Editing Lee's Summit, Missouri (section)

===19th century===
When commissioners were deciding on where to establish the [[county seat]], they described southern Jackson County as "useless" prairie.<ref>Shortridge, p. 11</ref> At that time in 1827, southern Jackson County, including the area of present-day Lee's Summit, was the rural counterpart to the urbanizing north county. Beginning in the 1830s, Americans from eastern [[Slave states and free states|slave states]] came to settle what is now Lee's Summit, attracted by "its rolling prairie, fertile soil, numerous streams, and stands of timber".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |first= |title=Lee's Summit, Missouri Past and Present |url=https://www.flipbookpdf.net/web/site/2de9e82a8671e46263348dbdbad2bd6b197a3bad202005.pdf.html#page/1 |access-date=April 15, 2025 |website=Flipbook |publisher=Lee’s Summit Historical Society}}</ref><ref>Schwenk, p. 8</ref> In 1844, [[William Bullitt Howard|William Bulitt Howard]], the eventual founder of Lee's Summit, arrived from Kentucky with his family and slaves.<ref name=":1" /> Dr. Pleasant John Graves Lea, the eventual namesake of the city, was a resident of the area according to the [[1850 United States census|1850 census]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Horner |first=John Arthur |date=November 8, 2013 |title=Here a Lea, There a Lea - Everywhere a Lea, a Lea! Part 1 |url=https://kchistory.org/blog/here-lea-there-lea-everywhere-lea-lea-part-1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250118123658/https://kchistory.org/blog/here-lea-there-lea-everywhere-lea-lea-part-1 |archive-date=January 18, 2025 |access-date=May 7, 2025 |website=[[Kansas City Public Library]]}}</ref> By 1853, settlers had purchased from the federal government all of the land which now constitutes Lee's Summit. In 1860, [[Prairie Township, Jackson County, Missouri|Prairie Township]] was incorporated in Jackson County, and the community which would later become Lee's Summit was the largest in the new township.<ref>''The History of Jackson County'', pp. 130, 342</ref>

Congress passed the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act|Kansas-Nebraska Act]] in 1854, thereby starting the [[Missouri-Kansas Border War]]. Many of the residents of [[Prairie Township, Jackson County, Missouri|Prairie Township]] held pro-slavery attitudes, and some even fought in [[Bushwhacker|pro-slavery bands of guerrillas]].<ref name=":1" /> The [[Little Blue River (Missouri)|Little Blue River]] valley was an important place of refuge for these [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla forces]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schwenk |first=Sarah F. |last2=Parisi |first2=John M. |last3=Weston |first3=Donald E. |date=August 1986 |title=The Cultural Resources of Blue Springs, Missouri |url=https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Blue%20Springs%201986%20Report.pdf |access-date=May 7, 2025 |publisher=Archaeological Associates |page=77 |type=Submitted to the [[Blue Springs, Missouri | City of Blue Springs]], funded by [[National Park Service]] Grant No. 29-85-93l0-020-B of the [[U.S. Department of the Interior]], and administered by the Office of Historic Preservation of the [[Missouri Department of Natural Resources]] |publication-place=Grandview, Missouri}}</ref>{{Efn|Significant portions of Lee's Summit and the Little Blue River valley overlap. See, Shortridge, p. 3, Map 1.}} [[William Bullitt Howard|Howard]], the eventual founder of Lee's Summit, was arrested by a [[Union army|Union]] officer and then spent one month in jail in 1859.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Faces of the Jail |url=https://www.jchs.org/faces-of-the-jail |access-date=April 15, 2025 |website=Jackson County Historical Society}}</ref> In July of 1862, Irvin Walley, a captain in the [[Union army]], shot and killed Henry Washington Younger, an early settler of Lee's Summit.<ref name=":2">''The History of Jackson County'', p. 342</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Croy |first=Homer |url=https://archive.org/details/coleyoungerlasto00home |title=Last of the Great Outlaws |publisher=[[Duell, Sloan and Pearce]] |year=1956 |location=New York |pages=16-17 |access-date=April 16, 2025}}</ref> Less than two months later, [[Jayhawker|anti-slavery guerrillas from Kansas]] killed Dr. Lea in his home. After these men's deaths, their sons joined up with [[William Quantrill|William Quantrill's]] pro-Confederate gang and participated in the [[Lawrence Massacre]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Horner |first=John Arthur |date=November 15, 2013 |title=Here a Lea, There a Lea - Everywhere a Lea, a Lea! Part 2 |url=https://kchistory.org/blog/here-lea-there-lea-everywhere-lea-lea-part-2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241215135344/https://kchistory.org/blog/here-lea-there-lea-everywhere-lea-lea-part-2 |archive-date=December 15, 2024 |access-date=May 7, 2025 |website=[[Kansas City Public Library]]}}</ref> Most notable among them was [[Cole Younger]], a life-long resident of Lee's Summit and outlaw who would become "Jesse James's right hand".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Croy |first=Homer |url=https://archive.org/details/coleyoungerlasto00home |title=Last of the Great Outlaws |publisher=[[Duell, Sloan and Pearce]] |year=1956 |location=New York |pages=ix, 32-37 |access-date=April 16, 2025}}</ref><ref>McCullough, p. 24</ref> In response to the [[Lawrence Massacre]], Union General [[Thomas Ewing Jr.|Thomas Ewing, Jr.]], in 1863, issued [[General Order No. 11 (1863)|General Order No. 11]] which forced all residents living outside of Union-occupied towns in Jackson County to prove allegiance to [[Union (American Civil War)|the Union]] within fifteen days or else evacuate. This resulted in the desertion of the area of present-day Lee's Summit, with many residents fleeing back to their homes in the east. [[Union army|Union troops]] then burned and razed many of the abandoned farms.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Schwenk, p. 10</ref>