Western Hotel: Symbol of Strife

After the army sold Fort Scott in 1855, the infantry barracks located here became the pro-slavery Western Hotel, while the building across the parade ground became the anti-slavery Free State Hotel. The two hotels came to symbolize the conflict over slavery that divided Kansas in the late 1850s during Bleeding Kansas. Violence often reached Fort Scott in that era, and the Western Hotel figured in several incidents tied to whether Kansas would enter as free or slave. Hoping to calm the unrest, the territorial governor convened a peace conference at Fort Scott, and although a riot nearly broke out, the meeting temporarily halted hostilities. Rumor later held that pro-slavery men met at the Western Hotel to plan the Marais des Cygnes Massacre, in which several free staters were murdered. Seeking revenge three weeks later, free-stater James Montgomery led an armed band to Fort Scott, where they fired shots into homes and tried to burn the hotel.

Fort Scott, Kansas · United States