=Part Taken by Kansas in the Civil War.= A state that had just passed through nearly seven years of Territorial struggle closing with a famine would hardly be expected to take an active part in a great war, but the Kansas people had been battling over the slavery question, and, being deeply interested in the outcome, were ready to take up arms in defense of the principle of freedom. Every call for soldiers to defend the Union was liberally responded to in Kansas. This State furnished more soldiers in proportion to its population than did any other State. During the four years of the war Kansas furnished a few more than twenty thousand men, nearly four thousand more than were asked for, and all of them were volunteers. The poverty in the Kansas homes made it especially hard for families to be left unprovided for, and as much honor is due the women who stayed at home to work as is due the men who marched away to fight. The Kansas soldiers did duty on many battle-fields, and so conducted themselves as to bring much credit to their State. During the war Kansas was exposed to three lines of danger; invasions by the regular Confederate army, attacks by the unorganized border troops, and Indian raids on the frontier. [Illustration: Bust of Abraham Lincoln Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. “‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided.” ――_Abraham Lincoln._] =The Quantrill Raid, August 21, 1863.= For Kansas people the Civil War meant a continuation of the border troubles. Gangs of ruffians plundered and destroyed property, and frequently committed worse crimes. These acts reached a climax in the destruction of Lawrence on August 21, 1863. The raid on Lawrence was led by Quantrill, a border ruffian who had taken an active part in the guerrilla warfare, and who with his men had sacked several smaller towns along the border. With about four hundred and fifty mounted men Quantrill crossed the border in the late afternoon of August 20, and proceeded toward Lawrence. Just before sunrise the raiders reached a hill only a mile from the town. It is strange that they could have made the ride of forty miles through Kansas settlements without a word of warning reaching Lawrence, but such was the case. When Quantrill and his men halted within pistol shot of the houses of Lawrence to plan their attack, the people suspected no danger. There was no armed organization within the city, and all firearms were locked in the arsenal.