Territorial Capital Museum

Lecompton served as the only official Kansas territorial capital from 1855-1861. President Franklin Pierce and Congress appropriated fifty thousand dollars to construct an elegant stone capital in Lecompton. Presidents Pierce and Buchanan appointed ten Kansas governors in less than seven years whom were sent to Lecompton to govern Kansas. Their decisions played a major role in pre-Civl War "Bleeding Kansas" history. Artifacts on display in the Territorial Capitol Museum include those from the 1856 Battle of Ft. Titus, the first "Bleeding Kansas" battle where deaths occurred between proslavery and free state combatants. Additional artifacts come from Camp Sackett, a US Army encampment where free state treason political prisoners John Brown, Jr., Governor Charles Robinson and five others were held under guard by 500 troops from Ft. Leavenworth and Ft. Riley, including Edwin V. Sumner, Philip St. George Cooke, J.E.B. Stuart and John Sedgwick.