Editing Shawnee, Kansas (section)

==History==
{{See also|History of Kansas}}

===Territory of Kansas===
Before and after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Shawnee served as a government road that connected [[Fort Leavenworth]] to [[Fort Riley]].  During the mid 19th century, branches of the [[Oregon Trail]] and nearby [[Santa Fe Trail]] that passed through [[Olathe, Kansas|Olathe]], [[Overland Park, Kansas|Overland Park]] and [[Kansas City, Missouri]] saw settlers travel through the area.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shawnee History |url=https://www.shawneetown.org/history/history_of_shawnee_kansas |access-date=2022-05-29 |website=www.shawneetown.org |language=en-US}}</ref> A Shawnee Indian mission had been established at the present site of Shawnee in 1831. Shawnee was laid out as a town in 1857.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Qi9cXyTWt9EC | title=Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Volume 2 | publisher=Standard Publishing Company | author=Blackmar, Frank Wilson | year=1912 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Qi9cXyTWt9EC/page/n664 682]}}</ref> Kansas entered the union as a free state on January 29, 1861, to become the 34th state.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kansas enters the Union |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kansas-enters-the-union |access-date=2022-05-29 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref> The declaration of a free state added to the tension between the anti-slave abolitionists and pro-slave Confederate guerrillas.

===American Civil War===
In October 1862, [[William Quantrill|Willam Quantrill]] ordered an attack on Shawnee, which saw the town pillaged and burned to the ground.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Quantrill's Raid on Shawnee |url=https://theclio.com/entry/47632 |access-date=2022-05-29 |website=Clio |language=en}}</ref> Quantrill and his army of bushwhackers return in the summer of 1863, to raid and look for an escape route from Lawrence, which he was intending to sack. The raids on Shawnee served as a training exercise before attempting the full scale siege on Lawrence.<ref name="shawneedispatch.com">{{Cite web |date=2013-08-12 |title=Quantrill's Shawnee raids were 'practice for the big one' |url=http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2013/aug/12/quantrills-shawnee-raids-were-practice-big-one/ |access-date=2022-05-29 |website=Shawnee Dispatch |language=en}}</ref>

Shawnee was selected by Quantrill for its proximity to Lawrence, being 35 miles away (56&nbsp;km). Lawrence was established for the political reason of being an anti-slave town and had many clashes with the confederate army started before the American Civil War. The first documented event of [[Bleeding Kansas]] was the [[Wakarusa War]] that saw both sides clash and come to a temporary truce. This allowed Lawrence to add to its defenses before the [[Sacking of Lawrence]]. In August 1863, the [[Lawrence Massacre]] took place at the hands of William Quantrill. This resulted in 250 men corralled and murdered and $2.2 million in damages.<ref name="shawneedispatch.com"/>