A Resolution requesting the Statehouse Art and History Committee to consider placing a mural in the Capitol
honoring the 1st Kansas (Colored) Voluntary Infantry Regiment and the Honorable Kansas Senator James
Henry Lane, a Kansas military and political leader and a recruiter of troops in that regiment.
WHEREAS, On August 4, 1862, the Honorable James H. Lane, U.S. Senator from
Kansas, appointed Captains James M. Williams and H. C. Seaman, U.S. Army, to recruit
a regiment of infantry for the U.S. Army to be composed of ``men of African descent.''
They were mustered into the regular army on January 13, 1863; and
WHEREAS, In the year 1862, members of the 1st Kansas (Colored) Infantry Regiment
were the first African-American troops of the Civil War to be engaged in combat--on
October 28 and 29 at Island Mound, or Toothman's Mound, near the town of Bulter in
Bates County, Missouri; and
WHEREAS, The intrepid 1st Kansas (Colored) Infantry's contribution at Toothman's
Mound helped prompt President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation
and inspired hundreds of thousands of other African-American men to take up arms in the
cause of union and free soil--undoubtedly influencing the outcome of that war and perhaps
proving decisive in the preservation of government of the people, by the people and for
the people in the world as we know it; and
WHEREAS, African-American soldiers held the middle of the lines while fighting along-
side white troops in the historic Civil War battle of Honey Springs on July 17-18, 1863,
north of Checotah, Oklahoma, near Rentiesville, a battle that is referred to as the ``Get-
tysburg of the West.'' The battle of Honey Springs was fought on the Old Texas Road, the
main prewar transportation route connecting Indian Territory with Kansas, Missouri, Ar-
kansas and Texas. It was the largest and most decisive of the Civil War in Indian Territory;
and
WHEREAS, The 1st Kansas (Colored) Infantry Regiment is extremely important to
American history, and it is important that the 1st Kansas (Colored) Infantry Regiment be
remembered. It is essential to preserve and teach all youth about the rich heritage of the
1st Kansas (Colored) Infantry Regiment: Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the Senate of the State of Kansas: That the 1st Kansas (Colored)
Voluntary Infantry Regiment and the Honorable Kansas Senator James Henry Lane, a
Kansas military and political leader and a recruiter of troops in that regiment should be
honored by placement of a memorial mural in the Capitol; and
Be it further resolved: That the Secretary of the Senate be directed to provide an
enrolled copy of this resolution to C.E. ``Sonny'' Scroggins, President, Bias Busters of
Kansas/Kansas Fever Committee, 3730 SE Truman Avenue, Topeka, Kansas 66605.
Senate Resolution No. 1862 was sponsored by Senator Anthony Hensley.
I hereby certify that the above Resolution originated in the Senate, and was adopted
by that body