Union veterans

From Soldiers to Sodbusters: How Union Veterans Settled Kansas

At the close of the Civil War, a new chapter in American agriculture began across the Kansas prairie. Through government homestead programs, Union Army veterans were offered land as an opportunity to rebuild their lives. More than 100,000 veterans answered the call, setting out to transform open prairie into productive farmland. A New Opportunity After War These men were more …

kansas

From Failed Crops to the Wheat State: Early Kansas Agriculture

Settlement and the Promise of Kansas Farmland Early agriculture in the state of Kansas was not always successful. When Kansas was opened to settlement in 1854, waves of settlers began moving into the region, drawn by the promise of fertile land on the vast prairie. Farmers arriving in the territory often brought seeds with them from the eastern United States …