fine Art.--Kansas and
Missouri.--Settling Old Scores.--Depopulating the Border
Counties.--Two Examples of Grand Strategy.--Capture of the
"Little-More-Grape" Battery.--A Woman in Sorrow.--Frontier
Justice.--Trial before a "Lynch" Court.--General Blunt's
Order.--Execution of Horse-Thieves.--Auction Sale of Confiscated
Property.--Banished to Dixie.

In May, 1863, I made a hasty visit to Western Missouri and Kansas, to
observe the effect of the war in that quarter. Seven years earlier the
border warfare attracted much attention. The great Rebellion caused
Kansas and its troubles to sink into insignificance. Since the first
election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency, Kansas has been rarely
mentioned.

I passed through this young State in the summer of 1860. I was
repeatedly told: "We have old grudges that we wish to settle; if the
troubles ever break out again in any part of the United States, we
hope to cross out our account." When the war opened, the people
of Kansas saw their opportunity for "making square work," as they
expressed it, with Missouri and the other slave States. They placed
two regiments of volunteers in the field with as much celerity as
was displayed in many of the older and more populous States. These
regiments were followed by others until fully half the able-bodied
population of Kansas was in the service. In some localities the
proportion was even greater than this.

The dash and daring of these Kansas soldiers became proverbial. At
Wilson Creek, two regiments from Kansas had their first experience of
battle, and bore themselves most nobly. The conduct of other Kansas
soldiers, on other battle-fields, was equally commendable. Their
bravery and endurance was only equaled by thei