Kansas Territory

territory of the United States between 1854 and 1861

thumb|Broadside recruiting men for the Independent Kansas Jay-Hawkers, 1st Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. thumb|Burnt Wagons, California|Burned Wagons Point in [[Death Valley, where the Jayhawker group of 49ers killed their oxen, chopped the wagons, dried the meat, and set off westward on foot.]] Jayhawker is a term that came to prominence in Kansas Territory during the Bleeding Kansas period of the 1850s; it was adopted by militant bands affiliated with the free-state cause during the American Civil War. These groups were guerrillas who often clashed with pro-slavery groups from Missouri, known at

extralegal and unrecognized United States territory that existed from 1859 to 1861

boom in gold prospecting and mining in Kansas and Nebraska Territories from July 1858 to 1861

1850s pejorative for pro-slavery Missourian raiders within Kansas Territory